According to a report the 360 successor will sport 2 SKUs again. One fully featured model, and one lesser one. At first this doesnt sound exciting as again the lesser model would be developed as the baseline, but the reports also claim that the lesser model will not have an optical drive, meaning any disc based games would be solely for the more powerful model.

It's an interesting thought.

You spelled "stupid" wrong...

I don't like the idea of only being able to download games.

If it's the 360, I can only download my own games from Xbox, and they way overcharge on games.

If it's open market, like Stream, then you get lowered prices for competition.

I aint gonna but no non-optical drive...

Likely so. I don't think you and I are the market they'd be targetting with a no-optical drive SKU. We'd both buy the upper model, I'd think.

See, this is what makes me most annoyed (not the right word, but the first I can think of) with what they're (allegedly) doing.

Gimped model for cheap, proper model for expensive.

This isn't like the Vita with a 3G/Wifi and Wifi only model - connectivity outside of the house is an extra. An optical drive for reading games is a massively vital component. Hell, why not go the whole hog and have two models: one with console and two controllers, the other with one controller and you have to buy the console as an extra.

Then you have to realise that not everywhere has internet, and a lot of countries - Australia being massively impacted this way - have caps on their internet usage. Next gen console = next gen games = massive downloads = Australia saying "LOLNO" and being forced to pay extra for the bigger machine.

If this is true, then I will put as much money on it as you like, but it'll be the PSPGo all over again.

I can't believe I bought this shit

It;s like then they released the one without a hard drive. Eventually came games it couldn't play. What's the fucking point?

I think idea here would be that the arcade system would truly be an arcade system. If you want real disc based games, you buy the proper system. It's just another option.

It would effectively create only one SKU for the disc-based games, so Ax's concern doesn't really apply here IMO.

They would be marketed to completely different groups.

Not saying the report is true, and not saying that if it is, I think it'll work for them either.

Oh I know, which is why I said allegedly... but if it is, its a bad move.

PSPGo proved this, and lets be honest, how many folk will want to buy a next-gen console PURELY for downloadable arcade titles? I'll tell you how many.

One.

Joey.

Because the boy is a fool.

Yeah my concern being one console not being able to play a certain game. I see if this goes ahead, they're gonna want all their releases to be digital as well, simultaniously.

But they're gonna have to have a fair wad of storage present here, given that these games are gonna take up a lot of space. But then again they could stand to sell these so cheap, given the extra they'll make from downloaded games.

I don't think simultaneous DL for every game is the endgame at all. I just think they are looking at one SKU for disc based games. Some of the less intensive games may come out as digital downloads, but I think the "arcade" system would be all about the casual gamers

Well, they're releasing major titles as downloadables on Live right now, aren't they? Not saying this is exactly the best strategy, but what would be any different?

I think a modular xbox would be nice. Sort of like a pc, but it's still an xbox. Higher performance parts could be purchased to speed up the system, such as a SSD and a dedicated video card. The base model could run everything perfectly fine, but you could dish out the $$$ for better performance.

Thats a massive market not buying the smaller model...

You'd get all sorts of people fucking around with all sorts, it'd be a warranty nightmare. Not to mention people claiming others had an unfair advantage over them due to their console.

Also, xboxes have always been aimed towards focusing on what they do well. Graphics, online play and connectivity have always been top notch. The playstation 3 has been the one to lean towards bein more open and pc like.

I want my console to be second to none for gaming. Thats why i'd rather wait a few more years for another console generation.