Steve Ballmer teases new Xbox 360 form factors, price points & options


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Steve Ballmer teases new Xbox 360 form factors, price points and options

Turns out Steve Ballmer's talk up at the University of Washington delivered even more saucy info than we were initially led to believe. In a transcript of the subsequent Q&A session, Steve is shown to have delivered the following statement on the topic of large-screen televisions and Microsoft's related hardware strategy:

For that big screen device ... there's no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it's going to [be] important.

It's safe to assume new form factors point to a smaller rather than larger 360 chassis, though the price points and further options he mentions are wide open for speculation. It wouldn't be unreasonable to forecast Microsoft pushing out its own slimmed-down console to match up with Sony's PS3 Slim, but we also shouldn't discount the idea of an Xbox 360 with Project Natal hardware integrated into its shell. In other words, we really don't know what Steve has going on under that shiny dome of his, we just hope it's as exciting as he makes it sound.

engadget

Microsoft

I hope this doesn't mean we have Xbox 360 Natal and Xbox 360 Natal Elite added to the line up at the end of the year X(

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A new Xbox 360 form factor seems like a good idea, considering the PS3 Slim has recently been released, as long as they have decent cooling then it'll be ok.

If that's the case I'll hold out on replacing mine.

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Don't understand how any 360 with Natal built in would be a good idea considering it's a camera and the places people usually put consoles (behind things/in cabinets/lower down on tables/not in direct light).

A slimmer 360 would be nice but I doubt it'll happen with the way MS have designed the hard drive caddies.

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Gamecube meets Xbox 360 in design and form would be nice I like the idea of a sort of white cube. If we get a Natal integrated box then even better. id upgrade assuming the pricing was that of the current hardware. (hopefully little below)

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Don't understand how any 360 with Natal built in would be a good idea considering it's a camera and the places people usually put consoles (behind things/in cabinets/lower down on tables/not in direct light).

A slimmer 360 would be nice but I doubt it'll happen with the way MS have designed the hard drive caddies.

Natal should have been fully integrated into the next XBox console, not as an upgrade to the current platform. Too late in the current game to make much of a splash IMO.

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Natal should have been fully integrated into the next XBox console, not as an upgrade to the current platform. Too late in the current game to make much of a splash IMO.

Nah I want to see how much damage Sony and MS can do to the Wii combined for the rest of this generation :laugh:

I fully expect a backwards compatible Wii HD this year, or early next.

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Natal should have been fully integrated into the next XBox console, not as an upgrade to the current platform. Too late in the current game to make much of a splash IMO.

So you want the Camera integrated into the xbox, so you put the xbox on top of your TV, or on a small shelf etc?!?!?!

Thats what AB was saying, we cannot understand how Natal will be integrated.... If so it might be a tiny piece of hardware inside the xbox, but its still going to be a 3D camera accessory, so which would be why bother, just keep Natal as an accessory.

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A slimmer 360 would be nice but I doubt it'll happen with the way MS have designed the hard drive caddies.

I was thinking the same thing. They can't really come out with a new hard drive design without a big mess... And the current design does limit things a bit. With that said, there are options...

Natal should have been fully integrated into the next XBox console, not as an upgrade to the current platform. Too late in the current game to make much of a splash IMO.

I agree. Optional peripherals like this generally don't have a good enough adoption rate to warrant developers taking advantage of them... That is going to be a struggle...

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Don't understand how any 360 with Natal built in would be a good idea considering it's a camera and the places people usually put consoles (behind things/in cabinets/lower down on tables/not in direct light).

A slimmer 360 would be nice but I doubt it'll happen with the way MS have designed the hard drive caddies.

Personally I think the Xbox 360 design is good size as it is, at best they should get rid of the power brick and include it in the box. That's one way to "slim" it down.

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Don't understand how any 360 with Natal built in would be a good idea considering it's a camera and the places people usually put consoles (behind things/in cabinets/lower down on tables/not in direct light).

A slimmer 360 would be nice but I doubt it'll happen with the way MS have designed the hard drive caddies.

If MS would smart, they would find a way to push a revision of the console but like you said, the hard drive makes things difficult. Sony has shown that people eat up smaller and smaller revisions of their systems.

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I don't think the HDD is a problem really. It's only a drawback if you think of the 360 as keeping it's same basic shape but just being thinner. Though they could just as well make it shorter as one option. Another option would be to change the basic shape drastically so that it's thinner more in front or in a way that the area you connect the current HDD isn't a factor. Like some have said, there are options, if you're a good designer the hdd doesn't hold you back.

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Personally I think the Xbox 360 design is good size as it is, at best they should get rid of the power brick and include it in the box. That's one way to "slim" it down.

Yeah that's one thing they should do, powerbricks are ****ing terrible.

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Natal should have been fully integrated into the next XBox console, not as an upgrade to the current platform. Too late in the current game to make much of a splash IMO.

Live on the original Xbox was delivered well into the life cycle of the machine and there were plenty of good reasons to have it, but I agree just like Live we'll see a more fully featured version of Natal at the heart of the next Xbox. :yes:

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Personally I think the Xbox 360 design is good size as it is, at best they should get rid of the power brick and include it in the box. That's one way to "slim" it down.

Except the bricks going inside would add weight to the overall system imo. And really, the power brick is one level of protection between the outlet and the 360. It's got a built in fuse that will blow if a surge happens. Would you really want to have it inside and maybe chance the whole thing frying or have it be a brick that you can just replace later? And believe me, i've had things go off of power surges, from TV's to dvd players, to even my PC's PSU, it's better to be seperate imo.

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Except the bricks going inside would add weight to the overall system imo. And really, the power brick is one level of protection between the outlet and the 360. It's got a built in fuse that will blow if a surge happens. Would you really want to have it inside and maybe chance the whole thing frying or have it be a brick that you can just replace later? And believe me, i've had things go off of power surges, from TV's to dvd players, to even my PC's PSU, it's better to be seperate imo.

Add weight?

The PS3 Slim is a great deal lighter than the PS3 because its power supply is much smaller. It weighs less than the 360 IIRC.

MS wouldn't just be adding the power supply inside, they'd be cutting down on other components as well.

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Personally I think the Xbox 360 design is good size as it is, at best they should get rid of the power brick and include it in the box. That's one way to "slim" it down.

That would be stupid. Think of the amount of heat that the power brick generates and combine that with the amount of heat the X360 generates. You are asking for X360's to melt or die out due to insufficient cooling.

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If they can shrink Xenos to 32nm then you have a chance at power brick integration.

But I doubt that will happen in the long run.

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So you want the Camera integrated into the xbox, so you put the xbox on top of your TV, or on a small shelf etc?!?!?!

Thats what AB was saying, we cannot understand how Natal will be integrated.... If so it might be a tiny piece of hardware inside the xbox, but its still going to be a 3D camera accessory, so which would be why bother, just keep Natal as an accessory.

or how about like how the Wii does it? a little bar shaped gadget that goes on top of your TV ... so you'd have the Natal XBOX360's pushing out the Wii's , literally

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FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

I just bought a 360 and it's too late to return :(

Why it is every time I bought something , a new model/generation come a couple months after I bought it.

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FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

I just bought a 360 and it's too late to return :(

Why it is every time I bought something , a new model/generation come a couple months after I bought it.

You buy something because you love/want/need it. The purpose of your purchase is to satisfy what you intend to get out of it.

So ask yourself.. do you feel lucky?

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Don't worry, do you really need to wait for the new version?

Natal will come out for the current model and the current version is pretty perfected. Just think of all the fun you can have on your Xbox on Halo 3 etc. list of great titles already out. It's already a great platform have fun. With any luck for us current model owners the first wave of new units will be poorly designed internally anyway! jus kiddin :rofl:

You buy something because you love/want/need it. The purpose of your purchase is to satisfy what you intend to get out of it.

So ask yourself.. do you feel lucky?

This.

Your purchasing desire is only there because microsoft are telling you that you want it. You want the current Xbox 360, or you did, and you got it. But now Microsoft bring out a new version and you want that, so you wait til then. But wait, now they're going all casual like Sony did with the Slim, they might bring out colours if I wait til the next chipset model etc. etc.

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thinking about buying a used xbox with a new jasper board.. would this spare cooling pad for laptops powered by usb help any in preventing rrods

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Add weight?

The PS3 Slim is a great deal lighter than the PS3 because its power supply is much smaller. It weighs less than the 360 IIRC.

MS wouldn't just be adding the power supply inside, they'd be cutting down on other components as well.

That's all well and good for the PS3 slim owners out there, but you have to remember they've already cut the size of things down and the bricks are the same for the most part. Also my point was that it's another level of protection. I'd much rather have it seperate.

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Live on the original Xbox was delivered well into the life cycle of the machine and there were plenty of good reasons to have it

Not really, "Xbox Online" was mentioned constantly in pre-release materials and Live launched in 2002, one year after the Xbox came out. Natal will be coming out five years after the Xbox 360 came out and was thrown out of nowhere at E3 last year. You wanna know what I think? Microsoft had a very different strategy of the 360 being a "media hub" like the PS3, and the runaway success of the Wii took everyone by surprise.

As for the HDD shape, that won't hold them back. MS will offer a transfer kit.

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