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Discover The DISCover Console
Thanks to GameShark.com for their interview with Curtis Kaiser of DISC regarding their forthcoming DISCover "PC game console". Kaiser describes the DISCover as "a game console that plays unmodified PC games. As with a PlayStation or Xbox, you simply drop the disc into the console and play. The difference is the video game consoles can only play games made for their proprietary formats, while the DISCover can play the thousands of available PC titles." Entry-level models will be priced from $299, and the company is trying to tout ease of use as the biggest advantage of buying the DISCover over a normal PC - "...patching scripts will be received through the DISCover network. Patches will automatically be applied to any installed program or they will be applied as part of the installation process."
This could make a great entry level PC -- if scripts are used to manage installation and execution of programs, I can see a huge market for these in various areas where minimal knowledge of computers is needed, such as third world countries, schools, etc.
This thing is a better X-Box than X-Box. I'm surprised Microsoft granted them a WinXP embedded license...
From the site: "Until now serious gamers were required to install and run computer programs on a PC. With DISCover's patented technology, the PC is no longer the only place to play PC games. PC games, with their dazzling graphics and stunning audio, can now be played on a TV hassle free."
What is patentable about that ?
That this company will NOT be selling their hardware at a $100 loss, expecting to recoup these losses on software sales. Come to think of it, how do they expect to make any money?
For $299 USD, I can build a pretty decent computer. I mean, it won't be cutting edge, but neither will it be as slow as the hardware that's standard to a XBox, y'know? I just don't see a niche for this sort of thing. A PC can do gaming, but it can also do a heck of a lot more -- and *anybody* who says that they only use their comp for games is lying.
Now, a PS3 that can play PS games as well as PS1-3, now *there* would be an interesting product... maybe an XBox 2?
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
This sounds an awful lot like the Phantom, doesn't it? Except that they don't seem to be talking as much about DRM and content controls...
Sounds like it could swipe a lot of Phantom's market share, and Phantom needs a big market to be profitable.
Personally, I'm all for it. The idea of a market for PC games that don't work on actual PCs is offensive to me on many levels, but the idea that people buying a PC only for gaming should pay less than those buying one as a workstation seems to have a certain merit.
I have to agree with a post above, though, that I'm not sure how they're planning to make money. Oh, well.
Bushi
The specs:
And it's running WinXP. Seems like a good machine for US$300. That said, I certainly won't be running right out to buy one. Besides the subscription cost, I'm still skeptical about their ability to handle any and all issues with the huge number of PC games out there. I'll wait a while and see how this works out. I also wouldn't want to play PC games on my TV. That would look horrible unless you have an HDTV.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
...how long it takes for this to: -boot linux -act completely as a regular box (ie, running a real OS) For the price, I would buy it if someone could get Linux to run on it.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
The DISCover® game console is the only game console designed to play PC games instead of video games.
XBox? Indrema? Phantom? Pippin? I know there is a necessary threshold of bs when reading press releases, and I know we're supposed to swallow more than this, but the lack of knowledge doesn't bode well.
Besides, that threshold is quickly exceeded.
The Pentium®4, along with today's graphic and audio processors allow for PC games with awesome visual and audio effects.
Here comes that threshold. According to the Gamers.com article, the $300 price tag will get you a Via processor, not the touted intel P4. For a P4, you need to pay $700, or roughly the cost of a P4 system. And there is an even MORE expensive version in the pipeline, with TIVO capability. Do you expect "awesome visual and audio effects" from that $200 Wallmart machine?
There are thousands PC games, far more than video games, in proprietary formats (i.e. PlayStation2 and Xbox). And the best games are made for the PC.
Bad punctuation aside, how many of those games are worth playing? You too can have 9,999 Bust-A-Move clones on your own device! AAA titles are as rare on the PC as they are on the PS2, as they both require large development houses and a large outlay in manpower to create.
Until now serious gamers were required to install and run computer programs on a PC. With DISCover's patented technology, the PC is no longer the only place to play PC games. PC games, with their dazzling graphics and stunning audio, can now be played on a TV hassle free.
They patented video out to a TV? Or did they patent playing games from an installer without actually installing. Did they do anything to deserve a patent on playing PC games on a TV? Commodore 64? TV-Out? XBox? Linux on PS?
As a game console, DISCover® is connected to a TV, not to a computer monitor. To play any one of thousands of PC games on TV, you simply Drop the game in the DISCover® and play.
BTW, standard TVs run at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 interlaced. Many modern computer games don't even support a resolution that low. In other words, games will not look nearly as good on your TV as they do on a computer monitor.
Picking apart their press releases aside, I fail to see the point of this console. It plays PC games, so it is redundant to anyone who owns a gaming PC. It plays on a television, so graphics will be inferior. What they appear to be trying to do is sell a PC gaming machine to console people by telling them that consoles, in short, suck. That's like trying to gain votes for the democratic party by calling the republicans inferior and stupid, and wondering why people don't feel swayed by your compelling arguments.
But don't let me say it: Let's hear from their own mouths.
Markets: Our market is the digital interactive entertainment market, in particular the $9 billion game markets. Individuals who would enjoy playing PC games on their TV are the specific target in this market. At the low-end of the market are video gamers who would like to move up to PC games (ages 12-25); at the high end of the are PC gamers who would like to move from their computer monitor to their big-screen home-theater (ages 25-45). The middle market is made up of those who would like PC games and other PC entertainment on their TV, as well as having a DVD, DVR and movies on demand.
On the one hand, you have young people who want to play PC games, but who can't afford a PC. Because targeting markets with no money is the right way to launch a product. On the other hand, you have people with money and high-end theater systems, but who haven't discovered their high-tech PC comes standard with an SVideo out port. And finally, you have those people who are swarming out to buy a set-top box, to rent movies-on-demand and to buzzword their buzzword with B.U.Z. and W.R.D. disks.
There are other problems: One
The ______ Agenda
"Entry-level models will be priced from $299"
/a> enough already? This is just a bad idea in SO many ways. For one, PC games have never been plug & play unless they have been heavily modified for the box they run one which makes them propretary whether the submitter/company admits it or not. And sorry fo yas, but the words PC games and console are mutually exlusive, especially when one includes the word "patch", whci in itself implies, crashing, freezing stuttering and other bugs PC games are regularly shipped with. Speaking of PC games, how do these people intend on keeping up with the ever increasing demand games place on their hardware? After all, an Entry Model also implies other models will be availible as well. With better spec undoubtably and the same uneven playing field as a PC provides.
Isn't one PC game playing console
See? Yet another bastard PC gaming child that will crash and burn with the rest of them.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
[sorry, screwed the pooch on the last post]
Isn't one PC game playing console enough already? This is just a bad idea in SO many ways. For one, PC games have never been plug & play unless they have been heavily modified for the box they run one which makes them propretary whether the submitter/company admits it or not. And sorry fo yas, but the words PC games and console are mutually exlusive, especially when one includes the word "patch", whci in itself implies, crashing, freezing stuttering and other bugs PC games are regularly shipped with. Speaking of PC games, how do these people intend on keeping up with the ever increasing demand games place on their hardware? After all, an Entry Model also implies other models will be availible as well. With better spec undoubtably and the same uneven playing field as a PC provides.
See? Yet another bastard PC gaming child that will crash and burn with the rest of them.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
The Phantom seems to focus on one thing: online game distribution. The prospect of buying a game online and having it downloaded to a computer is a compelling one... one that should have happened years ago. Honestly, I would rather see the Phantom integrated as a part of a computer distribution running regular PC games, rather than trying to make a palladiumesque black box, but the idea is sound. Honestly, if I could pay 3 dollars to rent Elite Force II tonight, I probably would have. That kind of impulse availability of games is just cool. Plus pushed demos is just a fun marketing idea.
I guess the Phantom reminds me of alt-get on Debian, and that is a compelling feature.
Neither console will survive, of course... 300 dollars gets you a system that barely scrapes out min-spec on games released last year. But I hope Microsoft and Sony are taking notes.
The ______ Agenda
Just pointing out, what is listed is the specs for the high-end machine. The 300 dollar machine specs with
A Via CPU and motherboard
40 GB hard drive
512 MB Ram
SIS graphics card (http://www.xabre.com/)
A reviewer at E3 commented that "the $299 unit, on display at the show, struggled to run Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. The game, released in 2002, couldn't manage a steady frame-rate, and sometimes dropped to completely unplayable levels, if only for a few seconds."
So no, there would be no point in buying one for parts.
Next-Generation systems need to blow all current systems out of the water. This one appears to struggle to keep up. Sad.
The ______ Agenda
My bad then... those were the only specs that they list on their site. I assumed they were for the $300 machine. Guess if it seems too good to be true...
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
If I'm not forgetting a finer point of patent law, doesn't this mean that anyone can create an insert-and-run game system so long as they use a binary search tree (and not a table) to store the relevant data?
The ______ Agenda
In response to Txiasaeia, there is some knowledge curve to PC gaming, and up until just a couple years ago, I would have disagreed with you that "anybody" can play PC games. You have to remember that there are still quite a few people who are afraid that if they click the wrong icon, their system will die and they will need to buy a new one. Hats off to LordoftheFrings, I agree 100%. If it runs linux and has a 3.06ghz chip, I'm on it, but as for a via chip and less specs as was also stated- I'll stick with my OC'ed p4 and my trusty Amiga ;-)!
...between this and that?
Look at the picture of the device at their site:
9 8/
http://www.gameconsole.tv/demos_pictures.html
Now look at the Cappuccino mini PC at Thinkgeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/handhelds/5a
Inovation rules! What a revolutionary design!
I don't like this trend towards "PC Consoles" at all. If you want to play in your living room - buy the Xbox or PS2 version of the game - they've been optimised to be controlled by a joypad and for the best TV gaming experience.
Don't be suprised if future PC games are officially "unsupported" on these types of platforms - there's already too much that can go wrong. For example (off the top of my head):
* Problem 1: With many game's current minimum resolution of 800x600 - you aren't going to be able to read *any* text on a TV.
* Problem 2: Keyboard? Mouse?
* Problem 3: It's hard enough releasing a stable game - without a 3rd party trying to patch the games themselves. What about when patches to the game are released by the *game developer* - only to find that the installation's been corrupted (patched) by the game console?
In conclusion, I think that these types of PC consoles could be very very bad for the livelyhood PC games - I know *I* don't want my games anywhere near this bastard machine.
looks like a 14 year olds hosted on angelfire
Seems like this will rely heavily on game developers being willing to test PC games on this platform as well as different PC hardware/software combinations. Because it'll be difficult for "patching" to take care of every conflict that shows up.
I talked to these guys at E3 this year (they were down in the basement). This thing isn't nearly all it's cracked up to be.
First off, they start off talking about how you can plop any PC title in there and it will play, no problem. A bit slower the first time than others though. So, I ask if they have some sort of special version of install shield and what do they do if a developer uses a really strange in house installer?
Finally, the truth comes out, they have to write a script for each and every game, which means thousands of install scripts, in addition to the patch scripts. It seemed like a small (under 20 ppl) outfit, so I'm pretty sure "Thousands" is theoretical.
As far as how they expect to make their money, the patches and everything will be a subscription service, don't believe them if they say otherwise.
Basically, it comes down to one nutty guy that seems more from marketing than the tech. side of things and a few poor programmer side kicks trying deparately to keep up with his wide and ignorant feature claims.
Did I say this thing is full of shit? It is, really, the more I think about it, the more I remember how upset I was at his obtuse claims of compatibility and performance (when was the last time you had to upgrade the processor/ram in your PS2? when was the last time you had to upgrade your gaming PC?).
This guy is just a dreamer with no grasp of reality. I savor the memory of how red faced and deflated I left him in the basement at E3 after shooting down every response he had to my questions about compatibility, hardware performance, etc.
Anyways, don't buy into the marketese, this product will suck if it ever makes it on the shelf.
However, as another reader mentioned, there could be other great applications for this sort of embedded system with network patching and such, but the XPEmbedded licence pretty much spoils that.
DONT PANIC
The whole thing smells of vaporware-esque fraud. Taking a look at their "site" doesn't help much (a 10 year old web designer doesn't inspire confidence in me to purchase a 300 buck system). Check this out: http://www.gameconsole.tv/images/drawing_r4_c2.gif
Now if somebody actually did sketch that, ok, but it looks VERY similar to a series of edge filters in Photoshop to me. But that isn't the wierdest part, if that's true then they actually did that on a real photo (digital or otherwise), so why the sketch then???
Then, take a look here:
http://www.gameshark.com/pcgaming/articles/430431p 1.html
So which one is it? First one is what looks like a photoshopped up sketch from their actual photo on the main page, and then this one. Older? Who knows, looks more like a custom server case or mini form factor sitting behind a Thrustmaster PS2 pad.
Anyone remember that other supposedly new console where the company was located in a leased space in a strip mall?
Hate to be their tech support though when everyone calls in and says "I can't read a damn thing in this game on my TV".
However, as another reader mentioned, there could be other great applications for this sort of embedded system with network patching and such, but the XPEmbedded licence pretty much spoils that.
Could you expand on this? I'm not familiar with the limitations of the XPE licence... How would it spoil network patching, etc?
The ______ Agenda
This is, of course, until things go wrong for Discover users
The only way to keep that magic box appeal would be to court developers to make sure to QA on one of thier machines.
Otherwise, when ati decides to release 'el crasho driver that makes 3dmark go as fast as exploding cow burps' you'll have a lot of confused blue-screen of death tv's to deal with.
Maybe some kind've uber 'network with the bios' thing could let DISCover be fixed for some ridiculous fee remotely. It is a 'closed system' after all.
Hmm, lots to think about here.
Many Thanks,
Luke
[[applause]]
It's just sad that I had to scroll this far down to see a cogent discussion of the machine and article (I was afraid I was going to have to write one myself).
My suggestion to these people is that, instead of leaping into the hardware area (scary margins/overhead), they should market their fancy-shmancy installation/patching service as a software package. I would imagine that there are a lot of hardcore PC gamers out there (I'm not one with a 1-GHz Athlon and a GF4-420MX) who would be interested in a service that would streamline the installation of their many games and provide automatic patching, even if there was a [reasonable] monthly fee. Heck, back when I *was* a hardcore PC gamer I would have paid a monthly fee for that service and I probably wouldn't have touched the web for another couple years since my initial forays were entirely for patching PC games. :)
This "console" will fail, the Phantom will fail...I weep for the venture capital.
... is by transgaming:
http://www.transgaming.com/
That was very well thought out...do you work for Nintendo or something? :-)
$8.95/mo web hosting
far more PC games are worth playing than console games...
most console games worth playing are made by sega. 99% of the crap made for the playstation/ps2 are crappy me-too knockoffs of ideas that were original three years ago. xbox has a bunch of shit too, and only gamecube has a few games that dont absolutely suck. but all of them are supremely overpriced for the utter lack of quality games.
the best console out there is still the dreamcast. 50$ or less for a nicely powered console with dozens of excellent *original* games, along with programs available online for playing mp3s, divx, emulators, and of course pirated games, if you're into that. oh yea, and not only is the console cheap, so are the games.