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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 thing is a better X-Box than X-Box. I'm surprised Microsoft granted them a WinXP embedded license...
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?
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
These specs are ridiculous. If they're the real deal and not modified in any way, what's to stop me from buying one, ripping it apart and shoving the components into a real computer? They're DEFINITELY going to be making a loss on the initial sale of the unit.
And how are they going to make this money back? They're not making money offa PC game sales, nor are they likely to in the future. I just don't see how this works.
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
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
[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
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