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XBox (Games) Media Television

Microsoft to Release Three Versions of Xbox 2 73

Posted by Zonk from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.
BlueMoon writes "TheInquirer is reporting that Microsoft plans to release 3 version of the next generation Xbox console: one of which appears to be a fully functioning PC device, the other 2 are closer to a home console - one with a HDD, the other without. Xbox Next and Xbox Next HD are planned for autumn 2005, the Xbox Next PC is not excepted to show up before autumn 2006."
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Microsoft to Release Three Versions of Xbox 2 More

Microsoft to Release Three Versions of Xbox 2

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  • Microsoft and a G5 PC? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RobTerrell ( 139316 ) on Thursday November 11, 2004 @01:49PM (#10789541) Homepage
    That's really strange. Are they recompiling XP and key Office apps for the G5, or running everything under an embedded VirtualPC, or doing something entirely new? Because I can't imagine they'll be letting it boot Mac OS X, let alone Yellowdog Linux.

    • Re:Microsoft and a G5 PC? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by b0r0din ( 304712 ) on Thursday November 11, 2004 @01:58PM (#10789657)
      Well, keep in mind this is from ONE SLIDE that THE ENQUIRER found.

      I wouldn't exactly report this as news, it didn't come out of the mouth of God or anything.
    • "Xbox Next PC is, according to the presentation, an entry-level PC that runs Windows and all standard PC software. It also includes CD Burner, Wireless keyboard, mouse and controller"

      The article doesn't say anything about a G5, but assuming that they'll be using that as the CPU I guess it means XP or Longhorn will have support for it.
    • Who said they couldn't include an x86 processor? Everyone seems to assume that since they'll have a G5 that they aren't allowed to throw in a second x86 processor to allow backwards compatibility?

  • Hmm.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Zenikase ( 622230 )
    I guess they finally took a hint from the modding and homebrew software community.

    • hint? no, they're likely trying to figure out how to encorporate the modding communities latest innovations and simultaniously disallow them from making any future unauthorized innovations.
      that's how it always feels anyway.

    • This could be a bad idea. Game developers may not support the hard drive if everyone doesn't have one. If the price difference to get the hard drive is too large there may be few that purchase it. The article doesn't say, but I wonder if you can buy the basic X-Box and put in a hard drive later.
  • Does that mean that some sort of Windows will be ported to the PPC hardware?
    • Umm... Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0 were both released for the PPC.

      And, I'm guessing that they'll sell you a copy of Windows CE for PPC too, if you're willing to pay the bucks for it.
    • No, this is all part of the original PowerPC plan: to make a new standard CPU for PC's that would replace the x86 architecture. Microsoft is finally throwing its muscle behind making this dream a reality. The new console will also come with the OS originally intended for that platform, which is of course... OS/2.
  • That PC thing is a smart move. Even if they only pick up a marginal amount of people who don't have PCs now, they might buy a whole new PC later on when they get hooked on the INTARWEB!
  • This is just going to confuse people. Why not release one box and sell upgrades/enhancements for it down the line.

    And no, I didn't RTFA, but it's still a silly move, which is a shame since the XBOX was pleasant surprise for MS' first foray into consoles.

    • Re:WTF? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Quarters ( 18322 ) on Thursday November 11, 2004 @02:18PM (#10789907)
      This is just going to confuse people. Why not release one box and sell upgrades/enhancements for it down the line.

      Peripherals for consoles never achieve any decent amount of sell-through. This is because developers will never support it. They can either develop a game that works on 100% of the installed base of consoles or develop a game that woks on n% of the installed base, where n is a sufficiently small number. The XBoxHD will offer increased functionality but probably not things that are of any dramatic benefit to gamers. Yeah, it might alleviate the need for a memory card or allow for some limited downloadable content. More than likely, though, it will offer TiVO like functionality and a way to store and playback media files.

      • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Funny)

        by oGMo ( 379 )

        Peripherals for consoles never achieve any decent amount of sell-through. This is because developers will never support it. They can either develop a game that works on 100% of the installed base of consoles or develop a game that woks on n% of the installed base, where n is a sufficiently small number. The XBoxHD will offer increased functionality but probably not things that are of any dramatic benefit to gamers. Yeah, it might alleviate the need for a memory card or allow for some limited downloadable

      • "The XBoxHD will offer increased functionality but probably not things that are of any dramatic benefit to gamers. ...More than likely, though, it will offer TiVO like functionality and a way to store and playback media files."

        There has been much protest [petitiononline.com] against the speculation that the second Xbox will not be backwards compatible with first-generation Xbox games. Since Xbox games are so highly dependent on a hard drive, (they use the E: partition of the hard drive to save games and the X:, Y:, and Z: p
    • People are looking at this the wrong way.

      http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5419179.html [zdnet.com]
      Steve Ballmer doesnt want an xbox in the homes of every Mac, Linux and PC user... he wants WINDOWS in every home, everywhere in the world!

      The essence of this is, buy Windows and get a free computer. Only, windows in this instance is in the guise of a games machine. Add this desire to get windows out there, with their drive behind XNA, and it's plain to see that MS see gaming as a luctritive way to get millions of use
      • he wants WINDOWS in every home, everywhere in the world!

        I can't believe I missed such an abvious point, thank you.

        However, they still only need one XBOX, not three.

  • The bag opens and... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hyu ( 763773 )
    We can hardly be surprised by this. Microsoft has a tendency to release many different versions of their products, often with multitudes of features missing, forcing you to buy their advanced ones.

    It's likely that we'll see games that require the Hard Drive for certain functions, or even the fully-fledged XBox PC. People who buy the cheapest model will be forced to upgrade.

    Other rumors are that the lower model, without the Hard Drive, will also be not quite as powerful as the other ones. Interesting to se
    • One problem: Any game that requires the XBox Next PC to run would just be a PC game, and MS would get no licensing rights for it. (Unless MS uses its scary DRM powers, and even then there will probably be a real PC version that comes out concurrently.) I could easily see games requiring (or practically requiring) the HD, though. Aren't KOTOR's savegames absolutely humongous, for example?

      Rob
      • The only reason savegames for some Xbox titles are ridiculously huge is that they didn't have to spend any time optimizing - they had the luxury of a hard drive and they used it. There are many PS2 RPGs that have to keep track of similar amounts of information (sometimes even more) and the developers simply have to factor in the optimization to fit their saves into 8MB or less - if the PS2 had come stock with a hard drive, I guarantee you would have many PS2 games with "humongous" save files.

    • "Forced"? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

      Forcing somebody to buy ANY XBox2 would involve something along the lines of putting a gun to their head and saying "Buy it or die".

      Offering different versions forces nothing. The consumer is free to buy or not buy any one iteration.

      You remind me of the whiners who always complain about the different editions of DVDs. First they come out with the standard, then the extended, then the Director's, FORCING you to buy it three times
      • Oh please, you know what he meant. It's like this Palm Pilot I just bought - comes with a really shitty cover because they want you to pay $40 for the hard-shell case. They could have included a decent cover with the thing. And they don't need to charge $40 for what is basically a $3 hard-shell case. But they decided to be dicks about it.

        That kind of nonsense is annoying. So if MS does go through with this multi-tiered approach, let's hope they're not dicks about it.

  • Oh! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Per Wigren ( 5315 ) on Thursday November 11, 2004 @01:57PM (#10789643) Homepage
    Lots of Nextboxen coming up!
  • That [slashdot.org] only rumored that there might be a PC version of the console, though. Nice to see that even the normal version will have an optional HD. That will make pirat^H^H^H^H^Hstoring savegames a lot simpler.

    Rob

  • They really have missed the point, haven't they? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 11, 2004 @02:03PM (#10789716)
    The reason I have a PS2 rather than a PC for gaming is that when I buy a game I don't want to worry about whether my PC, graphics card, version of DirectX, drivers, etc. will run the game. I don't want to upgrade every six months and spend more time tweaking than playing. I just want to play the damn thing.

    Any PS2 game I buy will work on my PS2. Simple as that.

    As soon as there's a game that requires a certain specification of PS3 or XBox Next or whatever, it gets messy again. This is a slippery slope.

    I get enough stress dealing with compatibilities between L2TP -v- OpenBSD and PDFLib -v- PHP during my day job. I don't want to IT troubleshoot when I get home too.
    • All you need is Microsoft to refuse to license any games that don't support all of the variants and you don't have that problem.

    • Re:They really have missed the point, haven't they (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Any PS2 game I buy will work on my PS2. Simple as that."

      Yeah, but not if you get a PStwo. No hard drive, no FFXI. Sony is on that slippery slope as well.

      Consoles are getting complicated. The Nintendo DS is virtually a PDA...
    • The final Fantasy Online game on the PS2 required a HD. I can imagine having one version of a game working on both machines. It'll just load faster using the hard drive on one and slower on the other. Besides, selling accessories has always been a present in console gaming.
      • Resident Evil: Outbreak is a PS2 game that can run with or without the hard drive, but apparently the annoyingly frequent load times are unbearably long without the HDD. Just thought I'd throw out a failed example of such a practice in true /. spirit.

  • PC, PC/XT, PC/AT (Score:2, Insightful)

    by renehollan ( 138013 )
    Everything old is new again!

  • Xbox Next PC -- Coleco Adam (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yes, I'm sure the Xbox Next PC will go over just as well as previous attempts to turn a game console into a PC [vintage-computer.com]
  • One of my favorite features of the Xbox is the built in hard-drive. Developers know everyone has it, so they program for it which in the end means I can listen to my custom soundtracks rather than the shitty EA TRAX...

    So this begs the question on whether or not HD-specific features will still be there or will be treated as light gun support. I'm hoping for the former.

    Also, did anyone think Xbox Next HD meant high-definition until they read farther? That may not be the best name for it.
  • Xbox2 Standard,
    Xbox2 Professional and
    Xbox2 Media Center Edition

    That's a very innovative way to approach the different segments of the console market.
  • the Xbox Next PC is not excepted to show up before autumn 2006. Darn, I wasn't excepting to have to wait that long.
  • . . . before the mod chips for the HD version appear?

  • I call bullcrap... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by hollismb ( 817357 )

    ...on the entire article. Will play PC games? What the hell for? Why would you go through all the coding and compatibility concerns for a market segment that would make you zero dollars? Money is makd off licensing and selling software, and allowing PC games to be played eliminate those dollars.

    An HD and Non-HD version? Yeah right. Let's segment the console market, that's always a good idea. (See Sega CD, 32X, the PS2 HD, etc.) Developers wouldn't bother writing things to use the HD if they knew everyone

    • Developers wouldn't bother writing things to use the HD if they knew everyone didn't have one, or that it's just a small part of the market.

      Most developers don't write specificly for the HD now. That doesn't make it any less usefull. If nothing else, you just won't have to worry about memory cards.

      Most Xbox games are multi-platform. Not many support Hi definition, widescreen or Xbox Live. That doesn't make these things pointless. If you could save a few bucks to buy a 'lite' xbox for your 27 inch st

      • It might not be that hard to throw in some built in checks; "if LiveSupportingHardware = No Then DisableThisOptionOnTheMenu()" or "if HardDriveIsPresent = Yes Then CacheThisInformationForFasterAccess; else StreamThisInformationOffOfTheDVDAsRequired".

      • Most developers don't write to cache to the hard-drive, but that doesn't mean they don't write for it. You've forgotten custom soundtracks and content downloads. Most UBIsoft games (Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell), Ninja Gaiden, Links 2004, Rallisport Challenge 2, Project Gotham 2, ToCA Race Driver 2, Halo 2...

        Those all use the hardrive, and I'm not talking about just game saves either. They allow you to download new content, and do custom soundtracks, and if most users didn't have an HD, those f

    • You're missing the point. Have you noticed that many (most?) gamecube games have extra features for people who own a GBA and GBA link cord? It will be the same with XBox2 games. if you have the hard drive, you can listen to your custom sound track, if you don't, you can't. If you have the hard drive, your Xbox2 can download extra levels from Live.

      What I'm curious about is if they'll offer a hard-drive upgrade kit. Seems to me they'll have to.
      • Assuming the game developer feels like implementing the features.
      • Um, actually, not that many gamecube game take advantage of the link up. That example is exactly my point, or the Sony HD, which is used by, what, two games? How about all the Xbox games that support custom soundtracks and content download? We'd see that number drastically drop.
    • My friend refuses to buy any FPS for a console because he can't use a mouse to aim. Imagine MS getting a huge chunk of the PC gaming market. Release the xbox3pc on a different timetable, like every three years. That way MS gets money for the OS, Office, which will run on it, and the hardware.

      As for the HD, make it so xbox live games will only play on the HD model. No broadband and HD, no Live. The Live players already jumped through the broadband hoop so they'll get the HD too. When the console final
    • I forgot to point out that many PC gamers will like not having to spend $200 for a video card every two years and $350 for a CPU/mobo/ram/power supply every three years. Considering the installed base, the developers will take extra care to make the game work on the console platform.

  • The device will also play most available PC games.

    Ohhhh k, so I'll be able to play Half Life 2 on this XBox which runs a PowerPC CPU?

    Sounds bogus to me


  • Whatever happened to:

    1. Xbox2 without HD and not backwards compatible
    2. Xbox2 without HD but backwards compatible
    3. Xbox2 with HD but not backwards compatible
    4. Xbox2 with HD and backwards compatible

    And I have not even mentioned the variants due to Thompson, Philips and Samsung
  • Hmm.. regular xbox users just wanted a faster xbox with their HDD and LAN in it, modders wanted a "cheap PC/console" combo and japanese wanted a small/ take anywhere no hdd console with no pc traces (very few japanese game developers code in PC) Why not make 3 versions and please everyone? doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

    Seriously, a PC that can do office work, 3d models and play HL2, doom3 and Halo 2(3) on the same case? count me in! I wont even look at the price tag twice! (but of course Im a compu
  • And it will also come with a handsome carry case and easy to store tripod.

    iXbox2 :-)

  • Might I address the jury? (Score:5, Funny)

    by superultra ( 670002 ) on Thursday November 11, 2004 @04:07PM (#10791228) Homepage
    Naw I'm no fancy shmancy programmer from tha Valley like my colleague here -BAKCKAAAK- but it seems a trite odd that this Xbax 2 won't play Xbax 1 games because has something called a PahwaPC chip. Yet, -BAKCAAK- it can play PC games fahne as the day is braght? Now being the simple country chicken that I am, I may not know what an Xbax even is. But I humbly submit that something smells in the kitchen and it ain't momma's cooking. The Inquiahah is not exactly a shahnin example of what they call in the big city "journalistic intagratah."

    My case -BACAKAAA- rests your honah.
  • I've always wondered why MS didn't do this before. They get in trouble because they force a closed software system on an open hardware platform? The solution is simple, change the platform. Use all sorts of DRM/encoding/encrypting stuff and make it fairly self-contained, if simple.

    If anyone buys software for the thing, MS gets 100% of the money for that (apart from existing game titles). That's what they've wanted for a long time now! And no pesky laws to get in the way; except for the pesky laws that
  • This is an interesting idea on microsoft's part, i'm guessing that they see the margins apple are making on their systems and want a slice of that sweet, sweet pie. From their position i'm guessing all they can see are positives, including that they will be able to completely control the software and hardware to completely illiminate piracy on any (internet connected) system, and they get the xbox2 software catalogue available on it without trying, as long as they don't stuff it up and tell the devs they

  • Random speculation (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Interesting move. I hadn't seen it coming, but I guess it makes a certain degree of sense. If I were to offer some predictions (or rather, guesses), they'd be:

    After the initial silly-prices of the first month or two after release have passed, the HDD-less X-Box 2 will be pretty cheap, maybe around the $100 mark. This will be intended as a direct competitor to whatever console Nintendo puts out next. The HDD version will probably follow a price curve similar to the original X-Box's and will be the main comp
  • I know I'm a little late to this party, but this surely is a recipe for failure! Multiple versions of the Xbox! That's crazy, and the one thing that can almost certainly guarantee disaster. This can only confuse consumers and developers.

    Developers will end up developing for the lowest common denominator and the high end Xboxes will end up sitting on the store shelves gathering dust. Sony has just got to love the way Microsoft is determined to shoot itself in the foot!

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