DeeKnow’s Grotto

X-Box: The New Face of Evil - Just when you thought you and you're kids were safe from 'the Borg' and just when you thought maybe the PS2 would hold Microsoft off in the battle for the console, along comes the X-Box and its latest feature ... XBox-Live !

This is an online service that was launced in the US last Friday for subscribers who have $50/us a year to spend and an existing ISP broadband connection. The  service lets users connect their XBox to a gaming hub and play against other owners online, in real-time.

It's been interesting to follow the marketing rhetoric and game development promises for the X-Box, but unfortunatley you'd have to admit that the graphics output of the thing is pretty impresive and plenty of 'real' and decent looking games are now shipping.

Like most males on the planet these days, I'm a sucker for video games. The first console I bought was a Nintendo 64, I bit-the-bullet a year later and scored a PS-one, and last xmas I splashed out on a PS2 which was pretty much old hat by then, but with so many decent games to whet the appetite and not being a Microsoft product it was hard to resist.

The PS2 has connectivity support as well, but you have to buy and install the modem (released in August) whereas the XBox ships with all the neccessary hardware in place. This is gonna be a real killer from the retail perspective, it'll make the XBox an easy sell for the droid down at your local electronics retail outlet.

Price-wise there's nothing between the two machines now, and games are also about the same price. Local broadband access in NZ is still too pricy for most people to consider so the online thing will be a way-off here yet.

I'm a total drive-sim nut, so when someone I know actually buys an XBox and gets it hooked up online, I'll be way-keen to see a multi-player copy of something like the motorcycle racing game MotoGP in action.

Until then its back to my PS2, the lesser of the two evils.

5:45:55 PM