The Dawn of a New Era

On March 10, during his keynote address at the 2000 Game Developer's Conference, Microsoft founder Bill Gates made the announcement the gaming world has been waiting for: Microsoft is entering the console game market with an entry designed to rival Sony's behemoth, Playstation 2.

Microsoft's eagerness to enter the market is not surprising. After all, video gaming is an industry whose value is measured in billions, and is growing at a rapid pace. Industry analysts estimate that in a few short years, games will be the biggest entertainment medium in the world. A technology-oriented company like Microsoft would be stupid to ignore such profit potential, but does the company have what it takes to make it in the increasingly crowded console market?

Let's take a look at the system specs, as listed on the official X-Box web site:

600 MHz "x86 compatible" CPU

Custom nVidia 3D processor (capable of 300 raw polygons/sec, 150 with full effects)

64 MB RAM (unified memory architecture)

8 GB hard drive

4x DVD drive w/movie playback

Four game controller ports

Expansion port

Custom 64-channel 3D audio processor

Proprietary a/v connector

100 Mbps ethernet adapter

On paper, X-Box looks Good (note the capital 'G'). In terms of raw horsepower, the system beats Playstation 2 hands-down, and represents,according to Microsoft, technology three generations beyond that of Sony's. This, theoretically, translates into games with more realism and detail than ever before.

I say theoretically because, even though there is a vast difference in power between Sony's and Microsoft's offerings, it's unlikely that the average consumer will notice it. There is only so much detail that can be crammed into a game, and after a certain point it just becomes overkill. Plus, as any gamer will tell you, good systems aren't judged on the basis of power, but on the basis of games.

So will the X-Box have games? Of course; what sort of a question is that?. But will it have GOOD games? That's the question people want answered. PC developers are positively enamored with the system, but console developers have reacted to the system's announcement with little more than a collective yawn.

What this means is that there's a good possibility X-Box will feature a number of high quality PC ports, and, chances are, those ports won't make it to the other consoles. A lot of gamers may groan thinking about such a scenario, but if you read reviews or previews of games like Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft 3, Thief 2, Oni, Halo and so many others, you'll see that there are a lot of good stuff out there in PC-land. If Microsoft can keep these games exclusive to X-Box, they could be looking at, if not first place, then at least a solid second.

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