Print - Xbox 360 to Offer Enhanced Media Center Experience, Link with iPod and Sony PSP

Microsoft revealed yesterday that its upcoming Xbox 360 video game and home entertainment system will offer integrated Media Center Extender functionality that will let the device interact with a Windows XP Media Center Edition (XP MCE) 2005-based PC. However, this simple description only hints at the digital media prowess of Xbox 360. In addition to offering a Media Center interface that is, in some ways, superior to that of many Media Center PCs, Xbox 360 will also aggregate content from networked PCs running other XP versions and will directly connect with Apple Computer's iPod, the Sony Portable PlayStation (PSP), and a slew of other portable devices.

In a conversation with Xbox 360 Executive Producer Jeff Henshaw and Windows General Manager Joe Belfiore, I discovered that Microsoft's efforts to extend the Xbox beyond just video games is a years-long effort that saw both the Windows and Xbox teams at the company work collaboratively toward a common goal. "We've put out some big numbers," Henshaw told me. "With Xbox 360, we want to reach one billion customers worldwide. Reaching that demographic requires you to understand that people like to be entertained in different ways. Everyone plays in some way or another. Some people play games. Some play music or card games, watch recorded TV, or view photos. The more types of play you can build in, and the more connectivity you supply, the better your reach will be over time.

"Our goal with Xbox 360 is to make the first consumer electronic device that supports all consumer experiences and does so in high definition," he continued. "It's a combined focus where the two capabilities become really powerful when used together."

Aside from the obvious gaming features, Xbox 360 will support a second-generation Media Center Extender experience that goes well beyond the dedicated Media Center Extenders or Xbox-based software Extender you can use today. First, the new Media Center Extenders will be built directly into Xbox 360 and won't require a separate software disk that you must manually load into the unit's optical drive. This obviates certain limitations with today's Xbox-based Extender kit, which, among other things, doesn't let you turn off the device with the remote control.

The Xbox 360 Media Center Extender will be driven by the remote control that comes with the device. Users must have an XP MCE 2005-based PC to drive the console, and Microsoft will ship a free software update, code-named Emerald, that will update XP MCE 2005 to support the new Xbox 360 features. These features include full HDTV support for both live TV and recorded TV. That means that the Media Center Extenders in Xbox 360 will be able to stream HDTV broadcasts over a home network, a capability today's Extenders lack.

Furthermore, the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender will include the full Media Center user experience, not the stripped-down version seen on today's Extenders. That means you get the full fidelity of the Media Center experience, complete with animations, transitions during photos slide shows, and so on. For many users, the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender will look even nicer than the default UI on a Media Center PC, a first for any Extender.

If you don't have an XP-based Media Center PC, Xbox 360 will use Windows Media Connect technology to interact with the digital media content on your XP-based PCs over your home network. This experience won't be as rich as the Extender experience, but will instead use regular Xbox 360 menus via its "Access Music or Photos" interface. Additionally, you can use this interface to interact with audio CDs or photo disks, music you've ripped directly to the Xbox 360 hard disk, music stored on attached MP3 players, or photos stored on attached digital cameras.

Unexpectedly, Xbox 360 will include direct support for two competing portable devices: Apple's iPod line of MP3 players and Sony's PSP. Xbox 360 will natively support music and photos stored on an iPod, and music, photos, and videos stored on a PSP. "Plug in an iPod or PSP via USB, and we'll give you access to all that content," Henshaw told me. "We'll play it right off of the device. Plug it in and stream that content through your stereo."

Both Henshaw and Belfiore credited the close relationship between the Windows and Xbox teams for making the Xbox 360 the best possible digital hub device. "We're both very passionate about simple and compelling consumer experiences," Belfiore told me. "While the Extender for Xbox was a dry run for this kind of interaction, Xbox 360 is the main show. It was designed from the beginning to do this. We both now have the experience and know what needs work. Hopefully we'll really nail it this time."

The more I get to know about XBOX 360, the more impressed I get. By the time Sony comes out with their dopey PS3 in "spring 2006", the XBOX 360 will already have a massive 160 games, had the entire next generation console market to themselves for 8 months, sold over 10 million units worldwide to both hard core gamers and the non hard core media using population, and grabbed a lead in the vidg ame business that it will never relniquish. Meanwhile, Sony and Nintendo will be releasing their consoles at around the same time and be reduced to fighting for what is left of the vidgame market. So long Sony.

It looks like Microsoft put a lot of effort into Xbox2, but analysts all seem to agree that PS3 is the technologically better and faster system. If the two systems were coming out at the same time, there is no doubt that PS3 would clobber Xbox2 in the market. The question is whether Xbox2 can take enough of an advantage of a few months lead time to build up a big market share before the appearance of PS3. I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see.

"If the two systems were coming out at the same time, there is no doubt that PS3 would clobber Xbox2 in the market." I wouldn't bet on that even if they were relsaed at the same time. There is too little difference in specs to make any real difference in thegraphics of the games. Plus if they had been released at the same time, they'd probably have about the same specs anyway. SPECS PS3 XBOX 360 Processor 3.2GHz Cell w/ 7 SPEs 2.0 TFLPOS 3.2GHz G5 w/ 3 Cores 1.0TFLOPS Memory 256MB XDR @ 3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 @ 700MHz 512MB GDDR3 @ 700MHz 10MB Embedded DRAM GPU 550MHz NVIDIA 500MHz ATi Best Display 1080p Standard 1080i Optional Dual Screen Output Single Screen Output Network 1000BASE-T Ethernet Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g 100BASE-TX Ethernet Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g Audio 5.1 Digital 5.1 Digital Wireless Input x7 2.0 x4 on 2.4GHz RF on Bluetooth Storage Removable HDD Removable HDD 20GB *TBA Release Spring 2006 November 2005 Dimensions About 13.5" x 3.25" About 10.25" x 2.5"

news on the revolution " Revolution is about the size of a stack of three DVD cases and has no visible knobs, buttons or ports for joysticks" http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2005-05-17-revolution_x.htm?CSP=N003. Wow Nintendo hasn't learned that size DOESN'T MATTER on consoles when you put it in ur basement or living room. Based on the size that it's only 3 DVD stacks in total size i would assume it's specs will not surpass those of PS3. "Nintendo makes more modest claims that Revolution is two or three times more powerful than GameCube. "It's not all about having 'turbo power,' " Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan says. "It's about what you do with it." " Ok lets all think for a moment. 2 3 times the power of gamecube which is weaker than the xbox. Xbox360 is 10 times more powerful than the original xbox. So therefore by the law of induction the xbox360 will be more powerful. So long to Nintendo. Xbox360 IS PS3's biggest competetor.

Wow this is one well rounded system. So much for me planning to buy a TIVO! I'd get the xbox360 if it's priced under 400

"So long to Nintendo. Xbox360 IS PS3's biggest competetor. " EXTRACT: "Senior analyst for Jupiter Research, Jay Horwitz, made a prediction about the upcoming generation of game console wars. The stakes are certainly high and getting higher in the $10 billion-a-year U.S. games industry, the bulk of it in consoles. In 2004, Sony’s PS2 led the U.S. console wars with 43 percent of the market. The Xbox was a distant No. 2 with 19 percent, followed the GameCube at 14 percent. The remainder included handheld game systems. But by 2010, Horwitz forecasts, Xbox 360 would grab the lead with 38 percent of the market, followed by Sony with 32 percent and Nintendo with 22 percent. " Like someone said earlier,we will see.

Please don't quote analysts. That's just lame. Their predictions are as valid as some 5 year old's. As for this iPod stuff.. I'd like to hear from someone with some integrity before I believe this... This is a Media Center job like the HP iPod integration into WMA? Because.. er.. that involved iTunes. Are you telling me, Xbox is running iTunes under the hood? I'd love to hear about MS hacking Fairplay, and then Apple updating the software every 2 months to mess with MS.

Wow this is one well rounded system. So much for me planning to buy a TIVO! I'd get the xbox360 if it's priced under 400 __ me hopes you have a windows media pc to go with that xbox 360, cuz thats what you need for it to work...

"The more I get to know about XBOX 360, the more impressed I get. By the time Sony comes out with their dopey PS3 in "spring 2006", the XBOX 360 will already have a massive 160 games, had the entire next generation console market to themselves for 8 months, sold over 10 million units worldwide to both hard core gamers and the non hard core media using population, and grabbed a lead in the vidg ame business that it will never relniquish." Yeah, every Sega Dreamcast owner said the same thing.

"Please don't quote analysts. That's just lame. Their predictions are as valid as some 5 year old's." I'll quote whoever I like, And of course lots of analyst predictions have turned out to be uncannily accurate. That is why they have an anlyst rating system for analysts out there, to weed out the crap ones. "Are you telling me, Xbox is running iTunes under the hood? " I don't care about ipod.Its of no importance to me in the least. I am buying the XBOX 360 for the insanely great games and the awesome XBOX Live, not for some ipod. Plus I use the superb Creative Labs Zen anyways.

This iPod news seems pretty lame in light of Sony stealing the show with the massive PS3. 2 teraflops? 45gb Blu-Ray discs? Geez! People will simply wait for PS3.

Win an Xbox 360, Every 10 mins Microsoft and Pepsi-Cola North America today announced a U.S. promotion to put Xbox 360, the next generation video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, into the hands of thousands of lucky people before the console hits store shelves. Beginning Aug. 28, Mountain Dew, Pepsi’s intense citrus soft drink, and Xbox will award one Xbox 360 console every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 9 weeks straight. To play, consumers will collect codes found under the caps of Mountain Dew and select Pepsi products, and enter codes in a personal online account at www.every10minutes.com

"People will simply wait for PS3" Like they waited for the Jaguar? Jaguar was the most powerful console by far at the time, ended up with very little sales. Its the games stupid. With 40 games just for the launch period by the the end of this year, the higest # of launch games ever in the history of vid games, and up to 160 games by the time the PS3 launches in 2006, Microsoft is going to clean Sony's clock. Sony is going to be given some Microsoft *** whupping!

Yup people will wait for the ps3. Think about it. When a game is on all 3 systems, for what system do you buy the game for? the one with the best graphics. This time around the ps3 has the best graphics, so whats the point of getting the xbox version of EA 20** game X. Lets get something straight here. Yes the xbox has a head start, but really is every gamer going to buy it? No, if anything a majority of buyers will be hardcore gamers that want to buy the xbox. Same thing for the ps3. So when will the really heat up? A year and a half from release. When the prices come down, and tons of games are out. Halo 2 broke records for most copies sold in one day, but GTA SA out sold it in the long run.

"Think about it. When a game is on all 3 systems, for what system do you buy the game for? the one with the best graphics" So how come PS2 has sold over 80 million to XBOX's 20 million then? Given that the graphics for the XBOX is over TWICE as powerful as that of the crappy PS2. Only reason, is PS came out long before the XBOX, and had hundreds of games already by by the time the XBOX came out. That is exactly what is going to happen this time round, only the roles are reversed. Its Microsoft which is going to be first out of the gates, and its Microsoft which is going to have hundreds of games by the time the PS2 comes out, and its Microsoft with XBOX 360 which will have no next gen competition for 8 months and have the market for the next generation console all to themselves before Sony and Nintendo bring out their consoles at the same time and have to fight each other for consumers dollars after Microsoft has already cleaned up. Poor Sony.

"Given that the graphics for the XBOX is over TWICE as powerful as that of the crappy PS2. Only reason, is PS came out long before the XBOX, and had hundreds of games already by by the time the XBOX came out. That is exactly what is going to happen this time round, only the roles are reversed. Its Microsoft which is going to be first out of the gates...." I really don't understand posts like this. First you complain about the fact that (according to you) the only reason that PS2 won is that it appeared earlier and there were more games for it. You say that Xbox was twice as powerful as PS2. OK, I'll take your word for it. But now PS3 is clearly going to be the more powerful system (2 TFlops versus 1 TFlop). But instead of now supporting the more powerful system (i.e., the PS3), you support the slower, "crappy" system (i.e., the Xbox2). Have you really thought out your position carefully?

The bottom line is that once the PS 3 comes out 6 months after XBox 360, every potential buyer is going to weigh the fact that the PS 3 is more powerful - twice the teraflops, much higher capacity blue-ray, etc., etc. And I question whether the xBox will deliver the same awesome visuals we have now seen are coming for the PS 3. Nothing in the MTV special was close to what Sony showed for the PS 3. The xBox will sell for sure, but it's going to be second rate within six months. Worth owning, but second rate

"I really don't understand posts like this. First you complain about the fact that (according to you) the only reason that PS2 won is that it appeared earlier and there were more games for it. You say that Xbox was twice as powerful as PS2. OK, I'll take your word for it." Nothing complex about it. In the first round the XBOX was far more powerful than the PS2, yet sold only on fourth the sales of the PS2, because the PS2 came out long before the XBOX, and had the market to themselves for a year, and had far more games before the XBOX and Nintendo were released. This time round, the XBOX 360 is coming out first, up to 8 months before the PS3 The XBOX 360 will have nearly 200 games already before the PS3 is released. The XBOX 360 wil be the ONLY next gen console for this Christmas and for 6 months after that. Its gonna clean up but good. Consumersare not going to just sit idly by, at Christmas with their hands folded, waiting for some phanthom PS3 that is going to be launched as far away as June. By the time the PS3 is relsaed, Microsoft will be solidly ahead for good! If you add in the fact that there isn't much difference between the specs for the PS3 and that of the XBOX 360, then Microsoft's advantage becomes even bigger. They both use a 3.2 GHZ IBM Power PC based processor, only thing is XBOX 360's has got 3 cores with 2 threads per core. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)for the XBOX 360 is an ATI chip running at 550 MHZ, while the GPU for the PS3 is an Nvidia running at 550 MHZ. That is hardly much of a difference But the 8 month difference in time to market WILL make plenty of difference alright. Microsoft is going to win this war.

"But now PS3 is clearly going to be the more powerful system (2 TFlops versus 1 TFlop). But instead of now supporting the more powerful system (i.e., the PS3), you support the slower, "crappy" system (i.e., the Xbox2). Have you really thought out your position carefully? " I have. Have you? Read my post above.

You can't say the 2 systems have similar specs because they don't. The PS3 has a completely new cpu, and uses RAMBUS (read the specs on that). So obviously, if you know how to interpret the data, the PS3 is by far the superior system. XBOX 360 will have a head start, but in the end PS3 will take it back. Just check back in 2 years and see which console comes out on top. Luckily, you can't eat your words here.

"Consumersare not going to just sit idly by, at Christmas with their hands folded, waiting for some phanthom PS3 that is going to be launched as far away as June." I'm sure that that's the reasoning that went on at Microsoft, and was what motivated them to get the Xbox2 out as quickly as possible before Sony's PS3. I guess it depends on the consumer. For me, I'm perfectly happy to wait until spring of next year for a PS3. On the other hand, more serious gaming fans may be eager to buy the first next-generation console that comes out, which means that they will get an Xbox. But many serious gamers will probably also buy a PS3 when it comes out, so it's not clear to me that Microsoft will earn any sort of lock on the market by coming out early.

Ipod integration doesn't necessarily mean you need itunes. It just merely means you can play songs on ur ipod on the Xbox. This is quite common in different cars such as the BMW. Sony officially announced the PS3 will be twice as powerful. However, it seems Xbox's multimedia capabilites outstrips PS3s with the ability to record HD live like TIVO. And analaysts say that PS3 has lots of power under the hood, but it's for show, due to the fact that it will take developers YEARS to fully make use of the xbox360's capabilites. it will take even longer for PS3s. And um no people will buy the xbox360 because i can assure u many people in the entertainment industry would buy it. I mean seriously MTV IS PROMOTING IT. It seems Nintendo is dead, due to the lack of posts from the mac fanboyz about the revolutoin's g5 :)

"I'm sure that that's the reasoning that went on at Microsoft, and was what motivated them to get the Xbox2 out as quickly as possible before Sony's PS3" That same reasoning worked just fine for Sony when tyhe PS2 was launched, and Sony had no competition at all, in the next gen console market for like 18 months. They cleaned up good.

Wininformant should be renamed "XBoxRumourCentral". "All XBox All The Time" Yawn, indeed.

LOS ANGELES - Xbox 360 has some customizable faceplates that are tradable across Ebay. Today, we've picked up from Reuters that the Xbox 360 has customizable faceplates selling across Ebay. Prices go for $165 in the bidding price range. "It just shows they're dying to get their hands on the 360," said Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell. Check out Ebay.com for more information on how many bids there are and other info.

Honestly, you people are being horribly biased, so I as a long-time Nintendo fan will be the judge. I don't think Sony will get its *** whooped, but it will be outdone in sales, primarily because of the huge amount of titles coming out for the Xbox, because of Xbox Live and ESPECIALLY because of the fact that Xbox360 will be released right on time for the holiday season.You are assuming that hard-core gamers will compose the majority of the market, it doesn't work that way, the majority of the people are 40 year olds with little children nagging them "Oh mommy! I want to go on that pretty horsey!". And as for Nintendo, well so much for that, the only thing they can hope for is the good old tradition of fine gaming to keep up their sales. Personally I will probably be getting an XBox360 when the prices come down enough.

"That same reasoning worked just fine for Sony when tyhe PS2 was launched, and Sony had no competition at all, in the next gen console market for like 18 months. They cleaned up good. " Yeah, but this time the time difference will be more like 4 to 6 months (November 2005 versus spring 2006), assuming that both companies are accurate in their projections. Is that big enough of a lead to be a decisive advantage? I dunno. You can either have a 1 TFlop gaming console in November, or a 2 TFlop console if you wait a few months more. Which will consumers choose?

"Yeah, but this time the time difference will be more like 4 to 6 months (November 2005 versus spring 2006), assuming that both companies are accurate in their projections. Is that big enough of a lead to be a decisive advantage? I dunno" I make it a difference more like 8 months, October/November to May/June. Sony only recently sent out the software development kits to the games developers, whereas Microsoft had already sent their software development kits to developers over 2 years ago. You can't just make a game on the turn of a dime. Second point of course is that Microsoft is selling their conole at Christmas, by far far far the time of the year when most consoles and games are sold. Sony is releasing their console like in the middle of the year. Noone is excited about geting presents for all their relatives in May or June. The third point of course is, for the first time in history, a game console is going to be launched in all 3 major regoins at around the same time at Christmas, when Microsoft Lauches the XBOX 360. This is simply staggering! Sony and the Japanese had always taken their sweet time, launched in Japan, then after say 6 months or even more before launching in the US then Europe. Even Sony's recent PSP launch followed the same pattern. Up to this day, PSP has still not been launchdd in Europe. If Sony follow their normal pattern, Microsft is going to clobber them even more in America.

Something you learn in computer engineering is the a doubling of the number of instructions doesn't double the performance. There are many, many factors that go into this kind of thing (like processor caches). So while the 2 Teraflops sounds so much better than the measly 1 Teraflop, it isn't. Also as someone suggested above it's going to take a long time to actually tax these systems. Content takes a long time to develop and engines take an even longer time to develop. 1/3 of all retail sales happen during the Christmas season. The X-Box will sell a lot of units simply from the parents and grandmothers who care nothing of Teraflops will be buying X-Boxes. The following season will when all three are out may be significantly different. There are people who will wait. Some are the same types of people who post here. There will always be fans of certain products who will never consider another brand. They aren't necessarily the minority either, they just won't by anything else (see Ford versus Chevy). X-Box 306's launch lineup is impressive, though I think each successive launch will have a more impressive launch lineup, at least statistically. One major thing going to the X-Box is that it's based on DirectX and not its own home grown graphics sub-system. This greatly reduces the amount of the time it takes to develop a game and means that less energy will be needed to port their game back or forth to the PC which remains a major platform for games. Microsoft took the wise course of making the X-Box easier to code for. Trust me it's easier to find X-Box developers than PS1 or PS2 developers. --StoneDonkey

"You can either have a 1 TFlop gaming console in November, or a 2 TFlop console if you wait a few months more. Which will consumers choose? " I'd buy the console that is rocking at Christmas, with 40 kick butt awesome game, anyda, over some phanthom console that does not even exist yet at Christmas. Especially since my sons, and nephews and other teenage relatives, are as impatient as any young people, and want their Christmas presents at Christmas, instead of in May. Duh! Another thing, no one really cares much about TFLOPS at Christmas. Kids can't play with a "TFLOP" that does not exist or show off a non-existent TFLOP to their friends. Plus of course the graphics chips (which is what matters most in consoles) are virtually about the same (XBOX 360 is a 500 MHZ bleeding edge ATI graphics chip, while the PS3 is 550 MHZ Nvidia graphics chip.) For that(50 MHZ), I am supposed to dissapoint my kids at Christmas with tall stories of future "TFLOPS"?? I don't think so.

"You are assuming that hard-core gamers will compose the majority of the market, it doesn't work that way, the majority of the people are 40 year olds with little children nagging them "Oh mommy! I want to go on that pretty horsey!"" My thoughts exactly.

Wow the xbox360 news keeps getting better and better. I can't wait till E3 and look at comparisons between both the ps3 and xbox360. Right now i'm debating which 1 to get. I think the xbox360 will hold a huge advantage with it's release over the christmas. For example if the PSP was released over christmas it would hvae beena HUGE success. However it did not live up to the hype it was suppose to.

2 words: Motor Storm WOW, Simpy MIND BLOWING!!! Dreamcast 360, er xbox 360 is obsolete before even being released. Have you seen the Motor Storm trailer? WOW, I can't get over it. I was going to get both xbox 360 and ps3, but after comparing the trailers at http://www.gametrailers.com/e3_2k5_ps3.php and comparing the specs, I'm not going to waste my money on the new xbox. Read it and weep, sorry Xbox fan-girlz, PS3 wins hands down!!!

Things wrong with the xbox. 1) backwards compatibility will be software and only for some games. 2) Wireless runs on 2.4 ghz 3) supports only standard DVD 4) wifi ready(not built in) 5) weaker hardware

As a Mac Zealot, I'm drooling over, not really the specs of the XBOX but the actual clips they showed at the conference. Mark my words: Mistwalker is going to be a kick-*** developer. That is one all-star staff they have.. wow. I am an overnight Mistwalker fanboy after seeing the names they have working for them. Xbox360 should totally kick ***, despite whatever specs Sony has.. those titles are awesome, and I really think MS has better relationships with developers than even Sony. What don't I like about it? Well, I honestly don't think anyone turns on the TV and thinks, I'm gonna look at some photos.. all that other stuff (Windows Media Center) bores the hell out of me, but MS has made Xbox Live a two-tiered (free and pay) service meaning at any time friends of yours will come on and challenge you to a game. Amazing. Amazing. How can Sony shrug off MS's online community?! BluRay? Let me know how many developers feel like spending a couple years churning out 40 gigs of code for a game... Oh, Nintendo? I saw what they had to offer. THey will own the online space, but their console offering stank up the room. Zelda is game of the year material, but ask them about the Revolution and they start getting criptic. "Those graphics will make you say wow" Oh...kaaaaaay...

"1) backwards compatibility will be software and only for some games. 2) Wireless runs on 2.4 ghz 3) supports only standard DVD 4) wifi ready(not built in) 5) weaker hardware " # 1, backwards compatibility is irrelevant. No one buys a new conmole so they can play old games. They already have the old console for that. # 2, There will be backwards compatibility for all the most important games. Certainly any game that has sold over 100,000 units will have compatibility right from the get go. That makes up the bulk of XBOX games sold. :) The rest are not important, but just in case, Microsoft will add them n later anyways. # 3, Its nor revelavnt what GHZ th wireless runs on, so far as it works very well, and from eveything I heard, the wirless 360 controllers kick butt. Bluetooth is sucky anyways. Plus this wireless controller in the 360 has super advanced Microsoft-patented wireless technology. # 4, again, its the best decision Microsoft has taken with the 360.. Blue Ray and HD-DVD are just too damn expensive right now, while DVD's are cheap. Over 90% of US homes don't even have HD TV's which are still far too expensive, and won't be coming down in price for years(they have been around like forever and are stil as expensive as hell) Plus Microsoft has put Windows Media VC1 in the XBOX 360. VC-1 simply trumps Blue Ray in video quality, that is why both the Blue Ray and HD-DVD stndards commitees have mandated VC-1 in their formarts. # 5, XBOX 360 has Wireless Network Adapter via 802.11b, g and a, more standards than the PS3 supports. Add in the super 40 launch games by the end of the year(the highset by far in gaming history), and its bye bye for the PS3. :)

"Read it and weep, sorry Xbox fan-girlz, PS3 wins hands down!!! " Ummm..PS3 will not even exist come Christmas. The only mind blowing, bleeding edge, staggering next gen console on the market, with a jaw dropping FORTY GAMES will be the XBOX 360. Microsoft is simply going to clean up. Sony will try to join the party in June 2006, and find to their utter dismay that most of the gusets have already been to Microsoft's party, and had the time of their lives. Sony won't know what hit 'em. :)

Ooops.. I mean Nintendo will own the PORTABLE space.. must have spaced out there... sorry..

"5) weaker hardware " Rubbish. Given that the Xbox 360 CPU can crunch 3x as many PowerPC instructions per cycle and second, there's a very good chance that Xbox 360 can demolish PS3 in a Dhrystone MIPS measurement and integer performance. PowerPC Instruction Rate X360 CPU: 3.2GHz x 3 x 2 = 19.2 Billion per Second PS3 Cell: 3.2GHz x 1 x 2 = 6.4 Billion per Second"

When asked if Sony’s claims to have the PS3 to market by spring 2006 was a surprise, Chief Xbox Officer, Robbie Bach, said that Microsoft had planned for that timeframe from the start and it wasn’t a determining factor in the Xbox 360 launch. What was a surprise to the Microsoft team was the lack of discussion by Sony at their press conference to an online strategy for the PS3. With Xbox Live clearly the leading online gaming service and an integral part of the Xbox 360 strategy, Sony will obviously need to have a strong showing in the online arena for the PS3. The topic of HD media, such as Blu-ray or HD-DVD, is a hot button with Microsoft and Sony each betting against one another’s strategy. Microsoft is taking the safe approach by not including any type of HD-DVD drive in the 360, yet Sony has already committed to including Blu-ray technology into their PS3. It remains to be seen if the standards are in place by the time the PS3 launches and the cost structure of the technology. In any case, Microsoft declared that they will remain “agile” and would be able to easily adjust the Xbox 360 to accommodate new technology. "

Xbox chief discusses PS3 Robbie Bach, Microsoft's chief Xbox officer, was asked about Sony's PlayStation 3 plans during a briefing with financial analysts Tuesday afternoon here at the E3 convention. Among other things, Bach questioned the merit of some of the extra features Sony is planning for its console, such as the ability to output to two high-definition screens simultaneously. It's difficult enough to get many people to upgrade to one HD screen, let alone two, Bach pointed out. He then talked about the potential cost of such extra features. For its part, Microsoft has sought to keep costs low in the Xbox 360, attempting to reach profitability. "It looked like the cost of goods of the box they displayed was going to be pretty high," Bach said. "It will be interesting to see what they do with that."

Top executives from the company are hopeful that the early launch would mean Xbox 360 would gain early market share from the competition Sony and Nintendo. It would also lead to the gaming developers making them the preferred platform for developing games because of the larger market share in the gaming market. Robbie Bach, Microsoft senior vice president and chief Xbox officer said in a statement: “The guy who gets to the first 10 or 12 million consoles has a pretty big advantage. There’s this virtuous cycle that absolutely exists in this industry.” He was in discussion with financial analysts yesterday at the E3 video-game convention. Sony currently holds the advantage with their PlayStation 2 gaming console though Xbox has been quite successful in itself attracting the skills of the popular gaming developers out there. Sony has reportedly sold 87 million Sony PlayStation 2 consoles compared to just 20 million Xbox consoles for Microsoft. But then, PS2 entered the market much earlier compared to the Xbox. Microsoft would have that advantage with Xbox 360 now… Microsoft is due to launch the 360 sometime this year before the holiday season begins. This alone should give the sales enough boost considering the gaming consoles are very popular amongst kids and teens. Both Sony and Nintendo would be able to deliver their consoles next year only.

Forget all about TERAFLOPS. They are all liying. 1 TERA-FLOP = 1000 * 1000 * MEGAFLOPS For the CPU ( no GPU) at 3200 MHZ: 1000 * 1000 / 3200 = 312 operation per cycle! We know CELL has 1 powerpc (2 threats?) and 7+1 little processors. That's 2 + 7 = 9 operations per cycle ! SO WE LOST 312 - 9 = 303 operations per cycle at 3200 MHZ !!!!! And the GPU at 500 or 550 MHz? How many GIGAFLOPS can it do ? 500 * 1M * 50(counting shaders) = 25 * 1000 * 1M = 25 GFLOPS !!! SO DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN BY A SUPERCOMPUTER FOR 400 $ !!!!! WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT 50 GFLOPS and no 2 TERAFLOPS! SHAME ON SONY AND MICROSOFT.

Whooopeeedooo. PS3 will have more power. It's not just about the power and it's not just about the games. It's about entertainment. Which will provide the best entertainment?

It's also about timing and marketing. If MS gets every kid in America psyched about the 360 just before Christmas (and perhaps the parents too), that'll work out well for them.

M$ realizes shipping with only a DVD drive in dreamcast 360 is a total failure. Read it and weep m$ fan-girlz: http://engadget.com/entry/1234000597043723/ “Oh jeez, we don’t have HD DVD-type storage.” ”we really do need massively more storage.” And you know, which gets you back into the HD DVD format question, and when are we going to have the capacity? "It’s a little bit like the discussion about HD DVD type storage. Will we have it? Sure. It’s not like by the next generation there won’t be a way to get massive storage on an Xbox. You’ll get it. And there will be other configurations that come to market. When and how and exactly which ones… when there’s news I’m sure we’ll be happy to trumpet those." The proof is in the pudding, buy xbox 360 november w/dvd drive, and after PS3 comes out your going to have to buy a whole new xbox 360 w/the hd-dvd drive or the expansion dvd drive. No thanks, I'll buy my PS3 with Blu-Ray out of the box. Once dreamcast 360 gets hd-dvd, then we can talk turkey!

Since the announcement that the PlayStation 2 would play original PlayStation games, we had our doubts. Programmers always try to get the most out of the machines they're working on and to do this they usually take some "unauthorized" shortcuts in their code. These shortcuts usually lead to problems down the road... PlayStation 2 compatibility is one of these situations. The following titles have had problems on the PlayStation 2: Arcade Party Pak Atari Collection 2 Fighter Maker Final Fantasy Anthology Intl Track & Field Judge Dredd Monkey Hero MK Trilogy Tomba Who Wants to be a Millionare? http://shop.store.yahoo.com/bre/inplaygam.html

One thing most people seem to forget is that the only weak market the Xbox is in is japan. But the xbox was big and ugly, the new xbox 360 is small, maybe a bit smaller then the PS3, and looks way better then the xbox VCR look. This means that it will sell better in japan, that market likes small and prity things. Also MS has a few exclusive games from top japanese developers like Mistwalker, the people behind Final Fantasy. This news alone will help drive Xbox 360 sales in japan, add to that the news of Square-Enix support. If they come out and say a new FF is coming to the Xbox 360 or that FF13 is coming to both the Xbox 360 and PS3 that will also drive even more sales in japan. I already know the Xbox 360 will sell good in the US and EU, as it has with the Xbox, now if you add in strong japanese sales, this will bring more japanese developers to the platform with even more big name titles which the original Xbox is missing at this point. That again in turn spurs on more hardware sales and so on. It's all about the developers and big name games you can get on your system, plus any exclusive titles you can get to boost things even more. another thing is that the Xbox 360 is easier to use and this helps make games cheaper to produce and faster, I also thing developers will be able to get more out of the Xbox 360 hardware faster and in a shorter time frame then it will take them to on the PS3 with it's more complex hardware. Developers have already said at E3 that the PS3 is faster but the Xbox 360 is better to work with. These developers are also trying to make money, and if it's cheaper to make Xbox 360 games and the hardware sells, then MS isn't going to lose this fight anytime soon.

No, you buy the game for the system you have. Most people will only buy one system in the first year or two they are out, until the prices come down. XBox 360's six-month lead will give it the same huge advantage that the PS2 had over the original XBox. It's only now, some three years later, that XBox is starting to catch up to PS2.

"The proof is in the pudding, buy xbox 360 november w/dvd drive, and after PS3 comes out your going to have to buy a whole new xbox 360 w/the hd-dvd drive or the expansion dvd drive" Rubbish! The XBOX 360 was always going to come in different configurations, with one of the configurations being a PVR with a TV tuner which also plays vidoes, surfs the internet etc etc,for the non hard core gamers and the mom and pop types. No reason why such a configuartions shouln't have a bigger hard drive and a HD-DVD, AFTER IT BECOMES CLEAR HICH HD-DVD STANDARD COMES OUT ON TOP. Sony is using another betamax (blue-ray) in their PS3, before a standard has emerged. Buy the PS3 at your own peril, and find yourself with a white elephant in next to no time. Meanwhile, the XBNOX 360 has VC-1 standard from Microsoft, which plays videos even better than Blue-Ray, that is why its been adopted by BOTH the Blue-Ray and the HD-DVD standard groups! XBOX 360, the ONLY way to go.

You people do realize that it will take at least a decade for HD DVD or blue ray to come into shape. Frankly i doubt their will be widespread HD DVD or BLU ray movies and applications out in the next five years. I hope you read up on the costs of blue-ray. Also ps3 will not support HD DVD, but BLU ray, their own format. Currently hollywood is backing HD dvd. The next gen DVD is still in developement. And those who laugh at Xbox360's power compared to ps3. That didn't stop PS2 from dominating xbox and gamecube when it was weaker than the gamecube. As for graphics, it will take years for developers to tax these systems. Graphic engines takes years go full develop. What it comes down to is games. The system that has the best games will be the winner.

Hey xbox fan-girls, check out the last pic from M$ booth at e3 at the following link: http://engadget.com/entry/1234000440043836/ XBOX 360 game demos running off Apple Powermac G5's!!! You guys need to SWITCH to Apple Computers, Microsoft did! HA HA AHA HAHAH!!

"XBOX 360 game demos running off Apple Powermac G5's!!! You guys need to SWITCH to Apple Computers, Microsoft did! : Hey CRAPPLE girlie man vermin, youn need to switch over to Windows fast, creep! Those IBM powered CRAPPLE outside machines you are talking about are running a version of Micrsoft Windows that runs the XBOX. Get it, girl? LMAO!!

erm don't you all know apple had an early version of Mac OS X that ran on Intel as well lol? let's not forget Mac and Windows refer to the SOFTWARE, not the HARDWARE. since XBox 360 runs PowerPC it's no surprise they needed some Macs for the development work, since those are the cheapest machines you can get which run PowerPC (instead of developing a whole new platform yourself). anyway, great article and shame on those who rate it lowly due to their own preferences: you're supposed to rate the ARTICLE not the machines lmao. in any case, can't wait to see both in REAL action!

WOW, Microsoft switched?! Apple G5 PowerMacs are good gaming rigs despite what peecee fan-girlz blab, Microsoft even uses them to display their next-gen graphics!!!! Funny stuff!

"WOW, Microsoft switched?! " What an idiot!! Typical CRAPPLE buffon! Hey, in case you still don't know, Windows NT run on Power PC as far back as 1993, together with Windows NT on the Aplha and Intel processors, even before CRAPPLR switched. Microsoft didn't have to switch anything. It was CRAPPLE that did, NT was built from the ground up to run om different processors thru something called HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). Take that and chew opon it CRAPPLE idiot!!

I still can't believe dreamc...er..xbox 306 is shipping w/only dvd drives. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!!!

“Sony is using another betamax (blue-ray) in their PS3, before a standard has emerged. Buy the PS3 at your own peril, and find yourself with a white elephant in next to no time.” True! The US follows RCA/Phillips standards, not Fony’s. Every Fony product I have purchased in the past has been worthless after 6 months. Frankly I could care less how good the Piece-o-S***/3 is, they wont get my business. My opinion is Fony wants to use the blue-ray so they can sell their proprietary discs. The gamming industry is about the only way they can take a shot at it since DVD clearly has enough capacity to satisfy the video industry. As for graphics on trailers, so what. The Fony games that have been ported for XBOX have crappy graphics (if you don’t think so you need a better TV). I doubt that developers will the all that eager to write code to take advantage of new Fony’s when they did not want to take the time to properly port games to XBOX. I purchased a Nintendo because they have more games suitable for the kids, and the XBOX to play my titles. The better graphics and Live! are just bonuses. XBOX bigot, nah, just despise Fony.

Macs suck.<1% market share means your system sucks. Duh. Just because you got suckered into buying a Mac that doesn't mean you need to turn into an idiot. Mac fanboys please go away. No one cares what you say anyway.

" still can't believe dreamc...er..xbox 306 is shipping w/only dvd drives. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!!! " I can't believe the Betamax PS3 is shipping with a blue-ray drive which is not a standard, which is hard to manufacture, and which is expensive like hell, at a time that Sony's finances are very shaky. Talk about Sony being suicidal. :)

I will buy both XBOX360 and PS3.....because I want to play all "good" games, not own all 3 consoles. I am the type of guy that wants to enjoy games like Halo, Zelda and Final Fantasy. If you play "good" games then you know what I mean.

first of all, so what if the xbox comes out first, most people will wait for the price to drop anyways before buying it and by then the PS3 will be out, with better games, because we all know that Sony consitantly release good games as opposed to the few that microsoft release. Sony will win the market, if not at first eventually. The only thing to be envious of is the sexy water-cooling, and if thats such a bother then install one yourself (im gonna)

I will likely buy an XBox 360 for the purpose of an MCX and nothing else. This is a great feature, and without it I wouldn't even consider buying a 360. I'm sure people won't believe that I will own an XBox 360 and no games, but since there is no such thing as an HD MCX, it's what I'll have to do.

Its called microsofts ability to market, to utilize PC functionality and their first party software is going to be KILLER, very EARLY this time around. XBOX360 might not overtake sony but its definitley going to take alot more than just 19 percent of the marketshare....definitley.

i have to say if ps3 and xbox 360 came out together i would probaly get ps3, but i,m very ipataint and have a bad pc for gaming, so xbox it is!! also, there is no way xbox360 will fall flat on its face a la dreamcast. there are to many loyal xbox fans