Microsoft rumored to be allowing third-party Xbox 360 hardware

With E3 fast approaching the rumor mill is unsurprisingly already in full swing, and this latest possibility to crop up is certainly one of the more tantalizing of the season, even it is a tad unlikely. If EGM's Quarterman is to be believed, however, it seems that Microsoft may be about to take a cue from the late, lamented 3D0 and begin allowing third-party manufacturers to build their own Xbox 360 hardware, which could conceivably include something as previously far fetched as a Blu-ray player with a built-in 360. Lending a smidgen of credence to that rumor is a recent quote by Microsoft's David Gosen, who told MCV that the company is working on things that he says will be "game changing." Of course, it would hardly be the first time that something touted to be game changing turned out to be anything but, but we only have a few more weeks to wait until we know for sure.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

[Randall @ Jun 26th 2008 4:05PM]

Don't forget the forgotten Panasonic Q, Nintendo's under-publicized 3rd party console!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic_Q

Nintendo and Sega (methinks) did the same thing, without any success in the US.

[Dale @ Jun 26th 2008 4:15PM]

How do you know it was under publicised; do you live in Japan?

[Christian Walters @ Jun 26th 2008 4:35PM]

ZING! Nice one Dale!

[spyder91 @ Jun 26th 2008 5:19PM]

Actually, I had heard of that back when it first came out and remember the translucent looking shell quite vividly. I assumed it never came out over here in that style because Apple would have sued them for copying the G4 cube chassis look.

[Dale @ Jun 26th 2008 5:40PM]

Wow, someone else called Dale, who - judging by their spelling - is British.

[Nate the Prophet @ Jun 26th 2008 5:47PM]

As if MS did have enough of a fiasco with their 15% + failure rate on the hardware they made themselves, now they're going to allow 3rd party? I just can't believe they'd be that stupid. Generating sales with cheap crap is NOT going to gain you anything in the long-term.

[RandomCake @ Jul 7th 2008 11:23AM]

What you been smoking Nate? 3rd party != cheap crap
If it were done I seriously doubt it would be done with cheap crap hardware.

[Crazylink @ Jun 26th 2008 4:13PM]

Microsoft wont let 3rd parties use their proprietary wireless tech, why would they give them the hardware.

[Striker @ Jun 26th 2008 4:41PM]

Yes, they do. Guess who makes the wireless Les Paul controller? RedOctane, idiot, they have been licensing the technology for about a year.

[Pippers @ Jun 26th 2008 5:42PM]

That's only because they want to one up the PS3 on the gaming front.

Try telling Logitech and everyone else they're free to make wireless controllers for the 360.

[Crazylink @ Jun 26th 2008 7:51PM]

I thought the GH3 Controller uses a dongle.
You certainly don't have to call me an idiot for not knowing, asshole.

[required @ Jun 26th 2008 4:21PM]

Sounds like they're abandoning ship, or giving up the helm. Ye'ol PS3 Wii waters arrh too rough?

[Eric H @ Jun 26th 2008 4:38PM]

Wow did you really think that comment was clever enough to post on Joystiq and engadget?

[required @ Jun 26th 2008 5:06PM]

you read the same article twice

[Slick @ Jun 26th 2008 6:08PM]

Apparently you post on the same article twice

[digitallysick @ Jun 26th 2008 4:25PM]

So sony could make a system with blu ray and plays xbox/ps3 games, and all in one? sold

[Lowest Ranked @ Jun 26th 2008 4:39PM]

Anyone can do that with any console. They have to sign a contract as a vendor/manufacturer then buy a license for the trademarks, parts, proprietary software, and naming royalties, produce it and slap an MS sticker on it.

Dumbass, they're licensing for hardware peripherals.

[kjb434 @ Jun 26th 2008 4:25PM]

So conceivably you could have a dual boot PC with 360 and Windows?

[Striker @ Jun 26th 2008 4:42PM]

No, Windows does not run on a PPC Core.

[spil @ Jun 26th 2008 5:01PM]

So I could dual boot OS X and 360 on my PPC based Mac?

[kal326 @ Jun 26th 2008 5:09PM]

@Striker

Not true, Windows does not run on a PPC chip natively. There was Virtual PC for Macs that did run Windows XP on the PPC Macs. Also NT4 could run on PPC and Alpha chips.

[Striker @ Jun 26th 2008 5:36PM]

Yes, I forgot the possibility of a virtual machine, but that would not be a dual boot.

@Spil
Yes, if you somehow had a PPC Mac that has sufficient processing power to run games designed for a Tri-core processor and a GPU with 48 unified pipelines, so if you have that, then you would be set.

[spil @ Jun 27th 2008 10:24AM]

@Striker:
So I guess my 1.25 Ghz Mini won't work then...

[Eothein @ Jun 26th 2008 4:26PM]

Um, we had this rumour before GDC too, bassicaly, its not going to happen.

Why?

Well not only does Microsoft now make money from every console sold but do you think they want their branding besmirched by having a Samsung 360 etc. The whole point of the 360 was to help Microsoft take over so to speak the living room entertaintment device market.

I hope I'm wrong and we get a RROD proof 360 but chances are we won't.

[iansilv @ Jun 26th 2008 4:29PM]

Actually, I am pretty sure they still sell the consoles at a loss. And as for taking over the living room, all consoles are sold at a loss- so the medi sold can make up the diference. Except for the Wii- Nintendo actually make smoney off of that.

As for takin over the living room- Xbox Live delivering content makes them money, so do games- Microsoft does nto care who makes their consoles, as long as they are quality products. I think this would help them significantly in that endeavor, but I don't think they can pull it off.

[Striker @ Jun 26th 2008 4:44PM]

@iansilv

The Xbox Division is turning a profit, so it must be off consoles, as they do not make games, and they have said that the profit was off consoles.

[JerkfacedFed @ Jun 26th 2008 9:39PM]

no,, they dont develop games, but they publish them, which is how you make money in the gaming industry. fool.

[iansilv @ Jun 26th 2008 4:27PM]

EGM's "Quarterman" is an idiot. That POS magazine has the most incredible rack record of false rumors and garbage news ever. Back in the early 90's that guy, or his predecessor, predicted Nintendo was going to be reading games off of tape. i don't care i it does come true, I have never found that source to be reliable.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 26th 2008 4:27PM]

Hum, a whole Xbox 360 on an optional PCiE card, perhaps? And this could be simply an option when buying (or building) a rig (i.e. instead of a 3rd video card for tri-SLI give me the X360 card)? That my friends would actually be kinda smart on their part. Sizable software library, and a move into the ubiquitous real of the PC on the cheap. Let’s see if this plays out this way...

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 26th 2008 4:28PM]

realm

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 26th 2008 4:29PM]

realm

[iansilv @ Jun 26th 2008 4:30PM]

Now that would be cool!

[disciple83 @ Jun 26th 2008 4:36PM]

I would disagree so much it hurts. Allowing the 360 console to be upgradeable in the same manner a PC is upgraded will only cause major fallout in the consumer market. The whole purpose for getting a 360 in the first place was because I knew that I didn't have to worry about upgrading it every year to keep playing. Allowing this would cause the Cliffy B's of the world to push the graphics on games that are supposed to be fun to the point where it cripples gameplay and forces consumers to upgrade. Leave the to the PC gamer/enthusiast crowd. I'll keep my xbox the way it is thank you, and upgrade it when the 720 or whatever comes out in a few years.

[John @ Jun 26th 2008 5:05PM]

That would be incredibly cool, having nvidia build an add on video card with the sole purpose of running xb360 games using a desktop computer

[mazda3guy @ Jun 26th 2008 10:39PM]

@disciple83: Wow, you should really go back and read what Frankenstein Black wrote again since you Completely misunderstood his comment...

[OfflinePK @ Jun 26th 2008 4:30PM]

I don't see this being a really smart move. Consoles are like the flavor of the week except we're talking a week that last a few years. Me thinks that since we're practically at the half way point of this video game generations life time. Any third party developer wouldn't really have enough time to develop, test, release, and make a decent profit off of hardware for the 360. Then again the prospect of decent innovative third party hardware for consoles is enticing.

[iansilv @ Jun 26th 2008 4:32PM]

But- with this economy- it may last a little longer. Plus, they know the components they need to build the console- they are now mass available everywhere.

[OfflinePK @ Jun 26th 2008 4:42PM]

True I guess I was thinking more along the lines of hardware that would introduce new functionality for the console not just compatible hardware that works the same way.

[ill trooper @ Jun 26th 2008 4:56PM]

This would essentially be set-top PC gaming, something they headed towards with the original Xbox, hardware-wise a specialized PC with proprietary ports.

I guess the upside is that someone else might make a more robust 360, a model less prone to RRoD failures. Hmmm. I like it.

[Jake @ Jun 26th 2008 4:49PM]

360 is much more unsucessful than the 3DO, as that did not have horrendous reliability issues...

[collectivexp @ Jun 26th 2008 4:54PM]

I'd buy a 61" LCD HDTV with built in 360!

[andres @ Jun 26th 2008 5:18PM]

would really suck if it rrod'd

[Emre Aydinceren @ Jun 26th 2008 4:53PM]

Who ever makes this claims obviously don't know much about this business. Game consoles loose money, they are bad business if you are only in for hardware revenue.

The meat is in the software, production, distribution and platform licensing fee offset losses in hardware..

Microsoft will gladly offload hardware sales as long as it can collect licensing fees from content, but manufacturers are not willing to go produce a game console and sell it with a loss .

[bobthehdbuilder @ Jun 26th 2008 5:35PM]

Yeah, the console originally was sold at a loss, but if you knew business you'd realize that the more you manufacture a product, the less it costs. Additionally, MS has used new, less costly chips in the new models, dropping the production cost even further. As it was noted previously, MS is not turning a profit on each console. If MS was to unleash 3rd party hardware, yo'd see more and more issues with playing the new games, it would be a dumb move. The "game changing" announcement will be some overhyped controller, built-in video share, etc

[Bill @ Jun 26th 2008 4:57PM]

I don't know about you guys, but this almost makes me want to dig around in my garage for my old 3DO system, hook it up, and run a couple laps of Road Rash.

[Aedile @ Jun 26th 2008 5:03PM]

Sorry, but the "game-changing" comment could mean anything. A dollar says they announce some lame motion-based controller to cover the "game-changing" comment.
*sigh*
-aedile-

[John D @ Jun 26th 2008 5:17PM]

Will this mean a keyboard mouse setup in the Future?????

Come on Logitech !!!!!!! crank one out

[kal326 @ Jun 26th 2008 5:17PM]

Not going to happen, part of what makes consoles as powerful as they are given the hardware they have is that they are a closed system. Developers can optimise the hell out of their video and audio code because they know what hardware is going to be present in the box. That is why games that were ported from the original Xbox required a lot newer hardware to run compared to the hardware in the Xbox which was basically a 733Mhz P3 and a 5000 series nvidia card. The 360 is a bit harder to make a comparison too with the PPC main cpu and a modified ATI chip with a propritary frame buffer memory. Microsoft already contracts out the production of the 360 under their name, why would they let somebody else build it and then slap their brand name on it instead?

[Dorf @ Jun 26th 2008 5:36PM]

That's a great point. Maybe it would be more along the lines of building a 360 using the same parts, but a vendor throwing in extra stuff, like a TiVo, or a blueray player, or a VCR..(haha, kidding.)

[totoro @ Jun 26th 2008 6:16PM]

I agree. More importantly, they optimize for a very specific hardware configuration to eke out as much speed and power as possible--how can Microsoft guarantee complete compatibility if some other company is making them?

Even a minor change could have major compatibility issues with some games, leading to all the problems you have in the PC game market, which is exactly what consoles are trying to avoid. Why would MS want that headache?