Sporting DVD, Internet access and amazing 3D graphics, the latest games consoles have everyones attention. David Hellaby reports from E3 in Los Angeles.
When is a machine that runs on Windows and comes with a 733MHz Pentium III processor, 64Mb of RAM, an 8Gb hard disk and a 300MHz nVidia graphics processor not a PC? When it is a video games console, or more precisely, when its Microsofts new X-Box.
If you cant tell the difference based on specifications, dont worry. Thousands of gamers and game developers at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, were struggling with the same problem. This years E3 heralded the arrival of the third generation of videogame consoles and the rapid convergence of consoles, PCs and DVD movie players.
While the X-Box may have been the most blatant hybrid, the other new generation consoles also blurred the boundaries between what has traditionally been a video games machine and the more powerful - and more expensive - desktop computer.
Even though Sony is more synonymous with
video games than personal computers, its new PlayStation 2 now has many of the attributes you would more commonly find on a PC, and Segas Dreamcast is a similar hybrid, right down to the Windows operating system.
This years E3 also showed for the first time that online gaming via consoles was more than just a distant idea while the DVD movie industry found a soul mate in the PlayStation 2; meanwhile the PC games industry lost further ground as the new consoles showed they could match almost anything a computer could do - and they could do it online.
A surprise player
Enter X-Box
Playstation2 in the flesh
Nintendo play catches up
Dreamcast alive and kicking
The next generation