There are rumours circulating that the software giant is studying the posibility of joining the leagues of Infinium's Phantom console and may work on a hybrid device that would play both PC and Xbox games. Although such a system would sell at 2-3 times the price point of a normal console, I believe this could make for a very successful product if some additional PC functionality is added to the mix (not just PC gaming).

Let's just say that if there's a company in a great position for making such a product, it has to be Microsoft.

One slide describes the unit, which would require a PC monitor or high definition television, as being backward compatible with current and next-generation Xbox titles. It would also play PC games and include a fully functional version of Windows, CD burner, DVD player (with remote control), built-in access to Xbox Live and a hard drive. Control-wise, the system would come with both a keyboard and mouse and a standard Xbox controller. The price point this particular study tested was $599.

And while we are at it...

Citing NPD numbers, Microsoft declares its console had a 51-percent market share in April 2004, beating Sony and Nintendo in sales for that month.

Nokia's redesigned game deck, N-Gage QD, is reportedly being offered for $60 and under in Europe. But will the savings make it to America?

I simply dont think it'll pass production, and if it does, it probably wont take off.

Now that I think about it more clearly, I'm not sure how MS will be able to deal with XBox/PC hybrid being hacked, securities passed and us (PC owners) be able to run XBox games in our PCs off the shelves...

I think both arguments above by agissi and julio are very important; the price would keep it from reaching to the masses and it would be really easy for a skilled programmer to hack the system, enough to make us play xbox games on a regular pc, not to mention many other things that could be done. At first it seems like a good idea, but analyzing it deeply reveals tons of problems with the concept.

Its just, if people want a PC, they will buy a PC, if they want an XBOX, they will buy an XBOX.

What they wont do is go blow $600 on this "special xbox pc combo" that nothing will support. Esp. when they already have a computer or just want to play xbox.

There is always the possibility of making such a system that will play X-Box games, have some PC functionality, and other added goodies such as PVR, etc. Without considering the price point and how well the system could sell, I believe the biggest challenge would be making the system enough PC-alike but not completely either, otherwise it would make no sense at all.

As long as those games came off the shelves, rather than a dl and burn why would they care? It will save them from having to do pc ports You have to remember that the Xbox was MS attempt to bring the PC into the living room. They made it as un-PC as possible(you cant even get a frigging keyboard for it yet) to avoid frightening the console people off. In this respect it has been a complete success- Ive had one for 3 years now and not one BSOD . Now that people are comfortable with it, MS can take off the sheep's clothing and say SHAZAAM its now a PC TOO and finally- MS is in your livingroom.

In fact, the xbox pc hybrid is alread here. What you will be buying with Xbox 2 is a better software interface for couch-based web surfing and playing of media files which are probably stored on your pc anyway, but you want to watch them on the bigscreen with the girlfriend. It will be a success because no other product has filled this niche. It will hit the market when home networks, pvrs and HDTV's are about to become ubiquitous, hd dvd is fast aproaching and the hardware to bring all of it together in a small plastic box only costs a few hundred dollars.