Microsoft Reportedly Working On Xbox TV Device 104
A reader writes with news of rumors over Microsoft's plans for its next-gen Xbox console. According to The Verge, the company is working on a cheap, Xbox-based set-top box for some time in 2013.
"The device will run on the core components of Windows 8 and support casual gaming titles rather than full Xbox games typically found on a dedicated console. Although hardware specifications aren't fully locked down, we understand Microsoft will use a chipset to enable an "always on" device that boots quickly and resumes to provide near-instant access to TV and entertainment services. Microsoft's Xbox set-top box work is said to be part of a broader effort to ensure its core architecture for the next-generation Xbox is scalable enough to be put together to run on a number of devices. We understand that the company could opt to combine its core system for the next Xbox with a phone stack to deliver a phone capable of running a full version of Microsoft's Xbox Live services."
Failed xbox shrink (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Failed xbox shrink (Score:5, Insightful)
More than likely, this won't be an xBox at all, but rather a small ARM based version of Windows 8 RT with Media Center built-in, and Metro apps for things like Pandora, Netflix, Hulu, etc...
It doesn't make much sense to make it an xbox unless you're planning to run actual xbox titles.
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Unless you work for Microsoft's marketing department, in which case you'll want to stick an Xbox label on the box, since it's a Microsoft device that connects to your TV. I can't wait for the confusion this will cause.
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why would it be confusing? Xbox TV....all the over-the-top services of the Xbox, none of the games....99 bucks to compete with the Google TV and Apple TV.
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From http://blogs.windows.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2012/04/05/windows-8-and-the-windows-phone-sdk-pt-2.aspx [windows.com]
With regard to existing applications: today’s Windows Phone applications and games will run on the next major version of Windows Phone.
Emphasis his. So yes, XNA is supported on WP8.
Re:Failed xbox shrink (Score:5, Funny)
Discs for the original Xbox (Score:3)
It doesn't make much sense to make it an xbox unless you're planning to run actual xbox titles.
The Xbox 360 can't even emulate all Xbox titles.
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I'm not sure what you're referring to about power. Windows 8 RT is the ARM based version of Windows, and has nothing to do with power of any kind.
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Basically a Windows 8 phone in a set-top box, analogue to current Android set-top boxes and Apple TV.
Nothing revolutionary, just filling out the product line to match it's competitors' product lines.
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I query the need to separate the gaming aspect however, seems like the RT version of set-top boxes.
Not everybody (including me) would want the hard-core quality gaming, and since this part makes up large part of the cost of an XBox, it makes sense to sell a slightly cheaper product with significantly lower cost to a market that wants it.
Problem with set top boxes... (Score:5, Interesting)
My previous TV was older with no internet connection and I ended up using my Xbox that last year or so more to stream netflix then actually play video games. When that TV died last year and I bought a new one, the new TV had a dozen services built in including Netflix and Hulu. Since then I actually let my XBL subscription lapse because I just didn't use it enough. If the idea works, what is to stop Panasonic/LG/Samsung et al from basically building similar services directly into the TV. My current TV is still wired into the home network, but I'm seeing a lot more TV's with built in Wifi.
My Cable bundle contract expires at the end of the year and I'm seriously debating whether or not it's time to cancel the TV subscription.
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Unless you're a big sports fan you won't miss Cable TV at all.
If your like me, I purchased a $15 digital TV antenna and I get all the local sports broadcasts. I don't miss cable TV at all.
When the finals are on cable (Score:2)
I purchased a $15 digital TV antenna and I get all the local sports broadcasts.
How would you like to miss the finals because the finals are on cable? The NHL, for example, had the third and fourth games of its 2012 Stanley Cup finals on the network formerly known as Versus.
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I watch them at the local bar like a real Canadian.
Where I live, kids aren't allowed into bars even with a parent. So what do you recommend for hockey fans who have kids who are also hockey fans?
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Move to the civilized part of the world, where they allow kids into bars, and trust that the bartender can tell a 10 year old from a 30 year old?
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Depends where you're coming from, and where you're trying to go. If you're in North America, you may find you already have all the necessary paperwork to move to a different part of North America where they're civilized like that. :) If you want to go to Europe, it may require more paperwork.
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He's not trolling. He's just that literal
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091028/NEWS01/910280316/1001/NEWS [news-sentinel.com]
From what I gather:
1. Before getting his job he was a babysitter, I think for a relative's children.
2. Said kids had an older game system connected to SDTV, same screen multi was favored.
3. Tepples desire to make games ultimately comes from that experience. He basically wants to make NES/SNES games, not realizing times have changed.
4. He wants to make console games, but sinc
When I ask about work visas (Score:2)
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Because he knows his limitations, suggesting that he join some established dev house is rebuffed. For someone like tepples, a major cross country move to silocon valley or redmond or some large city would be harder for him, let alone the interview.
So let's say I am willing to make an effort to overcome these limitations so that I can work for a developer licensed on devices such as this Xbox TV device that Microsoft is reportedly working on. What should I know about moving and being able to afford living while I search for a job? Is driving necessary?
His portfolio is knock-offs, mostly tetris clones with slightly modded rules.
What Tetris clones? Let's say I were to make a platformer not closely based on any existing product. Would that be enough to shake this "only makes knockoffs" perception?
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What should I know about moving and being able to afford living while I search for a job? Is driving necessary?
The very fact that you are asking those questions, means you'll never be ready.
Let's say I were to make a platformer not closely based on any existing product. Would that be enough to shake this "only makes knockoffs" perception?
It might.
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If we're speaking about Canada, then a job offer in an area where there's a shortage of skilled workers is generally enough (software developers qualify in most provinces). Work for a year, then you get to apply for permanent residency under the fast-tracked provincial nominee program - a year or two later you'll have your PR. Three years later, citizenship.
That's assuming you are actually serious...
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It seems like this will compete for the Wii / casual gamer crowd (or Apple TV), especially if it isn't restricted to just games but allows any Windows 8 apps to run.
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Well, I do prefer my TiVo to any other interface I've used, and it's far better at finding new content for me to watch. And I do have a number of shows I like to watch right away rather than waiting for them to appear on Hulu or Netflix..
Certainly, I can torrent them at some point (again, usually a day or two later) but that's a huge pain to manage. TiVo is so much simpler.
As such, i'll probably keep my cable and TiVo subscriptions.
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XBMC is *NOT* a TiVo. As anyone that has used a TiVo knows, the TiVo is all about the UI and (more importantly) the remote. The TiVo remote is the single most intuitive and easy to use remote on the planet.
What's more, I use the Bluetooth remote, which means I don't even need line of sight to the TiVo, and it can be hidden away in my cabinet.
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Sickbeard is a damn fine show aggregation tool. It doesn't use torrents[...]. I just check my unwatched shows on XBMC.
Sickbeard drops torrents fine into any blackhole, such that uTorrent, Transmission, or most other current torrent downloaders can pick up, then can grab the resultant file from wherever your torrent app downloads it.
To the GP/Sibling; while it's true that XBMC is not TiVo, parent's note about "checking unwatched shows on XBMC" relates to the fact that XBMC can automatically pick-up the sorted downloads managed by SB+Transmission/SAB
Process is akin to this:
Configuration:
1. Configure blackhole + downloa
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The FUBAR thing about Hulu built into TVs and set top boxes is that they say there are titles that they have the right to stream on the web but don't have the right to stream to set top boxes, so you can't get all Hulu content on a set top box. Often the TV / box version is also Hulu Plus only (though I do subscribe to H+ currently to get it on my Roku).
It's one of reason's I'm looking to build a HTPC in the near future (well, that and getting tired of plugging the laptop into the big screen all the time fo
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better performance, larger ecosystem of apps, more updates for the software....
Re:Problem with set top boxes... (Score:4, Informative)
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Not sure if it's any different with Apple TV, but one year I bought the MLB.tv subscription so I could watch games on my computer and at the time iPhone if I was traveling. Problem was if I try watching a St. Louis Cardinals game in St. Louis it was blacked out. What's the point in getting the sports subscription if I can't watch the home town team without a blackout. I'm not sure if that's changed or not, but that was one of the biggest reasons why I stuck with my Cable TV subscription was I like to wat
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that has nothing to do with the Apple TV or the app or Apple's ability to cut the right deal....MLB has contracts with local networks and they avoid competing with them by blacking out the game for local markets.
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The built in Apps, unless it is a google TV, are dead ends. The services you want will take for ever yo get there and updates will never happen. Set-top boxes (Google TV, Apple TV, Boxee, Roku and this Xbox TV device) get updates, have a much larger ecosystem and if tehy do it right (like Google TV) they do HDMI pass-through so you can use the device's UI as an overlay and then TV becomes an app on the device (or in the case of comcast, XBox provides you the cable service.
I think Cable companies will look t
Why? (Score:1)
Why?????
Why can't they just make an XBOX 360 with a TV Tuner built-in???
Why????
Why make a cheaper XBOX - by the time this XBOX TV is released the XBOX 360 will already be considered cheap???
Why?????
Why does Microsoft fragment their market????
Why????
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Microsoft is expanding their ad network onto as many devices as possible. I imagine games developed for Windows 8 RT, will work on this platform. If not, well, that would be stupid.
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Why can't they just make an XBOX 360 with a TV Tuner built-in?
They do, sort of. I have IP-TV served up over copper wire by my Telco ("Telus Optik TV"). The infrastructure is Cisco (Scientific Atlanta) hardware running software by Microsoft. It works well, and one of the options is to use an Xbox as your set-top box. I don't, because the controller is goofy, but the option is there.
CableCARD (Score:2)
Why can't they just make an XBOX 360 with a TV Tuner built-in???
Because not all shows that people like to watch are on ATSC. Monday Night Football, for example, is one of the big draws of cable over Netflix. Microsoft would have to make a separate tuner for each cable TV provider and each satellite TV provider. I don't think DirecTV and Dish support CableCARD at all, and older versions of CableCARD don't work with cable systems that have switched their lesser-watched channels to switched digital video [wikipedia.org].
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specialty hardware is dead...TV providers will move to over the top delivery and dedicated apps for these settop boxes.
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Why make one with a tuner at all? Over the top delivery of cable TV via an app will do away with the need for cable card.
Another set-top box ? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Microsoft already has a deal with Comcast to deliver their content over-the-top into the xbox so this device can replace a DVR from comcast and provide a better app ecosystem for entertainment....cable operators will jump all over this kind of setup because it will make it cheaper for them to deliver and support their content and they get the best of both worlds...you subscribe to fast internet service and you subscript to their cable offerings.
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Microsoft + Comcast...now there's a marriage made in Heaven. I wonder which one will get to eat the knife?
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Sorry, but the reality is that Comcast is the largest cable provider in the country. Do you expect to have cable content delivery with out cable companies?
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AT&T UVerse boxes run Windows CE. I was surprised to see this when I browsed to the details of the OS on my box.
It runs surprisingly really well. It's an IP Based tuning system (IPTV). Currently it supports 4 concurrent streams i.e. you can record 4 streams at once (mix / match watch vs. record). This is purely limited by bandwidth. With the previous UVerse profile (before they did a firmware update), it supported 3 concurrent streams. Once AT&T bumped their profile, the box automatically supported
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If it can actually run Windows Store (formerly-known-as-Metro) apps, that would be an interesting turn.
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I don't think it's really meant to be different as such, but it's part of Microsoft's strategy.
They want your PC to run Windows, your laptop to run Windows, your tablet to run Windows, your phone to run Windows, and your console to be an XBox. If you want a set top box, they want to make sure they offer something that integrates with everything else you have.
It's about providing an offering for every facet of your digital life, in the hope that if you buy into one of these, you'll be more likely to buy into
DirectX11.1 (Score:1)
Which means many of these games won't be backported to Windows 7. I guess it is part of the strategy to get use to use Windows 8 and Modern whether we like it or not.
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Who said you have to use modern (metro)? the start screen is just an app launcher/search tool....remove all metro apps and do not install any metro apps and you are not using the metro UI
Win8 Embedded (Score:3)
MS recently announced the availability of Windows 8 Embedded in early 2013, basically a modular version of the complete Win8 system which can be pared down for devices like set-top boxes, terminals etc. to run on limited CPU, graphics and memory as required. The description of this set-top box sounds like it's going to run Win8 Embedded but as a Xbox Live content delivery system rather than being aimed at console gaming i.e. it's going to be MS TV.
Is there really a pressing need/demand for an upgraded Xbox? Are console gamers crying out for more CPU and more graphics or are folks like MMO players satisfied with what they can see on their HD teevees right now with the current generation of consoles?
I"M sure they will call it XBOX 360 RT (Score:2)
Why even call the 360 an Xbox? (Score:2)
people will think that XBOX 360 TV RT will play XBOX games.
And people thought Xbox 360 would play Xbox games, but not all are compatible [wikipedia.org]. Nor do most PlayStation 3 consoles play PlayStation 2 games.
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It doesn't matter because the market for backwards compatibility is a niche market. Only the most hardcore of the previous generation's fans want it, especially if it raises the price of the machine, the others who buy the system after the first couple of years...don't care. They'd rather have cheaper hardware.
So just to let you know, the majority of folks buying 360's or PS3's this year, probably don't have large Xbox or PS1/PS2 libraries. Those who did....already have their 360's and CECH(A/B/E) PS3's
New & Improved, Coming Soon (Score:3)
The article was an unpleasant read. It felt as if it was really written (imho) by a marketing department; sentences that included a variety of pleasant sounding adjectives that were abstract enough to give multiple meanings to the reader -- all designed to make the product's capabilities sound impressive, important and possibly giving the mistaken impression it's a new product release (without actually saying so).
From TFA:
"We reached out to Microsoft for comment on its Xbox set-top box plans and the company issued the following statement:"
"Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend the console life cycle by introducing controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the life cycle convention."
Did I understand this correctly? It appears this could have been just as easily done with any potential product coming from any company
That one is going to be really popular (not) (Score:3, Informative)
.
Xbox team’s ‘consumer detector’ would dis-Kinect freeloading TV viewers
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/microsoft-diskinect-freeloading-tv-viewers/ [geekwire.com]
Maybe they will watch you to see if you are skipping out on the wonderful commercials and instantly rewind the show for you, just in case you missed something important. Or maybe they will charge you more money for their service if you don't watch at least a minimum of their intellectually challenged TV shows each day? There are lots of ways they could increase the popularity if this system, only I bet they misuse all of its capabilities to the max. After all the stupid decisions Microsoft has made in the recent past, this one is likely going to be a real dud as well.
What's left for Microsoft to ruin? (Score:1)
The Xbox was one bright spot in an otherwise bleak product landscape. And now they're hell-bent on ruining that? They got rid of Sinofsky. When are they going to get rid of Ballmer?
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xbox live (Score:1, Interesting)
Consoles are dying (Score:2)
If the rumors are indeed true, then this is further proof that stand-alone consoles are dying. The tabletop non-mobile console will be merged into the home TV; the portable consoles will become a tablet or an oversize smartphone. Everything will be downloaded, so while the world waits for gigabit Internet, smaller, less graphically intense games that require less minutes to download will become overwhelmingly popular.
As for the hardware controller zealots that insist that touch is no substitute for buttons,
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The tabletop non-mobile console will be merged into the home TV;
What? No, of course this will not happen any time in the near future. For anything like it to happen, Android (or something similar) would have to be a viable game platform, and everybody would have to stop liking graphically intense games and get more into "Angry Birds." Neither of these are at all true. Maybe it could happen in a couple decades, but perhaps by then TVs will be passe and we'll all be watching holograms. Why are you brows
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"Why are you browsing games.slashdot in the first place?"
Beats me. These weird stories keep popping up in the front page.
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If the rumors are indeed true, then this is further proof that stand-alone consoles are dying. The tabletop non-mobile console will be merged into the home TV; the portable consoles will become a tablet or an oversize smartphone. Everything will be downloaded, so while the world waits for gigabit Internet, smaller, less graphically intense games that require less minutes to download will become overwhelmingly popular.
As for the hardware controller zealots that insist that touch is no substitute for buttons, think of smartphone docks where you can embed your phone should you want old-fashioned console gaming. Separate controllers are already being sold for the Xboxen, PSations and Wiis of today, so for couch potato gamers, the decision will be whether to buy a hardcore controller or simply frag the enemy with their pointy fingers.
No, I don't like the way technologies are converging into a gadget singularity. But the writing is on the wall, or should I say LCD screen.
Spoken like a non gamer.
windows media center (Score:2)
Why do we call everything Xbox when it's not? (Score:2)
I don't get it. We don't call the PS2 or the PS3 "Playstation", We don't call the WiiU stuff Wii. Why do we call the Xbox 360 the Xbox? The Xbox was the first game console they released, not the xbox 360, yet everyone still calls it the 360. So if the new console is named Xbox 720, are we still going to call it Xbox? Even though it's the third generation and does NOT run any of the previous generation games?
wtf people. Lets call it by it's name. Xbox 360 or the 360.
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In short, syllables and words. The fewer the syllables the easier it is to say (and usually easier to write out too). Meanwhile if you can get it down to one word you have something you can base a brand on that will show up well in searches.
PS3: 3 syllables, 1 word, and unique
WiiU: 2 syllables, 1 word, and unique
Xbox: 2 syllables, 1 word, and unique
Xbox 360: 5 syllables, 2 words, and unique
360: 3 syllables, 1 word, but not unique.
The problem with "Xbox 360" is that its two words (bad for searching), and mor
Netflix? (Score:2)
Would I have to pay Microsoft $5 per month just to watch Netflix, like I have to with the Xbox 360?
Nickel and diming bastards...
What is cheap ? $50 ? (Score:1)
With the Mk802 / Mk808 / Ug007 out for $40-$70, we know what cheap is. It has to be way below $99.
what is happening? (Score:2)
MS is following when it should lead!. The Xbox is fine, competing with sub $100 media boxes is a waste of resources. Get the OS right, and I also mean right price, and it would be much better than spending resources across many products. STOP it NOW!
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proof that the geeks on this site are morons when it comes to marketing and sales.
XNA!!! (Score:1)