Peter Moore, corporate VP for Microsoft Xbox marketing and game publishing, says the Microsoft Xbox 360 will kick off what we call the HD era, but beating Sony in the console market will not be easy. Xbox 1 was released without a marketing plan, says J Allard of Microsoft, but Microsoft now has an integrated view that, says Todd Holmdahl of Microsoft, that will deliver great game experiences. The background of Xbox development is described, with all its warts, which Microsoft took seriously enough to totally change its strategy. Holmdahl says Microsoft learned that Microsoft has to control its own destiny. Allard built a team in 2002 to look into an integrated approach to design of the next Xbox, and high priorities included such trends as social gaming, personalization, downloading, and increasing demand for high-definition TV. Two hundred pages of documents were created to describe what should be included to provide next-generation performance. The brainstorming was whittled down to only one big idea: living entertainment experiences powered by human energy. Among topics covered are Microsoft partners reactions to the ideas, the plan to make the graphics chip work with IBM's central processing unit, hardware design for the Xbox 360, and prototypes. Holmdahl says Microsoft is confident in its numbers and ability and that barriers have been eliminated from the product. He believes that Xbox 360 has an advantage over the vertical companies, because horizontals can get the best partners in the world.