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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?"
This is actually a good point. Microsoft will probably lock it out so you can only run Windows on the thing in "PC" mode. It won't be a complete, standard PC, that's for sure.
Sorry MS. I'll buy it if I can run non-Microsoft operating systems on it. Can we say "milking a cash cow"?
Sort of a silly question to ask this crowd. Virtually all of us already have a relatively decent PC, and upgrade it regularly. An XBox almost certainly wouldn't meet our needs.
This will probably appeal more to the less technically-literate population. Instead of buying the $600 Dell and the $250 game console for the kids, you buy the $600 XBox instead. If marketed correctly, Microsoft should clean up on this.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
I would-
You get an Xbox 2 (which I'm gonna buy anyway) and I can surf the web on my HDTV. And it does media, etc. etc.
Good deal for me.
No reason to lie.
Not all parents want their kids to have a gaming machine, though. Some of my friends' parents are dead set against them ever owning a video game console, and yet they own state of the art computers. This will be immediately viewed as a console by parents, if anything because of the X-Box name.
Simply providing an example of someone who wouldn't buy it.
This is Microsoft's attempt to start a Microsoft brand Personal Computer. Since they probably could not undercut companies like Gateway and Dell, they're trying to force their way in through the console industry.
One minute Microsoft is the biggest, evilest monster that ever was, the next, everyone's a fanboy for the Xbox. What's up with that?
They were "fanboys" because it was a $200 PC that could be hooked to the TV and "hacked" to run Linux. It was more of a cheap novelty and a poke at MS than a "fan" thing here.
Now that they might have it purposefully be a computer (for more money) it's not going to be nearly as interesting or attractive to the userbase here.
While it's probably a smart move by MS (and one step closer to Billy coming over your TV every morning to greet you as you awake to his alarm clock) it's not something that I would run out and buy myself.
you think security might be an issue with these puppies
Time Spent using the new Xbox as normal computer: 0 hours a week
Yeah, that's really gonna help kids study at school. Get them a machine specifically made to play the latest and greatest games, with a PC as an afterthought.
This seems like a gimmick to take in the less update-to-date parents, and get them to buy tech toys for their kids.
If your kid is going to school, buying them a gaming platform is probably not a very good idea.
There is no point in fearing the trolls... it is much more fun to let them come out and beat them down with well-thought out arguments.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
If the PowerPC rumours are true (which they appear to be) then that means that Windows will be made for PowerPC. Most likely a 64-bit version as well.
... people get an XBox Next, get Windows Next, and Office Next and IE Next and Outlook Next ... and it is a year before competitors even have a port ready and Microsoft have a monopoly on a whole new area, and then slowly phase out x86 PC support over the next 5 years.
...
I wonder what the first native PowerPC software for "Windows Next" will be? Microsoft software? Yes!
So
Compaq, Dell, etc, have to become XBox Next OEMs to survive after this time.
Microsoft have a 100% strangehold on the market by 2015 - hardware, software, licensing.
We'll be wondering what happened to cheap PCs that we could install Linux on.
Yeah, this might be a pessimistic view of things
If it has all of the capabilities of a standard OEM PC then isn't it a PC?
Not exactly.
Right now, someone at MS is looking at the apextreme PC Consloe and thinks that the next XBOX should have that capibility as well. My guess would be that it would function like the apextreme more than a PC.
They are also watching Sony as well. They have been thinking for a long time to Turn the PS2 into a PC. (Sorry No English, with these pics at least) If Sony doesn't do it with the PS2 then possibly the PS3. Doubtful, but who knows.
If they did build it so it performed much like a PC, with LAN Parties becoming more mainstream, something like this would be intresting, especially if it keeps the same footprint. An XBOX is big but it's still smaller than most PC's and if it can do play anything a PC can play, why lug a PC when you could lug a smaller, lighter XBOX.
on the dev side of things though, PC developers would worship this thing like a god, primarialy since a system like this would be completely standardized hardware wise. (that is if MS makes it so you cant upgrade it.) Thats one of the reasons the XBOX is so crash free. Since every XBOX is the same internal wise, they only have to make sure it works on that hardware alone. On the minus side, however you would see the devs standardize on XBOX Next first, PC second. So their games would probably run with less errors on the XBOX next then on a PC, even though the PC was the main target.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
That was one thought I had. That doesn't necessarily help with existing games, but perhaps something based on Virtual PC for Mac (similar host CPU, different host OS) would be used for that.
eServer iSeries.
And a non-POWER-family line of CPUs before that (running an instruction set called IMPI, which has been claimed to be a System/3x0-ish instruction set).
Yes, the executables are in machine code for a pseudo-machine, and are translated into native code for the machine on which they're being run; see the book Inside The AS/400.
That may be what people are willing to pay to get a console. But this is more than just a console. It's also a computer. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you already own a computer. But if you don't, this will give you both a console (worth ~$300 by your estimates) and a computer, which is probably worth about $300-400 these days. Plus there's the coolness of having the whole thing tied into one system. So you can play both your pc and XBox games in the same place.
"There's a madness to my method." -mthed
On the other hand, if this sort of thing happens, I think we can expect Xbox games with mouse and keyboard support, which would be absolutely the ONLY thing to get me to play first person shooters on it. If the mouse is optical, you can use it on the couch or a bed or another chair and it will do fine so it seems a reasonable peripheral to me. Xbox doesn't have these controllers now because Microsoft doesn't want people thinking of Xbox as a PC. If the new Xbox doesn't have an intel chip, then maybe that removes their objection.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Can you source this? I have only read this once and it sounded like nothing more than a rumor to me.
Win a signed Stephen Carpenter ESP Guitar from the Deftones: http://def-tag.com/?r=0008781
No no no... The problem with the current model is microsoft is stuck making the boxes.
Microsoft, can do better... That is let your OEM's MAKE the boxes. This allows the market to come up with packages to sell into the living room. They will be able to decide whether or not to include media edition, xbox, and other things.
There are many ways to include the xbox, likely for content control it would be a daughter card in the box.
And I for one would want one. I want a PC on my HDTV, and there are no decent solutions yet.
Given that most of the open source projects I care about are humming along already, I could probably get more mileage out of spending the money on rent and bills and taking a couple weeks off to practice my weak and floppy programming skills, and becoming a productive contributor my damn self :)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Maybe we will finally get a "media center" that is compatible with OS X - and the bizarre thing is that it will come from Microsoft.
The only problem is that the OS X end user license only allows installation on "Apple-labeled computers" - so what do you think the chances are that the XBox Next will have an apple on them somewhere?
More of them would do so when they realize their kids could do their homework and email on the same machine. Right now, many people are buying consoles every two years AND a PC every two years. This would basically save the cost of the console.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
All seven of them?!
Mod me offtopic if you want, but I'd like to point out that independent game developers have begun to realize the potential market for games on the Mac.
For example, GarageGames is an independent game publisher whose majority of titles are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. From what I understand, the profits they make from Linux and Mac versions combined comes awfully close to the profits made from Windows versions.
Now, if only larger publishers would see this market, then... well... then I suppose the Mac gaming market would become just as saturated as the PC game market. This could be good or bad, depending on your point of view.
Consoles only come out every 5(?) years and not many parents replace their kids' computers every two years. Most kids have to share the PC with everyone else in the family. And there's always the option of buying just the PC for both games and homework.
It isn't a bad idea but it's too expensive for a restricted PC.
I've been in the computer industry for 20 years. And I would LOVE to use what you just described.
That is what the holy grail of consumer computing has always been. Make it easy, and make sure it doesn't break.
We've made inroads on the 'easy' part, and then it breaks. We keep adding features, but then it isn't easy. Windows can support a gazillion hardware combinations, but then it isn't easy, and it breaks.
I really don't need to upgrade constantly, I'd be thrilled to just have the thing work every time I turn it on.
I'm just tired of dicking with computers- I want them to finally make my life easier..not harder.
No reason to lie.
This is probably going to attract a bit of heat, but I think the Xbox is actually going to do a lot of good for the PC games industry. Let's face it, the PS2 was totally soaring ahead a couple of years ago with almost no competition. It's still big, but there's a second choice now.
The PC games market has been eroding somewhat, due to the high cost of entry, and the fact that most modern games simply won't run properly on even current OEM boxes (i.e. ones with onboard video). You need to spend $200 on a video card to get a game above console quality, unless you're playing titles like Half-Life or Quake 3! Farcry? Forget it, you need to be spending even more.
The Xbox is keeping developers interested in developing games on a PC-like architecture, and this means that they will either develop for the PC first, and tweak over to the Xbox, or vice versa. Simply, it means the PC won't die as a gaming platform, as long as the Xbox is popular, and as long as Microsoft doesn't get too heavy with 'Xbox exclusive' titles.. and considering Halo is out on the PC, this doesn't appear to be the case.
once you mod chip it to run Linux, what apps can you run on it? Surely there's not binary compatability between x86 and XBox style architecture? I'd rather have a PC that can do everything that an XBox can rather than an XBox that can do a very limited amount of things that a PC can.
Here's to finally giving Bush his exit strategy in November
I think Xbox Live is one of the biggest advantages the Xbox has over it's competitors. You wouldn't get that on a regular PC. Internet gaming, yes, but not as polished as Live.
Also, on a PC it seems to be kind of a lottery if a game will run or not. And you have to install the games, add patches etc. On the Xbox, you KNOW all games are gonna run, and you never have to worry about installing patches. Sure, there ARE patches, but they are usually installed automatically. So, yeah, there are a lot of things that make an Xbox better than a PC for gaming.
Martin