As another week begins, it's time to take a look at last week's poll, which asked you which gaming console would pwn (Another term for "own"). The results have come in, and you can view them here. You can now vote in this week's poll, which asks if you use "meme trackers". For now, however, let's take a look at some of the gaming consoles that were mentioned in our recent poll...
The Microsoft Xbox 360 -
During development, we heard quite a few codenames for the Xbox 360, including Xenon (It's official code-name), Xbox 2, Xbox Next or NextBox, when it was first thought up in 2003. Two years later, on MTV, Microsoft started their viral marketing attempt with information about the console. More would be revealed later, at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as "E3". Microsoft is hoping that the support for high definition (HD) televisions and their Xbox Live, an online gaming service where users can preview games and download themes, will pull it to success.
The Xbox 360 was released in a handful of countries on November 22, 2005, giving Microsoft the competitive edge over Sony and Nintendo. However, because manufacturing started only 69 days before its release, there weren't enough systems to supply demand. This led to highly priced auctions on eBay, which could range to over $2 thousand (My friend sold his the week before the Holidays and got $700 for it!). By the end of 2005, Microsoft had sold over 1.5 million units, including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan. Now, well into 2006, many are reporting that Microsoft has sold about 5 million units.
The Sony PlayStation 3 -
The Sony PS3 is the third gaming console created by Sony and will compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii consoles. The PS3, which is set to ship on November 11, 2006 (Nearly one year after Microsoft depute their Xbox 360), will ship with two different configurations - The main difference being a 20GB hard-drive vs. a 60GB drive. The PS3 was officially announced on May 16, 2005, at last year's E3 event. While a functional PS3, ready for showcasing, wasn't ready at E3 2005 or the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005, Sony did have a working unit at this recently past E3. Sony has announced that they will have 27 titles and the final hardware at this upcoming Tokyo Game Show, this month. It remains to be seen how well the PS3 will do and Sony's stock prices have plummeted because investors feel that Sony won't deliver with the PS3.
The Nintendo Wii -
The Nintendo Wii (Pronounced as in "we") is Nintendo's fifth gaming console and succeeds the Nintendo GameCube. At E3 2005, Nintendo revealed the official codename for the Wii, The Nintendo Revolution. The major feature of the Wii will be the wireless controller, which will be used as a handheld pointing device that can detect motion and three dimensions. The controller, called the Wii Remote, will contain a rumble feature and built-in speakers. WiiConnect24 will be Nintendo's version of Xbox Live, allowing the system to receive important software updates and multimedia while using very little power.
While the pricing and release date for the Wii is still unknown, numerous reports have confirmed that the console will cost less than $250 and will be released around September or October. On the other hand, Nintendo has said that they plan to announce release details before the end of September. No other official information about the console has been revealed by Nintendo.
I'd like to thank you all for voting in another weekly poll run by the AMCP Tech Blog. We now invite you to vote in this week's poll, and to read up on some of the older Poll Studies, including "Do you Blog", "Do you use an RSS Reader" and "What search engine do you use?".