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Xbox Next to Include PC/Console Hybrid Option?
Pluvius writes "According to CNN/Money staffer Chris Morris, Microsoft's next-gen game console, XBox Next, could be PC- and XBox-compatible and retail for $599. This was one of many possibilities for the console which was explored by the B/R/S Group, a marketing firm which recently did focus testing for Microsoft. This theoretical console would also require a PC monitor or HDTV to display images and come with a full version of Windows as well as a CD burner and a keyboard and mouse. However, Morris notes that even if this hybrid becomes a reality, it would probably be an alternative to a standalone XBox Next console, much like the Sony PSX is to the PlayStation 2. Would you be willing to pay $600 for a console with all of the capabilities of a standard OEM PC?"
XBox is already already "pc compatible". The only thing different is the boot process.
http://www.xbox-linux.org/
http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
Who said they were wanted *BSD for game-playing? For the "PC"-like activities that would normally require 'Windows Simple and Cut-back', there could instead be a 'Linux, Simple and Cut-back' which would serve its role much better - the open source community can also tone down their 'jumbo jet' as Microsoft can... who needs RAID or firewire support on a console? If you want 'raw access to hardware' and to keep things 'lean and fast and mean', you will want BSD any day over Windows.
much like the Sony PSX is to the PlayStation 2
WHAT !?!? the PS2 is the successor to the PSX... neither is a stripped down version of the other. the PS2 came out several years *after* the PSX.
I believe he's refering to the fact that if the xbox has been produced and cost microsoft $X (lets say $200) then if you buy it at $150 they only lose $50, if it sits on a shelf forever they lose the whole $200. So you're helping reduce their losses by $150, even if they aren't ever going to break even on console sales alone.
Hopefully you get meta-moderated properly. I hate when mods mark anything they don't agree with as troll.
OPINION != TROLL
However, you have to consider a couple things.
Virtual PC 7 will be able to use the graphics card, so you may be able to run some pretty good games.
A 1 GHz G4 can emulate a PC at about the speed of a 500 mhz Pentium 3. Perhaps a bit slower, but I've heard thats about the speed it runs at (that is, a 500 mhz P3 without a graphics card, since this is VPC 6 I'm talking about).
Going by that, a 3.5 ghz G5 (rumored to be in the next XBox) should run at equivilant to a 1.75 ghz PC, PLUS any speed enhancements from it being 64 bit and having a higher bus speed, minus any speed loss from the architecture differences from the G4. Plus theres the rumors that it might be a dual-core G5, meaning it might be even faster. PLUS the speed enhancements of being able to use the graphics card.
It'd probably be fast enough to run the original XBox games through emulation, and run Windows though emulation. Another possibility is that they might run a PowerPC version of Windows, with a VPC type emulator in the background to run the x86 exe's you might run on it.
Either way, it'd make a sweet Mac and/or Linux PC.
A couple of links from a Google search for "microsoft powerpc chip ibm"
Microsoft to use IBM chips in next Xbox
Microsoft Partners with IBM for Xbox2