Bill Gates on Xbox: The Truth Emerges, Two Years Too Late
Full media functionality for Xbox.
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, Microsoft chief and Bond villain-a-like Bill Gates shamelessly blew the lid off the Xbox's biggest secret to date. The one that stated that the console, launched with the solemn promise that it was only ever going to play games, will evolve into a full-blown living room media hub.
The functionality will be bundled as the Xbox Media Centre Extender Kit and will see the console evolve into a media control hub, offering functionality including video and photograph viewing, as well as WMVHD high-quality Windows Media Player content on demand.
The Xbox will require a bespoke DVD and remote control to access the new content, and will need to be networked to a PC running Windows XP Media Centre Edition. The specifics of exactly what the Xbox will be able to do as a stand-alone machine - networked or not - were not revealed.
However, it is thought that the console will offer certain functions without requiring a constant PC link, though in a limited capacity.
This news also smacks of a taste of the inevitable for the Xbox project. Microsoft has become an expert at softening its blows, taking the machine from a games-only ethos (with nothing to do with the PC or Windows, honest) to an extension of the Microsoft Windows digital lifestyle dream.
It is a certainty that the Xbox’s successor will come media-ready, with keyboard and mouse, probably with a version of Office installed from the get-go. It’s worth remembering that using entirely Trojan tactics, Microsoft installed a well-equipped broadband-enabled PC – in the guise of an Xbox - in your living room.
It might be worth asking yourself for a moment – just why did the largest software manufacturer in the world want to do this?
In other news, Gates showed a portable media centre, co-developed with Creative Labs, that will make use of the technology. Pictures included.
The functionality will be bundled as the Xbox Media Centre Extender Kit and will see the console evolve into a media control hub, offering functionality including video and photograph viewing, as well as WMVHD high-quality Windows Media Player content on demand.
The Xbox will require a bespoke DVD and remote control to access the new content, and will need to be networked to a PC running Windows XP Media Centre Edition. The specifics of exactly what the Xbox will be able to do as a stand-alone machine - networked or not - were not revealed.
However, it is thought that the console will offer certain functions without requiring a constant PC link, though in a limited capacity.
This news also smacks of a taste of the inevitable for the Xbox project. Microsoft has become an expert at softening its blows, taking the machine from a games-only ethos (with nothing to do with the PC or Windows, honest) to an extension of the Microsoft Windows digital lifestyle dream.
It is a certainty that the Xbox’s successor will come media-ready, with keyboard and mouse, probably with a version of Office installed from the get-go. It’s worth remembering that using entirely Trojan tactics, Microsoft installed a well-equipped broadband-enabled PC – in the guise of an Xbox - in your living room.
It might be worth asking yourself for a moment – just why did the largest software manufacturer in the world want to do this?
In other news, Gates showed a portable media centre, co-developed with Creative Labs, that will make use of the technology. Pictures included.
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