Microsoft planning three versions of Xbox 2?

The next-generation Xbox console may come in three different versions, according to a report today which claims that the firm plans to launch versions with and without a hard drive in 2005, and a fully functional PC / Xbox 2 combination in 2006.

Technology website The Inquirer reports that an NDA\'d presentation given by Microsoft to analysts and market researchers in the UK pointed to the existence of three hardware versions, with two of them launching next autumn.

Xbox Next and Xbox Next HD would largely be functionally identical, but the latter of the pair features a hard drive and offers increased functionality as a result - which could be anything from Xbox backward compatibility (which the basic model could not offer due to the lack of a hard drive) to media jukebox functions or TIVO-style video recording.

In itself, that\'s not an entirely unlikely scenario, and indeed, Sony is expected to offer two different models of PlayStation 3 as well - one a basic "games only" device, and another with a hard drive and extended media centre functionality.

Indeed, Microsoft has already told developers not to rely on the presence of a hard drive for their games, but has curiously failed to rule out the possibility that a drive could be present. Theories for this range from an internal debate at Microsoft about the cost to benefit ratio of the hard drive, through to the remote possibility of the hard drive being sold as an optional extra - on balance, the idea of two versions of Xbox 2, with and without hard drive, seems eminently more reasonable.

The third version of the Xbox being touted by today\'s reports, however, is a rather more unexpected beast - titled Xbox Next PC, it combines the Xbox 2 with an entry-level PC which would run a media-focused verison of Windows, run standard PC software and games, and include a CD burner, wireless keyboard and mouse.

This system would not launch until Autumn 2006, and aside from the question about whether it really exists at all or not (a similar system which integrated PC functionality into the Xbox was widely reported on about three years ago, but never saw the light of day and may have simply been an elaborate hoax), there\'s also a major question mark over how such a system would work - since the Xbox 2 is based on PowerPC G5 processors, which won\'t run the Windows operating system, let alone PC games.

It\'s possible that a version of Microsoft\'s VirtualPC software, which allows Apple Macintosh users to run Windows operating systems under emulation on their PowerPC based systems, could be used to provide at least basic functionality - or PC hardware could be built into the console alongside the existing Xbox hardware, driving costs up but providing much better performance and reliability.

Either way, the possibility of multiple versions of Xbox Next will certainly make Bill Gates\' keynote speech at CES in early January, where he\'s expected to publicly unveil the console, even more interesting.

>>>Link<<<

Will one of the versions come with good games?

[Living-In-Clip]

Jack of all trades.
Master of none.
This is the problem with most the new consoles and this is why I support Nintendo\'s view point on keeping the consoles simple. Make them for one thing and that is to play games.

[Evi]

GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!! I don\'t need to make toast or get sexually pleasured mechanically by the next-generation of consoles.  It\'s ABOUT THE GAMES!!

^^^Then you\'d probably go with the basic model that does just that.

Hello PSX

Good point LiC, although I like the angle that dividing the market is a bad idea.

Of course, the console market in 2006 may be adapting to a new set of rules as Microsoft and other major companies plan to bridge the gap between console and PC. It\'s also not a bad idea to make certain features optional if it\'ll dramatically drop the price..

Although, I think it was devilish of MS to make you buy DVD playback for the Xbox while PS2 had it out of the box.

[Evi]

^^^Then you\'d probably go with the basic model that does just that.

Yeppers...

Although, I think it was devilish of MS to make you buy DVD playback for the Xbox while PS2 had it out of the box.

Yeah...that was kind of lame.

I still don\'t understand 3 different versions. That\'s nuts. Hopefully they won\'t be losing money on every console sold this time around...

Originally posted by EviscerationX
I don\'t need to make toast or get sexually pleasured mechanically by the next-generation of consoles.

WHOA NOW!!! Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets hear the man out.

[Evi]

^^^^

It could happen...

Originally posted by Blade
Although, I think it was devilish of MS to make you buy DVD playback for the Xbox while PS2 had it out of the box.

The main reason behind this was Sony is part of the DVD forum, MS is not.  For each piece of hardware that can play DVD movies the DVD forum gets paid a licensing fee.  Not everyone who bought the Xbox was going to use it for DVD play so MS made the remote to keep prices down.  The DVD forum is evil I tell you, MS was all set to have progressive DVD play out of the box but the the Forum got paranoid since it was a gaming system (piracy more likely) so they were forced to do 480i only.

I think a media player can be a good idea.  This can introduce a ton of people to the next format.  For many the PS2 was their first DVD player.  If one version of the X2 can play HD-DVD and/or Blu-ray it will only help to increase the popularity of the next formats.

Originally posted by Blade
It\'s also not a bad idea to make certain features optional if it\'ll dramatically drop the price..

Why do I have the feeling MS would use this option to artificially inflate the cost of the loaded model.

I think having two systems is stupid. Get it done right the first time. If only half the systems have a harddrive, it\'d be worthless to bother developing for it. So it\'d end up being useless.

By the way, I already have a way to play music and record things from tv. I just want my Xbox 2 to play games.

And good ones, as someone else mentioned. ;]

-Dan

3DO v.2 v.3 v.4

Another nail in Xbox 2\'s coffin.

Another nail in Xbox 3\'s coffin.

Another nail in Xbox 4\'s coffin.

Lol @ mm and @ THX

/spam end