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Xbox for $99? Xbox 2 in 2005?
TimeForGuinness writes "CNN is reporting that Microsoft's Xbox may be on the verge of a substantial price cut, falling from $179 to $99 by Labor Day, and Microsoft will launch its next generation console in late 2005 - a year earlier than has been previously rumored. That would put the Xbox 2 on store shelves up to a full year before Sony's PlayStation 3."
I loved the original controller. Perfect size, could play with it for hours without cramping.
:(
The new one (S Controller) is smaller, not as comfortable for me.
SNES, PSX etc. controllers? Too small for my hands, I just freaking cramp if I play longer on them.
Too bad that they stopped producing the original controller
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Given that the Xbox is based on hardware that is just a supped-up PC with mostly off the shelf components and Sony's is more custom, it's not big surprise that MS would be able to make it to market much faster. Wasn't the Xbox based on a 733 MHz P3 with a semi-custom Nvidia graphics chip? And I think the PS2 was a semi custom 128-bit DSP that handled pretty much everything (graphics + logic).
xbox linux project
There are others too. Just do a search on google. But thats a good start. Not sure about NetBSD.
I think you're misinterpreting it. Labor Day is given as the deadline for the total cut (ie, they want it at that $99 price for that weekend). However, the article reports that there may be an intermediate cut to around $130 in between. So, indeed, there is a substantial (20%-25%?) price cut coming soon, and then another one coming after.
If it's all true, anyways.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
That's the PSX - it's got a PS2 inside and basically a high capacity TiVO and a DVD recorder. A few other nice things.
--Moo.
From the article:
/.
When Microsoft launched the Xbox in 2001 for $299, it reportedly lost $100 for every unit it sold.
I know this is
Of course you did not RTFA.
Free XBox, PS2
Ahh, here we go:NetBSD on xbox
Since Ali G got taken off the air in the United States, few Americans will understand the understated reference to Ali's precurser to any type of review. if I had mod point, I would have given you some.
A few words for you:
Mod Chip
HDD Upgrade
Gamefly account
I don't think anyone is using it as a standalone PVR (does it even have PCI slots?). They're using them as a MythTV frontend box. The actual encoding and storage is handled by a seperate backend box (which can be conveniently hidden away in a basement or closet so it can be noisy and not bother you). All the communications between them is just over a network connection. You can of course have a frontend on the same box as the backend though too and communicate over the loopback interface.
Yes, but in a product's lifespan, manufacturing processes are streamlined (ever seen the inside of a 3G Playstation 1?), and cost falls dues to volume manufacture - initially tooling up a production line to make a new item costs a lot too.
But, a lot of these are one off costs that need to be recouped. You spend $10 million on a production line, then your consoles are selling at a loss, then they break even, then you streamline the process and make profit, recouping costs etc...
So, loss initally, recoup costs, profit eventually. Welcome to the wonderful world of manufacturing.
So make sure you do get a 3rd generation (or preferably older) XBox with the old pre-"Live 2.0" dash.
They are educated guesses. IBM already began taping out processors for the new XBOX. Couldn't think of reason why IBM would start getting their manufactoring line ready if the launch date was 2 years away.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Now I'm going to have to sell my Apex DVD player!!!
C'mon 99$USD for an Xbox?? Most of my movies are in divx/xvid and only playable on a computer so this will be heavenly.
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
Of course, MS did buy Virtual PC, which had an x86 emulator for Macintosh/PPC.
Of course, XBox 2 will have a different graphic chip than XBox 1.
So we'll have to wait and see.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You can hack any version of the XBOX with a hardware modchip, regardless of whether Live 2.0 is installed. This applies to all versions: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and the 1.5.
I will agree that the software exploits won't work with Live 2.0. However, most XBOX hackers chip their boxes anyway.
See www.teamxecuter.com for more information.
MS just loves to accelerate the hardware upgrade cycle, don't they?
I played my Atari 2600 from 1981, when I got it, until 1988, when I finally got an NES. And in 1981, the console was already several years on the market. It finally quit working in 1990-91. I bet, if I still had it today, that I could probably repair it, too. Damn that was a solid machine.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Truth is that most people do not expect Microsoft to go to $99 dollars. In fact, a price drop to $129 would keep sales on par with 2003. But hey, $99 is a sexy number that Chris Morris wants to base his entire article on. Remember these are the same analysts that predicted a price drop on both the PS2 and the X-Box at Christmas. Neither one happened.
People who say you can't do this or that with a hacked Xbox are just wrong.
The list of things you can do with a hacked Xbox is lengthy. Dropping to $99 is a steal for the best console out there (due to the hack).
For $99 (or $179 imo) + $50 mod, nothing beats it.
um......
2003 Top 10 Console Video Game Titles, Sorted By Units
RANK TITLE PLATFORM PUBLISHER RELEASE DATE
1 MADDEN NFL 2004 (PS2) ELECTRONIC ARTS AUG'03
2 POKEMON RUBY (GBA) NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAR'03
3 POKEMON SAPPHIRE (GBA) NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAR'03
4 NEED SPEED: UNDERGROUND (PS2) ELECTRONIC ARTS NOV'03
5 ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER (GCN) NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAR'03
6 GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY (PS2) ROCKSTAR GAMES OCT'02
7 MARIO KART: DOUBLE DASH (GCN) NINTENDO OF AMERICA NOV'03
8 TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND (PS2) ACTIVISION OCT'03
9 ENTER THE MATRIX (PS2) ATARI MAY'03
10 MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN (PS2) ELECTRONIC ARTS NOV'03
Source: The NPD Group / NPD Funworld(R) / TRSTS(R)
Now, granted, I got these figures from planetgamecube and I don't know much about the place that did the study, but these figures sure seem to contradict what you are saying. Maybe Xbox sales are spread over more titles or something but you would think Halo at least would be in the top 10. As far as Microsoft positioning itself as being in competition with Sony for the top spot, I can position myself as being in competition with Brad Pitt for the top poon but that doesn't mean I have a chance.
You don't even need a modchip now either...
;)
You can use a gamesave exploit and flash the onboard TSOP.
After that they make great low-cost servers with debianX on them
Doesn't seem like anything's changing here folks....
:
:
:
:
Nintendo
NES : 1985
SuperNES : 1991
N64 : 1996
Game Cube : 2001
Avg Time Bet Releases : 5.3 years.
Sega
Master System : 1986
Genesis : 1989
Saturn : 1995
Dreamcast : 1998
Avg Time Bet. Releases : 4 years
Sony
PS1 : 1995
PS2 : 2000
PS3 : 2006 (projected)
Avg Time Bet. Releases : ~5 years
MS
XBox : 2001
XBox 2 : 2005 (projected)
Avg Time Bet. Releases : 4 years
Let me get this straight, are you seriously suggesting that being first to market now is a disadvantage? That coming out first is being 1 year behind?
It's counterintutitive, but it does make anecdotal sense. Think about the Dreamcast, first to market, less sophisticated than (at least, poorer graphics than) the PS2, GC, or XBox, and ultimately, the first to go.
Really sad, since the Dreamcast was relatively DRM-less, and it can not only run Linux "out of the box" (by the way, someone should port Knoppix to...), but even after Sega has dropped support for the console, it supports a healthy homebrew community. I use it for MAME, etc. on my TV with actual game controllers. (Also, you can pick a used Dreamcast up at Electronic Botique for $19.99 these days...)
Carthago delenda est!
No, when the PS2 was released nobody knew about XBox and everybody was buying PS2s.
Please, stop. This is demonstrably false. Xbox was officially announced in March of 2000, specs and all. PlayStation 2 shipped in North America in October of 2000.
Of course I was talking about production prices, not retail prices.
What? Those matter how? The consumer doesn't care how much it costs the company to make the console. If price/performance matters, then the price is what the consumer pays and the performance is what the consumer sees. Anything that's behind the scenes is not even taken into consideration.
Neither Sony nor Microsoft have ever publicly disclosed how much each unit costs to produce. Surely the PS2 is cheaper for Sony than the Xbox is for Microsoft, but the Xbox includes a lot more. It doesn't really matter, however, because both sell at the exact same price.
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
Wrong, bundled games don't count towards the "software sold with system" number that Microsoft always touts, since the user is not actually buying them, but getting them for free. Instead, it refers to the actual $50 spent for each additional game at the time of the console purchase. In my case, that would have been 3 - Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive, and of course Halo.
I also don't know where you got your "highest number of games bundled with any system" notion. It originally was not bundled with any games, and at one point or another had either 1 or 2 games bundled with it, which is not that high. If I were to recommend a bundle, the Sega GT Racer and Jet Set Radio seems to be the best.
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Microsoft on the other hand has to contend with all these disperent companies who wouldn't be too keen to letting each other have a look at the insides of their hardware...
Fortunately for Microsoft, they're not dealing with as many companies as people seem to think they are. Sure, nVidia and Intel aren't going to swap specs so that one or the other can build an integrated CPU/GPU, but they don't really need to in order for Microsoft to save money, because Microsoft would still be paying Intel and nVidia the same amount. In fact, nVidia claimed that they were losing money on the XBox because of some problems where Microsoft wasn't buying parts from them as quickly as they had scheduled production.
Also, unless Microsoft has set up its own fab plant, Intel is running a line of celerons just for Xboxes. Likewise, Nvidia has to put manufacturing capacity aside to make video cards for Xboxes. I don't see either of those companies negoiating a lower contract to continue to build an antiquated product...
nVidia and Intel both have fixed price contracts as far as I know, but Microsoft doesn't pay for a part until it's delivered to them. nVidia's building the entire motherboard, GPU, and sound processor, too, not just the video card. nVidia then turned around and leveraged the technology for the GeForce 3 line and the nForce line, which is pretty much the only way they made any money from the deal. The Intel chip is a special line anyway, as it's been modified to the specs MS and nVidia came up with to optimize performance for games, so Intel can't just shovel whatever chips they didn't ship from that era over to MS, either.
In the end, though, MS has come up with ways to reduce the cost on the assembly end. They still have the problem of Intel and nVidia being at fairly fixed prices, but they may have learned their lesson on that one. Notice that the official releases regarding the deal with IBM on the next XBox don't mention IBM actually producing chips, but rather Microsoft licensing technology. MS is currently limited in how much they can cut their costs, and they still will be in the future because they are licensing technology, but not to the extent they are now as they are buying hardware (at fixed cost afaik).
Sony has none of those problems. In fact it could be argued that it goes the otherway for Sony. As Sony works to create a more integrated PS2, that know how gets used to integrate other products in the Sony line and visa versa.
This is true, but it still costs Sony money to change their production lines for the updated (cheaper) chips. They have to weigh the costs against the gains, and I'm sure they only change the chips when they stand to make significant amounts of money off of it. At the same time, this whole concept is what allowed them to do PS1 compatibility, and now that they've reduced the PS2 functions outside the PS1 chip to a single chip, they can possibly do it again on the PS3 (and are currently using the single-chip design in the PSX afaik). On the other hand, there have been rumours that the next XBox may have to emulate the XBox hardware in order to successfully play XBox games. While this would result in lower hardware costs, to some degree, it would also result in a significant investment on the front end to produce the emulation.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
Well, since all consoles will be backwards-compatible ...
As the other poster noticed, you really don't keep up, do you? According to what we currently know about Xbox 2, "backwards compatibility is out of the question". Thanks for playing.
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You can purchase any Xbox failed part, and get lots of FAQs on how to do repairs, at this site: http://www.llamma.com/xbox/ And a few specific articles: http://llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/xbox_dvd_repair.htm
They also sell all the parts, so you can replace your defective DVD drive with a non-defective one, and since you're out of warranty, no one will stop you.
I know the whole "I have to pay MS hundreds of dollars to fix my unit!" cry is an easy one to make, but it's untrue if you do a little digging around.