The story of Xbox
The birth of the Xbox almost seems like prehistory to us now, with the 360 the most coveted console this Christmas. This chapter from book Smartbomb delves into the inside story of the Xbox's birth, from Bill Gates' desire to dominate the living room, to Seamus Blackley's airborne epiphany:
"Suddenly, Seamus wanted to jump out of his seat. Microsoft could, if it chose, make a console that would kill the PlayStation 2. It was all so painfully obvious. Of any technology company, Microsoft was uniquely suited to build a console that gamers and game developers would die for. All Microsoft had to do was design a reasonably powerful Windows-based PC that could be packaged and marketed as a videogame console."
It's an interesting read for anyone who wasn't there at the time, and sheds some light on Microsoft's motivations. Fear was a big part of it; fear of the Playstation and its impending dominance. As a valid business motivator, fear is right up there with profit, and fear may well have been the driver for the 360's early launch. Microsoft as scaredy-cats? It seems so.
