What would a die-hard Nintendo purist want with Microsoft's Xbox? How about every original NES game ever made? Or perhaps, a nice stock of SNES and N64 games as well. Not to mention an upgradeable hard drive where you can stash movies, pictures, games, or any other kind of media you can think of.

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For me, the Gamecube was a dream come true. Nintendo has worked hard on gaming technology, and they’ve cornered the market on some of the most popular gaming characters, scenarios, and ideas spanning from Zelda and Mario to Metroid and Donkey Kong. But they’re a gaming company with a singular purpose. Microsoft has the ability to take a game system to a completely new level of technological advancement. Nintendo may have all the games at the moment, but Microsoft has the hardware to make the most advanced computer hybrid gaming system. Many, like myself, have never taken into consideration the true potential of Microsoft’s Xbox. As a simplified gaming PC, you can turn your Xbox into a central media entertainment device. Being that the Xbox is simply a stripped down PC in a box, with a few simple modifications, you can load up tons of video games (including your Xbox games and ROMs from past generations) as well as divx encoded movies, digital pictures, or even the dark gothic porn you may have stashed away in some hidden folder labeled “Easter Bunny.” Xbox is expandable, and anyone with the technical capability is already taking advantage.

How is this all possible? It’s relatively complicated, but the good news is that xbox-scene.com has complete tutorials to help you hack your unit. While some methods require you to purchase a mod chip, break open the case (voiding the warranty), and even do some soldering, the easiest way is with “Action Replay,” a USB Xbox card reader that plugs right into your computer. You’ll also need one of two games to accomplish your hack; either 007: Agent Under Fire or MechAssault. You’ll probably only use the game and card reader once for the hack, but boy is it worth it. Any halfway motivated gamer could tackle this daunting task, but upgrading the standard 8GB hard drive to a media centric 200GB HD would require a bit more work and of course a voided warranty. If you buy a new Xbox, the Action Replay, and 007, it’ll cost you less than $200 before any taxes or shipping. Money notwithstanding, the end result is everything you could want in a box attached to your TV.

Once you’ve modified the system, you can join the HackedX community. There are thousands of people trading and developing custom skins, multi-layered Operating Systems and the ROM Emulators that we have come to love on the PC platform. The emulators are probably the coolest benefit from the hack, as you can store every game ever created for the NES, Genesis, Super Nintendo, Playstation and many more in a tiny fraction of your hard drive space. Imagine having the ability to play Legend of Zelda 2 from the NES, then switch to NBA Jam from the Playstation, and play Halo right after that without switching wires, discs or even controllers!

There was some recent speculation about Nintendo and Microsoft cutting a deal to close down the technology gap. An August 4th, 2004 article released on CNN cites Bill Gates as claiming to be personally interested in talking with Nintendo’s former president and most influential shareholder, Hiroshi Yamauchi in search of common ground. Yamauchi does seem to want the call though as he’s busy pursuing his own set of goals with the Nintendo trademark.

Sony, so often the red-headed step-child of the gaming world, deserves some love too, however, as the Playstation 2 is sort of hackable. With the ability to download PS2 games online or copy rentals to disc, you can hack the PS2 for cheap gaming and media, but it’s not quite the same as having a hard drive with a complete gaming and media library. You also need a little tool to loosen the disc holder so you can pull out a game without the PS2 knowing that it’s open. That’s a step in the process that I’m not too fond of. Give it some time though, I’m sure the hacker elite are hard at work tweaking the PS2 for future glory.

But it’s Xbox’s hack-friendly hardware that is unequivocally the revolutionary first step in completely bridging the gap between computers and home entertainment. Eventually, a subsequent version of the Xbox will be all you need for games, movies, pictures, and music (The current version does all that on its own, but the addition of storage and a customizable OS is the key that the hackers have cracked before Microsoft could). Well, that and a television, but it can’t belong before they include that as well. Keep your eye on the Xbox, and consider what it can do for you.