Xbox Hits the Streets as Planned

For now, you'll have to be satisfied with choosing between a handful of games that were released at the same time as the console that include Halo, NFL Fever 2002, Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Project Gotham Racing, and Dead or Alive 3. Xbox has a built-in 8GB hard drive and Ethernet port for broadband connectivity. Other features of the 733 MHz P3-based game box are four game controller ports, the ability to play DVDs, a multisignal audio-video connector that lets you hook it up to TVs and home theater systems, much ballyhooed nForce-ish NVIDIA graphics, and 64MB RAM.

The console has an estimated retail price of $299, and is now said to be available at more than 15,000 retail locations across North America. According to The Inquirer, Xbox won't appear in The UK next spring for at £299, and in Japan sometime next year.

Gripes? Microsoft could have made it compatible with PC games and even provided PC-like apps like we expect to see for Sony's PlayStation 2 (after seeing them demonstrated at the Rambus Developers Forum).

Also, thousands of youngsters (and oldsters, I bet) ate at Taco Bell in the co-promoted "Win it before you can buy it" sweepstakes hoping to get one of the gadgets before today. The venerable purveyor of quickie Mexican food was supposed to announce the winner of an Xbox from each of its U.S. locations and give away nearly 7,000 of the things. So far, the Xbox website only lists 15 winners. Yo Quiero Xbox? Better buy one.