Xbox 360: Microsoft Moves Into The Mainstream

Hard to consider a world without PlayStation isn’t it? But equally strange to recall when Xbox wasn’t a big name in consoles, and that speaks volumes about Microsoft’s rapid success in videogames.

Although Xbox remains millions of sales from domination on the scale of PlayStation, Microsoft is making good on its promise of taking games to a new plateau, especially by pushing online with Xbox Live.

In May 2005, Microsoft unveiled its plan to lead Xbox one vital stage further – for it to become the centre of your ‘Digital Lifestyle’ at home. Although gaming is very much at the heart of Xbox 360, the new name has been carefully adopted to suggest a ‘revolution’ – a breaking away from ‘linear’ and ‘limited’ entertainment. It will be the first of a new breed of entertainment-oriented supercomputers. Xbox 360 plays DVD movies and is broadband online ready out of the box. What’s more it will beat PlayStation 3 to the shelves with months to spare – you can buy yours this side of Christmas, possibly as early as October (stocks permitting). In fact, for the first time in the history of a games console, Xbox 360 will launch simultaneously in Europe, Japan and North America.

You’ll notice there’s quite a contrast between the new look Xbox and it’s Death Star of a predecessor. Original (Darth) Xbox was created to have you believe that, crikey, it’s so horribly powerful that it really needs to be this big and this black and breathe through robotic gills. Having already hooked power-crazed gamers, Xbox 360 can afford to underplay its massive potential, favouring a place in the living room... the one currently branded Sony, and hopefully even more pervasive.

The hardware itself has the look of a stylised miniature PC, or an oversized cable modem. It’s not ugly anymore, it’s too sophisticated to be ‘cool’, but you might say it’s chilled. Aesthetically Xbox 360 gives the same vibes as Apple’s Mac mini or a Sky Digital Box. In fact the ‘Ring of Light’ surrounding the power switch is almost identical to that on the Sky Digital console. It has been co-designed by Astro Studios in the US, and Hers Experimental Design Inc. of Japan – you’ll know some of Astro’s work, they designed watches for Nike and cases for Alienware PCs among many other iconic gadgets.

Comparisons with Mac mini go beyond the physical –Apple’s system is an entertainment-oriented home PC running the latest Apple Operating System; Xbox 360 is a beefed up alternative running Windows. According to Apple, Mac mini “provides what you need to have more fun with your music, photos and movies — right out of the box.” According to Microsoft, Xbox 360 will “amplify your music, photos, video and TV. Get DVD movie playback right out of the box.”

Microsoft believes accessibility and personalisation will help endear Xbox 360 to a much wider audience than it has reached with original Xbox. You can even change the faceplate, just as you can with your mobile phone, to make Xbox 360 even more at home with your own personal space – another way for some very big brands to gain association with Xbox and vice versa.

But let’s not forget that Xbox 360 is primarily about playing games. Hopefully the kind of games with graphics and sounds you won’t believe, to be enjoyed in those ‘revolutionary’ new ways made possible through Xbox Live.

Next: Xbox 360 Connectivity