Microsoft Tried Partnering With Nintendo And Sony Before Making Xbox

Megalith

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I wonder what the console industry would be like today if Nintendo or Sony agreed to work with Microsoft on putting out a product. Those old rumors about Microsoft ever wanting to buy Nintendo have also now been dispelled.

Xbox co-creator Ed Fries replied, "When we first started thinking about doing Xbox we met with Nintendo and we sat down with Iwata and others and we said, 'This is what we want to do. Could we partner? Could we work together on this?' And basically they said no." Fries went on to note that Microsoft offered to handle the software and networking side of things while Nintendo would be in charge of the hardware, and they could team up to release a product, but the company wasn't interested.
 
not really a surprise, they were working with Sega before that. Dreamcast ran windows CE. Sega went away and they couldn't get another partner so just went off on their own.

That is why you have one time Sega Dreamcast games reborn on the Xbox either as a direct sequel (Jet Set Radio) or as spiritual successors (Metropolis street racing reborn as Project Gotham Racing).
 
something tells me they dodged that bullet knowing perfectly well what would happen to them had the left ms in
 
something tells me they dodged that bullet knowing perfectly well what would happen to them had the left ms in
That's nutty talk. "Nintendo Live" by Microsoft would have lifted the Gamecube to great heights.
 
That's nutty talk. "Nintendo Live" by Microsoft would have lifted the Gamecube to great heights.
Nintendo really is the store thumb of online matchmaking as well. Although Sony sotra half heartedly did PSN with ps3 they corrected it with ps4s network, nintendo really could have benefited for a real network that early on could have helped keep interest in their systems. After all you could put 100 hours into a single player game if you're lucky but people can easily put 1000 hours into online multiplayer games so you keep fanbases.
 
Nintendo really is the store thumb of online matchmaking as well. Although Sony sotra half heartedly did PSN with ps3 they corrected it with ps4s network, nintendo really could have benefited for a real network that early on could have helped keep interest in their systems. After all you could put 100 hours into a single player game if you're lucky but people can easily put 1000 hours into online multiplayer games so you keep fanbases.
And it should be stressed that Xbox Live really was great early on. The interface and options have changed and expanded over the years but I bought and played games on it from day one and it was an easy, comfortable experience.
 
I dont think it would have been that great if they partnered with nintendo or sony.. By going out on their own, they were pushed to not be "microsoft" and acutally try to be something more than they were at the time. Nintendo and sony both were already established at the time, and MS would not have brought anything to them . with original xbox, and especially with 360, they were pushed to bring a better experience by looking/buying games that would define the system, ex: halo, gears of war, rainbow six etc...
 
FYI, the Dreamcast didn't actually run WinCE. The OS and drivers were on each game disc and customized for that game. Most games used Sega's OS. Only a relative few actually used WinCE.

Windows CE - Sega Retro

Wasn't aware of that. I knew that WinCE ran on the dreamcast and had assumed that all games used the same base OS. Wasn't aware that only some games ran windows while others (or most) ran a different OS.

That does still show at least some partnership between the two for Microsoft to make the OS run on that platform and even some of the games to make use of the Windows OS. Guess the partnership just didn't go as deep as Microsoft had originally expected. Microsoft, Sega Collaborate on Dreamcast: The Ultimate Home Video Game System | News Center
 
I dont think it would have been that great if they partnered with nintendo or sony.. By going out on their own, they were pushed to not be "microsoft" and acutally try to be something more than they were at the time. Nintendo and sony both were already established at the time, and MS would not have brought anything to them . with original xbox, and especially with 360, they were pushed to bring a better experience by looking/buying games that would define the system, ex: halo, gears of war, rainbow six etc...

It did help us get to a good place by them both saying no. Without Microsoft the current console war would be a joke. You have Microsoft and Sony pushing each other and Nintendo off doing their own thing with most developers forgetting they are even there. As far as not being able to bring anything to the table. I wouldn't say that is true. By that point Microsoft had a well established OS and DirectX for device interaction, so they knew that side of things. They also knew how to setup a network due to their server platform. Before Xbox Live came around and brought you the same thing you had on PC for gaming line what did you have on Nintendo and Sony platforms? So they could have brought that insight to one of the other companies faster. Now would that had mattered much... not really. Because you would either have Nintendo not wanting to fully utilize everything they were given, or Sony getting so far ahead that they no longer would feel a reason to push to do better.
 
I really wish Nintendo would partner with MS simply because I do not want 2 consoles to play all my favorite games. Sony never had any games I liked since the Forza series came out, and I do not have the time to even game on my Xbox most of the year.
 
And it should be stressed that Xbox Live really was great early on. The interface and options have changed and expanded over the years but I bought and played games on it from day one and it was an easy, comfortable experience.

halo 2 was amazing back in the day with Xbox live. I like to think that the live UI used in halo 2 really was superior and led the way to bigger and better things for live.
 
In some alternate reality, Nintendo's SNES "PlayStation" CD add-on, built by Sony, powered by Microsoft Windows remains the only console on the market.
 
I was ok but not great at it. I think I beat it on easy or normal and tried to do a hard run,only to fail at a certain part.
Oh, I did fine with the single player. It was multiplayer that I had a hard time getting into, probably because I was already too old to invest the kind of time the younger kids could. Still, the mechanics of Xbox Live worked great from day one, though it had growing pains like any other online service, and it has only improved since. It's part of why I continue to be loyal to Xbox - for example, I looked at the games available for installation on my Xbone yesterday and it included 57 Xbox 360 game (to be clear, these are the games in my XBL library). For all the gripes about the Xbone, Microsoft is supporting it well...and I'm playing a game of XCOM Enemy Within right now. :)
 
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