After Microsoft played a part in the development of Sega’s Dreamcast, the company had aspirations of releasing its own game console. That goal was reached in March 2000. Less than three weeks after the PS2 was launched in Japan, Bill Gates officially announced to the crowd assembled at the Game Developer’s Conference that Microsoft was indeed developing a game console.
Ironically, that announcement indirectly led to the death of the Dreamcast. With sales of the Dreamcast lagging substantially behind the PS2 around the world, Sega felt that the introduction of another console would only hurt sales of the Dreamcast even further. Sega stopped production of the Dreamcast in March 2001. The company stayed in the video game business as a software developer for competing systems.
Microsoft’s system, called the Xbox, became a reality when it was launched in Novem- ber 2001 in North America. The first American console in nearly a decade contained an Intel 733 MHz Pentium III CPU, an Nvidia NV2a 250 MHz graphics processor, 64 MB of unified RAM, broadband Internet support, and for the first time, an 8 GB hard
drive. Although the $299 system utilized a Windows 2000 operating system, it was not merely a PC without a keyboard.
Like the PS2, the Xbox could play DVDs. However, while the PS2 could play DVDs off the shelf using the game controller for the DVD functions, the Xbox could only be used as a DVD player if an optional $30 remote control was purchased. This was done so Microsoft could avoid paying DVD licensing fees if it had been sold as a DVD player.
Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo launched the GameCube, its first non-cartridge system in North America just three days after the Xbox was released, and only two months following its Japanese release. Unlike its competition, Nintendo chose to use a proprietary storage medium, an optical-disc that was three-fourths the size of a standard DVD. Because of this, the $200 GameCube was incapable of playing DVDs (and prevented Nintendo from paying DVD licensing fees).
The GameCube was not as powerful as its two competitors, but it was not meant to be. Nintendo was banking that its stable of familiar characters such as Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon, would keep the system afloat. Nintendo also designed the system to be compat- ible with its portable Game Boy. A link cable was released and certain games could be played using both the Game Boy and the GameCube. Acting as controllers, up to four Game Boys could be connected to one GameCube. Nintendo also released a Game Boy adaptor which allowed gamers to play their Game Boy games on their TV sets. The GameCube also could connect directly to up to seven other GameCubes for LAN (local area network) play, although individual TVs were needed for each console.
System Competition
In November 2002, Microsoft introduced Xbox Live, a subscription-based service that allowed players to compete against one another over the Internet. Although the PS2 was outselling the Xbox, Sony executives realized that online gaming was a sector that they could no longer ignore. Games that incorporated an online component began to be released. However, unlike Microsoft’s Xbox Live where Microsoft provided the network server for online gaming, it was the responsibility of Sony’s third-party vendors to provide servers for their respective online games. However, since this was mainly transparent to the gamers, it did not affect Sony’s goal to make the PS2 the de facto console for online gaming. PS2 gamers did not have to pay for a subscription service like Xbox Live to play online games. They did have to purchase an optional Network Adaptor. Sony also released a 40 GB hard drive that could be used to download content such as extra levels, maps, weapons, and so forth. The hard drive was also sold with the game Final Fantasy XI already installed on it. As gamers ventured further into the virtual world, the system constantly downloaded additions to the playing environment that were in turn saved on the hard drive.
Nintendo also provided online gaming when it released optional online adapters at the end of 2002. But Nintendo did not aggressively promote the online capabilities of the GameCube, and very few games supported it.
In the end, Sony’s PS2, with over 120 million units sold worldwide, was the uncon- tested leader in the console wars. Microsoft sold 24 million2Xboxes and while that was
only a fraction of what Sony sold, it was still a momentous number considering it was Microsoft’s first console. Nintendo came in third with 21 million units sold, leading to speculation that it was going to abandon the hardware market just as Sega had done. Nintendo merely denied this rumor as it worked on its next system which would replace the GameCube.
XaviXPORT
In 2003, Sony released a new, unique accessory for the PS2. The Eye Toy was a camera that plugged into the PS2 via a USB connection. Initially, the camera was sold with software called Eye Toy: Play which consisted of a series of mini-games that used the player’s on-screen image input live through the Eye Toy camera. The player then had to maneuver his body so his on-screen image could perform different tasks such as popping balloons. The games themselves were not very interesting but the idea of being in the game was unique.
Games involving bodily movements were not new. In Dance Dance Revolution, players danced to music and had to respond to on-screen arrows using their feet. The Dance Pad people danced on was merely a large controller which responded to players’ feet in the same way that traditional controllers responded to fingers. The Eye Toy marked the first time in which a home system actually responded to a player’s movement in a nontra- ditional manner.
In 2004, a Japanese company called SSD Company Limited took this idea one step further and released a unique gaming system called the XaviXPORT. The XaviXPORT was not a standard gaming console and was not meant to compete against the systems already available. Only a handful of cartridges were available for the system and they all shared a similar theme: sports.
The XaviXPORT employed wireless controllers and the unique aspect of the console was that the controllers were sold with each of the game titles and actually looked like equipment for the games. For instance, the controllers packaged with Xavix Golf looked like a putter and a driver. The controller that accompanied Xavix Bowling was a bowling ball. Using the special controllers, users could simulate the movements of the sport being played. In Xavix Baseball, a player could watch the on-screen pitcher toss the ball and then swing the bat controller at the appropriate time.
Only six games were released for the system, but it was enough to show that playing video games did not mean merely sitting on a couch and pushing buttons. And while the system was not a commercial success, it gave the public a glimpse of what the future of video games held.