Game Consoles: Place Your Bets

First Microsoft then Sony have announced specs for the next generation of game stations, which will begin arriving for the holidays this year and spill into 2006.

With loads more computing and graphics power than the puny previous generation -- xBox uses a Pentium iii, for example -- these new machines will conquer new markets beyond set-top gaming: they will serve as satellites for media serving in the home; and extend gaming and the game ecosystem even further into the 'net. Microsoft, for instance, has been losing about $1.2 billion a year on the xBox business. Bill Gates intends to earn that back in profits. Soon. But that will only come by expanding the market -- a lot -- in the U.S. and overseas. Sony, which garners a double digit percentage of its profits form the PlayStation, has no intention of giving up first place.

Microwave some popcorn, sit back, and get ready for a true battle royale.

-- Peter S. Kastner