Linux powers "cloud" gaming console

[Melcar]

Haven't seen this mentioned here, so I apologize if it's a repost. Apparently there is to be a Linux powered gaming console:

The EVO is built around a quad-core Athlon 64x2 5600 clocked at 2.9GHzm, with an ATI HD 3200 graphics chipset and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. It is said to support 1080p video resolution, says Envizions. The system is equipped with dual Ethernet and USB ports, a game controller, a 120GB or 250GB hard drive, plus "virtual unlimited online cloud storage."

Features that appear to match the "system of tomorrow" slogan include a customized liquid cooling system and a biometrics security system that supports facial, voice, and fingerprint scans. The system is also is said to offer a voice-enabled Media Center Communicator function for playing music and controlling other media functions.

The initial November release of the EVO Smart Console will be geared toward "game developers, open source users, and earlier adopters," says the company, which says a consumer roll-out is expected sometime next year. The box will initially ship with Fedora 8 or Envizions's own Fedora-based Mirrors Evolution Linux distro, "if the beta version is stable enough," said Derrick Samuels, CEO and founder of Envizions, in an interview.

"Mirrors Evolution is a modified version of Fedora 8," said Samuels. "Over time, we're going to keep making adjustments to it to make it into a robust Linux gaming platform."

Source

Their choice to go ATI is interesting I think.

[Dragonlord]

I assume it's about money. ATI is cheaper than nVidia.

[deanjo]

It will offer "cloud" based computing applications, Amiga-based games, and an Akimbo-based VOD (video on demand) service with over 10,000 titles

Amiga based games? WTH?

[xav1r]

Amiga based games? WTH?

Amiga players play games too you know. But seriously, this sounds very interesting, Im most excited about the game developer program they have. (its also hilarious looking at the games they have right now listed on their site. Hexen 2 hammer of thyrion. )

[Zhick]

Wait... isn't this just a x86(_64) PC wrapped in a nice little box, with a included gamepad and preinstalled linux?
Somehow I don't get what's so exciting about this...

[Melcar]

Wait... isn't this just a x86(_64) PC wrapped in a nice little box, with a included gamepad and preinstalled linux?
Somehow I don't get what's so exciting about this...

Well for one, is successful it can be a bastion for the Linux gaming community. This will give game developers a strong and stable platform in which to develop their games. The benefits of this would eventually trickle down onto the PC platform itself.
Another thing that would be both interesting and beneficial (if somewhat highly unlikely at the moment) is that if they decide to use FOSS drivers to power the machine. If successful this will bring in more resources and support for the FOSS community and would speed things up considerably, in so far 3D applications are concerned. Of course, this is all speculation and wishful thinking on my part, but it would be cool nonetheless.
If this thing picks up, and once market competition enters the picture, this has the potential to be big. As of right now the only thing I don't like is the price; sure, the rebate makes it very cheap at the end, but it's still a substantial initial investment.

[RealNC]

No one cares about this, and I bet this won't change. I don't think anyone in his right mind would buy this one instead of an XBox or Wii or whatever.

[niniendowarrior]

I think that this will have a total lack of games that are on a commercial level. The only titles available on this one are the kind of games playable on your favourite distros.

[deanjo]

I think that this will have a total lack of games that are on a commercial level. The only titles available on this one are the kind of games playable on your favourite distros.

I'd have to agree. This is just going to end up as another dead console unless they can get some massive deals with the software publishers going and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. This thing doesn't even have close to the graphics power to run head to head with other consoles and I doubt the developers are going to be thrilled having to "lighten" the system requirements of their games.

[Melcar]

I'd have to agree. This is just going to end up as another dead console unless they can get some massive deals with the software publishers going and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. This thing doesn't even have close to the graphics power to run head to head with other consoles and I doubt the developers are going to be thrilled having to "lighten" the system requirements of their games.

If we stick to Linux, that HD3200 is good enough to run most open source games, and I would think that the main purpose of the console is Linux based gaming. I do think, however, that for the price it will be going for such a chip seems rather small.