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DZNUTZ
04-22-2002, 12:30 PM
Inside Microsofts Plan 4/22/2002, by Jason
Think you know all about Xbox? Try again. Dean Takahashi, a senior writer with Red Herring has written the definitive book on the creation of Xbox. Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution will leave you amazed at the often outlandish ideas and antics of Microsoft as they attempted to break into the multi-billion dollar video-games market.

Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution contains over 350 pages of mystery, intrigue and behind-the-scenes corporate wrangling as Seamus Blackley, Kevin Bachus, Otto Berkes and Ted Hase attempted to push a high-risk, high cost consumer product up the Microsoft flag-pole.

Opening the Xbox offers some of the following revelations:

The Xbox team went head-to-head with the Web TV team to become the home entertainment console offering from Microsoft.

Xbox could easily have become an "all-in-one" unit with Tivo-like extra's and web-browsing capabilities (as XBOX365 reported back in March 2000!)

Microsoft were sat at the negotiation table in Japan with executives from Nintendo with a view to purchase...

Microsoft were close to a deal to purchase Sega

Sony stung Microsoft into action with the pre-launch hype of Playstation 2

CEO of Microsoft, Steve Balmer made repeated trips to Japan to visit with executives of Square - all in vain as Square still haven't committed to Xbox.

Here's a snippet from Opening the Xbox

Blackley saw from Gates's questions that the company had to work through a lot of problems quickly if it was going to get a box out in 2000. Bachus was disappointed that he didn't see a flash of the legendary Gates temper. "I was looking forward to classic Bill," he said later.

But the Xbox crew had convincingly covered many points. "Our argument was to start where the company was strongest, with PC technology and PC software code," Bachus recalled. Microsoft faced an immediate threat with the PlayStation 2, and it needed to do something to stop Sony from taking all the hardcore gamers. If they failed to do that, then none of the other things would matter. And if WebTV's box spent its time doing a mix of functions, then it wouldn't do games well enough.

"Our goal needs to be to contain Sony," Gates said.
But Gates left a glimmer of hope for the WebTV team. He said he wanted a "common graphics architecture" between the PC, the Xbox and WebTV. He said this would enable devices in the home to take advantage of high-bandwidth connections. This fateful suggestion turned into a new form of the old Microsoft strategy tax, slowing down the Xbox again.

XBOX365 Says
If you're a video-games fan (Xbox or not) and you only buy one book this year, make sure you grab a copy of Opening the Xbox http://www.xbox365.com/news/zcomment.cgi?article=EpEAulAEplVdtmORkK

Hugh_Jass
04-22-2002, 01:42 PM
I posted this news ten days ago here:

http://www.xboxaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11034&highlight=Opening+the+Xbox

:D

Snoopy7548
04-22-2002, 02:48 PM
sounds like a conspiracy to me ::starts humming the twilight show theme:: :D :D

DZNUTZ
04-22-2002, 11:40 PM
my bad hughass...i try my best to go thru a most of the posts..(and i might add...i think i do a pretty good job), but i can't catch em all.;)

Knight
04-28-2002, 12:20 PM
Bump

Crazy Joe
04-28-2002, 02:45 PM
why bump a thread when this book has been talked about so much already?

anyway, i am going to pick this up once i get some cash together, sounds like really interesting reading material.