I can't say that the demise of Microsoft's inhouse sports division is a great surprise. The benching of the titles after EA agreed to support Xbox Live was the first sign that the price of EA support was going to be high. This just closes the deal. Don't be too surprised if Sony cans 989 too. EA is so far ahead in the game now, that competing head to head with them just doesn't make sense. Sega's now ESPN branded titles have been pretty good and the low price is great too. But unless Sega sees really good sales, I wouldn't expect those titles to last much longer either. Usually low game prices mean either the game has already sold millions or the game has hardly moved and it's time to clear stock. So a $20 NFL 2K5 is either good news, or not... Unlike the XSN titles, the 2K series have been of quality that many believe is on par with EA's titles, but have made hardly a dent in EA Sports' market share.
Sports is a critical sector to fill for any console. Some attribute the success of the Genesis to the EA sports titles that were superior to their SNES counterparts. Also many attribute the failure of the Dreamcast to EA's boycott of the console. I'm sure these lessons weren't lost on Microsoft as they did the Xbox Live deal with EA. Oh well, at least Amped will be coming back.
Actually, just missed the 1999 notation (gotta wake up!). Nevertheless, I still can't help but wonder about Sega's online efforts with the Dreamcast, which itself was released in 1999. I don't know if Sega patented anything they developed for online play though. But at the time, they did make a big deal out of Dreamcast being the first console to have online play off the shelf. They never had voice chat though.
I'm not a huge Nintendo fan, but I would like to see them get into the online fight, just not in the slimy sue everyone else sort of way!
Can't help but wonder if Nintendo might be getting ready to open a can of lawyer sized whoop ass on their good neighbors over at Microsoft! It would seem to me that Xbox Live and Sega's earlier online Dreamcast efforts constitute prior art. IANAL (I finally get to use that!), so I could be wrong.
Best case scenario, Nintendo is getting ready to enter online gaming in a big way and want to get their ducks in a row. If true, I think this means that Shigero Miyamoto has something ready to go online. You can bet that when Nintendo is ready to go online Miyamoto-san will be leading the way!
At the end of the day, I'm just wondering why the industry is so afraid of some 15 year old kid downloading PC games off of Bit Torrent or whatever instead of looking at the demographics of PC gamers (which are older and tend to have more money) and start catering more to them -- people who have money and don't have time to be jerked around with nonsense.
Absolutely! One of the things that keeps me away from PC games these days is the big hassle to get them running under the best of circumstances. Throwing in antipiracy drivers that may or may not be uninstallable will probably make me reach for an Xbox or PS2 game. If the profitable gaming PC market is any indication, aiming for the high end of the PC gamer demographic can really pay off, even Dell is interested in that market so there must be money in it! That should offset perceived losses from people who wouldn't or couldn't buy your product anyway.
Goodbye Alpha, I barely knew ya... I remember at Fermilab when we got our first batch of Alpha powered Vaxes how wicked fast they were. And I think Altavista was running on Alphas in those days too.
Even at the reduced IPO price, I don't think this is sustainable. As one poster has already mentioned, there are too many variables with respect to Google's long term prospects. But that doesn't really matter because the IPO is all about raising money for Google. Yeah investors would like to see their share values grow over time, but whether they do or not, Google still gets to keep the money they raise in the initial offering.
So what am I saying? I'm saying that there is a good chance that the initial outside investors are going to get screwed! That, of course, is not really news because this is always the risk in the market. Many insiders could make quite a killing, but that is mainly because they won't have to put up any money to get shares because of options and other compensation deals. But the rest of us should exercise extreme caution. Personally, I only invest in proven companies that pay dividends these days!
I hear you! With all of the spyware in Real's software and other annoying features, they've lost my trust and that of a lot of other people. As it stands, I only use Real Player when I absolutely have to. And since I'm pretty happy with my iPod and ITMS as it is, I won't be switching anytime soon.
Re:Given IE and Netscape battles of the past...
on
Netscape 7.2 Released
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· Score: 1
I've got SP2 on my work and home boxes and haven't noticed any problems with either Firefox nor Mozilla. So Netscape will probably be okay. Besides the DOJ and the European Union are watching too closely for any shenanigans.
The idea of a do it all box is intriguing, but I'm still more inclined to want to keep these things separate. For one thing, if I want to take my gaming console to a friends house, it won't mean ripping out the heart of my home entertainment system. Also, when one thing breaks, it won't mean losing it all. On the other hand, with a good design and price point I might be inclined to buy both a dedicated unit as well as a combined unit. Perhaps the best bet is to take a component system approach which will give the consumer the choice of building the system the way the way he/she wants to.
As for bringing PCs into the picture, I think Apple may be on the right track with their Airport networking which allows streaming of music from your computer to your stereo system. I like that because it keeps the computer in the office where I want it. So I like the idea of various devices being able to work together without having to be in the same box. Unfortunately, I can see entertainment industry's paranoia getting in the way of these efforts since they are so worried about people pirating music and movies.
I'm either going to wait for the English translation, or learn French! I hope the book will make its way to these U.S. shores, but I'm sure The Man will do whatever he can to stop it. OMG! Such subversion! What? People shouldn't work their guts out at jobs they hate for less and less money with no hope of advancement? Damn! That could bring this whole country down. Can't have that! That's a danger to homeland security!
Seriously, has anyone noticed how our corporate overlords and their government stooges have been less and less subtle about suppressing expressions of dissent in the media? I'm going to see if this is on Amazon yet...
There's been a lot of discussion here about whether or not poor people have PCs and if you have a PC you aren't poor, yadda, yadda, yadda... But those arguments aside, the idea of using games to educate is a good one, but the delivery vector could be better. It would be much better if this game pack were made for Playstation Ones rather than PCs because the target audience is more likely to have access to a PSOne than a PC. Not only that, they will be able to just drop it in and play.
Now I know that making a Playstation game raises the costs and effort, but I thought that the point was to get the message across to people who need it. And it is likely that for this purpose Sony could be persuaded to waive the royalties and even provide development assistance. Heck, why not distribute donated PSOnes with the game too? I'm sure many/.'ers have at least one or two old Playstations sitting around gathering dust.
Hooking up with ITER may well be a way to pull the project along as you describe because it seems that FIRE with its meager $2 million/year budget would be all too easy for Congress to cut. I would worry now that the contribution to ITER would be cut to mere token levels especially since I don't see big oil being all that wild about fusion technology that they wouldn't own.
And maybe, just maybe, the U.S. can provide some leadership to help resolve the current ITER squabbles. But given the current administration's track record on international cooperation, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one!
Hmmm, I think that Microsoft is taking a big risk in promoting a cut rate Windows XP in developing countries. First of all, the people in those countries are not any stupider than people anywhere else in the world. They will know that they are getting the dumbed down, brain damaged version of Windows XP. Even if this costs less than a pirated version (which remains to be seen), I think most will opt for the non crippled pirated version. People already knock Windows for its shortcomings as it is, does Microsoft need to add to this? Not only that, even offering this crippled Windows could be taken as an insult.
A slimmed down version of Windows without some of the extra packages would be a lot better to offer than a crippled version. I think that in the end, Microsoft is going to have to accept the fact that in today's global marketplace, Windows is overpriced. In the face of Linux and free open source software solutions, I really don't know what they can do other than lower the price of admission and add more value and true innovation. There have to be really good killer app sort of reasons that make Windows the thing you want to have. Productivity applications like Office are no longer sufficient reason to stay with Windows. Games might be, but the PC games market is losing out to the console market. So what's left?
Finally, even a crippled Windows won't be immune to piracy! As we learned from the web browser wars, it's really hard to sell something that's being given away for free! Linux is free and certainly has everything a small business might need in the way of productivity apps. So how can Windows compete with that in places where it is not the dominant player and limited resources and nationalism come into play?
A nice companion to the material in the exhibit might be the upcoming book from BradyGames,Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. This book, coming out in September, examines not only the history, but also the reasons for the success of Japanese video games. I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection!
I concur. Given the money they've invested in chip development, it's good to see that they are getting the most out of it. That can only mean good things for gamers too as economies of scale further push down the cost of manufacture which usually means less cost for the consumer. It'll be interesting to see if once the PS3 makes its debut, if Sony will later release slimmed down, sexed up version of the PS2 maybe a PSTwo...
Hey where's Mavis Beacon Teaches Hand Writing? With the touch screen, a good edutainment writing title should be a snap!
Okay, just kidding, but it still concerns me that there's little in that list of games that introduces new and innovative gameplay. Sega's Project Rub sounds potentially interesting given Sega's history of unusual games, Seaman for instance. Hmmm maybe Project Rub is a follow up to Seaman wherein tactile interaction with the creature is included... A lot of potential for "echi" titles there if Nintendo gets desperate!
Anyway, the biggest concern with the second screen is that so far the most interesting uses I can think of are for things that are hardly games. If Nintendo were trying to make a new PDA, then I can think of lots of things to do with a touch sensitive screen. But gaming uses are a bit of a stretch. I'm also concerned about how this screen is going to wear over time. That will probably have the effect of suppressing the used market or eliminating it altogether. Any way you slice it, Nintendo is taking a big risk here.
Let me tell you, stuff gets inside hospital networks like nobody's business! The problem is that while the outer firewall is secure, there are all sorts of ways for things to get in via individual workstations. This is especially true since many hospitals, like mine, have standardized on IE. I was literally in the process of patching a Windows 2K based acquisition PC when it got hit with Sasser! Lucky for me the patch just barely beat the infection, so I didn't have to rebuild the machine.
Because the inside of the hospital network is so insecure, I've actually set up my own firewall around my test and development machines. One solution would be to totally cut off the hospital from the internet, but that wouldn't be very practical and would piss off a lot of doctors to boot!
Oh I don't know about that. I remember when Gran Turismo 2 came out for Playstation, it was full of bugs, which Sony initially denied but eventually had to own up to and ship CDs with a fixed version. I'm sure they would have killed to be able to just put a patch on the net for download.
While it's true, that some companies have pushed out buggy products because they knew they could patch it later, it's also true that real enhancements can be made the same way. So on balance it's a good thing. Besides, on the console a game still has to get past the console owner (ie Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo) before they can press disk 1. But even with that, as games become more complex, it is inevitable that bugs will slip past the QA process.
Even if initial storage densities do not allow a 2TB storage device in the first versions of the new format, 5 and 10GB devices could find a home in the next generation of games consoles. There's already been much talk of how the next XBox may not include a hard drive. Sony's plans on mass storage for the PS3 are less clear. But both of these consoles could make use of multigigabyte versions of the new memory card assuming their other specs are compatible with the console design goals.
Granted, no one knows what these cards are going to cost and if the cost is too high, that could take them out of contention. But, it seemed clear that one reason Microsoft may be reluctant to include a hard drive in the next XBox is to keep the size of the console as small as possible. The current XBox has been roundly criticized as being too big. And its large size is seen as part of its problem in the Japanese market in particular (and a lack of games there). Sony is also keenly aware of the need to build a compact console with as few moving parts as possible.
Even if these new memory cards find their way into the next generation of consoles, this could take a couple of different forms. They can either include them as an integrated device that comes with every box. Or they could base new removable memory cards on this format thereby shifting the cost to the consumer. The second strategy keeps the cost of the console down, but could backfire if the cards cost more than $50 and also complicates life for game developers. So a lot is going to depend on the price that the new technology is introduced at.
True, Apple is not a system for the hardcore PC gamer. But it does seem to be a much cooler brand than Dell at the moment for computers in general. And Apple has done some pretty nice design work over the last few years. Most of my work involves Windows PCs right now, but I'm seriously considering an iBook for personal work on my home wireless network.
It looks like Dell is simply trying to offer up a games oriented PC on the cheap without upsetting their system too much. This would be sort of like building sports cars on the same assembly line as compact economy cars. The sports cars would get a different body and a few performance tweaks, but would essentially be the same old economy cars underneath with a significantly higher price. This sort of thing would garner some casual driving enthusiasts, but the hardcore enthusiasts who actually look carefully under the covers, would not be fooled by this.
It isn't really clear who they plan to sell XPS systems to. The hardcore market, as others here have commented, would likely build their own machines with higher performance for the same or less cost than the XPS. That leaves what I'll call the Mom and Pop market buying computers for their kids. This market might buy the XPS, but would be scared off by such a pricey machine that would probably be used to play games rather than doing homework. The kids would have to push them to buy this, and well, Dell just isn't cool right now (Apple is!). So I guess Dell needs to bring back that stoner dude to rev up those back to school sales!
Hmmm, suddenly a see a game in which you as a Samurai slice and dice your opponents with a sword shaped stylus. Miss the vitals and he may kill you, with bonuses for slicing style and penalties for too many strokes!
And for the kids, a Harry Potter game with a wand shaped stylus...The hits they keep a comin!
Maybe I've got Xbox on the brain today, but I can't help but wonder if the MS Blog service in Japan will be used in part to promote the Xbox and Xbox games there. Not only that, I could see this being intergrated with XboxLive in Japan as well. With 90 percent of Japanese cell phones having internet access, they'd have a great way to reach a large audience.
Slashdot Mirror
And the fact that all "girlfriends" look alike reeks of encouraging either mental or programming laziness.
I suspect that the girlfriends all look alike because they want to create a mascot for future product endorsements, a new Lara Croft.
I can't say that the demise of Microsoft's inhouse sports division is a great surprise. The benching of the titles after EA agreed to support Xbox Live was the first sign that the price of EA support was going to be high. This just closes the deal. Don't be too surprised if Sony cans 989 too. EA is so far ahead in the game now, that competing head to head with them just doesn't make sense. Sega's now ESPN branded titles have been pretty good and the low price is great too. But unless Sega sees really good sales, I wouldn't expect those titles to last much longer either. Usually low game prices mean either the game has already sold millions or the game has hardly moved and it's time to clear stock. So a $20 NFL 2K5 is either good news, or not... Unlike the XSN titles, the 2K series have been of quality that many believe is on par with EA's titles, but have made hardly a dent in EA Sports' market share.
Sports is a critical sector to fill for any console. Some attribute the success of the Genesis to the EA sports titles that were superior to their SNES counterparts. Also many attribute the failure of the Dreamcast to EA's boycott of the console. I'm sure these lessons weren't lost on Microsoft as they did the Xbox Live deal with EA. Oh well, at least Amped will be coming back.
Actually, just missed the 1999 notation (gotta wake up!). Nevertheless, I still can't help but wonder about Sega's online efforts with the Dreamcast, which itself was released in 1999. I don't know if Sega patented anything they developed for online play though. But at the time, they did make a big deal out of Dreamcast being the first console to have online play off the shelf. They never had voice chat though.
I'm not a huge Nintendo fan, but I would like to see them get into the online fight, just not in the slimy sue everyone else sort of way!
Can't help but wonder if Nintendo might be getting ready to open a can of lawyer sized whoop ass on their good neighbors over at Microsoft! It would seem to me that Xbox Live and Sega's earlier online Dreamcast efforts constitute prior art. IANAL (I finally get to use that!), so I could be wrong.
Best case scenario, Nintendo is getting ready to enter online gaming in a big way and want to get their ducks in a row. If true, I think this means that Shigero Miyamoto has something ready to go online. You can bet that when Nintendo is ready to go online Miyamoto-san will be leading the way!
At the end of the day, I'm just wondering why the industry is so afraid of some 15 year old kid downloading PC games off of Bit Torrent or whatever instead of looking at the demographics of PC gamers (which are older and tend to have more money) and start catering more to them -- people who have money and don't have time to be jerked around with nonsense.
Absolutely! One of the things that keeps me away from PC games these days is the big hassle to get them running under the best of circumstances. Throwing in antipiracy drivers that may or may not be uninstallable will probably make me reach for an Xbox or PS2 game. If the profitable gaming PC market is any indication, aiming for the high end of the PC gamer demographic can really pay off, even Dell is interested in that market so there must be money in it! That should offset perceived losses from people who wouldn't or couldn't buy your product anyway.
Goodbye Alpha, I barely knew ya... I remember at Fermilab when we got our first batch of Alpha powered Vaxes how wicked fast they were. And I think Altavista was running on Alphas in those days too.
Even at the reduced IPO price, I don't think this is sustainable. As one poster has already mentioned, there are too many variables with respect to Google's long term prospects. But that doesn't really matter because the IPO is all about raising money for Google. Yeah investors would like to see their share values grow over time, but whether they do or not, Google still gets to keep the money they raise in the initial offering.
So what am I saying? I'm saying that there is a good chance that the initial outside investors are going to get screwed! That, of course, is not really news because this is always the risk in the market. Many insiders could make quite a killing, but that is mainly because they won't have to put up any money to get shares because of options and other compensation deals. But the rest of us should exercise extreme caution. Personally, I only invest in proven companies that pay dividends these days!
Those robots are friggin cool!!
Yeah! I'm waiting for the 50 story high models that answer to Big O!
I hear you! With all of the spyware in Real's software and other annoying features, they've lost my trust and that of a lot of other people. As it stands, I only use Real Player when I absolutely have to. And since I'm pretty happy with my iPod and ITMS as it is, I won't be switching anytime soon.
I've got SP2 on my work and home boxes and haven't noticed any problems with either Firefox nor Mozilla. So Netscape will probably be okay. Besides the DOJ and the European Union are watching too closely for any shenanigans.
The idea of a do it all box is intriguing, but I'm still more inclined to want to keep these things separate. For one thing, if I want to take my gaming console to a friends house, it won't mean ripping out the heart of my home entertainment system. Also, when one thing breaks, it won't mean losing it all. On the other hand, with a good design and price point I might be inclined to buy both a dedicated unit as well as a combined unit. Perhaps the best bet is to take a component system approach which will give the consumer the choice of building the system the way the way he/she wants to.
As for bringing PCs into the picture, I think Apple may be on the right track with their Airport networking which allows streaming of music from your computer to your stereo system. I like that because it keeps the computer in the office where I want it. So I like the idea of various devices being able to work together without having to be in the same box. Unfortunately, I can see entertainment industry's paranoia getting in the way of these efforts since they are so worried about people pirating music and movies.
I'm either going to wait for the English translation, or learn French! I hope the book will make its way to these U.S. shores, but I'm sure The Man will do whatever he can to stop it. OMG! Such subversion! What? People shouldn't work their guts out at jobs they hate for less and less money with no hope of advancement? Damn! That could bring this whole country down. Can't have that! That's a danger to homeland security!
Seriously, has anyone noticed how our corporate overlords and their government stooges have been less and less subtle about suppressing expressions of dissent in the media? I'm going to see if this is on Amazon yet...
There's been a lot of discussion here about whether or not poor people have PCs and if you have a PC you aren't poor, yadda, yadda, yadda... But those arguments aside, the idea of using games to educate is a good one, but the delivery vector could be better. It would be much better if this game pack were made for Playstation Ones rather than PCs because the target audience is more likely to have access to a PSOne than a PC. Not only that, they will be able to just drop it in and play.
/.'ers have at least one or two old Playstations sitting around gathering dust.
Now I know that making a Playstation game raises the costs and effort, but I thought that the point was to get the message across to people who need it. And it is likely that for this purpose Sony could be persuaded to waive the royalties and even provide development assistance. Heck, why not distribute donated PSOnes with the game too? I'm sure many
Hooking up with ITER may well be a way to pull the project along as you describe because it seems that FIRE with its meager $2 million/year budget would be all too easy for Congress to cut. I would worry now that the contribution to ITER would be cut to mere token levels especially since I don't see big oil being all that wild about fusion technology that they wouldn't own.
And maybe, just maybe, the U.S. can provide some leadership to help resolve the current ITER squabbles. But given the current administration's track record on international cooperation, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one!
Hmmm, I think that Microsoft is taking a big risk in promoting a cut rate Windows XP in developing countries. First of all, the people in those countries are not any stupider than people anywhere else in the world. They will know that they are getting the dumbed down, brain damaged version of Windows XP. Even if this costs less than a pirated version (which remains to be seen), I think most will opt for the non crippled pirated version. People already knock Windows for its shortcomings as it is, does Microsoft need to add to this? Not only that, even offering this crippled Windows could be taken as an insult.
A slimmed down version of Windows without some of the extra packages would be a lot better to offer than a crippled version. I think that in the end, Microsoft is going to have to accept the fact that in today's global marketplace, Windows is overpriced. In the face of Linux and free open source software solutions, I really don't know what they can do other than lower the price of admission and add more value and true innovation. There have to be really good killer app sort of reasons that make Windows the thing you want to have. Productivity applications like Office are no longer sufficient reason to stay with Windows. Games might be, but the PC games market is losing out to the console market. So what's left?
Finally, even a crippled Windows won't be immune to piracy! As we learned from the web browser wars, it's really hard to sell something that's being given away for free! Linux is free and certainly has everything a small business might need in the way of productivity apps. So how can Windows compete with that in places where it is not the dominant player and limited resources and nationalism come into play?
A nice companion to the material in the exhibit might be the upcoming book from BradyGames, Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life . This book, coming out in September, examines not only the history, but also the reasons for the success of Japanese video games. I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection!
I concur. Given the money they've invested in chip development, it's good to see that they are getting the most out of it. That can only mean good things for gamers too as economies of scale further push down the cost of manufacture which usually means less cost for the consumer. It'll be interesting to see if once the PS3 makes its debut, if Sony will later release slimmed down, sexed up version of the PS2 maybe a PSTwo...
Hey where's Mavis Beacon Teaches Hand Writing? With the touch screen, a good edutainment writing title should be a snap!
Okay, just kidding, but it still concerns me that there's little in that list of games that introduces new and innovative gameplay. Sega's Project Rub sounds potentially interesting given Sega's history of unusual games, Seaman for instance. Hmmm maybe Project Rub is a follow up to Seaman wherein tactile interaction with the creature is included... A lot of potential for "echi" titles there if Nintendo gets desperate!
Anyway, the biggest concern with the second screen is that so far the most interesting uses I can think of are for things that are hardly games. If Nintendo were trying to make a new PDA, then I can think of lots of things to do with a touch sensitive screen. But gaming uses are a bit of a stretch. I'm also concerned about how this screen is going to wear over time. That will probably have the effect of suppressing the used market or eliminating it altogether. Any way you slice it, Nintendo is taking a big risk here.
Let me tell you, stuff gets inside hospital networks like nobody's business! The problem is that while the outer firewall is secure, there are all sorts of ways for things to get in via individual workstations. This is especially true since many hospitals, like mine, have standardized on IE. I was literally in the process of patching a Windows 2K based acquisition PC when it got hit with Sasser! Lucky for me the patch just barely beat the infection, so I didn't have to rebuild the machine.
Because the inside of the hospital network is so insecure, I've actually set up my own firewall around my test and development machines. One solution would be to totally cut off the hospital from the internet, but that wouldn't be very practical and would piss off a lot of doctors to boot!
Oh I don't know about that. I remember when Gran Turismo 2 came out for Playstation, it was full of bugs, which Sony initially denied but eventually had to own up to and ship CDs with a fixed version. I'm sure they would have killed to be able to just put a patch on the net for download.
While it's true, that some companies have pushed out buggy products because they knew they could patch it later, it's also true that real enhancements can be made the same way. So on balance it's a good thing. Besides, on the console a game still has to get past the console owner (ie Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo) before they can press disk 1. But even with that, as games become more complex, it is inevitable that bugs will slip past the QA process.
Even if initial storage densities do not allow a 2TB storage device in the first versions of the new format, 5 and 10GB devices could find a home in the next generation of games consoles. There's already been much talk of how the next XBox may not include a hard drive. Sony's plans on mass storage for the PS3 are less clear. But both of these consoles could make use of multigigabyte versions of the new memory card assuming their other specs are compatible with the console design goals.
Granted, no one knows what these cards are going to cost and if the cost is too high, that could take them out of contention. But, it seemed clear that one reason Microsoft may be reluctant to include a hard drive in the next XBox is to keep the size of the console as small as possible. The current XBox has been roundly criticized as being too big. And its large size is seen as part of its problem in the Japanese market in particular (and a lack of games there). Sony is also keenly aware of the need to build a compact console with as few moving parts as possible.
Even if these new memory cards find their way into the next generation of consoles, this could take a couple of different forms. They can either include them as an integrated device that comes with every box. Or they could base new removable memory cards on this format thereby shifting the cost to the consumer. The second strategy keeps the cost of the console down, but could backfire if the cards cost more than $50 and also complicates life for game developers. So a lot is going to depend on the price that the new technology is introduced at.
True, Apple is not a system for the hardcore PC gamer. But it does seem to be a much cooler brand than Dell at the moment for computers in general. And Apple has done some pretty nice design work over the last few years. Most of my work involves Windows PCs right now, but I'm seriously considering an iBook for personal work on my home wireless network.
It looks like Dell is simply trying to offer up a games oriented PC on the cheap without upsetting their system too much. This would be sort of like building sports cars on the same assembly line as compact economy cars. The sports cars would get a different body and a few performance tweaks, but would essentially be the same old economy cars underneath with a significantly higher price. This sort of thing would garner some casual driving enthusiasts, but the hardcore enthusiasts who actually look carefully under the covers, would not be fooled by this.
It isn't really clear who they plan to sell XPS systems to. The hardcore market, as others here have commented, would likely build their own machines with higher performance for the same or less cost than the XPS. That leaves what I'll call the Mom and Pop market buying computers for their kids. This market might buy the XPS, but would be scared off by such a pricey machine that would probably be used to play games rather than doing homework. The kids would have to push them to buy this, and well, Dell just isn't cool right now (Apple is!). So I guess Dell needs to bring back that stoner dude to rev up those back to school sales!
Hmmm, suddenly a see a game in which you as a Samurai slice and dice your opponents with a sword shaped stylus. Miss the vitals and he may kill you, with bonuses for slicing style and penalties for too many strokes!
And for the kids, a Harry Potter game with a wand shaped stylus...The hits they keep a comin!
Maybe I've got Xbox on the brain today, but I can't help but wonder if the MS Blog service in Japan will be used in part to promote the Xbox and Xbox games there. Not only that, I could see this being intergrated with XboxLive in Japan as well. With 90 percent of Japanese cell phones having internet access, they'd have a great way to reach a large audience.