The Face of Things to Come
Yes, the black-and-green console is just a mock-up, and, yes, the processing guts are still jury-rigged. But sitting down for the first time with the parts that make up Microsoft’s Xbox video game system, it’s tough not to be impressed.
After months of anticipation, Microsoft finally pulled back the veil on Xbox at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to reveal a console that appears to have learned from everyone else’s mistakes and finally does the right things for the right reasons.
Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft, the company’s apparent commitment to push the limits of video games promises to raise the bar on interactive entertainment. If nothing else, those eager for a next-generation game console should put off buying a Sony PlayStation 2 until the fall, when they can compare it head to head with Xbox--and maybe even with Nintendo’s upcoming Game Cube.
Xbox boasts technical specs that--at least on paper--outclass PlayStation 2 and Game Cube. Xbox’s fast 733-megahertz main processor delivers screaming play. The custom graphics chip designed in partnership with Nvidia promises the lushest visuals yet in a game box. Total system memory of 64 megabytes and an 8-gigabyte hard drive allow for bigger and more complex games. And the standard 100-megabit-per-second Ethernet port offers a tantalizing hint that Xbox also will be able to tap into the Internet at broadband speeds.
But before gamers start celebrating, understand that Microsoft’s entry into the video game market is by no means a cinch. For starters, Microsoft is a company that built its fortunes on operating systems and productivity software--not consumer electronics.
The games business is fickle. More than 20 years ago, Atari popularized the home game system. Heard from Atari lately? More recently, Sega and Nintendo owned the games business in the early to mid-1990s. Now, despite some great recent titles, Sega is struggling to stay alive and Nintendo has lost its dominance.
That’s because the most advanced system in the world won’t last long without a diverse library of strong games to support it. With all the power in Xbox--it will be able to connect to the Internet and play DVDs--Microsoft runs the risk of losing focus. Is Xbox a game machine that can perform other tasks? Or is it a home entertainment box that also plays games?
“The focus is 100% games,” said Microsoft’s J Allard, general manager of the Xbox platform. He added that everything about the machine is designed to make it easy for developers to write great games--and even easier for consumers to play them. “We didn’t want to compromise the gaming experience.”
That’s smart, because despite all the allure of a completely connected digital living room, most families will take years to get there. In the meantime, they need devices that meet specific needs and that play well with every other component in their entertainment center.
In fact, Xbox designers have gone out of their way to build a machine that meets the demands of people who play games. For instance, Xbox boasts four ports for controllers--as opposed to the two built into PlayStation 2--which makes multiplayer games easier to start.
“Gaming,” Allard said, “is fundamentally social. . . . Couches hold more than two people.”
The controllers are a dream. Designed for big, chubby American hands, they feel heavier and sturdier than controllers for any of the Japanese systems on the market. With two analog thumbsticks, a joypad, eight action buttons and two peripheral slots, the Xbox controller snitches the best elements from competing devices and marries them in a beefy package--with a handy 10-foot cord.
Looking at Xbox and noodling around with its components is revealing. It’s apparent that Microsoft’s designers either play games themselves or really listened to those who do. Touches such as more comfortable controllers and a longer cord are little, sure, but they address the kind of inconveniences that have been around for years. Only no one really listened.
Microsoft’s attentiveness seems to have gone as well into the engineering of Xbox’s internal circuitry and the design of the tools that developers use to write new games. Xbox technical officer Seamus Blackley said a premium was placed on making it easy for developers to create beautiful images without sacrificing other elements such as rich sound or fluid motion.
“The way to make this work is to make amazing games,” Blackley said. And the key to that is to let creative, rather than technical, limits dictate a game’s development. Too often, the most powerful person in a design team is the lead programmer, who has to translate the vision of artists and writers into code that makes the system work.
But game consoles are notoriously finicky and tough for developers to master. Games look and play better later in a console’s life cycle because developers gradually get the hang of the system’s quirks and eccentricities. Blackley said Xbox’s development tools are easier to master and borrow heavily from those used to create computer animation and special effects in film.
The result: great-looking games such as “Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee” and “Malice: A Dark and Comic Fiery Tale,” two titles on display at CES. Lorne Lanning, whose Oddworld Inhabitants developed “Munch’s Oddysee,” praised the Xbox tool kit as superior to those of previous consoles. “The creativity that has taken place” with previous consoles “has been stifled by the engineering,” Lanning said.
Whether all that truly means better, more imaginative games remains to be seen. But clearly, game players will wind up the winners whether Xbox becomes the next great thing or shrivels early on and dies. The reason: competition.
Microsoft has the opportunity to raise the bar for gaming and force everyone in the industry to produce better, more compelling interactive experiences. That’s what happened when Microsoft jumped into Web browsers. Maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will hit it with games.
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Aaron Curtiss is editor of Tech Times.
