[via 1up] Microsoft may be looking to unload its crushing hardware cost burden onto other folks, and license other companies to produce XBox consoles. As an exercise in expanding the brand, it's a brilliant move: XBox consoles are expensive, and Microsoft has already established a serious presence with the console and with XBox Live. Now they can continue to make the pie bigger by inviting hardware competition in increasing the platform's spread, driving costs down, and hopefully resulting in better quality (not to mention quieter, sheesh) consoles. Let's hope it happens.
This was tried once before in the console world, by the ill-fated 3DO console. Its trouble was that it was incredibly underpowered, and was $700. But they conceived of it as a platform, and several companies took a dip in those waters, followed by a dip in corporate profits. That it hasn't been tried since then is unsurprising, because every console has been produced by primarily hardware-oriented companies. Sony is not going to license the Playstation as a platform, because that's not their bag, man.
All consoles, except the XBox. That this hasn't come up before is surprising in hindsight. But if it happens, it will make for an exciting console landscape.
