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Xbox 2 Concept Designs Leaked?
An anonymous reader writes "Two new images of what are reported to be Xbox 2 concept designs and logos , have recently been found on the internet. The designs are said to have been released by an anonymous tipster who claims to be part of a focus group for the Xbox 2. The anonymous member reports that he has more concept designs ready to release in the near future." Doesn't look to me like there's much credibility here, but they still look pretty.
Okay, at the moment the webserver is spitting out 503s, but let's consider the nature of this content. It's what the game console's *case*, a bit of molded plastic, might be made to look like. To be blunt, why does this matter? What gamer is concerned whether or not his game console has a red stripe or a blue stripe on it?
Not only that, but even the technical specs (which haven't, AFAIK, been finalized yet) *still* wouldn't mean that much, even if they're a titch higher than the competitors (especially given the least-common-denominator nature of ports). I've played some awfully good games on low-spec systems (Heck, Tetris and Sobokan can be played on character-based systems, and the two still beat a ton of modern games in terms of fun and hours of enjoyable gameplay.)
Even the previews that you get of games rarely have useful data in terms of informational content. No, it isn't until this beast is out and reviews for games start coming in that there's going to be really useful data about the XB2.
May we never see th
This is like pointing at a random article of concept art in a car manufacturer's library and saying "Introducing the new 2006 Chevy."
Could it be? Yes, but so are the other 1000 art pieces. Would it be? Highly unlikely.
A chance snapshot of a working Xbox2 prototype would be news, but this is Concept Art! Heck, I could go fireup LightWave and make you a new Xbox2 as well.
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
If they want to continue to grow they must make the XBOX2 "moddable".
I think they're going to fight tooth and nail to make sure the XBOX2 is NOT moddable. They've traditionally sold the hardware at a loss, and made up for it in software. In their eyes, modchips are lost software revenue and only pirates use them.
DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
No, the reason the X-Box has been so successful is because of marketing - people think it's a good games console (and it is). Modding consoles is still a "minority sport", modders themselves accounting for a relatively small portion of total sales.
Yeah, me too. They've already assimilated enough people to be that size ;). But seriously now. Aren't we all passed this "console gaming fad" by now? Console software has gotten so mainstream, that it borders on the same bland universally applicable edge that modern movies do (or at least its getting that way fast). I thought consoles were great until I realized that the ONLY "innovations" that are really happening are just more polys/sec (wooh). Oh well, your money. Have fun.
Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
Back that up with some sources. The only figures I've seen (magazines performing questionnaries etc) point to almost 50% of all Xboxes being chipped/flashed/softmodded etc.
60 per cent of hardcore Xbox gamers have had their machine chipped (but be sure to check this thread out in response to that)
I don't know a single person with an Xbox that's not chipped, and I know quite a lot of Xbox owners. I have three myself - one in each room, connected via network to the computers so I can stream movies/music to whatever projector/tv-set I happen to be near by.
I do happen to know a bit on how many modchips are sold world-wide, and, seriously. "Minority" isn't the word we're looking for.
Obviously you don't get out much. Why do you think people buy BMWs when they could simply mod a Honda Civic and get the same performance? It's the experience of having a damn sexy car that feels damn good to drive. We, as a society, like pretty things (iPods, IKEA, Jaguar). Even *gasp* hardcore gamers love to make their PC pretty--in their own way--with neon lights and other mods.
If we didn't like pretty things so much, our economy would collapse pretty darn quickly. The presentation of the new X-Box is not necessarily a deciding factor, but it's definitely a persuasive one.
-- n
Will they use USB this time? Always wondered why neither Playstation2 nor XBox used USB for the controllers, after all they already have USB on board so why not use it and go proprietary instead? Do they really make any additional money out of this, especially since PC users can't use the gamepads for PC use without buying a converter first? Or is this just to lock out 'unworthy' gamepads in advanced so that users don't plugin their PC gamepads with not enough buttons into the console and then complain?
One of the most important things that has made XBOX a somewhat sucess is the ability to mod it.
An example of typical Slashdot mentality. The ONLY thing that makes the Xbox successful in terms of sales are the games, which feed off of a flexible platform. And even then it is apparently not profitable. If you believe the sales of Xboxes are driven by modders, you're nuts.
"'One of the most important things that has made XBOX a somewhat sucess is the ability to mod it.'
Actually, that made it a spectacular failure."
I still haven't seen anything to pull me away from the third option: the small community of XBox modders hasn't had any significant impact on the success or failure of the XBox, or Microsoft's probability.
Well, that was a very ignorant statement. You know nothing of this person and you just called them a bad parent, even though you admitted that you don't even know if they are a parent. Please think before you type.
You know that Gord isn't actually a god, right? Just like he was wrong with the Gamecube, he is wrong about the PS2 (though less so, at least). To make it to the US release on time, most of the PS2 consoles were quickly shipped by air. Needless to say, this is very very expensive, and Sony in no way recouped that cost when selling the initial PS2 shipments.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
Situation for ya. Not even hypothetical:
I am an American citizen. Good ol' USA. Or something. I have a job that has me living in South Korea right now. So I either have to own 2 of every hardware that reads region-encoded media to deal with all of my perfectly legally purchased DVDs and games, both here and back in the states, or I can just buy one hardware and force it to read all regions. A nice byproduct being that I can get this one hardware to also read more types of media, but that's neither here nor there.
In the near future my job could easily have me working in Europe. That's another region. So I'd either have to buy more hardware to deal with that region, or just use my regionless hardware that I already had.
Doesn't sound plausible? Just ask any US Soldier.
That's exactly what MS wants to prevent. There is no money in having someone else make software for your system without paying licensing costs to be a mainstream game. Just because fan-generated content is often more innovative or stimulating than that which is pumped through the XBox marketing machine, does not mean that it fits the business model of the XBox (which is to practically give the hardware away, and then rake it in on selling 'official XBox' game status).
"Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
Okay, I know I'm ignoring the "Don't feed the..." signs, but... Why would I buy a PC for a grand or so, when I can buy an XBox for 150, do pretty much the same stuff, and have it on a much bigger screen.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
We, as a society, like pretty things (iPods, IKEA, Jaguar).
IKEA is good design value-for-money, but it is definitely world class design. They are simply not in the game of groundbreaking nor exclusive design.
Why do you think people buy BMWs when they could simply mod a Honda Civic and get the same performance?
Indeed this is what you get when you buy IKEA. Modded second-class furniture that almost looks like first-class furniture. But it's good price-performance, so people buy it.
LOL - well this has turned into a fairly interesting (if odd) thread.
/I/ use it, or whether it's legal for /me/ to do so. I have no interest in gambling on the odds of other people being honest, either. IMHO, you're probably right and the vast majority of users are thieves and miscreants. Nevertheless, modchips don't pirate software, people do.
/rated/ appropriate for their age! How often does that happen?
Because people appear to be interested in details - here they are. I am a parent, though not of the children who presumably scratch the discs. While said children (who were sired by relatives and friends of mine) are being supervised, the games are invariably handled with care and respect. Yet *somehow* they still get scratched - usually the fault of the invisible "Not Me!" ghost often referred to in the Family Circus(c) comic strip.
IMHO - the damage being done to my property is unrelated to my parenting skills or possible lack thereof. It would not be reasonable to supervise children playing with a toy 100% of the time, especially when they are 'old enough' to be responsible for themselves and their own conduct. FWIW, I happen to think I'm a reasonable broad-minded yet firm parent, who is doing as good a job as possible, given my daughter's circumstances. If you are truly interested in those circumstances, go ahead and PM me but I suspect that you realize by now that this is not relevant to the topic.
On the topic of the modchip - I don't really care what other people do with it. It shouldn't affect how
As for the suggestion of 'locking it up', well that's a real fine idea but makes the idea of having a distraction (a.k.a. 'TOY') available for visiting children a significant pain-in-the-a** where allowing them to play a backup is little or no trouble whatsoever. I have no incentive or interest in placing additional controls on the behaviour of visiting children while they're playing. BTW - the kids that play these games are actually only playing games
In closing, I would respectfully suggest that those who take issue with my parenting based on the comments prior and above should likely have a good close look in the mirror. You likely have avoidance issues that relate to some of your own problems. I would suggest you seek professional help, but me diagnosing your mental state in a Slashdot forum is only slightly more reasonable than your treatment of me. In fact, I would guess based on your comments that you're only slightly older than the children I refer to - probably in your late teens with no concept whatsoever of what a good parent is - perhaps you're the product of a single-parent situation. It would explain a lot of your anger.
Feels good to have other people making assumptions about you, doesn't it?
Regards,
JustDisGuy (*-yes, male!)
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor