ApeXtreme DVD Player/PC Game Console/PVR

Just a run-of-the-mill press release from Apex. Note PVR functionality. Why was Apex the first to do this? Maybe they are not hampered by The Innovator's Dilemma.

The ApeXtreme is the first device of its kind. It functions as a full-featured, high-end home DVD player, a hard-disk-based Personal Video Recorder and a home game console designed to play any PC game -- all in one attractive device. The device moves PC versions of electronic games out of the computer room and into the TV room, giving gamers the ability to play their favorite "PC-only" games on a console machine, with a bigger game image -- on their standard TV.
...
Introduced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the ApeXtreme was honored as the "Best of CES" in the "Home Audio & Video" category, as well as being a CES Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase Honoree.

I wonder if customers of this device have to pay for the Windows OS as well? MSRP is $499?!?!

Apex Digital Announces Final Specifications and Partners for its Revolutionary ApeXtreme DVD Player/PC Game Console; Adds PVR Features, Faster CPU

Comments

[Attis]

PVR function is great but they don't mention that there will be a guide.

[Shuichi]

Yeah, would people be interested in a PVR without a guide? And 40GB is pretty small isn't it? especially since you can't burn recordings onto a DVD or anything, and you have to share the space with PC games (which generally have to be installed, not run off the CD).

[Electrodigital]

make sure its product/industrial design is rounded and curved and comes in black colour

[CrasH]

Just build your own like I did. I would have used linux, but with with WinXP to play games. I wrote my own scripts that run every time a disc is inserted in the drive. Every time I install a new game, I find one unique file on the disc, usually something like "game_name.ico" which helps the systems recognize that unique game disc from all the others. It then checks a database telling it WHERE that game has been installed on the system, calls up the right configuration profile for my gamepad, and launches the game, all while leaving my PVR software running in the background.

It's actually pretty nice, gives me TOTAL control over my system (provided I don't mind manually installing and adding script entries which I don't) and lets me add a bigger HD, my choice of video card, my choice of online services ("City of Heroes" on a big TV is nice) and the like.

Been using it as it is for months now and love it. More of a DVR than a game system at the moment (I also have a PS2, Dreamcast, Saturn, and Xbox I've collected over time), but I'm moving back into the gaming aspect of it.

Ideally, the next script I write will be similar to DISCover's HD management that checks to see what games I haven't played in a while and uninstalls them for me as room is needed for new games or recordings, but keeps my old game saves, etc. In addition, I wouldn't mind adding installation scripts for each game given that I may need to let the system uninstall and then automatically re-install them later.

Not that hard really.

If you're interested in how I basically:

1) built the box, installed the games I wanted, the PVR software, and the gamepad of choice that included a GOOD profiler software (for games that don't directly support gamepads)

2) Used a program called CD-DETECT (I think) to check if a disc is in the drive and based on what file types it finds (mpeg, avi, mp3, vob, exe), runs a script.

3) Wrote a script with PPro or something like that to check for the specific files. Right now it's of a "if file x exists, launch C:\Games\Game X else if file y exists, etc."

That's basically it.

Future updates include adding epsxe and script to auto launch PSX games.

It's really not that hard if you'll put a little time into it. My system, software included (not games, just PVR software and such) cost $380--much less than $499 AND has an 80GB HD, faster processor, better video card, etc.

E-mail me at preachercrash@hotmail.com if you want more help on how to do it. I may post a page online walking you through it soon.

And keep this in mind, with a CrasH Box as I call it, any games of my own I write, I can drop and play in my own console on a TV.

[William Foster]

Apextreme! What happened? It has been over a year, and we haven't heard anything from Apex. Did they scrap it? I was actually looking forward to getting one of these, and now it seems the only thing that comes close to it is a very expensive Alienware Home Media Center PC with the Discover technology built into it. Bummer!

[Play Free Games]

Yeah what happened?

[bigjsouth]

I prayed I would own the system and I confessed I would own it. I own the Apextreme and may be the only person to do so. I was sold one of the only prototypes ever made. I would like to put it in a gaming museum or showcase it somehow for others to see it. It is in my living room right now with the three games they sent with it.