At a "strategy level" Microsoft wants to be first to the market again with its next-generation Xbox, Entertainment & Device Devision boss Robbie Bach has said.
Speaking during an interview with Venture Beat, Bach said that if you asked him whether being first to market with Xbox 360 was the right decision, he'd say "definitely yes," and the platform holder has a desire to do it again with the next console.
"The last cycle for the original Xbox was a little shorter than typical (at four years). We started way late," he said. "If you take the question of whether it was the right thing to try to be first [with Xbox 360], the answer to that is definitely yes. It has given us a leg up in a number of places that are super important.
"It has given us a leg up with game developers. It has given us a leg up from an economics perspective. It helped us expand Xbox Live quickly. At a strategy level, if you asked if we wanted to be first again, I would say yes."
But the E&DD boss said it was "too early to tell" when quizzed on his expectation for the next console's release plans. "Our view is we will be selling Xbox 360 for a long time," he said.
"People ask me how many people I have working on the next generation. On the one hand, it's everybody. On the other, it's nobody. People are continuously working on new technology.
"We start thinking about the next generation before we shipped the Xbox 360," Bach continued. "It doesn't start with a date. It starts way upstream with silicon development.
"From that comes a series of data points. You start making early technology choices. It's an evolving thing. Stuff doesn't become concrete until you get inside a window of when you have to ship, more than 18 months or so out."
If we see anything before 2010, we'll be very surprised.
Fine, so long as they don't rush it out with serious design flaws as with the 360. I'm not too sure people would be prepared to put up with it a second time - I for one wouldn't.
Oh goody, does that mean they're going to rush it again, and we'll end up with another RROD-style "Extra Feature"?
I think "When it's done" would be more comforting to hear that "We want to be first again".
More importantly, according to "SunScramble's theory of hardware RE:Sega", the next XBox is going to be a waste of time anyway, due to MS getting far too arrogant during the planning stages.
Whoever brings their kit out first will be in pole position, a no brainer really.
If MS can fix reliability issues and continue their progression with Live, XNA and whatever else they have up their sleeves then it should be happy days all round for gamers.
I'm sure if they were honest, every one of the 'big three' would like to be first to market, so this is hardly a big surprise. After all, it paid dividends for M$ getting their 360 out first. Had they released after the PS3, and still had the same reliability issue, I bet they would have sold a fraction of what they have managed now.
Glad to hear the 360 will be around for a while, I'll be seriously p**sed if they prematurely started the next generation again.
I don't think Nintendo will care too much after the wii's success after being released 18 months after the 360 and Sony have already set their stall out for the ps3 to last 10 years.
There is the potential that they could release it too early if the other consoles have the legs to survive
Well if they rush out the Xbox720 they better make sure it has a 51% failure rate to make it 1% better than the 360, as that is what you call progress.
Hey ho hopefully it won't have a hairdryer making noise inside it and blowing hot air round my f*cking room in a sick parody of air conditioning.
What they need for the next console is more of an upgrade/makeover of what they have now. A new slimmer case, better heat management, faster CPU and GPU(more cores?) and a very large hard drive in everyone sold(to download or fully install games to). This would give full 1080p on all games hopefuly. And as it's not going to be a totally new machine, it should be easier for programmers to get to grips with, and be much cheaper(they'd have no chance in 2010 of flogging a £300+ console if the PS3 comes down to £100).
What they need for the next console is more of an upgrade/makeover of what they have now. A new slimmer case, better heat management, faster CPU and GPU(more cores?) and a very large hard drive in everyone sold(to download or fully install games to). This would give full 1080p on all games hopefuly. And as it's not going to be a totally new machine, it should be easier for programmers to get to grips with, and be much cheaper(they'd have no chance in 2010 of flogging a £300+ console if the PS3 comes down to £100).
While I agree, the problem then is, how do you market it. Basically, it'd just be a 'tidier' version of a 360, and I for one (and I suspect I'm not alone) wouldn't get one until my original 360 karked it.
Which, to be fair, could be any day now *touch wood*
I think they have the right strategy, and if the next console is backwards compatible I will certainly buy one quickly.
I think the next xbox console will probably be native 1080p resolution for all games (rather than what most 360 and PS3 games do at the moment, which is just upscale from 720p or lower), have blu ray, bigger HDD, and will probably have soem kind of motion sensing device, or maybe even use the 3D technology we've seen in movies.
Really the Ps3 is the 1st Next gen so is the WII woth its Motion Sensing ect... But the PS3 is so powerfull and i felt that the 360 was rushed just take the whole extra HD Player which was £100 they need to take there time with bring a new console to the market
I think they have the right strategy, and if the next console is backwards compatible I will certainly buy one quickly.
I think the next xbox console will probably be native 1080p resolution for all games (rather than what most 360 and PS3 games do at the moment, which is just upscale from 720p or lower), have blu ray, bigger HDD, and will probably have soem kind of motion sensing device, or maybe even use the 3D technology we've seen in movies.
Here's my two penneth, no order of priority:
1. Bundled in (but detachable as per 360) HDD-120 GB minimum 2. Built in wifi adapter 3. Better reliability 4. Noise emissions greatly reduced 5. Easier to programme architecture (good at present but can be improved) 6. XNA developing/acccess to titles incorporated 7. Fully customisable front and side panels on console + controllers 8. More cross compatilbity with mobile devices/mp3 players (launch the zune too now please) 9. Bundled with LIVE vision cam 2.0 10. errr...monkey tennis?
I think they have the right strategy, and if the next console is backwards compatible I will certainly buy one quickly.
I think the next xbox console will probably be native 1080p resolution for all games (rather than what most 360 and PS3 games do at the moment, which is just upscale from 720p or lower), have blu ray, bigger HDD, and will probably have soem kind of motion sensing device, or maybe even use the 3D technology we've seen in movies.
Here's my two penneth, no order of priority:
1. Bundled in (but detachable as per 360) HDD-120 GB minimum 2. Built in wifi adapter 3. Better reliability 4. Noise emissions greatly reduced 5. Easier to programme architecture (good at present but can be improved) 6. XNA developing/acccess to titles incorporated 7. Fully customisable front and side panels on console + controllers 8. More cross compatilbity with mobile devices/mp3 players (launch the zune too now please) 9. Bundled with LIVE vision cam 2.0 10. errr...monkey tennis?
10. should have been full backwards compatibility with 360 actually...then inner city sumo at 11.
I'm sure the development of the next Xbox console is already well underway and could actually be put into production within the next 12 months if required (and I don't mean as a knee-jerk, first to marketplace reaction either!).
And I really can't see Microsoft releasing a new console that only partially betters what the 360 can do now...it'll be a "s**t hot" piece of kit that will put the current "next gen" machines to shame!
I suspect we'll see the Xbox 360's successor in December 2011 meaning that the 360 will be six years old. The ideal lifespan for a console according to Sony is six years (the length of time between the PS and PS2 and the PS2 and PS3) so it would make sense.
However, I sincerely hope that Microsoft have learnt from the Xbox 360 that testing the hardware thoroughly before release is a GOOD thing. Also the successor should have HDD or solid-state memory for storage as standard. And Blu-ray. Oh and be powerful enough to do all games at 720p minimum without resorting to cheating, i.e. upscaling!
I suspect we'll see the Xbox 360's successor in December 2011 meaning that the 360 will be six years old.
I hear what your saying, but I think it is way more likely to be Autumn/Winter 2010. I'll tell you why...
Christmas will see the Blu-ray effect lift the PS3 to overtake the 360 consistently in current sales. As next gen games start to mature they will need more space (Forza 3). 2009 and early 2010 will see a disparity between the 360 and the PS3. eg PS3 will 'seem' better to masses Xbox 3 needed to continue the fight. PS3 launched 6.5 years after the PS2. Which means the PS4 could launch in 2012. The Latest MS would release it is as you say 2011, but I think it will be one year earlier. 2010!
They'll have to be carefull not to launch too early, or else it will seem underpowered against what is to come, as happened with previous consoles such as the dreamcast
They'll have to be carefull not to launch too early, or else it will seem underpowered against what is to come, as happened with previous consoles such as the dreamcast
good point. But the question is what is too early? 1 year earlier then the competition's next console is fine. This helped the 360 get an install base first and developers get familiar with the console
2 years before the competion is a dodgy situation. There is a risk that the console will look 'last-gen' in comparison to the competition. Microsoft were scared of this when the PS3 launched 1.5 years after the360. Remember the 'spoiler' advertising?
Oh goody, does that mean they're going to rush it again, and we'll end up with another RROD-style "Extra Feature"?
I think "When it's done" would be more comforting to hear that "We want to be first again".
More importantly, according to "SunScramble's theory of hardware RE:Sega", the next XBox is going to be a waste of time anyway, due to MS getting far too arrogant during the planning stages.
Although at last Msoft have admitted they fooked up big time when they planned and produced the first batch of 360's. A costly lesson that lost them roughly 990 million dollars in mopping up. So fingers crossed they won't be trying to cut corners/costs like that again.
Also I hope they don't copy SEGA who always released their consoles first and then crashed and burned in the hardware wars.
I'm sure the development of the next Xbox console is already well underway and could actually be put into production within the next 12 months if required (and I don't mean as a knee-jerk, first to marketplace reaction either!).
And I really can't see Microsoft releasing a new console that only partially betters what the 360 can do now...it'll be a "s**t hot" piece of kit that will put the current "next gen" machines to shame!
I actually disagree with you there. I don't think that next time around anyone will be rushing to build super consoles. I expect they will about equal with high end pcs at the time of launch maybe a bit worse. There's no money in making consoles that exceed consumers expectations because most buyers (non wii buyers) buy out of habit every generation.
The next big thing in the PC world is multi-core proccessors, and not just the current 2-4 core ones, we're talking 8-32 cores , which could spell an end to graphics cards/GPUs entirely!!! And it could also bring about "ray-tracing" rendering, as oppossed to the current stuff, "rastering" or something(not sure of the details), which would make the PS3 look like a PSP!
They'll have to be carefull not to launch too early, or else it will seem underpowered against what is to come, as happened with previous consoles such as the dreamcast
good point. But the question is what is too early? 1 year earlier then the competition's next console is fine. This helped the 360 get an install base first and developers get familiar with the console
2 years before the competion is a dodgy situation. There is a risk that the console will look 'last-gen' in comparison to the competition. Microsoft were scared of this when the PS3 launched 1.5 years after the360. Remember the 'spoiler' advertising?
3 years and its way too late.
Absolutely agree. However, I'd add that the issue is one of consumer perception.
For example, the PS2's marketing campaign was very obscure initially; aimed at the hardcore gamer during the Dreamcasts' reign of popularity. It was only after the first price drop that Sony ditched the "3rd Place" campaign and went for the mainstream market very agressively.
This approach - along with a continually higher price point over Xbox and Gamecube - gave the average consumer the impression that the PS2 was a far newer and more powerful console than the competition; even though it was clearly the least powerful of the three. It seems that Sega being first to market didn't serve them very well, even though it was only about a year earlier than PS2. So releasing even just a little too early risks making a console look underpowered and old before its time.
I'm sure somewhere in the depths of marketing knowledge there's exists a sweet spot of perfect timing, but I think overall there's a lot of external factors that offer a console success. What if Dreamcast had sported DVD for example? Would the PS2 have dominated so heavily? Or what if motion control hadn't caught the public imagination? Would Nintendo now be going the way of Sega? Or what if Sony hadn't muddied the vision of PS3 in its first months? Would they now be undisputed champions of the generation?
The fact that a Gamecube 1.5 can outsell the high spec media hubs 360 and PS3, suggests that its not just what and when you release something, its how you market it when you do.
I think fall 2011 is when we'll see the next Xbox and the end of this gen. To be quite honest I feel we've already gone as far as we can go with the current hardware on the market. 360 games are already starting to come on multiple discs. PS3 has shown it was too early to use Blu-Ray, which is the cause of these horrid HDD install's and long loading times. Wii is already starting to look terribley dated and the motion control novelty has worn off.
Even so, hopefully we'll have a few more gems in the last couple of years we have left and hopefully MS ensure there are no hardware faults with it's next console.
PS3 has shown it was too early to use Blu-Ray, which is the cause of these horrid HDD install's and long loading times.
Blu Ray is only a storage device! On it's own it's not going to improve graphics or give you better games. I think Sony were right to include it on the PS3 and I bet Microsoft (and Toshiba) wish they had included HD DvD on the Xbox360. If you want to see the quality of the next generation Xbox take a look at a good high end performance PC now. It wont have a solid state drive. Solid state is almost 10 times the price of a hard disk drive and gamers won't notice the difference. It won't have Blu Ray as Sony have stated that Blu Ray will only ever appear on a Sony console. I also think Microsoft should allow someone like Toshiba to sell the next generation Xbox in Asia. It would be the same console as Europe and the States just a Toshiba Xbox. Asian's do not buy American goods if there's other Asian options, especially the Japanese. Microsoft would make money from the increased software sales.
Being first also means they will rush the console just to beat Sony and Nintendo. This is a bad move and I think if MS want to be number one then they will need to take time with it.
The first machine released does not necessarily win the gen. The Megadrive was first yet overall it was outsold by the SNES. I'm quite sure the Saturn came before the PS1 and the DC came before the PS2.
If you're going to be first make sure that your machine has more than what it needs to go up against what is coming in terms of storage, power, reliability and for the devs themselves it needs to be easy to develop for and cost-effective.
The 360 is a solid machine (software-wise) but as a result of my Xbox1 breaking and my 360 doing the same I think I'll wait a bit before getting another MS machine.
Also if they just drop the support like they have done for several of my MS products then I might just go with the competition only next gen.
Will it have backwards compatability? With Microsoft really aiming for 'downloads being the future' I can imagine them having something similar to the xbox originals they have in the marketplace. They might really focus on that to the extent of excluding backwards compatability to get people used to downloading games.
PS3 has shown it was too early to use Blu-Ray, which is the cause of these horrid HDD install's and long loading times.
Blu Ray is only a storage device! On it's own it's not going to improve graphics or give you better games. I think Sony were right to include it on the PS3 and I bet Microsoft (and Toshiba) wish they had included HD DvD on the Xbox360. If you want to see the quality of the next generation Xbox take a look at a good high end performance PC now. It wont have a solid state drive. Solid state is almost 10 times the price of a hard disk drive and gamers won't notice the difference. It won't have Blu Ray as Sony have stated that Blu Ray will only ever appear on a Sony console. I also think Microsoft should allow someone like Toshiba to sell the next generation Xbox in Asia. It would be the same console as Europe and the States just a Toshiba Xbox. Asian's do not buy American goods if there's other Asian options, especially the Japanese. Microsoft would make money from the increased software sales.
If Microsoft had included HD-DVD in the 360 as standard Blu-ray would be dead now. Has anyone heard of Blu-ray being used for PC games? It seems that a fast hard drive is the best option for game storage, not some fancy "hi-def" DVD oformat.
Good idea about using an Asian company to brand and release an American console in Asia, in fact it's so good why hasn't it been done yet? Would Sega be up for it I wonder?
It is a good thing to start looking at future hardware to use in the next machine, that goes without saying, and by saying it would be better to be out first is also good, rushing it to release isnt, but most people will have to remember the 360 is fast coming upto a 3rd birthday this year and by the end of 2009 it will be 4, so by my count the new console will be out at the end of 2010 or start of 2011, which is ages away yet, might give them time to fix the RROD problems.
Heck we should start a thread about possible specs for the machine and start taking odds on how MS will make it unreible this time, will it be a blue light ring of death, or will they get rid of the whole ring thing and have triangle of death instead, or will the just go back to an old ms fav the blue-screen of death?
Anyway possible specs?
BLue-ray drive (no brainer for this really, by then it will be reading at current dvd speeds and be as cheap. Standard HDD is a must across the whole range (just use different sizes for budget, prem and elite models). Wireless as standard (it can be excussed this generation, but not next) CPU will be IBM designed again (whisper it i think it will be a varation on the cell design, after its more or less the same core in both current cpu's, just abit different) it will have to be running anything above 5ghz or they could opt for the less speed, do more approach, so say 3.8hgz chip with 12 cores, instead of a 5ghz 6 core one.) Graphics will be ATI designed chip again, with embedded ram, just about 50 to 100 times more powerfull RAM wont be 1024mb, it will be at least 2gb of the highest grade ddr4 or 5 ram, running at the highest speed.
All this in a beautiful box, with a crap fan heatsink, causing it to melt in seconds.....
I can see the next xbox being announced in around 2011 and being released in nov 2010 but tbh the 360 is such a good platform it has at least 5 years left in it
It seems that a fast hard drive is the best option for game storage, not some fancy "hi-def" DVD oformat.
I think the next generation of console will need some kind of portable storage medium like DVD even blu ray. I just prefer having a hard copy of my games. Unless you're allowed to make back ups onto an external hard drive and I can't see software companies being too keen on that some how. PC's do have blu ray drives but you're right no games are released on that format. Then again PC's have more memory and large hard drives than allow multi DVD games to install on the hard drive and run from one DVD. It would concern me that Microsoft will be looking at the profits Nintendo have made from the Wii and will take the next generation Xbox down the "family entertainment" direction that doesn't require a powerful processor rather than design a console for gamers.
What they need for the next console is more of an upgrade/makeover of what they have now. A new slimmer case, better heat management, faster CPU and GPU(more cores?) and a very large hard drive in everyone sold(to download or fully install games to). This would give full 1080p on all games hopefuly. And as it's not going to be a totally new machine, it should be easier for programmers to get to grips with, and be much cheaper(they'd have no chance in 2010 of flogging a £300+ console if the PS3 comes down to £100).
ID LIKE A MULTI DVD CHANGER!
I THINK IT WOULD BE COOL TO KEEP A LOAD OF GAMES IN THE CONSOLE INSTEAD OF CHANGING THEM ALL THE TIME............
PS3 has shown it was too early to use Blu-Ray, which is the cause of these horrid HDD install's and long loading times.
Blu Ray is only a storage device! On it's own it's not going to improve graphics or give you better games. I think Sony were right to include it on the PS3 and I bet Microsoft (and Toshiba) wish they had included HD DvD on the Xbox360. If you want to see the quality of the next generation Xbox take a look at a good high end performance PC now. It wont have a solid state drive. Solid state is almost 10 times the price of a hard disk drive and gamers won't notice the difference. It won't have Blu Ray as Sony have stated that Blu Ray will only ever appear on a Sony console. I also think Microsoft should allow someone like Toshiba to sell the next generation Xbox in Asia. It would be the same console as Europe and the States just a Toshiba Xbox. Asian's do not buy American goods if there's other Asian options, especially the Japanese. Microsoft would make money from the increased software sales.
Hmm, I don't think this argument holds to much weight with the ever increasing popularity of Apple stuff (particularly Ipods) and MacDonalds amongst other American brands in Japan. There's actually a huge fascination with Western culture over there; people dye their hair in the various 'Western' shades, and imitate american fashions.
It's purely down to the Xbox's rather narrow focus on shooters and the like that denys it popularity. Also the games rather limited colour pallete of s**t browns and dull greys isn't doing it any favours. What they they need to do is give them more of what they want, rather than try to impose our stuff on them. Macdonalds has facilitated their unique tastes to great effect, and offer stuff like shrimp burgers on the Menu. As they say 'you can catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar'
What does this mean MS need to do? offer a stack load of RPG games with vibrant colours, gender ambiguous main characters with a few over sized swords thrown in of course Oh and rebrand the console; conversely, the letter X is not a popular one over there compared to here.
Depends largely on Sony i think. If the PS3 takes off al ittle betteri n the next 3-4 years and the Sony install base gets a fair amount better than the 360 an early launch should have no effect if Sony don't screw up big time with delays and pricing. If a ocnsole is said to come out at a certain time, people can wait. If it's delayed people will look elsewhere. The Xbox has a large enough install base to stand up on its own now really, the 360 needed to gain market space so released early and full of problems. now it is a bit more even i'd rather they took their time and didn't feel the need to release early-take your time etc...it seems obvious but, well, the 360... I'm hoping for a Sony return myself I don't think they'll even trounce the other consoles to the same extent again, but i'm a fan of the Sony machines and games. Will pick up a 360 eventually, am definitely in two minds about it. Just like i will be with the next Xbox, it will really depend on Sony's position at the time.
I reckon the next gen Xbox will have 1080p output on all games, so forget Xbox 720 (which they could have used for the 360, I guess - oh well, missed opportunity), I reckon it'll be Xbox 1080. Maybe.
Really the Ps3 is the 1st Next gen so is the WII woth its Motion Sensing ect... But the PS3 is so powerfull and i felt that the 360 was rushed just take the whole extra HD Player which was £100 they need to take there time with bring a new console to the market
Engage brain before posting dude. First, if both the PS3 AND the Wii are the only true 'next gen' machines, then the Wii was the first, NOT the PS3.
However, this is clearly a moot point, because all 3 are 'the next gen'.
Second, the Xbox 360 was significantly more powerful than the Gamcube, the Xbox or the PS2, so why do you not consider this to be 'next gen'. The 360 was the first of the current gen consoles to the shop shelves. And you can look at it however you like, but it's a fact.
Really the Ps3 is the 1st Next gen so is the WII woth its Motion Sensing ect... But the PS3 is so powerfull and i felt that the 360 was rushed just take the whole extra HD Player which was £100 they need to take there time with bring a new console to the market
Engage brain before posting dude. First, if both the PS3 AND the Wii are the only true 'next gen' machines, then the Wii was the first, NOT the PS3.
However, this is clearly a moot point, because all 3 are 'the next gen'.
Second, the Xbox 360 was significantly more powerful than the Gamcube, the Xbox or the PS2, so why do you not consider this to be 'next gen'. The 360 was the first of the current gen consoles to the shop shelves. And you can look at it however you like, but it's a fact.
Not only that, but this whole "PS3 is more powerful" thing is nothing more than a myth anyway.
Anybody with half an understanding of how computers work should be able to see that the X360 and the PS3 are practically identical, as far as modern videogaming is concerned.
The only situations where the PS3 will leave the X360 in the dust all involve long predictable calculations, like video encoding or protein folding. It's exactly the same as the old Pentium 4 vs. Athlon64 situation that PC owners had to deal with a few years back.
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, which could spell an end to graphics cards/GPUs entirely!!! And it could also bring about "ray-tracing" rendering, as oppossed to the current stuff, "rastering" or something(not sure of the details), which would make the PS3 look like a PSP! 
