Microsoft Patent Shows Next Xbox Customizable Like PC

From Tom's, sorry if old.

"There's speculation that this dual-system customizable console setup could lead to multiple configurations from OEMs much like we see with desktops and laptops. Even more, the "over time" could mean that Microsoft is seeking to remove itself from the traditional fixed architecture model as we've seen since the beginning."

Clicky

Wow, if true I welcome this.

consoles should stay consoles instead of a poor man gaming pc.

Sounds very interesting and refreshing in its uniqueness. wolverine4262

[QUOTE="wolverine4262"]Sounds very interesting and refreshing in its uniqueness. Giancar

[QUOTE="Giancar"][QUOTE="wolverine4262"]Sounds very interesting and refreshing in its uniqueness. wolverine4262

I don't welcome it...I already have a PC I have to upgrade I do not want to have to upgrade my console too

[QUOTE="wolverine4262"]Sounds very interesting and refreshing in its uniqueness. Giancar

Wow I forgot about this! I too bought the extra RAM, I think it was for a racing game they made. Nintendo was ahead of its time back then, it's only too bad they went cartridge based with the N64

I don't welcome it...I already have a PC I have to upgrade I do not want to have to upgrade my console too

chikenfriedrice

You won't have to upgrade it, it's going to be a choice. Just like a PC. If you don't upgrade you just play at lower graphic settings.

As people mentioned above, the Nintendo 64 had upgradable RAM, which was used in some of the Nintendo 64 greatest games such as Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark and many others. So for the Xbox 8 to have upgradable parts, its nothing new to the console business. It history serves correctly, the Nintendo 64 upgradable RAM feature was extremely popular for gamers and just about everyone I know used that optional feature to enhance their gaming experience.

I really think MS is aiming for the jugular with the next box..This would essentially make the need for endless new iterations of hardware obsolete and allow them to be totally there on day one of cloud feasibility for the masses. All the while being accessible to devs of all tiers

That's not what the pattent says at all.

They are talking about enhancing the gameplay via cloud services. NOT allowing customizable hardware.

The moment you allow people to change hardware you open up the doors to possibly piracy and most importantly you create a disparate hardware environment. Why do you think the android does so badly? It's because of the various different hardware environments.

The PC abstracts this somewhat by using a universal API for interaction (DX) and by standardizing the input/output devices.

For a console to do this would be developer hell. And the consle gamer,s used to fixed console hardware woudl have a fit!

"What do you mean I can't play this game unless I upgrade my RAM?" "Are you seriously telling me I need the new GPU on my CONSOLE to run this game at high settings?"

At that point, consolites are essentially paying a monthly fee to Microsoft for a cheapo PC.

I don't think even consolites are dumb enough to fall for that. I'm guessing most would switch to Ps3/Wii or just get a PC for next gen.

[QUOTE="chikenfriedrice"]

I don't welcome it...I already have a PC I have to upgrade I do not want to have to upgrade my console too

Deevoshun

You won't have to upgrade it, it's going to be a choice. Just like a PC. If you don't upgrade you just play at lower graphic settings.

that's the problem...who doesn't want the best a console would offer...that is the best thing about consoles everybody is getting the same product out of the box

[QUOTE="Deevoshun"]

[QUOTE="chikenfriedrice"]

I don't welcome it...I already have a PC I have to upgrade I do not want to have to upgrade my console too

chikenfriedrice

You won't have to upgrade it, it's going to be a choice. Just like a PC. If you don't upgrade you just play at lower graphic settings.

that's the problem...who doesn't want the best a console would offer...that is the best thing about consoles everybody is getting the same product out of the box

Hmm that's actually really interesting. Definitely want to hear more about this.

It should have a kit where you can write programs!

Consoles of the future shouldn't take a crowbar to open them and update them.

It's a moronic idea, and would be little used by third parties, which are the bread and butter of a MS console. Devs are attracted to console releases because there's a large install base with identical hardware. Releasing a title that requires various optional upgrades does nothing more than shrink your market, so major titles expecting large sales will stick with the base hardware, and you'll be left with smaller titles that try to sell themselves on compatibility with upgrades more than the content or quality of their game. We've seen this over and over with everything from the 64 RAM cart to the eyetoy, Kinect, and wii balance board. santoron

What makes you think many games would actually require those parts? If they are not used a lot, fine, so be it. But if you want to keep a console for many years, why not give it at least some upgrade possibilities, instead of being stuck with an outdated system? What's the problem with the N64 RAM cart?

Releasing a title needing some upgrades would be pretty bad if those upgrades cost too much, but nothing says that it would be the case. When you play games on your pc, as long as you have a decent PC, you can play all games, how good it plays depends on your hardware and your settings. Why not do the same thing with a console?

The problem with doing this is that developers have no idea how many people have what console configuration so every game will be set at the lowest common denominator and you'll get no value out of your superior machine. Ninja-Hippo

customizable sound good but if microsoft refuse to release third party parts then this is a crap idea. it will be too expensive, we r paying alot of money for harddrives for xbox because ms refuse to allow third party people to release there own hardware. i cant even start to imagine what upgrading 3d card and ram on next box will cost if it was m$ exclusive hardware only.

customizable sound good but if microsoft refuse to release third party parts then this is a crap idea. it will be too expensive, we r paying alot of money for harddrives for xbox because ms refuse to allow third party people to release there own hardware. i cant even start to imagine what upgrading 3d card and ram on next box will cost if it was m$ exclusive hardware only.

pc-ps360

[QUOTE="pc-ps360"]

customizable sound good but if microsoft refuse to release third party parts then this is a crap idea. it will be too expensive, we r paying alot of money for harddrives for xbox because ms refuse to allow third party people to release there own hardware. i cant even start to imagine what upgrading 3d card and ram on next box will cost if it was m$ exclusive hardware only.

spiderluck

I can't see much of a drawback, as it stand all these new engines are reportedly very scalable (even down to current gen). I don't see nothing wrong with playing the same game at higher graphical settings than the vanilla xbox 720 three or 4 years down the road.

[QUOTE="spiderluck"][QUOTE="pc-ps360"]

customizable sound good but if microsoft refuse to release third party parts then this is a crap idea. it will be too expensive, we r paying alot of money for harddrives for xbox because ms refuse to allow third party people to release there own hardware. i cant even start to imagine what upgrading 3d card and ram on next box will cost if it was m$ exclusive hardware only.

Deevoshun

I can't see much of a drawback, as it stand all these new engines are reportedly very scalable (even down to current gen). I don't see nothing wrong with playing the same game at higher graphical settings than the vanilla xbox 720 three or 4 years down the road.

The problem with doing this is that developers have no idea how many people have what console configuration so every game will be set at the lowest common denominator and you'll get no value out of your superior machine. Ninja-Hippo

This is how 60FPS gaming happens.

i been wanting something like it. It be nice say every 4-5 years or w/e just snap the case off slide new gpu/cpu in and good to go for next 4-5... as long it is not abbused where they want you update every year for useless crap. then we have a issue

you get the point.

closer you get it just pc. there is chance just make all exclusives for the system and pc= more sells. Then be really nice if they ditch games on demand and get it powered by steam :)

but there is draw backs because devs always aims at the max consumers they can get at once.

Other consoles have been upgradable before such as the Sega CD and Sega 32X. Although it may not appeal to everybody, an upgradable XBox sounds fine to me. At least, there's that option.

In any case, it's a feature I wanted the original XBox to have.

i been wanting something like it. It be nice say every 4-5 years or w/e just snap the case off slide new gpu/cpu in and good to go for next 4-5...

you get the point.

closer you get it just pc. there is chance just make all exclusives for the system and pc= more sells. Then be really nice if they ditch games on demand and get it powered by steam :)

but there is draw backs because devs always aims at the max consumers they can get at once.

k2theswiss

[QUOTE="Giancar"][QUOTE="wolverine4262"]Sounds very interesting and refreshing in its uniqueness. wolverine4262

Please, lets not have fond memories of what Nintendo did with the N64. The extra RAM was there for the Disk Drive which was suppose to come out relatively soon after launch. Yet it never came out in NA and Nintendo's botching of the DD really screwed over the N64 (3rd parties switched over the PS after they realized the DD was never coming out). Also Nintendo was working on Super Mario 64 2. Think about that. That system had so much potential. Anyone remember this?

[QUOTE="santoron"]It's a moronic idea, and would be little used by third parties, which are the bread and butter of a MS console. Devs are attracted to console releases because there's a large install base with identical hardware. Releasing a title that requires various optional upgrades does nothing more than shrink your market, so major titles expecting large sales will stick with the base hardware, and you'll be left with smaller titles that try to sell themselves on compatibility with upgrades more than the content or quality of their game. We've seen this over and over with everything from the 64 RAM cart to the eyetoy, Kinect, and wii balance board. bloodling

What makes you think many games would actually require those parts? If they are not used a lot, fine, so be it. But if you want to keep a console for many years, why not give it at least some upgrade possibilities, instead of being stuck with an outdated system? What's the problem with the N64 RAM cart?

Releasing a title needing some upgrades would be pretty bad if those upgrades cost too much, but nothing says that it would be the case. When you play games on your pc, as long as you have a decent PC, you can play all games, how good it plays depends on your hardware and your settings. Why not do the same thing with a console?

It's a moronic idea, and would be little used by third parties, which are the bread and butter of a MS console. Devs are attracted to console releases because there's a large install base with identical hardware. Releasing a title that requires various optional upgrades does nothing more than shrink your market, so major titles expecting large sales will stick with the base hardware, and you'll be left with smaller titles that try to sell themselves on compatibility with upgrades more than the content or quality of their game. We've seen this over and over with everything from the 64 RAM cart to the eyetoy, Kinect, and wii balance board. santoron

This. It's a lowest common denominator situation.

I don't actually hate the idea, but I would rather not blur the line between console and PC.

Other consoles have been upgradable before such as the Sega CD and Sega 32X. Although it may not appeal to everybody, an upgradable XBox sounds fine to me. At least, there's that option.

In any case, it's a feature I wanted the original XBox to have.

jun_aka_pekto

The problem with doing this is that developers have no idea how many people have what console configuration so every game will be set at the lowest common denominator and you'll get no value out of your superior machine. Ninja-Hippo

[QUOTE="jun_aka_pekto"]

Other consoles have been upgradable before such as the Sega CD and Sega 32X. Although it may not appeal to everybody, an upgradable XBox sounds fine to me. At least, there's that option.

In any case, it's a feature I wanted the original XBox to have.

Inconsistancy

:lol:

Beat me to it. I can't believe someone actually brought up Sega to defend upgradeability.

Why do i sense that most people against this are either sony or nintendo fanboys

Why don't you just get a PC if that's the case?DragonfireXZ95

That's not for me to judge. Consoles are smaller, cheaper, have some exclusives... Of course I consider PCs to be clear winners over consoles, but consoles still have their place. You don't buy a $250 PC expecting to play games as well as a PS3 does, do you?

As far as people saying that it would be a case of the lowest common denominator, well as I said, it's not hard to give the player options to choose their resolution, refresh rate, graphic quality... Every single game does this on PC, why wouldn't it work on consoles?

Why do i sense that most people against this are either sony or nintendo fanboys

spiderluck

Why get something "like" a PC when you can actually get a PC? :?

[QUOTE="santoron"]It's a moronic idea, and would be little used by third parties, which are the bread and butter of a MS console. Devs are attracted to console releases because there's a large install base with identical hardware. Releasing a title that requires various optional upgrades does nothing more than shrink your market, so major titles expecting large sales will stick with the base hardware, and you'll be left with smaller titles that try to sell themselves on compatibility with upgrades more than the content or quality of their game. We've seen this over and over with everything from the 64 RAM cart to the eyetoy, Kinect, and wii balance board. bloodling

What makes you think many games would actually require those parts? If they are not used a lot, fine, so be it. But if you want to keep a console for many years, why not give it at least some upgrade possibilities, instead of being stuck with an outdated system? What's the problem with the N64 RAM cart?

Releasing a title needing some upgrades would be pretty bad if those upgrades cost too much, but nothing says that it would be the case. When you play games on your pc, as long as you have a decent PC, you can play all games, how good it plays depends on your hardware and your settings. Why not do the same thing with a console?

Why do i sense that most people against this are either sony or nintendo fanboys

spiderluck

Because the entire point of a console is fixed hardware. It gives the customers peace of mind that they have no need to upgrade until the next generation, and gives devs one set of hardware to program for to reach a huge install base. This concept kills both, and without gaining much in value to those that actually buy the hardware. santoron

That's not "the entire point of a console". It's an advantage it has, and as you can see in this thread, people are willing to give up their "peace of mind that they don't need to upgrade" for the actual possibility to upgrade their console, upgrade that you can't assume that will be mandatory for any game.

And adding scalability won't happen on a large scale for consoles, because it's a larger time commitment for very little return. You'll get a few games that try to add an "upgrade" mode near the upgrade's launch, and a bunch of generic titles afterwards whose only redeeming characteristic is they are "built for " in an attempt to sucker more $$$ from the people that wasted their money upgrading in the first place. If you want scalability and upgraded hardware, there's a better way to go, on a platform built to excel with both. santoron

Well, how can it be so hard for the people who already released the game on pc, so the game already has scalability, and if Microsoft wants to go that way and get that extra money from the people who are willing to spend it, then they might just do that, it's up to them to decide and talk with the devs. As I said, smaller devs can still make games that the upgraded components wont have any advantage over the default hardware... And yes it might be some kind of way to get more money from a group of customers, whether or not this is a good strategy is a different subject.

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]Why don't you just get a PC if that's the case?bloodling

That's not for me to judge. Consoles are smaller, cheaper, have some exclusives... Of course I consider PCs to be clear winners over consoles, but consoles still have their place. You don't buy a $250 PC expecting to play games as well as a PS3 does, do you?

As far as people saying that it would be a case of the lowest common denominator, well as I said, it's not hard to give the player options to choose their resolution, refresh rate, graphic quality... Every single game does this on PC, why wouldn't it work on consoles?

You won't be buying a $250 console if it's upgrade-able either. You'll be paying for extra parts to get the most bang out of your console. Also, lol @ $250 price tag. It'll be 5-600 dollars on release. DragonfireXZ95

I compared a PS3, which is worth $250 new, with a PC. I did not make any mention that the new consoles would be sold at the same price as a PS3 is being sold currently, and I don't understand why you think I made that claim.

Why get something "like" a PC when you can actually get a PC? :?

seanmcloughlin