Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stupid, Stupid xBox

ilikecode.wordpress.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 185 posts

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#71

Post by sliverstorm »

GuiA wrote: post #7

"how it is crushing its original console competitors" Previous gen: > Xbox sales: 24 million > PS2 sales: 153 million Current gen: > Xbox 360 sales: 76 million > Wii sales: 100 million > PS3 sales: 70 million (all data from each console's respective Wikipedia) How is it "crushing" its competitors? Otherwise, I bought an XBox360 recently to get the Kinect for openFrameworks hacking and played a little bit with the con…

All the other caveats aside, I'm willing to consider those results "crushing", particularly when it comes to Sony. Yes, Sony and Microsoft are close to parity, but think about how quickly Microsoft got to parity. This is their second console, ever.

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#72

Post by theevocater »

natbro wrote: post #64
nemothekid wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If Apple can position the AppleTV as a console (maybe open it up to developers) or build something more along the lines of a traditional console, they will crush. This opinion is pushed around a lot, however I cannot really see it happening, and I doubt Apple will ever pursue such a strategy. For Apple to enter the console market, they would have to compete with the big boys, meaning if it can't push 100 million pol…

I honestly don't know if Apple will enter this market, but I'm not quite as pessimistic as you are about the profit margin as the reason not to. I think they could build a next-generation-console-capable Apple-TV and sell it at or below $199 while keeping their 40% margin. They would sell you each additional wireless controller (and it would be sweetly designed, I suspect) for the standard $79 peripheral cost. The pr…

I'm vaguely imaging a scenario where they don't sell anything resembling a console, but expect you to own some sort of iDevice to go a long with your AppleTV, or maybe sell it with a iPod touch?

But yeah, I could see your scenario happening. It would probably be amazing either way

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#73

Post by damian2000 »

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #44

I've also been yelling this to my friends for some time. I actually can't figure out why Apple hasn't yet released an Apple TV with a more powerful graphics and some active cooling, plus a controller. Allow iOS games and you have a serious, serious competition crushing game platform with a TON of existing games and content. Instantly.

The problem is most if not all games on iOS rely on touch controls, and transferring that control across to a portable controller isn't easy ... although a portable touchpad might be the way to go.

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#74

Post by sounds »

natbro wrote: post #64
nemothekid wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If Apple can position the AppleTV as a console (maybe open it up to developers) or build something more along the lines of a traditional console, they will crush. This opinion is pushed around a lot, however I cannot really see it happening, and I doubt Apple will ever pursue such a strategy. For Apple to enter the console market, they would have to compete with the big boys, meaning if it can't push 100 million pol…

I honestly don't know if Apple will enter this market, but I'm not quite as pessimistic as you are about the profit margin as the reason not to. I think they could build a next-generation-console-capable Apple-TV and sell it at or below $199 while keeping their 40% margin. They would sell you each additional wireless controller (and it would be sweetly designed, I suspect) for the standard $79 peripheral cost. The pr…

With Tim Cook's track record of world class supply chain management it will surely be profitable for them.

When the iPod was introduced it didn't compete on tech specs with the other music players. "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame." - the famous last words dismissing the iPod.

When the iPhone was introduced it did have innovative tech but it was secondary to the overall experience.

I'd say when, not if, Apple really wades into the TV market, they should be able to achieve the same kind of disruption. TV's are an obvious choice for Apple, because the TV is one of those consumer electronic devices that occupy a sweet spot between status symbol and the everyday always connected lifestyle.

Thanks for the article. Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo better watch out!

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#75

Post by Kronopath »

This is a very revealing article:

- It gives official confirmation of the (somewhat obvious) idea that the XBox was a defensive move against general living-room entertainment boxes.

- It shows that he has a very distorted view of the gaming landscape, if the truly thinks that the XBox is the dominant platform, or that mobile games are a genuine threat to console gaming (they most certainly are not).

- He singles out Apple of all companies, as the biggest threat to mobile gaming, despite the fact that Apple doesn't seem to be too interested in anything other than simple 99¢ iOS apps, dismissing the companies like Nintendo who, for all their recent troubles, have a long and storied history with gaming that Microsoft can only hope to compete with.

- He brings some good points about the interface though. But that's honestly not the XBox's biggest problem.

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#76

Post by Lewisham »

natbro wrote: post #64
nemothekid wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If Apple can position the AppleTV as a console (maybe open it up to developers) or build something more along the lines of a traditional console, they will crush. This opinion is pushed around a lot, however I cannot really see it happening, and I doubt Apple will ever pursue such a strategy. For Apple to enter the console market, they would have to compete with the big boys, meaning if it can't push 100 million pol…

I honestly don't know if Apple will enter this market, but I'm not quite as pessimistic as you are about the profit margin as the reason not to. I think they could build a next-generation-console-capable Apple-TV and sell it at or below $199 while keeping their 40% margin. They would sell you each additional wireless controller (and it would be sweetly designed, I suspect) for the standard $79 peripheral cost. The pr…

Apple has never shown itself to have the wherewithal to correctly interface with game development, and I doubt they have any appetite for doing so. They're already doing gangbusters on iOS without any particular help offered, but the market realities of consoles (and, to a certain extent, PCs) are very different.

Microsoft's huge win on both PC and Xbox has been their active and aggressive devrel for games, which was where Sony stumbled hard on the PS3 (Cell processor development difficulty abound).

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#77

Post by clobber »

chc wrote: post #57
clobber wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm saying they're still losing money. The "lose money on units, make some back on software" model doesn't make economic sense anymore. The second link has recent numbers.

> I'm saying they're still losing money. In what world? The Xbox has been turning a profit for most of its life. AFAIK it lost money its first couple of years (primarily due to the fact it was rushed to market), and since then it has been largely propping up Microsoft's entertainment division, which otherwise would be bleeding like mad. (The division lost money last year not because the Xbox was unprofitable, but bec…

> In what world?

Ecomonomics?

> The Xbox has been profitable for most of its life

No.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmSmlk-Wo4uhdEh...

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#78

Post by nemothekid »

theevocater wrote: post #69
nemothekid wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If Apple can position the AppleTV as a console (maybe open it up to developers) or build something more along the lines of a traditional console, they will crush. This opinion is pushed around a lot, however I cannot really see it happening, and I doubt Apple will ever pursue such a strategy. For Apple to enter the console market, they would have to compete with the big boys, meaning if it can't push 100 million pol…

Oh wow, good point I totally forgot about valve holy crap. That should be soon! I'm not sure Apple will/would do it, but I think they have the muscle. They aren't competing with CoD, they are competing with Tetris. They want you to buy and play games on your media device, not watch media on your games device. Hugely different market which is ripe for picking. Apple would probably not build a device they lose money on…

If Apple is competing with Tetris, then Nintendo/Sony/Xbox won't have to worry about them. The people in that space are Smart TVs, Rokus, and Apple TVs, which already exist and aren't eating Nintendo's lunch.

If your console cannot play Call of Duty and Mario like the big boys, you aren't really competing in the same space, and as long as Mario and CoD are popular, your average person will simply just buy the iDevice and a Nintendo. Now if the Nintendo has the advantage of doing everything the iDevice can do, most people will simply opt to buy the Nintendo, especially if they are being sold at the same price.

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#79

Post by wmf »

jrockway wrote: post #59
mnicole wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It totally does. I always thought the official was "XBOX"; "Xbox" looks like the way someone uninformed would write it or that it was an afterthought of a product.

Using correct English capitalization rules makes someone "uninformed" now?

Given that it's a proper noun and the pronunciation is "X Box", I would think the pseudo-initialism "XBox" would be more proper English.

Re: Stupid, Stupid xBox

#80

Post by hackmiester »

mnicole wrote: post #5
cek wrote: post #2

I think it's funny how Nat capitalizes "xBox". The official capitalization that was finally settled on was "Xbox". It annoys the marketing people to no end when people capitalize it wrong. I always thought xBox looked cooler.

It totally does. I always thought the official was "XBOX"; "Xbox" looks like the way someone uninformed would write it or that it was an afterthought of a product.

Meanwhile, in reality, Nat looks uninformed for writing "xBox" because it is incorrect.

I'm not saying "Xbox" is necessarily the best, or that I even have an opinion, but it does happen to be the correct capitalization.

Post reply on HN