blog/xbox360_logo.jpgCNET news reports that CNN and the New York Post say the new Xbox is “good, but not great” and “don’t buy it.” Reasons? The price ($299 and $399) and lack of a “killer app.” They’re also waiting to see what the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Revolution will do.

That’s some speculative and poor logic.

Let’s talk about price. The Xbox Core system is only $50 more than the first generation Xbox and a lot more powerful. But what’s important to understand about the price, is what you can’t buy.

What am I talking about?

A high-end video card for a PC will cost you $250-$350. That’s just the video card. Upgrade your system board, buy a new dual-core Pentium 4, wireless game controllers, and you’ve well exceeded the price of the Xbox. The ability to upgrade the PC is moot. New games make your PC hardware obsolete as they push the latest video card technology. In contrast, console games are written to maximize the console hardware. You’re almost guaranteed the best gaming experience possible for the next 4-5 years before a new console is released.

Other Xbox drawbacks are meaningless. Lack of up-rezzing DVDs to HD. How many people are running HD TVs anyway? The entertainment industry can’t make up its mind about HD DVD formats so what’s the rush?

Xbox’s lack of built-in wi-fi. It’s an easy way for MS to sell you a $99 upgrade. Big deal. I don’t think most PC system boards are coming with on-board wi-fi.

Lack of a “killer app.” All of the screenshots look great to me. Leaps and bounds over Xbox 1 video and well beyond that of my puny ATI Radeon 8500. Honestly, playing any Xbox 360 game will be a “killer app” compared to my wheezy Athlon XP 2100+ system. Give the new Xbox a little time for god’s sake.

Why wait for the Sony? The PS and Xbox seem to have much of the same game library. And the Nintendo Revolution? I know nothing about it but every damned Nintendo box seems to only play a game with a Mario brother in it. That’s so 80’s.

No one has commented on the way-cool ability of the Xbox to connect to your Windows network and access your shared media sources like MP3s, movies, etc. That’s a big deal since 96% of the world runs Windows. Maybe you don’t care about accessing Windows shares, but I don’t care about up-rezzing DVDs to HD.

I’m not a big Windows or Microsoft fan but the Xbox 360 has the specs and the muscle behind it to be a huge success.

Related posts:

• Windows Gaming or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Xbox
• Console Wars: What Does the Media Really Want?
• Xbox 360 impressions on sight alone
• Xbox Live Vision - it just works
• Xbox 360 becomes a full-fledged Media Center

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