After reading
this article on IGN about Microsoft's research into the potential market for an Xbox/Xbox2/PC “hybrid” system, I had a few thoughts...
First of all, this makes it seem far more likely that the Xbox 2 “spec sheets” released a couple months back were just plain wrong. I'm referring of course to the documents that claimed the current Xbox 2 design calls for 3 Dual-Core Power5 processors. It seems unlikely that Microsoft would built a system on the PPC platform AND intend to have a compatible version that runs Windows. As far as I know, there's no plan to port Windows to PPC (again). Of course, this is Microsoft we're talking about, and nothing is impossible.
But I think those spec sheets were either phoney, one of many possibilities that have been/are being considered, or were intentionally misleading.
What would I like to see is this:
2 Xbox Next systems.
The first, a “standard” console, like the Xbox. A harddrive would be nice, and I think it's a necessity for online play. And having to go back to using stupid memory cards would suck. Downloadable content is, to me, too important to give up on. It should also be backward compatible with original Xbox games.
The second, a “hybrid” as IGN calls it, would be the “premium” device.
My expectations for this device are essentially that it would be a legitimate implementation of the ever-popular “modded Xbox”.
It would play Xbox/Xbox2 games just like the “standard” device with no perceivable difference. If you want to play Halo 3, you just pop in the disc and it autoplays (or like on most modded Xboxes, you click the default “Play Disc” from the main menu).
Both devices could have Media Center capabilities... as there's no reason the “standard” version couldn't stream video from a PC just like a modded first-gen Xbox does so easily. And also play DVDs.
The main features of the Premium Xbox2 would be video-capture, DVR capabilities, a keyboard and mouse (or special remote), a bigger hard drive, and partial or complete PC functionality.
The system should work like a Media Center PC, but with Xbox capabilities. It would be an even bigger plus if applications designed for the Media Center version of Windows XP would work on this system (things like Newsgator for MCE).
Other things on my general Xbox 2 wishlist include:
-Bluetooth connectivity for controllers (let's get rid of those ugly wires).
-Big hard drive
-Backward Compatability with both Xbox and Xbox Live
-Ridiculously good graphics. And HD (1080i) support in every game.