Xbox 360 Integrates With Windows Live

Microsoft released its new Xbox 360 this past week, and the company's founder, Bill Gates, said that the product would be more than just an extremely expensive toy that will make him more money in one day than anyone buying it will make in a lifetime. "It will give 35-year-old males still living at home with their parents another rationale for just not having the time to meet the right girl," said Gates. "Hey, I just made $200 million in the time it took me to say that," added the beaming zillionaire. The battle between Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 (set to arrive next year) goes beyond gaming and into the heart of the living room. The technology under the hood of Microsoft and Sony's new consoles consists of always-on, broadband-enabled, complete entertainment centers, while the PC remains in the den. "Xbox 360 takes our customers' gaming experience to new levels," Best Buy vp games Jill Hamburger said. Play Xbox 360™ Games; Watch DVD movies and play music CDs; Connect an MP3 player and listen to music, Connect a Digital Camera and view pictures; Listen to music and view digital pictures from your Windows XP-based PC; Manage your family's entertainment choices with Family Settings. Xbox will tie into Windows Live - a new set of Internet software and services designed to put you in control of the information, relationships and interests you care about. It all goes toward creating a medium for spending hours playing the likes of "Halo 2" and "Project Gotham Racing 3." Executives at Microsoft see video games as just the beginning. Xbox 360 is at the center of a strategy that will also eventually tie in elements of Microsoft's new Windows Live (http://www.live.com/) online initiative. A melee erupted among a crowd of shoppers in the rush for the new Xbox 360 video game console at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in northeast Maryland. It took 10 police officers to restore order. A crowd of about 300 people waited as much as 12 hours for the game, considered a must-have item this holiday season, to go on sale at 12:01 a.m. the day of its unveiling.