Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Confirms Work Begun on Next Xbox
Via 1up, an interview with Chris Lewis, head of Xbox Development in Europe. Along with some interesting discussion of X06 and aiming games at European markets, Lewis confirms what most people could reasonably expect: Microsoft is already hard at work on the next Xbox system. From the 1up article: "'You can't sit back on your laurels in this business - the consumer won't let you, the developers certainly won't let us. So that's happening right now,' ... In order to remain competitive, hardware manufacturers have to start thinking about the next cycle the moment work finishes on the current one. Ideas for the following generation were likely generated during the development of Xbox 360, and you can surely bet the same situations cropped up in the R&D rooms of Sony and Nintendo while working on PlayStation 3 and Wii."
The XBox 360 is ALREADY outdated? :P
I mean really, I don't want to buy a console that I know is just going to be replaced so soon.
C'mon now, the new console is 4 to 6 years off at least. Technology gets better and cheaper all the time. Uncross your eyes and get some perspective.
Fear is the mind killer.
That'll show the people who said MS was only getting into the console business to milk people on the hardware treadmill!
This guy's the limit!
I think one thing is obvious about the next XBox: it won't have an optical drive. I would expect it to just have permenant storage (hard drive, possibly based on future technology) and use an internet conneciton to get games. We are getting close to there right now, so by the time the next XBox comes out in 4-6 years it should be well into prime-time for that. If MS can do as good a job with that as they have done with Live they will have a very nice package (assuming things continue as status quo).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Before the GameCube came out (before it was even called the GameCube) there were already plans underway for the underlying technology under the Wii's (Revolution's) hood. The power of the Playstation 3 was already demonstrated about the time that the PS2 hit the market. The major names in the console market never sit idly and just watch their sales; they're always working on the next major step. Even in Windows, we see this... The successor to Vista is already under development, and has been for quite some time.
I'll probably be modded for redundancy, but it's a point that I wanted to make clear.
/* No Comment */
The Xbox 360 is selling worse than the first Xbox after blowing around 5 billion. And they have already lost 1.6 billion just this first year on the 360 and have pushed back their best case estimate of turning a profit to at least 2008. And have no chance of ever even remotely making back the money they have lost to keep the two consoles alive in the market.
The failure of the first Xbox was rationalized away as "just trying to break into the market - didn't care about winning or losses". Yeah right. It's like a team coming away from the World Series saying they didn't care about winning and they were just happy to put a good first showing in. And the failure of the new Xbox to do any better is being rationalized as "pretty good for such an expensive console".
Console hardware is clearly not an area that Microsoft has competence in. Microsoft has had six years of flat to declining stock price and a complete failure of finding new markets to fuel stock growth. And now they are looking at the 360 continuing to generate huge amounts of red ink for most of its life and then another hugely expensive console project?
Yeah, and operating system and application bloat has matched increased processing power step for step.
The strategy of the original XBOX was based on what Sony tried to do with their PlayStation 2 console - instead of being just a game console they wanted to be an entire family entertainment Hub.. No console yet has satisfied that goal, or even come close in my mind. 360 is getting better with their live content, but it is still HIGHLY lacking.
... Where is the iTunes relative content? I want to download a *WIDE* variety of TV shows, Videos, Music, etc on DEMAND (sorta like cable TV.) That's where the next step is going - You won't need cable, because everything you want to watch you'll be able to pull down from live the day after it airs. Of course, this is possible with the current 360 now, so shouldn't be much of a surprise.
/opinion
The normal lifecycle of these consoles is ~5years. It doesn't surprise me in the least that they would start the planning stages already - it will give them a legup on being first to market with the NextGen when the time comes. In this industry that type of advantage creates major waves - just look at how it worked for the 360 compared with the (not yet released) PS3. If the PS3 came out first and had some decent launch games, I might have picked it up and skipped the 360 (thank god for favorable coincidences!)
So the next XBOX will have (dun dun dun!) more powerful Graphics than the 360, PS3, or Wii (gee that was hard to guess.) Beyond that I see them really expanding on the LIVE portion of their service. Right now they offer games, demos, and weak selection of music and videos(mostly game related)
Of course, it will likely be first to market with the 'latest and greatest' tech stuff... i.e. today we have BluRay vs HD-DVD.. In 5 years who knows what the new 'hot' tech thing is, but im sure the XBOX will have some of it. I'd expect it to highly integrate with the ZUNE (which is probably where/when the music content will really ramp up on the system.)
Long story short (too late), they only have things to gain in terms of preparing this early for the next Gen console, and likely all of us consumers will benefit because of it - Longer development (hopefully) means better quality overall, and they won't need to rush in order to enter the market behind the frontrunners.
Its Deluxe, son. Deluxe!
Your right.
We, as a nation of sheep, welcome our next big money drain, and poison to the hearts and limbs of the obese.
Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
Of course they're working on a new system. Inevitably during any project you have to draw a line and say "This is as far as we go." Anything beyond that goes into the next iteration. Video game systems are part of a cycle. If you want to stay in the game you always have to be looking at least 5 years down the road.
-- Flaw
For the love of god, don't fucking start shortening the god damned fucking release cycles again you bastards!
I've said it a thousand times.
The Xbox 1 is a 4.5 year old unit, it's by far the most powerful and some still quite attractive games are released for it - yet it was the FIRST to get a replacement?! - Value for money? Hello
JUST as it was taking off properly, Microsoft shot it - way too early and now they are wondering why people hesitate to purchase the X360./
The PS2 on the other hand is damn near 6 years old now and substantially less powerful than the Xbox yet it's replacement is STILL not out - value for money is GOOD, sure it's time for a PS3 but I feel anyone who bought a PS2 at launch (if it lasted, that's a seperate matter) got value for money.
Now I can understand researching the Xbox 360 replacement but if those motherfuckers release it Nov 2009, only 4 years after the X360 I'll be pissed, especially considering how little support the Xbox 1 has received in the past 12 months.
The X360 should be thoroughly "milked" as long as possible - gives US value for money and THEM money cause we buy it, plus we'll consider the Xbox 3 or whatever if the X360 is properly supported.
Considering the track record so far though,........
Hardware HDR. Just give us a really broad palette to work with, and handle the HDR on-chip.
I think that's a reasonable request.
Profile login on a Sim card in the controller. The Xbox 1 had the right idea, but they milked the memory card price too much. Register your controller on the network by popping in a tiny / cheap sim card.
Network Storage. My web host offers 400 GB of storage and a ridiculous amount of bandwidth for not much more than a Live Gold account. Drop the hassle of memory cards, jump to Sim cards, and store the basic game info remotely.
I can't agree with either of those though, I think that's just something that sounds cool but wouldn't be practical.
Having storage online would mean I wouldn't be able to continue saved games when there is a network problem or when X-Box live is down for maintenance (as it was last night, for hours!), which would be too annoying. If you've got a username/password already (and your X-Box can remember that, which it can) their really isn't any need to have a sim card with that information on it.
The only use I can see would be taking it round to a friends house to record the result of any two player games (and maybe as a gimmick tied into store promotions, etc). Maybe it would be useful in a household with multiple users of the X-Box. While something like that would be cool I suspect the percentage of people who'd make use of a 'roaming profile' is very small. I think the existing system works really well and everyone seems happy with it.
Pad-based controller recharging.
The current system on the 360 is already as good as it's going to get - if the battery is flat the game auto-pauses, and plugging in the cord allows you continue playing and re-charges the controller while you play. Something like induction mat charging for PDA's and phones is worth while exploring, but it makes no sense for a controller as then you wouldn't be able to use it while it's charging.
Game Modding and user-created content. I don't know how this would happen, but it needs to happen.
I imagine it could happen fairly easily using a system like X-Box live market place, where users could vote to rank content. I think Microsoft just need need to open up the market place a bit more and make it easier for individual developers / small teams to get content listed (though I'd still like to see quality control in place).
Physics co-processor. There is enough particles bouncing these days that we should have some special purpose iron to help with the load.
I agree the next generation should definately support a hardware accelerated physics engine, though I suspect something integrated into the GPU is how it's going to go. The interactivity in the PC version of GRAW really made it stand out against the 360 version (which I thought was otherwise generally superior). I'm not sure if it's the case, but it seemed like they'd already pushed the X-Box so far graphically (certainly for a near-launch title) there just wasn't more 'oomf' left for the more complex physics of the PC version (which comparatively, doesn't look quite as good I would say - due to differences in the lighting).
While the technology in GRAW was certainly more than 'good enough' to deliver superb gameplay, I would be disappointed not to see a great deal more interactivity in the next generation of console games, though I expect their will be titles on the 360 and PS3 that will feature some great interactive enviornments.