Building Bridges

Ask any console developer—the launch of a new console is a gargantuan task. The high anticipation for next-generation consoles always seems to outweigh the initial production capacity, making it hard to meet up with demand at launch.

That's why most manufacturers will focus on one market at a time, as opposed to a complete global launch. As such, a new console would most likely launch in the home country first, and gradually find its way to other key countries over the course of the next few months. With the three main gaming regions being Japan, the US and Europe, here is a launch date history for the existing consoles:

As you can see, there can be almost as much as a full calendar year between the launch of the same console in these key regions. If you are somewhat of a serious gamer, this can be a displeasing situation, especially if you're left sitting in the cold when one of your buddies overseas can already play to his or her delight. Anyway, that's how it was, and that's how it always would be, right?

Xbox 360 launched at the Zero Hour event in the desert.

Wrong! When Microsoft announced the launch dates of its new console, Xbox 360™, both the industry and gamers all over were shocked to find out that Xbox 360 would see a virtually simultaneous worldwide launch: November 22, 2005 in the U.S., December 2, 2005 in Europe, and December 10, 2005 in Japan. That's less than three weeks of total launch frame between these three regions. Simply put: unprecedented.

Building Bridges with the Console
All of the excitement set aside, this must have been somewhat of a logistical nightmare scenario for Microsoft, and the competition already was preparing to jump on this case and rip Microsoft's solid reputation apart. It turns out they didn't have all that much to jump on. Sure, the launch was not flawless. There were some shortages, leading to people not getting the Christmas present, or the pre-order they had hoped for.

Microsoft remained both persistent and devoted, putting great efforts into increasing the production capacity and assuring shorter turnaround times. Before long, the manufacturing bottlenecks had been solved, and Xbox 360 was finding its way into the home of every gamer that wanted one. For the first time ever, it didn't matter if that gamer lived in Japan, the U.S., or Europe. Microsoft had just erased the borders, uniting gamers worldwide.

The simultaneous worldwide console launch by Microsoft not only was a remarkable, never before established feat, but it triggered a revolution within the industry itself. Suddenly the competition started confirming a simultaneous worldwide launch for its upcoming next gen consoles as well, as if it was the most obvious of affairs.

I'm sure there were some chuckles heard around the hallways of Microsoft when one of these competitors had to admit that a simultaneous launch wasn't possible after all due to manufacturing bottlenecks, thereby putting Europe on hold for five months. Not all of them have what it takes. Not all of them share the same devotion as Microsoft.

Building Bridges with the Games
If there could be several months between regional launch dates of a console, the same thing could be said about its games. In other words, even if you finally managed to get hold of that console you always wanted, the games you wanted to get your hands on as well weren't always available yet in your country. It's the worst-case scenario for a true gamer. Think of a racing enthusiast owning a Ferrari without having access to the fuel to send it through its paces, and you have a pretty good idea of what it feels like.

PGR 3 is a worldwide sensation on Xbox Live.

This matter became even more pressing with the added functionality of online gaming. Xbox was the first console to give worldwide gamers access to a dedicated online network with Xbox Live®. With Xbox 360, this network has been enriched with many new features and possibilities. Power up Xbox 360, plug it into a high speed connection, and you are immediately online. With the press of a button, see what all of your online buddies are doing. Are they listening to some music, watching a movie, or playing a game? If they are playing a game, which one? How well are they doing?

With so much information to offer, finding out that several of your online buddies already have access to a game that isn't available in your country yet, can be quite disturbing. You might feel left behind, unable to join in on the online fun.

This is where Microsoft, once more, is showing its dedication towards the gamer. The simultaneous worldwide availability of most launch games already was a strong indication towards the efforts Microsoft was putting into Xbox 360. It didn't matter if it was Perfect Dark Zero™, Call of Duty® 2 or Project Gotham Racing® 3, we all could unpack Xbox 360 at launch and start playing against each other in the same game session, no matter our location.

Building Bridges with Technology
For a long time, console gamers always were one step behind their PC buddies. When it comes to graphical power, there is no denying that a PC always had the edge. First-person shooters have often been reserved for the PC platform for this reason (as well as superior controls) and console owners deemed themselves lucky if they received a watered-down port afterwards. Other genres, like real-time strategy, even turned out to be almost nonexistenton console.

Xbox 360 has put an end to this, and puts console gamers on the same level as PC gamers. For starters, Xbox 360 finally lets console gamers enter the era of high definition gaming. All of the Xbox 360 games are optimised for 720p, which means they run in a progressive scan resolution of 1280x720 pixels. This is a tremendous increase in resolution over past generation consoles, and make no mistake: Xbox 360 has the power to back this up.

Advanced Warfighter is redefining online play.

The results already are showing. No longer do console gamers have to wait for crippled ports. First-person shooters like Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ and Prey were developed alongside their PC counterparts, taking full advantage of the Xbox 360 technology. As such, Xbox 360 owners are not only getting their hands on these games around the same time as PC owners do, they also receive a console version that fully stands its ground against the one on PC.

Maybe you have always thought that the only proper way to play real-time strategy games was on a PC. This is no longer the case as Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™ II showed that Xbox 360 can fully handle this genre, with its controller giving just as much feeling as the PC's keyboard/mouse combo. Such is Microsoft's belief that this genre really works on console, that it is even bringing the venerable Halo franchise to the real-time strategy universe with the upcoming Halo Wars.

It goes further. Microsoft doesn't just put the console gamer on the same level as the PC gamer. It will bring these two groups together by means of its Live Anywhere service. Live Anywhere allows a variety of non-Xbox platforms such as Windows Vista PCs and Windows Mobile phones to connect to Xbox Live. Some games, like the upcoming Shadowrun, will even allow for cross-platform play, removing all remaining barriers and making Xbox 360 gamers compete directly with PC gamers over Xbox Live. It's like being in gaming heaven.

Xbox 360 may already be a versatile centerpiece of multimedia, but it will continue to expand and broaden its scope by means of future firmware updates and accessories. The next update will enable the Xbox 360 to output a video signal of 1080p, the best possible resolution to watch HD DVD movies, and thus the perfect companion for the upcoming HD DVD player that you will be able to hook up to your Xbox 360 this holiday season.

There is so much to see and do once you are plugged into Xbox Live. My advice to you: relax, sit back and enjoy. With Microsoft as your guide, you can be assured of a comfortable ride.

Article by Johan Walgraef ( fIan man), Xbox Users Group