Indrema vs Xbox vs PS2

Blond_buzzkill writes "Twin Galaxies has this article introducing the IES and comparing it to the other consoles. Most informative, however, is a chart comparing the Indrema's hardware to the Xbox and the Playstation 2. The article also says the IES will go on sale in Spring 2001, a bit ahead of either Gamecube or Xbox." I'm still pretty excited to see what comes of Indrema. I'm still waiting for the converged media box, and they've got as good of a shot as anyone.

Comments

Why the PS2 was so delayed.

[AFCArchvile]

Here's the article from The Register on how Sony's Nagasaki plant switched to .18 micron and essentially fudged up the release schedule.

Skeptical.

[CrusadeR]

Despite how I would like things to turn out, I still find it difficult to believe Indrema can compete with the Microsoft/Nintendo/Sega/Sony marketing machines for share of what will likely be a saturated console market in 2001/2002 (Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, and XBox).

Moreover, I am perturbed that Indrema has yet to announce anything with regards to developers or titles that will be available at launch.

I wish them the best of luck, but don't hold your breath for a miracle.

Flip Side: Too Much Cabling

[Christopher B. Brown]

The last time I moved, I arranged my "entertainment centre" so that I essentially have a "walk-in cable closet" for it. It's not quite a fire hazard, but there certainly are a whopping lot of cables.

There most certainly is merit to having some components that integrate a bunch of functions; I am sitting now with two dilemmas; I'd be moderately interested in adding in:

• An MP3 player (with "big hard disk"), and
• Something like a PlayStation

and the dilemma is that I'm not sure how I'd plug them both in. What with having DVD, VCR, and TiVO, throwing in a PlayStation gives me Yet Another Input Signal, and I'm really not sure how to hook that up.

I am seriously not interested in PS2; it seems severely overpriced, and doesn't do enough to solve any problems I consider I have.

But there certainly would be merit to having something that could combine the functionality of:

• TiVo
• PlayStation
• DVD player
• MP3 player

Cut down on the cabling and on the number of boxes (and power supplies and power cables) and that is certainly worth something.

Some conjecture

[DunkPonch]

Let's conjecture about the possibilities of two theortical systems which have been projected for release sometime in the future. By doing this, we hope to resolve any unforeseen potential issues before they manifest themselves in a non-hypothetical form.

Re:One point left out

[ryancq]

I thought that as well until I read this article:

http://www.gamecenter.com /Ne ws/Item/0,3,0-4604,00.html

Excerpt: "The Indrema L600 is expected to launch with 30 titles next spring. Among the games currently in development are SimCity 2000, Heavy Gear 2, Quake III Arena, Diablo II, and Unreal Tournament. Industry heavyweights such as Electronic Arts, Infogrames, Havas, and Activision are supporting the L600, and Indrema is currently negotiating deals with developers and publishers to bring new content to the system. "

I don't need all this stuff...

[garcia]

if I were going to purchase a gaming console that is what I would want. I have no desire for an MP3 player, a DVD player, USB, etc. I want to play my games and be done w/it. The only real feature that I could possibly want is some sort of Internet access to play online games.. w/the PS2 it seems like you are going to have to go through Sony. No thanks. I want to use standard ISP's and do it like it has always been done.

I was interested in buying a PS2, I really was, but then I took a look at the $300 pricetag and thought again. Why the hell would I need to pay $300 + $50+ for each game when all the god damn machine is is a glorified DVD player. It seems to me that they could have kept the costs down by not integrating all these unnecessary parts and actually finding out what is wanted out there.

I already have a DVD player, it was $120 at Walmart. I already have a computer (as most people do) why would I want computer like stuff (again, other than Inet access) on there?, I already have a drinking problem, why would I waste $300 on non-beer?

Just my .02.

what's the point of linux?

[jonathanclark]

The article mentions the system runs linux under it all. What is the point? An OS is supposed to provide:

multi-process management : don't need it in a game, simple threads work fine.

filesystem : How hard is it to read ISO9660?

virtual memory support : opps, can't have that without a HD. Even the X-box with a HD is not going to have VM.

device drivers : The system is supposed to be fixed. That's the beauty of console games, the hardware doesn't change. Why do you need loadable drivers?

so in conclusion, I think linux if used, will be truely bastardized to the point it is no longer linux and mearly an advertising bullet point.

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