Stripped-down Xbox due in late 2013

By Muhammad Farrukh
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Grand Master

BajiRav

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With the price you can get a 360 for in the UK now you'd be daft to buy one of these (especially late 2013, a 360 will probably go for like ?50-70 then).

I have no idea how one of these for $100-ish would seem competitive in 2013.

True. Dell.com was selling Xbox 360 for $129 the other day, surely Microsoft can get it down to $99 by middle of next year to compete with Apple TV. The thing that strikes me is "to compete with Apple TV", really? :D that device is a complete failure and their real competition is (as of today) roku or may be Google if it manages to salvage Google TV by then.

Grand Master

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True. Dell.com was selling Xbox 360 for $129 the other day, surely Microsoft can get it down to $99 by middle of next year to compete with Apple TV. The thing that strikes me is "to compete with Apple TV", really? :D that device is a complete failure and their real competition is (as of today) roku or may be Google if it manages to salvage Google TV by then.

Sometimes the smaller form factor of these "TV devices" is nice, but me personally, I'd take something a bit better rounded (specs/functions) under my TV any day (if I weren't a gamer I'd have a modest HTPC hooked up). That's just me though.

I really don't like having numerous boxes under my TV, to me, it's crowded enough as it is with a PS3 and audio receiver :laugh:

Grand Master

rajputwarrior

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now i know why MS is doing it...

Entertainment apps now more popular than multiplayer gaming on Xbox Live

By Kyle Orland | Published 13 minutes ago

Mark your calendars folks; today is the day that Microsoft officially succeeded in its efforts to transform the Xbox 360 from merely a video game system to a bona-fide general purpose living room set-top box. That's because, for the first time ever, Microsoft now says that time spent on general "entertainment" use of Xbox Live has officially surpassed time spent on multiplayer gaming.

The total hours spent on Xbox Live have increased 30 percent year over year, Microsoft said, growing to an incredible 84 hours a month average for Xbox Live Gold members (that average stood at 60 hours last June). Most of that growth came from increased use of entertainment apps such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN and Zune Marketplace on Xbox Live, which Microsoft says saw more than double the usage over the last year. With today's release of new entertainment apps including Comcast, HBO Go and MLB.tv, that rate of increase seems likely to continue.

For those worried that Microsoft's focus may now start to slowly shift away from the Xbox 360's once-primary gaming functions, it should be noted that multiplayer gaming usage on Xbox Live also grew in the past year, though Microsoft didn't say precisely how much (Xbox Live reportedly served up over 4 billion person hours of multiplayer gaming through last March, so further growth is almost gravy at this point). Also keep in mind that these stats don't take into account time spent playing single-player Xbox 360 games, which might tip the usage balance back towards gaming.

Still, we should probably have taken Microsoft at its word when it said before last year's E3 that "Xbox used to be solely in the games business, but the business is on a different trajectory now. What was launched as the ultimate gaming machine has quickly evolved to become an all-in-one entertainment device with something for every member of the household."

http://arstechnica.c...tm_campaign=rss

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butilikethecookie

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This is a fail. Normal tech-illiterate people will buy this expecting all thir games to work and they will bitch and complain. uhhhh.....what ever happened to if it's not broken don't fix it. This applys to Zune (dropped decent product), Windows 8 (where do I start? Oh wait there's not a menu for that anymore), and this "new" xbox. Bill Gates needs to come back to Microsoft and rip people some new ones.

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Salutary7

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I imagine we'll have to wait until E3 in June for the final details, but something like this makes a lot of sense. I don't know how popular it will actually be, but it will at least make Sony and Nintendo scramble to counter it in one way or another. Apple probably won't be too affected, but Sony, especially, is in a rough spot. Not only was their gaming division late on turning a profit, but the company as a whole isn't doing well. Any gaming-related products MS lobs out there will be a blow to Sony in the next-gen cold war.

Grand Master

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I imagine we'll have to wait until E3 in June for the final details, but something like this makes a lot of sense. I don't know how popular it will actually be, but it will at least make Sony and Nintendo scramble to counter it in one way or another. Apple probably won't be too affected, but Sony, especially, is in a rough spot. Not only was their gaming division late on turning a profit, but the company as a whole isn't doing well. Any gaming-related products MS lobs out there will be a blow to Sony in the next-gen cold war.

Next gen?

This is a "gimped" Xbox 360 essentially, it's not going to cause any effect to anyone in a years time with how cheap the PS3 and 360 will be. I can only see this appealing to those who like how it looks, or don't know any better in a year (when they'd be better off getting a 360).

The only thing MS could do to make this compete with a 360 on a media level is give this better codec support, as the 360 lacks in certain codec abilities compared to the PS3.

It's a move that may have done well coming out asap with a cheaper RRP than a 360, but I have absolutely no idea how MS think it'll be a good idea in a years time. It simply seems like another product to try and flood the market with so they can say they have an "Apple TV competitor".

Buy a 360, avoid this.

Proficient

UndergroundWire

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Sounds like an Xbox Lite, for quick downloadable games. Not sure who would be in the market for such a machine, they could well prove me wrong though.

Allow me to prove you wrong. :D

I use my Xbox 360 to stream movies from various services. Rarely do I play video games. I just want a device that can stream my content from my Windows computer, Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Cinamax Go. Amazon, Vudu and YouTube would be a plus (but that's a stretch). I would gladly buy it if it is around $99 - $149.

So far I have the Apple TV, Google TV and the Xbox 360. Google TV is better than Apple TV in that it has more content. However, the Google TV hardware I have is built on an Atom processor so Apple TV is a lot nicer. Xbox 360 is the best out of the three but it has some drawbacks. It doesn't have all the content I need (but it is slowly getting there); it is noisy (fans) and so much overhead. A slimmed down version would be perfect and hopefully by then more services will be available.

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JaredFrost

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Allow me to prove you wrong. :D

I use my Xbox 360 to stream movies from various services. Rarely do I play video games. I just want a device that can stream my content from my Windows computer, Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Cinamax Go. Amazon, Vudu and YouTube would be a plus (but that's a stretch). I would gladly buy it if it is around $99 - $149.

So far I have the Apple TV, Google TV and the Xbox 360. Google TV is better than Apple TV in that it has more content. However, the Google TV hardware I have is built on an Atom processor so Apple TV is a lot nicer. Xbox 360 is the best out of the three but it has some drawbacks. It doesn't have all the content I need (but it is slowly getting there); it is noisy (fans) and so much overhead. A slimmed down version would be perfect and hopefully by then more services will be available.

I agree with most of what you say, but I think the priceline is too expensive, already an xbox 360 arcade can be purchased for $129.

I use my xbox to stream video from my windows PC all the time, they really need to work on the media player on the dashboard, it's pretty barebones and the content list is pretty lame

I'm not saying they need to bloat that thing up though, just make the content list take up more of the screen, allowing for longer filenames and add some codec support, maybe a Play All option

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Salutary7

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Next gen?

This is a "gimped" Xbox 360 essentially, it's not going to cause any effect to anyone in a years time with how cheap the PS3 and 360 will be. I can only see this appealing to those who like how it looks, or don't know any better in a year (when they'd be better off getting a 360).

The only thing MS could do to make this compete with a 360 on a media level is give this better codec support, as the 360 lacks in certain codec abilities compared to the PS3.

It's a move that may have done well coming out asap with a cheaper RRP than a 360, but I have absolutely no idea how MS think it'll be a good idea in a years time. It simply seems like another product to try and flood the market with so they can say they have an "Apple TV competitor".

Buy a 360, avoid this.

You're missing the point. It's a cold war for the next generation. Both companies want to extend the lifetime of their current gen consoles, even though their next gen systems are being developed. Neither wants to show their hand, but both want to remain relevant. Microsoft is simply launching a product to increase it relevance without having to invest heavily in expensive hardware. Sony can choose to ignore it and forfeit that portion of the market, or they spend valuable resources to respond to it in some way. In either case, because Sony is financially troubled, it affects the success of their next gen platform.

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JaredFrost

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$99 makes sense if you don't have to pay for Live.

True, the way I use it as a media device though, Live is not required

But if people could use Netflix and such without the live gold requirement, I could see the $99 pricepoint working

Not that it should be a requirement on the xbox 360 in the first place though, but that's another issue.

Grand Master

rajputwarrior

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Allow me to prove you wrong. :D

I use my Xbox 360 to stream movies from various services. Rarely do I play video games. I just want a device that can stream my content from my Windows computer, Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Cinamax Go. Amazon, Vudu and YouTube would be a plus (but that's a stretch). I would gladly buy it if it is around $99 - $149.

So far I have the Apple TV, Google TV and the Xbox 360. Google TV is better than Apple TV in that it has more content. However, the Google TV hardware I have is built on an Atom processor so Apple TV is a lot nicer. Xbox 360 is the best out of the three but it has some drawbacks. It doesn't have all the content I need (but it is slowly getting there); it is noisy (fans) and so much overhead. A slimmed down version would be perfect and hopefully by then more services will be available.

i can solve all of your problems right now

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Install_XBMC_on_Apple_TV_2

Grand Master

HawkMan

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Next gen?

This is a "gimped" Xbox 360 essentially, it's not going to cause any effect to anyone in a years time with how cheap the PS3 and 360 will be. I can only see this appealing to those who like how it looks, or don't know any better in a year (when they'd be better off getting a 360).

The only thing MS could do to make this compete with a 360 on a media level is give this better codec support, as the 360 lacks in certain codec abilities compared to the PS3.

It's a move that may have done well coming out asap with a cheaper RRP than a 360, but I have absolutely no idea how MS think it'll be a good idea in a years time. It simply seems like another product to try and flood the market with so they can say they have an "Apple TV competitor".

Buy a 360, avoid this.

Except it comes with kinec, and the intended customer is not a gamer, for the gamers there's still the Xbox, the intended customer for this, is the same as for the apple tv. A technologically illiterate user who just wants to turn the device on and watch tv series and rent movies. Without going through silly smart tv menus or game console menus that make no sense to them.

Grand Master

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Except it comes with kinec, and the intended customer is not a gamer, for the gamers there's still the Xbox, the intended customer for this, is the same as for the apple tv. A technologically illiterate user who just wants to turn the device on and watch tv series and rent movies. Without going through silly smart tv menus or game console menus that make no sense to them.

I know that customer exists, but it wouldn't stop me telling them buying a 360 is much better value for them.

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JaredFrost

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Seriously? Who plays arcade games anymore?

Mmmmm.....Maybe my grandmother.

Depends on how you define Arcade, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, I Am Alive, Shadow Complex, these are all Arcade titles, yet I doubt your grandmother would be interested in them.

Grand Master

spenser.d

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Let's see...using the extremely popular Xbox brand name to market a set top device that has a ton of media functionality with its video and music apps. And you can control all of that with your voice and hands. And it plays Xbox Live Arcade games. Sounds like a winner to me. Whether or not it's worth whatever they decide to charge for it is moot - people are going to eat this up.

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