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Acer Plans to Develop “Open-Standard” Game Console


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Acer Plans to Develop “Open-Standard” Game Console

Acer Wants to Challenge Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

Acer, a leading maker of personal computers, said at a press conference recently that one of the projects that it was working on was an open-standard video game system. The company did not unveil any details about the potential product, but stressed that its device will compete against Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Wii.

“If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right now – Nintendo’s [Wii], [Microsoft’s] Xbox – they are ‘closed’ and proprietary systems,” complained Acer’s senior vice president James T. Wong in an interview with Beta News web-site. Therefore, the company sees a success opportunity in a game console based on open standards.

The high-ranking executive of Acer said that beyond “openness”, all of the Acer-branded systems being eyed right now, including the game machine, are envisioned as offering new and innovative form factors and applications.

There is a significant difference between proprietary gaming systems and open standard gaming systems for gamers: the cost of games. For example, Electronic Arts’ latest Need for Speed: ProStreet for PC costs $29.99 at Amazon.com, Xbox 360 version is sold for $42.99, Nintendo Wii version is priced at $49.99, whereas Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation 3 is available for whopping $59.99, two times higher compared to PC version.

Theoretically, a game console which developer does not charge huge royalties for the ability to develop and sell compatible games may allow video game makers to sell their titles at a lower price. However, the question is whether the creator of such game system is able to sell it at an affordable price-point while offering decent performance and feature-set. Usually game consoles are sold at a loss and then their developers earn money on games and royalties. Acer’s business model is based on selling hardware at a profit.

source : http://tinyurl.com/34moqw

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Yeah, I suppose it's going to compete directly against this too.
ya think it'll become vaporware ? the company that was going to make the phantom was fairly small and unknown ...

and the subscription idea was terrible ...

acer's a pretty big name (the majority of laptops sold in europe are acers ...)

and i see this feesable, just create a small pc in a console box with a custom OS ... (kinda like the xbox was but open-standards :p)

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Because all these hobby games developers are going to develop games of the same standard that EA, Activision, Microsoft, etc produce. :-)
probably not but how about the smaller game/software developers who would have to spend a lot for a m$/sony/nintendo license and development kit
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Because all these hobby games developers are going to develop games of the same standard that EA, Activision, Microsoft, etc produce. :-)

EA shouldn't be on that list, there games are populare, that doesn't make them any good.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Because all these hobby games developers are going to develop games of the same standard that EA, Activision, Microsoft, etc produce. :-)

I don't think a platform has to be closed in order to attract game development. There's this thing called a PC that also has games on it. (Before you start complaining, we all know MS makes Windows and the operating system is clearly not open source; but the API, apart from a few hidden features is almost fully known and it is possibly to run any application on the platform without it needing to be digitally signed and verified by MS at the cost of thousands of dollars per application. So for all intents and purposes (if you're a game developer) Windows is an open platform.)

I would guess though that managers at a game company would be bothered by the knowledge that their code is un-DRMed and open to be copied. I'm not contradicting myself from what I said before. These same managers oversee games for the PC. People like this are just that retarded. (There is DRM for PC games but it crap and never works, PC games are copied within minutes whereas platform games usually require a $75 modchip, hours soldering and fingers crossed. Which almost nobody ever bothers with).

The thing that is most important though, is MONEY. If a game developer is going to make money by creating a game for this platform, they will do it. If you think that if there is going to be money to be made that these people are going to pass on the opportunity you need brainscans. Therefore, the platform is going to need to be popular. Nobody is making a game (or paying somebody to port it from another platform) if 2 people are going to buy it.

As with all things, the platform needs a user base to attract games. It needs alot of games to attract a user base.

It probably will not go anywhere. (Or I could be back here 5 years from now playing on my ASUS gaming machine eating my word burger, who knows?)

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I doubt anything  much will come out of this Open Standard system because it has way to much competition and unless it gathers much support from the game developers, it wont have any decent titles.

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