🚀 go-pugleaf

ok, now this might seem like a no brainer. a total 'DUH!' and something that 
would make you say "no sh*t, a**hole!".  but this is actually noteworthy.

dispite several YEARS of guessing, speculation, rumor, reports, leaks, 
almost-official and semi-official word, there is FINALLY confirmation that 
XENON, the next-generation Xbox, likely to be called Xbox 360 is coming out 
this year.
yes, from Bill Gates himself.

now ATi and SEGA are in the picture too, since ATi has designed the Xenon's 
graphics processing hardware, and Sega is providing important software, and 
some for launch.

without further delay, the actual article about Xbox 360's   now-confirmed 
2005 launch.


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8408

quote:
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Gates confirms Xbox 360 launch this year, talks up multimedia

Rob Fahey 15:40 03/05/2005
Microsoft chairman breaks the silence on Xbox 360's launch date


Speaking at a business writers' convention in the United States, Microsoft 
chairman Bill Gates has confirmed that the next-generation Xbox console will 
launch this year, and once again promoted the new system's multimedia 
capabilities.

Breaking with the company's policy of staying silent in public on the 
question of when the new console, widely believed to be called Xbox 360, 
will launch, Gates told the Society of American Business Writers and Editors 
that the system will ship in the current year.

Speaking about high definition displays, he asked rhetorically when the 
"year of high definition" will be - and followed on to say that it would be 
"this year, because we're going to ship this next Xbox."

His comment is the first public acknowledgement by the company that it plans 
to ship Xbox 360 before the end of the year, although it's been generally 
accepted around the industry for some time that the console will arrive in 
October or November.

Gates also talked briefly about the multimedia functionality which will be 
offered by Xbox 360, comparing it to the firm's Media Center PC software. 
"If you're used that menu, when you use this Xenon [the codename for Xbox 
360], you'll see a menu a lot like that, that lets you get photos, TV, music 
and all those different things," he explained.

It's still not clear, however, whether Xbox 360 will offer this 
functionality in all of its retail versions. Several reports have indicated 
that the system will ship with two configurations, one of which, lacking a 
hard drive, will be less capable as a multimedia device.

Many questions about the new console are expected to be answered next week, 
when MTV broadcasts a television special about the Xbox 360 - airing on the 
evening of May 12th in North America, and on May 13th worldwide.
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