Microsoft's arrogance is the stuff of legend. With the money-printing machines that are MS Office and Windows, one can argue that that arrogance is warranted (as much as arrogance ever is). But the story is different when talking about chronic money losers like MSN and Xbox. (Just as Extreme)

Even within Microsoft, the arrogance meter varies. Despite the financial numbers, the Xbox division pushes the meter into the red. Even more so for Bungie, an independent island within an independent island. If MSFT has made any money at all on the Xbox platform, Bungie apparently feels it is due to them. They certainly have an argument but Halo is a big fish in a small pond. While the Halo franchise sold 13M units, this represents a fraction of Mario Brothers and less than half of The Sims.

Believe

As much as I liked the pre-acquisition Bungie, the Xbox Bungie is a little hard to take sometimes. Maybe I am just too old to see their brilliance but the Halo3 marketing machine had more than a little backlash. (Dude! Any online FPS console magic has been around on the PC for years and years and years. Yes, even before the brilliance of Xbox Live.)

So it is not without a little enjoyment that after the launch week hype, I saw the articles about 640p.

Since I have an Xbox 360, and I suffered through the story of Halo2, I do plan to play the game (when the price comes down). The screen shots do look fantastic so I am looking forward to seeing the game in action on my plasma TV. Although I am a bit concerned that reviewers are saying the story is weak and one should buy the game for multi-player (which is both free and better on a PC anyway so not very interesting to me), I am looking forward to seeing for myself.

While it is fun to watch the rich and famous get tweeked a bit, the interesting story here is not really about the game; it is about the hardware.

the next generation

We are currently experiencing the "next generation" of game hardware. The PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube are out. The PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii are all in (along with the DS and PSP).

Microsoft took a half-step on the technology and brought the Xbox 360 platform to market a full year ahead of Sony. Nintendo took no step at all and brought out the Wii (formerly known as "Revolution") - a product that was as reviled by gamers as it was beloved by non-gamers. Since non-gamers outnumber gamers by 10:1 or more, Nintendo has defied expectations with hit of massive proportions on its hands now.

Sony however endeavored to take a full step forward on the technology and delivered both a blueray movie machine with a radical new architecture. (The Xbox is basically a Windows PC.) Sadly, Sony has little to show for that effort up to this point. They have fewer games, have sold fewer units, and have not shown us much that says "See! This is NEXT gen."

But maybe it is still early.

Nintendo is off on its own but Sony and MSFT are both contending for the "hard core" market by claiming to have next generation hardware. You know, stuff that looks amazing on an HDTV.

By all accounts Bioshock and Halo3 look terrific on the Xbox. (Even though Bioshock looks better on a PC. With the Xbox struggling to hit the bare minimum HD resolution of 720p, I already play everything on my PC at 1080p.)

The whole 640p vs 720p issue is not about whether you can see the other 80p -- it is a question of whether the Xbox hardware has the ooph to continue to improve. It is less than half-way through a normal console cycle. With the Xbox360's infamous quality problems (and $1.5B write off to shareholders), is the Xbox reaching its peak while the PS3 is just getting started?

If THE game for the Xbox 360, made by THE Microsoft developer who took over two years and bazillions of dollars could not get the game to look good AND run well at 720p (which is the lowest screen resolution for "HD"), what does that say for the hardware? What does it say for 1080p games?

skin deep

As Nintendo has argued, its not always about the graphics. Games that are fun will still sell (although not necessarily to the same people). But that is Nintendo's whole strategy. They went after non-gamers with "cute" in order to enlarge the market; MSFT and Sony both went after each other for "better looking". MSFT has fought the Wii marketing angle as much as Sony has so how can they argue their system is "next gen" while also arguing that appearances dont matter? (Im not sure how, but they are doing just that.)

So my eyes are now on Xmas and 2008 to see what Sony can deliver because so far the answer has been "not much". I have yet to see a PS3 game that is unmatched by the Xbox but maybe, just maybe... Metal Gear Solid 4? GTA4? Killzone2? (A related question is whether Wii owners will become dissatisfied with their system as they begin to see how different the same games are on the other platforms.)

Unfortunately, part of the problem is the way the game market is structured. To maximize revenue, developers have to hit the commonality that lets them port the game to all platforms. Thus we can only expect to see games that push the platform to its fullest (like Halo3) from the platform manufacturers themselves (like Bungie/Microsoft). Given the high costs of developing a next gen game, the market itself might end up changing due to the financial pressure.

forget the Covenant, dropping the bomb on the Borg

But then the other shoe dropped. Just a week after the Halo3 launch we got another titillation. It seems Bungie is tired of being an island within Microsoft. Now they want to be an island all by themselves. Instead of cutting in line at the cafeteria, they want to go off campus for lunch and pay full price.

That announcement was as big and surprising as the day I heard they sold out to Microsoft to begin with. Bungie is not Valve, but I do respect them and look forward to seeing what they can build on their own - with less money but also fewer Powerpoint presentations to MBA's who dont game anyway.

With a blueray player, less fan noise, and no hardware problems, I am sticking with my PS3 - I cant wait to see what games the new Bungie will make for it.