 |
Dec 31,2006 - Jan7,2006 |
More than just playing a game
Online gaming is reaching new levels with even more features and better machines
By Carmine Bonanno
Originally Published: 2006-06-04
It only seemed like yesterday that you unwrapped your Christmas presents to find your first ever gaming console, which most likely was Nintendo. However, the days of blowing into the game or holding down the reset button to make it work were frustrating and thankfully are long gone.
The era of Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis was an improvement, but those days were made extinct by the CD generation of the Sony’s Playstation and Microsoft’s Xbox. While the CD gaming generation has had a long and successful run, it appears the next era of gaming is ready to take over.
With the late 2005 launch of Xbox 360 and the future 2006 release of Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii (pronounced We), there is one dominating feature of all three – the improvements in online gaming. The idea of online gaming is simple; gamers are able to compete with other gamers from around the world in the comfort of their own home.
While this idea is pretty impressive standing alone, online gaming goes beyond just playing games. While the seemingly ancient Xbox and Playstation2 did offer online gaming, it never really caught on. But that has changed in a hurry, as indicated by the numbers of online gamers for the Xbox 360.
With their original Xbox, Microsoft reported that only 10 per cent of gamers ventured on line. Since then, 3.2 million people worldwide have purchased the new Xbox 360, and nearly half of those gamers have registered to be online junkies.
Each gaming console has their own variation of an online world, so here is a quick review of what Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii each feature:
Xbox 360: With Microsoft’s claim to fame being the only one currently available in the latest generation of gaming consoles, it is the clear leader when it comes to online gaming. While some may argue that the only reason they are posting such impressive numbers is because they are the only one available, its online gaming features refute that theory.
Xbox 360 offers gamers two versions of Xbox Live, a free service that includes the basics or a $70/year gold service that comes with all the toppings. Xbox Live users can download movie trailers and short demos of upcoming games, talk to one another using Internet-based telephone technology and display television and other media from computers that run Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Page 1/...Page 2
|
| Home / Back to Top |
|
|
 |
|
|
</ td>
