IGN reports XBox 2 to debut Nov. 2005

[Cleric7]

Here's the article

http://cube.ign.com/articles/523/523583p1.html

[Knightshade Dragon]

Yea, when I saw that I called my MS rep.  We had a good laugh.

Good times...good times...

I doubt they would launch in 2005, but if they push the backwards compatability angle it might be viable.  The money is in the software....

[whiteboyskim]

Were Microsoft to announce it today as "final" that XB2 would hit in Nov. 2005, you just know that Sony would drop a brick in their pants. This should be interesting, but my humble $.02 says that everything is going to hit at the same time in 2006. But that's my opinion on things, versus what may wind up actually happening. I know that it's killing Microsoft to be #2, it has from the very beginning. But I really have trouble with them shortening the life expectancy of the consoles just to get a chance at the number 1 slot. That pisses me off royally.

[farley2k]

It does give them quite a leap on the other next generation systems.  

I wonder if it would be a good idea though since that would virtually guarantee that Sony could put out a more powerful machine.  One of the big selling points of the Xbox is that it is the most powerful console...without that jewel in their crown will customers flock to it?

[whiteboyskim]

It does give them quite a leap on the other next generation systems.  

I wonder if it would be a good idea though since that would virtually guarantee that Sony could put out a more powerful machine.  One of the big selling points of the Xbox is that it is the most powerful console...without that jewel in their crown will customers flock to it?

Ask Sony. People are still buying PS2's and it's nowhere close to the XBox in terms of horsepower under the hood. The games are always the thing, and there are never any good ones until the console's been out a year, IMO.

[farley2k]

But I really have trouble with them shortening the life expectancy of the consoles just to get a chance at the number 1 slot. That pisses me off royally.

I think the life expectancy of consoles has to drop with more competition.  I mean, it just isn't MS doing it - it is an unavoidable product of having 3 big consoles.  Sales are tougher to get so the need for improvement and new stuff gets more important.  The shelf life goes down.

[Knightshade Dragon]

there are never any good ones until the console's been out a year, IMO.

You'll get no argument here, I purchased my PS2 a year after it came out.

[farley2k]

Ask Sony. People are still buying PS2's and it's nowhere close to the XBox in terms of horsepower under the hood. The games are always the thing, and there are never any good ones until the console's been out a year, IMO.

I love my PS2 but I do think it was a special case.  I think when it came out there wasn't any other choice really.  They also started way, way ahead of the other companies.  

Now that the market is tighter and real competion exists I think we won't see another situation where a console sells so strongly based on name recognition alone.

[whiteboyskim]

And I'd agree on that, but at the end of the day the games are what will ultimately sell the machine and, more importantly, keep selling the machines. Microsoft could have a dual 3GHz set w/ a 512MB ATI graphics card and all the storage space you could dream of, but if the best they could offer would be the most realistic variant of Pokemon on the market, they aren't going to sell many consoles past the early adopters and hardware-fiends.

[Larraque]

set to receive a name revision before its release because Microsoft doesn't want consumers to assume it's inferior to PlayStation 3 based on end numerals

I like that line. It's the xbox... 2000!

It's like, 1997 times better than the ps3.