Microsoft: Xbox 360 Is The Console of The Long Future

[ZippyDSMlee]

Um...you do realize that all the games being sold on Xbox Classics are already BC, right?

No I didn't.

All they have to do is make 10-20$ worth of changes to the heat sink to make it not fail under most circumstance...., they are cutting their losses and not changing it as much as possible.

From what I have read it is not that simple. Xbox 360 doesn't get significantly hotter than any other console, the problem seems to be many many little problems mostly down to the type and method of solder that is very sensitive to use, especially long extended sessions.

The details of how xbox 360s are manufactured are of course trade secrets but it just seems that the design is not well enough refined and the manufacturing method is not up to standard which could be down to how little experience Microsoft has in actually making hardware. Remember they made their billions in software, they didn't even make the Xbox original them-self but was practically a third party project left to Nvidia... only that turned out very badly for Microsoft in terms of controlling their product.

It seems it would take a lot of time and money to REALLY improve the 360's reliability to on par with PS3.

Not really from my friends who mod and work on computers and electronics it comes down to a 5 to 10 c difference in temperature that leads to solder failures and others if they made those relatively simple changes they would prevent most of the new unit failures.

Its been known for sometime(2 maybe 3 years now) what the issue is the "green" solder well that and poor heat dispensation design, one leads to another with the new chips and proper redesign of the heat sink with a heat pipe setup that helps cool it 5-10 you just wont get as many critical failures...

 

[ResonanceSD]

They seem to be pinning a lot of their hopes on Natal, on which there is far too little info on to sway any opinion.

This, and given the response o the Wii motion sensor, I really don't think it will be a positive outcome for Natal.

 

[adledog]

I'm guessing theyll go for a 9-10 year lifespan (5-6 years from now). I know im a little impatient for the next console, and once they have something amazing they should definitely go for it for days

 

[Ironwampa]

Obviously there isn't going to be a new Xbox soon. If there was going to be a new Xbox Microsoft would be trying to create as much hype as possible. My guess is new consoles will be announced in the 2011 E3 and be released in 2013. It would be in Microsoft's best interest to release a new Xbox and give it full backwards compatibility as soon as possible since Sony wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Even if Microsoft has to make a really expensive console to ensure it lasts it would deal a heavy blow to Sony.

 

[pneuma08]

Spoiler

The 360 has been the least reliable hardware of this console generation. Honestly, a hardware change can be greatly beneficial to them by shedding the whole red ring debacle.

That said, I can see many reasons why keeping the current hardware could be beneficial (e.g. if Natal falls flat, even more likely since no console extension in history has ever turned out well, they can still rely on games for the 360).

As a consumer, right now I'm not exactly looking forward to the next line of consoles. They're going to have to prove to me that it's going to be worth it, and while the technology of Natal is impressive, I have yet to see any content worth the upgrade.

All they have to do is make 10-20$ worth of changes to the heat sink to make it not fail under most circumstance...., they are cutting their losses and not changing it as much as possible.

$10-20 of changes to the manufacturing equipment and process to undo damages to consumer confidence? I highly doubt that. For the latter point, a new product won't undo the stigma they're getting either, but it'll do a lot more than, "no really, the 5th one you buy won't fail this time, we promise."

 

[Arikuza]

Natal isn't going to keep it that great, I personally think that when the next gen consoles come out, Project natal wont be able to keep up and it'll crash.

I mean, the ps3 kinda already has that kind of thing with the playstation eye, so it isn't anything "new" (no one just really programmed a cool game to play it with)

 

[300lb. Samoan]

They need to release a new version of the 360 with upgraded hardware. Did you know that if you unplug your 360 it resets the clock? That's fucking silly, the least they could do is add a CMOS battery to keep the clock running. Other things a new system release should include:

+More processing power to compensate for the 15% Natal will consume
+More ram, and the ability to multitask different apps (use twitter facebook and last.fm from within games, or leave one game paused while playing another)
+Graphical tweaks: fix the "cocoa powder" looking shadows and fine-tune the pixel shaders all around

If they're going to bank on natal, they'll want to put a system on the market that has the increased processing power to handle it. And the system only has 512mb ram in it, there's no reason they couldn't cheaply upgrade that to atleast 2gigs and enable task switching.

 

[scotth266]

I can't really say I'm surprised by this: while they've established themselves as a solid console maker, Microsoft wants to milk the 360 for all it's worth: and considering that Sony's in it for the long haul, they want to take as long as possible before making a new console.

I don't have any opinions on Natal: but if it's handled correctly, it has SOME potential. People say that it'll flop harder than the Wii, but then again, people also said that the Wii would flop harder than the Jaguar, so I reserve judgment until it is released.

 

[Shycte]

Subjective: Nooooooo PC is the one true gaming future!

Yaya, you go and have fun with your CD-codes and Secu-rom and all that shit.

OT: I have a Xbox, let's see how this ends...

 

[Asehujiko]

Terminology FAIL on their behalf. A hardware upgrade is something like a new GPU and not a new peripheral.

 

[lee1287]

i wont even play natal. im happy with my 360 now.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Sounds like they are counting on NATAL too much. I mean what if it bombs?
Anyone ever hear of the 32X?

 

[Killerbunny001]

After all exec bullshit in different interviews I read over the last 2 years I think that the PS3 will have a longer life span than the Xbox because there is a visible larger room for improvement there.

Putting all your nuts in one basket!? As Microsoft is doing with the Natal is really a bad idea in my humble opinion.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Spoiler

The 360 has been the least reliable hardware of this console generation. Honestly, a hardware change can be greatly beneficial to them by shedding the whole red ring debacle.

That said, I can see many reasons why keeping the current hardware could be beneficial (e.g. if Natal falls flat, even more likely since no console extension in history has ever turned out well, they can still rely on games for the 360).

As a consumer, right now I'm not exactly looking forward to the next line of consoles. They're going to have to prove to me that it's going to be worth it, and while the technology of Natal is impressive, I have yet to see any content worth the upgrade.

All they have to do is make 10-20$ worth of changes to the heat sink to make it not fail under most circumstance...., they are cutting their losses and not changing it as much as possible.

$10-20 of changes to the manufacturing equipment and process to undo damages to consumer confidence? I highly doubt that. For the latter point, a new product won't undo the stigma they're getting either, but it'll do a lot more than, "no really, the 5th one you buy won't fail this time, we promise."

Not the point... the 10-20$ extra cost per unit is to finally fix the damn problem...oh and last I checked 6 out of ten 360 owners have no trouble with it.

And BTW the lens unit on the PS3 seems to be bad, tho since there has been acouple revisions they might have niped that problem in the bud...I would hope so.... you find a problem you fix it not wait till the next hardware change......

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I can't really say I'm surprised by this: while they've established themselves as a solid console maker, Microsoft wants to milk the 360 for all it's worth: and considering that Sony's in it for the long haul, they want to take as long as possible before making a new console.

I don't have any opinions on Natal: but if it's handled correctly, it has SOME potential. People say that it'll flop harder than the Wii, but then again, people also said that the Wii would flop harder than the Jaguar, so I reserve judgment until it is released.

..... you do realize the 360 got a 3 year head start with rushed hardware at that?
This means they spent as much money on the 360 as the sony has on the PS3, they have only gotten a few million in profit from the console itself(I think its 20-30$ a unit now) they kinda do need to milk it but at the same time its lose lose no matter what they do as they will have to bring out a new console in less than 5 years.

Sony on the other hand came out just under 2-3 years ago and can easily last 6 years before the next unit is rolled out. Don't forget a console life span might be 10 years but you get a new console every 4-6.

 

[scotth266]

Sony on the other hand came out just under 2-3 years ago and can easily last 6 years before the next unit is rolled out. Don't forget a console life span might be 10 years but you get a new console every 4-6.

While Microsoft may have had a shakey start, there's no denying that they're a major player in the industry these days: they've come a long way since the original Xbox. And while their console came out earlier than the others, it still manages to keep pace (for the most part) with the competition, so until the gap starts to show a little more, MS is going to keep on truckin' for as long as possible. They know Sony planned on a 10 year cycle, and thus they're going to attempt to ride it out for as long as possible: but in the end I think that MS and Sony will wind up releasing new consoles on entirely different cycles, which is actually a good thing for the consumer (gives us time to alternate between console purchases.)

I don't doubt that they'll release a new Xbox before the PS3 reaches the end of it's life cycle, but they'll wait for as long as possible.

 

[Earthmonger]

Microsoft's plan for keeping the Xbox 360 competitive is really simple: Racing stripes, a spoiler, and chrome rims.

 

[TPiddy]

What do you think? Is Microsoft betting too much on Natal to keep its console fresh? Is all of this a big lie and they're actually going to be rolling out the Xbox 666 in 2011?

I think Microsoft has sunk so much money into the 360 they can't afford to do anything but keep running with it.

Even if they get it into profit it will be years before it's life represents even an acceptable level of loss, nevermind a net gain for Microsoft. For Xbox division the next five years is all about damage limitation, no-one above them is going to sign off costs to develop an all new console when the current one is such a financial disaster area, they would have stuck with the five year cycle if they could afford it, there's money to be made selling dev kits and periphals all over again.

Microsoft is already into profit with it... They were out a year earlier, but they still have more consoles sold, more games and peripherals sold, and over 10 million XBox live subscriptions.they have more studio exclusive tie ins and the systems cost less to produce originally and even now, than the PS3 did. Sony's the one who would lose their shirts if the next gen came earlier than 2013.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Sony on the other hand came out just under 2-3 years ago and can easily last 6 years before the next unit is rolled out. Don't forget a console life span might be 10 years but you get a new console every 4-6.

While Microsoft may have had a shakey start, there's no denying that they're a major player in the industry these days: they've come a long way since the original Xbox. And while their console came out earlier than the others, it still manages to keep pace (for the most part) with the competition, so until the gap starts to show a little more, MS is going to keep on truckin' for as long as possible. They know Sony planned on a 10 year cycle, and thus they're going to attempt to ride it out for as long as possible: but in the end I think that MS and Sony will wind up releasing new consoles on entirely different cycles, which is actually a good thing for the consumer (gives us time to alternate between console purchases.)

I don't doubt that they'll release a new Xbox before the PS3 reaches the end of it's life cycle, but they'll wait for as long as possible.

No doubt the 360 turely reinvented the Xbrand and until the PS3 got better optimizations even the Jrpg devs started to make stuff for it more than they normally would. Still the 360 has been out 5 years and that's around the end of the line. Tho looking at the world economy and the game industry we could see a new console or true 360 revamp in 2-3 years but more likely, like with the PS3 they will wait and come out with a new console hopefully learning alot from the PS3 and 360 disasters and what makes the WII do so well.

 

[TPiddy]

Well, if anything, Microsoft learns from their mistakes.... Windows 7 is miles ahead of Vista... The next console they release will certainly not have the problems that the 360 did....

I don't see why we can't keep going for another 3-4 years with the current setup.... Mass Effect 2 will be one of the first games on 360 to require two discs.