Gates/XBox bringing the PC distribution model to consoles?

[Carl B]

Now this is something unexpected.

... TOKYO - Forget the video game console — your TV could already have the brains to play those games. A coy Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hinted Thursday that his company might license the software underlying its
Xbox gaming machine to a variety of outside companies in a bid to expand the market share for the Xbox machine — a platform that trails the sector's No. 1 Sony PlayStation.

The U.S. software company is considering offering "the basic software" for Xbox, although no decision has been made, Microsoft Japan spokesman Kazushi Okabe said Thursday, confirming the Gates' comments reported in Thursday's editions of Japan's top business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun...

You can read the rest here, but clearly Microsoft is thinking of making it so that 360 sales don't even constitute the primary means of install base distribution so much as just another aspect of a 'platform' strategy.

It'll be interesting to see if they actually do this - and if they do, what the ramifications are.

Some things I can think of...

On the plus side: it might become a common feature to be found in high-end electronics from such brands as Samsung, expanding XBox software sales (AND media center PC ready appliances)

On the negatives: could lead to rampant piracy, cracks, emulation attempts if the wrong code gets leaked

 

[cthellis42]

Mmm... rampany pirac...

What?! SHAME on you, subconscious! Shame!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Isn't this the idea of licensing the hardware concepts for other companies can make XB360 'clones'? MS have said they've wanted this model, as it then becomes someone elses responsibility to pay for hardware, while they rake in the software license fees. They've already talked of an XNA standard, with hard given an XNA rating to determine it's level of suitability for games. This includes PCs that can play XNA (XB360) games, and as such, wouldn't prohibit other closed hardware systems (consoles) from running XNA games too.

As a hardware manufacturer I wouldn't go near the idea!

 

[Carl B]

Yeah I was mentioning the exact same 'XBox clone' concept on another site, but didn't know that Microsoft had spoken about it in the past. Seriously though for a company that has taken such risks of making their console tamper-proof as to pay special attention to the construction of the casing, I wonder if they know the risk they'd run with this.

XNA + multi-core from Intel and AMD + leaked 'XBox 360' OS code = cracked 360 games running on PC's.

I mean maybe that's a risk anyway though.

 

[one]

Not only the OS, you have to buy Xenos and XeCPU to make a TV play XBOX 360 games.

 

[Carl B]

Not only the OS, you have to buy Xenos and XeCPU to make a TV play XBOX 360 games.

Exactly - so MS becomes a chip and chipset supplier as well, and doubtless passes the costs on to the alternative hardware manufacturers at a price they wouldn't dare charge the public.

 

[jvd]

Hmmm

Microsoft xbox 360 299.99$ november 2005 with a 20 gig hardrive standard dvd


Samsung xbox 360 399.99 summer 2006 with a 40 gig hardrive and a hd-dvd player


Toshiba xbox 360 holiday 2006 499.99 with a 120 gig drive and a hd-dvd player and aiw breka out box for hd tivo functions

That would be interesting and ms can most likely charge a small fee since they own the chips

Or mabye we will see these in standard with the new hd-dvd players ?

 

[Qroach]

This has nothing to do with xbox 360. only xbox.

 

[Carl B]

This has nothing to do with xbox 360. only xbox.

I highly doubt that. What would the benefit be of selling XBox - a dead/dying platform that Microsoft themselves isn't even going to produce any longer - to hardware manufacturers? Why would a single one go for that?

This is XBox 360.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Worse - a platform that already loses MS money! They'd need to source NV chipsets surely?

 

[jvd]

I guess you can take the nv20a which is around 60m trnasistors and the celron 733mhz and put it on a chip , throw in 64mbs of the cheap ram and a small hardrive and make a tivo box and sell it on the cheap ? Or let other people make xboxs and keep the system alive in a fashion

 

[Carl B]

Sure those are all things you could do - but why would a third party manufacturer want to have a last gen system integrated when a newer system is the rage? I guarantee that developer support for XBox is not long for this world, so it just doesn't make sense to do. I mean, Microsoft isn't even going to be selling the system themselves!

 

[Qroach]

I highly doubt that. What would the benefit be of selling XBox - a dead/dying platform that Microsoft themselves isn't even going to produce any longer - to hardware manufacturers? Why would a single one go for that?

Xbox isn't dead as a platform. MS just isn't manufacturing it anymore. However it's still a viable platfomr for developers if there's licensed hardware being made by third parties. The point is to extend the life of teh xbox (a platform they can't make money on the hardware with. Not canabalize xbox 360, a platform they intend to make money on.

This is XBox 360.

no, it's xbox. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050630...VlKiM2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cjE0b2MwBHNlYwM3Mzg-

 

[Fafalada]

I guess you can take the nv20a

You'd need a manufacturing license from NVidia first, seeing as noone is producing the chip anymore.
Unless you mean scavenging old XBoxes for parts 8)

 

[jvd]

I guess you can take the nv20a

You'd need a manufacturing license from NVidia first, seeing as noone is producing the chip anymore.
Unless you mean scavenging old XBoxes for parts 8)

i thought i heard a story about ms stock piling the last of the chips

 

[Vennt]

I think it's for the original Xbox only too.

No 3rd party manufacturer is going to touch Xbox 360 tech licensing whilst the 1st party can sell it at such a loss and profit on the library via the traditional razor/razorblades model. And I don't believe they will compete on featureset either, all that will result in is a severely overpriced product with a "confused" identity.

They'd take one look at the previous attempts to do this (MSX & 3DO) and run screaming for the hills.

For the original Xbox it makes sense, there's no competition, even from the 1st party, and there is already a wide range of quality titles available from the get-go.

 

[Carl B]

Xbox isn't dead as a platform. MS just isn't manufacturing it anymore. However it's still a viable platfomr for developers if there's licensed hardware being made by third parties. The point is to extend the life of teh xbox (a platform they can't make money on the hardware with. Not canabalize xbox 360, a platform they intend to make money on.

This is XBox 360.

no, it's xbox. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050630...VlKiM2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cjE0b2MwBHNlYwM3Mzg-

You're losing it QRoach.

How would Microsoft make any less money selling the chipsets and chips to third parties than they would selling it to the consumer direct? On the contrary, they'd probably make more. Plus aren't the majority of profits made on the software side? You talk about canabalizing hardware sales like anyone cares about that. I suppose you're a big fan of Apple's proprietary hardware strategy as well, eh?

I'll tell you what - I'm so certain that it's 360 they're talking about, that if MS makes this move and it's NOT 360 - I'll PayPal you $100. On the condition that you do the same of course should my outcome be correct of course.

(and thanks for providing a link to the article I provided you a link to)

Here's a quote from it:

It's unclear whether such gadgets will carry the Xbox brand name or some other name, and whether the software that may become available to outsiders will be Xbox or Xbox 360.

Now - maybe you fall on the side of XBox - but I definitely see it as 360, and I see your concerns of 'canabalization' as misplaced and short-sighted. This is a console Microsoft is going to be taking a loss on at first, for god's sake.

 

[Qroach]

Don't forget that Microsoft has already paid a license fee for them to use nvidia custom technology inside the ATI chip in xbox 360 for backwards compatability. In theory, they could allow 3rd parties to sublicense this tech and use a custom design chip from ATI or any other video card manufacturer.

This is simply a way to stop manufacutring xbox hardware, get someone else to do it, while still benefitting from being in control of the software.

 

[Carl B]

How would you sell a company on integrating XBox, when certainly to begin with it could only be integrated into top-end electronics? And you need premium features to justify the premium pricing.

We're talking about adding another $500 in costs to a $5000 tv for example, not $100 in gameplay capabilites to a $200 tv. DVD-drive, hard drive - you think low-end/cheap manufacturers want to deal with that crap?

But Samsung's (theoretical) new 70" DLP with HD-DVD playback integrated into the base and HD video game capabilities? THAT's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about new HD-DVD players with built in console functionality - at a premium, yes - but notice where he announced this: Japan, the only market this experiment has ever been continuously repeated in.

You think the Japanese public is going to go for XBox 1 games?

 

[EndR]

according to gamesindustry.biz, it is Xbox360..

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=9872