The soul of a newer machine

March 3, 12:13 PMGadgets ExaminerDan Appleman

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The inside story of the
creation of these tiny
supercomputers.

The book “The Race for a New Game Machine: Creating the Chips Inside the XBox 360 and Playstation 3” is a book only a geek could love, but that’s not a bad thing. In a world where the life and work of engineers is rarely the stuff of drama, it’s nice to see that world brought to life once in a while. The last time it was done so effectively was in “The Soul of a New Machine” about the development of a new computer at Data General in the 80’s.

The story is told from the perspective of David Shippy, one of the lead architects and managers for the IBM PowerPC core that became the foundation for the processors on both the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. I know what you’re thinking: wait a minute – the same core is used by both game machines?

Therein lies a story. Here’s IBM, working on a processor designed to meet the requirements of both Sony and Microsoft, while at the same time keeping the secret from each company that the processor is going into the other company’s machine. Astonishingly enough there are times where Sony engineers unknowingly find themselves working on features and fixes required for the XBox! To say this resulted in tension, drama and a certain degree of ethical flexibility is an understatement, and forms the heart of the book.

The book is also interesting from a management perspective. How do you get a group of brilliant engineers to work together and to work insane hours to the point of neglecting friends and family? How do you deal with the inevitable mistakes (poorly as it turns out). In fact, the book is more a study in mismanagement than management.

So why do I say it’s a book only a geek could love? The authors may be great engineers, but the writing is at best competent. They tell the story, but the cast of characters is large and never really comes to life. The technical descriptions will be clear enough to other engineers, but the casual reader will probably have their eyes glaze over. But geeks will enjoy the story, and will easily identify with the author and other engineers. There is something magical about creating a new technology, whether it is a chip, a gadget, a website or a piece of software – and that sense of magic comes through clearly throughout the book.