Microsoft confirms Trojan sub-plot for Xbox: Admits rejected 3DO concept spawned console
Amazing revelations from Microsoft inside
“We know we have to succeed, but there is a broader concept there that we will pursue at some point. You can say, is it the end of the road or is there a bigger play? And the answer is yeah, there's a bigger play we hope to get over time.” These were the words of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer yesterday.
The more cynical of the technologies and games press, have always assumed that the Xbox, right from the announcement of the machine, was two things other than a games console. The paranoid technologists have always said that the Xbox is merely a Trojan, a decently-spec’d living room PC with hard drive and broadband connectivity that can pipe movies, music, pretty much anything into the home.
Games writers, though some have swayed of late, were long under the impression that Microsoft was busily trying to create a 3DO style interactive multimedia centre that would play games as one of its roles.
Pre-launch, Microsoft rejected these claims, stating simply that it wanted to make a proper next-generation gaming platform. That was until yesterday when the Microsoft chief confirmed all of the above. Though the news itself comes as no surprise, the fact that Microsoft has admitted these facts, so soon after launch, is staggering.
Ballmer went on, “We went and said, hey, we have some ideas for an all-purpose box, kind of a PC, kind of a video game machine, kind of a set-top box. You know what they said? They said 'Get outta Dodge, we're not going to write software for that thing.”
This has to be the single most impressive piece of backtracking ever seen in the games industry. Remember when we told you that the Xbox would not be able to play DVD's as standard. Microsoft said that this was done purposefully. It wanted to make a pure gaming platform. “We intend to make a state of the art gaming console that will move the industry three generations forward, not a sub-standard all-in-one games machine-cum-DVD player-cum-set-top box” was Microsoft’s stand back in January of this year.
My, how things change.
The more cynical of the technologies and games press, have always assumed that the Xbox, right from the announcement of the machine, was two things other than a games console. The paranoid technologists have always said that the Xbox is merely a Trojan, a decently-spec’d living room PC with hard drive and broadband connectivity that can pipe movies, music, pretty much anything into the home.
Games writers, though some have swayed of late, were long under the impression that Microsoft was busily trying to create a 3DO style interactive multimedia centre that would play games as one of its roles.
Pre-launch, Microsoft rejected these claims, stating simply that it wanted to make a proper next-generation gaming platform. That was until yesterday when the Microsoft chief confirmed all of the above. Though the news itself comes as no surprise, the fact that Microsoft has admitted these facts, so soon after launch, is staggering.
Ballmer went on, “We went and said, hey, we have some ideas for an all-purpose box, kind of a PC, kind of a video game machine, kind of a set-top box. You know what they said? They said 'Get outta Dodge, we're not going to write software for that thing.”
This has to be the single most impressive piece of backtracking ever seen in the games industry. Remember when we told you that the Xbox would not be able to play DVD's as standard. Microsoft said that this was done purposefully. It wanted to make a pure gaming platform. “We intend to make a state of the art gaming console that will move the industry three generations forward, not a sub-standard all-in-one games machine-cum-DVD player-cum-set-top box” was Microsoft’s stand back in January of this year.
My, how things change.
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