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One Year of Xbox 360
Gaming Nexus has up an article marking (kinda) the one-year anniversary of the 360's launch. Author Charles Husemann touches on the important moments in the console's first year on the market, discusses what Microsoft has done right, and talks about where the console is probably going in the future. From the article: "Obviously digital content such as TV and movies are going to be a big deal (assuming Microsoft can get those servers running smoothly and release bigger hard drives). I know I can stream it from my PC but I'd love to have Major Nelsons' podcast automatically downloaded to my 360 every week. I'd also like to see Microsoft resist the temptation to cram a browser into the system as I know they are going to get pressure to do so with the Wii and the PS3 having that built in. Instead I'd love to have a simple, easy to use RSS reader that can stream headlines along the bottom of the screen when I'm in the dashboard."
I really like what Microsoft has done with the integration between the 360 and MediaCenter. I ended up reformatting my machine with MediaCenter and streaming my movies and pictures with it is fantastic. Personally, I really feel like xbox has hit the nail on the head with all the "extras" and integration they did with the 360. The downloadable game videos and demos was really a breakthrough in the console world. I realize the Wii and PS3 do this as well, which is great, but you definitely have to give it to Microsoft for doing it well, and doing it first. Well... maybe not first in the sense there were hacked xboxes with XMBC (which i've used). It was nice, but this integration is just seamless now with MediaCenter. My only complaint would be the lack of native support for DiVX and XVid but you can't really blame microsoft for supporting their proprietary format.
The downloadable tv shows and movies... meh, seems like they have issues to work out, and even then it may not be my cup of tea, but at least they're trying something.
And, of course this is all my opinion based on what I'm looking for. I don't need a browser in my console, so I don't see that as an advantage for the ps3 or wii. Just like I'm sure many people see no reason to stream pictures through their console so they don't see that as an advantage for the 360. Heh, just my little disclaimer.
I've had mine for nearly a year now, and have been very satisfied. At $50 a year, I think the Live Gold membership has been well worth it. I was impressed at first with being able to download 1+ gig demos reasonably fast. Plus 'free' Live content such as Texas Hold'em and Hexic are a bonus too. Admittedly, I don't have a whole lot of friends so all the chat/com features haven't done much for me.
I have a few complaints about the speed of loading Arcade games and having demos show as 0 on your gamerscore, but all in all, Live has been a good experience. It was just on the 22nd of this month that they added TV and movies to the Live content, and so far, I'm liking that too. Already downloaded South Park's Make Love Not Warcraft and a few other choice tv shows. They cost $2.00 each and do not expire. I know you can watch them while offline, as long as you are signed in with the same user profile that downloaded them. So the liscensing for them is stored locally.
As for the machine itself, it delivers on the graphics and has some great games. The DVD tray on mine has started to stick a bit. An xbox with a shoddy disc drive, who'de imagined?
Personally, I think they did a lot right. They were first to market, got some exclusive games, and have a well organized Xbox Live interface. One thing they could do is push a few more free arcade games to combat Sony.
Where are you getting this information? MS just recently changed their sales forecast to 15 million by the end of their fiscal year. They previously forecasted 5.5 by June of 2006, which they were able to meet.
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/5051/060721xbox/
Your information is outdated.