OT: Playstation 2 Challenger Plays Thousands More Games

[Brad Isaac]

We've talked Xbox and PS2 on PocketPCAddict in the past, so some of you may be interested in this new console that was announced at CES this year. It is actually a console that allows you to play PC games on your TV. The idea is you take your PC game CD and put it into the The Discover PC game console. It will install the game and play it much like a stand alone console without you having to deal with OS issues such as which directory to install it in, updating your graphics and sound drivers (yuck!) They have a patented "Drop and Play" technology that supposedly allows you to pop in your CD and the console will do the rest
There are a number of market segments: video gamers who would like to move up to PC games; PC gamers who want to move from their computer monitors to their big screen home theaters; and consumers who would like a comprehensive entertainment system with games, movies and music.
In the mass market, a console is only as successful as the games it plays. Not surprisingly SONY, the industry leader, offers significantly more games than its competitors, Nintendo and Microsoft’s Xbox. The need to develop a large number of game titles at great expense is a major barrier to entry into this market.
It is certainly an interesting product. Whether it has the ability to make a dent in the market is another story. However, when you look at the success of products like Tivo that started in this way and turned out to be industry leaders, I'm going to be keeping an eye on this unit.