Not really, there's a reason the examples you gave are all from 30+ years ago. SoC development can cost up to a billion nowadays, even a massive company like Microsoft is not going to throw that away for no reason.
Well, that's fair. But I did also mention Project Keystone, and that one is much more recent. It could also be completely possible that MS decide to not release any new hardware themselves, but set things up with OEMs to build systems based around some internal reference design using the Magnus chip, and brand those as Xbox devices.
Basically a more involved version of what they're doing currently with ASUS and the Rog Ally/Rog Ally X devices. That way the R&D doesn't go to waste on the chip (plus if it's using mostly off-the-shelf parts AMD could still repurpose components for other PC devices), they can focus on the frontend UI and OS side for gaming optimizations, and funnel all the gaming focus unto Windows.
Which seems like what they want to do these days anyway.
All these shills do is project.
This is what they always wanted for Sony, was to die as they cheerled every single third party publisher and studio purchase and were hoping and praying it would come to that as they kept having "who should MS buy next" threads and articles.
Clowns.
Absolutely. Which is why I don't pay attention to what they have to say now, as they try turning over a new leaf. If McCaffery came out and said he'd focus mainly on PlayStation coverage starting tomorrow, I wouldn't bother.
They've already shown their hand, and their PlayStation coverage would still be tainted with fanboyism. To the point where they'll ignore mistakes SIE makes (because if those mistakes are similar to what MS's done, they'd have blind spots towards them because they ignored those mistakes when MS did them), and probably only talk about PlayStation stuff simply to contrast with Xbox (and Xbox is still their central topic).
Like it's taken me a long time to finally believe Ybarra was no longer an Xbox shill/fanboy, considering their history. And I think guys like McCaffery have been quite a bit more disingenuous & egregious.
Who cares if they have new hardware coming when they have tanked the brand this hard?
Yeah, that is their biggest problem nowadays. Optimism & faith in their brand is lower than ever among many of the remaining hardcore, let alone gamers in general. They're worst off than SEGA was going from Saturn to Dreamcast, because at least the Saturn still had a very strong following with Japanese gamers.
Xbox Series ATM doesn't have a strong following or enthusiastic base with gamers in
ANY region, even America & UK.
You can drop them here
I'll be honest: I don't care if Xbox as a console lives or dies. I have never seen so much coddling, favoritism and pampering for a brand in my life. So many people want Xbox to stick around to "provide competition" but are stupid enough to not think the current situation the brand is in, is a result of consequences from being a poor competitor.
A genuine, authentic 3rd option in the market would be great, but who says it "has" to be Xbox? It could be Valve's Fremont, it could be something else entirely. Point being, Xbox doesn't have a birthright to claim a stake in the market as a platform holder. I wish SEGA got even a
fraction of the coddling from media, that Microsoft and Xbox get from shills like Jez and disillusioned diehards online today. Maybe some Japanese banks would've written them a few billion dollars in loans to keep Dreamcast going a few more years, and we'd have a quite different (arguably better) industry.
www.tweaktown.com
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