Als ik me niet vergis is wireless et nieuwe sleutelwoord van Microsoft en ook de xbox, en wordt dat juist de oplossing op de door Tijmen gestelde vraag. Harddisk wordt maar gedeeltelijk gebruikt en kost in verhouding teveel geld, dus hoe los je dit op? Wireless conectivity met de pc!, iedereen heeft wel wat ruimte over op hun pc, en downloadable content is alleen voor de mensen met live (next), en dus zo goed als zeker een fatsoenlijke computer in de buurt. Dus een perfecte oplossing, dingen opslaan op je pc, althans deze indruk kreeg ik van xbox.ign.com, waar ze er een artikel over hadden geschreven.
"The truth behind the Xbox Next and PS3 won't be known for some time, but that won't stop us from making educated guesses and jumping on rumors. Sony has, for some time now, been firm that PS3 will not ship until Fall 2006 at the earliest. Microsoft has waffled on a release date, always insistent they will ship first, but never quite bold enough to guarantee a 2005 launch. Over the next two (or more) years, speculation is going to be rampant. With each passing month, new rumors will circulate, new facts will emerge, and plenty of journalist's will bear false witness. So let the good times roll.
Sunday's San Jose Mercury News offered several well-regarded rumors that have already been reported. Xbox Next (the project name for the second iteration of Xbox) is going to use an ATI chip created specifically for the Xbox, will have laptop components to allow it to be smaller and lighter, and will almost certainly come out in 2005. The biggest question still remains on whether or not Xbox Next will include a hard drive. Indications from several sources lead IGN to believe that Microsoft is leaning towards the exclusion of a hard drive.
The article isn't particularly noteworthy for any new tidbits (as most of this remains conjecture and rumor), but indicates that Microsoft's primary concern is finding a way to trim costs so that, rather than supplanting Sony's PlayStation empire, they can co-exist with them in profitability. Some of the more interesting bits of info, though, are that the new console will have three 64-bit processors, 256MBs of RAM (though Microsoft will upgrade to 512MB if Sony's PS3 is said to have more), and a graphics chip will clock speeds rivaling today's high-end Radeon cards. The article also mentions that game prototypes are being created internally at Microsoft on Apple G5 machines. All in all, the article suggests that we'll be looking at console with speeds roughly equivalent to today's cutting-edge PC, and that Microsoft isn't shy about playing a wait and see game with Sony.
This may sound crazy, but consider the recent departures of some of Microsoft's key employees, with one of the Xbox founders, Ed Fries, being the most recent to step down. Could there be a fundamental shift in Microsoft's game philosophy? One that goes from market dominance to simply fattening the bottom line with as much green as possible? It's clear that the big MS is in the console war for the long haul, but it may be that even for the richest company in the world, losing money hand-over-fist just to beat down the competitor isn't smart business after all.
Remember how I mentioned that for the next two years you'd be hearing everyone's theories, rumors, and "facts"? Consider this just another salvo. What we do know for certain is that Microsoft plans to reveal some concrete details on Xbox Next at the Game Developers Conference this March in San Jose.
We'll bring you more on this story, of course, as it develops. We'll even get you cool quotes like "No comment" and "Microsoft is not going anywhere.""
Laatst bewerkt: 6 feb 2004