Xbox 360: multiple versions planned, WebTV to ship on premium edition?
Date: Tuesday, April 19 @ 17:28:03 UTC
Topic: Xbox Development
BCossette Writes:
Sources close to the firm have confirmed this week that there's much talk of two distinct price points, which seems to indicate that this is still the plan for launch - while a report on well-connected gaming blog Kotaku gives an indication of how the two different models will be differentiated.
The site (gaming blog Kotaku) reports (see earlier news) that the basic edition of Xbox 360 - the version without the hard drive - will not have backwards compatibility, while the "premium" version with the hard drive will ship with Microsoft's WebTV functionality built-in.
WebTV is Microsoft's effort at bringing internet communication and media functionality to the living room, and includes basic functionality such as web, e-mail and IM access along with the ability to stream music and video channels from the 'net or from local PCs.
Integrating the system (WebTV) with Xbox 360 would be a logical move, and a major land-grab for Microsoft in this space - which is tipped to become more important in the coming years as increasing amounts of content are broadcast over the Internet as opposed to over traditional TV networks.
News-Source: gamesindustry.biz
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