The Xbox 720

[masticina]

Has anybody already pulled out the Sega 32x and the Megacd? Yes the megacd worked..if it worked. But with the Jaguar it failed.

A console is a base, a promise that there is a basic level of performance. Sure it sounds interresting to add more to a console take the HD-DVD player for the xbox 360. But .. you couldn't play games from them. why? And with the xbox 350 there is also a big problem, you can't promise a HDD for installations, patches, dlc etc.. nope because the base model had none.

So guess what even if you are able to extend offering more then the BASE.. usually means that software is made for just that.. the BASE.

 

[masticina]

It's more likely they'll license the Xbox software for third-party manufacturers (with strictly defined build requirements similar to Windows Phone 7), and get themselves out of the hardware game that way. Xbox's true value proposition is really in the software, specifically Live.

3DO, look that one up, it didn't work in the end the consoles to make any money [since the makers wouldn't on the games] we're to darn expensive priced. And the guys behind 3DO did get both license money of the different parties making the hardware. And licenses on the game without taking the possible failure off it. I mean for them it was a Win-Win while for the hardware sellers it was LOSS..with possible win.

Guess what the 3DO failed!

 

[ElPatron]

you don't have to deal with all the other shit that PC players seem to enjoy.

I don't enjoy tinkering with my PC, that's why I try to keep it in shape instead of just letting everyone clog it with unnecessary programs, not letting drivers get outdated, etc.

The saying that PCs need some kind of intensive care and are somehow more complex than consoles. They aren't. I actually raged harder at PS3s than computers.


Look, some people enjoy the satisfaction of "building" something. It's like building a relationship.

Having a PC is like having a wife, having a console is like paying for prostitutes. (I just realised how creepy this sounds)

I know this sounds insulting, but it isn't. I have a 360 and it's more of a last resort or just to blow off steam. But since my PC doesn't have issues, I keep having a moderate care for it and I may not play console for a whole month.

Now, you know how much trouble being in a relationship is. If you have the right PC, it will go smoothly and with little input.

If you chose the wrong PC... oh boy, it ends up with a divorce.

 

[Awexsome]

The authors opinion is obviously invalid and should be considered a joke.
He/she thinks that FPS games are better on consoles... seriously?

Console FPS games have aim assistance to help the game being playable at all.
There is no competitive gaming on consoles in FPS games.

Consoles are only good for fighting games and Zelda.
The rest is better of on the PC.

And congrats on reinventing the PC. Who knows, maybe people will notice it this time.
The last time PC's were invented, no on noticed them and the technology died.

Wow. It's like a perfectly preserved museum exhibit on the the stereotype Escapist PC fanboy elitist.

In all seriousness when games like BF3 start becoming more common then I'd be willing to get an upgrade. Graphics are already at a high enough standard that the highest end PC graphics I wouldn't be willing to shell out extra hundreds for. BF3 was physically inferior console game that didn't have functionality that PC had and, quite frankly, wasn't a very good game on 2/3rds of its release platforms because of it.

Consoles should always have that accessibility that makes PC's entry bar look like college degree in computer engineering. I buy a 360 game. I put it in my 360. I play it without issue.

If consoles start to stray away from that process, with the exception of only having clear and smaller scale diversions out from it like with Kinect or things along that line, then they'll lose the biggest thing they have going for them.

". One can keep a PC for massively multiplayer online role playing games and real-time strategy games, i.e. the experiences that demand a keyboard and mouse setup for governing complicated control schemes, and run everything else on a console for ease and convenience."

You've left first person shooters off the first part for that list.

Because it's not one. Used to be. The difference is far too minor now to be put in the same category as RTS or MMOs. It's trivial.

 

[Creator002]

If this does happen, it won't be a good idea. The whole idea of the console is that it can play any game released on that system. If people enjoyed upgrading their systems to play games, they wouldn't have bought a console in the first place.

Then again, I see entertainment value. "Hardcore" console gamers would have one less thing to argue about with "hardcore" pc gamers, who would then be even more smug.

 

[esperandote]

A console should be able to run every game released for it. Just release it with enough power to last enough years. On the other hand we already have exchangable hard drives so maybe extraa RAM would be nice but that's it.

 

[falcon1985]

But we already have those, I'm typing this on one now. It's called a PC. Remember? Those things that were dying...

 

[RanceJustice]

For this entire console generation (and perhaps for the last one as well, though with more reservation) I've felt that the time of the game console SHOULD be at an end. We're no longer at the time when a general-purpose computer was a monstrous $5000+ proposition and thus we needed purpose-built (though, still expensive - the NES was around $300+ depending on the package, while other early consoles had similarly expensive price tags) gaming machines in order to bring games to the public on an incredibly limited amount of power to be affordable.

As an advocate of open platforms (including open source) designed for the user, I've been disappointed in watching even our flexible computing convergence devices be divided into walled gardens and basically reformed for no purpose but to wrest control into the hands of corporate entities. Be it an iOS device that can't, without hacking, load programs from elsewhere than the AppStore and refuses to allow simply copy-paste access to media and codecs, or a game console where the only option to go online is to use "Their" service, the walls are higher than ever. Rather than increased technological freedom and convergence being used to better the experience, it has been locked down - look at the difficulty of legally accessing television and movie media online - because all the content producers want total control.

Modern consoles are more like PCs than ever (especially evident in the Xbox360) but with nearly all their additional "features" meant to take everything out of user hands and ensure that their games are basically held hostage on platforms designed for limitless monetization and control. Supporters will state that having a standardized platform is the benefit of consoles; not having to worry about differing hardware configurations and to a point this is correct. However, when console titles are patched and systems updated with frequency and PC titles have system requirements (as they've always had) the lines blur considerably. If the industry really wanted to, they could come up with a simple alphanumeric scale for hardware requirements.

I'm tired of having my experience dictated entirely by an industry that feels the best way to profit is to control and strangle every cent of the the market. Ever since gaming emerged from a niche population, the developers/producers realize that they no longer need to provide a high quality product at a reasonable price; why deal with those "hard to please" geeks when there are so many more who will beg with tongues outstretched for the next $15 map pack? On the backs of those that know or wish no different, the mainstream (especially Western) gaming industry has been run into the ground; corporate backers acting with impunity knowing that no matter the depravity and lack of respect, they can pretty much say "Fuck you, buy this shit and like it" and there will be enough buyers to make it profitable.

Consoles once served a purpose, but that purpose has been perverted into a way for the industry to control your living room. Tendrils are reaching out elsewhere, on the backs of Apple and the like, to try to ensure that all content is provided via a dumb terminal that is totally controlled by the manufacturer; everything must be on their terms. Your personal system, your freedom is the enemy. Its time to demand more.

I see a future with open platforms, where hardware requirements are the only things that define where a game can be played. Want to play the next Legend of Zelda game on your home-theater PC? Does it have at least "C-rank" hardware, and WiiU Controllers? Fine. Want to buy hosting for your own Gears of War match at a colocation centre, and browse to their servers? Done. You don't need to get on XboxLive if you don't want to - you can still play online with that title anywhere you choose, if you don't like XLive's ruleset or expense. Myriad beautiful JRPGs such as Valkyria Chronicles IV , built on open libraries that make it easy to play on Linux?

I've grown weary of the way gaming and consumer technology as a whole has developed; more boxes, more limits, more restrictions, more greed. Just a little over a decade ago we thought that with technological increases would come amazing leaps forward - even in entertainment. Alas, we've been held back by greed; bickering of corporate entities for which totally incompatible widget will reign and push their stock skyward. I don't have a lot of faith for the next generation lest we can rid ourselves of these poisons and move towards something better.

 

[LilithSlave]

This seems to defeat the very point of console gaming, making it easy for developers to develop for the platform by not having to worry about lots of variables.

I have to say though, that the overlap of Windows 8 sounds amazing. Getting pretty much the entire XBOX library on the PC if that's somehow possible, would make my life. That means games like Tales of Vesperia, Mushihimesama, Beautiful Katamari, Deathsmiles, Cross Edge, Deathsmiles II, Tekken 6, without long load times!, DoDonPachi, Espgaluda II, Eternal Sonata, Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken X Street Fighter, all on the PC! Without using emulators!

I would just faint from the overwhelming happiness, I would. If they could somehow someday just transplant the entire XBOX library over to Windows I would finally get so many of my favourite games on the PC which I never do. Or at least nothing more than a small portion of. I don't know who I saw suggest it, but the idea of Windows 8 being compatible with all XBOX titles would be revolutionary in terms of giving the PC awesome games.

 

[bobajob]

Of course, if you create modular consoles with all the trappings of PC functionality, upgrades, patches, mice and other peripherals but proprietary.......... Wait, didn't Apple already do that?

Of course, there would be a stronger case for just buying/building a PC anyway. Plus perhaps we would see less broken games due to more extensive testing, and less lazy console ports. That would be nice.

 

[Smokescreen]

you don't have to deal with all the other shit that PC players seem to enjoy.

I don't enjoy tinkering with my PC, that's why I try to keep it in shape instead of just letting everyone clog it with unnecessary programs, not letting drivers get outdated, etc.

So, you have to do work to keep it up to date. Alright...

The saying that PCs need some kind of intensive care and are somehow more complex than consoles. They aren't.

Wait, what? Didn't you just say that you had to do stuff?

I actually raged harder at PS3s than computers.

Alright--but the point behind having a console is that this kind of event is the minority. Anecdotal data is meaningless and I don't mean to diminish the hassle you went through but for people who like consoles, the idea is: we don't have to put in the work that PC players have to do on their rig.

Look, some people enjoy the satisfaction of "building" something. It's like building a relationship.

Awesome. I'm going to go have sex while you get 60fps on Crysis 2. Who's better off?
/I'm razzing

Having a PC is like having a wife, having a console is like paying for prostitutes. (I just realised how creepy this sounds)

So you're comparing the kind of machine I like to the kind of women I like? That doesn't make you sound bad, and I'm sure the ladies reading this will totally understand.

I know this sounds insulting, but it isn't.

Then maybe you should've found another way to say it. There are nearly 200,000 words in the English language. Availing yourself of them, especially when communicating to strangers might help you be clearer and sound like less creepy.

I have a 360 and it's more of a last resort or just to blow off steam. But since my PC doesn't have issues, I keep having a moderate care for it and I may not play console for a whole month.

Um...good? But again, you keep having a moderate care for it whereas I don't do anything to my consoles.

Now, you know how much trouble being in a relationship is. If you have the right PC, it will go smoothly and with little input.

QUIT TALKING ABOUT MY PENIS

If you chose the wrong PC... oh boy, it ends up with a divorce.

So...you're single and searching? Ooo, sexy.

#edited to tone it down, because I was being too confrontational. Apologies

 

[SaberSpellSword]

But don't people get a console so they don't have to do all that.
If you're going to go through all that may as well play the PC and get mods and everything too.
They're also going to have to start posting system requirements on console games now too.

That's exactly what I was thinking, but if they make the parts as easy to change as the hard drive is for the 360 It won't be too bad. If they make it so u have to unscrew everything and fiddle with tiny chips and wires, no-one other than people who already do that stuff with their PC's is going to go for it.

It would have to be an ejectable solid part like the 360 hard-drive that holds both the GPU and CPU together for the mainstream market to bother with it.

 

[ElPatron]

you don't have to deal with all the other shit that PC players seem to enjoy.

I don't enjoy tinkering with my PC, that's why I try to keep it in shape instead of just letting everyone clog it with unnecessary programs, not letting drivers get outdated, etc.

So, you have to do work to keep it up to date. Alright...

And I don't have to do it on consoles?

Ahahah, oh wow.

The saying that PCs need some kind of intensive care and are somehow more complex than consoles. They aren't.

Wait, what? Didn't you just say that you had to do stuff?

So checking for a new driver every few months and backing up important data, along with scheduled anti-virus searches is "intensive"?

I actually raged harder at PS3s than computers.

Alright--but the point behind having a console is that this kind of event is the minority. Anecdotal data is meaningless and I don't mean to diminish the hassle you went through but for people who like consoles, the idea is: we don't have to put in the work that PC players have to do on their rig.

Once I went to a friend's house to play CoD4 on his PS3, and it took him longer than it takes me to install MW2. Which is 12GB or so.

Updates, restarts, stuff not compatible with update, restarts, more stuff I don't even remember (cod4 isn't particularly recent), more updates (they took forever), and then finally play them game.

Not to mention the HDD installs. Consoles are just like computers, Sony themselves said it.

Look, some people enjoy the satisfaction of "building" something. It's like building a relationship.

Awesome. I'm going to go have sex while you get 60fps on Crysis 2. Who's better off?
/I'm razzing

Sorry for the hipster mode on, but Crysis 2 is an obvious let down compared to Crysis.

The CryENGINE 3 is weaker and Crysis will hog more resources.

So 60 fps in Crysis 2 is pretty lame, I can pull off 120fps with medium~high settings and physics in very high @ 1680x1050.

That being said, I don't even care much about graphics.

And I normally don't care about FPS unless I am playing War§ow or games with the Quake engine.

You know, screen refresh rates...

Having a PC is like having a wife, having a console is like paying for prostitutes. (I just realised how creepy this sounds)

So you're comparing the kind of machine I like to the kind of women I like? That doesn't make you sound bad, and I'm sure the ladies reading this will totally understand.

No, I did not compare gaming to women, I compared it to relationships.

I don't care about what the ladies think, honestly. But I think they would prefer me to treat them more like a PC than a console.

I know this sounds insulting, but it isn't.

Then maybe you should've found another way to say it. There are nearly 200,000 words in the English language. Availing yourself of them, especially when communicating to strangers might help you be clearer and sound like less creepy.

Well, I had to pick an activity nobody could argue against me, and said activity would need two ways of being achieved: the harder and the easier.

Guess what was the only thing I could find?

Plus, the 1,000,000th word might be "noob".

I have a 360 and it's more of a last resort or just to blow off steam. But since my PC doesn't have issues, I keep having a moderate care for it and I may not play console for a whole month.

Um...good? But again, you keep having a moderate care for it whereas I don't do anything to my consoles.

You mean you don't update their firmware? Lies.

I have had more hassle with my PSP than my xbox and PC together this month.

And I had a HDD "hick-up" that almost made me lose saved gamed on my 360.

Now, you know how much trouble being in a relationship is. If you have the right PC, it will go smoothly and with little input.

QUIT TALKING ABOUT MY PENIS

"it will go smoothly and with little input"
lol, pun not intended.

So...you're single and searching? Ooo, sexy.

Taken and not searching.

 

[Hazy992]

Doesn't this kind of negate the whole point of buying a console? You buy them for the stability, convenience and the fact that the software for it WILL work, right? If MS do this and Sony follow suit I may end up finally making the jump to PC and just keeping my 360 and PS3.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I have to say though, that the overlap of Windows 8 sounds amazing. Getting pretty much the entire XBOX library on the PC if that's somehow possible, would make my life.

It's only theoretically possible as PCs and 360s have CPUs with completely different architectures (x86/x86-64 and PowerPC respectively) which means there needs to be an emulation interface between a PC and software compiled for the 360... and almost all methods of emulation are resource intensive. The only way it would work without massive resource requirements would be if Microsoft developed a stable and reliable dynamic recompiling layer but even then it would still require a fairly hefty rig to play those games (just nowhere near as hefty as full emulation requires).

 

[Smokescreen]

supersnip
Taken and not searching.

I get it, you're PC and hipster. You don't seem to have much of a sense of humor and you have a point to prove. Great.

Anecdotal evidence is still not actual data. Your two stories != the way it is.

If there was one thing about the current generation of consoles that bugs me: updates to the software. Can't do anything about it, and occasionaly it bricks systems, and all of those things suck, suck, suck.

The point of a console is STILL that you have to do less work to keep it going than a PC gaming rig. As long as that is the endgame, then consoles will have greater reach than a PC, for the same reason that selling beer in a store will be more effective, in terms of reaching the masses, than brewing your own.

There's nothing wrong with loving PC gaming, or being someone who loves to build their own rig. I applaud those efforts, in the same way I appreciate the skill it takes to make anything. I have no issue with someone building their PC to do what they want. I don't want to do that, because I have other things I want to spend time on but I still love to play games.

What is your problem with me wanting to have my console?

 

[Continuity]

I'm therefore always happy to read interviews where developers are quoted as saying they haven't reached the limits of what the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 can do. I'm only just beginning to see how consoles are falling behind in the hardware department,

Well... as a PC gamer I have been seeing the limitations of the consoles for a few years now.. I've been seeing those limitations bleeding into the PC game market. Graphically consoles are keeping up, OK this is mostly due the the fact that multi-platform games are developed pretty much for the weakest platform and so pretty much look the same on each...

but within that you have to realise the a game on the xbox is hyper optimised and they have spent massive resources doing that and have had to make massive design compromises to ensure that the graphics are viable... and on the other hand the PC is only using a tiny fraction of its potential, if even half of the effort in optimisation went into the PC version of games then we would be seeing double or triple the graphical fidelity that we are currently being served up.

New consoles please, now.

As for modular consoles? that seems to miss the point to me, and anyway, the xbox360 has lasted how long with fixed hardware?... so long as they aim high enough spec wise for the new xbox there is no reason it shouldn't last just as long or longer. Besides, whats the difference between buying a new graphics card for your xbox and just buying the next xbox if you see what I mean... so long as you keep them backwards compatible then you could just keep on releasing a new xbox every 3 years if you really feel that upgrades are that important.

 

[ranger19]

No thanks. As tempting as a console-based simplicity with pc-like upgrading might sound, Steam is good enough at that on PC. Leave my consoles be.

I think it would work, but only if the upgrades happened within a period of 5 years at least, no less.

I think that is a good generation period, considering how this generation is just a little past that. Also considering that I've only had my 360 for a little over two years(got the Wii first and then got my Elite about three years later because all my friends had one), and I've had some very good times with it, so much so it has felt like I've had the thing longer. I like the length of his generation so far, because of how long it has been is the reason I have been able to afford to experience two of this generations consoles, instead of one console like all the other generations I've lived during.

But I agree that it would be a bad idea to have an upgrade cycle like PCs do, it just isn't economical.

I know back when I tried to keep up with PC gaming, I was having to upgrade my PC at the most every two years, usually in less time. It was around about the time of this generation that I gave up on trying keep up with the PC upgrades.

I still find it crazy what relatively low priced PCs can't play. Christmas 2009, my dad got me a new PC(meaning latest tech of that PC year), just the PC and keyboard, no monitor, for 400 dollars. It can barely play high graphic games from 2006, heck the thing can barely play WoW. The same year, 2009, I previously around May, I bought my 360 Elite, for 435 dollars. My bundle came with one controller, a headset, Fable 2 and Halo 3, and three months of Xbox live. The thing has worked ever since and has played every game I bough for it. That is what makes consoles so convenient.

Since gaming is a major part of PCs, that each new PC model each year, the lowest base price model, should at least play PC games made in that year and ones that came before. It's rather dumb to have to pay at least twice the price of a console to get a PC that can play games at at least a console level. Yes I know it can be done cheaper if one takes the time to go on a scavenger hunt to find each random part to construct the PC, but a person should have to go to all that trouble to get a cheap gaming PC. Normal people just don't have the time to do such things.

I would say the only way upgradeable consoles would work, is that at the least every five years, all the console gamers have to do is pay at the most 150 dollars for a new upgrade.

I look at the Kinect as a kind of upgrade. That console upgrading should be handled.

First I just want to say - when I saw you had quoted an admittedly potentially inflammatory part of my post, I was worried that I had accidentally started a flame war. So thank you for responding in a well thought out way.

On to the response. I see what you're saying, and I suppose I can concede that if done properly, an upgradable console could circumvent a lot of my potential issues: if instead of getting a Kinect, we had gotten a new graphics card this gen or something, and it was priced properly, it might work. Microsoft would be tempted, of course, to overcharge, or have more frequent upgrades than that.

But let's say they don't, and instead of Kinect, we had gotten a new GPU or whatnot. Here's the problem: devs will always want to appear to the largest userbase. Part of the reason we haven't seen more Kinect games is that a dev knows there are millions of 360 owners without Kinect. A dev considering making a Kinect game knows he's instantly going to alienate the millions of non-Kinect owners.

Sure, the article adresses the idea of making different "graphics settings" but it points out that then the game isn't getting the personal polish/human touch. And this assumes devs will want to spend the money on using the higher graphics. I could imagine many games adding a Kinect-like gimmick (e.g. Mass Effect 3 voice commands) to pander to that audience, but I just don't see it being taken advantage of well enough.

So, to sum up: I could see it working in theory, but practically speaking I can't see it working out.

 

[ElPatron]

supersnip
Taken and not searching.

I get it, you're PC and hipster.

>I disagree with someone's views
>let's call him hipster/hater/fanboy/compare him to hitler

It's the basic modus operandi around here.

Aren't hipsters all about simplicity, Apple products and so on? If I am a hipster, does that make PC gaming easier?

Wait, I can't be a hipster because computer gaming is usually cheaper than consoles, and you know hipsters always pay for the expensive stuff.

Can I call you a hipster too? Because you like consoles?

Let's just end this non-sense, I have nothing against your choice, but calling every PC gamer a masochist bigot is crossing the line.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

So Xbox
Xbox 360 (Paradox enough)
And now 720? Who the hell is the "Creative mind" behind that.

360 + 360 = 720

Yes, I realise that, but look at the name.
It's bad enough they assimulated a box with a circle, but now they want a box and 2 circles?