Microsoft continues to make news, both good and bad, with their first independent foray into the console gaming world. Despite strong sales here in its “home market” (USA), the XBox is doing poorly in Europe andeven worse in Japan, where reports have XBox console sales at around 250,000 since its release in February. Microsoft will be pushing hard this holiday season as it introduces theXBox Liveonline gaming service (andpossible hacker finder). The service could be the key to profitability for the console, which justunderwent a redesignthat reduced manufacturing costs and thwarted current mod-chips that allowed users to play copied games and run custom software.
But the biggest news has been Microsoft’s purchase ofBritish game developer Rare, who formerly developed exclusively for Nintendo. For XBox fans, this can be looked at as a major win for the console, since Rare’s games have all been top-notch efforts, and their classic Nintendo 64 titleGoldeneyeredefinedthe way college students wasted their time.
