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Aside from the monumental sales of Epic’s awesome Third-Person
Shooter,
 Gears
Of War, Microsoft has had very little to shout about in the
face of it’s competitors console launches. Nevertheless, the giant
from Redmond isn’t known for keeping its mouth shut, and bringing in
the New Year is a ramshackle collection of rumour and fact.
The biggest news this week is Microsoft’s keynote CES 2007 speech.
Aside from the usual SONY bashing and hyping of Windows Vista,
there were a few titbits about the Xbox360. First off, although some
sources dispute it, Microsoft claims to have achieved its goal of
selling ten million Xbox360’s by the end of 2006. Robbie Bach,
President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft, states
that ten-million, four-hundred-thousand Xbox360s have been sold in
the thirty-seven countries it is currently available. On top of this
he claims of five-million users have signed-up to XboxLIVE!,
although this figure includes both Silver and Gold Memberships.
Currently there are one-hundred-and-sixty titles available for the
first Next-Generation system and Mr Bach expects to number to almost
double by the end of 2007. Still praising the Xbox360s Killer App.,
Gears Of War, Bach went on to say that the gritty
post-apocalypse thriller has sold a respectable two-million,
seven-hundred-thousand copies. Just in case you didn’t know, he went
on to confirm that Halo 3 will launch this year.
Also demonstrated was the first real use of the LIVE!
Anywhere system. The casual gamers favourite UNO was on
display with a Multi-Player game between two players, one using an
Xbox360 and the other a Windows Vista-based PC, showcased.
Although the staged event is quite different from an actual online
experience, the system seemed to work just as flawlessly as a game
played over XboxLIVE! using two Xbox360s.
Next-up was news on the HD-DVD Attachment which apparently has sold
a whopping one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand units since its launch.
This, together with the respectable one-hundred-and-twenty-thousand
stand alone players mean that the format is putting up a good fight
against Blu-Ray, however, given the million PlayStation 3s shipped,
the winner of the format war is still no foregone conclusion.
Finally Microsoft unveiled IPTV on Xbox360. Xbox360 owners who make
use of broadband driven television will be able to watch and record
programmes on the fly, and may even record while playing games. User
will even be able to chat to others over XboxLIVE! while this
happens. Although the thought of laughing at your mates team while
watching the FA Cup is an interesting dream, just like XboxLIVE!
Video Marketplace, it has yet to be seen if this system will catch
on, much less make it to UK shores.
The next rumour, and it is still a rumour, has been doing the rounds
for a while. I am, of course, referring to the Xbox360 V2.0. The
Zephyr as it’s now widely known will apparently feature a built in
HD-DVD drive, HDMI and a 120GB Hard-Drive. Some sources even believe
that the system could feature a much larger Hard-Drive, given the
recent announcement of Hitachi’s 1TB
 Drive. However, Microsoft has
repeatedly denied it will include HD-DVD in the Xbox360, even going
so far as saying they don’t want to force consumers into buying a
format that could turn into the next Betamax. They also stress that
HDMI wont be included either and would rather ensure compatibility
with all HDTV’s through component cable than stress the importance
of 1080p, even though the Xbox360 can now pull it off. The only
point of this rumour that seems decently likely is that of a larger
Hard Drive, given the popularity of the XboxLIVE! Video
Marketplace in the US. 20GB is a little too small for multiple HD
programmes, let alone content download and XboxLIVE! Arcade,
so a 100GB+ Hard Drive would likely be embraced by the community,
although we are doubtful there’ll be an affordable 1TB Xbox360 Hard
Drive anytime soon. Nevertheless, this whole rumour could turn out
to be true, as it would place the Xbox360 on an equal, if not
better, position against SONY’s behemoth multitasking system, the
PlayStation3. After all, the console wars are a treacherous and
unpredictable place, who would have predicted an underpowered
console with a silly name would have stole all the Christmas hype?! |
