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Bill Gates Hints At Xbox 360 Features

Posted by Zonk on from the could-be-a-blender-too dept.

mgbaron writes "Read the first part of Engadget's interview of Bill Gates where topics discussed range from the Xbox 360 to Media Center PCs to Windows Mobile and Microsoft's future involvement in portable devices. On an interesting note, Gates downplays the rumors that the Xbox 360 might itself be a media hub. He instead hints that it might share some of the same features. The second part of the interview will run tomorrow and cover such topics as Blu-Ray and the Tablet PC."

10 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Xenon by turtled · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the article, Bill is calling it Xenon. Is 360 still the public name?

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    "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
    1. Re:Xenon by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Informative
      Xenon is the code name. They haven't officially announced the name yet, so even if it is to be called the Xbox 360, it would be inappropriate for Mr Gates to call it that.

      For the same reason, you'll hear him refer to Longhorn as Longhorn right up until the day it's officially announced it'll be called "Windows ST" (or "Windows QL" or whatever it is called), even if "everyone knows" it's going to be called that well beforehand.

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  2. xbox 180 by Nate+Andrion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think the 360 might only be about half the hype that the community gives it. Lets think here, we are scrambling for info on a device that seems to evade us. The feature list, never found, the community of avid XBox-ers (including myself), are foaming at the mouth for info. Why can't the big M$ release some features officially, so we can brag about our system franchises leetness and not keep digging. I think the seclusion is because of the PS3's already known hardware benefits.

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    I once killed a eSports superstar, then his team killed me for the remaining 29 rounds.
  3. Re:Huh? by hollismb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nah, he define's the 'hub' as the PC. The Xbox simply accesses the hub. Seriously, would you want to store all your music, video, images on an Xbox, or on your PC? What I don't get it Microsoft's obsession with the damn Media Center PC. How many people actually own one of those damn things? If I can't do certain things with my Xbox 360 because I don't run Windows Media Center, well, I'm going to be irritated.

  4. Re:Huh? by DingerX · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article suggests that ol' Bill has another reason not to call it a "media hub". M$ already has a "media center edition" version of Windows XP. It's not vapor here, just a clear case of differentiating the markets. Now, whether the Xbox will be a "crippled" media-center, or whether it will do what you want it to do, we'll see. My guess is that it'll play DVDs, CDs, and let you do multimedia stuff that involves extensive and annoying DRM.
    I also suspect someone's looking at the console market in terms of the iPod phenomenon: people buy iPods to listen to music, not to use the stopwatch feature. Are folks really going to buy a console and expect a HDTV tuner/PVR in there for free?

  5. Re:Huh? by jimi+the+hippie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Makes me think that the only reason it supports all this streaming audio and video from other home computers is because so many people have chipped their XBoxes to give them that functionality.

  6. simple reason why it wont be a media hub by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Microsoft already has bitten into the PC games market with the xbox(The xbox whilst some hardcore console gamers like it , is more popular with the PC gamers IMHO. I have heard many ardent pc gamers saying its the first/only console they like ).

    Most importantly though , they wouldnt want to take away sales from media center PCs , It would cause a major argument with the PC-companys who make Media center PCs if it did .This is quite possibly the reason why Gates is downplaying the media center functionality. Sony would have no such worrys however and may play on that , which could in the end force microsofts hand .. we shall need to wait and see(I doubt nintendo will go that route considering their previous stance on Games only).

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:simple reason why it wont be a media hub by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ;) got me wrong there , as a unix systems admin i understand all to well that computers are for more than games(infact i dont think i play games too often on my various systems).

      Its not the converting of games or vice versa its the target audiance ,The Xbox apeals more to those who use the pc as a games device as opposed to those who use games on consoles.

      This takes out a major upgrade factor from the pc for those gamers.
      Why upgrade your system if all you need is this console that costs 150.
      This bites into a segment of windows sales .

      I use OS X , Linux ( Debian based mainly) , solaris and netBSD. So i am not what you would call a PC hardcore gamer and those systems as of yet are nearly all rather lacking for games(Thanks to many linux ports ,cedega and the wine team , this is begining to change.The Mac always has a fairly good selection though).

      so in sumation , its not the games so much as the appeal

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  7. Xbox Media Center PC by DeadBugs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you are running Windows Media Center 2005 you can already connect your Xbox to it and use it as a satellite media center\hub. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/eva luation/devices/xboxextenderkit.mspx

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  8. Second Part of Interview by LoganEkz · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's now available, posted this afternoon on Engadget.