HP wants to bridge PCs and consoles behind the scenes

[News Reader]

HP wants to bridge PCs and consoles behind the scenes
Filed under: PC, Business
HP described how its consumption of VoodooPC has impacted both companies at a media event this week. Shane Robison, an HP VP, said that one of the biggest effects is that HP now has "Voodoo DNA" pumping through its hallways, we think like a virus affecting a host. Should the injection become a problem, HP may someday page Dr. Mario to sort things out; Rahul Sood, CTO of the HP gaming group and founder of VoodooPC, repeatedly said that HP wants to complement consoles and not be a competitor.

HP, however, offered few specific plans to bring PCs and consoles closer together from a gamer's perspective. Instead, the company showed a series of game technology demos that may someday be licensed to console makers, generating more income from its annual $3.5 billion research and development budget. One of those projects, mscape, has been called a handheld challenger in other stories, but HP executives told us that it's a platform that runs on certain PocketPCs and other devices; HP doesn't plan to ship an all-in-one hardware-and-software version of the augmented reality gaming tool.

HP will continue pushing its computers to gamers, keeping the VoodooPC brand at the top of its price/performance tier, while introducing a new line of PCs that fits between the gap between that ultra-high end and HP's standard machines.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Author: Zack Stern
Category: HPmscaperahul soodRahulSoodshane robisonShaneRobisonvoodoo pcvoodooPC
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Source: Joystiq
Description: Joystiq

[Dog Pants]

Shane Robison, an HP VP, said that one of the biggest effects is that HP now has "Voodoo DNA" pumping through its hallways

What the fuck are they talking about? This is HP who make printers, right?

[spoodie]

Makes it sound like HP has been bummed by a witch doctor to me.

Also, it's just the same as Dell buying Alienware.

[cheeseandham]

What the fuck are they talking about? This is HP who make printers, right?

Not a fan of HP, but to be fair (especially since they took over Compaq) they do also servers, PC's, PocketPC's, laptops, cameras and a bunch more, rather than just printers... I guess with that and a $3.5 billion budget they've got the resources to give this a go.

Admittedly I can't see haxx0rs bragging about their l33t HP rig though

[Dog Pants]

Not a fan of HP, but to be fair (especially since they took over Compaq) they do also servers, PC's, PocketPC's, laptops, cameras and a bunch more, rather than just printers... I guess with that and a $3.5 billion budget they've got the resources to give this a go.

Admittedly I can't see haxx0rs bragging about their l33t HP rig though

Most experienced gamers will have built their own rig anyway. The only people who buy Alienware are those who like to brag. They probably drive Corsas with lots of plastic bits on too.

[cheeseandham]

True Mr Pants. But I actually hope There is still a market though, as currently gamers in the "don''t want to get their hands dirty"/"not enough time"/"more money than sense" sector that want a gaming rig "that just works" increasingly turn to consoles. So I think for PC gaming to survive (properly) rather than being a niche and overtaken by consoles is for pre-made gaming PC's to be manufactured.
For those pre-made gaming PC's to be successful, they also have to be "sexy"(tm)
Kind of like cars -not that I know anything of the subject- but I'm sure you could make a car (or I suppose heavily mod and existing one) and get better performance than a straight off the line product. While I'm sure it's a very interesting scene in the make-your-own/mod scene for cars, it's always going to be a minority compared to people buying decent pre-made cars and not touching them.

Sad, but true (IMHO)

I'll shut up now

[Dog Pants]

Fair point. I was thinking about the amount of 5punkers who don't really know enough to build a machine themselves as I wrote it, but generally they seem to buy a half decent machine then upgrade it. Still, we're in the minority of gamers - the majority of PC gamers play The Sims on a Compaq or Dell it seems.

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

True Mr Pants. But I actually hope There is still a market though, as currently gamers in the "don''t want to get their hands dirty"/"not enough time"/"more money than sense" sector that want a gaming rig "that just works" increasingly turn to consoles. So I think for PC gaming to survive (properly) rather than being a niche and overtaken by consoles is for pre-made gaming PC's to be manufactured.
For those pre-made gaming PC's to be successful, they also have to be "sexy"(tm)
Kind of like cars -not that I know anything of the subject- but I'm sure you could make a car (or I suppose heavily mod and existing one) and get better performance than a straight off the line product. While I'm sure it's a very interesting scene in the make-your-own/mod scene for cars, it's always going to be a minority compared to people buying decent pre-made cars and not touching them.

Sad, but true (IMHO)

I'll shut up now

THIS

I think a lot of 5punkers tend to forget that not everyone is a hardware nut, and there are gamers out there who just want stuff to work with no hassles.

[cheeseandham]

the majority of PC gamers play The Sims on a ...

and for that they need to burn in hell...

[Dog Pants]

and for that they need to burn in hell...

I think playing The Sims is punishment enough in itself.