Forget the PS3 Slim. How about a slim Xbox 360?
Over the past few months, much of the talk in the video game industry has surrounded Sony and its rumored PlayStation 3 Slim. The product, if it exists, promises to be smaller and, more importantly, cheaper.
This console needs to slim down, too.
(Credit: Microsoft)I'll be the first to admit that I'm excited about the possibility of the Slim hitting store shelves. I've called on Sony multiple times to drop the price of the PlayStation 3. I believe that it's the key to Sony staying relevant during this generation of game consoles.
But as the PS3 Slim kept us guessing, a report hit the Web on Wednesday claiming that Microsoft might be planning to ditch the Xbox 360 Pro in favor of offering just two Xbox 360 models--the Arcade and the Elite. Great. But what about a refresh?
The Xbox 360 is a beast. It's huge. Its DVD drive is extremely loud. And its power supply is both big and heavy.
The Xbox 360 is also not nearly as reliable as competing products. Since its release, we've been inundated with story after story about the "red ring of death"--an issue that occurs when three red rings around the Xbox 360's power buttons start flashing, indicating that the console is inoperable and will need to be shipped back to Microsoft to have it fixed.
The number of reported RROD instances has dropped in recent months, but it has left Microsoft with a black eye from which it has yet to recover.
So as Sony improves its hardware offerings, I think that it's clear that Microsoft needs to do the same. It needs a slim Xbox 360.
Why it's necessary
I think that a slim Xbox 360 would help solve almost all of Microsoft's problems. It would potentially fit nicely into existing home theater set-ups. If it lived up to its name, the Slim would also ditch the power brick. Its new power supply would be smaller and much more manageable. Those two updates alone would make many current Xbox 360 owners happy.
But it goes beyond that. A slim Xbox 360 can be Microsoft's "do-over." It will address the issues the console has experienced, like that awfully loud DVD drive. It will also fix the Xbox 360's failure issues that just don't seem to go away. More importantly, it could address one of the console's biggest shortcomings: a lack of an HD drive.
Yes, I believe that a slim Xbox 360 should feature a Blu-ray drive. I know that it would be like giving money to the enemy, format backer Sony, but given Blu-ray's rise in popularity this year, I don't think that Microsoft has much of a choice. Until streaming HD content has reached critical mass and entered millions of homes, Blu-ray is still the leading, next-gen home entertainment format.
Although we can currently access streaming content through the Xbox 360, it's not enough. A Blu-ray drive allows Microsoft to fend off Sony's core argument, which states that because the PlayStation 3 has a Blu-ray drive, it's worth its $400 price tag. It's a valid argument. It's also an argument to which Microsoft, without a Blu-ray drive in its Xbox 360, doesn't have an answer. That's unacceptable.
Looking ahead
At this point, I have no doubt that Sony will be releasing the PS3 Slim sometime in the near future. It makes perfect sense for the company, since it's trying desperately to regain lost market share.
Microsoft should follow suit. The Xbox 360 is a great console. I enjoy playing games on it. But it's not perfect. It's in desperate need of a refresh. And a slim Xbox 360 might just be the way to make more consumers happy. More importantly, it could help Microsoft fend off Sony's rise in the market if a PS3 Slim is released.
Do you have any features and fixes you would like to see in a redesigned Xbox 360? Let us know in the comments below.
Check out Don's Facebook profile, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
I have got my ps3 since launch 60gb, backwards compatible etc, never had a problem that wouldnt be solve with a simple restart. I know though, that the "my console is better" is rather childish at this point and im going to try to avoid it although i implored it here to make something clear.Sony= hardware company Microsoft= software company
Wiht that in mind, i think is good to notice that while microsoft might well do-over with a slimed down xbox 360 my hopes wouldnt be any higher than where they are now. I owned a 360 and had to sell it because i ran frustrated with the 2 RRODs but also, had a broken fan (came back like that, had to re-ship) and one of them wouldnt read certain games. I do say that 360 had a more appealing list of games, had perhaps (this is subjective) a rather good looking user interface but that its all blown away with the hassle of all of its STD's. The main reason why im not trusting what this article has to say and all of the sweetness a new model of the xbox will bring is because that is exactly what microsoft said when they introduced the new nano chips. they did bring down the 33.3 percent failier rate, but is still not even in part with the wii or the ps3. The 360 can be had already for very cheap which is why i think that a slimmed down version will be nothing more than a new casing in hopes of bigger sales. The ps3 in the other hand needs one badly because they are lagging behind and this unforgiving economy can keep even a big company like sony on its feet...............
Check it out if you have problems
http://dmrurl.com/K061IV
Adding BR to the 360 would be a bad business venture, and it's arguable to see whether M$ gives in and gives the 360 that kind of versatility as a home entertainment solution, or not and focus solely on its partnership with streaming HD content via Netflix.
Regardless, the 360 had a good run, and IMO it would be unwise to keep releasing variants of the same console instead of putting more focus on the next best thing. (Releasing new accessories, however, can rake in some good revenue.)
Xbox 360 - Worst Console In The History Of Gaming:
* Wimpy and poorly designed graphics hardware. Still clinging to the pathetic old fake Epic Gears of War marketing bullshots as proof of 'teh power of teh 360' LOL!
* The only console in history to have less disc space than the previous gen - only 7 gigabytes for the stupid 360 DVD format compared to 8.5 gigabytes last gen for the PS2 and Xbox. A total nightmare for developers to deal with the 360 and what has ruined major games like GTA4.
* Stupid old DVD drive spinning at an insane rate making the console absurdly loud
* Retarded 50 dollar a year online charges. Laggy P2P networking and no dedicated servers like on PC and PS3 games leading to gimped player counts like only 16 for Halo 3 and 10 for Gears of War
* Anemic first party studios. Only Rare, Lionhead, and Turn 10. Compared to 10 first party studios for Nintendo and 20 for Sony.
What a complete POS console. And now the only thing to look forward to are:
* Halo milking
* Downgraded PC ports
* Microsoft's copy of Sony's Eye Toy style motion controls
btw, $199 for a 360 + $50 a year for a kick a** online experience beats the hell out of a $399 console an online experience thats not worth anyones time.
There never has been another console generation where a console has been totally and utterly humiliated by its competitor like the 360 has by the PS3 this gen.
PS2,GameCube,Xbox all had games that weren't possible on the other consoles.
SNES and Genesis both were strong in different areas.
The PS2 did destroy the Dreamcast, but not anywhere near as much as the PS3 is graphically destroying the wimpy Xbox 360 this gen.
And now with the massive hit to Microsoft's revenue and profits this wimpy and underpowered console is what Xbots are stuck with nothing but silly motion controls tacked on to try to extend the life of the turd of a console.
With 360 graphics a complete joke in 2009 just imagine how laughably bad they are going to be in 2010/11 while waving your arms around like idiots playing silly motion control games.
"There never has been another console generation where a console has been totally and utterly humiliated by its competitor like the 360 has by the PS3 this gen."
What? You epitomize the "Fanboys" I always see referenced on these posts. They are quite funny, though!
The funniest thing about the wimpy Xbox 360 graphics is it has turned Xbots into sounding exactly like Wii-fanboys:
"We don't care about shallow things like 'graphics', we only care about gameplay"
LOL! The silly crap you start spouting after a good asskicking like the PS3 has dished out graphically to the 360 this gen.
Xbots trying to accuse someone of 'astroturfing'!
Hilarious!
Fanboys of the sleazy company, Microsoft, that made the practice of paying people to sit around in forums spouting BS famous are trying to accuse someone else of the disgusting practice.
Priceless and pathetic.
And including a Java VM in the XBox, at the expense of their Silverlight technology.
Just not happening. Not even up for debate. MS is FAR more likely to include an HD DVD drive in XBox 360.
i have used wifi on my ps3 when the system was on my third floor--and my router was in my basement-- and i have dsl-- and it worked fine pretty much all the time-- and now my ps3 is in my basement and still using wifi and theres absolutely no problem so yeah i dont know what your talking about
That statement alone IS what the argument against wifi on a console is. Wired = works great all the time: Wireless = it worked fine pretty much all the time.
Sony is a HARDWARE company and makes great hardware.
Microsoft is a SOFTWARE company that makes average software.
Whilst the PS3's software deficiencies have almost all been put to bed over the last 2-3 years, the Xbox is still the unreliable junk it's always been.
Clearly they don't know what they are missing. almost every PS3 eclusive blows the 360 titles out the water is every aspect.
If any of these american morons were true gamers, they would know that. Actually if they cared about consumer rights, they wouldn't buy Xbox on principle, as you really don't want to be rewarding Microsoft for treating consumers so badly (rushed launches, paid for online services littered with adverts, failed HD formats at so forth).
Everything about Xbox this generation has been anti-consumer, anti-gamer.
However Microsoft will not put bluray this generation! It just will not give in on its digital dopwnlaod push (however unrelaistiv in the majority of homes, especially considering the size(and expensive unjust cost) of the 360 hard drives..
I think the hardware refresh will come with natal integration late next year ie xbox 360.5 rather then a new console!
please let me know if you agree.
Chris
1. The 360 up converts to 1080P. Sony can only display 720P in GAMES unless the game is natively 1080P. (I don't know if any even exist) I know it upconverts movies.
2. I greatly prefer the controller on the Xbox for most games.
3. Xbox Live is so far ahead of Sony's "free" online gameplay (it's well worth $50 a year)
4. Streams Netflix in HD Flawlessly
The garbage you have to keep telling yourself to deal with owning the biggest piece of crap console ever created.
you be looking in the mirror much?
True it's got a couple good titles. Infamous was kind of fun. My problem with the PS3 is the squandered potential. It's the most capable console out there but it hasn't produced anything that's really wowed me, or most of the world for that matter, and honestly, none of the upcoming titles look like they're going to do any better. If it didn't have a Blu Ray player I probably would have sold mine by now.
I agree with you on a couple of things, but don't forget that the PS3 is a year younger than the 360 and that some of the best games comes 3 to 4 years later after a console has been released. One thing I have to ask is what kind of games do you look forward to if none of Sony's exclusives and I do mean exclusive not multiplatform games are you looking forward to play? I own both systems and I can say that right now that Microsoft is worried because they are losing momentum and most of its 3rd party exclusives are going multiplatform. That's the point of my opinion, but if there are really no games that you are looking forward to on the console then I highly suggest the PC because in terms of video entertainment and social networking its unrivaled.
- by andrewms85 August 6, 2009 11:59 AM PDT
- "We don't care about shallow things like 'graphics', we only care about gameplay"
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by celica9 August 14, 2009 1:16 AM PDT
- Lol yeah I agree..not sure about 'most fps' but a lot, yes.
- Like this
-
Showing 1 of 3 pages (129 Comments)thats funny, cuz I thought most games that come out nowadays are FPS... what difference in gameplay can one have?
<img src="http://www.prawntoast.info/img/R/P.jpg" />