Bachus: MS Considered Launching New Xbox Every Two Years

[Tommy Tallarico]

Xbox co-creator Kevin Bachus (right) has revealed that back in the early days on the Xbox team, Microsoft was seriously thinking about launching a new Xbox console every two years. Bachus shares his thoughts on overcoming criticism with the first Xbox and what the console's legacy became.

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(Link to GameDaily.com)

[Bojack]

A new console every two years would be a terrible idea unless you could lease a console or if they were crazy cheap (like current GC or PS2 prices).

[Razor Ramon]

Even then, I wouldn't bite. Just wouldn't be worth it.

[Yoshi]

I'd buy a new console every two years if it were $500 or under. In fact, I would love it, as long as the architecture stayed reasonably consistent so the games could utilize the power from near the start.

[Razor Ramon]

$500 every two years? I'm sorry, that's just too rich for my blood. Every 5-6 years is fine, but every two is just brutal.

[Yoshi]

Every 5-6 years drives systems being complete dogs like the PS2 is in 3D by the time their cycle winds down. I would fully support a Neo Geo like console for the 21st century that doesn't cater to kids, grandparents, or poor people.

[Razor Ramon]

Well that just hurt.

[bbobb]

I'm not poor, but I still wouldn't spend $500 every few years on a videogame system.

I have better things to spend my money on.

[gamevet]

The fact that the original Xbox only had a 4 year shelf life, kind of has me on the fence about wether I should get a PS3 or a 360. If the 360 is only going to last 4 years, I'm going to be highly disappointed if I buy one by the end of this year and the same thing happens again.

[bbobb]

Also development time. On almost all systems the best games don't really come out untill after about 2-3 years into their lifespans.