I found out a bit more about the ApeXtreme Personal Gaming Console. It ends up it is a mini PC system that uses a scaled down version of Windows XP but the attractive thing is that it is designed so you can use normal PC games on the device with out having a special version for the game machine. That is pretty cool and it sounds like this is what the Xbox sort of should have been like.
I am not 100% sure but it sounds like we will able to use this thing to surf the internet and as a multimedia jukebox. In fact the more I find out about it the more interesting it is. Since the graphics chip in my Notebook PC sucks I can't play the newer PC games. If this thing can play newer games then it might be worth my time to get one.
It would kick ass to run emulators like Snes 9X, NeoRage and MAME on this thingie.
The unique thing is that up until this point all game platform makers have made their money off the selling the licensed games for the system and not making much profit off the actual hardware. Apex might price this a hundred bucks more than the Xbox but they are not going to get any profit off the games but the ApeXtreme is much cheaper than getting a separate PC for playing games on the TV.
Update: It ends up you can not use this as a normal PC and you can not run normal Windows programs on it. Just games and multimedia playback.
Damn.
Sounds cool, my PC works perfect for me tho and its outta my budget. The real question is whether it lives up to its promises.
so what happens once the hardware is outdated? it's not like this is a closed platform (at least not a proper one). i've been out of the pc hardware scene for a while (i learned i rather throw my money elsewhere), but pc hardware, namely the video card, are considered outdated within a year.
It's a fine home theater PC, but I doubt Microsoft has anything to worry about. It's not a console, it's a closed-box PC, and that's a limited market.
As long as you have to install games before you can play them, the audience will be very, very, very small.
Well I don't think the whole install thing will be that big of a deal. I mean it is not that different than a PS2 having to mess with a memory card hassle.
Well perhaps they will make a new revision every couple of years if it takes off.
This showed up on Slashdot today: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/08/1742244
It looks like if game developers work with the DISCover people, they can make their games work like a console - so they pop the game in and play without having do mess with installs, patches, etc.
My question is WHY? Why not plunk down a few hundred more and get a PC that you can use for anything you want to? A PC that's upgradable and will last longer with a new chip / memory / video card. I'm not a huge console fan, but I understand why people like them. I don't understand closed-platform PCs, and why people would sacrifice functionality like that. Just buy a gamepad and hook it up to your PC. Or buy an all-in-wonder card so you can interface your PC with your TV and vice versa.
It was on Slashdot Games before main /.
Well I am a big console fan and there is definite differences between the playing style and game play experiences between "PC" and "Console" games.
It would be cool if you could run normal PC programs on it like a very powerful Web TV and I would be sold if it could.
Then again you can run OpenOffice.org on Xbox Linux
( http://www.openoffice.org/screenshots/images/xbox_writer_large_3.png.html )
I guess I'm missing the part of the experience that makes it worthwhile. Why not just buy a shuttle PC, pop in an ATI All-in-Wonder, and hook it up to your PC? I've had my computer hooked up to my TV for a while now. It's great for watching DivX movies, playing MP3s, and other forms of media, but a TV doesn't have the resolution to be a good monitor for a PC. I just don't see how putting those computer components in a closed-down box makes the experience any better.
My guess is they are going to push the $300 price point and the ease of use.
I do think it would be cool to build my own TV/media PC
The DISCover's appealing to me is because I can easily hook it up to my HDTV via the component outputs and play PC games without all the normal setup hassles. I have a PC with a good video card in it (ATI 9800), but if I hook it up via the s-video out, the resolution is pretty crappy, and the screen gets stretched too much to be able to read the text in some games.
I have not yet hooked up my video card via ATI's component adapter yet, but from what I have been reading, some of the screen area gets cut off on HDTVs.
Of course, this will all be moot if the DISCover does the same thing (stretches images and cuts off some of the screen), but I'm holding on to hope that it will be as hassle-free as my PS2 or gamecube.