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XBox (Games)

Microsoft May License Out XBox Software 34

Posted by Zonk from the spreading-the-love dept.
myheroBobHope writes "Apparently, Microsoft may license Xbox software to 3rd parties. Could this lead to the death of the standalone console? With the possibility of Media PC's with XBox software installed on them, why bother buying an Xbox?" From the article: "Gates hasn't offered specifics about the kind of software or which companies would be involved. He also hasn't said whether the arrangement will involve manufacturers making products other than game machines, such as digital consumer electronics gadgets that combine PC functions with home appliances." Update: 07/01 13:48 GMT by Z : From a comment by StingRay02, a link to a Gamespot article in which MS says this won't happen.
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Microsoft May License Out XBox Software More

Microsoft May License Out XBox Software

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  • end this destructive conflict (Score:3, Funny)

    by ArmorFiend ( 151674 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @08:45PM (#12956634) Homepage Journal
    Hm, so if they licenced to be embedded in the PS3...

    Darth Bill: Join me, and together we can rule the universe as Father and Sony
  • The death of standalone consoles have been predicted before-with hand-helds, with PCs. It won't happen this time because it didn't happen last time.
    • Look at the markets where embedded devices work, and where they don't.

      Embedded VCR's sold well - provided you only wanted a 13-inch TV. They failed to sell well when the TV was any bigger. Why? Because they were only space-efficient at the point where you had that tiny a TV. Rednecks living in trailer parks and college students living in dorms, who couldn't fit anything bigger than a 13" TV into their living space anyways, bought TV's with VCR's built in. Everyone else bought a TV, bought a VCR, and were q
    • "It won't happen this time because it didn't happen last time."
      Solid logic there. I've got a great plan. I'm going to predict that there will be no rain today. If it doesn't happen, then I'll predict the same thing for tomorrow. Thus, since my prediction didn't come true the first time, it won't ever happen. From that, there will be no more rain and the human race will go extinct because you have poor logical reasoning.

  • Absolutely (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Momoru ( 837801 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @08:50PM (#12956670) Homepage Journal
    I mean when CDI and 3DO did this, it completely elminated the standalone console....oh wait.

    • Re:Absolutely (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 )
      "I mean when CDI and 3DO did this, it completely elminated the standalone console....oh wait."

      Um, yeah. "Two systems that few people wanted are definitive proof that this particular business model will fail." Case closed.
      • Seriously? I remember both of these being really popular at the time, they may have had more hype before they came out then the current next gen systems. I mean this was really high tech at the time, interactive CD roms? Crazy! But maybe I lived in some alternate universe, because I happen to own a Panasonic 3DO (which was awesome), and used to own a Philips CDi (which was only awesome until dvds came out).
  • Think of a Tivo with a Xbox 360 build in. That would be something I might want. Other than that I cant think of any other devices.
    • Hrm... Wouldn't an Xbox with Tivo software installed work better? (Or at least be cooler?)

      Either way, if MS licenses out Xbox to 3rd party vendors who make xbox's that can play Xbox games just a as good as the regular xbox360 then they can save a ton of money if they make most of their money of the games themselves and not worry about console costs.

  • Basically (Score:3, Insightful)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:02PM (#12956749)
    I could buy a PC that ends up being more compatible with Xbox games than an Xbox 360 might be? That's just kind of pathetic really.

    To me this just seems like a grab at some media attention. Heaven forbid that everyone stops talking about company Z for a few minutes. Perhaps they're just throwing it out there to see how Sony and Nintendo react to the proposition.

    If they do, do this it's win-win for Microsoft all the way. First they get money when anyone wants to add Xbox functionality to whatever device they want. Then they get money whenever anyone buys an Xbox game to play on that piece of hardware. They don't have to worry about anything but counting all the money that rolls in.

    Since Microsoft has poured a lot of money into the Xbox 360, they really need to make it succeed. They can't go on having the Xbox lose money all the time. This means they can't really spent much effort with their current generation machine once it launches. Since it runs on and Intel chip, which a lot of PCs use anyway, it shouldn't be hard to create an Xbox Virtual Machine or have someone else buy the rights to create one to run on some other type of hardware. Microsoft has just found a way to continue expanding the Xbox platform without having to do any work. Even if it's a failure, it doesn't hurt Microsoft as much because they're not directly involved.

    It'll be interesting to see what comes of this.

  • Already Old News (Score:4, Informative)

    by StingRay02 ( 640085 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:05PM (#12956771)
    Microsoft has already denied this is going to happen. [gamespot.com]
  • With the possibility of Media PC's with XBox software installed on them, why bother buying an Xbox?

    Given that Microsoft loses money on the consoles and profits from the games, I don't see a problem.
  • So someone is going to make a machine better than or equal to the 360 - a machine that MS is going to sell at a huge loss - and sell their machine at an even bigger loss. And unlike MS, they will get no liscencing fees from game sales....

    Why don't the editors on /. at least think this stuff through before they post.

  • I was actually wondering about this before... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by earthbound kid ( 859282 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:15PM (#12956836) Homepage
    Just yesterday, I was playing my DS and thinking a little about the whole Nintendo v. Sony thing, and I wondered whether Microsoft would ever enter the handheld game market. Reflecting on it, I realized that a) they're going to wait until the next generation (duh) and b) they're likely to follow their usual MO, which is to release a spec and let someone else build it. In other words, PocketPC -> PocketGB.

    To be honest, it's a little strange that MS decided to enter the hardware market with the XBox. I wouldn't be surprised to find that they'd prefer for someone else to start taking the however many hundred dollar loss on the individual consoles. The biggest problem with the strategy is that the price of the hardware is inflated, since the manufactures are unwilling to take a loss if they don't get a cut from the software sales. Also, having a lot of different manufactures could confuse consumers. Still, this sounds much more like the way MS likes to work: stand back, let other people bust their asses cutting prices on hardware, and collect a fee off of every item sold.

  • Everyone can make a console! (Score:4, Funny)

    by pyrrhonist ( 701154 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:18PM (#12956852)
    Apparently, Microsoft may license Xbox software to 3rd parties.

    Wow! If Microsoft does this, then even Infinium Labs will be able make a game console!

  • So now I'll be able to finally put my cartridges in the toaster?

  • GC replay? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by djdanlib ( 732853 ) on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:42PM (#12956993) Homepage
    Didn't we see this already with the Nintendo Gamecube? What was that DVD player that would let you play GC games?

    Anyways... nobody bought it last time 'round, so what makes anyone believe someone is going to this time?

    Maybe they are trying to make up for the lackluster sales performance of Windows XP Media Edition.

  • Consoles will never die (Score:3, Informative)

    by 77Punker ( 673758 ) <(spencr04) (at) (highpoint.edu)> on Thursday June 30, 2005 @09:43PM (#12957003)
    I went out to Best Buy today and bought TimeSplitters 3. I drove home and put the disc into my GameCube. I fired it up, turned on progressive scan and wide screen, and it was set.
    No installation, no patching, no bullshit.

    Don't get me wrong; I love my PC games. But when I'm in the mood for something to really just work, I turn to my trusty consoles. I've treated mine well and never had a failure.

    I also treat my computer well, but HDD space and system requirements often stand in the way of just wanting to sit down and play a game. With a console, I never worry about how much room I have left or if I need to turn down the detail to gain framerate.

    They fill two different needs.
  • It can't happen, unless they're talking about releasing an official Xbox 1 emulator/loader for PC's. This would not Xbox 360 software licesned.

    If it exists, it would only be Xbox 1 released. Possibly a good idea, this would give new life to a dead system, sorta like Microsoft's version of the PSone. Release Xbox Jr as software or possibly a bootable disc for PC's that match the specs of Xbox 1. Give it to PC hobbyists and game enthusiasts, since today's gaming PC's are x86-based and dwarf the specs of the
    • But you'd have to have some emulation for the Xbox 1's shader which aren't standard DirectX shaders. So why couldn't a Xbox 360 emulator be built? If the PC hardware is fast enough you could do realtime emulation of the CPU opcodes, and if the games are coded using XNA there could be just minimal emulation needs to get it to work with DirectX.
  • You know what? I don't buy it. X-Box software running on non-Power CPUs? FUD and vaporware, that's my gut feeling, here. A tactical strike against the PS3.
  • how long until we see some George Foreman lean mean gaming machines?
  • of consoles the dedicated, standardised and predicatable hardware? Licensing the software will either degrade the quality of the games produced, as developers are forced to support a wider range of hardware, or worse, a broken end user experience, as people struggle with the boxes, trying to decide if game X will run on console X. Its a stupid idea, so I expect Microsoft to get behind it 100% in a failed attempt to prove everybody wrong.
  • I just hope they enforce certain requirements on the hardware... The nice thing about consoles has always been that each one is more or less identical, which means no time is needed to test bugs for different hardware options and they can be optimized to levels which would be impractical, if not impossible, to support on multiple platforms.
  • I have been in the videogame industry a long time, and no single area would give a company the entire win than in embedding their console in consumer electronics (either right into the TV or into DVD players). I have been saying for years that once someone does this (and makes it available cheap enough) the install base and license fees would be astronomic.

    I still see the Gamecube or the Revolution to be possible candidates for this, and with almost all of the electronics being made over there they would h
  • Apple releases Mac OS X for Intel.

    Microsoft releases XBOX 360 for PPC?
  • GE: Thank you for General Electric how can I help you?
    Caller: Yeah, um, I'm trying to play Halo 3 on my Spacemaker IV microwave, and it keeps popping up with a blue screen after the opening movie.
    GE: What?
    Caller: Halo 3. I just bought it to play while I microwave my cheese sticks. That way I don't have to get up to grab 'em.
    GE: I see. Please hold (5 minute wait) We don't support Xbox related inquiry's you'll have to call Microsoft for that. Their number's 555.555.5555
    -------
    Microsoft: (Indian A

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