Xbox 360 a star waiting for a breakout hit

The games
Once set up is secured you're ready to rock n' roll. Just don't expect to be blown away — not yet, anyway.

Fans of "Madden 06," one of the 18 titles available at launch, may disagree, as may those who buy the Xbox 360 to play the shooter, "Call of Duty" or "Perfect Dark Zero," the eagerly awaited action game from Rare Studios, a game aficionado favorite.

Maybe I've been conditioned by the hype, but when I hear "next-generation console" I expect "next generation gaming." I'm expecting an experience that says "you're in new, exciting territory" much like "Halo" did for the Xbox and "Grand Theft Auto" did for the PlayStation 2.

That's difficult to find when the games on offer are a conservative mix of sports, racing and shooters and the majority of them are sequels to games available on earlier systems. However, the games do give a hint of the Xbox 360's untapped power. 

The World War II shooter, "Call of Duty 2," boasts some of the best graphics I've seen. When it snows in Stalingrad it doesn't so much fall, but swirls in hundreds tiny vortices. Smoke billowing forth from a grenade provokes a "whoa" reaction. Soldiers, and there can be dozens on screen at any one time, move in a mixture of fits and starts. Interiors, be they the duct-ridden corridors of "Quake 4" or the hovel-like tenements of "Condemned: Criminal Origins'" have more of a three-dimensional organic bumpiness. Improved lighting and shadow play a role here, thanks, I assume, to the Xbox 360's ATI graphics chip.

Exteriors likewise reveal marked improvement when compared against the original Xbox's graphical powers. Individual blades of grass shimmer in the breeze in "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06." And when graphics power is extended to fanciful landscapes as in the pixie-dusted world of "Kameo: Elements of Power," fughedditaboutit!

Of course, with this much power, the extent of eye candy in some of the launch games borders on the baroque.

In the racing game “Need for Speed: Escape from the Underground” the road upon which you’re racing has been lovingly rendered with detailed cracks and potholes and various rivulets. The funny thing is, you're seeing this detail while going 180 mph. Have Tylenol handy.

A family affair?
Microsoft has long declared its intention to re-introduce gaming to the living room, to make gaming a family affair, to be — if we can beat a metaphor to death — both the young Elvis for the younger, hard-core gamers and the hefty Elvis for the casual gamer and film watcher. The game library at launch clearly skews young Elvis, but there's plenty here for fans of the old King, as well.

The Xbox 360 offers DVD playback in progressive scan format and the movies I watched with it looked great. And because the Xbox 360 is wired for easy HDTV setup and 5.1 channel surround-sound audio, the home theater experience is that much more attainable for those who care. 

Using the console's three USB ports, users can hook up a music player or a digital camera to stream music or images. I found the process intuitive and easy.

Should you wait? WHAT'S COMING UP PlayStation 3: Sony's PlayStation 2 dominates the video game industry and its new PlayStationPortable has been a big hit as well. When Sony unveiled the PS3 at the E3 gaming conference last spring, an audience of thousands cheered the stunning realism of its graphics. The PS3 is built around a powerful new computer chip dubbed CELL that analysts expect to out-power the Xbox. It will also come with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and high-definition DVD playback. Release date: Spring 2006. Revolution: Nintendo's GameCube has always been more popular with families and non-traditional gamers than the Xbox or PS2. Few details are known about the next-generation "Revolution" -- even whether that's the console's final name. Nintendo has said it will come with built-in Wi-Fi and an add-on to play DVDs. Players will also be able to download games from such classic platforms as the Nintendo 64. Release date: 2006. Source: Associated Press

However, these are all things you can do with a PC as well. And Microsoft certainly doesn't want you to get rid of your PC. If anything, they want you to interact with your PC, preferably if your PC has Windows Media Center Edition 2005 to stream recorded shows and movies from the PC to the Xbox 360.

Multimedia offerings are all well and good, but the one Xbox 360 feature that may bridge the divide between the hard-core and the casual gamer is the re-tooled online community, Xbox Live.

All users who connect their Xbox 360s to the Internet can take advantage of Xbox Live's free membership to chat with other users and peruse the Xbox Marketplace, where they can download game levels or other game-related goods and view game previews. Paying members can not only join online games, but join those that meet their skills (a major plus for old time gamers like myself).

For casual gamers there is Xbox Arcade, which is supposed to house friendly fare of the "Bejeweled" genre. The offerings are rather sparse now, however.

Final verdict ... for now
The Xbox 360 does a lot of things very well. The first being that it keeps to Microsoft's promise of trying to offer something for everyone: gaming, DVD playback, seamless interaction with your PC or digital camera.

But the Xbox 360 is first and foremost a gaming machine and by this standard it must be judged. The 18 games available hint at the potential of the Xbox 360 as far as graphics are concerned. What's missing is a demonstration how the 360's graphics ability and its touted artificial intelligence can be exploited to games and game play that are truly "next generation."

With a couple rock n' rollers overseas — Sony and Nintendo — busily putting together licks for major product rollouts sometime in 2006, the Xbox 360 needs to get those games out in a hurry if it truly wants to be the de facto hub for living room entertainment.

All this takes time. Remember that Elvis was a just a hillbilly with a guitar until he met Col. Tom Parker. And the original Xbox was nothing until it met "Halo's" Master Chief. Stay tuned. The story is still being written.

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