Well, the Xbox is basically a computer... really.

But that is not the point. The point is, both Microsoft and Sony want this device to be the center of your home entertainment system. Do they really expect us to belive that a "toy" will be the center of our home entertainment? Do you really think that?

Videogame consoles are evolving past the "toy" stage. The PS2 evolved past it with the inclusion of DVD playback. Xbox evolved past it with Live. GameCube... yeah, thats a toy.

you know what I find funny? the fact that some people complain that 2 disc dvd sets don't come in double alpha cases and they feel like their not getting anything special but when it comes to a game console the smallest, lightest, cheapest case is what they want. me, I like the X-Box more than the PS2 and the Cube. with the X-Box I don't feel so leary of bumping it or anything. the other 2 I just feel like I should wrap them in bubble wrap when I move them from room to room for fear of breaking them. plus, if you were walking to a friends house with one of the consoles in a totebag and you were getting mugged, which console would you want to have with you when you try to fight your mugger? I don't think the PS2/Cube will do much damage.

If the controllers are wireless, how can you tell which controller is Player 1 and which is Player 2 (and 3 and 4 for that matter)?

Well, that's where we disagree. Many of us would rather they spend almost everything to make the system the most powerful it can be, making the exterior functional and useable. The smaller you make something like this, the more it costs--especially in the first gen. In order to make the target pricepoint, that means some performance-related features will be sacrificed just to make people like you (and the Japanese apparently) happy. I do not buy a console for its looks but for the looks of its games and other features.

Sounds like you need a new entertainment center. The Xbox is narrower than every HT component I own. That means your entertainment center wouldn't accomodate most HT-related devices, which is an indictment of your entertainment center rather than your Xbox.

I can understand some people's issue with the lack of stackability of the Xbox, but I just don't get the size complaints.

CONFIRMED: XBOX360 Uses wireless controllers, please stop asking why there are no controller ports.

CONFIRMED: XBOX360 will offer a optional harddrive. This allows them to keep costs down and make you buy it later, just like the "Built-in" DVD feature of the current Xbox. Consumer A says, "sweet a video game system for $299 that play DVD's too!" Not quite, that will be another $30 please, but atlas they already bought it, so now they must invest more. I personally hate this shit because they intentionally make it misleading.

CONFIRMED: Original Xbox is too frickin' big. People that say it doesn't matter are just being ignorant, you know they would like it better if it were lighter, smaller, and capable of actually being stacked upon. The Xbox is big because it uses off the shelf PC hardware, very little specifc engineering went into its design, and it shows. It's not big because it "powerful". Nobody believes you when you say size doesn't matter, especially the girls.

CONFRIMED: XBOX360 = Apple Designed.

Well they aren't the best pictures of the system so it is hard to tell how it would look sitting under the TV. I guess it really doesn't matter to me much though. I tend to favor the gamecube in looks (platinum cube), but the looks of the consoles don't really matter much in the end, atleast to me.

Uh, same way you do it now? Color and/or channel.

No your misreading what im saying. I know with xbox the quality and power is given (the way its power and features blew away other consoles). They will do that again, we both know microsoft has all the money, but im saying when their done the inside, dont just stop and have something goofy for exterior but continue on exterior which it looks like they did. Id spend the extra money for a better exterior.
I look at xbox like a volvo car, you expect a good engine, so all you can have the slightest worry about is the exterior design.

I just think that diicking around with channels and stuff to get your controls working is just too much work for the average consumer. Then again I may be over-reacting.

I dunno I think with the gamecube having a handle you could manage a good amount of hurt swinging it around and such. Course we'll never know until the current consoles drop in price enough that we can have some system duels.

They could easily provide a built in software solution for this. Only consideration = cost. Well... actual two considerations = Non-constant interferences like phones, etc.

We'll have to wait and see how they do it. But I could see them also providing a way to select it through software, so that everytime the machine boots up and it detects more than 1 controller, it goes through each controller waiting for someone to push a button, and then locks that controller to that port for the rest of the time the machine is on.

It looks interesting, but I will need to see it more. I'm in the camp of prefering a console to look more like a toy/video game system than my other HT hardware. I am not concerned about uniformity of all my electronics, but care more about the individual look of a single piece. I also could care less about stacking. I don't have a single piece of equipment stacked on another. I just use shelves to solve that issue.

CONFIRMED!?

What? Do you work for Microsoft? I don't think so.

Nothing is confirmed until Microsoft does confirm everything until then everything is just a rumor or speculation.

lol, someone is in denial .

the primary purpose of a game system is just that, to play games. And games are toys. always have been, always will be. You don't have to be young to enjoy toys, i just graduated from college and i still love them .

anyway i'm not believing any of the rumors of this until i hear it straight from the horses mouth, though i think jeffdsmith hit on some of the more likely things.

It's sexy and it gives me teh hot.

Nuh-uh. It's an action figure.

fake as anything

Wow, not really what I was expecting. I prefer the look of the original Xbox compared to this. So $299 for the console and an additional amount for the harddrive probably $100. Since the drive isn't built in the support for it will not be that great among game makers. They can't design their game to require it since many Xbox360 (not really thrilled with the name personally) owners won't have it.

Anyone know if the 40GB drive will also be a portable music player? Wondering if that was just a rumor. Also wondering if it will be backwards compatible.

The wireless controller idea is excellent though and I hope everyone does that next generation. Still $299 for the console, $100 for the HD and $30 for a DVD remote (unless they just include DVD support this time) kind of makes this an expensive console to jump on at launch.

It will come down to the software I guess, but MS will have to pull out some major titles the first year to stop people from waiting for the PS3. The PS3 from what people with development kits are saying is much more powerful than the Xbox360.

That worries me, since it could potentially cause less downloadable content on Live, unless the memory units themselves end up bieng fairly substantial in size. If the memory units are large, and can handle downloads, then I would not need the HD myself, since I do not have any music on my current one.

Yep. I think at these prices (Xbox & Sony) the companies should go back to including a game. So at launch if you want a measly 2 games with your system expect to spend half a grand. I don't think so. Those days are over. This launch seems botched already and has price drop written all over it.

Everyone can mock Nintendo as being a toy, but at least they price their toy reasonably so that you can afford a game or two, and not have to spend the majority of a paycheck on it.