Gates Shows Off Xbox Media Center, Discusses Consoles

Thanks to Reuters for its story reporting on Bill Gates' announcement of an Xbox Media Center Extender kit at the CES show in Las Vegas, discussing the add-on "that will extend the functions of its Windows XP Media Center Edition to the console, turning it into a set-top box that allows the playback of live and recorded video, music and photos." 1UP has a couple more details, noting the add-on "will combine an Xbox DVD title with a dedicated remote control [and] currently carries no release date or price point", and the Reuters interview with Gates has him noting of the Xbox: "We are pushing the boundaries in terms of expanding what people think of as what the device can do." He's also confident but secretive about the next generation of consoles, suggesting: "In terms of the next round, hey, it's a new game. We're not showing our hand and I don't think Sony's showing their hand. We're doing some very cool work, but that's really all we say at this point."

Comments

Re:X-Box Media Player

[unixbob]

Although you are correct that the majority of people mod their XBoxes to play pirate movies and games, it's interesting to note the OP's point about giving people what they want.

The current DVD distribution method for example is completely consumer unfriendly. I have to wait until a TV series / movieis released in the UK before I can buy the DVD. That's not what I want. I want to be able to choose. I want to be able to choose between the American / European / Asian release of a DVD because they frequently have different content. I want to be able to take the film I've paid for and convert it to and AVI so I can watch it on my Pocket PC

Playing games from my XBox's hard drive is much more convenient than from the DVD I purchased it from. Much tidier too.

Yes I have a modded XBox and yes I still purchase games and DVD's. Friends with modded XBox's also still purchase games. Gaming is our hobby and stealing is not the way to get good games still made.

I recognise that we probably not representative of the majority of people. I just wanted to make the point that Modded XBox != warez.

Re:Here's a Question

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

Actually, the more MS sells, the less MS loses. Allow me to break it down for you. Microsoft spends 1 currency unit to produce a single XBox. Now let's say they produce 1,000. They're at -1,000, right? If those 1,000 units sit in a warehouse, they're still at -1,000. But let's say they ship the units and they all sell and suppose MS sells them for 0.5 current units. Then what is MS at? -500. You see how the more MS sells, the less they loose?

Finally, the more consoles ship, the greater the number of games that will ship. And for every game that ships, the more money comes into MS.

I believe the last time I heard MS was still planning on not turning a profit on the XBox but rather making it merely a beachhead. But I could have missed a press release so anyone who knows whether the XBox division is close to turning a profit, please alert me. I checked google news but found nothing.

Re:Here's a Question

[bugbread]

The more people own XBoxes, the more games are sold, and MS makes their money back off games sold. It's only the hardware that's sold at a loss.