[opendtv] Microsoft Ups the Console Ante

Video Gaming Review
Microsoft Ups the Console Ante

By SETH SCHIESEL
November 25, 2005

There is a saying in technology circles, often delivered with rueful 
respect, that if you give the folks at Microsoft enough chances, they 
will eventually deliver a compelling product. They did it with 
spreadsheets. They did it with Web browsers. And now, with the new 
Xbox 360, the Bill Gates team has delivered a legitimately excellent 
gaming and home media system. And there is nothing rueful about that.

Certainly, the graphics are incredibly detailed, lifelike and vivid, 
far beyond anything conceivable in the current generation of game 
consoles. Playing an Xbox 360 game can be almost like controlling a 
Pixar animated film or inhabiting "Band of Brothers." And that's on a 
regular old television. On a high-definition set, get ready for your 
eyes to weep.

But lush visuals were expected. There are two surprises that really 
make the Xbox 360 exciting, and that should deeply trouble Nintendo 
and Sony, the once-dominant game companies that Microsoft wants to 
take out like Netscape.

First, the system does a great job of elegantly harnessing the 
Internet to create what will soon be a global gaming community. 
Microsoft clearly hopes that the Xbox 360 can become the Friendster 
or MySpace of gaming, and it has a good chance to succeed. Connected 
to a cable modem or DSL line, the system even allows users to make 
free unlimited phone calls to other Xbox owners.

Second, and forgetting about games entirely, the Xbox 360 is the 
first product to truly deliver on the concept of the easy-to-use 
living room home-media hub. Connected to a home theater or just a TV, 
it plays DVD's flawlessly. Plug in a digital camera and show off your 
photos on the television. Plug in an iPod and listen to your music, 
even while playing a game. Or just put in a CD and rip the music to 
the unit's optional hard drive. Intimidated by a video game 
controller? The full version of the 360 ships with a TV-style remote 
control.

Serious gamers mostly shrugged at the online and home media functions 
as they were previewed before the system's introduction on Tuesday. 
It is clear now that it was impossible to grasp just how powerful and 
cool they were before actually using them. It is as if Microsoft has 
taken the famous slogan used against it by Apple in 1984 - "The 
computer for the rest of us" - and redirected the concept at its 
gaming rivals by creating a game machine for the rest of us.

The big picture is that the Xbox 360 is Microsoft's statement about 
the future of home technology. And it is an attractive, powerful 
statement.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/arts/25xbox.html?ex=1290574800&en=267c6faf65026cb1&ei=5090

 
 
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