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Acer Plans to Join the Console Market

neogaf.com — The Taiwanese Notebook manufacturer Acer plans to enter into the console market. This communicated the senior Vice President, James T. Wong, on a press conference. Most current consoles are closed and proprietary systems, which machine" on PC technology based "game machine"; from Acer is to set against it on open standards. This could mean. . .

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  • Four20, on 03/17/2008, -2/+9Translated from - http://www.gamestar.de/news/hardware/vermischtes/a ...
    • pussieLicker, on 03/18/2008, -4/+7Acer aint gonna do shet. This is just another Phantom console scam to make some free moneys.
      • sponeil, on 03/18/2008, -4/+7Wow, coming from a person named "pussieLicker", that comment carries a lot of weight.
        • DanOnTheMoon, on 03/18/2008, -2/+6And what, pray tell, is wrong with licking pussy?
        • jasarien, on 03/18/2008, -0/+7They have claws and meow a lot. And the fur gets in your mouth, it's just terrible.
    • NgrHader, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2do not want
  • DeadlyCouncil, on 03/17/2008, -16/+44First Apple and now Acer, things could get ***** crazy for gamers in the coming years.
    • estvir, on 03/17/2008, -6/+56If either of those 2 companies even eventuate into anything remotely worth considering and so far I'm complete dismissing Apple.
      • colincornaby, on 03/17/2008, -14/+6I think the posted was talking about the iPhone. Spore on the iPhone is a pretty serious move, and the iPhone looks like it's got the hardware to handle games. You might dismiss the iPhone and iPod Touch, but look at how many iPods Apple has sold over the last few years. Now imagine iPod sales for the next few years, with most of those iPods capable of playing games. Suddenly Apple's potential gaming marketshare doesn't seem so small....
        • Syphon8, on 03/17/2008, -3/+14All cell phones have games.
          • CATSCEO, on 03/17/2008, -11/+4No other cell phones have controls like the iPhone.
          • TimDigg, on 03/17/2008, -15/+4No cell phone has the market share of iphone...not to mention the distribution model of itunes
          • wellyuk, on 03/18/2008, -0/+6@!TimDigg,

            That's incorrect. There are far, far, and I'll say it again FAR, more symbian based mobile phones which are compatible with each other and capable of playing games, than iphones out there. But I'll give you the iTunes distribution model. That works very well, as we've all seen.
          • jasarien, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Not all cell phones are capable of OpenGL ES games. 90% of cell phone games are Java based. Also I've never come across a cell phone game that I actually ever wanted to spend more than 5 minutes playing, because the screens were so small, the graphics were terrible bitmap sprites, and the controls were about as responsive as a cabbage.
          • lorddazzer, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Yes... but no cell phone will ever beat the NGage!!!! XD
        • louiedog, on 03/17/2008, -1/+18The iPhone install base will sell games, but the games will never sell the hardware. If Apple was selling a gadget that just played bejeweled and a watered down version of Spore they'd be in a big trouble. Let me know when Apple creates hardware for gamers and isn't just selling games for their hardware base.
          • colincornaby, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1The iPhone and the iPod Touch you mean. I agree, the iPhone hardware, being connected to a service, will be hard to push. But the iPod Touch? The iPod Touch hardware should be very easy to push as people upgrade their iPods.
        • estvir, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1The iPhone isn't a console, it's a handheld.
        • saralk, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Nintendo has shown that graphics don't really matter, innovation is far more important. The iPhone/iPod Touch have tilt based controls, multi touch, a microphone, high quality audio, internet access, wifi and a whole host of other things that game developers could use to make some cool games.

          You may say that other phones have all these features, and you'd be right, however no other single device has such a big market share. Sure, Windows Pocket PCs and Blackberries have a larger market share, but that is divided into many different phones. So a developer can't optimise the games for the hardware because they don't know what the hardware is going to be.

          A sandboxed enviroment like Symbian OS doesn't cut it too, because then games have to account for phones that don't have certain features, and remodel the game for that. For example, one phone may have a touch screen, whereas another phone only has a keypad, controls for both have to be included, increasing the complexity of developing a game.

          With the iPhone/iPod, they know exactly what they are developing for, can use hacks specifically for that hardware, and everyone gets the same experience.
      • NaziHatinChimp, on 03/17/2008, -10/+4Um estvir must have forgotten about Apples years of serivice to the hardcore gamer.
      • WeaponMit, on 03/18/2008, -0/+9how did you get 40+ diggs? your statement make no sense whatsoever.
    • Topher06, on 03/17/2008, -3/+60I'm sorry, when did Apple ever announce they plan on becoming a game platform? They just recentlly decided to tyring and push for more games to be released on a Mac, that doesn't mean they are making the Mac a game console. The few cheesy games found on iPod/iPhone also do not mean Apple is becoming a game platform maker.
    • bjs3171, on 03/17/2008, -10/+12Apple??? Doesn't that company have to put actual video cards on their computers before they're allowed to make consoles?
      • Klarth, on 03/17/2008, -3/+12It'd be so awesome if my Macbook Pro had an 8600 GT.

        Oh well, I can always dream...
        • LocalDocal, on 03/17/2008, -12/+6The 8800M GTX is out now and you want a 8600M GT?
        • str1fe, on 03/18/2008, -3/+6@LocalDocal

          WHOOSH!!
          • LocalDocal, on 03/18/2008, -4/+0I know that the Macbook Pro has an 8600M, dumbass, but again, the 8800M is better.
        • pussieLicker, on 03/18/2008, -9/+2The 8600 sucks balls and is too outdated, BJs3171 was talking about a real GPU
        • Dracusis, on 03/18/2008, -2/+3Find me a laptop with an 8800M GTX that's under 2.5KG and I'll buy it.

          In fact, find me a laptop with an 512MB 8600GT (or better) that weighs under 2.5KG and lasts for more than 3 hours on batteries and I'll buy it. I'm not a Wintel hater, but the new MBPs are simply the best laptops in their class.
      • Dracusis, on 03/18/2008, -3/+1Guess I'll stop playing Oblivion on my Macbook Pro then... Wait, no, what did you say?
    • Murrabbit, on 03/17/2008, -4/+29If Apple tried to bust into the console market again these days, I predict that they'd be wrought by all the problems the PS3 has, only on an even higher order of magnitude.

      Apple has no clue how to effectively get an install base - their console would likely have performance somewhere between the wii and the Xbox, and they'd sell it for three times as much as either - have no developers at all, make copies of other successful games, and sell them at a mark-up and then wonder why they just can't ever seem to bust out of the niche market of technophiles with too much money and not enough sense. . . you know, kind of like they do with their computers.
      • Vlatro, on 03/17/2008, -2/+6Well, I'd agree with your first paragraph, they would have a PS3 price and wii performance, but with a slick interface and designer colors no doubt.

        However on the software end, I disagree. While I am certainly not an Apple fan-boy by any stretch of the imagination, they are very good at letting 3rd party developers do their thing (when they support 3rd party developers that is, and I admit it's rare).

        If they tried to enter the market with something like that today, I'd imagine it would have an intuitive interface, built-in iPod dock, Massive hard drive, video player (possibly BluRay), Tvio functionality and basic games as an afterthought. I'd imagine PSP style games downloadable from iTunes on your TV or something like that.

        They never offer the best quality devices to any niche, and I see gamers as no exception. True Audiophiles hate the quality of .aac and the substandard jacks on the iPods. They don't even attempt to serve the high end community. Rather they serve the larger community who will settle for something that's simple and works easily. As a result, even the strictest audiophile has an iPod anyway, to spite it's shortcomings. I would assume the same from a console.

        But the article was about Acer making a console. I'd like to warn people, the article it's self shows the makeup of the Acer family: Acer, Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell. Spend your money on them and your ass will hurt for a decade. Collectively these companies knew both Jack and ***** about gaming. Operating as one entity, this is what we call a cluster-*****. Stay Far Away, I don't have time to issue 3 million "I told you so" messages.
        • burrgrinder, on 03/18/2008, -2/+0Citing audiophile complaints against Apple doesn't help your argument. Audiophiles are the same people who will buy a $4000 jar of pebbles to sit on their speaker to "improve room acoustics" or whatever. If they catered to audiophiles, a replacement set of headphones for your iPod would cost as much as a semester's tuition and the iPod itself would be worth more than a new BMW.

          Audiophiles are nuts.
        • expert01, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2Wow... your argument is ruined by the last paragraph saying Acer sucks, considering that eMachines had one of the highest brand ratings on the market before being bought by Acer, and Acer has one of the top two brand ratings on the market (with Lenovo).

          That's from PCWorld Magazine's annual surveys, which was done by over 60,000 industry professionals and computer enthusiasts. II think they know more than you.
      • alienunknown, on 03/17/2008, -10/+1You obviously haven't used a mac then, or at least not as of recent.

        OS X sure beats windows. It is nice not having to restart my computer every 5 minutes after installing a program. It is nice not having to worry about viruses .etc.

        You pay more for a mac but you actually do get a quality service.

        I use linux (fedora and slackware) on another comp as well and they are great too.

        I do think it is absurd the prices apple charge for their hardware though. I only have a mac mini and I bought it cheap. I don't think Id ever buy mac again which is unfortunate, unless apple lowered their prices, had better video cards, allowed more hardware compatibility .etc and I can't see this happening anytime soon. If only OSx86 had more hardware support...
        • norman619, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Please don't turn this into another OS flame war.
        • popfrogs, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1You're not taking into account the fact that Apple engineers all their own hardware AND software. When you buy a mac you're paying a double tax. It's not like the PC world where anyone can build the machine and then you install Windows on top of it. This is both a strength and a weakness to Apple.
        • masterthiefster, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1"It is nice not having to worry about viruses .etc. "

          That's like a guy who sleeps with unpopular and/or ugly girls bragging about how he doesn't have to worry about contracting anything from them. Nobody can be bothered infecting an OS that has such a small market share, and as a result there are only a handful of Mac viruses. The lack of viruses is NOT that OS X is magically safer or better at avoiding viruses.

          "It is nice not having to restart my computer every 5 minutes after installing a program"

          I can't decide whether you've had an unusual experience (downloading tons of crappy trial software, perhaps?) or are just an Apple fanboy spouting garbage to belittle the competitor's product with blatant lies and make your own little ego feel a little better.

          In the real world--you know, the one I and many others live in? Maybe you've heard of it?--Windows generally only needs to be restarted for two installation types: drivers and security software. For software that doesn't fall into these two categories you can generally laugh at the suggestion and use the software straight away. If it really insists upon restarting you can always "stack" the installation with other software that also requires restarting (thereby requiring only one restart to complete the installation of any number of new programs).
      • Dracusis, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2Yeah, no idea how to build an install base, except for the iPhone topping the mobile browsing stats less than 12 months since it's release.

        Apple have a unique way of doing things. If they enter the home console gaming you can bet they won't compete head-to-head with anyone, they'll only do it if they can innovate enough to take the market in new directions.



        • doctordbx, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Bet they're not even looking at it.
          The reason Microsoft was able to enter the highly competitive VG market was Direct X. Without it, they would have failed miserably.
          Apple would have to manufacture a whole new Games Development System and convince programming houses to support it, something which would seriously take a ***** of convincing given the overhead in supporting a console for these companies.
        • Dracusis, on 03/18/2008, -3/+2If Direct X was such a great thing, the Original Xbox wouldn't have flopped. If Direct X was so amazing, why is Nintendo still kicking everyone's ass in Hardware sales despite having lower performing hardware?

          Regardless, Apple develop an entire Operating System that's been kicking Windows ass since the dawn of time along with critically acclaimed Animation, Video, Audio and Image editing software. Given the high quality of their software I'd say they're probably the most capable software development company in the world. I don't think "not having Direct-X" would worry them in the slightest.

          • redneckblues, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Price. Most of my friends hadn't touched their Wii's for months until Brawl came out. Xbox still leads on software sales.
      • TheUngod, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1If this were in the technology section, you'd be burried by now. I'm glad you put it here...it had to be said.
    • TeacherOfHeroes, on 03/17/2008, -0/+4Actually, it could be a crazy-good year for PC gamers as well. If the games run on standard PC hardware, and Acer is planning to use open standards (we'll see how well they follow through on that), then it would probably mean that the games would be very easy to port to standard PCs as well.

      Also, if they really do plan to use standards, that probably means OpenGL, which means that it will be less work to port the games to Linux or OS X, too, not just to Windows. Who knows, they may end up using a *nix-style base for their OS just like apple did with OS X
      • norman619, on 03/17/2008, -0/+1Most console games ported over to PC tend to suck. They feel like console games. This is no plus.
        • Murdats, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1while ports usually do suck, there is a plus.
          I dont have to fork out several hundred dollars for a console to play the game, and a lot of ports let you use a controller anyway (which I have)
          • TeacherOfHeroes, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Indeed - if they do use open standards, odds are the controller will have a simple usb connection.
    • Bartboy919, on 03/18/2008, -0/+3Who could forget the Apple Pipin?
    • Seantacular, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Apple's first game will be a remake of worms.
    • DarkSamus, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1well apple is making a new system that plays awesome games, they're gonna have exclusives like half life 2 and call of duty4
  • r3m1x, on 03/17/2008, -3/+81Thats odd, I just saw a flying V of pigs in the sky.
    • gettempapa, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1If you throw trojans at them they will turn into handsome young men.
    • VgRasta, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Frogs fall from the sky, right? Don't they?
    • fibreoptix, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1YOUR ALL WRONG!! YOU'LL SEE - YOU'LL SEE ACER IS GOING TO OWN! OWN I SAY OWWWN!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
  • Dirkzen, on 03/17/2008, -1/+47lol XD ..and just when I thought the gaming war couldn't get any more confusing..
    A challenger appears!
    • Murrabbit, on 03/17/2008, -11/+50Confusing? It's easy? Anyone have the flow chart? I'll summarize for you:

      Do you have Friends? If yes. . .

      a. Real Friends? - Get a Wii
      b. Online Friends - Get an Xbox360

      NO.

      Get a PS3
      • theymos, on 03/17/2008, -4/+47Are you enjoying your PS3?
      • salmonmoose, on 03/18/2008, -3/+2Interesting formula, what if I own an Xbox360, Wii, PS3, DS and PSP? Does that just mean I work too much :)
      • estvir, on 03/18/2008, -3/+3You forgot a category:

        You want to buy a game console but not actually play games on it, if so, the PS3 is your answer.
      • Harbinger67, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Good for you, you found a flowchart. At least cite your sources.
    • carl0ski, on 03/18/2008, -1/+0especially when you see a phrase like this

      "-- Nintendo's, the Xbox --"
  • CALguti, on 03/17/2008, -9/+0how was I able to post them same URL without digg stopping me or showing me duplicates? odd
    • EvilWalksWithMe, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1OH MY GOD! THAT'S THE SIGN WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! THE WORLD IS DOOOOOOMMMMMMEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!!!
  • capplecock, on 03/17/2008, -25/+4Who ever said..."Dude, you're gettin' an Acer..." - that's right, nobody.
    • tobikow, on 03/17/2008, -3/+13PC gamers?
      • TacticalPenguin, on 03/17/2008, -10/+8Anyone getting an acer for PC gaming needs to be shot.
        • evilesttoast, on 03/17/2008, -1/+10Acer's are not bad. I prefer Samsungs really
        • Pake, on 03/17/2008, -3/+8Oh no, Acer's aren't bad..... they're horrible. This is strictly speaking of their computer, because they do make decent monitors.
        • Vlatro, on 03/17/2008, -1/+5Thanks for that, laughed so hard I nearly shat.
  • NaziHatinChimp, on 03/17/2008, -8/+3Where is that guy's avatar from, it is really good.
  • tobikow, on 03/17/2008, -7/+12Acer does make PC stuff, and you can actually play games on PCs. And there's nothing proprietary about them, except maybe windows, but most games will run on Linux too. PC gaming is really the way to go.
    • Murrabbit, on 03/17/2008, -10/+9Sing it, sister. The consoles occasionally have cute little games worth playing, and all, but as a hardcore gamer PC is the only way for me to go.
      • deviantsteve, on 03/17/2008, -7/+2If you're still living in the 1990s
      • Elranzer, on 03/18/2008, -3/+4If all you want to play are FPS, RTS, MMORPGs and other acronym genres.
        • norman619, on 03/18/2008, -2/+5You mean all the game types out there?
          • Elranzer, on 03/18/2008, -1/+3Yeah. I mean, there sure are a ton of good fighting, 2D/3D platformer, Japanese RPG, rail shooter, party and music games for the PC... right?
          • Phil1ip123, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1Wow you just named probably the weakest genre of games out there. Seriously though, rail shooters and party/ music games? What hardcore PC gamer cares about those?
          • Shaflugi, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1Audiosurf is an excellent music game. Rail shooters blow, and you can get the greatest 2D platformers and the best fighting games through emulation. WITH netplay.
          • PedleZelnip, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2And you only have to spend half your life getting it to work with your hardware.

            Okay, admittedly I'm exaggerating, but really the console gaming experience is so much more convenient than the PC one. I bought a 360 a couple years ago and haven't looked back.
    • alienunknown, on 03/17/2008, -3/+1What is a hardcore PC gamer? Someone that only plays windows eroge games?
      • norman619, on 03/17/2008, -0/+6What's "eroge?" Serious question. i've never seen or heard that term before.
        • LovelyNeko, on 03/18/2008, -1/+3In English, eroge are often called hentai games in keeping with the English slang definition of hentai. This is sometimes shortened to H games.
          This definition brought to you by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
        • LovelyNeko, on 03/18/2008, -4/+1BTW, if you're on Digg I believe you know what Hentai is all about so that's why I left it undefined.
          • norman619, on 03/18/2008, -0/+3How does being on Digg mean someone is familiar with what Hentai is?
    • EvilWalksWithMe, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah? Well my penis is bigger than yours!
  • loganhid, on 03/17/2008, -13/+14They have no chance in Hell
    • johndi, on 03/17/2008, -1/+22That's what they said about the original Playstation.
      • Syphon8, on 03/17/2008, -2/+8They only had a chance in hell because Nintendo started it.
        • dudefaceguyman, on 03/17/2008, -0/+13For anyone who doesn't know the history. The PS1 was originally a design by Sony for Nintendo to make a CD based Nintendo console. Right towards the end Nintendo canned it and Sony took their design and ended up with the most successful system of that generation.

          Just FYI before people start digging him down.
        • SpeedSteamBoat, on 03/18/2008, -0/+4Actually, the Playstation was Ken Kutaragi's design while he was working at Sony. Though it started started out as a commissioned job for Nintendo the work was all Kutaragi's brainchild. It's pretty unfair to Ken to say "Nintendo started [the Playstation]" when all they really did was ask Sony to put a CD-ROM on the SNES.
    • satanswetnipple, on 03/17/2008, -2/+8Here is the reality. There are no innovative games on any of the current platforms today... even with the Wii's controller. The market has become stale because of the money required to produce a modern game. It costs just to buy into the software developers kit (though I believe Microsoft may have waived that cost FINALLY), it costs to produce and test a game, it costs to press copies of the game (up front fees to Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft based on the number of games pressed), it costs to distribute and market the game.

      Bedroom programmers have died out. This is where the innovation came from. A programmer with a musician and an artist could produce a game at home in the evenings and weekends. The last "NEW" game as far as gameplay is concerned was Lemmings, and that was created by one bedroom programmer responding to a competition a software company was running.

      I for one have experience in a software studio, have interesting ideas for new gameplay, have the talent to produce most of a game myself, and would LOVE to create new types of software for consoles. I just lack the millions to pay to Nintendo before sales bring in any income.

      As long as Acer has some form of marketplace that does not require tens of thousands to run advertising, then you will see a renaissance of gaming. The titles may not have the polish of the other platforms, but they may well be innovative, and the may well be fun... experiments like this produce real winners, and some losers. I just hope that Acer will try to protect the developers "gameplay intellectual property" when larger software companies try to steal ideas that work.
      • LocalDocal, on 03/17/2008, -1/+1The last innovative game was created in 1991? You're saying that, in all this time, not one single game has been released that is innovative?

        Uh-huh. You know, if you want to create your game so badly, then why not just produce it for a system which supports homebrew or, hell, the PC?
        • norman619, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2You must not have been gaming for very long. The guy is right. Take it from some who's first console was an Atari 2600. Most games today are formulaic since it costs as much to produce a game a game as it does to produce a feature film nowadays.
          • LocalDocal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0I know that most games today are not innovative, but my point is that there were always some innovative from generation to generation. Innovation didn't die with the previous generations.
        • satanswetnipple, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1You obviously see evolution as innovation. Here is a little history... the early days are based on the Amiga, as that was the international gaming computer before the PC took over when it finally got VGA. Eye of the Beholder begat Darkmere which begat Wolvenstein which begat Doom which begat Myst.... 3D platformers were a simple transition from 2D. Puzzle/action games almost always stem from Tetris in one or more way. Dance Dance revolution was only a controller change from similar games, which all seem to have roots in Tetris as well. Sony's eye toy was just a commercialisation of video camera games that were used in niches on the Amiga.

          Where is the innovation? Gears of War?

          As I have said earlier in another comment... If I were to try creating a "Simon Says" game using a webcam as an input, the PC gaming teens would not be seen dead playing it as it would be aimed directly at four year old players. Parents would not want to put their four year old onto the family computer unsupervised (if you do not have kids, borrow one for a few hours). The only realistic platform for some games and some players is a console, no matter how much you love your PC gaming.
          • LocalDocal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1If you look at it that way, then there is virtually no such thing as innovation in any industry as everything would simply be an 'evolution' of something previously made. In fact, using your own logic, I can tell you immediately that the games which you consider innovative (Eye of the Beholder, Tetris) is also a naturally occurring evolution from previous games.

            Well, what about the things we have now that previous generation gaming platforms could never do? We now have games with huge thriving worlds, games in which NPCs can act independently of players, games in which millions of players interact in a single massive world, and so on. Hell, even common modern gameplay mechanics such as tactical AI wasn't around in games from previous generations. There are literally thousands of new gameplay mechanics that has been introduced since the NES (I believe the first well known closed console) and you're disregarding all of this simply because modern consoles are closed systems and you believe innovation is impossible without having an open system.

            Concerning developing for the PC. Well, despite "how much I love my PC gaming", I'm telling you as it is. You want to develop a game cheaply without paying out licenses, the PC is your best bet (or a handheld/console with homebrew). If the game you develop is good, you will gain a following, and you will eventually work your way up to the millions you need in order to become a major independent developer.
      • Gizza, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1If you really do have the ability to make you own game and think you have a great idea then you should download Steamworks and release your game on Steam. There are plenty of little independent games on there and with a user base of over 15 million there potential to make a nice little profit. Audiosurf for example sells for $10, and I personally know 7 other people who have bought it just in my circle of friends. It wouldn't surprise me if that has sold 10,000 or more making that guy a very nice profit.
      • azimuthal, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1How far the gaming world has fallen from the pinnacle that was, Lemmings.
    • Asianwaste, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Internationally, they will have a harder chance, but locally in Taiwan, it might make a pretty penny.
    • stklaw, on 03/18/2008, -0/+5I'd say a console which can play all 3 other console games would sell great.
      • twigboy, on 03/18/2008, -0/+3and infringe copyright left, right and center!
    • twigboy, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1same said about microsoft
  • olbap, on 03/17/2008, -1/+13Well, someone needs to make a true PC gaming market. The way I see it, since the early 90s, it has been more of a DOS/Windows gaming market.
    • oxdeltaxo, on 03/17/2008, -3/+3Amen to that how about some linux and mac version games?
      • norman619, on 03/18/2008, -0/+4Hint: Take a look at their market share. You will find the answer there.
        • oxdeltaxo, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1***** the market share, the industry needs some integrity.
      • Hybred1234, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1/facepalm
    • Elranzer, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Would be nice if PC games just boot directly and bypassed the operating system. Just sort of used the video card hardware directly, and skipped DirectX/OpenGL, for example. Kinda like a console.
      • neko, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1You can't really skip API stuff like OpenGL and DirectX. But on the plus side, it's not really slowing things down - it's just a library call that the game makes, not some constantly-running background process. Cutting down on background processes would definitely help.

        And all the consoles use OpenGL (except, naturally, the xbox).
  • colincornaby, on 03/17/2008, -8/+3Wow, this is a really stupid business decision. Isn't the point of consoles that the hardware is closed, so you only have to code for one kind of console? If you want a box you can toy with, you buy a PC....
    • forgiste, on 03/17/2008, -0/+4They'll probably just have one console per generation, but they'll open up the development platform to hobbyists.
    • Vlatro, on 03/17/2008, -1/+4I see your point, however the issue has been addressed by Microsoft and nVidia with the implementation of DX10 and Vista. While by NO means is it a standard yet, there are general guideline for both developers and consumers to ensure maximum compatibility with the widest range of current hardware. ATI has a very similar practice, and for the most part, games written specifically for an 8000+ nVidia card will work with no code alterations on an equal ATI card. The one remaining variable in newer systems is Memory. It's an upgrade even a moron could make. Of course, PC gaming is for PC gamers, not 6 year old kids or 80 year old retired golfers, that's the wii niche. As a PC gamer you are expected to know your system inside and out, have memorized the factory defined and "Optimal" bus speeds of every component, and of course be ready to upgrade any part on a whim or as required by a game you may want to buy in 6 months when it's released. It's a commitment, one we take pride in. Honestly, Acer entering the market is laughable.
    • venuspcs, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2They are not going to release a console system you can build yourself or change the hardware in....that would be completely ***** insane....what they are going to do is design a hardware console and limited commands operating system for it then make the operating system and any software that runs on it OPEN SOURCE so anyone and everyone can ***** with it and develop for it.....should make for a console with 10,000 games instead of the measly few hundred current gen consoles have.
      • Vlatro, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Yes, that was their point, however these Acer has no background in developing API's for hardware. I would (just guessing here) assume an x86 architecture, possibly IBM processor, Likely an integrated video card built on an older design. nVidia chips don't play well with a lot of proprietary hardware unless something is custom made for the system, and ATI being a part of AMD which is never the lowest bidder in these deals, well, It's likely we see Matrox rear it's ugly head again. DirectX is out as MS would never license the api to a console competing with their own Xbox, especially if the hardware required a rewrite, so we're looking at OpenGL games, which while great, require much more from the programmer (directional sound, particle physics, procedural generation, processor sharing etc.)
        The real killer will be a licensed API. Yes they can build it on open source principals, but I'd expect while you can develop for the system, code built on their APIs will need to be licensed for distribution, as this is the common practice. Even DirectX applications are free to write, but the moment you try to sell one, you better have your licenses in order.

        It could be excellent for the homebrew game community, and I'd be very excited if this took off, but we are dealing with a company that has a 20 year history of gouging their customers, providing dated technology for top-of-the-line prices, making promises that never come to fruition, and having some of the worst support in the industry.
        • doctordbx, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1"but we are dealing with a company that has a 20 year history of gouging their customers, providing dated technology for top-of-the-line prices, making promises that never come to fruition, and having some of the worst support in the industry." - er.. which hardware manufacturer doesn't this describe? (and don't say Apple, along with HP, Apple was one of the first names that popped into my head when I read this)
  • dksupremacy, on 03/17/2008, -0/+20More competition is always a good thing right!.........right?
    • Murrabbit, on 03/17/2008, -3/+5To have competition, though, we need a contender who can actually compete.
    • Vodd9, on 03/17/2008, -0/+14Of course, wasn't the format war awesome?
  • EvanVolm, on 03/17/2008, -13/+93I think Acer should learn how to make a decent computer first....
    • MASTERPL, on 03/17/2008, -6/+5Other than cosmetic problems (cracks due to bad hinges) my acer laptop has help up well for over 2 years.
    • Elranzer, on 03/18/2008, -0/+9Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell... oh my.
    • waydee, on 03/18/2008, -0/+6Found my cheap acer a much better machine that has held up ten times better than my cheap dell. Very happy with it.
      • lupinglade, on 03/18/2008, -2/+1thats cause Dell sucks too. But nothing sucks more than Acer I think.
        • jfh2112, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1Stop buying Acer Aspires and buy Veritons. That's where your mistake is being made. I work for an Acer shop, and we don't sell Aspires. I've got a Veriton 7600GT here with a Radeon X1600 Pro, it's three years old, and still runs newer games. The only problem I've had with it is a keyboard replacement. It also runs OS X occasionally :)
    • venuspcs, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2I just bought a new Gateway T1625 laptop and the first one I bought had apparently been damaged in shipping because it ran toooooo hot right out of the box....Best Buy replaced it with no hassle and the new new one has worked flawlessly and is insanely fast....especially since I upgrade my Vista Home Premium x86 to Vista Home Premium x64 (that's right baby 64 bit operating system)....did I mention it was insanely fast??????
    • SpeedSteamBoat, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Haha, dugg because it was the same exact thought I had when I read the title.
    • floydax, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1So true. And customer support sucks big time...
  • neocr0n, on 03/17/2008, -2/+14As much as I'd like to see it Acer does not stand a chance. Look how much money its cost Microsoft to establish xbox as a brand.
    • floppyparty, on 03/17/2008, -0/+6I agree. Besides, why would anyone want to give the console gaming industry a shot, the risk-reward ratio isn't very savory.
    • LocalDocal, on 03/17/2008, -4/+1Not necessarily. After all, Sony became a brand name without spending the money Microsoft had to.
      • Elranzer, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1Sure, back when Sony Computer Entertainment was merely a subdivision of Sony Music.
        • LocalDocal, on 03/18/2008, -2/+0What, you're saying that the Sony brand name in music transferred to their video game division? I doubt that. Otherwise, I would think Microsoft's popularity in the OS market should have transfer to their video game division too.
    • MasterPain, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Remember the 3DO
  • hamish, on 03/17/2008, -1/+68Remind anyone of the Phantom?
  • l800LEMMINGS, on 03/17/2008, -6/+3alienware was going to do this is was gonna be @ A $1000 and have a terabyte drive and ridiculous hardware
    • LocalDocal, on 03/17/2008, -1/+19An Alienware product for only $1,000? You must be joking.
  • OrderedChaos, on 03/17/2008, -7/+3They are not building a console, just a gaming pc built off open standard specs put forth by a group of which they themselves are members. Buried.
    • aldableep3, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2hmm kinda like microsoft, sony and nintendo, right?
      • OrderedChaos, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2The point is it isn't a CONSOLE, it is just another line of PC's. You won't be going to buy games for the Acer (insert generic console name here), you will just be buying a normal pc game.
  • hyperden, on 03/17/2008, -1/+2Don't know about this one, will have to wait and see what they have planned.
  • narutometal, on 03/17/2008, -11/+2Failure rates will be worse than the 360. The low quality of Acer's PCs pretty much says a lot. I can't imagine them making a console.
    • jfh2112, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Absolutely false. I move hundreds of Acer Veritons a year, and my failure rate is < 0.5%. I can't remember the last time I've had an Acer monitor fail out of the box. Buying an Aspire model, however, is the equivalent of buying Vista Home Basic.
  • vincentweber, on 03/17/2008, -10/+15When I read the title i thought:
    Epic fail...

    When I read the summery I thought:
    Hey this is cool! Open standards yeah!

    When I thought about it for 30 seconds I thought:
    Open standards, huh? What is holding back a few geeks to make a port to a PC OS?

    When I RTFA I thought:
    Plans to port this thing over to the PC? The PC is allready a gaming platform...

    Conclusion:
    Epic fail
    • satanswetnipple, on 03/17/2008, -3/+2The PC can be used as a gaming system, though you only have two distinct types of gamer on the PC, and this is not going to change anytime soon. You have the hardcore first person shooter. They need the best current hardware, the latest games, the more gore the better, no beginners modes, do not want to play with 6 year olds... Your average male 12-18 year old. The second group prefer card games or gambling games. They play online, using their browser.

      If I were to bring out a new game that utilises the webcam to play a game of "Simon Says", the PC gamers would not buy it. No one older than 8 would want to play it, and no parent would want to risk their computer (children do some nasty stuff to your data if left unmonitored) or their 4 year old children to online predators. This sort of game is BEST created for a console, where the hardware and child are safe. This sort of game would not get the backing of EA or Activision unless it had already sold 10 million units... and then they would just steal the idea. So there is no reason for creative people to innovate on Windows, and because of the cost of producing for the current console makers, it is not worth innovating on today's consoles.
      • Stevethegreat, on 03/18/2008, -0/+6About your fist paragraph, If you really have no idea of other games for the PC then I can only pity you: The most legendary titles for the PC weren't shooters, I'm talking of course for the Ultima Series, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Placnescape, Elder Scrolls for the RPG lovers, and also Starcraft, Total War Series, Civilization and much more for the Strategy fans, add to them, the Myst and Monkey Island series accompanied with a dozen other great adventures, not to talk about simulators (Flight, Racing or otherwise). You can very well see that FPS and MMOs are a tiny point of the whole PC gaming history, it's a sad day -nowadays- that we are reduced to those two genres and I can only associate this fact with the rise of the consoles (particularly X360) as an alternate of PC gaming. Of course all the orgasmic innovation of the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s ceased to exist but that's the price serious gaming payed when it was hijacked by pre-teens in front of their TV sets.....

        We'll either see a rise of PC gaming -or any other like minded type of gaming (open standards)- again or we'll see innovation slowly dying and introducing gaming to a new era of garbage TV like games. It's also a pity to think for such a fate especially considering that gaming erst had the prospects of making Magnus Opus of the likes of Citizen Kane that the early Cinema had. I think we should be content -now- with the 12 y.o swearing at our general direction whilst playing Halo, that's the greatest height gaming can get in this era.....
        • vincentweber, on 03/18/2008, -1/+0>About your fist paragraph, If you really have no idea of other games for the PC then I can only pity you: The most
          >legendary titles for the PC weren't shooters
          Are you freakin' kidding me?! THE legends are Wolfenstein3D, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Tomb Raider and Carmageddon.

          When did you start gaming... since the Pentium 3? I mean seriously... the games you mention are good, but they are DEFINITELY _NOT_ classics!

          The reason only FPS and MMORPG and strat games are now to be seen on the PC is because of 'piracy'. These kind of games dominate on the PC because you can't play them that well on consoles.

          What surprises me most is that you have this kind of 'get of my lawn'-attitude while you don't seem to be a gamer (given your choice, or rather own preference, of classics) who started at the very beginning of it. Have you played all classic games? What was the first game you played, ever? How old were you when you started gaming and how old are you now?
          • Stevethegreat, on 03/19/2008, -0/+1Ultima sounds to be a new game to you? Indeed, I started playing in mid 90s but this has nothing to do with my age, it's only that I never cared before and if you ask me I think the 90s was the best decade of PC gaming and gaming in general, never before was that kind of innovation both in technological and artistic terms in the gaming industry.
  • shadow010, on 03/17/2008, -2/+3So first copy Microsoft's first gen console strategy, while also copying Atari's failed strategy of open games... prepare to see more terrible games for a short while.

    ("despite Acer's acquisition of Gateway" I was wondering why Gateway sucked even more.)
    • dadioflex, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Atari's failed strategy of open games? Atari fought tooth and nail to try and keep the VCS proprietary but Activision, I think, won the right for anybody to develop VCS games after Atari took them to court and lost.
  • sputza, on 03/17/2008, -8/+1I find this funny since Acer isn't doing that well making computers...
    • sirbeta, on 03/17/2008, -1/+4I dunno, I've been pretty content with their laptop offerings.
    • banmaster, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2Their computers are pretty nice (look at their new 'gemstone' range), its just all the utter ***** they keep on insisting on pre-loading!
    • Asianwaste, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1and Microsoft was so well known for their hardware back in the early century?
  • gerbco, on 03/17/2008, -5/+4I guess building crap computers wasn't enough for them. I do give them credit for the decade long BLACK box PC cycle and eliminating beige.
    • satanswetnipple, on 03/17/2008, -0/+1Just a little fact... Commodore eliminated Beige. The CDTV was a black computer with wireless keyboard and mouse in 1990. When Commodore filed for chapter 11 in 1994, they were close to releasing the AAA low end machine (which would have sold millions) which looked like Darth Vader's vacuum cleaner.
  • ChristianBk, on 03/17/2008, -3/+2Umm, yeah, good luck with that...
  • fxu1989, on 03/17/2008, -5/+1James T. Wong ? Would've been even funnier if it was James T. Bhag.
  • manti5, on 03/17/2008, -9/+1I'll care when Apple says they're making a console.
  • browwiw, on 03/17/2008, -1/+10I like my little Acer laptop. Granted I use it exclusively for internet browsing, writing, and watching videos. Also, I got it new for all of 350 bucks (back in October when Wal-Mart had that sale), which was the real deal breaker. I've never had a single problem with it.
    • AROZ, on 03/17/2008, -2/+3It's not even a year old yet...
      • browwiw, on 03/18/2008, -1/+3Yeah, but those who are complaining are referencing problems almost immediately after buying their laptop. I haven't had a single problem with mine. And why is that? Well, I run defrags, malware/virus checks, and other optimization applications every week. Not to mention I took all the crap software that came pre-installed (McAffee can suck my balls). I'm no power user, but I know how to keep crap off my harddrive. Also, I don't let it get dirty. I invest wisely in canned air.

        In other words: when I buy something that costs a bit of money I take appropriate care of it.
        • waydee, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1I bought an Aspire 5633 with a c2d and 2gb of ram and its a fantastic machine for the money, lots of built in stuff like bluetooth and 3g, webcam, far better build quality than the dell inspiron it replaced. Formatted and reinstalled as soon as I got it and not had a single problem either. I think they're far better than dells now for the same money, lighter and thinner too.
    • Donnshin, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2I was thinking about getting an Acer too...
    • Doobit, on 03/18/2008, -1/+0I liked my Acer notebook too. Right up until a week after the warranty expired and the screen stopped working... not that reliability problems can kill a console anyway. Red ring, anybody?
  • th3wiz4rd, on 03/17/2008, -2/+2Yay!! A new phantom!!
  • disgruntledgoat, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2Dugg for translation, Acer won hunred per cent Best buy you pay bottom dollar :P
  • TheZorch, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2Hopefully this won't be another Phantom.
  • pcpimpster, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2Maybe they know already what’s coming from the AMD/ATI forked CPU/GPU architecture! Who knows? Speculating -- a boy can dream…
  • tim620, on 03/17/2008, -2/+18Hmm... "The Acer, Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell desktop systems..."
    i.e. The Medium Crap, Crap, Crapier, and Crapiest desktop systems...
  • IWDA4, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2I hope they don't.
  • scrag10, on 03/17/2008, -2/+6Seems fit for the Indy crowd, but I think Sony with it's PhyreEngine engine will make indy developers do sony first, and then everything else. It's a free engine and it is multiplate form (PC and even 360).

    But maybe if it grabs all those public domain games out there it could do not bad.
  • gluon, on 03/17/2008, -1/+13We REALLY need to put an end to linking to forum posts.
  • Stevethegreat, on 03/17/2008, -7/+1'bout time! If done right it would blast both Sony AND Microsoft on high end gaming.

    PCs are obviously more capable gaming machines despite what console manufacturers want you to believe and that's because both of the technological edge that only GFX cards can give but also the rich tradition of PC gaming which is straight line on which Devs can base their attempts on, add to that backwards compatibility that extends as back as the 80s and you can have the most potent gaming console. Their only downside supposedely is its cost, but this has been debunked the last year or so where you can buy a dual core for $60 and an incredibly powerfull card (twice as fast as those of consoles) for close to 120 bucks (HD 3850).

    Now if only acer could make an interface similat to XBOX Live which would run on top of a windows lite (w/t the unnecessary *****) system, we would clearly have a winner. If it was not for my fear that Acer won't be able to pull it off I would already talking of the end of console gaming as we knew it but we'd better see -first- how things will go, it can very well be a flop like the phantom was........
    • Stevethegreat, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1...thought so. Console gamers would do anything to justify their wasted cash including burying posts like mine.

      I can only say to them that even if they have been presently ripped off wouldn't it be better the next time around to be able to buy a non-propriety console with better hardware, cheaper games, extreme backwards compatibility, full media center capability, and a real download center for the same money? Why wouldn't you support such an initiative? I mean, really now, PS3 seems underpowered in front of a single $150 GFX card (9600GT) regarding games, what exactly do you enjoy on the process of buying lead and naming it gold?
  • moxley, on 03/17/2008, -0/+1Interresting; but *****, please learn to compose complete sentences.
  • mCanada, on 03/17/2008, -2/+3I'll will 100% buy this console out of principle (if it is truly "open"). I think this has taken too long to implement and many studios have stated this is the way to go. I'm not opposed to competition, that's not what open standards do, in fact they bolster competition. The Linux world is massively competitive and the consumer has won in so many different ways. Perhaps Acer might have a linux based console and throw 5-6 million towards the WINE project to polish it further so that developers can have ports from Linux or windows down the road?
    • masterthiefster, on 03/18/2008, -1/+2Sorry, but Wine isn't a viable SDK for modern games. Its DirectX 9 support is lacking and its DX10 support is probably non-existent--these are both crucial to developers. Any SDK used for porting a game MUST be able to automate the transition to native code as much as possible, and correctly turn most or all 3D calls from the source platform into the target platform's renderer of choice; if a particular SDK doesn't meet that expectation developers simply won't use it, and if no suitable SDK exists for a platform developers may ignore it altogether rather than working it out without an SDK.

      Also bear in mind that developers don't port to an unprofitable platforms; if Acer's system sells poorly and is incompatible with Windows most developers will ignore it rather than spend time and money porting a game only to see poor sales from that version.
  • motang, on 03/17/2008, -1/+3I wish them good luck, as there have been other like Indrema (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrema) which have tried and failed.
  • earthceltic, on 03/17/2008, -0/+2I had exactly one acer computer in my life. After I found out they had proprietary hardware installed in their boxes and I couldn't update my (at the time 28k.. ugh) internal modem without buying their part for 3x as much as it should have been, that was the end of that.
    Hopefully they've learned a bit in the last few years.
  • MacDevyn, on 03/18/2008, -4/+2HAHAHAHA ACER!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • DaleoftheUK, on 03/18/2008, -3/+2I'd find it funny if apple ever ended up with a games console that was half decent when macs don't play most games.
    • masterthiefster, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1Assuming Apple's theoretical console was to run some form of OS X that would result in more OS X ports, just like how the Xbox's design makes Windows ports easy.
  • corinadine, on 03/18/2008, -7/+2good idea, maybe it will last longer than a 360
    ------------
    help this guy get ms to replace his 360 with a new one
    http://www.xbox360rrod.com/
  • hibachipenguins, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2oh 3DO, did no one learn from your mistakes!?
    • digitallysick, on 03/18/2008, -0/+23DO was a great system made before its time, just cost wayyyy to much for its time. When it was finally affordable, the playstation beat it out.
  • lupinglade, on 03/18/2008, -3/+5Acer makes the ***** stuff in the world, wow... their failure rate is like 60% or something, and everything is cheap junk... worst quality you can buy anywhere... lmao. This is so sad.
    • jfh2112, on 03/18/2008, -1/+0Failure rate is < 0.4 % worldwide as of 2006. Do your research next time; don't pull numbers out of your ass.
  • Asianwaste, on 03/18/2008, -1/+1Taiwan has a pretty huge gaming culture. The games for PC I've seen are usually RPGs.. they weren't bad looking to be honest but the game play seems to be from the Japanese RPG template. Artistically, they look very nice (at least in the 2d era, 3d is a bit flat). Acer had this great web games online community (in Chinese). I only went there to play Go, but at its time it was 3 times better than what I've seen from Yahoo games.
  • masterthiefster, on 03/18/2008, -0/+2Bear in mind that the source article talks about "open standards", which does NOT necessarily mean "open source". Computer hardware is designed to meet open standards (ATX, USB, etc.), but the drivers and so forth of products that conform to these standards are generally NOT open source.

    I would strongly suggest that Acer simply means that software can be developed without needing a license and/or the owner can upgrade the hardware to some degree--the OS/frontend and any other software they provide will probably be closed source.
  • TheShom, on 03/18/2008, -2/+2Team up with SEGA ad release the DREAMCAST II!
  • aserer511, on 03/18/2008, -3/+1when I say vapor, you say ware
  • deadmann, on 03/18/2008, -0/+1I don't know why people are so hostile to any attempt to enter the gaming market. More competition to bloody Sony and M$, and an open platform would be great. I'd support it on principle alone.
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