CaptainHowdy said:
I think MS has learned a lot this time around, and I dont think they are just going to go with PC parts again, I am betting on the rumors saying they will make thier own graphics chipsets. That way they could keep costs down, make a mad powerful sleek unit, and actually make money on it.
I don't get what exactly Microsoft is supposed to have learned "this time around", what should have convinced them to completely change their console hardware approach and develop chipsets off their own from now on?
IMHO these are the lessons MS probably learned:
- It was a good choice to work with proven technology leaders of the PC industry, specialists who have a lot more experience in their specific field than any single company could ever have, much less aquire in a few years.
- This way they can design a console system more powerfull than any other out there in their first try and do so in half the time their competitors traditionally require.
- They can put their experience in working with all kinds of PC architecture, Windows OS, DX and software based off those in general to good use, saving themselves the trouble of reinventing the wheel and spending huge loads of unneccessary R&D in software and hardware development.
- The technology behind the platform is very well known, easy to work with and loads over loads of documentation and tools exist already. Developers don't need to learn to master their architecture, most already know pretty well how the hardware behind the platform works and the lerning curve is small compared to some other systems out there.
- They should negotiate a bit harder and make smarter decisions about their hardware partners to optimize production costs. The initially high hardware costs definitely held them back.
- They should have learned their lessons not to screw with Europe, see the european launchprice of the Xbox for a perfect example of how MS had apparently no clue of what to expect here.
- Japan is an even harder market to get into, keep working on it but no friggin' cafe is gonna help you sell hardware there.
Apart from the hardware costs I don't see how the design of the Xbox is flawed, at least not to a degree that should cause MS to reconsider their approach. Xbox is able to produce the best visuals and audio of all console systems out there, while having enough computing power for the kind of AI and physics common today and in the near future. Its certainly not the hardware that's the XBox's problem, its the games, or rather a lack of recent AAA titles...
Now I'm gonna go back to thinking about which console to get for myself this winter, narrowed it down to GC and Xbox for now (a friend has a PS2, that's enough for me), I'm probably gonna throw a dice or something...