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Gates May Announce Xbox 360 DVR At CES
Via Kotaku, an article at the Seattle Times offers an interesting theory on what might be an important part of Bill Gates' keynote at CES next week. According to Times writer Brier Dudley, upgrades and licensing for the Xbox 360 could be a big new feather in Microsoft's cap: "I've speculated on my blog that Microsoft may be preparing to license the Xbox gaming platform to consumer-electronics companies. In particular, Microsoft could work with Toshiba to develop a digital video recorder with a hard-drive, high-definition HD-DVD drive and Xbox gaming capabilities. They're already allied against Sony and other backers of the Blu-ray DVD format, and Toshiba could help Xbox finally penetrate the Japanese market." Toshiba has repeatedly denied the possibility of a 360 unit with a built-in HD-DVD drive, it should be noted.
If MS wants to continue their business the way they always have, the xbox and xbox360 may have been part product, and part proof-of-concept to try to sell a sort of gaming-system platform, ala the Windows OS for desktop.
If Toshiba and others decided to make consumer electronics devices that happened to be 'xbox 360' compliant, or whatever the platform specification of the time happens to be, MS may decide to maintain merely the core platform specification, client software stack, and the server infrastructure of xbox live, without producing many units of their hardware implementation of the platform they dictate.
Of course, they run the *high* risk of doing so of defeating the whole point of consoles, that every console is the same hardware with the same features so game developers don't have to worry about the complexity of the user having a varying amount of central processor/graphics horsepower/memory/different optical drives. If HD-DVD got integrated and supported as a platform for games to be published on, that would walk the 360 down the path of the computer in terms of having to read 'requirements' on the box before purchase, and licensing could lead to a mess if they aren't careful on all the various components.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Consoles have always had one major advantage over PCs as a gaming platform: consistent hardware. An Xbox is an Xbox is an Xbox. When producing a game for a console, you don't need to test every possible combination of a dozen video cards, a dozen processors, a dozen motherboards, etc. You test it on an Xbox. It works on your Xbox? It works on your customer's Xbox.
I'm worried about the possibility of fragmentation that may occur here, if other companies are allowed to make their own Xboxes. Even if there are a set of standards, there's nothing stopping them from skimping on parts, or even using slightly different architectures which throw the whole thing out of whack.
3DO was an attempt to "license tech to manufacturers". It died, because it meant 3DO machines on shelves that cost a grand, and when introducing a console, it's customary to subsidize it somewhat. Nobody will pay 1000 bucks for a "made by Toshiba" Xbox 360.
But DVRs, offered through (fav cable co), with 360 tech built in, for 5-10 bucks a month, might actually be a winning formula. People are getting them anyways, why not pick the one that plays games/etc too.
Remember, the 360 as an IPTV client has been announced nearly a year ago. A switch to IPTV could be the savior of bandwidth-starved cable operators.
However, the Xbox360's media service competes with services like Comcast's On Demand, so I can't imagine they'd be all that receptive. These days, everybody wants the whole pie.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Remember that the 360 is a closed system. Anything Microsoft decides to put in for the benefit of the media companies, you won't be able to get rid of.
so they can destroy that just like they wrecked personal and business computing
That comment is so wrong, it's incredible.
If there is one single company that moved personal and business computing forward, it is Microsoft.
Say what you want about their interface, their ethics, whatever...no company has done more to move businesses and individuals onto computers than Microsoft.
The fact that 90% of the computers in the world run Windows should tell you something about their influence.
No reason to lie.