Scientific-Atlanta Mulling Video Game Set-Top Box

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Scientific-Atlanta Mulling Video Game Set-Top Box

Posted by simoniker on Thursday March 4, 2004 @05:22AM from the tv-fun-and-games dept.

NickNiel writes "According to Yahoo, Scientific-Atlanta (a digital cable set-top box manufacturer) is 'planning to develop television set-top boxes with high-performance video game capabilities, which could compete with game consoles such as Nintendo's GameCube and Sony's PlayStation 2.' My favorite quote, from CEO James McDonald: 'I can give (game players) the same performance you get out of those game boxes," he added. 'There is no question that games is one... market we will be in.'"

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pooh, thats nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-04 05:27 · Score: 3, Funny

i will only consider it if and when it performs better than the phantom.
1. Re:pooh, thats nothing by 5+Second+Rule · 2004-03-04 07:04 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  You state that you will only consider it if and when it performs better than the Phantom. The innuendo is that the Phantom does not exist, performs poorly and is generally a laughable piece of vaporware. You can expect a C&D statement shortly.
  
  -The Infinium Labs Lawyers
Whatever they pay him, it's too much by NSash · 2004-03-04 05:27 · Score: 4, Funny

"I can give (game players) the same performance you get out of those game boxes," he added.
Now here's a man who sounds like he knows what he's doing!
1. Re:Whatever they pay him, it's too much by cgenman · 2004-03-04 06:07 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Bob from accounting: "My kids really love their Xbox thingie, and we already use Windows in our boxes. Why not make a hybrid box?"
  
  James the CEO: "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
  
  Bob from accounting: "That doesn't make any sense."
  
  James the CEO: "Then they'll never see it coming."
  
  --
  The ______ Agenda
I call vaporware! by MonkeyCookie · 2004-03-04 05:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

I can give (game players) the same performance you get out of those game boxes
Details? It takes quite a bit of effort and expense to produce a good, fast, modern gaming console that is as good as currently existing ones. I'm rather skeptical that a cable box company will follow through on such a plan.

I can see them making a gaming box that plays simpler less resource-intense games, like solitaire and tetris, but a console to match the current top consoles? I doubt they'll get that far. With the lack of details, I'm pretty sure they haven't even reached the phase where they begin the actual engineering of the box. It's just an idea in the head of some executives right now

I predict vaporware
1. Re:I call vaporware! by Overdrive_SS · 2004-03-04 06:08 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I don't know. I remember being in a hotel and having the original super mario bros and a few other games available to play on demand. I assume the cable box was responsible for the emulation, but I can't be certain. If it was and this company was responsible for that box or even has a similar offering (obviously wild speculation on my part), then I assume they have a few engineers working there with an idea of what it would take. Of course, emulating a nintendo is a far cry from creating a next generation console, especially if the emulation was all done by Nintendo, which I assume is also very likely.
  
  So, I agree that most likely this will be vaporware or at best on par with a playstation or nintendo64, but I will at least give them the benefit of the doubt for now. More than I can say for the phantom anyways.
2. Re:I call vaporware! by old-lady-whispering- · 2004-03-04 06:20 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Actually the original exporer was pitched to cable companies as a game delivery device along with all the other feature sets. The companies were more interested in video on demand and services like that (94-95). So no effort was made to continue to develop that feature. I believe they did have some demo games at the time. I don't recall if they actually worked though. SA also had one of the first cable modems on the market (along with Motorala and GI). They did some trials with US west with the cable modem and the explorer and I thought at the time games were part of the test. It was a long time ago and my memory is not very clear on that. It was very clear that SA and GI wanted to enable cable companies to be able to deliver games over cable back in the mid 90's. It turned out the big cable companies could only digest one new technology at a time and so video on demand was adopted. I was working on this stuff back in 93 and it looks like this is the next technology the hardware manufacturers want to push on cable companies. If it works it will sell alot of set top boxes and head end equipment. I don't believe they were or are now interested in a stand alone set top game system that you can go down to the store and buy the latest game for. Remember SA makes money selling to Time Warner and the like not you the consumer.
  
  --
  The truth suffers more from convictions than from lies.
If they really mean it... by clausiam · 2004-03-04 05:38 · Score: 4, Insightful

it would be time to dump those Scientific-Atlanta shares (if I had any).
There's just no room for a new player in this area right now. Starting up from scratch with no game support, no previous industry experience and no real synergy from other product ranges (the cable set top box is a bit peripheral), not to mention probably not with the cash reserves to carpet-bomb the consumers with marketing and ads. This is either vaporware or the downfall of SciAtl.
/Claus
Not such a bad idea - if they keep it simple by lightspawn · 2004-03-04 05:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'm sure many non-console-owning cable customers would just love being able to play solitaire and bejeweled on their television - and remember these kinds of software take a very short time to develop. How many people would actually pay $5 a month for 20 games or so? I'm not talking specifically about you or the people you know, but the normal cable customer base.

So the simple puzzle games may not be such a bad idea, and if you can port a Sega Genesis (say) emulator or even add actual on-board hardware to run Genesis software you have a library of hundreds of real titles. Pay $5, play Sonic for up to 30 days. Not a bad deal for some people. Again, not for you, but for some people.

Now, as far as modern games are concerned, there are two ways to go about it. Convergence (combo cable box + xbox + DVR) which may or may not make sense to some people (but not to us) and developing a new competing next-gen platform which is probably not such a good plan.
1. Re:Not such a bad idea - if they keep it simple by ronfar · 2004-03-04 06:41 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Hmm... whatever happened to Pace and their Dreamcast set top box:
  Sega/Pace Dreamcast Set-Top-Box Revealed.
  I think it is this one, but there isn't much information on the games:
  IP420
  I remember this as one of the great, "let's throw the disgruntled say-it-ain't-so Dreamcast fans a bone so they won't realize they've got a dead platform" stories that the Dreamcast sections of game magazines were running when it was clear that time was running out for the Dreamcast.
  
  --
  All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
What ever happened to...standardization? by b0r0din · 2004-03-04 05:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

'There is no question that games is one... market we will be in.'"

The "..." stands for overloaded.

I think it's a good idea, but right now, you've got three pretty massive players in Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. If you ask me, that's already one too many. I didn't mind it when pretty much only Sega and Nintendo were there, but when these companies start making excellent games ONLY for one system, you aren't serving your clientele, you're forcing them to choose your product or another. This is sort of like the VHS. Remember the Betamax issue? In the end, there was only one format. This is not the case in video games. Instead of one standard, we're forced to use all these proprietary game systems if we want to play all the best games. If you think about it, most hardware manufacturers have standards. Everyone agreed on CD and DVD standards, and for the most part PC standards. (well, until it came time for DVD-R and DVD+R, but I won't even go into that.)

Yet none of this seems to faze the video game world. So now we're going to have yet another competitor, not even counting the Infinium Labs Phantom system, in the market. And Nokia with its N-Gage, and now Sony in the handheld market too? Wow, can you think of a worse time to try and enter a market? And this just pushes the whole ownership issue, with cable able to control the content it provides.
If it's anything like their DVR... by martone66 · 2004-03-04 05:55 · Score: 3, Informative

...then it will be a major failure. I have the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 DVR ($10/month through Comcast) and the thing is a major POS. The interface is terrible. Occasionally I have to wait 10-20 seconds for the channel to change while the recorder catches up. Sometimes the box dies, and has to reboot itself. Oh, and from time to time it forgets about its recording schedule.

Its only advantages over Tivo are the fact that it can record 2 channels at the same time, and doesn't require a landline connection (don't have one).

It seems like a product that was rushed to market. Given their track record with this, I can't help but think that a game system produced by them would be a major flop.
1. Re:If it's anything like their DVR... by CanSpice · 2004-03-04 08:00 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Jesus yes. I was going to say that if it's anything like their Explorer 8000 then this game console is going to be a pile of shit.
  
  "Features" of the Explorer 8000:
  
  - if you're watching a show that's being recorded at the same time, when the show stops recording you get dumped to live TV rather than continue to watch off the recording.
  - live pausing only appears to hold for an hour and a half.
  - no easy way to find out how much space you've got left without going through an arcane developer's menu.
  - if you have a recording conflict and choose to not record a show that you've set a "season pass" for, it won't record any of that show ever again, even if future episodes don't conflict.
  - no way to remove repeat episodes from "season pass" recordings. Especially annoying for things you know are going to repeat, like Adult Swim that repeats three hours after initial showing.
  
  I've had playback quality issues a couple of times where the playback freezes for a second or so. Fast-forwarding sometimes freezes too, although I'm not completely sure if only the video output freezes, because when it unfroze it looked like it was a few seconds past where it froze.
  
  And there are a bundle of UI problems, like the practically useless favourite channel list (oh boy, you get to scroll up through them, heaven forbid you should want to filter your guide to only show you your favourite channels!).
  
  The only good thing (besides two tuners) about it is that it costs $5 a month over regular digital service. If it cost any more I'd be cancelling my service.
Comcast by hambonewilkins · 2004-03-04 06:01 · Score: 4, Interesting

There's an ad in these parts (Maryland) which shows a guy tossing out all his home theater components (VCR, DVD, Receiver, etc) because he just got the new Comcast DVR system that allows you to "pause TV" now that TV is "at your command."
It's a moronic ad (obviously), but I'm curious Scientific-Atlanta sees a similar (completely wrong) future, where people toss out their Xboxes, Gamecubes, and PS2s because they now have this all-in-one unit.
It shows a complete misunderstanding of games and gamers. Unless you're in Japan, people I know don't have much interest in replacing two or three devices with one all-in-one, jack-of-all trades device (which is usually very expensive).
People like buying things modularly because it seems cheaper and also you can get the best of each modular component.
CEO James McDonald's comment: I can give (game players) the same performance you get out of those game boxes exemplifies his misunderstanding... performance is perhaps 10% of what is important in games (I'm talking frames per second, load times, etc). What this guy should be giving is the same games or experience.
Put this right up there with the Phantom for game decks we will never see.

--

God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
This guy really knows the industry! by andman42 · 2004-03-04 07:41 · Score: 3, Insightful

"I can give (game players) the same performance you get out of those game boxes," he added.

Right, because we all know that, historically, superior hardware performance is what sells game consoles.

I mean just look at how well Xbox is doing against the PS2! Or look at how well the NGage is selling compared to the Gameboy Advance. When the 3D0 Atari Jaguar came out, look what happened to the Super Nintendo's market share. And remember when Sega introduced the GameGear, a portable with a color screen to combat the inferior monochromatic Gameboy? Heck, don't forget how "poorly" the original NES sold compared to the technologically superior Sega Master System and NEC TurboGrafx 16.

While Sony and Nintendo fuss about games, Scientific-Atlanta will be boldly following in the steps of Atari Jaguar and deliver a system with more impressive hardware specs. I for one am excited!