Xbox 720 May Feature PC-Like Customization

[PingoBlack]

Don't know if I like this idea. Sounds to me like this will lead to mandatory upgrades for my Xbox so I can play the newest games. Sure this might have some positive sides, but from my point of view consoles should not need a hardware upgrade until the next gen comes along and not every few months/years just so I can run my games I just payed 60$ for.

That is a real danger. Close to end of the platform's life cycle it is quite possible many titles will either require better HW components or just refuse to work in full quality unless you have them.

For console market, this might not work out so well, unless games are cheaper so that money is spent on HW toys instead ... But I doubt they would make games cheaper.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

In before some asshole references Jim the asshole and yell how we shall all be PCs or be shot.

I wish people would realize that "consoles" are just dumbed down PCs, especially XBOX.

The only point of them is DRM. So basically, expensive Steam.
Want me to link JimQuisition for you?

Called it. FUCKING Called it! People would ask to link to the least trustworth asshole who works for this site!

Seriously, how do you people like him? He basically exists to cause idiotic flame wars. Like what's about to start.

That is hardly an unforeseen comment since it was released what 3 days ago.

OT: As nice as this working would be I don't see it happening as it just makes consoles into more restrictive PCs. This will require making all of the upgradable parts easy to access and install as a lot of people are on console because they want less effort to play and do not keep up with advances by upgrading parts.

This also means developers will have to optimise games for a wider variety of specs on the consoles. While this would be no where near as much on the PC it is one of the things devs bring up when they talking about developing for consoles and this would lose another pro for consoles.

The other problem I can see with this is that Microsoft will charge an arm, a leg and a pound of flesh for these parts. Just compare the price of their hard drives to a normal PC hard drive. The price is quite different especially when with a bit of fiddling around you can get an existing xbox hard drive and take out the actual hard drive and change it with a decently priced one. Although that does require a bit of effort.

Unless they want to fragment the player base then just do whatever.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Wow, even less reason to get a console at all. I like it.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

In before some asshole references Jim the asshole and yell how we shall all be PCs or be shot.

Pretty sure Jim never said "we shall all be PCs or be shot." In fact, I don't think anyone here has ever said we should turn into computers.

OT: Patents suck. I've become increasingly convinced they are nothing but methods and means for companies to throw their weight around and crush competition.

The reason why patents were introduced was to stop big companies throwing their weight around. Without them anyone coming up with a new idea that works, the large companies would just simply copy it and not pay the inventor anything. Who do you think would win in straight sales battle between a small start up and, lets say, Microsoft.

But now people patent an idea or technology just to stop any competition. Fucking Apple is suing people for making smartphones all the time.

 

[Able Seacat]

I heard a while back that Windows 8 would play XBox games. Is that a thing that is real? If so, why would anyone buy an XBox 720 instead of a comparable PC with Windows 8?

I may be wrong but I think Windows 8 will be able to play 360 games but not games from whatever the next xbox will be called.

OT: I thought the reason consoles had locked hardware was so consumers don't have to worry about games not working and developers only need to make their game compatible with one set of specs.

 

[blackrave]

It actually might work
Not in the to-play-this-game-you-must-have-version-3-of-xbox way
But rather in the graphical and performance scaling
Any version of new XBox can run any game, but each better version will perform with improved graphics, higher FPS and shorter loading times.
For example XBox720v1 will be only slightly better than PS3, XBox720v2 will be at hardware level of average gaming PC, while XBox720v3 will perform as good as top-tier gaming PCs.
With further hardware development v4 and v5 will eventually be released
Developers will have requirement to make games that can run on all XBox versions
So it might work if MS don't fuck things up

 

[saintdane05]

To the people of this thread:

I realized that my post may have sounded a bit rude. I apologize for this. I, in fact, just finished playing the PC (Or Mac, if you want to get techincal) version of New Vegas. Hell, my PC has more hours then the majority of my consoles! (Except the Gamecube. Sonic Adventure 2 was badass, wasn't it?) I was not trying to insult any PC gamer.

HOWEVER! I still don't like Jim, nor his show. That I will stand by.

To make up for my epic act of assholery, how about some adorable?

<youtube=kNK0UDEoaOM>

 

[PingoBlack]

HOWEVER! I still don't like Jim, nor his show. That I will stand by.

No problem at all, it's only natural. Think of it this way ...
Even the most annoying person sometimes drops a good point.

In this case, Jim is not as important. What he said though resonates: If consoles are made as problematic to users as PC (compatibility issues, software versions, complicated updates and patching, ...) then customers will eventually turn away from them.

Not because Jim thinks so, but because the alternative becomes less painful. I'm an IT professional so I find some professional satisfaction in owning a complicated platform I have to tinker with, but I am not judging people that don't like that themselves.

 

[Eridani74]

Couple of thoughts on this:

-The configurable hardware components would most likely be tightly controlled by Microsoft, to keep the possible number configurations low for the benefit of developers and consumers. Of course this will most likely mean that the components are marked up some, and that tech-savvy users will probably circumvent those restrictions.

-Considering how much content can be fit in the 8 gigs of a single DVD and how much it costs to make that content I don't think that games will go over the 50 gig limit of a dual-layer blu-ray anytime soon, meaning that developers could package several different configurations of the game data on a single disc to match possible hardware configurations.

-Microsoft will probably keep their policy of demanding that developers ensure their game works on the weakest possible hardware configuration. Meaning that a game has to work on all possible configurations of XBox hardware before being released, possibly even requiring it to meet certain criteria for visual fidelity (1080p output, target frame-rate, etc) , more powerful configurations would merely offer higher fidelity and frame-rate and possibly more consistent performance while multi-tasking.

-This expandability might mean that the basic configuration might not support backwards compatibility but that backwards compatibility is offered as a hardware expansion.

 

[Musicfreak]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand It would be pretty cool to upgrade a console and maybe even play mods on it. On the other hand the idea that I may have to pay to upgrade my console to play certain games doesn't really appeal to me. I guess I'll just wait for more info before damning or praising this thing.

 

[AnarchistFish]

In before some asshole references Jim the asshole and yell how we shall all be PCs or be shot.

Pretty sure Jim never said "we shall all be PCs or be shot." In fact, I don't think anyone here has ever said we should turn into computers.

"I'm a PC, and world domination was my idea"

 

[thom_cat_]

I'm doubtful they would actually implement this in to the next Xbox. MS like their control.

I suspect it will be customization like the MAC. Only Microsoft approved components will be permitted, this isn't bad thing. After all the main point of consoles is the the reduced cost of development by having standard components.

This this and more this.

They can't make it customisable like a PC because then it will fail as a console, the whole reasons consoles work the way they do is because of standard and expected hardware. If you have a console that is fully customisable you have a PC with console DRM on it and no way to be sure you can run games any more.

 

[Scow2]

I think the only piece of hardware that should be "Scalable" on a console is the Hard Drive, because that doesn't affect performance, only how much you can store on it. A game for the console should be playable on ANY Xbox: I can play the relatively recently released Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 on my old Xbox 360 Arcade I got back in 2008. I'd hate to have to upgrade the actual hardware of next console generation just to keep up with developer releases. I have a PC for that.

 

[lord.jeff]

I don't like this idea for the same reasons The Jimquisition stated, I like my consoles to be as easy as insert disc and play but that isn't to say it can't work if it's handled well, I remember that the 64 was built to have a swappable part, you could change out the ram pack for a bigger one, I only remember one game that used it which was perfect dark and the game was shipped with the part. I think if they kept it limited to two maybe three parts that are easy to excess and only release something new every two years then it could work. The other problem is with how much consoles suck at launch, this could extend those issues of over heating and red rings of death through the whole of the console generation.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Why are people angry with Jim? Because he's right?

This is just (allegedly) the latest example of how console gaming will add another inconvenience of PC gaming...which would probably be fine if they added some of the benefits too.

People shouldn't be angry at Jim, they should be angry at MS (and Sony) for making the concept of the console irrelevant. I was turned off to the next gen of consoles long before this weeks Jimquisition.

I think I'm going to stick to my initial assessment of the next console cycle. That is, stay out of it in favor of my PC unless they roll out quite a few console exclusives that I can't live without playing.

Really, the only thing that might possibly get me to buy a console next generation is if they bring back split-screen in a big way.
At this point a PC release has about just as much chance of having split screen as the console release.

 

[Tradjus]

So what I'm reading here is that if this becomes reality, there will officially be zero difference at all between consoles and P.Cs. I mean, except obviously for the ability to just put in a disc and play your game, although even that sacred cow of console gaming is likely up for the slaughter if these changes are implemented.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

If Microsoft does use this technology in their next console, I'm curious whether these customization options will be available to end users.

Highly doubtful... from the sounds of the tech and going with it being microsoft, it sounds like they're looking at making it as cheap and easy for them to push out revision/updated models as either sales start flagging or tech demands require.

Also, with MS being MS, if they did allow for modular expansion, they'd make sure only OFFICIAL MS APPROVED hardware could be used and charge a premium for it... and if their HDDs are any indication that means a 50-100% mark up on identical PC hardware, which is big bickies if you're talking CPUs or GPUs... at which point they may as well just slap a bitten fruit sticker on the side and market it to hipsters.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

Hrm, seems like they're just giving the Xbox the "drawbacks" of a PC?
I thought the advantage of a console was no matter how far on the game was developed, if it was developed for your console you KNOW you could run it and run it "well". Now it sounds like it's going to have the PCs way of doing things which is "can't run it? Upgrade!" (which I'm fine with, I'd say I'm a 95% PC gamer at this point). But if I bought a console and 5 years down the line I have performance issues with a game designed to run on my system, I would NOT be happy.

If this is how it turns out, I would advise people to go PC, because they're just throwing the console advantages out the window.

 

[Baresark]

Stop stop stop stop. This is not true. There is not way that MS would ever allow anything like that. Or at absolute best, you have to send it to them so they can do it for you, for a ridiculous price. Haha, I'll stick to my PC where at least when I upgrade, I have a ridiculous number of ways to upgrade. And I can shop around for the best price.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Why don't you just get a PC? It will be like the 720, but with less of microsofts bullshittery.