I was sitting cross-legged in a sunlit field (as represented by an empty patch of ground on the coast north of Anvil) contemplating the work of ancient Chinese warmasters (and waiting out the last few in-game minutes for Adrenalin Rush to recharge) when my buddy Nav sent me the kind of message he knew would snap me from my reflections.

It was a link to the kind of gaming news that I routinely miss. This piece from CNN.com (of all places) raised my hackles as planned. The upcoming High Definition DVD format war is coming to our backyards, and it’s a battle for the most ancient and valuable of prizes: real estate.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) — Microsoft Corp. is introducing an external high-definition DVD player for the Xbox 360 video game console to match the Blu-ray disc functions of Sony Corp.’s upcoming PlayStation 3.

That’s right my loyal Riders, the Xbox is getting even bigger.

Historically most gaming systems were relatively compact, no larger then a standard VCR and until recently the size of a system wasn’t even a factor in its purchase. Microsoft (all of its corporate, political, technological, social and international problems aside) made a decent gaming system in the original X-Box. In fact, the most common complaint of the casual gamer (and the entire nation of Japan) concerning the X-Box was its massive size. The 360, while not as big, it still not the kind of thing you’d want coming down on you from a great height, and that’s not counting the largest AC adaptor forged by man. But there was a reason that Sun Tzu said: Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

I’m ashamed I didn’t see it at the start. When I hooked my original X-box in yonder dark days past, I had to remove my DVD player to let the massive device fit under my then modest monitor. How lucky I was that it has a DVD player built into it! All I needed was a forty dollar adaptor! How convenient! (But since I already had a PS2, I didn’t need a THIRD DVD player in my house anyway). Why, the X-Box could become my Total Entertainment Solution(tm) solely by physically pushing everything else off of my shelves into a heap of gray plastic and RCA cords!

The upcoming HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray format war will draw sharper battle lines than any other console conflict in history. It will not only draw a line across your wallet, but across your living room. If you choose poorly, your new next-gen system might become all or in part as obsolete as BETAMAX or Crystal Pepsi, leaving you with a $400+ paperweight holding your TV stand down.

So be prepared, this is a battle in which half of the participants will lose. For Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. The combatants are not Microsoft and Sony, just you and misjudgment.

This is my stop.

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Comments? Questions? E-mail me at seth410@gamertransit.com. Complaints? If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
Back of the Bus is © 2006 by Seth “4:10” Robison, used with exclusive permission by gamertransit.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.