Microsoft is already thinking about the design of the next Xbox

Boomstick777 · 22 May 2014 at 00:22

"It's going to be amazing where we are in ten years."

The Xbox One may be only just out the door, but senior principal industrial design manager Carl Ledbetter and his team are already pondering the possible form of its successor. Speaking to OXM at Microsoft's new London Studios HQ near Oxford Circus this week, Ledbetter discussed reactions to the console's "boldly understated" look and feel, and hinted at on-going experiments as to the "aesthetic of the future".

http://www.totalxbox.com/76776/microsoft-is-already-thinking-about-the-design-of-the-next-xbox/

Shamikebab · 22 May 2014 at 02:05

Of course, R&D never stops.

Boomstick777 · 22 May 2014 at 02:27

A lot of sites were predicting that PS4/Xbox One would be the last traditional console systems, with things moving to the cloud etc. So it's good that are more plans for newer consoles in the future. Means gaming will continue as we know for a long while yet.

Mentions 10 years in the link, I don't think Xbox One / PS4 will last much more than 5 years tbh, before a newer more powerful replacement. PC is already miles ahead in terms of capability.. Imagine how much further ahead than PS4 / Xbox One the PC will be in 5 years from now 2019 :eek:

malachi · 22 May 2014 at 07:22

Boomstick777 said:
A lot of sites were predicting that PS4/Xbox One would be the last traditional console systems, with things moving to the cloud etc. So it's good that are more plans for newer consoles in the future. Means gaming will continue as we know for a long while yet.

Mentions 10 years in the link, I don't think Xbox One / PS4 will last much more than 5 years tbh, before a newer more powerful replacement. PC is already miles ahead in terms of capability.. Imagine how much further ahead than PS4 / Xbox One the PC will be in 5 years from now 2019

Not much really bigger resolutions and more colourful 3D models unless VR takes off. Graphics in gaming has slowed down now compared to the late 90's, early 2000's.

Jokester · 22 May 2014 at 08:55

Yeah next big thing will presumably be 4k but I can't see that happening in the next gen of consoles. Maybe Occulus type headsets as standard if it catches on with the PC (personally I think it's a bit niche regardless).

BattFink · 22 May 2014 at 09:09

I suspect the next thing will be a redesign of the current XBOX One's form factor (e.g. an XBOX one slim)

Personally I don't think we're going to be seeing a 4k capable machine any time soon as the hardware to maintain 4k resolutions is too expensive to be put into a console priced machine

hughtrimble · 22 May 2014 at 09:12

BattFink said:
I suspect the next thing will be a redesign of the current XBOX One's form factor (e.g. an XBOX one slim)

Personally I don't think we're going to be seeing a 4k capable machine any time soon as the hardware to maintain 4k resolutions is too expensive to be put into a console priced machine

Surely that's just as things currently stand! A lot of tech will change, and at an ever increasing rate over the next 10 years.

topshot · 22 May 2014 at 09:20

Boomstick777 said:
A lot of sites were predicting that PS4/Xbox One would be the last traditional console systems, with things moving to the cloud etc. So it's good that are more plans for newer consoles in the future. Means gaming will continue as we know for a long while yet.

Mentions 10 years in the link, I don't think Xbox One / PS4 will last much more than 5 years tbh, before a newer more powerful replacement. PC is already miles ahead in terms of capability.. Imagine how much further ahead than PS4 / Xbox One the PC will be in 5 years from now 2019

Cant see them giving up on PS4/Xbox one after 5 years at all. It is going to take at least half that before we even see games starting to push their capabilities. PC is always going to be ahead but its not important to the majority of gamers who want a console in their lounge.

Boomstick777 · 22 May 2014 at 09:25

malachi said:
Not much really bigger resolutions and more colourful 3D models unless VR takes off. Graphics in gaming has slowed down now compared to the late 90's, early 2000's.

Bigger resolutions as not much? Lol, it makes a massive difference. We're already 4K capable, in 5 years '2019' some will be on 8K. Xbone will be @ 720P. That is a massive difference. In 5 years even phones will be more powerful than the XB1. There will need to be a hardware refresh of the consoles to stay relevant.

Jokester · 22 May 2014 at 09:25

hughtrimble said:
Surely that's just as things currently stand! A lot of tech will change, and at an ever increasing rate over the next 10 years.

GPU technology is going to increasingly stagnate though due to the increasing issues suffered trying to reduce their size. I don't see a single chip pushing acceptable frame rates in most games at 4k for at least another two generations, possibly three as it is , all while more demanding games are released so GPUs are always lagging behind needin at least two GPUs to cope.

Admiral Huddy · 22 May 2014 at 09:26

Shamikebab said:
Of course, R&D never stops.

I can't see how both PS4/Xbox can retain their current format.. with plausible online streaming such as Nvidia's shield being an example of what's to come. Why would you need a box?

Boomstick777 · 22 May 2014 at 09:29

Jokester said:
GPU technology is going to increasingly stagnate though due to the increasing issues suffered trying to reduce their size. I don't see a single chip pushing acceptable frame rates in most games at 4k for at least another two generations, possibly three as it is , all while more demanding games are released so GPUs are always lagging behind needin at least two GPUs to cope.

GPU technology isn't going to stagnate if they are pushing for 4K capability and to make smaller / more power efficient.

That's development not stagnation.

4K capability VS 720P is a massive difference. Consoles will need a refresh much faster this time around as PC and phones / tablets will be far more advanced within 5 years..

MagicBoy · 22 May 2014 at 09:32

Boomstick777 said:
http://www.totalxbox.com/76776/microsoft-is-already-thinking-about-the-design-of-the-next-xbox/

Well Duh! R&D is an ongoing process.

Davey_Pitch · 22 May 2014 at 09:32

I think both MS and Sony are already considering their future plans, they would be stupid not to be. I do think this current gen will run for at least 7 years though, as both have a lot of power under the hood which can be tweaked to the max over the coming years. I don't think MS will take any chances with the power of their next console as well, considering the flak they've taken for it this gen.

Jokester · 22 May 2014 at 09:36

Boomstick777 said:
GPU technology isn't going to stagnate if they are pushing for 4K capability and to make smaller / more power efficient.

That's development not stagnation.

4K capability VS 720P is a massive difference. Consoles will need a refresh much faster this time around as PC and phones / tablets will be far more advanced within 5 years..

What if they can't make them smaller? That's the issue the industry is facing. It's not like the old days when it was "easy" the gap between each die shrink is getting bigger each time as more and more technical hurdles need to be over come.

Graphics performance will stagnate, because the hardware required just won't exist any time soon. At the top end lets say it's 2 generations before 4k runs at 60fps, it'll be another 2 generations before that then becomes efficient efficient enough to put in a console at 100-150w. So possibly 10 years of further hardware development.

Just to play current games at 4k.

iv-tecman · 22 May 2014 at 09:45

R & D is good, it is what keeps tech from stalling , so I'm sure the next gen of consoles by not only ms are being worked on, but also by Nintendo, Sony and maybe even new players into the market, such a valve who want to make an appliance out of steam and big picture etc...

gpu speeds keep increasing yearly, only 10 years ago we were lucky to play pc games at acceptable frame rates at 1024 x 768, now pc gamers pretty much take 1920 x 1080 as the norm, ps4 is pretty mu much a 1080 p console for nearly all its games. X1 despite its early issues is seeing games that are nearing on this as well, heck even laptops have gpus that are capable of recent releases at 1080p at sustainable fps.

Mobile devices are getting quicker, as said, 4k is a way off yet, but we'll get there...

Boomstick777 · 22 May 2014 at 10:16

Jokester said:
What if they can't make them smaller? That's the issue the industry is facing. It's not like the old days when it was "easy" the gap between each die shrink is getting bigger each time as more and more technical hurdles need to be over come.

Graphics performance will stagnate, because the hardware required just won't exist any time soon. At the top end lets say it's 2 generations before 4k runs at 60fps, it'll be another 2 generations before that then becomes efficient efficient enough to put in a console at 100-150w. So possibly 10 years of further hardware development.

Just to play current games at 4k.

Couldn't disagree more bud, graphics performance is still increasing with each new iteration more so than CPU's.

Even the first wave of 20nm will be a step up in performance and big drop in power consumption. That is rumored for late this year 2014..

You say 4K as if it's no big deal, like it's an easy thing. To achieve 4K playable settings GPU's will have to continue to develop, and get more performance per watt. If in 2-3 years we have single GPU's approaching 4K playable setting VS 720P/1080p on console, than that is a massive step up in performance in the PC space. That isn't stagnation.

5 Years from now it's possible phones / tablets will be more powerful than the XB1/PS4. This gen def won't last as long as the last..

An Exception · 27 May 2014 at 19:28

topshot said:
Cant see them giving up on PS4/Xbox one after 5 years at all. It is going to take at least half that before we even see games starting to push their capabilities. PC is always going to be ahead but its not important to the majority of gamers who want a console in their lounge.

Now that they are using a standard PC architecture they can just release a more powerful machine and still have backwards compatibility with previous gen games.
It also means the next gen will be a more enticing proposition as people can still play their (by then) old games.

d_brennen · 2 Jun 2014 at 21:01

An Exception said:
Now that they are using a standard PC architecture they can just release a more powerful machine and still have backwards compatibility with previous gen games.
It also means the next gen will be a more enticing proposition as people can still play their (by then) old games.

IMO that was one of the driving forces behind both big players going x86/GCN. PPC + GCN might have even been faster at the same cost