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Xbox Next to Include PC/Console Hybrid Option?

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the little-from-column-a-and-little-from-column-b dept.

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?"

3 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong audience. by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Would you be willing to pay $600 for a console with all of the capabilities of a standard OEM PC?

    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?
  2. Re:The short, truthful answer? by bigman2003 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
  3. Re:No. by garcia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.