[Discuss] Ouya and XBMC

[me at mattgillen.net (Matthew Gillen)]

On 08/08/2012 11:28 PM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> Lagging specs don't matter much to a game console.  Consoles are locked
> environments: once the specs are set they're set for the life of the
> console.  This ensures that the first and last consoles off the lines
> will run all of the same games.

Unless you're Sony.  The PS3 has at least 3 different hardware
baselines, and the ones that came out first can play games that the
later models cannot. How's that for an unexpected direction in
evolution? ;-)

(the PS3 initially had some additional hardware to make it fully
compatible with all PS2 games, but sometime after release decided it was
too expensive, so they quietly yanked it from newer models)

But you're initial point about lagging specs not mattering much for
consoles is right from another perspective: people using game consoles
don't care as much about cutting edge graphics.  Games that are released
for PC and various console platforms often have "high texture" packs for
the PC version, because PCs, even of the same vintage as the console,
will have much better graphics cards and more memory (and nowadays, more
CPUs).

Matt