Xbox theory question

[Trimoor]

A strange question that just came to me: Why did m$ make the xbox?
Why not just lisence games for the PC?

Since they sell the system at a loss, wouldn't it be easier to make the gamer use their own computer?

It just makes me want to laugh at those stupid people who buy an xbox for a FPS game, then attatch a KB and mouse.  Use a real computer!  You get much better graphics.

If the only reason for making the xbox was for xbox live, then why not just use it for the PC?

[TalkingOctopus]

Ms and other companies in the PC world (like Intel) want to invade your living room with their Digital Home plans.  Microsoft is having a lot more success getting the Xbox in the living room than some of their other products like WebTV and Media Center Edition.  It will be interesting to see what capabilities they add to the Xbox 2.  There were wild rumors that there will be 3 different types.  Also, computers have varying hardware and software.  The xbox gives microsoft complete control of the platform.

[clanggedin]

The cost of a computer that will play the hottest games is $600+

The cost of a XBOX that will play the hottest games is $150.

[abrannan]

1. It's easier to code more advanced graphics on a known hardware set.  The Xbox, iirc, is 733Mhz, and plays as beautifully as games on a 2.1 Ghz PC.  Microsoft also collects royalties on games developed for the Xbox, but not for PC games.  Development costs also go down as more units are produced and chip dies become easier to produce.  They may not be selling at a loss anymore.  *Microsoft wants to control your hardware* 

2. It's an inroad to a PC in the living room, as was WebTV that MS bought up, and the Tivo clone that MS bought.  *Microsoft wants to control your television*

3. It's an inroad to low-income families.  They may not have enough for a game-capable PC, but they'll plop down $150 for a game console in an instant.  People will argue with me on ths one, but I've seen a mother talking in an EBgames about how she's not sure she'll make rent this month, but each of her 4 children have their OWN xbox.  *Microsoft wants to control your poor*

[Trimoor]

computers have varying hardware and software.

Not by much anymore.
windoze obviously has the monopoly, and there are plenty of newer games that require an intel processor.

Also, the speed of xbox games is terribly misleading.  Sure they run at a full 60fps, but that's at 640x480!  You can barely read text on a TV at that resolution.  The bare minimum for PC games is now 1024x768, with smart gamers running at 1280x1024.  Thats over four times as many pixels.

If we could only get rid of the overhead crap (i.e. kill windoze), PC games would run sooooo much better.

I guess I just don't understand the "hardcore gamers" that use an xbox.

*sigh* I hate micro$oft.

[TalkingOctopus]

computers have varying hardware and software.

Not by much anymore.
windoze obviously has the monopoly, and there are plenty of newer games that require an intel processor.

I don't think any games require an Intel processor.  That's just Intel Inside marketing at work.  Computer hardware is almost as varied as ever.  There are lots of different manufacturers and options for every pc component. 

Also, the speed of xbox games is terribly misleading.  Sure they run at a full 60fps, but that's at 640x480!  You can barely read text on a TV at that resolution.  The bare minimum for PC games is now 1024x768, with smart gamers running at 1280x1024.  Thats over four times as many pixels.

Older TVs cannot run at a higher res anyway.  I have been playing recent PC games at 800x600.  I guess I am a dumb gamer  .

[Trimoor]

No, I remember some programs that required 'hyper threading' which only intel supports.  Maybe it just wouldn't work with Athlon 1400's.

Older TVs cannot run at a higher res anyway. I have been playing recent PC games at 800x600.

I was refering to PC monitors, not television.  Unless you go for HD (still very unsupported), anything on a TV will look like crap compared to a PC monitor.

Besides, all SD television have approximately 440x480 pixels (more or less due to overscan).  I don't know why video cards claim up to 1024x768 when a TV can't possibly show that many pixels.

If you are in fact using a PC monitor at 800x600, I highly suggest you increase it.  You can see so much more detail.

Does anyone know if the xbox calculates images at 30 frames per second, or if it calculated 60 fields per second?  Thats the other thing about television; you only get half the picture half as often.

maybe this is all a rant.  maybe these points actually make sense to someone.  I don't really know anymore.  All I know is I hate micro$oft.

[nipsmg]

No, I remember some programs that required 'hyper threading' which only intel supports.

[rchadd]

play burnout3 and halo2 and you will want an xbox

[DYNAGOD]

my question is ,why do computer games need an OS..
why isnt their a minimalistic, small shell,rudimentary OS that can speak directly to the PC hardware and release those 70-80% of resources that windoze hogs up..
i mean most arcade game specs (hardware,pcb based) are like 66mhz for christ sakes and run smooth like shlt thru a ducks ass...
 what kind of game could you design if it game could truly h ave all thr resources of say a 3 ghz pc and 2 ghxz of mem, if it could truly have use of it..

[Samstag]

my question is ,why do computer games need an OS..
why isn't their a minimalistic, small shell,rudimentary OS that can speak directly to the PC hardware and release those 70-80% of resources that windoze hogs up..
i mean most arcade game specs (hardware,PCB based) are like 66mhz for christ sakes and run smooth like shlt thru a ducks ass...
 what kind of game could you design if it game could truly h ave all thr resources of say a 3 ghz pc and 2 ghxz of mem, if it could truly have use of it..

Those are called "dos games", and they aren't really around anymore because they were a pain to set up because there used to be two video cards and three sound cards that needed to be supported.  So you bought the game, you installed it from 2 or 3 floppies, and spent the rest of the day moving IRQ's around and setting base addresses until you found a combo that made sound come out of at least one speaker.

Now that there are over four sound cards and at least seven or eight different video cards, it makes sense for developers to use the standard windows driver support so they can spend more time on the game and less on the built-in drivers.  If you really want to run games with little or no operating system, find the ones that can be made to work under linux, and make yourself a bare minimum cd-bootable setup with the game on the disk.  If you're willing to spend a lot of hours making everything work together, you can play a new game on an old PC.  But not too old.

p.s. I think the spellcheck feature is pretty nice, but it'd be nicer if it ignored quoted text