XBox Live

• Games consoles also support distributed play.
• When you guys play, do you ever play on-line?
• Is it better to play games against people, or are the agents sophisticated enough for you?
• I'm not an expert on these things, but I think one of the real wins for XBox was XBox live.
• It was well behind the playstation and now seems at least at par.
• It enabled (enables) people to play a game together.
• This uses a heavy client (the XBox). Still some server-side support is needed.
• Microsoft supports XBox live with a bunch of servers. This has given them an entry into Cloud Computing.
• It has also enabled Microsoft to move into the virtual marketplace, and become less dependent on shrink wrapped software and Windows.