X marks the spot for giddy gamers
Some wait in line more than 24 hours to get new Xbox 360
 | Dan Friedman holds a new Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console as he makes the first purchase of it at a Best Buy in Bellevue, Wash., as Bill Gates, Microsoft’s Chairman looks on. |
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 | Worth the wait Xbox enthusiasts around the country wait in line for hours to be the first to buy the Xbox 360. |
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 | Xbox 360 debuts Nov. 22: Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s chief Xbox officer, discusses the launch of the Xbox 360. CNBC |
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Gaming fans turned out overnight across the country to buy up Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console as it went on sale early Tuesday. GameStop, EB Games and Best Buy opened hundreds of stores across the country for midnight launch events, while eager buyers lined up at 24-hour Wal-Mart stores.
Most retailers have refused to say how many of the consoles they have in stock, but Microsoft has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console worldwide within a few weeks will mean fewer consoles initially in North America.
(MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
While many of the eager buyers were focusing on the system’s high-definition graphics and gaming aptitude, executives at Microsoft see video games as just the beginning.
The new consoles, which also can play music, display photos and show DVDs, are at the center of a strategy that will eventually tie in elements of Microsoft’s new online initiative, called Windows Live, said company Chairman Bill Gates.
“In the living room itself, Xbox 360 is our centerpiece and a product that redefines what goes on there,” Gates said.
Gates said Monday that he expects Xbox Live, Microsoft’s service that allows gamers worldwide to play one another, to eventually work with a Microsoft instant messenger that is slated to become part of Windows Live.
Windows Live is Microsoft’s newly launched effort to better compete with free, advertising-financed Web services like e-mail and search technology from competitors led by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.
Microsoft already offers limited ways for people on Xbox Live to communicate with those on Microsoft’s messaging software, but the new offering — not yet slated for release — would expand that significantly.
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Gates said he’s also expecting a new Xbox service called Microsoft Points, which lets people prepay for things like virtual armor or other game-related items, to eventually work with Windows Live, so people could use a single account to pay for offerings there, too.
Analyst Rob Enderle said the move to more closely link Xbox Live with Windows Live intends to bolster loyalty to Microsoft products. Microsoft “can tie that stuff together so that you as a customer become wedded to the Microsoft platform for everything you do,” he said.
Microsoft’s major console rival, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, also is expected to offer alluring digital entertainment capabilities when it debuts next year.
With the new Xbox system, Microsoft also is significantly expanding what people can do — and buy — from Xbox Live itself.
Gates said one big bet is that game companies will use Xbox Live to sell incremental upgrades and additions to existing games, thus extending a game’s life.
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