After the PS3 slim the next question is...when does MS redesign the X360?

adversesolutions said:
Ok I have a question that's maybe been answered elsewhere but:

Is MS even at GamesCom?? Are they presenting anything? Or are they just laying low while SONY calls in air strikes?

Wednesday,19th August 2009

10:00 CEST (08:00 GMT, 01:00 PDT, 04:00 EDT) Microsoft Game Studios / Lionhead Press Briefing Countdown
LIVE BLOGS: Eurogamer
 
Don't care about a slim 360 or Natal60... just give me a RROD-less system :lol






Seriously, my friend bought one last February, already had it replaced twice.
 
ivedoneyourmom said:
I don't think there will be a re-design, I mean there is no precedent in Xbox history. All the work is going to go into the innards and the cooling system so that they 360 is finally able to have a failure rate lower than 50 percent. Also, there is the whole faceplate thing, they will not be able to sell over priced faceplates with a redesign (not to mention other expansions that require the shape of the Xbox 360 to remain the same). Sony doesn't sweat these details, they just don't care, but Microsoft, they want to maximize their profit from inexpensive plastic doo-daads.
It didn't happen with the original xbox because:

- it came to market late
- nvidia was getting out of the chip manufacturing business at the end of the xbox lifecycle so it was a convenient time to move on
- neither intel nor nvidia was giving ms the access and rights to modify/manufacture the hardware themselves (which prevented them from shrinking the chips)

MS has already shrunk the innards of the 360 from 90nm to 60nm and its expected to go to 45nm eventually. It would make sense to shrink the case at that time.

Its possible that MS won't shrink the console because of the risk of reintroducing the RROD problems but if they go to 45nm the amount of heat generated will be signficantly lower than the Jaspers let alone the original hardware.
 
element said:
why though? what does it gain MS to make a new shell?

Part of the marketing process.

People will feel like they are buying a completely new product.
I think a new, smaller box would position it closer to the Wii which I think is their aim.
 
Sometimes I wish Sony and MS merged, MS could handle the software, Live etc and Sony could do hardware, I mean they got the machine into a slim in 3 years with the PSU inside.
 
Rapping Granny said:
Sometimes I wish Sony and MS merged, MS could handle the software, Live etc and Sony could do hardware, I mean they got the machine thing into a slim in 3 years with the PSU inside.

lol
 
element said:
why though? what does it gain MS to make a new shell?

Wouldn't hurt to provide some distance from RRoD. In the minds of many that is pretty much permanently linked to the image of the current 360.
 
My question is, will we Get a Wii Lite? I would love to see Nintendo make an even thinner Wii. Maybe make the GCN Controller and Memory card slots an optional attachable accessory, or just cut them out (And GCN support) completely, and they may be able to make an even thinner, smaller system.
 
Why do people act like all MS made consoles are garbage and all sony's are gold?

MS has had 2 consoles one which was really sturdy another which was pretty low quality (partly due to rushing to be first i would think).

Sony has had 2 consoles which had high failure rates and 1 which is really sturdy.

It's not like either have a great track record.
 
AdventureRacing said:
Why do people act like all MS made consoles are garbage and all sony's are gold?

MS has had 2 consoles one which was really sturdy another which was pretty low quality (partly due to rushing to be first i would think).

Sony has had 2 consoles which had high failure rates and 1 which is really sturdy.

It's not like either have a great track record.
ok...where the hell did anyone say that..?
 
Cirekiller said:
What kind of funtionality did the Arcade SKU provide?
that isn't a valid argument. Arcade provided a lower priced model without changing any of the hardware (hdd or no hdd), there wasn't any other design changes then a simple clip on device.

Slim to Full size is a totally different board, case, bluray drive. it is a totally different machine.

Part of the marketing process.

People will feel like they are buying a completely new product.
I think a new, smaller box would position it closer to the Wii which I think is their aim
You can do that with features and software more so then a new shell.

What does the console size have to do with its demographic? Are you suggesting that Wii is popular because it is smaller? If MS wants to go after Wii they will do it via features and price point, not shell size.
 
I just want Microsoft and Nintendo to eliminate those power bricks. I don't even care if they kept the size the same, as long as the redesign doesn't melt my system or set fire to my room. They're just a hassle I don't want to deal with. I have a section on my shelf dedicated to power bricks.
 
AdventureRacing said:
Why do people act like all MS made consoles are garbage and all sony's are gold?

MS has had 2 consoles one which was really sturdy another which was pretty low quality (partly due to rushing to be first i would think).

Sony has had 2 consoles which had high failure rates and 1 which is really sturdy.

It's not like either have a great track record.

The DVD drives sucked on the original Xbox in case you forgot. I had two of them crap out on me in under two years. Also remember the power cord recall after someone's house burnt down. Those were some very severe problems.

Sony has problems out of the gate but fixes them quicker.

Nintendo consoles are built like tanks. Only the Wii and DS have had problems but they never were major. I guess you could count the old NES cartridge slot problems too, but after a few tries with that, at least it worked!
 
Yeah wtf with those power bricks, in my 15+ years of gamer the xbox 360 power bricks is the biggest of all history damn at least modify the power brick:D
 
Considering that the 360 is the most infamous for being complete crap in the hardware department, they should have redesigned the console before anyone else. If it hasn't happened by now, I wouldn't be surprised if it never does.
 
element said:
why though? what does it gain MS to make a new shell?
If they can engineer a smaller board, and cram Natal into a smaller shell than current, it can be a very significant cost savings.

Any marketing boost it gravy. It's about costs.
 
GhaleonEB said:
If they can engineer a smaller board, and cram Natal into a smaller shell than current, it can be a very significant cost savings.

Any marketing boost it gravy. It's about costs.
there isn't anything to cram into the shell for natal. it is all enclosed in the device itself.

the smaller board will reduce price, but changing the shell wouldn't. well perhaps in shipping costs.
 
element said:
there isn't anything to cram into the shell for natal. it is all enclosed in the device itself.

the smaller board will reduce price, but changing the shell wouldn't. well perhaps in shipping costs.
It would, actually. But you're right that it's only one part. When you add it all up - smaller board, shell, packaging materials, packaging, shipping, etc., it matters. Don't dismiss elements like shipping costs, which can be a significant portion of total cost. I used to do cost analysis for the boards and systems group in the company I work at. Smaller form factors can have large impacts on costs. Of course, you need to do the cost/benefit of changing processes. But I suspect MS plans enough volume left in the life cycle that it will be worth it.
 
GhaleonEB said:
It would, actually. But you're right that it's only one part. When you add it all up - smaller board, shell, packaging materials, packaging, shipping, etc., it matters. Don't dismiss elements like shipping costs, which can be a significant portion of total cost. I used to do cost analysis for the boards and systems group in the company I work at. Smaller form factors can have large impacts on costs. Of course, you need to do the cost/benefit of changing processes. But I suspect MS plans enough volume left in the life cycle that it will be worth it.
that is why i put shipping in there. I think R&D on a new shell, new fab contracts for the shell, change in manufacturing line, and other additional front loaded costs make it a tough sell. especially if natal is 100% self contained hardware (pretty much an add-on)
 
I have a feeling they won't. They'll keep on going with the current model until next gen where they hopefully learned from their design mistakes.
 
If the rumors about the next 360 revisions are true (Valhalla), with the unified cpu and gpu board, they can easily redesign the console to a smaller form factor.
 
PS3 hardware revision getting announced together with a massive (?) pricecut, videos of the Wand and more importantly the rebranding shows that Sony wanted to shake off their shoulders the image of the "599$ big bad bastard". Microsoft doesn't need that, since people gladly kept buying their consoles even after the whole RROD thingy, because of the good games and features (XBL etc.). Moreover, If they managed to bring the price of the Arcade down to 149 I can't see why they would need such a heavy revision to further bring down costs. Who knows, maybe the slim will be born when 360 hits 99$.
 
AlucarD.eq said:
Maybe a new look for the Arcade?... So far I can see PS3 Slim vs XB360 Elite... Wii vs Arcade?

I doubt they'd do this. The only reason Sony's keeping around the PSP 3000 is because they're unsure of the Go's success, otherwise they'd phase it out like the current PS3. If Microsoft redesigned a system, it'd be for all versions.
 
if it wasn't for the RRoD issue, MS wouldn't have to worry about a redisign at this point.

however, iirc, some time ago there was an internal leak about the different chipsets for XBOX 360. one of these chipsets is code named Valhalla, it combines the CPU and GPU onto one 65nm chip. requiring even less cooling that we'd see in the Jasper chipset, so it's likely to be the chipset that's gonna be used for the new XBOX 360 model later in 2010.

http://kotaku.com/356917/new-opus-and-valhalla-xbox-360-chipsets-coming-next

maybe this "Valhalla" chipset is gonna be used in a possible and future 360 redisign, but, who knows?
 
Rapping Granny said:
Sometimes I wish Sony and MS merged, MS could handle the software, Live etc and Sony could do hardware, I mean they got the machine into a slim in 3 years with the PSU inside.
True, but they also failed to design significantly more capable hardware with an extra year (practically an eternity for tech) and a price that was hundreds higher.
 
I'd rather they shrink the innards and put the PSU in there, even if it means the same case. It's like a 50 pound ball and chain when you want to take the console over to a friend's house.

But I wonder if the power supply problems they had with the first xbox will prevent them from trying it ever.
 
HUELEN10 said:
neptunes said:
Originally Posted by neptunes:
They already had plans to redesign the 360 way before it launched.

The whole architecture was designed so that it could be redesigned again half-way through the current gen.
Source? It's been a while.
I can't remember if I read it in an article around the 360 launch, or if I read in that 360 uncloaked book.

But I specifically remember them stating that the overall architecture (including many of the components) were designed so they could be shrunken and redesigned over time. Many decisions were also knee-jerk reactions to what they suffered through with the original XBOX. This was when Microsoft was fine with the idea of not shipping with a hard drive with the 360.

If they plan on keeping the 360 much longer than the original XBOX, a redesign has to be in the works. I'm sure the R&D department has at least considered the the possibility and not just sitting around scratching their balls,
 
Epcott said:
Don't care about a slim 360 or Natal60... just give me a RROD-less system :lol






Seriously, my friend bought one last February, already had it replaced twice.


Last February.? so even the newer models still RROD.?
 
Rapping Granny said:
Sometimes I wish Sony and MS merged, MS could handle the software, Live etc and Sony could do hardware, I mean they got the machine into a slim in less than 3 years with the PSU and HDD inside.


There fixed for you my friend.:D


But i care more about RROD than about the size of the unit,i was hopping to get one soon now even sooner because i know that MS will probably do another price drop,but reliability is a + for me,and i already loss one 360.
 
I personally feel a redesigned 360 would be more about changing the appearance for a natal relaunch rather than shrinking it.

I think it'll only be a little bit smaller when it does happen.
 
Dilli666 said:
MS should just get rid of this huge external power supply. The size of the 360 itself is alright.


Is one of the things i don't really get,why in hell the xbox 360 is so big when it has no internal power supply or internal HDD,and the console got so many problems with heat when no PS was in or HDD,come to think of it if the unit on launch would have come with those 2 build in the rate of failure would have been even bigger.
 
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