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Microsoft to Release Three Versions of Xbox 2
BlueMoon writes "TheInquirer is reporting that Microsoft plans to release 3 version of the next generation Xbox console: one of which appears to be a fully functioning PC device, the other 2 are closer to a home console - one with a HDD, the other without.
Xbox Next and Xbox Next HD are planned for autumn 2005, the Xbox Next PC is not excepted to show up before autumn 2006."
That's really strange. Are they recompiling XP and key Office apps for the G5, or running everything under an embedded VirtualPC, or doing something entirely new? Because I can't imagine they'll be letting it boot Mac OS X, let alone Yellowdog Linux.
I guess they finally took a hint from the modding and homebrew software community.
Does that mean that some sort of Windows will be ported to the PPC hardware?
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
That PC thing is a smart move. Even if they only pick up a marginal amount of people who don't have PCs now, they might buy a whole new PC later on when they get hooked on the INTARWEB!
Pretty Pictures!
And no, I didn't RTFA, but it's still a silly move, which is a shame since the XBOX was pleasant surprise for MS' first foray into consoles.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
We can hardly be surprised by this. Microsoft has a tendency to release many different versions of their products, often with multitudes of features missing, forcing you to buy their advanced ones.
It's likely that we'll see games that require the Hard Drive for certain functions, or even the fully-fledged XBox PC. People who buy the cheapest model will be forced to upgrade.
Other rumors are that the lower model, without the Hard Drive, will also be not quite as powerful as the other ones. Interesting to see the full specs when they come out.
Lots of Nextboxen coming up!
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
That only rumored that there might be a PC version of the console, though. Nice to see that even the normal version will have an optional HD. That will make pirat^H^H^H^H^Hstoring savegames a lot simpler.
Rob
The reason I have a PS2 rather than a PC for gaming is that when I buy a game I don't want to worry about whether my PC, graphics card, version of DirectX, drivers, etc. will run the game. I don't want to upgrade every six months and spend more time tweaking than playing. I just want to play the damn thing.
Any PS2 game I buy will work on my PS2. Simple as that.
As soon as there's a game that requires a certain specification of PS3 or XBox Next or whatever, it gets messy again. This is a slippery slope.
I get enough stress dealing with compatibilities between L2TP -v- OpenBSD and PDFLib -v- PHP during my day job. I don't want to IT troubleshoot when I get home too.
All you need is Microsoft to refuse to license any games that don't support all of the variants and you don't have that problem.
Everything old is new again!
You could've hired me.
Yes, I'm sure the Xbox Next PC will go over just as well as previous attempts to turn a game console into a PC
One of my favorite features of the Xbox is the built in hard-drive. Developers know everyone has it, so they program for it which in the end means I can listen to my custom soundtracks rather than the shitty EA TRAX...
So this begs the question on whether or not HD-specific features will still be there or will be treated as light gun support. I'm hoping for the former.
Also, did anyone think Xbox Next HD meant high-definition until they read farther? That may not be the best name for it.
But if the game supports "all the variants", then it has to support the lowest common denominator. So then why have the advanced hardware in the first place?
:)
I suppose M$ could just make all game developers put all the code for all the different hardware versions on the same disk. God forbid they have different software versions for all the hardware versions! How many kids will have to return Halo 4 because they got the wrong version for their hardware at home.
Sounds kind of complicated for the dev side. But hey, I'm not a game developer, so what do I know?
Xbox2 Standard,
Xbox2 Professional and
Xbox2 Media Center Edition
That's a very innovative way to approach the different segments of the console market.
'just on the linux front, practically every distribution supports PPC now'
Like Slackware, Fedora, Gibraltar, TSL, JB Linux, Rock, Libranet, Smoothwall, etc?
"Any PS2 game I buy will work on my PS2. Simple as that."
Yeah, but not if you get a PStwo. No hard drive, no FFXI. Sony is on that slippery slope as well.
Consoles are getting complicated. The Nintendo DS is virtually a PDA...
The final Fantasy Online game on the PS2 required a HD. I can imagine having one version of a game working on both machines. It'll just load faster using the hard drive on one and slower on the other. Besides, selling accessories has always been a present in console gaming.
I would conider the HD as a bad example. The games should be able to use both the HD and the memory cards to save things, so you don't have one listed if it isn't there, no big deal.
Of course, then all you have to do is make saves too big to fit on the memory card (I have a few games which do that in the Original Xbox, they won't fit on a offical Xbox 8MB memory card(500 blocks), although they will fit on my 32 or 128 MB usb memory stick (2000 and 8000 blocks). Or you require some things be saved on the HD and refuse to save them to a memory card.
the Xbox Next PC is not excepted to show up before autumn 2006. Darn, I wasn't excepting to have to wait that long.
. . . before the mod chips for the HD version appear?
yea, microsoft is good at making files unessesarily large *COUGH*WORD*COUGH*
...on the entire article. Will play PC games? What the hell for? Why would you go through all the coding and compatibility concerns for a market segment that would make you zero dollars? Money is makd off licensing and selling software, and allowing PC games to be played eliminate those dollars.
An HD and Non-HD version? Yeah right. Let's segment the console market, that's always a good idea. (See Sega CD, 32X, the PS2 HD, etc.) Developers wouldn't bother writing things to use the HD if they knew everyone didn't have one, or that it's just a small part of the market.
Xbox Live has content download as one of its main features, and this requires local storage. Releasing a stripped down version of Xbox 2 would eliminate that feature for most people, and we all know Xbox Live's features will carry over to the next Xbox, so I'd count that whole two-version deal out as well.
Overall, I find the article to be a bunch of crap, which makes sense considering the name of the site.
The device will also play most available PC games.
Ohhhh k, so I'll be able to play Half Life 2 on this XBox which runs a PowerPC CPU?
Sounds bogus to me
Whatever happened to:
1. Xbox2 without HD and not backwards compatible
2. Xbox2 without HD but backwards compatible
3. Xbox2 with HD but not backwards compatible
4. Xbox2 with HD and backwards compatible
And I have not even mentioned the variants due to Thompson, Philips and Samsung
You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.
Forcing somebody to buy ANY XBox2 would involve something along the lines of putting a gun to their head and saying "Buy it or die".
Offering different versions forces nothing. The consumer is free to buy or not buy any one iteration.
You remind me of the whiners who always complain about the different editions of DVDs. First they come out with the standard, then the extended, then the Director's, FORCING you to buy it three times.
Bullshit.
Nobody is forced to buy anything. Don't want it? Don't buy it. Want it? Buy it.
It's very simple.
Hmm.. regular xbox users just wanted a faster xbox with their HDD and LAN in it, modders wanted a "cheap PC/console" combo and japanese wanted a small/ take anywhere no hdd console with no pc traces (very few japanese game developers code in PC) Why not make 3 versions and please everyone? doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
Seriously, a PC that can do office work, 3d models and play HL2, doom3 and Halo 2(3) on the same case? count me in! I wont even look at the price tag twice! (but of course Im a computer geek, my brother would definetily go for option 3)
Anyway I would take this with quite a substantial ammount of salt, after all is written in "the enquirer" no less. And from an NDA document? isn't the "Xenon" going to be released next year? Shouldnt MS make an statement around this time themselves?. I would hold my breathe until I see a official announcement.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
And it will also come with a handsome carry case and easy to store tripod.
:-)
iXbox2
Naw I'm no fancy shmancy programmer from tha Valley like my colleague here -BAKCKAAAK- but it seems a trite odd that this Xbax 2 won't play Xbax 1 games because has something called a PahwaPC chip. Yet, -BAKCAAK- it can play PC games fahne as the day is braght? Now being the simple country chicken that I am, I may not know what an Xbax even is. But I humbly submit that something smells in the kitchen and it ain't momma's cooking. The Inquiahah is not exactly a shahnin example of what they call in the big city "journalistic intagratah."
My case -BACAKAAA- rests your honah.
You obviously don't have an Xbox or you might understand what a hd does for a console a bit better.
Using a memory card is a laughable alternative.
Way to go microsoft. Right after you launch your big game you put this generation behind you.
Save Swimmy
I've always wondered why MS didn't do this before. They get in trouble because they force a closed software system on an open hardware platform? The solution is simple, change the platform. Use all sorts of DRM/encoding/encrypting stuff and make it fairly self-contained, if simple.
If anyone buys software for the thing, MS gets 100% of the money for that (apart from existing game titles). That's what they've wanted for a long time now! And no pesky laws to get in the way; except for the pesky laws that MS will put in place to keep other software off the box.
Maybe the XBox to them was just an experiment to prove they can take the hardware loss and still make money on the software.
Very few of US will be sucked into that loop though, I'm sure, right guys? RIGHT?
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
This is an interesting idea on microsoft's part, i'm guessing that they see the margins apple are making on their systems and want a slice of that sweet, sweet pie. From their position i'm guessing all they can see are positives, including that they will be able to completely control the software and hardware to completely illiminate piracy on any (internet connected) system, and they get the xbox2 software catalogue available on it without trying, as long as they don't stuff it up and tell the devs they can target any of the systems rather than just the lowest common denominator. Also a plus for them is being able to force updates to software to stop people hanging back on "less secure" programs that have less restrictions, ie media player 8 vs media player 9, so they can start really pushing rights restricted media. All this and they get to sell it as a cheap games system AND word processor/browser, I think they'll get a few bites.
This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
Yes the hard drive in the XBox have other uses, but for most people they are only going to see them as memory card replacements, XBox Live content holders and soundtrack holders(a big use of the hard drive that can't be done with memory cards). The games will use the cache space offered, but the user doesn't need to know that.
It is only a small part of the population that use them for other uses.
They might be really refering to Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, 1600 blocks a save.
Play Halo 2 and understand how nice having a HD is :)
One load time at the start of the level, then play 30+ minutes without seeing another load screen. Play an entire act without a load screen... awesome stuff. Without the HD Halo 2 couldnt possibly cache the entire level into memory. Its amazing what it does for the pacing of the game. (makes me wonder why Fable didnt do a similar thing, being xbox only)
I refuse to have a sig... dammit!
I dunno. I just read the Game Informer dead-tree edition review, and both reviewers mentioned the lack of loading times. The lead review specifically said that you can play the entire single-player campaign without seeing a single loading screen.
Nice job by Bungie if they pulled it off. Shame on GI if they're wrong.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
This is a bit convoluted but if you hang with me for a bit you may find it persuasive.
I am going to meander a bit with the notion that MS will have by far the lowest development and production costs and will consequently be able to control pricing for the industry, to the point where it can profit where the competition is suffering and ultimately reduce them to an 'Apple' like threat- practically nullify them. At the same time it seems that MS will get the most out of what it has spent.
1.We can all probably agree that MS had had great success with its online experience and will likely successfully leverage that in the next generation- it will be a great head start
2.Through XNA and the attempt to use ISA slots, ports, interfaces etc. MS saves by not having engineer proprietary solutions
3.Licensing PPC was a steal for MS. The global IP cross licensing agreement with Apple, and the acquisition of Connectix means that MS has the equivalent of a great institutional memory + great experience for PPC & PPC/Intel compatibility it also gets increased leverage in the embedded PPC.
4.Of the three makes, MS owns by far the best development environment, it won't have to be licensing this or paying for it, on the contrary other will be paying MS.
5.Of course the same goes for the OS, MS owns it.
6.MS also owns what will be the key codec in HD optical disks, equivalent to the OS for these systems and competitors will be paying MS royalties for this.
7.MS bought the SGI patent portfolio which means the work with ATI will be practically free because ATI's work is a derivative of SGI IP and it also means that Sony (we will get to this) will also be paying MS royalties for PS3 graphics.
8.MS will make great use of the economies of scale and comparative advantage provided by the Asian tigers ala TMSC and others and this will not be matched in the foreseeable future by foundries and manufacturing operations native to Japan.
9.MS will use PC expandability experience to introduce first and eliminate any side effects from introducing first- this means the competition will be denied any advantage to waiting- they will find that they are painted as copy cats (more on that) which hurts their good will. It will be possible to buy a stock model Xenon or higher spec models but the stock model will be upgradeable to the highest
specification.
10. Its expected that MS will introduce Xenon in layers. Here is my guess on that: Xenon will ship with 10 gigabyte (not bit) of flash ram from M Systems, but will have space for a snap in HD. The same goes for the DVD, which I expect to easily be swapped for a slide in HD-DVD replacement when cost and introduction permit. I further expect that there will be extra RAM slots so that memory can be upgraded to something like a gigabyte of RAM. I also expect that the system will be Wireless USB equipped or WUSB out of the box but will also accept a snap in WiMAX adapter for broadband (possibly PCMCIA format.) A lot of effort will be put into making sure expansion options fit into the compactness of the actual unit, vice adding to clutter. This may sound exotic and these expansion options add some expense but they are nothing that can't be done with an iMac.
11. In terms of software and software development, games will be a major application for the new Media center PCs (Gateway has the BTX format 820GM and HP has a CES style Media PC out) they will use XNA, which will benefit the breadth of software available for Xenon. Xenon PC will wait for Longhorn, in part to give the more important and expensive living room PCs a better hold.
12. Neither Sony nor Nintendo are head quartered in the US and that means that MS
will not be subject to enforceable anti trust as was the case with MS versus Apple. The EU is an incredibly important market but undisciplined behavior in the US market, or worse rewards that offset EU efforts will be destabilizing for
the competition.
I have read so many things that
Interesting move. I hadn't seen it coming, but I guess it makes a certain degree of sense. If I were to offer some predictions (or rather, guesses), they'd be:
After the initial silly-prices of the first month or two after release have passed, the HDD-less X-Box 2 will be pretty cheap, maybe around the $100 mark. This will be intended as a direct competitor to whatever console Nintendo puts out next. The HDD version will probably follow a price curve similar to the original X-Box's and will be the main competitor to the PS3. The "PC" version will be a good bit more expensive, maybe around $400-500.
All three will be able to play the same games. You won't need a specific version to play a particular game. However, certain features will only be available on the higher level versions. You'll need the HDD-version to use X-Box Live (or maybe just downloadable content) and you'll probably need it for DVD playback (no technical reason for this, but it just sounds plausible). Obviously, the HDD-version will be needed for custom soundtracks and the like.
MS will put out some memory cards. These will be primarily be for use on the no-HDD version, where they'll be necessary for saves, but they'll also be usable in the other versions, for moving saves etc between consoles. MS would be mad to miss out on the profit opportunities from memory cards again.
As for sales, the cheaper non-HDD version will probably make the fastest start. Consoles, at least here in the UK, tend to have ridiculous prices for the first few months, so many early-adopters, especially parents buying for kids, will go for the cheapest version. Nintendo will probably see a further erosion of their market share; not a catastrophe, but probably enough to make them consider refocussing all of their energy on the handheld market. Over time, the "mid range" HDD-version will become the dominant version. In terms of sales, it won't rival the PS3, but it will be a credible 2nd place. I don't really see the X-Box PC having more than novely value, although I'm sure it'll get a good bit of interest from home-brewers etc.
Of course, this is just idle speculation. I'm assuming both that this story is true and that MS don't make any cock-ups like having a dire range of launch titles. Be interesting to see how it pans out.
I know I'm a little late to this party, but this surely is a recipe for failure! Multiple versions of the Xbox! That's crazy, and the one thing that can almost certainly guarantee disaster. This can only confuse consumers and developers.
Developers will end up developing for the lowest common denominator and the high end Xboxes will end up sitting on the store shelves gathering dust. Sony has just got to love the way Microsoft is determined to shoot itself in the foot!
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