Barry
Mr. Do It All
May 15, 2005, 6:45 AM
Post #1 of 1
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Xbox 360 Pictures Officially Unveiled
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Microsoft Corp. unveiled its new Xbox 360 on Thursday, taking aim at Sony in the video game console market with a machine sporting high-definition graphics and features that make it an entertainment hub for the living room.
The world's largest software maker said its second generation Xbox will be on U.S. store shelves well in time for the 2005 holiday season that begins in late November, but it did not say how much the white-and-silver concave console would cost. Many hope that the price tag won't be too high that could prevent new entrant gamers and lower budget players. However, the number of entertainment features packed into the device may drive the price tag higher. Among the features are three IBM microprocessors that are expected to deliver powerful computing and advanced graphics, as well as a detachable 20-gigabyte hard drive and the ability to customize the machine's front panel with detachable face-plates.
Microsoft narrowly beat its closest competitor, Nintendo, with the Xbox. However, they haven't been able to de-throne video game champ Sony and their PS2. Some blame for their lacklustre penetration with the Xbox may be directed to the late arrival of Xbox 1 compared to PS2. Microsoft surely won't make the same mistake twice.
The smaller Xbox 360 is a departure from the original squarish black Xbox that debuted in late 2001, and is aimed at a wider audience, said J. Allard, Microsoft's vice president leading the charge behind Microsoft's push into the business. For the latest round, Microsoft hired U.S. and Japanese design firms to design a machine with smoother, more fluid lines to attract customers drawn to the iPod and Sony's products.
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox on MTV nearly a week before the start of the $10 billion gaming industry's annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3. Despite all the multimedia features, however, the Xbox 360 will also have to be "first and foremost a good game system," said Robert Enderle of the Enderle Group.
In early game demonstrations, graphics quality has been boosted to the point where individual blades of grass are visible on moving landscapes while armies of monsters can be programmed to act individually or as a group. For the internal gaming hardware, Microsoft replaced Intel Corp.'s central processor from the first Xbox with new PowerPC-based chips made by International Business Machines Corp., similar to the chips used by Apple Computer's Macintosh personal computers. Microsoft also swapped out the graphics chips, a key gaming system component, for chips made by ATI Technologies Inc. instead of Nvidia Corp.
Attached are two pics of the new Xbox 2 or Xbox 360 as it is now officially called.
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