nVidia cautious about Xbox 2

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NVIDIA MAY HAVE BURNT ITS FINGERS over its deal with Microsoft to supply chips for the original Xbox. Reports indicate that nVidia is less than enthusiastic about supplying chips for the Xbox 2. Watching the figures, it comes as no great surprise that nVidia might be backing away from future deals. Microsoft is losing money hand over fist in its Home and Entertainment division which is responsible for the Xbox and component suppliers are facing the pinch as well. nVidia itself is in legal arbitration with Microsoft over the cost of components.

With Microsoft having lost $348million on its Xbox gamble in the last quarter, any company looking at supplying components for Xbox 2 will be checking the sums very carefully. Bluff sales talk of beating Sony's Playstation 2 has proved to be a complete fantasy. Given the technology that Sony is pouring into Playstation 3, Xbox 2 will have to be something incredible. Assuming it ever makes it off the drawing board.

Over at SiliconValley.com, nVidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang sounded a very cautious note, "we would be delighted to work with Microsoft on the next Xbox, but we are a company with many opportunities." Which sounds to us like he really isn't interested in playing ball.

Huang is reported to have said that nVidia's main focus is the battle with ATI. Given that ATI is hotly tipped as the supplier of the graphics for Xbox 2, we can't help but wonder if letting them win the contract with Microsoft might be a wise move on nVidia's part. ATI would be bogged down with work on that platform while nVidia concentrated on regaining the lead in PC graphics

News source: The Inq

Fix List:

Death Lag should be gone
SMGs tweaked
new g36 Scope (authentic, thx to DFM Fraxion and DFM Arbock)
Dualgun Settings should work now (didnt work ok before)
Ammocounter can now be disabled serverside (didnt work before)
Ghostcam also now a full serverside option (had some bugs)
knife bugs should be gone
m203 now shoots real nades. (tiny radius)
scopes slightly enlarged
claymore rushing shouldnt be possible anymore. (only worked offline before)
tilted 1st person cam eliminated (I hope).
players with empty inventory cannot be Tked on 0% FF servers
nades being rolled are shorter.
nades are flying a little shorter now

(5 replies) #1 DJ^TuRKiYe on 03 Feb 2003 - 13:33

348 million

damn, thats alot of cash

#1.1 Tim on 03 Feb 2003 - 14:22

[neoquote=#1.0 by DJ^TuRKiYe]348 million

[/neoquote] thats pocket change for microsoft though... MS learned from its mistakes with xbox, like the bad design of the console and controller, and the fact using NVIDIA CHIPS

lol.

#1.2 Spyder on 03 Feb 2003 - 14:25

whether or not its pocket change really has nothing to do with it. theres only so long a company, in a right state of mind, would be willing to continue losing that much money on a product. thats almost half a billion dollars. they can't keep losing money like that, even with Microsoft's deep pockets.

#1.3 wyoung76 on 03 Feb 2003 - 14:47

[neoquote=#1.2 by Spyder]whether or not its pocket change really has nothing to do with it. theres only so long a company, in a right state of mind, would be willing to continue losing that much money on a product. thats almost half a billion dollars. they can't keep losing money like that, even with Microsoft's deep pockets.[/neoquote] Considering MS puts away roughly $1bn [b]per month[/b], losing not even half of it over 3 months could be seen as "acceptable losses" given the potential growth in market share. Remember, the amount of market the Xbox has compared to the PS2 on a global scale is still quite small. Of course, if they stopped spending so much money on lawyers, they could simply go out and buy EA Games tomorrow, and buy out Nintendo as well...

#1.4 Jazza on 03 Feb 2003 - 15:23

[neoquote=#1.3 by wyoung76]Of course, if they stopped spending so much money on lawyers, they could simply go out and buy EA Games tomorrow, and buy out Nintendo as well...

[/neoquote] I believe they did try and buy Nintendo already, but they weren't intrested

#1.5 Spyder on 03 Feb 2003 - 16:57

[neoquote=#1.3 by wyoung76]Considering MS puts away roughly $1bn [b]per month[/b], losing not even half of it over 3 months could be seen as "acceptable losses" given the potential growth in market share. [/neoquote] i'm completely aware how much money Microsoft makes and how deep their pockets are, but ANY business will drop a product eventually that continually causes them to lose money. some sooner than others though, but it eventually happens. Microsoft are a stubborn and dedicated bunch though, so its likely they'll ride it out and accept the black eye and fat lip. I'm guessing (and it can very well be wrong!) likely what'll happen is that they'll either make a revision to the Xbox or just release the Xbox 2 (or whatever it'll be called) sooner than planned...all to cut back on manufacturing costs. in other words, its in my opinion Xbox is here to stay but they're going to attempt to change something to make money on it.. regarding nintendo... MS wanted to buy them a while back. Nintendo said no.

Last edited by 890 on 03 Feb 2003 - 18:16

(1 reply) #2 Solarix on 03 Feb 2003 - 17:01

so in conclusion this means..

#2.1 Evil_Dragon on 03 Feb 2003 - 17:47

[neoquote=#2.0 by Solarix]so in conclusion this means..[/neoquote] nVidia gave microsoft the finger.

(1 reply) #3 iraklis2000 on 03 Feb 2003 - 18:02

what? are people really that stupid? If a company loses more money the more consoles it sells, in hopes to recoup costs in the future by sales of games, HOW IN THE WORLD does this affect Nvidia? They provide the chips and get paid for the chips regardless. They have sold almost 9 million consoles, and Nvidia has received money for all those chips. Are people really this stupid? A lot of people bought XBOX consoles this holiday season, and maybe 2 or 3 games, so MS needs at least a few more titles to recoup the costs. How dos this loss affect Nvidia? these loses are actually A GOOD thing for MS. More people are buying their consoles, and if the current attach rate of 4.7 games per console keeps up, it means every one of those consoles will sell 5 games, which means another 5*$50 = $250. Again, how does this affect Nvidia? MS is selling more consoles(therefore greater loses), more console s= more $$ for Nvidia. This sounds like an onion story.

#3.1 Oogle on 03 Feb 2003 - 18:31

Besides the ms losing $$$ thing, nvidia diverted resources away from their PC market towards their console venture. Now they're technologically behind ati in the PC market. I don't think nvidia wants to divert resources again to make xbox 2 if it means losing more PC marketshare. Not sure if ati wants to divert their resources either, since they're currently ahead.

#4 username on 03 Feb 2003 - 18:07

geez, devide that much money into the number of xboxs sold... that thing cost MS a lot more than the $200/300 you payed for it

#5 Eps on 03 Feb 2003 - 18:57

iraklis2000, it affects nVidia quite a bit. [quote]nVidia itself is in legal arbitration with Microsoft over the cost of components. [/quote] essentially this reads that because of the large losses microsoft is facing with the xbox, they are looking to companies who helped produce the xbox components for some compensation to these losses. of course, they don't refer to them as compensation, but merely as receiving what is owed to them. once microsoft realized they were losing money bigtime they went after nvidia claiming they were charging too much for the graphics processor and are trying to reclaim some of thier losses. edit: also, losing money at that rate does not benfit microsoft in the least. all those games you are referring to that consumers purchase.. how do ANY of those profits goto microsoft unless the game was produced by microsoft themselves? the bottom line: xbox is like the titanic and they're dragging nvidia down with them

#6 Tim on 03 Feb 2003 - 19:13

www.visiontek.com SEEMS EVERYONE IS ANTI NVIDIA lol

(1 reply) #7 Valkyre on 03 Feb 2003 - 19:34

Not me. I'm an avid nVidia fanatic, until they do something stupid like insider trading. (ex: ATI)

#7.1 Briandl79 on 03 Feb 2003 - 20:05

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,48508,00.html

#8 badall on 03 Feb 2003 - 19:52

300 odd mill microsoft put 30 billion behind the xbox they will have a bit left yet

#9 iraklis2000 on 03 Feb 2003 - 19:54

PS to all the fanboys. XBOX is not going anywhere, these loses were as a result of the recent XBOX popularity and therefore higher console sales. MSN has lost money on EVERY signle quarter since its existance. it is NOT about profits. it is about have a considerable market share and preventing other from entering or having to much power. XBOX is here to stay, whether you like it or not. MS has agreed to devote TWICE as much money this year as the previous year on XBOX. Sorry, but Nintendo is already down, and MS has the crosshairs pointed right at Sony, with a big wallet, big enough to starve the competition, even if it means giving their hardware away for free. =)

(2 replies) #10 iraklis2000 on 03 Feb 2003 - 19:55

PS to all the fanboys. XBOX is not going anywhere, these loses were as a result of the recent XBOX popularity and therefore higher console sales. MSN has lost money on EVERY signle quarter since its existance, and it is NOT going anywhere either. it is NOT about profits. At least not for microsoft. MS has much greater plans for your living room, and XBOX is just their first entry. It is about have a considerable market share and preventing other from entering or having to much power. XBOX is here to stay, whether you like it or not. MS has agreed to devote TWICE as much money this year as the previous year on XBOX. Sorry, but Nintendo is already down, and MS has the crosshairs pointed right at Sony, with a big wallet, big enough to starve the competition, even if it means giving their hardware away for free. =)

#10.1 Oogle on 03 Feb 2003 - 20:38

And once again, the propaganda fanboys come out.

#10.2 ‡GÒÐ§ÉÑT‡® on 03 Feb 2003 - 23:02

But he's probably right.

(1 reply) #11 Mystical112 on 03 Feb 2003 - 21:33

gooo ATIIIIIIIIIIIII

#11.1 Eps on 04 Feb 2003 - 00:49

ok im going to just quote your whole post since its all wrong [quote] XBOX is not going anywhere, these loses were as a result of the recent XBOX popularity and therefore higher console sales. MSN has lost money on EVERY signle quarter since its existance. it is NOT about profits. it is about have a considerable market share and preventing other from entering or having to much power. [/quote] wow, what a bold statement. so tell me, if you start your own business will it be your company goal to run in debt but attempt to grasp a part of the market share? profits are what keeps your company alive buddy. microsoft is not an exception, they just have multiple sources of profit that make up for the horrible horrible losses from their home entertainment division (read xbo

. secondly, these losses are not here because of SALES of xbox units, but because of PRODUCTION of xbox units. a sale mearly gives them back some of the money they already lost 6 months ago by shipping 100,000 units to stores. you really need to pull that fanboy head outta your ass and start thinking logically about how the real world functions. i don't care how much you love the xbox, it is putting a considerable dent in microsofts PROFITS. and remember, xbox sales are no where near the amount of ps2 sales. finally, despite the fact that microsoft has announced an xbox2 platform, there are no guarantees in life.

#12 zi0nx5 on 04 Feb 2003 - 02:56

nintendo better get on the ball and grab nVidia while they can.... hehehehe (im j/k)

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