Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech

[MfA]

But that's not the point. He's actually suggesting a PC console. Are Activision seriously considering this? If they cahoot with others like Valve...well, it'd all come down to MS then.

As much as XBOX division likes to see PC gaming die, they don't have the clout to impact windows prices ... as long as boxes are shipping with windows at Microsoft tax prices Valve and Activision will be able to get windows at Microsoft tax prices for a PC "console".

It's out of the hands of Microsoft, best they could do would be bribing them or trying to (illegally) blackmail them into not doing it. In the end though I'd think Microsoft would be mad to fight this, PC gaming is probably Microsoft's best weapon vs. Apple in the battle for end users.

 

[green.pixel]

It's out of the hands of Microsoft, best they could do would be bribing them or trying to (illegally) blackmail them into not doing it. In the end though I'd think Microsoft would be mad to fight this, PC gaming is probably Microsoft's best weapon vs. Apple in the battle for end users.

CTO of HP's gaming division and the founder of Vooodo PC, Rahul Sood's thoughts about this:
Microsoft Windows may become Irrelevant Without Gaming

If gaming were to continue on the path to which it's currently on the content will become less important, the quality of the games will drop, and games will be consumed like bubblegum or candy bars. Granted there are a few exceptions, but for the most part you buy it, you play it for a couple of days, and you wait for the next one.

... on the other hand if all Microsoft produces with Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight are stripped down browser based versions of their previously earth shattering titles then we have a problem that probably won't be fixed by Microsoft.

All this talk though makes me want to buy one of those slimcase HPs or Acers, plug in a decent low profile graphics card, and paint the damn thing orange.

And call it... The Orange Box.

Honestly I just want one of those pretty cases, and just put in whatever I want from there, but most slim mATX cases are pretty ugly and bigger.

There are some nice ones from Lian-Li and Antec:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Antec-NSK1480
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzE3

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't think Dell or HP are visionary enough to solve the problem like it has to be solved though, especially since to do it right will take some money and maintenance costs. The main advantages of the consoles over the PC other than cost are administration and containment. The console user has to do little of the former and anything he installs won't generally fuck up the machine as a whole.

I think it's possible to create a PC which works like that too, but it will take more than asking HP and Dell nicely ... it will take initiative and some money from the main beneficiaries (Valve and/or Activision).

Ironically this is what DirectX was supposed to address, and where MS were looking to provide a DirectX rating so you could very simply match up hardware to software. Trouble is, hardware is too complex and Windows just isn't good enough at solving hardware compatibilitiy issues. Without standardised hardware, there are faults typical consumers can't work with. Hell, even fixed hardware like consoles can introduce compatibility issues across SKUs!

I think they'd need a fixed hardware configuration, not user-upgradeable. This GPU with this mobo and that processor at this clockspeed etc. The moment users starting changing things, support becomes a nightmare, and you get those conditions that always kept me from PC gaming, those bugs the devs can't trace that leave angry forum posters complaining how crap the game is because it doesn't work on their system, to which the devs can't reply because there's nothing they can do.

There are some nice ones from Lian-Li and Antec:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Antec-NSK1480
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzE3

Whatever happened to the BTX standard? That'd ahve been a good framework for a slimline PC console.

 

[AzBat]

Evidently with the Xbox Live $10 price hike to $60 a year, Activision has "snagged a "modest amount" of that $5". So in a way, Activision are responsible for the price hike. Kinda scary if you think about it. Let one foot in the door, what else can happen?

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/12/bobby-kotick-on-the-business-of-call-of-duty-dlc-treyarch-inf/
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413950

Tommy McClain

 

[Silenti]

I'm too tired and scattered brained to properly parse that statement by Kotick in the article. Is he really stating Activision is getting 5$ from MS? It is really unclear to me. Activision may be sitting on top of the world with Modern Warfare at the moment, but what happens when COD dies, as it inevitably will. Next year or 10 years from now. This would really annoy me if MS upped the price in large part to pay Activision and I wasn't a Call of Duty player. ( I have neither at the moment and don't expect that to change for the moment.)

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I'm too tired and scattered brained to properly parse that statement by Kotick in the article. Is he really stating Activision is getting 5$ from MS? It is really unclear to me.

No, the sum is not specified. The 5$ figure was just the amount of money MS gets per month from Live 60$/12months, Kotick says Activision get's a small amount out of that. Don't know how close to 5$ per year that is though...

 

[Mobius1aic]

And call it... The Orange Box.

I was seriously thinking that as well, but it was too easy and convenient to suggest the idea

Besides, orange is a pretty tacky color for a production/retail item though. But it would be interesting to market an "Orange Box" console as coming with a pre-installed copy of The Orange Box, which would be a pretty good idea unto itself. Valve already banked with the title and giving away free digital copies would be tempting for consumers. Hell I'd throw in Counter-Strike Source too.

As interesting as the 4 Core Bobcat idea is, I see nothing but problems arising from the chip being too low in graphics horsepower and APU - RAM bandwidth not meeting the demand. If it was a 4 core Bobcat + dedicated GPU, I would be much more interested. As for the arguments about using Windows in such a machine (assuming it's still a generally open ended PC machine), I could see MS getting on board with providing a stripped down version of Windows, if MS really feels that their OS is in peril (and arguably it is with Apple, Linux on their ass). In the end I cannot seriously see a Valve Box running only Source powered games from Valve hence why I wouldn't want an APU-only system unless we're talking 4 CPU cores, 400+ SPs and 40+ GB/s of bandwidth. It needs to decently handle a large part of the Steam catalog as well as whatever Valve might be planning as a successor to Source. I'd still expect it to be a fully functional computer (regardless of OS structure), with the proper interfaces and programs for idiots to have their hand held but provision for power users to get their groove on if they so desire.

I'm also surprised Valve hasn't tried to break into the Facebook gaming market by providing browser playable forms of Counter Strike Source that can interface and play with "normal" servers. Facebook gamers could easily access the game by starting their browser, logging in to Facebook as opposed to doing the "complicated" bit of hitting an exe on their desktop

As for MS-Activision royalties thing, I guess it would be possible for MS to analyze Call of Duty related server activity and pay Activision according to the activity, assuming Activision even had access to the info to leverage MS into paying them?

 

[Alkohallick]

Now I know this isnt a "tech" post but I wasn't really sure where to put this, feel free to move to appropriate location if need-be

Now reading this...When quizzed about the project by Destructoid ahead of last weekend’s Spike Video Game Awards, Frank Pearce, Blizzard’s senior vice president, confirmed it was happening.

“The media is not supposed to know anything about that,” he said. “It’s our next-gen MMO project."...........According to the leaked release schedule Titan is slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2013......http://www.next-gen.biz/news/blizzard-admits-“titan”-is-its-next-mmog

So can we expect "next-gen" to be sometime in late 2013, early 2014?

 

[JPT]

“The media is not supposed to know anything about that,” he said. “It’s our next-gen MMO project."...........According to the leaked release schedule Titan is slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2013......http://www.next-gen.biz/news/blizzard-admits-“titan”-is-its-next-mmog

So can we expect "next-gen" to be sometime in late 2013, early 2014?

Or just the next-gen of MMO?

 

[MfA]

Unless the next generation console has a keyboard and mouse what does Blizzard's next MMO have to do with it? Why would a market which has failed time and time again be an attractive option for the company with the single most profitable computer game in history in a different market?

Consoles are actually moving farther away from what a successful MMO needs with further simplification of controls ...

 

[NRP]

Goddamn I can't stand listening to Bobby Kotex. What an absolutely greedy bastard.

 

[Rangers]

I'm too tired and scattered brained to properly parse that statement by Kotick in the article. Is he really stating Activision is getting 5$ from MS? It is really unclear to me. Activision may be sitting on top of the world with Modern Warfare at the moment, but what happens when COD dies, as it inevitably will. Next year or 10 years from now. This would really annoy me if MS upped the price in large part to pay Activision and I wasn't a Call of Duty player. ( I have neither at the moment and don't expect that to change for the moment.)

The statement was in the context of Live Gold costing $5 a month. It was then stated Activision gets a modest amount of that $5.

The article definitely doesn't state Activision gets $5.

 

[GuestLV]

What can the CELL really do? Details straight from IBM themselves
Industry Trends in Microprocessor Design
http://lanl.gov/orgs/hpc/roadrunner/rrinfo/RR webPDFs/Cell_Hofstee_Non_Conf.pdf

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PC gaming talk moved here.

 

[liolio]

What can the CELL really do? Details straight from IBM themselves
Industry Trends in Microprocessor Design
http://lanl.gov/orgs/hpc/roadrunner/rrinfo/RR%20webPDFs/Cell_Hofstee_Non_Conf.pdf

Sorry I'm not trying to be rude but I don't get how that relates to this thread. Some posts have been deleted on top of those that have been moved?
If IBM is to push out another rendition of the Cell they should do it really quickly as Intel and AMD have now CPU with integrated GPU and that software environment is maturing (OpenCL, direct compute).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's an outdated comparison too. Doesn't point to anything IMO.

 

[Squilliam]

Does anyone think that the rendering will be anything more or less exotic than our current forward or deferred renderers for the majority of games? Theres always been a push for other ways to render things but never has anyone actually pushed one. So is it likely at all that say Sony is going to take a risk and devote some of their resources towards say voxels or ray tracing hybridation?

 

[corduroygt]

There's way too much new IP and GPU advancements in the PC fields ever since the current consoles launched, so I doubt Sony's going to do anything more exotic than what they're doing now with using the cell to help rendering tasks. Much more cost effective to get a PC GPU that's already 5 generations ahead, instead of trying to develop it yourself.

 

[jonabbey]

There's way too much new IP and GPU advancements in the PC fields ever since the current consoles launched, so I doubt Sony's going to do anything more exotic than what they're doing now with using the cell to help rendering tasks. Much more cost effective to get a PC GPU that's already 5 generations ahead, instead of trying to develop it yourself.

IBM said something relatively recently about working with Cell technology for the next generation of gaming consoles, so I assume Sony is not abandoning Cell for the PS4. Perhaps they're just doing it for backwards compatibility, though.

I wonder how much use Cell would be to PS3 if it had a more modern GPU..

 

[corduroygt]

I wonder how much use Cell would be to PS3 if it had a more modern GPU..

It'd still be the same with Sony first parties pushing the envelope. No matter how modern or powerful your console GPU is, it's still not going to be enough, you'll want more polys, more effects, AA, etc.