Acer Planning To Join Console Market?

[NamesDontMatter]

Supposedly, a senior official at Acer (the Taiwan-based company that specializes in PC notebooks) told BetaNews they are thinking about producing a "PC-based game machine." Furthermore, according to Acer's senior vice president, James T. Wong, this game machine would operate off an "open standard" philosophy, in contrast to the "closed" systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii).



"If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right now -- Nintendo's, the Xbox -- they are 'closed' and proprietary systems," said Wong. He went on to say that all Acer-branded systems from here on out - including this game machine - are considering a new style that offers "new and innovative form factors and applications." Now, we don't believe tackling the Big 3 is a good idea, but if Acer takes a new approach to the gaming platform as we know it, they might just have a chance...

Whenever we learn more about this plan to create a new gaming machine, we'll be sure to let you know. Just bear in mind that Acer did not necessarily confirm they are making a video game system; it's just an idea. Sure is an interesting one, though!

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[moto666]

Sounds intresting!
But what hardwer???
And Price tag?
I can't imagine that it wolud bee cheaper then an X-Box 360 or stronger!
So... ???

 

[craigo]

can't imagine that it wolud bee cheaper then an X-Box 360 or stronger!....
Why not? Acer buy lots of hardware and have access to lots of fab plants...how hard can it be to buy bulk ibm cell cpu`s (ala ps3) and have them cobbled together in a relativley cheap platform...it was only a matter of time before one of the major oems tapped this expanding market.
i wish them luck.

 

[mdm-adph]

Furthermore, according to Acer's senior vice president, James T. Wong, this game machine would operate off an "open standard" philosophy, in contrast to the "closed" systems (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii).

So, they're making a custom gaming PC. Yippee.

 

[Darkrealms]

Umm... aren't there enough consoles competing? What would it be "open standard" with? It would be the only one and therefore proprietary.
?confused?

 

[warup89]

man they are probably gonna make the "gamesphere"

 

[SK-1]

It would be unreal if "Open Standard" ended up meaning,..PLAYS ALL OTHER GAME CONSOLE DISCS!!

 

[InnocentCriminal]

A-HAHAHAHAHA!

It's not April (the) 1st already is it?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA!

To quote a colleague sitting at his work-bench opposite mine...

"Acer can suck my hairy balls!"

man they are probably gonna make the "gamesphere"

A-COMOGAMESPHERE!

 

[xfire]

When is apple making an ibox/iconsole?

 

[Azazel]

When is apple making an ibox/iconsole?

lol they probably have something in secret

 

[bruins004]

It would be unreal if "Open Standard" ended up meaning,..PLAYS ALL OTHER GAME CONSOLE DISCS!!

Now that would be very good.
However, there are a two big problems with this idea these days:
1. The big 3 consoles would prob. end up suing the company that made this machine
2. The way the security for the games would be changed for each system, hence making this system un-usable with the newer games.

I thought I remember a company tried this a while ago, but then gave up.
Cant remember the company though.

 

[jocksteeluk]

I could see this being a similar idea to the Phantom Games System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_(game_system)

I wouldn't expect it to penetrate any major market but should they release a games system it may do well it Asia where the other niche console seemingly do modest numbers.

 

[Ravenas]

TBH, Playstation 3 is the least proprietary console on the market right now, which is one of the main reasons I bought the consoles.

I think this is a dumb move by Acer's part because anything less proprietary than the PS3 will be a failure. The majority of console players aren't techies, and could care less about the hardware because the games are optimized for the system (not talking about HDDs here). Consoles allow an even field for all gamers while PCs allow a not so even field. It would be stupid for Acer to do this in my opinion.

 

[WhiteLotus]

If they make it to play all games, the PS3, XBOX360 and such i'd buy one!

 

[OnBoard]

Well, publishers wont have to pay massive fees. So basically anyone can make the game and ence it is "open". Thats my interpretation.

That sounds about right, but don't the games make the consoles? I mean if Polyphony Digital Inc decided to port Gran Turismo 5 to AcerBox, I'd buy it. That is of course if it were cheaper and all other great games would be ported to it as well.

Not that I believe there will ever be GT to any other platform than Sony's, they must be paying them a lot.. A console for console ports, EA would at least release all of its games to it. Made me smile the first time I looked at ProStreets page and saw all the platforms it was done:

Available On: Xbox 360™, PLAYSTATION®3, PlayStation®2, Wii™, PSP®(Playstation® Portable), Nintendo DS™, PC-CD.

If however Acer could not get all the console only game makers to make a version for their system as well, it would just be a PC I mean you already get PC ports for every big game, that is not console exclusive. And A PC that is not upgradeable, scary, outdated even when new.

 

[Darkrealms]

Well, publishers wont have to pay massive fees. So basically anyone can make the game and ence it is "open". Thats my interpretation.

Thats true, but will that be enough to get good games on it?

As much as I'd like to see Acer make a platform that could play the competetors games, I think every court that could be found would be pounded with lawsuites against them : (

 

[WarEagleAU]

This doesnt make much sense. Honestly. However, who knows, they may hit on a niche.

 

[Wile E]

When is apple making an ibox/iconsole?

They already tried their hand at it once. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin

 

[xfire]

Didnt know that. I'm sure the'll try again.

 

[v-zero]

Seems like a good idea to me, it's been kicking around in my head for a while. Considering that PC gaming has reached a point where almost every new release is available online and the Windows live movement is making many new games entirely gamepad friendly, the infrastructure for such a development is already in place - not to mention the possibility of film rentals, tv show rentals, the power of iTunes etc... Combine that with the extremely low price of fast components (DDR2, AMD/nVidia graphics, Intel/AMD processors) currently, and the market for a low cost gaming PC seems obvious.

If this happens it will be great for the PC gamer's market, because it will encourage more development...

 

[InnocentCriminal]

There is no way in hell Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would allow Acer to be multi-platform. Enough said!

 

[MilkyWay]

It will prolly play pc games and thus will be "open" itll prolly have a cell processor and some proprietary graphics processor maybe a physics processor.

So it will be like a console in model but it will just be a pc.

Could it just be a media pc that is really powerful?