USATODAY.com - Microsoft angles to be lord of the game consoles

USATODAY.com - Microsoft angles to be lord of the game consoles: "SEATTLE Microsoft (MSFT) this week instigates Round 2 in its drive to elevate the Xbox ahead of Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 2 in the video-game console business.


Actor Elijah Wood at an L.A. event for the unveiling of Microsoft's new Xbox console.
AP

To muscle Xbox into contention, Microsoft has absorbed about $2 billion in losses the past four years. Now the software giant is making a bold move to jump ahead of Sony by initiating the next cycle of gaming consoles.

On Thursday night, actor Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings fame will host a celebrity-packed MTV special at which Wood is expected to unveil the all-new Xbox. Widely expected to be called the Xbox 360, it should hit store shelves in time for Christmas.

But much more than dominance of the game-console business is at stake. Whoever sells the most consoles in this cycle could also lock up prime access to the burgeoning digital entertainment market.

Microsoft has been on a three-year mission to ingrain Windows Media Center PCs as the nerve center for digital entertainment. And it is maneuvering the new Xbox to be a linchpin in helping consumers manage music and movie files stored on a PC in the den." (more)