Contrary to the knee-jerk reactionaries, Microsoft did not just enter the console arena like a spoiled rich kid with an over-achieving toy; more like a spoiled rich kid with a patient plot to dominate the globe, in due time. Boasting supremacy in the computer software industry (for better or for worse), it seems unseemly to see Microsoft as an underdog, but there it is. While Microsoft's Xbox is, indeed, the most powerful videogame console in the known universe, Xbox has no track record and is essentially starting from scratch; Xbox has everything to prove.
However, the Xbox team has no delusions as to the pains of console infancy and the angst of rearing a new technology, as illustrated by the recent modification of roll-out numbers (down from 600,000+ to 300,000) and a couple of odd specification "clarifications." There is no sense of panic, however. Hiccups and snarls are (apparently) routine at Microsoft; they still end up dominating at the end of the day.
And while many market analysts are already predicting failure for this "800 Pound Gorilla," it's important to remember that Sony also entered the market as an underdog back in 1995 with the original PlayStation, endured a lacklustre launch and then went on to quietly take the world by storm. Microsoft took notes. Then again, Sony also dropped the ball come PlayStation2, with production gaffes ominously similar what Xbox is now enjoying. Still, it can be done; and it can be done well.

Machine:
Xbox (Microsoft)
Release Date:
November 15, 2001
Specs:
733 MHz Central Processing Unit (CPU), 250 MHz Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), 64 MBs memory, 5x DVD and 8GB Hard Drive, 8MB Memory Card, 4 controller ports.
Special Tricks:
Optional DVD movie playback, Broadband Connectivity, HDTV Support, Voice-Over-Net ready, Extra Long Controller Cord.
Must-Play Games:
Star Wars: Obi Wan (LucasArts)
Malice (Microsoft)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda)
Simpsons Road Rage (EA)
All 4 Sega Sports 2k2 Titles (Sega)
Jet Set Radio Future (Sega)
Dead or Alive 3 (Tecmo)
Halo (Microsoft)
Project Gotham Racing (Microsoft)
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X (Activision)
Schlock Games:
Too early to tell.
Price Tags:
Console: $299 ($459 Cdn)
Games: $50 / (about $75 Cdn)
All Peripherals: $15 - $50 each depending on item

Pros:
- Xbox performance specifications are double or triple that of the competition. Simply put, Xbox is so powerful (by console standards) as to be verging on ludicrous. Beyond raw horsepower, programming games for Xbox is a familiar affair to games developers. Hence, it's an instant darling to the digital artisans cooking up gameplay schemes of unmatched scope and vision.
- The inclusion of a 8GB hard drive is a console first. It enables large and elaborate games to be played contiguously (if desired), with no perceivable level-changes, stops, load-times or transition periods within the game. With a hard drive, Xbox game characters and environments can be, highly intricate, vast, elaborate and truly dynamic, with random or non-linear appearances and occurrences that will be different for each player, depending on what they do or where they go. Plot and play need not be "pre-determined." As an innate feature, developers are already designing hard drive-harmonized games, a key "out-of-the-box" enticement.
- The inclusion of a Broadband Adapter means that game developers are also programming for high-speed, online-multiplayer capabilities – which includes voice-over-net communications between players around the globe. Internet-readiness puts Xbox far ahead of the competition. Nintendo and Sony have made Internet connectivity a peripheral option, but game designers are reluctant to develop games that require an add-on component, which makes the consumers reluctant to purchase such add-ons; a Catch 22 scenario that Xbox avoids altogether.
- Xbox will not play DVD movies "out of the box" but will employ an optional wireless "kit" to enable that function (it's DVD movie "ready"). Opting instead to include a hard disc and Ethernet port gives the Xbox greater effectiveness as a game console and no effectiveness as a cheap DVD movie player – unless you think you need one.
- While it took a while to get its legs, a great many - if not most - game developers now unashamedly praise the Xbox. This is of key significance when one considers that previous consoles known to be programming nightmares either suffered mediocre content or failed completely. This also means that many of the marquee games sold for PlayStation2 (Konami's Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2, for example) and/or GameCube (EA's SSX Tricky and Madden 2002) are also going be on Xbox, except enhanced, expanded and flourishing in all that extra horsepower.

Cons:
- Not all consumers are as enthused about Xbox as the developers making their games – certainly not the Nintendo loyalists and their parents that actually buy them stuff. Xbox is often ill perceived as a merely PC that plugs into a TV. By definition, this can be said of all consoles, but the Microsoft name is so strongly associated with PC software, Operating System monopolies and nerds-in-suits that the distinction between cutting-edge videogame console and "computer-game-player-product-1.0" is ambiguous.
- Xbox has what appears to be a strong line-up of "killer-app" games ready for retail, some of which are Marquee exclusives (Shenmue II, Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive 3 among them) that can sell a few million machines all by themselves. However, PlayStation2 and GameCube titles look equally delightful and with similar game exlusives that can sell a million units of hardware just to play the software - and those console manufactures have already proven themselves as killer content providers in the past; they're known, trusted even. Everybody has great games these days; that's the rub. Why risk the newcomer when millions or game players already own Nintendo and Sony products?
- Peeling off the undeniable awesomeness of Xbox interactive distraction capabilities leaves Xbox games looking suspiciously similar to gorgeous games already available on the PC and, occasionally, on other consoles. Though the Xbox team is cautiously limiting the "launch ready" content to include an eclectic variety of spellbinding games in key genres, long term quality consistency is paramount, which is why many consumers will simply wait until Xbox builds a foundation of solid might or, as the case may be, simply founders.

Conclusion:
The mighty Xbox will succeed. The Xbox team is well aware of the processes involved in launching a new technology. They don't expect to dominate immediately, merely to sell in appreciable numbers, steadily, over a long period of time. Xbox is neither a market phenomenon nor a sleek black crate of unfulfilled promises. It is simply a supercharged console with guts of grand utility. It is the long-sought attainment of the "next level" of videogames, as bold and as beautiful as can be expected at a reasonable price point.
Score:
8.5 Out of 10. A sure-fire superconsole.


Keeping score:
For those keeping score, it was actually the Personal Computer scored best in our little round-up shoot-out with a 9 out of 10. After all, a good PC can match the power of any given console while greatly exceeding the usefulness.
Xbox placed with an 8.5 out of 10. Potentially: The greatest videogame console of our time from a company not known for failure and with pockets deep enough to sustain it through most any setback
Nintendo's GameCube followed closely with 8 out of 10, the powerfluff player that plays it safe and wonderful – and could out sell Xbox through the toys-under-the-tree season because of this, but not over the long run.
PlayStation2 pulled up lame with 7 out of 10, though it certainly isn't out of the videogame game. PS2 currently boasts superior consumer awareness and a supremely steadfast name brand -- and it's going to sell another couple million over the next couple of months regardless of what I say -- but the machine itself is an inferior realization of the future of videogames.

Editor's Note: My, that was a lot of information to digest, wasn't it? Perhaps you'll want to head back to the beginning and give this feature series another read… -S.C.
 
 

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