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Microsoft's Xbox 360 VP Wants Full Compatibility with iPods

Monday, October 24th, 2005 at 4:20 PM - by Staff

Microsoft Vice-President J. Allard, speaking with journalists at the end of the X05 trade show two weeks ago, revealed that he wants to make sure the company's upcoming Xbox 360 videogame console is fully compatible with iPods and other portable devices. Douglas Perry at IGN has posted a transcript of the discussion, during which Mr. Allard said: "If Sony or Apple were to call me up and say, 'Hey, we want some special things with the 360,' I'm on it."

The Microsoft executive also revealed: "Anybody in my company who thought this was a bad idea to plug in Sony or Apple devices into this thing, I ended that conversation pretty quickly. This is the right thing to do for consumers." He added that he doesn't want Xbox 360 owners to have to buy 360-branded devices when they already own such things and want to use them with the new system.

Mr. Allard also noted: "Apple is a good partner with the development kit program." Microsoft first confirmed compatibility between the iPod and the new console during this past May's E3 trade show in Los Angeles. In fact, photos taken by The Mac Observer's Chris Barylick revealed that Microsoft used modified Power Mac G5 computers to power the Xbox 360 demos on display during the show. The machines were used as temporary development kits for the console because they also use Motorola's PowerPC G5 processor, albeit a different version of the chip.

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Nookster said:

member since 27 Oct 2004 with 111 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:36 pm

..."He added that he doesn't want Xbox 360 owners to have to buy 360-branded devices when they already own such things and want to use them with the new system."

Ah, that's sweet of him, too bad he wasn't thinking like that when they decided to make the 360 incompatible with the Xbox pads and live headsets.

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JimWCB said:

member since 29 Aug 2002 with 301 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:43 pm

Hmmm... Apple want's 10% off anything with a dock connector. 10% of xbox sales would look nice to apple.

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podman said:

member since 14 Feb 2003 with 174 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:55 pm

Motorola's PowerPC G5 processor?

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:37 pm

Nookster wrote:
Ah, that's sweet of him, too bad he wasn't thinking like that when they decided to make the 360 incompatible with the Xbox pads and live headsets.
I'll be crying on the inside while I use the sweet new wireless controller.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:35 pm

Biff wrote:
Nookster wrote:
Ah, that's sweet of him, too bad he wasn't thinking like that when they decided to make the 360 incompatible with the Xbox pads and live headsets.
I'll be crying on the inside while I use the sweet new wireless controller.

I'm sure some third-party manufacturer will come up with some sort of device that makes it possible to use the old controllers.

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Nookster said:

member since 27 Oct 2004 with 111 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:46 pm

I thought it was a bit cute of Mr Allard to say that. All that gushing altruism, how very implausible.

Crying? On the inside? Heh

Take one cheapo usb adaptor, and my Xbox pads will never be redundant, it does make an excellent PC/Mac Game controller. Destroys all that junk from Logitech, Saitek, and especially those defunct Microsoft gamepads, all crap.

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