Microsoft Working on Gaming-Focused 'Xbox Surface' 7-Inch Tablet

[mozumder]

Originally Posted by Trik

Shouldn't PS3 owners be logging into their free identity theft website instead of trolling Mac forums for PS3 haters?

PS3 owners are too dumb to do anything reasonable.

They did waste their moneys on a PS3, after all.

[ArcaneDevice]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

I can't quite see why would call Apple's marketing of the iPhone Touch as a games computer as a "hilarious half-baked attempt at supporting Mac gaming", since, quite obviously, an iPhone Touch is not a Mac. I suppose that's due to excitement as well.

Nope it's due to experience.

I've been through every iteration of Apple pretending to give a damn about gaming. It lasts five minutes and then they ignore games until another product cycle turns up.

iDevice or Mac. Apple treat them all the same way. Gaming is just a marketing term to Apple. And only one to use in PR at that.

You'll never see Apple attend E3, PAX, GDC or the like, because outside of soundbites for the press they really don't give a **** about video games. Game Center is a perfect example of that. Useless window dressing to add to the "features list" and something they will probably never update again.

[Nightarchaon]

if this 7 inch gaming tablet is released before the retina iPad mini, then apple has lost my tablet sale next year, i have the iPad 1 and its just too large, i was considering a smaller android tablet, but after having a samsung Galaxy S2 for two years now nearly, i can safely say, i love the android HARDWARE, but i HATE the android OS with a passion.

however, 7" for me is still jacket pocket sized, and the surface hardware has so far impressed me enough that im looking at a Full intel surface tablet instead of a macbook air for my next "laptop", so no need to upgrade my iPad for the full size usage, i can just run iTunes on windows 8, i was looking at the iPad mini, but until the 2nd gen units appeared with retina (probably in march looking at apples new product cycles ) i was holding off, but now, a 7inch tablet from MS, as long as its not JUST a gaming tablet (if they do that, they deserve to go down the toilet), if its a full Windows 8 RT tablet capable of running games as well as windows RT apps, then thats my next tablet...

Even my desktop PC, which is a 2011 iMac ill be replacing with a PC this year, because the 2012 iMacs are just that extra step to far into the realm of equipment thats likely to break, that im going to have to bin if it does because its not modular or user serviceable (if they were as reliable as my 10 year old freezer, or 7 year old washing machine id have no problem, but HDDs tend to fail often, and to NOT have them user serviceable is just stupid)


Leaving, funny enough, the iPhone as the only apple product im going to be going back to....

i feel Steve Jobs "reality distortion field" is ebbing, apples products are now becoming a mockery of "thinner, lighter, less features", like a hollywood starlet who's past her prime and has had so many facelifts her chin is where is nose should be.

[phpmaven]

Originally Posted by STiNG Operation

Anything to do with Xbox is worth reading. Microsoft has a gold mine and imo the best console on the market.

Edit: lol ***** I forgot whenever the words "best console" and "Xbox" are in the same sentence PS3 owners go into an instant rage xD

Gold mine? Last I read their Xbox division was actually losing 100s of millions of dollars.

[JGowan]

They need to release next-gen console. Then at the same time, they release a handheld that connects to the XBox360. You put in your game and it is transferred to the portable. This way, they keep selling 360 machines and software.

[DJJAZZYJET]

[QUOTE=krravi;16240907]Had three of them that went up in smoke. Bad manufacturing and lousy console. Only thing thats going for them is their "Live" features.[COLOR="#808080"]

I've had mine for three years, no problems with it and still going strong.

[frayne182]

Originally Posted by phpmaven

Gold mine? Last I read their Xbox division was actually losing 100s of millions of dollars.

Last time you checked must of been when the 360 was released or original Xbox.

Prices for the components now would not be much for a 360.

Also all the companies sell their hardware at a loss in order to make up for it in sales.

Microsoft is making money off of the 360. Although they lost millions and millions breaking into the gaming market back with the original Xbox

[GorgonPhone]

Originally Posted by shadowbird423

Well this is out of left field.. What's going on in Redmond?

portable xbox that plays actual xbox games... lol eat you heart out sony with you r lame dead PSP VITA

[Patriks7]

Originally Posted by Drunken Master

I was under the impression that the PS3 is the best console, but because so many people have the 360, the Xbox is the better machine to get if you want to play online with friends.

That would be correct (for the US mainly). In Europe I believe the PS3 is more widespread. Cause it's better

[gkarris]

I can't see MS trying to compete against Apple, but instead Amazon, B&N, and Google...

Easier to go after a fragmented Android userbase and ecosystem instead of a well established iOS one.

[aristotle]

Originally Posted by mozumder

PS3 owners are too dumb to do anything reasonable.

They did waste their moneys on a PS3, after all.

Right, so how is that HD-DVD add-on drive for the X-Box 360 working out for you? How many replacement units have you gone through because of the red ring of death? How bright are you if you buy a console, buy games and then pay a monthly fee for Xbox live just to be able to play those games?

With a PS3, you could have bought the launch model like me and enjoyed continual free firmware updates to bring new features DVD upscaling and Blu-ray 3D support. I could also buy a game and not pay a single cent more to play that game on PSN. No monthly fees == priceless.

If you add up all of the monthly fees that you have paid for Xbox live over the years, how much does all of that cost you on top of the purchase of the games, accessories and Xbox 360 console?

[divinox]

Originally Posted by children

Another market apple did a half assed job in (sure, ipad has some great games, but who wouldn't agree they could do so much more?)

Really, as of late, Microsoft is really catching my eye, hope Apple realises this threat and puts out better products too



I would guess:
Surface Pro
Surface RT
Surface X

Xbox is too strong of a brand to go "X". If they wanted to go the Apple route, they would have already (xBox, xPhone etc.).

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Originally Posted by krravi

Richer than console controller? I give up.

Whats my beef with Windows 8? I dont want the desktop to look like a floor in a bathroom. Personal beef maybe? Sure. But it pretty much sums up a lot of other folks feelings as well.

1) Yes. Richer than a console controller. No, not today - people have been lazy - but potentially tomorrow. Adding more buttons only gets you so far.

2) So essentially, you are just experiencing switching costs. Understandable, but hardly something to get riled up about. Had tiles been the dominant paradigm, with the desktop as the new entrant, you probably would have bitched about small icons instead. To me, tiles seem quite clever and a good way forward. Personally, i would have preferred something different, but i am sure MSFT has done plenty of studies to motivate their choice.

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Originally Posted by TheRainKing

*facepalm*

Microsoft proved they don't know how to make game consoles with the Xbox 360 and it's over cluttered experience. And now they want to fail again on tablets.

Besides, this tablet has no reason to exist. They can have their tablet gaming experience on the Surface, just like Apple have with the iPad. An actual 7" tablet designed specifically for gaming is a bad idea. People either want proper consoles like the PS3/Xbox 360, or they want mini game consoles like the Nintendo DS, PSP. Having an in-between console serves no purpose.

Yeah, thank god we have Apple. Apple surely showed everyone how to do it with Pippin.... oh wait! Second, you dont even have remotely enough information to make the conclusions you make. Hardly surprising though, given your comment overall.

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Originally Posted by rhuber

I'm not really in the big gold rush market. My market is very specific, which is why I develop for android - with the open distribution, I can build and email an app directly to a group of intended clients. But with Windows 8 and all things relating, it is, or soon will be (?), a massive platform and a no-brainer to explore.

Niche or not, by virtue of the long tail alone, there is plenty of gold to grab. Distribution-wise, i doubt you have much to worry about; mailing a link is about as simple as it gets.

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Originally Posted by GoldenJoe

This sounds right. After last year's E3, it was clear that Microsoft no longer sees Xbox as a video game console, but as software. Many people were surprised not to see an Xbox "720", and there are still many people expecting it this year, but they will be very disappointed when it either doesn't show up at all, or shows up as a marginal upgrade tailored more to a HTPC audience. I think for Microsoft it is the right strategy. Xbox has always relied primarily on its online Xbox Live multiplayer service, which does not need to be tied to a console.

What I would like to see is Apple releasing a bluetooth controller for Apple TV. That would be VERY interesting...

To me, it seems more likely that the 360 will get a new life as a "media piece" once 720 is released next winter. That is, we will see MSFT cater to both gamers (720) and more casual/non-gaming users ("360 reborn"). That said, MSFT are certainly trying to achieve a boundary-redefinition in terms of what the "xBox" is. Smart move, indeed.

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Originally Posted by InuNacho

Dedicated systems are in a bit of trouble with phones and tablets, so why not join them and merge the two together? This I believe is what Microsoft is going for. The way I envision it, is a tablet that you can connect regular ole' 360 controllers to for gaming on the go. When you're at home you can slide it on in a dock of somesort and continue where you left off on your TV and just to sweeten the deal, put some extra hardware in the dock to beef up the graphics.

I could see it working.

Clever. The dock could easily double as a "media center" as well, killing two birds with one stone. If they can figure out a way to make it run 360 games as well (even if only using the dock, or even a "special dock"), it could be a really neat product to have.

[albusseverus]

All I can say is - this should be fun.

Surface is well known for lack of grunt.
X-Box is not windows, not even intel (yay, powerpc!)
Windows already takes up 12 GB on current surface devices

It would be pathetic, except MS had to make surface because their hardware partners weren't interested in windows 8. Who looks worse, here? Tough call.

Again - this should be fun. I guess the exercise is to keep windows 8 in the headlines, against the current Apple fascination.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by TheRainKing

Sure... If your a fan of; ugly, poorly designed user interfaces, being asked to sign in when you switch the console on, constant updates forcing you to restart, terrible apps, and a fault xbox live system which causes some games not work correctly.

The Xbox 360 is the perfect example of what's wrong with the gaming industry. It doesn't focus on being a gaming console, it just acts as a crippled PC with terrible apps. Gaming is merely an afterthought.

I sign in when i start my ps3. Really dont see the issue here. As for the rest, Sony is hardly the poster boy for smooth operations. Add the fact that so many games (EA i am looking at you!) run worse on PS3 than Xbox and well... for many of us, Xbox is the winner.

[rhuber]

Originally Posted by divinox

Clever. The dock could easily double as a "media center" as well, killing two birds with one stone. If they can figure out a way to make it run 360 games as well (even if only using the dock, or even a "special dock"), it could be a really neat product to have.

I see it more as a complete (or evolving) media/entertainment system. I for one would like to see that evolution continue. BTW, I was trying to figure out how a separate tablet will differentiate itself as a gaming tablet aside from processor, etc. However I recently read that it will include multiple controller inputs. Kind of puts the concerns about gaming on a touch-based tablet to rest.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by Popeye206

I disagree... the mobile market is where everything is going. Yes, the desktop is important and will be for a while (especially in business), but I do feel mobile solution like tablets and smart phones will continue to develop grow and reduce the average consumers reliance on a traditional computer.

If MS continues to fail in this area (as they have been) they will get left far behind.

You cant have read my post. The only other alternative is that you do not get MSFT:s platform model. MSFT can end up dominating mobile without selling a single Surface. Ergo, MSFT is not dependent on the success of the Surface; rather, it is W8 (and to some extent WP8) that cannot be duds.

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Originally Posted by knewsom

Because of COURSE it should be an entirely DIFFERENT DEVICE - duh, why didn't Apple think of THAT!?

They were busy trying to figure out how to make the iPippin a magical device.

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Originally Posted by gnasher729

Excellent idea. They are a bit late to the party, but it is still an excellent idea.

XBox sales have been dropping badly, and most people are nowadays interested in more casual gameplay. Plenty of people using iPads or iPhones for games, and the iPod Touch is even marketed as a games computer.

Are you honestly surprised that a 7 yo console is dropping in sales? Ever heard of the concept of market saturation? Either way, given that consoles are subsidized, what truly matters is really not whether console sales are up, but whether the installed base keeps buying games. Big difference.

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Originally Posted by FlameofAnor

Still can't believe that someone was payed to come up with that generic bit of twaddle.

Yeah, cause Apples logo is so much more refined and magical - right? Think retard.

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Originally Posted by SockRolid

This funny. And also just a little sad.

Remember when Microsoft was the 800 pound gorilla? When everyone in tech feared them? When they could snuff out young, promising competitors with just a little marketing FUD? Sure you do.

Zune forward, er, zoom forward to today. Microsoft is trailing badly in mobile, the biggest and fastest-growing computing boom the world has ever seen. They've completely missed the mobile computing boat in both the consumer and business markets. The world has passed them by in mobile, and they show no signs of being able to catch up. And the oddball two-headed Surface RT / 8 with ARM / Intel concept will only confuse, confound, and fragment.

All this while Microsoft is teetering on the edge of disaster with Windows 8. With a bizarre new interface that will confuse consumers. Corporate IT will simply erase and re-image their new Windows 8 systems with XP anyway. They won't waste time and money updating their business software or dealing with XP Compatibility Mode bugs. Nuke Windows 8, pave with Windows XP, repeat.

So what to do, what to do? Aha! Xbox 360 is finally breaking even after losing billions over the years. And that Kinect controller is popular with the kiddies.

So, um....

Gaming! We'll shrink the Surface hardware, slap an optimized version of Windows on it, and sell the thing as a mobile gaming device! You know, just in case the "real" Surface(s) don't sell.

That's the ticket! (OK, maybe it's not sad after all. Just funny.)

MSFT pretty much solved the xp-compatability issue by allowing virtual xp environments under the same license. The rest of your rant is hardly warranting a response.

[lordofthereef]

Originally Posted by likemyorbs

Too much fragmenting in their line. Windows RT, Windows 8, now another Windows tablet that's just a game machine? Makes no sense.

The way they have built their current OS's is that anyone programing an app codes once and compiles based on which OS they are launching it on? It's literally the same amount of work to create an App for Windows 8 as it is to create an App for WP8, RT, etc. The only potential difference is if you want to include/exclude certain features depending on the specific OS it is to be run on, which is completely up to the developer.

Frankly, it was a genius move and likely the best (and only) thing they could have done to try and gain foothold in the phone and tablet market. Hundreds of millions use Windows. Anything developed for Windows 8 from here on out will run on anything and everything Microsoft as long as the developer chooses to allow it.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by gotluck

There's still a market for aaa 59.99 titles.

Vendors continue to have record breaking sales.

Non gamers probably see less of this though, since pc games are really not purchased in brick and mortar stores. Consoles are still there but even so, many purchase digitally.

Been to steampowered.com lately?

I would certainly wager the income from aaa games is much greater than that of mobile tablet phone games. You just can be serious or you just don't follow gaming.

Of course. Theres a reason why multi-million dollar productions appear on consoles rather than mobile (have fun getting that investment back!). But hey, enjoy them Furious birds people. I, like every gamer i know, will stick to my console today and certainly tomorrow.

[twoodcc]

i think this might sell well, if it works well. gotta be responsive. games can be tough, but i hope they get it right.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by rhuber

I think that you are basing all of this on an assumption that Microsoft is shooting from the hip and their long term plans are not carefully thought-out. Having spent some time with windows 8 and the developers toolbox, that doesn't seem to be the case at all. I know I am preaching to the wrong audience with this, but it's hard to spend any real time with their architecture without feeling that everything is meticulously thought and mapped to a much bigger picture than is currently in view.

That said, I don't quite understand the reason for the Gaming Tablet either, but in my recent experience, I find it hard to believe that it is not a carefully thought out piece of the yet to be seen bigger picture.

As I have said before, I'm not at all what you would call an MS fan (I'm a Mac guy for a reason), but I am wildly impressed with what I am seeing and looking forward to seeing more of the bigger picture. This is not a "me too" endeavor for MS, they are striving for the next big step, and that's pretty cool.

I agree that Windows 8 will not be widely adopted at the enterprise level, but that is more due to the nature of Enterprise IT, and not related to Windows 8 at all. Smaller business will adopt it, and enterprise may wait until the next iteration. However, the surface pro tablet I believe will be widely tapped into by large businesses, if for no other reasons than it is the first tablet suitable for complete IT administration and integration with existing systems. I know that my local County Government is all over it for those reasons, and I am sure they are not alone.

During ATD 2007 Gates (sitting next to Jobs) said 2012 would be the year of mainstream tablet computing. 2012 W8 is released. Coincidence? Hardly. MSFT knows exactly what they are doing. Being late to market is exactly what they do best.

As for the enterprise ******** whining, people who make such remarks must know very little of average large-corp migration patterns. MSFT knows very well that those still on xp will predominantly migrate to W7 (tablets excluded, of course) - and decided to do so at least a year ago - and that people already on W7 will not upgrade until there is proper reason for doing so (SP1 being a base requirement).

In the near future, W8 will mainly have an impact on consumer markets (finally, people have a reason to buy a new PC), and tablet markets (both consumer and enterprise). As result, 99% of all whining online is rendered void.

P.S.

The large organizations i know of are certainly looking at large-scale deployment of W8 tablets too. For good reason. First, the iPad has established clear use cases. Second, thanks to MSFT, large scale deployments are actually manageable for the IT adm. (without whose backing a large scale deployment will never take place). iPads made it into the management ranks (they had pull enough to get the cool gadgets they wanted), Surface will make it down to the floor*.

* Yes, i am aware of instances where the iPad has done the same, but iPads are hardly ubiquitous in organizational life. To state such a thing one must be truly blind.

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Originally Posted by VenusianSky

What is new about this?

Microsoft Windows has always been a dynamic system. Over the years Windows (NT OS) has run on x86, x64, Itanium, PowerPC, DEC Alpha, MIPS and now ARM. Also, Microsoft has released multiple editions of Windows since Windows 3.11 for Workgroups. Windows NT Workstation, Windows Server, Windows Embedded, Windows RT, Windows Storage Server.

The strategy seems to have worked out pretty well for them.

Fragmentation is the cool word to throw around nowadays, havent you heard?

[rhuber]

Originally Posted by divinox

During ATD 2007 Gates (sitting next to Jobs) said 2012 would be the year of mainstream tablet computing. 2012 W8 is released. Coincidence? Hardly. MSFT knows exactly what they are doing. Being late to market is exactly what they do best.

As for the enterprise ******** whining, people who make such remarks must know very little of average large-corp migration patterns. MSFT knows very well that those still on xp will predominantly migrate to W7 (tablets excluded, of course) - and decided to do so at least a year ago - and that people already on W7 will not upgrade until there is proper reason for doing so (SP1 being a base requirement).

In the near future, W8 will mainly have an impact on consumer markets (finally, people have a reason to buy a new PC), and tablet markets (both consumer and enterprise). As result, 99% of all whining online is rendered void.

P.S.

The large organizations i know of are certainly looking at large-scale deployment of W8 tablets too. For good reason. First, the iPad has established clear use cases. Second, thanks to MSFT, large scale deployments are actually manageable for the IT adm. (without whose backing a large scale deployment will never take place). iPads made it into the management ranks (they had pull enough to get the cool gadgets they wanted), Surface will make it down to the floor*.

* Yes, i am aware of instances where the iPad has done the same, but iPads are hardly ubiquitous in organizational life. To state such a thing one must be truly blind.

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Fragmentation is the cool word to throw around nowadays, havent you heard?

^^ Well said.

[hugodrax]

The problem is the windows tablet rt is underpowered for games and the shoehorned windows API and all the win32 bloat makes for poor gaming.

So with Microsoft you need two tablets to do the job of one iPad.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by SockRolid

I'd argue that nothing Microsoft has done in mobile has been well thought-out. Just off the top of my head:

1. The futility of trying to convince the world, for 10 years, to buy Microsoft Tablet PCs.
2. Killing off Windows Mobile 6.5 with absolutely no app or data migration path to Windows Phone 7.
3. The failure of Zune.
4. The failure of KIN.
5. Choosing one manufacturer (Nokia) as their prime hardware partner at the expense of all other Windows Phone device makers.
6. The non-upgradability of 1-year-old Nokia Windows Phone 7 handsets to Windows Phone 8.
7. The inability to decide between ARM or Intel for Surface.
8. The inability to port Office to a mobile OS without a "desktop."

The only thing that Microsoft is carefully doing is anchoring themselves, permanently, to legacy desktops and laptops. Anchoring themselves to their past. Their Windows glory days. The '90s.



I find it hard to believe that the Gaming Tablet is not simply another Microsoft knee-jerk reaction to competitors' successes in mobile. Ballmer is so used to crushing young, vulnerable competitors with FUD that he either 1) still thinks FUD works, or 2) simply doesn't know what else to do other than to spew FUD. Even now, against deeply entrenched, dominant, aggressive players like Apple.

A year from now, I'll be adding #9 to the above list:

9. The failure of the stillborn Gaming Tablet.

1) I have never seen MSFT working hard to convince anyone to buy a Tablet PC. Until now, that is. Should they have axed the product, knowing that the market was slim? Perhaps, but that is hardly the MSFT way - and, i doubt they lost very much in the end anyway.

2) Legacy hurts. You can only go so far before staying with a platform costs more than killing it off. According to most, they had failed already - so why are you advocating staying on a failing course of action?

3+4) Cant win them all.

5) Other OEM:s didnt seem to care much for WP before the Nokia partnership. If anything, the partnership seems to have worked to their advantage.

6) Obviously, WP7 failed to have a market impact. Again, why stick with a failing course of action?

7) Why choose? ARM and Intel have different strengths. One is light weight, the other a power house.

8) WP has Office without a desktop. MSFT is certainly ABLE to deliver office without a desktop - they, like me, just see no reason to restrict use unnecessarily. If i am going to work in Office (extensively) i want a desktop environment available. I would be surprised if the vast majority did not feel the same.

----

Wake up and smell the coffee. The entire world lives in the past. The average system deployed in the real world has a life-expectancy of 25 years. Businesses do want something that works, and then they want that working thing to work for a long time. Rapid release cycles may be nice in consumer markets, but for enterprise its a plague (in some industries, even Windows is moving too fast).

Further, WinRT is hardly anchoring to the past. WinRT is rather a way to bridge past and future.

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Originally Posted by dashiel

It’s pure speculation, but my reasoning is based on game developers propensity to push the boundaries. Whether it’s Chris Roberts way back in the early 90’s inserting a flyer in to Wing Commander boxes urging people to buy CD-ROM drives or it’s Naughty Dog claiming to have maxed out the PS3 with Uncharted 2, game developers will always want to do more.

Game consoles have set a precedent of 5-7 years in between upgrades, cost millions of dollars and usually have limited compatibility with the previous generation requiring retraining.

Tablets on the other hand are annual and have great backwards compatibility. They combine some of the benefits of a console (set specs) with some of the benefits of pc gaming (keeping better pace with technology) and unlike consoles the tablet makers have created an ecosystem where upgrading every 18-24 months is the norm.

Tablets will undoubtedly be blown out of the water when the 8th generation systems ship, but they will have less ground to make up than they did with 7th generation systems and will be moving at a much faster rate. I suspect there won’t be a 9th generation of game consoles as tablets will be so far ahead it simply won’t makes sense.

I don’t see the lack of stability as hampering game designers any more than the lack of stability in the PC market has.

Pushing boundaries and long cycles are not incompatible, on the contrary one could argue that longevity is a precondition for boundary pushing -- it takes time to learn how to make the most out of any environment, life itself is a good indicator of that. Further, the whole architecture of software platforms (like life itself) is based on the principle that a stable core allows for peripheral innovation. I would even argue that what is holding gaming back are not the consoles, but the people working to make the most out of them (just look at advances in motion-capturing).

That said, i can agree on the fact that technology moves faster than the people using them (i even argued the point above). In that sense, we will see device converge to a point where any single device will be powerful enough to take care of your every need. But that is very different from the argument regarding stability as rigidity or capability.

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Originally Posted by frayne182

The Wii has more sales then both the PS3 and Xbox lol.

Nintendo knows what they are doing.

Indeed. And unlike the rest, they are not selling their consoles at a loss.

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Originally Posted by Chupa Chupa

Huge mistake to trifurcate the Surface. It will only confuse and turn off consumers even more. Instead MS should leverage the Xbox brand into the regular Surface tablet -- not the RT, the one w/ the Intel chip.

But bigger issue is weight. The RT is too heavy. Now put real guts in the box, and you get something you don't want to hold for too long.

Too heavy? Surface RT is 0.05 lbs heavier than the iPad. Given that the RT is larger than the iPad i fail to see your point

[Tech198]

Seems like a good idea, however its going to be running a stripped down version of Windows.

Personally, this is already going to be a failure before it gets "off the ground" Unless, it's going to be *in addition* to the console.

No one wants to game on a limited tablet, plus you have heating issues, even with current games alone.

The Xbox is a pretty good high end console, so Microsoft will have to deal with this first.

While this may be a good idea, i reckon this would in an additional gaming console, not a replacement for the Xbox.

[divinox]

Originally Posted by albusseverus

All I can say is - this should be fun.

Surface is well known for lack of grunt.
X-Box is not windows, not even intel (yay, powerpc!)
Windows already takes up 12 GB on current surface devices

It would be pathetic, except MS had to make surface because their hardware partners weren't interested in windows 8. Who looks worse, here? Tough call.

Again - this should be fun. I guess the exercise is to keep windows 8 in the headlines, against the current Apple fascination.

8 or 13, depending on how we define "Windows" (5 for recovery, 8 for OS+apps). That said, you can easily extend your HD using external drives, thumb drives, and SD cards. Fail to see the real issue here. Especially given that a scaled down "Windows" will have a very small footprint. Xbox OS uses what? 500MB?

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Originally Posted by rhuber

I see it more as a complete (or evolving) media/entertainment system. I for one would like to see that evolution continue. BTW, I was trying to figure out how a separate tablet will differentiate itself as a gaming tablet aside from processor, etc. However I recently read that it will include multiple controller inputs. Kind of puts the concerns about gaming on a touch-based tablet to rest.

Complete is rarely able to compete. What happens when your kid has the tablet, and you want to stream a show? Given that hardware is cheap, adding more things to the box (money is made on services, not products) usually makes sense. I would say this case is no different. And if you are going that route, you might as well address several markets (e.g., casual, being a media box, and gaming, boosting the tablet, perhaps even allowing for casual gaming*).

But hey, I do not work for MSFT so what do i know =)

* if the box can already play games, why dock? well, it cant be impossible to make the two devices work better in tandem than one can on its own.

P.S.

Third solution would be the current approach. Dedicated box with tablet as a) second screen b) ability to take the game with you; i.e., cross-platform gaming.

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Originally Posted by Tech198

Seems like a good idea, however its going to be running a stripped down version of Windows.

Personally, this is already going to be a failure before it gets "off the ground" Unless, it's going to be *in addition* to the console.

No one wants to game on a limited tablet, plus you have heating issues, even with current games alone.

The Xbox is a pretty good high end console, so Microsoft will have to deal with this first.

While this may be a good idea, i reckon this would in an additional gaming console, not a replacement for the Xbox.

Stripped down version makes a lot of sense if you want to create a dedicated device. Then again, i might have misread your post.

That said, there are good potential for launching this as an added device (for those who want it all). As stated above: second screen (add another dimension to your box-gaming) and cross-platform gaming (take the game with you when you leave).