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Microsoft May License Out XBox Software
myheroBobHope writes "Apparently, Microsoft may license Xbox software to 3rd parties. Could this lead to the death of the standalone console? With the possibility of Media PC's with XBox software installed on them, why bother buying an Xbox?" From the article: "Gates hasn't offered specifics about the kind of software or which companies would be involved. He also hasn't said whether the arrangement will involve manufacturers making products other than game machines, such as digital consumer electronics gadgets that combine PC functions with home appliances." Update: 07/01 13:48 GMT by Z : From a comment by StingRay02, a link to a Gamespot article in which MS says this won't happen.
Hm, so if they licenced to be embedded in the PS3...
Darth Bill: Join me, and together we can rule the universe as Father and Sony
The death of standalone consoles have been predicted before-with hand-helds, with PCs. It won't happen this time because it didn't happen last time.
Before you walk a mile in someone's shoes, you should insult them so you know how they are and what they're doing.
I mean when CDI and 3DO did this, it completely elminated the standalone console....oh wait.
Think of a Tivo with a Xbox 360 build in. That would be something I might want. Other than that I cant think of any other devices.
To me this just seems like a grab at some media attention. Heaven forbid that everyone stops talking about company Z for a few minutes. Perhaps they're just throwing it out there to see how Sony and Nintendo react to the proposition.
If they do, do this it's win-win for Microsoft all the way. First they get money when anyone wants to add Xbox functionality to whatever device they want. Then they get money whenever anyone buys an Xbox game to play on that piece of hardware. They don't have to worry about anything but counting all the money that rolls in.
Since Microsoft has poured a lot of money into the Xbox 360, they really need to make it succeed. They can't go on having the Xbox lose money all the time. This means they can't really spent much effort with their current generation machine once it launches. Since it runs on and Intel chip, which a lot of PCs use anyway, it shouldn't be hard to create an Xbox Virtual Machine or have someone else buy the rights to create one to run on some other type of hardware. Microsoft has just found a way to continue expanding the Xbox platform without having to do any work. Even if it's a failure, it doesn't hurt Microsoft as much because they're not directly involved.
It'll be interesting to see what comes of this.
Microsoft has already denied this is going to happen.
With the possibility of Media PC's with XBox software installed on them, why bother buying an Xbox?
Given that Microsoft loses money on the consoles and profits from the games, I don't see a problem.
Why don't the editors on /. at least think this stuff through before they post.
Just yesterday, I was playing my DS and thinking a little about the whole Nintendo v. Sony thing, and I wondered whether Microsoft would ever enter the handheld game market. Reflecting on it, I realized that a) they're going to wait until the next generation (duh) and b) they're likely to follow their usual MO, which is to release a spec and let someone else build it. In other words, PocketPC -> PocketGB.
To be honest, it's a little strange that MS decided to enter the hardware market with the XBox. I wouldn't be surprised to find that they'd prefer for someone else to start taking the however many hundred dollar loss on the individual consoles. The biggest problem with the strategy is that the price of the hardware is inflated, since the manufactures are unwilling to take a loss if they don't get a cut from the software sales. Also, having a lot of different manufactures could confuse consumers. Still, this sounds much more like the way MS likes to work: stand back, let other people bust their asses cutting prices on hardware, and collect a fee off of every item sold.
Wow! If Microsoft does this, then even Infinium Labs will be able make a game console!
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
Yes Zonk, we know you love the Xbox. We know you'd like said love to spread. We get it.
So now I'll be able to finally put my cartridges in the toaster?
Didn't we see this already with the Nintendo Gamecube? What was that DVD player that would let you play GC games?
Anyways... nobody bought it last time 'round, so what makes anyone believe someone is going to this time?
Maybe they are trying to make up for the lackluster sales performance of Windows XP Media Edition.
I went out to Best Buy today and bought TimeSplitters 3. I drove home and put the disc into my GameCube. I fired it up, turned on progressive scan and wide screen, and it was set.
No installation, no patching, no bullshit.
Don't get me wrong; I love my PC games. But when I'm in the mood for something to really just work, I turn to my trusty consoles. I've treated mine well and never had a failure.
I also treat my computer well, but HDD space and system requirements often stand in the way of just wanting to sit down and play a game. With a console, I never worry about how much room I have left or if I need to turn down the detail to gain framerate.
They fill two different needs.
It can't happen, unless they're talking about releasing an official Xbox 1 emulator/loader for PC's. This would not Xbox 360 software licesned.
If it exists, it would only be Xbox 1 released. Possibly a good idea, this would give new life to a dead system, sorta like Microsoft's version of the PSone. Release Xbox Jr as software or possibly a bootable disc for PC's that match the specs of Xbox 1. Give it to PC hobbyists and game enthusiasts, since today's gaming PC's are x86-based and dwarf the specs of the Xbox 1 console.
But if we're talking an Xbox 360 emulator/loader for PC's, then this is where the "Can't" comes up. Xbox 360 games are compiled for PowerPC architecture, not x86. The Xbox 1 and the Xbox 360 are as different as an Intel PC and a Mac. So the only platform you could theoretically make this software Xbox 360 for is a Mac.
You know what? I don't buy it. X-Box software running on non-Power CPUs? FUD and vaporware, that's my gut feeling, here. A tactical strike against the PS3.
Look at the markets where embedded devices work, and where they don't.
Embedded VCR's sold well - provided you only wanted a 13-inch TV. They failed to sell well when the TV was any bigger. Why? Because they were only space-efficient at the point where you had that tiny a TV. Rednecks living in trailer parks and college students living in dorms, who couldn't fit anything bigger than a 13" TV into their living space anyways, bought TV's with VCR's built in. Everyone else bought a TV, bought a VCR, and were quite happy to have them separate.
Plus, everyone who had a separate VCR never had to worry about what to do when the inevitable happened and the VCR ate a tape or had a belt slip. Most of the 13" TV's with a built-in VCR couldn't even BE repaired because they weren't built for anyone to open them up.
Embedded gaming systems have been around for ages. Where do you find them? Hotels. Pay-per-play Nintendo, SNES, or even Playstation titles built into your hotel's TV in case you get bored watching their ultra-stripped-down cable that gets all the boring local channels plus CNN and the in-house pay per view movie channels.
In home theaters what do you find? People want their components separate. They buy a DVD player separate from the TV. Even if the DVD player came as a set with the speaker system, it's removable - you can plug another DVD player or something else into the sound system just as easily.
Why do they do this? Because modular systems work best.
Think about it seriously. Say you buy a nice, 36" TV. You want your TV to work with your DVD player, your Xbox, your Gamecube, your Revolution, whatever else you hook up to it.
You want to know that three years from now, the TV still works and you can hook up something new to it. You want to know that if your DVD player is on the fritz you can unplug the DVD player, plug something else in, and go.
The LAST thing you want is to have to take the TV in for servicing because the Xbox part broke down. Now not only can't you play your Xbox games, you can't do anything ELSE until it comes back from the repair shop because your TV had to go with it.
These will sell well to hotels but if someone thinks they're going to sell any appreciable number to home consumers they're delusional.
how long until we see some George Foreman lean mean gaming machines?
of consoles the dedicated, standardised and predicatable hardware? Licensing the software will either degrade the quality of the games produced, as developers are forced to support a wider range of hardware, or worse, a broken end user experience, as people struggle with the boxes, trying to decide if game X will run on console X. Its a stupid idea, so I expect Microsoft to get behind it 100% in a failed attempt to prove everybody wrong.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
I just hope they enforce certain requirements on the hardware... The nice thing about consoles has always been that each one is more or less identical, which means no time is needed to test bugs for different hardware options and they can be optimized to levels which would be impractical, if not impossible, to support on multiple platforms.
I have been in the videogame industry a long time, and no single area would give a company the entire win than in embedding their console in consumer electronics (either right into the TV or into DVD players). I have been saying for years that once someone does this (and makes it available cheap enough) the install base and license fees would be astronomic.
I still see the Gamecube or the Revolution to be possible candidates for this, and with almost all of the electronics being made over there they would have an instant cradle-to-grave solution. If the console was no longer a seperate machine, and basically standardized, who wouldn't buy a DVD player that would let them suddenly play an entire library of games over a standard DVD player? If then each of those people bought even two or three games total, the sales would be amazing. Microsoft and Sony will price themselves out of the game, and Ninty would be laughing all the way to the bank.
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Apple releases Mac OS X for Intel.
Microsoft releases XBOX 360 for PPC?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
GE: Thank you for General Electric how can I help you?
Caller: Yeah, um, I'm trying to play Halo 3 on my Spacemaker IV microwave, and it keeps popping up with a blue screen after the opening movie.
GE: What?
Caller: Halo 3. I just bought it to play while I microwave my cheese sticks. That way I don't have to get up to grab 'em.
GE: I see. Please hold (5 minute wait) We don't support Xbox related inquiry's you'll have to call Microsoft for that. Their number's 555.555.5555
-------
Microsoft: (Indian Accent) Thank you for calling Microsoft how can I help you?
Caller: Yeah got Halo 3, trying to play it on my GE microwave with no luck. It keeps bluescreening after the intro movie.
Microsoft: What is the model number?
Caller: Its a Spacemaker IV
Microsoft: Please hold (5 minute wait) What is the firmware?
Caller: The what?
Microsoft: *Sigh* Below the model number on the front panel there is a number what is it?
Caller: Oh, I see it 4.33.2
Microsoft: You'll have to update your firmware over the internet, you'll need to call GE for that.
And so it would continue... OpenGL let your grace save us all from this gaming hell.