Any talk of Xbox 2 PC anymore?

[jesusphreak]

I remember when there were a lot of rumors that there would be 3 version of the Xbox 2:

1) base version w/out hard drive
2) base verson and you hard drive add-on
3) base version w hard drive built-in and can play PC games

Now, the extra hard drive is more or less confirmed according to industry reports, but are they still doing the version that can play PC games?

When you think about it, that would simply be genius.

Charge $500 for a PC that could top anything out there today and play Xbox 2 games. Man. You know how many people would buy that? That could seriously give MS a domination of the gaming portion of the PC market.

So, are they still doing that? After thinking about it, its something I'd really be interested in getting. I guess the question isn't as much "are they still doing that", but rather, "is there anything hinting that they are still considering it?".

Anyway, thanks.

 

[AzBat]

All the talk about the PC version was that it would come out a year AFTER the first 2 models. Other than the rumors there hasn't been any other talk that I've seen. So who knows?

Tommy McClain

 

[jesusphreak]

Interesting.

I just think it would make a lot of business sense for MS to do it. All accounts say that MS will be making money off of the base Xbox 2 hardware, imagine the money they'd make off a $500 model that functioned as a PC?

The funny thing abou it, is that it would be far more powerful than any PC on the market 6 months from now, and it would even be the most powerful.

I'm telling you, MS could make an absolute killing. Not to mention, it'd even be a rather small size for a PC, and would run quieter and such. Just good all around.

Of course, a lot of it would depend on MS releasing it this year. If they wait a whole year into fall of 06, though it'd still sell decently, it wouldn't be the most powerful thing out there. I bet a ton of PC gamers would buy one right at launch if it was this year.

 

[AzBat]

Personally I don't see much market for one. But yeah, it does sound neat. Ayway, I'll reserve judgment until they actually release it, if they ever do.

Tommy McClain

 

[jesusphreak]

Personally I don't see much market for one. But yeah, it does sound neat. Ayway, I'll reserve judgment until they actually release it, if they ever do.

Tommy McClain

Short way to look at it: most powerful PC out there for 1/3 the cost of the cheapest top-end PCs and can play Xbox 2 games. I think a lot of people would buy it, plus MS would make a nice profit for essentially only including a hard drive and some extra software.

 

[Carl B]

Interesting.

I just think it would make a lot of business sense for MS to do it. All accounts say that MS will be making money off of the base Xbox 2 hardware, imagine the money they'd make off a $500 model that functioned as a PC?

The funny thing abou it, is that it would be far more powerful than any PC on the market 6 months from now, and it would even be the most powerful.

I'm telling you, MS could make an absolute killing. Not to mention, it'd even be a rather small size for a PC, and would run quieter and such. Just good all around.

Of course, a lot of it would depend on MS releasing it this year. If they wait a whole year into fall of 06, though it'd still sell decently, it wouldn't be the most powerful thing out there. I bet a ton of PC gamers would buy one right at launch if it was this year.

Here's my take.

Recently Microsoft has stated that they wish to introduce with Longhorn the ability for the PC to load up and play games with ease similar to that of the consoles. XNA will play a role, as will their new XBox/PC compatible controllers.

So my theory is, a couple of years into the XBox 2 launch, we see a new XBox model, with maybe blu-ray or HD-DVD (or maybe not), the hard drive standard, perhaps some other PC-ish junk in there, and something similar to their new OS, or at least in terms of the same functionality when it comes to 'plug-n-play' PC gaming.

Anyway if you wish to educate yourself further on the matter, here's a good link in an unlikely place:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/10/news_6120176.html

 

[Megadrive1988]

any 'Xbox 2 PC' aka 'Xbox Next PC', would have to have backwards compatability with Xbox, as well as run PC software and Xenon games.

the Xbox1 BC for 'Xbox Next PC' was mentioned in the first, if not one of the first articles about the device.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/26/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

May 27, 2004

a device it refers to as Xbox Next PC – "a videogame console system with a hard drive and a built-in fully functional PC." Mention of the device came on one of several slides shown to focus groups.

One slide describes the unit, which would require a PC monitor or high definition television, as being backward compatible with current and next-generation Xbox titles. It would also play PC games and include a fully functional version of Windows, CD burner, DVD player (with remote control), built-in access to Xbox Live and a hard drive. Control-wise, the system would come with both a keyboard and mouse and a standard Xbox controller. The price point this particular study tested was $599.

http://games.kikizo.com/news/200405/069.asp

Microsoft is considering the release of a beefed up Xbox 2 that would be compatible with both existing Xbox and PC games, at a not unreasonable price point of around $599.

 

[PC-Engine]

You know, having the option of turning a Xenon console into a Windows PC is a really nice idea. Maybe have the optical drive removable like the HDD so you can replace the factory unit with a HD DVD unit and install Windows and PowerDVD on the HDD and hooked up to your HDTV or a DVI equiped LCD.

 

[jesusphreak]

One slide describes the unit, which would require a PC monitor or high definition television, as being backward compatible with current and next-generation Xbox titles. It would also play PC games and include a fully functional version of Windows, CD burner, DVD player (with remote control), built-in access to Xbox Live and a hard drive. Control-wise, the system would come with both a keyboard and mouse and a standard Xbox controller. The price point this particular study tested was $599.

Wow. That sounds very impressive. $600 is a steal, too.

 

[skilzygw]

It would be awesome if it ran
64bit MCE 2006 based of longhorn core.

Imagine a Media Center PC that could also play xbox 1& 2 games.

I would drop 600 for that any day.

 

[Acert93]

One slide describes the unit, which would require a PC monitor or high definition television, as being backward compatible with current and next-generation Xbox titles. It would also play PC games and include a fully functional version of Windows, CD burner, DVD player (with remote control), built-in access to Xbox Live and a hard drive. Control-wise, the system would come with both a keyboard and mouse and a standard Xbox controller. The price point this particular study tested was $599.

That is the bit I have a hard time believing. Yeah, it would be great if it could play PC games, but _how_. It would need to emulate, which begs the question of how well it would perform.

 

[Farid]

As far as I know, the "Xenon PC" will never make it to the market.
Nobody over MS (France) have heard of it since the first internal rumors of, what was called back then, the "Xbox 2".

 

[a688]

One slide describes the unit, which would require a PC monitor or high definition television, as being backward compatible with current and next-generation Xbox titles. It would also play PC games and include a fully functional version of Windows, CD burner, DVD player (with remote control), built-in access to Xbox Live and a hard drive. Control-wise, the system would come with both a keyboard and mouse and a standard Xbox controller. The price point this particular study tested was $599.

That is the bit I have a hard time believing. Yeah, it would be great if it could play PC games, but _how_. It would need to emulate, which begs the question of how well it would perform.

I think you answered your own question. Microsoft owns VirtualPC btw and should (whenever, maybe they already did) release a updated and faster version optimized for the G5.

 

[Dave Glue]

I think you answered your own question. Microsoft owns VirtualPC btw and should (whenever, maybe they already did) release a updated and faster version optimized for the G5.

Which wouldn't come anywhere close to being fast enough to run modern games - hell, games of several years ago, even when/if they get 3d acceleration working. And since when is Xenon equivalent to a G5?

I call BS. It doesn't make sense, especially considering the fact MS wants OEM's to fight it out in the hardware arena and rake in the cash for OS licensing. You don't think OEM's would want to slit Gates throat if they introduced a $599 PC with a feature set no other manufacturer can copy?

Last time I heard btw, this was simply a focus group to see the possibility of such a device being made.

 

[a688]

I think you answered your own question. Microsoft owns VirtualPC btw and should (whenever, maybe they already did) release a updated and faster version optimized for the G5.

Which wouldn't come anywhere close to being fast enough to run modern games - hell, games of several years ago, even when/if they get 3d acceleration working. And since when is Xenon equivalent to a G5?

I call BS. It doesn't make sense, especially considering the fact MS wants OEM's to fight it out in the hardware arena and rake in the cash for OS licensing. You don't think OEM's would want to slit Gates throat if they introduced a $599 PC with a feature set no other manufacturer can copy?

Last time I heard btw, this was simply a focus group to see the possibility of such a device being made.

Never said that the xenon was equivalent to the G5. I was suggesting that Microsoft is actively developing the program and wants to optimize it for new archectures which could include the xenon. AFAIK the biggest problem is LITTLE/BIG Endian. Remember that VirtualPC is trying to emulate ALL of Windows. They have less (but more specialized) to emulate concerning the xbox. But thanks for thinking I said something I didn't.

 

[Entropy]

I think you answered your own question. Microsoft owns VirtualPC btw and should (whenever, maybe they already did) release a updated and faster version optimized for the G5.

Which wouldn't come anywhere close to being fast enough to run modern games - hell, games of several years ago, even when/if they get 3d acceleration working. And since when is Xenon equivalent to a G5?

I call BS. It doesn't make sense, especially considering the fact MS wants OEM's to fight it out in the hardware arena and rake in the cash for OS licensing. You don't think OEM's would want to slit Gates throat if they introduced a $599 PC with a feature set no other manufacturer can copy?

Last time I heard btw, this was simply a focus group to see the possibility of such a device being made.

I won't argue about the business angle, because I tend to agree.
However, regarding emulation, I feel you draw too many conclusions from how the VirtualPC product performs on OSX. Emulating a complete Windows PC while still running OSX and OSX applications is more difficult problem than running PC games on XBox2 and a lot more difficult than emulating the XBox on the XBox2 which I have no doubt at all will work very well from a performance standpoint. For PC games, they would basically have to do a good job of running DirectX (nothing says they would have to run everything), which should be doable, although the CPU would likely run out of steam on these singlethreaded apps fairly quickly.

One argument in favour of the XBox2 "PC" is that it would be a sure way of increasing marketshare vs the PS3. Lack of possible expansion of memory et cetera may constitute sufficient crippling to placate OEMs. If necessary they could hamstring it further still in terms of useability.

Still, I don't believe it will happen. It is interesting because it could bring change, but that is also the reason it's unlikely to ever be.