Kuturagi Hype Machine Begins

[mollipen]

toxic, I didnt know this beforehand, but MS announced that the 360 will interface with the Media Center, not replace it.

Which I am not at all a fan of. I know why they are doing it - they want to sell more Media Center software and hardware. But technically, there's nothing stopping them from letting the Xbox be a full fledged media center in itself. It seems ridiculous that I have to purchase a whole separate Media Center PC just to do some things that the Xbox 360 could and should do itself.

Part of it may be that they still think along the lines of how Apple thinks - that since "legal" video files are still few and far between, there's no reason to support that kind of stuff. But support for it is trivial, and it would help reduce the amount of people trying to hack their 360s. How many people out there hacked the Xbox just to turn it into a media player? A lot. If Microsoft were to toss in basic codec support, and put together a nice little media player function, they could sway at least a decent amount of people from trying to hack their 360 just to do that kind of stuff. Stop caring where people are getting their video content from, and just toss in the codec support.

Of course, with Microsoft being stubborn and only even supporting their own video codec (which nobody uses), I guess it doesn't matter so much anyhow.

[dave is ok]

That's horseshit spin. ** I listened ** to the webcast where Allard said (three times mind you) that THEY want to reach 1 billion people. He didn't back off the comment afterwords either. .

But most important for us is to stay true to our hardcore, the people who want to be totally immersed in the game experience and get connected to the real 'zen' of gaming. But we also have to make the experience more approachable so that other people who haven't played games in the past will stay up and play. Kameo in particular is a game that my daughter will play, my mum might even play. And then there's the 'non-gaming' experiences in the Arcade, like chess, checkers, and that kind of stuff.

That's how we reach a billion people. We're not going to sell a billion consoles, but we're going to get the whole family back on the couch in front of the TV and reach them that way

4321

[toxic]

Ok. I lose. Althought at the press conference, it really wasn't explained that way.

[Rumpy]

Sony bologana.

[Andy]

Do you believe that Sony won't implement or at least allow micro-transactions over their online service (whatever that may be)? I assume Sony would like to try and make money, too. Which leads to the question of what exactly Sonly is planning as far as online infrastructure and services go. Their console is launching in less than a year and I haven't heard boo about it.

Actually, Sony started the microtransaction thing before Microsoft, if you want to get technical. I'm just trying to be an asshole.

[Diff-chan]

But technically, there's nothing stopping them from letting the Xbox be a full fledged media center in itself.

Yes there is - the companies that make Media Center PCs. If I was one of those, and I found out that Microsoft was gonna be selling a system with all of the functionality of a Media Center PC at a fraction of the cost, the legal department of my company would be getting a lot of work. There's no way Microsoft could get away with that.

For the record, I dont think that playing the Media Center PC off the 360 and vice versa will do much (just because of cost disparity) but they cant really bundle MC functionality in with the 360.

[Prince Planet]

Actually, Sony started the microtransaction thing before Microsoft, if you want to get technical. I'm just trying to be an asshole.

Ok. I see that I wasn't the only one wondering what has gotten into you. Hey, you don't have to love or even like MS, but I was always under the impression that you had some mild affinity for Xbox and, presumably, at least a little anticipation for 360. Doesn't matter to me either way. I favor MS, I suppose, but I have no problem with Sony delivering a wonder-machine that lets me play bitchin' new games.

It's interesting to see the difference between MS's and Sony's (and even Nintendo's) front men. Kutaragi is obviously a mad engineer, which makes for a decidedly different kind of spin that of someline like Peter Moore or whoever. Kutaragi's comments are mostly nuts ("aging" standard video like meat in a locker), but I think he's a very effective spokesman for Sony even if his shit doesn't always fly on a gaming message board.

[Master]

The media aspect of the Xbox 360 isn't one to be ignored, but remember that in the Microsoft home, the PC is still at the center.

If you have any Windows XP machines on the same network to which the 360 is connected, the machine will search automatically for any and all shared music, pictures and videos and make them accessible from the media panel of the Xbox 360 dashboard.

If you have a Media Center Edition PC, the Xbox 360 will also act as a Media Center Extender, streaming any SD or HD content from your MCE machine.

You can also connect a digital camera or portable media player and access the device's content on your Xbox 360. Microsoft did confirm that both the iPod and the PSP would be supported, albeit with some obvious limitations. Songs that you've downloaded from iTunes (with their DRM entact) will not be playable through the Xbox 360 dashboard, but any other MP3 files that you've stored on your iPod will work just fine.

What happens when you plug in a MP3 player? You get a list of what's on it of course:

Can somebody link me to where you HAVE to have a Media Center PC to access your video (and other media) files on 360?

ProTip: No such credible link exists.

PS: The 360 UI is just plain sexy.

[recon_zero]

The PS3 is not a gaming machine.

Wow! If it can do a blow job i will buy one right away

[Andy]

Ok. I see that I wasn't the only one wondering what has gotten into you. Hey, you don't have to love or even like MS, but I was always under the impression that you had some mild affinity for Xbox and, presumably, at least a little anticipation for 360. Doesn't matter to me either way. I favor MS, I suppose, but I have no problem with Sony delivering a wonder-machine that lets me play bitchin' new games.

Heh, don't mind me. For all of the shit I talk about the 360, or the PS3, or whatever, I still go where the good games go, and that means that I'll always have all of the major platforms. The shit talking just makes things more interesting.

Hell, Gears of War was tied as my game of show from this past E3, and you're right, I used to champion the Xbox as well as MS, so believe me I see both sides of the coin.

It's interesting to see the difference between MS's and Sony's (and even Nintendo's) front men. Kutaragi is obviously a mad engineer, which makes for a decidedly different kind of spin that of someline like Peter Moore or whoever. Kutaragi's comments are mostly nuts ("aging" standard video like meat in a locker), but I think he's a very effective spokesman for Sony even if his shit doesn't always fly on a gaming message board.

Exactly. All of these videogame company politics are just entertainment. In the end, this is all it comes down to, really:

Reading this interview, I laughed so hard I almost produced a phenomenon in my pants.