"When Microsoft’s follow-up to the ultra-successful Xbox video gaming system goes on sale in the United States two days before Thanksgiving (and in Europe two days after Christmas) it will already be well on its way to becoming the most profitable gaming system ever. And with all the Xbox 360 promises to deliver, it’s no surprise.

Whereas the original Xbox, which ran quite a few critically acclaimed and graphically spectacular games such as Halo, Grand Theft Auto III and Forza Motorsport, had one 733 MHz processor, for example, the Xbox 360 will be contain three symmetrical cores, each running at a sizzling 3.2 MHz.

Add to that a memory upgrade from 64 MB to 512 MB, a graphics processor that clocks in at 500 MHz, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound capabilities for all games, and potential support for HD DVD technology that allows up to 30 GB storage on one DVD, and you have the backbone for a truly killer video gaming console.

Of course, this all means very little if the games don’t measure up to the impressive hardware capabilities. Graphics and sound are important, but game play takes the day -- most days. So far, the Xbox 360 line-up looks solid." [more]