您正在看的时事英语是:英语新闻导读 2004.3.24。

Game Wars 2: Battle for the Living Room
游戏大战硝烟渐浓　家庭游戏成主角

By JOHN MARKOFF

(中文大意)

　　消费电子及个人计算机行业正在朝着融为一体的目标前进，其中微软与索尼之间的竞争更是日趋激烈，因为两家视频游戏机厂商均想成为家庭电子娱乐行业的霸主。微软在研发软件及微处理器方面在过去20多年一直与英特尔合作，在其首款Xbox游戏机上，微软选择了英特尔的处理器，但在研发新一代Xbox时，微软却转向了IBM，计划使用IBM的Power微处理器。

　　尽管微软双面下注，但这并不意味着微软就将成为龙头老大，因为在游戏机市场上，微软仍然远远落后于索尼。在索尼负责研发PlayStation的Ken Kutaragi已经被任命为执行副总裁，这让投资者相信该公司致力于延续其在游戏机市场上的优势。

　　本周，1万多家游戏软件研发商将在加利福尼亚州参加年度游戏研发商论坛，届时，家庭游戏及计算机行业的发展前景将变得更加明朗。预计索尼和微软为了吸引研发商将双双采取更多的行动。不过，现在对于视频游戏行业而言是一个极具挑战性的时刻，因为索尼和微软均未做好推出新一代游戏机的准备，PlayStation 3和Xbox 2预计最早也要到2005年晚些时候才能面市。

　　在这种情况下，游戏机和游戏软件最近的销售一直持平。市场研究公司NPD Group今年1月份表示，去年游戏机销售额下降了2.7%，降为100亿美元。

　　索尼和微软正在考虑在新一代游戏机当中增加多少互动媒体及数字视频录像功能，而且还不能让游戏机变得过于复杂或是导致售价超过大多数用户的期望值。如果索尼和微软未获成功，一些分析人士称，那将为英特尔打开一扇大门，英特尔正在试图使PC成为家庭多媒体娱乐系统的中心。与此同时，IBM则希望能够借着与索尼和微软的良好关系提供相关的在线游戏软件和硬件产品。

The consumer electronics and personal computing industries are supposedly rushing toward a grand digital convergence.

Maybe it is actually a divergence.

Even as the Intel Corporation and the Microsoft Corporation, whose chairman is Bill Gates, are pushing a digital future in which they hope that the personal computer will be the hub for a variety of home entertainment devices, the computer game industry is pointing to a fundamental flaw in that vision: game software has largely driven PC growth among consumers.

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"This kind of thing drives me crazy,'' said Alex St. John, the founder of a game software publisher, WildTangent Inc. He challenged Intel at a recent industry forum on the digital home, arguing that personal computer makers are about to lose out to the video game industry, which is waiting on a new generation of game consoles that also aspire to be home digital media hubs.

"If the game console makers want to own the living room,'' Mr. St. John said in a subsequent telephone interview, "they're in a better position to own it than Intel.''

Intel executives responded at the meeting and said they felt there was a market for interactive television in the home.

Microsoft is in a different position, having hedged its bets by continuing its two-decade-old alliance with Intel in producing software and microprocessors for PC's while turning to I.B.M. to develop the chip for its next-generation Xbox game player. In its first Xbox, Microsoft chose an Intel processor, but it plans to use a version of I.B.M.'s Power microprocessor family in future versions.

The decision was a coup for I.B.M., which already had commitments from the Sony Corporation and the Nintendo Company, the other makers of game players.

Still, Microsoft is not necessarily in the driver's seat, either, since it is far behind Sony in the game player market. At Sony, Ken Kutaragi, the person widely credited with the creation of t