X-box/nvidia conspiracy theory

[Haervii]

I'm probably leaving some stuff out here, but I don't know about liscensing and all that other crap. But it's the general idea that counts.

Ok, my theory is that Microsoft is using Nvidia to destroy the PC Games market, or at least sevrely weaken it.

My reasoning? Ok, I beleive that Microsoft proposed for Nvidia that they will use their fancy NV25 card and give the gobs of $ if nvidia will help them knock a severe blow to the PC Games market. Nvidia would do this by raising the price of tehir next card, the NV20, to a price no one can afford. So Nvidia doesn't actually want anyone to buy it, except for a few rich kids, so the PC Games market can't keep up in technology. Then Microsoft would step in with a handful of bought PC Games companies, a console-computer that is cheaper than a norml PC, and which also has better graphics and is generally higher in technology. With 3dfx gone, Nvidia would be the only one (bsides ATI, but their drivers suck ) to sell graphics cards to PC users. And if they put a roadblock up,$700 for a graphics card, PC gamers are screwed and are FORCED to buy that damn X-box, which is familiar to PC users because it damn near IS a computer.

It's the same general tactics Microsoft has used before: FORCE the user to buy your product. Microsoft wants it to happen, and when Microsoft wants it to happen, it HAPPENS.

 

[rickn]

There is no doubt about it that Xbox is what microsoft hopes will allow a move away from PC gaming.

 

[IamDavid]

I thought I was a conspiracy nut..

 

[Sugadaddy]

I made that remark in another thread. I'm thinking the same thing as you are. It's kind of far-fetched, but still possible. Let's hope ATI can come up with the Radeon 2 soon and at a decent price.

 

[Wingznut]

I'm not really into the whole conspiracy thing, but let's feed the fire anyway.

The way that nVidia bought out 3dfx, particularly with the Rampage on the horizon (which any insider will tell you was more advanced than the NV20) and the lawsuit staring them in the face... Very similar to what MS would do, no?

 

[nippyjun]

Nvidia didn't buy 3dfx. They just purchased the intellectual property and rights to all names, patents, etc. 3dfx is still a company, but they are just a hollow shell with no way to make money. The management of 3dfx sold out and screwed 3dfx fans and shareholders in the deal that they made. I would have rather seen the company gone bankrups or ATI purchase them, then Nvidia taking what they did.

 

[Finality]

<< Which any insider will tell you was more advanced than the NV20 >>


Hahaha I'm laughing my a$$ off. Go look at Carmacks comments before 3dfx went belly up. He was talking about the superiority of the NV20 back then. Now sweener bot has joined him as well.

There is no hope resistance is futile!

You really need to drop the whole &quot;3dfx waz shiznat&quot; bit. They are dead get over it.

 

[Sunner]

Well, a tad far fetched perhaps...
nVidia would make more money by milking both markets, and money is after all what its all about

Oh, and I agree with Finality, 3dfx is gone, its not good for anyone cept nVidia, but its real for everyone, just let it go, we're never gonna find out how powerful the Rampage would have been anyway.

 

[Wingznut]

nippyjun... Aren't we splitting hairs, here?

Finality... Were they talking about the Rampage in specific? I read those articles, but I don't remember them taking about the Rampage.

Guys, don't take what I say in this thread so literally... I'm just playing around with the conspiracy theory thing.

 

[JellyBaby]

MS's X-box strategy will hurt pc gaming but MS has a nice revenue stream there and I don't see why they'd intentionally destroy that industry. It's destruction would be purely incidental.

MS wants Xboxs in every home not to bring you &quot;exciting, revolutionary new games&quot; but to get a foothold into new territory. An Xbox in every home means MS in every home. I also see it as a counter &quot;AOL / AOL/Time&quot; move -- MS would love to be the proprietary 'net portal and MSN has never allowed them to do it. But first just get everyone hooked on the Xbox -- &quot;plant the seed&quot; if you will.

Anyway I will not buy an Xbox. I will not pay $700 for an nvidia video card.

 

[jagr10]

This whole idea seems plausible! See right now people like to play games on the pc because of better graphics, the ability to save more data (sports games), and the multiplayer option.

Now with the upcoming consoles (especially X-Box), a hard drive is included, broadband support, really good video and sound, fast processor.

So why do you need to play games on the computer after that? People like the console controllers better and like playing on the TV so I can see the consoles winning over the gmaing market in the future!

 

[kombatmud]

I would normally agree, but it hardly seems likely that nvidia would want to destroy a market where cards with their chips sell for as much as $500 or $600 in order to better a market where a console in which their chip is not a very significant portion of sells for $200 to $300. I imagine they make a lot more money out of the PC gaming industry. Especially because they will be relying very heavily on microsoft's ability to drive an industry that they've never been in before, and Nvidia doesn't seem like the type of company that is interested in relying so heavily on another company's success. If they did this, and the X-box failed, they'd lose an enormous amount of money, and may go out of business altogether.
Also, according to what I've read the X-box will be using the NV2A which is based on the NV20 and not the NV25, a lot of specs state NV25 inaccurately.

 

I can buy that theory. Forget what NVidia thinks, they are just a lemming in Microsoft's scheme to kill off the PC game market. This way Microsoft can make money from all XBox game royalties, rather than just the OS and Microsoft game sales. Not many hardcore gamers pay for the OS anyway, nor do they play many Microsoft games.

Poor NVidia is going to get hurt in the end, this I can almost guarantee. I have seen it before and I see no indication that the end game (cheesy pun intended) will be any different this time.

 

[billyjak]

I beleive microsoft and Nvidia are doing this to raise the technology of PC Game Companies, and X-Box will push the technology to a new level.
Microsoft knows there are old video cards out there and they want them replaced so Games written today are all on one level, that is high performance.
The sooner we all move ahead the better Video Games and Graphics will improve driving game costs down as they will not have to port it over to run on slower cards anymore.
If you look at the hottest selling games, they do not take advantage of todays technology.
Barbie, Frogger, Who wants to be a Millionare, titles like these are grabbing all the money while good games get low shares of sales because they have to make it compatible to run on a variety of cards, lessening the market to a particular few.
If x-box ciomes out average people will see the advancement in technology and say hey I need to upgrade.
The average computer person dosen't even know the new technology exists and when they buy a game,take it home and it runs like crap, they take it back and say the game dosen't work because it was written espessially for a GF2 or Radeon which takes advantage of new technology.
I beleive Price is still as strong as demand, if no demand price will be high...
Get everyone to upgrade then price plummits
Same is true if we all don't buy the product, they lower to get sales going, but with no competition it's not always true.
But $700.00 or even 6 Bills is pushing it too far.

 

[edblor]

I don't think that theory is plausible, and here's why:

1. Nvidia has the majority of their revenue from PC card sales.
2. Nvidia has entered other markets with the intent on commanding and dictating it's direction, and has been less than spectacular in doing so. (I'm talking about high end graphics here, and FireGL and others' still run that market).
3. (Similar to point 1.) but with revenues from PC sales and upgrades as high as they are (and with many ranges of product available, GF1, GF2, SDR, DDR, MX, Quadro...yada yada yada), do you really think they would put all their eggs in one basket. They have not done so up to this point, and I doubt they have/will.
4. Nvidia has taken a logical step in entering the Console arena (they enter a new revenue market every two years or so), and are betting that they will be successful, but they certainly are not betting the bank on this one.
5. Console sales are down tremendously over the past 3 years, and it's doubtful the world needs another console system to compete with the PC, let alone the other major dominating console manufacturers.
6. The PC does more than just games. If you remove the gaming aspect from the PC, it will not die, but the outcry will be deafening.
7. ATI (as on example) is entering the console industry shortly throught their involvement with Nintendo and will likely have a very competitive product in Nintendo's next offering.
8. Nvidia is a chip manufacturer and as such, it was logical for them to be able to adapt a product to a console system. The addition of the sound processor was also the next step they spoke of years ago. They also spoke of in the past of combining chips on 1 single die to conserve space, and this is a perfect example of that!

There...I said it. I like conspiracy theories like the next guy, but c'mon...let's be realistic

Edblor

 

[Haervii]

Well, I'm glad most of you agree, even though I hope I'm wrong, and it will suck immensley if in a year the only computer games left are Solitaire, barbie, millionaire, and all that other crap.

Also to jagr: No,nono. I'm not saying CONSOLES will win in the future, the X-box will. It is going to kick PS2 and even gamecube out the door. Why? because they are REGULAR consoles. They follow the rules: No hard drive, generally poor system specs(for a computer), limited or no online capabilty, that sort of thing. The X-box breaks all the rules, and that is why it is such a threat to the other options.

billyjak: I hope you're right about X-box helping the PC Games industry, however, if Joe cnsumer sees the power of teh X-box, he won't say, &quot;well time to upgrade&quot; he'll say &quot;I gotta get me one of these!&quot;. and use his P1 200MMX for word proccessing and internet.
(Unless X-box can do that to)

edblor: Well, if Nvidia wnats to stay in PC gaming, why will tehy have the NV20 priced at $700?

This reminds me of when I switched from mac to PC. There just weren't enough games for PC, and while I hated to buy a PC, if I wanted to game,there just wan't a choice. Slick Willy won me over. I just don't want it to happen again.

 

[edblor]

Hehe...lol

The X-Box is sounding like it will simply be a PC in disguise when it finally comes out!

And isn't it funny how Microsoft stated one spec for the x-box in it's early deveopment, and now is spec'ing something completely different?

The only thing the X-Box will have over any product it competes with, is the graphics/sound processor in one. However...and a big however...is that Nvidia will have the NV20/25 out (as it already is in fab) and ATI and whoever else really, will have their next best thing out there!

Do you guys really believe it will replace the PC? Gheesh...it IS a PC.

Edblor

 

[JavaMomma]

I wonder how hard it will be to build a Windows Emulator for the Xbox...

 

[Dark4ng3l]

I think the xboz will fail for the same reason the Dreamcast did. With all the gimmicks(hard drive, internet conection) it will be realy expensive to produnce and once people figure out a way to pirate the games MS wont be making enough money from software sales to make the xbox profitable.

 

According to the Wired article that is linked in every other XBox thread (sorry, too lazy to find it), the XBox will tear any PC based GPU a new one for some time to come. It all boils down to XBox not having to deal with AGP buses, etc. So, I don't really see a XBox emulator happening - for a while at least. I mean, the software side is really easy to break, until coders start writing directly to hardware (in a few years, when the API stuff gets too slow). In the meantime, even a NV20 or NV25 vs the &quot;console-ized&quot; NV2A is no match.

I still think the XBox is at great risk of failure. All the speed and gfx does not earn you the top spot. It's been proven time and time again.

 

[JellyBaby]

It's still gonna take a boat load of great games to get xbox off to a profitable start. They're starting early and supposedly there will be more than 1 or 2 Mega Hits come xmas time (xbox for xmas...nice slogan). My problem is pc talent is moving to support console games which does me no good.

 

[borealiss]

if the tech of the xbox is better than what the pc gaming industry can offer and is good enough to detract users from the pc to the xbox so that the pc gaming industry is virtually nil, i don't see what's wrong with that, since in order for this to ever become a reality, the xbox will simply have to rock and be absolutely phenomenal. and if it was that good, then gaming on a platform such as that wouldn't be all that bad, considering it's price point. obsolescence would also be a thing of the past. but i find this extremely unlikely and doubt the pc gaming industry is going to vanish any time soon.

 

[mikef208]

I think you all are crazy, but then again so is Bill Gates. I just don't think this is what is going on. Plus there is a big problem with the theory, in the form of ATI.

 

[extro]

MS and nVidia have no interest in killing off the PC game market. They both make a lot of profit from it. nVidia owes its existence to it. They just want to make money off the very lucrative console market as well.

Not everyone wants to play games on a PC. Not everyone enjoys updating drivers for their video and sound cards to work with their new game, clearing up space on the HD and doing a 20 minute install, only to discover that their mouse doesn't work right either and it needs new drivers too. They want stuff to just work out of the box when they load it up without any muss and fuss, and they'd like it to look and sound as good as the games on a high-end PC. That's what dedicated game consoles excel at.

If X-Box raises the bar for the quality of games in general, good for all of us.

 

[skace]

I see the entire gaming future progressing into massively multiplayer. Computers will always have the lead here and once the next generation of PC games are out people will realize this. Dawn, Shadowbane, Anarchy Online, UO2, and a few others. Not to mention Computer Games are always a step ahead (IMO). The X-box doesn't have a prayer to change this. Nvidia's prices will go down or people won't buy it, that simple.

Cya,
skace