Can I just say that I have been waiting for a damn remote control or something that does this for consoles forever? I hate getting up to turn off the system.

A rumor that I've heard is that the XBox 2 might not come with a HD to cut costs. Can anyone confirm?

As for wireless controllers I don't think it would be that difficult or expensive to put the receiver in box. They only need to provide one controller anyways.



GBA2 rumors:
The only thing I have heard is that it will probably include some wireless lan ala bluetooth feature. Motorola is developing an add on for the current GBA and could be a hint on what is to come. Oh yeah and there will be at least four more Pokemon games.

I heard that too in the last EGM.

If that's true I probably won't be purchasing an Xbox2 until some major price drops. The hard drive is the only reason I prefer the Xbox for multi-platform games.

I don't think that's going to happen. Not only would it mean no chance of backwards compatibility, but it also would work against Microsoft's plans to charge for downloaded game content and media.

Even if they make a separate deluxe model with a hard drive, I would hate to see game developers not take advantage of it since it isn't standard. A hard drive is something everyone can use, even if it's just for game saves. If they're going to cut something out, I'd much rather see them drop the ethernet connection. You pretty much have to get the headset for XBox Live, so they could just include the network hardware with the subscription package. Some people don't care about online play anyway, and the lack of a (until recently) standard built-in network connection in the PS2 sure doesn't seem to have hurt that system's online support.

I like your plan. I don't want to pay for crap I don't need/want, but I like the HD for saves (especially for sports games) so I'd like to see that in the standard pack. And then have the ethernet (that I'd never use) available with the Live pack and maybe in a more expensive version of the console that is online ready and has Tivo, dvd burning and what other crap they want in their set top box.

Hopefully all three will have a built in HD. It doesn't have to be huge.

Either way I would like to see a removable HD. So in case you have to return the unit or wanted to swap it out it wouldn't be a problem.

This is the main hesitation I have with the current HD.

Well it looks like it isn't just a rumor after all. MS is seriously thinking about not having a built in hard drive in Xbox 2.

source:MercuryNews.com


Let's hope Tim Sweeney and the other developers can convince MS to keep the HD for Xbox 2.

The Mercury News has an article about the next XBox: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...ss/7849191.htm

I think there may be a small mistake in the article though. See if you can spot it:

As we reported earlier, IBM processors are indeed the Xbox 2 development platform of choice.

The big news to us is that the XBOX 2 SDK has been seeded to developers on dual Apple Power Mac G5 systems running a custom Windows NT Kernel.

The Apple Power Mac G5 is based upon two of IBM’s 64-bit Power PC processors and features ATi RADEON 9800 Pro (R350) graphics. However the R350 is believed to be an interim solution and will, in due course, be superseded by the forthcoming ATI R420.

Interestingly the SDK apparently also features an Apple logo on a side bar within the application.

What we don’t yet know is whether the custom Windows NT Kernel for the 64-bit capable IBM Power PC processors is 64-bit or 32-bit.

http://news.teamxbox.com/content.php?id=5518

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/496/496713p1.html

We might be in for a treat

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content...e=dev&aid=3181

GDC: Xbox 2 to be unveiled "this summer"

Kristan Reed 10:57 25/03/2004

The rumour mill turns again for Xbox Next

After remaining silent on the topic at GDC, Microsoft is to finally unveil the next incarnation of Xbox this summer, according to a senior development source.

Speaking to our correspondent on the GDC show floor today, the source revealed: "Microsoft has told us, and other developers that it doesn't plan to show anything of Xbox 2 until the summer."

Development kits, based on Apple's G5 hardware, are already in circulation, but Microsoft has allegedly ordered devs not to allow them out of their studios, such is the firm's determination to keep a lid on information leaking out about its next move in the console race. "They've been incredibly strict about it," the source added.

Microsoft has been as slippery as an eel when tackled on anything relating to Xbox 2 so far at GDC, and asked whether it would be using E3 as a platform to lauch Xbox 2, Microsoft's Peter Moore told us: "It's too early in the cycle of Xbox to be talking about its successor."

However, asked whether Xbox 2 games or anything related to Xbox 2 would be at the event, he admitted: "We haven't finalised our plans as yet", which - reading between the lines - suggests that the firm hasn't ruled out the possibility yet.

In the absence of a big E3 splash, it looks likely that the firm will use its X04 event to formally run through its plans for the next Xbox, after last years X03 event proved to be a little light on headline grabbing news in comparison with its previous efforts.


Chris

Well, I bought the Xbox simply for the hard drive, but have been stung by the lack of software several titles. I also like my Gamecube, and all 8 games that have come out for it that were worth buying.

If Sony puts in a hard drive and neither of the others do, I will have to switch to the evil empire.

The first next gen game has been unvieled. It dosent state wether it's for ps3 or xbox 2. But it does look pretty sweet http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04...s_6092782.html

A couple blurbs, the newest EGM says in the rumor mill that MS won't show the next X-box until E3 2005. So it looks like Fall 2005 at the earliest for it's launch.

I also read, maybe in the same issue but not sure, that Sony said they won't be rushed by either MS or Nintendo and will launch the PS3 when they want.

Thus if MS and Nintendo stick to their word and launch at the same time as the PS3, rather than after, the new consoles are probably not coming out for a while, fall 2006 would be my guess (as it has all along).

I read somewhere that it is for PS3, and the next generation of Foreman Grills.

Good thing it's coming for the Foreman, so we'll have something to play besides Knock Out the Fat!.

I hope that if MS decides not to include the hard drive in their next system, they will make it an optional purchase, and have some way of allowing every game to take advantage of it by letting you "install" the games (in an official manner) to the hard drive if you want to. I'm not talking about copying the entire game so you can sell the disc or give it away-the game disc would still need to be in the DVD drive to start and play the game, and some data the game needs would not be copied over. The games would still be designed to be run completely from discs, but those who wanted to buy the hard drive could get faster loading speeds and the ability to save games to it instead of the memory card.

No backward compatibility in Xbox 2

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content...e=dev&aid=3645

That story really surprised me. I think that MS is making some mis-steps this time around. People may not use the baskwards compatibility but it's still important. I'd use the analogy regarding a 2+2 sports car. People don't (or generally can't) use the rear seats but they justify their purchase because the car is a 4 seater and has some utility over a 2 seater.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06...s_6101035.html

Sony sticker shock: $500 PS3, $249 PSP are possibilities

Revenues, sales, even price tags are on the rise as analysts address the upcoming transition to next-gen machines.
In a year-end report that puts Leo Tolstoy to shame, industry analysts Michael Pachter and Edward Woo of Wedbush Morgan Securities presented the industry today with a 144-page tome of charts, theories, prognostication, and predictions. Unlike Tolstoy, however, their book has a happy ending.

Titled: The Definition of Insanity: Why The Next Console Cycle Will Start Off With A Whimper, the analysts present an "in-depth look at interactive entertainment software." And while many of the report's data points were revealed in May, during a Pachter-hosted E3 Conference Program luncheon, most of the data is, in fact, new.

Probably the most exotic of the report's predictions was a reference to Sony's PlayStation 2 update. The report suggests Sony is considering adding PSX and TiVo-like functionality to the PlayStation 3. And if it does, the sticker price on the unit could climb as high as $500. The report states: "We expect Sony to introduce its next console with more functionality than its current console. We base this conclusion on the introduction of the PSX, planned for late this year. The PSX will include a Digital Video Recorder (similar to TiVo) functionality; broadband Internet accessibility; wireless LAN functionality; and DVD read-write functionality. These features add approximately $500 per unit to the cost of production, resulting in an expected launch price of around $700. By late 2006, we expect the cost to include these features to decline to around $250, but speculate that the next generation console, should it include these features, could debut at $500. At this level, we believe that many consumers will be alienated."

Other key findings include an industry-wide growth rate (of revenues) of 10 percent per year through 2010 and a growth rate of 14.5 percent in revenues for console and handheld software in the US for the next three to four years.

The report also suggests US publishers will begin to see a significant increase in sales of game software in Japan, and that software sales will surpass domestic music sales (in revenues) over the next two years. Of note on the hardware front, the analysts expect that due to increasing multimedia functionality (DVD playback, high-def capabilities, and Web access) that the percentage of households that own at least one console will climb from 38 percent seen during the 32-/64-bit cycle to 52 percent during the ongoing 128-bit cycle.

On the PC front, the report isolates three titles that will act as key market movers: Doom 3, The Sims 2, and Half-Life 2, and that PC sales overall will be driven to "near record levels."

As well, the Wedbush analysts check in with their estimate of the PSP launch price, pegging the hardware to sell at $249.99 and software to retail for around $30.

Ultimately, it will be female gamers, the increased spending power of "tween" gamers (8-to-14 year olds), and aging but committed gamers introduced to interactive entertainment on the Atari 2600, for example, that will fuel the continued and dramatic growth of the industry.

The report's summary closes with the following brave prediction: "We expect interactive entertainment to be the fastest growing entertainment sector over the next five to 10 years. We forecast the interactive entertainment industry to grow US software sales by approximately 11.4 percent per year over the next three years. We project book and music sales to grow less than 5 percent per year over the next three years and we believe that box-office movie receipts will grow in the 2-4 percent range over the same time period. Using our projected growth rates, we forecast that the US interactive entertainment industry in 2004 will continue to be larger than these competing entertainment sectors (with the exception of the music industry which we believe will be surpassed over the next three years), becoming the largest of these major entertainment sectors within the US."

By Curt Feldman -- GameSpot
POSTED: 06/21/04 04:52 PM PST



Chris

$500? That is insane. Hell I thought $300 was high for a new console. There is no way I will be getting a PS3 before the first or second price drops (at least). I echoe the sentiments of many here and say take all that extra stuff out and just give me a gaming machine.

I think Sony may be in some trouble with this. I have tried to read as much as I can on the "cell" chip technonlogy and I just keep getting the feeling that is too far a leap. I may change my mind as time goes on, as it isn't even close to ready or reality yet, but it seems unrealistically bold.

Some Sony execs have hinted that the PS3 might not come out until late 2006, saying they're in no hurry give the continued strong sales for the PS2.

Sony confirmed read-only Blu-Ray technology in PS3.

The Sega Saturn was released at $399, and we all know how well that did. $299 seems to be the magic point, though, I wouldn't be surprised if one company undercut the other two by releasing at $249.

Releasing a system at $500 seems to be very overkill, even it has amazing graphics, horsepower, and can paint your house.