Microsoft is starting to put out RFPs among silicon vendors for Xbox, The Second Coming. Among the features that Microsoft is looking to add: chips from Broadcom, according to insider gossip, the kind that sit on top of your TV and connect to your television set as well as the cable modem stuff.

Xbox II will be a cross between a PC and a set-top box, pretty much combining a hodge-podge of Microsoft's consumer initiatives. Will it be WebTV with games, or a PC with cable TV and PVR capabilities and a Media Center interface? Whatever it does turn out to be, chip makers are vying for bragging rights more than anything else right now because, cost controls and demands on pricing are very stiff. Well, duh, yeah!

Intel, Nvidia, ATI, and Broadcom. Who's next? People should never talk loudly over a Starbuck's latte in the lounge of the San Jose Hilton.