predict how actual Xbox Next will differ from leaked specs
- Thread starter Megadrive1988
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Megadrive1988
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Bill Gates keynote went basicly as I expected, regarding Xenon. while I was not expecting the humorous format with Conan O'Brian, the amount of nextgen Xbox info that was revealed was about what i expected. minimal and in general terms.
btw, I am MORE interested in Xenon than I was a few days ago. nothing to do with CES, but the CPU patents. there's more potential for scalability than i thought.
btw, I am MORE interested in Xenon than I was a few days ago. nothing to do with CES, but the CPU patents. there's more potential for scalability than i thought.
function said:
It's all about transparency and ease of use; something Microsoft's concept of the digital home based around the PC architecture and their software doesn't jive with. Think Apple. Think PSP -- it's a gaming machine that has connectivity and media functionality basically without equal for it's field that's so easy to use that Xzibit transfered and played MP3's on a PSP off a VAIO, a video off a Cybershot and used the net connection at CES... live. And it didn't crash.
Megadrive, it's a patent. It's specifically ambiguious and there are physical and architectural limits inherient in the on-die cores and cost considerations concerning CMP. It's just as expected.
There's a (perhaps slight) risk that focusing on irrelevant non-gaming-specific details takes away focus from what a games console is actually supposed to do. Set-top boxes have been the buzzword for a decade or so by now, they never took off because people don't like or want jack-of-all-trades devices that tend to get more expensive too due to the added functionality. They prefer specialized equipment.function said:
Workmen aren't equipped with swiss army knives after all, they have a toolbox instead - or several.
THAT SAID however, it would seem this convergence shit is here to stay, from both of the major players. I don't think there's any escape from it, except from fleeing to Nintendo which I predict will continue to focus on games only rather than pack in everything short of the kitchen sink in their next console...
I just don't understand why someone would want to do that. If they already have a PC surely it would be better to run messenger on that instead where there's a keyboard to type on. Looks like ye typical "spork" idea - looks good on paper (especially to the clueless manager-type persons or pointy-haired boss characters that are so common at microsoft - or indeed other large corporations), but virtually useless in real life.
They have? Who?
Vince said:
The point about transparency is a good one. The PC as we know it isn't ideal as a media hub for the averge home. Perhaps the very idea of a hub is old fashioned. Simple interfaces and wireless communication between whichever devices want to communicate is the future I guess, but you still need a gateway to the internet and a point (or points) of mass storage - and this is where MS have the homefield advantage, at least for the moment.
I imagine that companies are reluctant to release devices that can't communicate with a PC (many newer minidisk models even allow this, it appears). Any networked media player that lacked this functionality would be in danger of being considered practically useless today. At the same time, almost everyone with an active broadband connection going into their home has a Windows PC, meaning (I guess) that there would likely already be embedded competition for any Sony Playstation based home media hub. I think this buys MS some time in refining their plans to combat Sony, including potentially releasing a Xenon system that offers the product interoperability that Windows boasts but with the transparency that Sony will be promoting.
I had assumed that "Media Centre" PC's were moving in this direction, but must confess to never having used one or read up on them. About all I know is that there's a Windows XP patch to fix a compatability issue with some stuff recorded on them. Which I haven't downloaded. Time to look into them.
Guden Oden said:
All the features he's mentioned can work at the software level without any need for specialist hardware (i.e. they won't take out a CPU core and put in the messenger chip), and I can't see that the Xenon APIs will suffer either (i.e. they won't take people off DirectX to port messenger). MS have plenty of resources.
A swiss army knife is okay at lots of jobs but excells at none. Xenon will excell at running games, which means it'll be able to handle any other media related activities with ease.
I'm confident that the sacrifices to Xenons gaming capabilities to follow this path will be practically none existant, at most.
It'd be pretty useless for me too (never use messenger), but for people who are constantly on messenger, and like to be contactable all the time, it'd just become another little feature they came to take for granted. Like having your mobile phone in the room with you. It'd be an extension of the Live messaging and game invitation service, which I must say is pretty good (and which I do use).
Well, see above for one! Can't remember who else here (I'm not the most regular reader) but I know I've heard about home connectivity (and the Playstation's role in this) from a number of people. It'll be interesting to see how Sony write themselves into the online, connected home of the future don't you think?
If Xenon wants to be some kind of media player (not hub, as the hub device is a PC apparently) for a living room and it lacks HD-DVD/Blu-ray playing capability, it's a big thumb down in forthcoming years. You may add an HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive to your PC later, but walking back and forth to insert a disc in a PC drive and go back to living room to view transmitted HDTV stream via ethernet/WiFi? It's nice to have a Windows PC as a personal media center (as Sony VAIO has been doing since 2000 or before), but living room is another matter. When the next-generation Xbox wants to be a living room media player without the next generation disc playback capability, it's not that different from a modded Xbox with Linux. So my guess is Xbox 2 has an HD-DVD drive and a bit pricier, and is going to be released later than expected.
It's not that I'm concerned about. It's rather that people will go, "oh, it does all THAT?! No, I don't want anything that complicated/advanced/whatever, I just want to play games!", and then not buy the thing at all.function said:
End result would in other words be REDUCING the demographics by packing in a ton of irrelevant features rather than increasing it.
Huh? Contactable HOW? It's not feasible to type using a joypad. It's easily 10x worse using on-screen keyboards than even typing SMSes on a cellphone. It's just a dumb idea, plain and simple.
I must say there's probably 50 other things I'm more interested in in regards to PS3.
Guden Oden said:
Yeah that's what happened with the GC...
I agree, MSN needs a PC, i see no use of it on a console, unless they're gonna make it a video conferencing medium, but that kinda freaks me out to be honest.
Fafalada said:It doesn't necceserily have to be too freaky, in Japan there's a recent phone model with video conferencing support, but it you're uncomfortable with or don't like your video being shown you can use animated avatars in its place
Still freaky, in a "i wanna see what you're (not) wearing" kind of way....
pahcman said:
.... and?
Hint: Xbox2 thread...
Guden Oden said:
On one of the few occasions I've used messenger recently, it was to voice chat (using my actual human voice!) to a friend of mine in Japan. On Xbox Live you can already voice chat or leave voice messgaes, in addition to preset messgaes (like "be my friend" and "join in our game"). Users could be encouraged to make presets, or you a PSO style simple scentence contrustion set.
Remeber, it's messaging, it doesn't have to be like a text chatroom.
Most people online with an Xbox have a mic anyway, and most home PCs have the capacity to play sound, so that's one pretty simple workaround already - allow a combination of type and voice (err - like messenger already does).
If MS did want to offer full typetalking to those who wanted it, a small, cut down tablet keyboard could be released for a few dollars. Or a keboard adapter (like the XBox already has) for those who absolutely refuse to use nothing but a PC keyboard. And who knows, voice recognition might get off the ground some day soon.
It really isn't an insurmountable obstacle if you use a little imagination.
That's kinda funny because i believe i've also been accused of being a Nintendo fanboi before. So you gotta choose one, which companies fanboi am i gonna be, SONY or Nintendo? I actually never said anything about PS3 here yet. Maybe you'll call me a MS fanboi tomorrow because i'll say sth. bad about PS3.Johnny Awesome said:Like your pro-PS3 bias was ever in doubt.
Surprise me!
Johnny Awesome
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Nice try, but you were trolling and I called you out for it. Simple.
Vince said:
Media Center is one of the most Apple like elements of MS's business. Technically you can't buy the Media Center software outside of a system (which pisses me off) and there are fairly strict guidelines and hardware rules that the OEM's have to adhere to in order to sell a system. The point about Media Center PC's that that they are not about the OS - all this is taken away from the end user and preinstalled and usable; when you boot you won't boot in the OS desktop but the Media Center application.
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