Microsoft confirmed months of suspicion when Bill Gates officially announced the Xbox console via a Web-wide news feed in March 2000. The Xbox was then unveiled in full at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past January where the WWF's The Rock joined Bill Gates on stage. At E3 2001 this past May, Microsoft announced that the console would be launched November 8, 2001, for $299. Since the success of the Atari 2600 of the 1980s, American companies have tried to jump into the video game console market with limited returns. But Microsoft has something 3DO and Phillips never had--a seemingly bottomless pit of money to develop, market, and support such a device. Microsoft is prepared to come out swinging with what it contends is the most powerful console to ever be released and $500 million in marketing cash.

Equal in size to a VCR, the Xbox could go down in history as the largest video game console ever. Its basic rectangular shape is augmented by a large X formed into the top of the console. In the top of the console rests a circular green jewel bestowed with the Xbox logo. The console includes four USB controller ports, a front-loading 5x DVD drive, as well as eject and back buttons on the front. The back of the console houses a standard audio/video-out port, a digital-out port for HDTV, and a power supply outlet. The Xbox will also include an extensive front end that's being called the Dashboard. The Xbox Dashboard will let you adjust the console's settings and control its operation.

Instead of splitting its user base by offering add-on components at a later date, Microsoft is placing all the hardware it needs for the next five years into the Xbox now. The Xbox will come with an Ethernet port to connect to both DSL and cable broadband connections and an 8GB hard drive that will be supplied by Western Digital. Neither the GameCube nor the PlayStation 2 can boast of such inclusions. Microsoft has stated that the hard drive will be used to rip your own soundtracks for games, to decrease loading times by caching data, and to save game data. In conjunction with the Ethernet port, it will also be used to download new characters, levels, and more. Although a small minority of those online use broadband connections, the Xbox will not have dial-up capability. It's a bold step on Microsoft's part: It's banking on its theory that many will be securing a broadband connection within the next five years. The Xbox will not come with the ability to play DVD movies. However, for $29 you can purchase the DVD Movie Playback Kit, which will unlock the feature in the Xbox hardware. Xbox software will be stored on 4.5GB DVD discs and will be sold in standard DVD cases just like PlayStation 2 and GameCube software.