The Power Review

No More Excuses: XBox 360’s Lack of Browser

Xbox Live is touted as the premiere online experience on consoles, and understandably so.  This service has had a year headstart on both the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3.  They offer services that are unparalleled by either of their competitors, thus are able to charge a premium for access to such exclusive offerings.  However, despite all of this, there is still one key essential that the XBox Live Experience is missing: a browser!

One would think that it would be easy to implement Microsoft’s proprietary browser (IE) onto their own company’s console.  The architecture is even similar to a standard windows based PC, so… What is the holdup?  Especially since both the PS3, and the “kid friendly” Wii have a browser, why wouldn’t this be offered on the 360?  There are a couple of different theories as to why this is:

1)      Offering a browser on the console would make the system more susceptible to piracy and homebrews.

-          This argument is absurd, because the 360 is already the most pirated console of this generation.  Hackers have already found out how to easily break into the system and bypass the lack of browser.  They’re only hurting the people who own their console and are “playing by the rules”.

2)      Offering unrestricted internet access from the console would allow their users to browse offensive or pornographic websites, and this could potentially damage the reputation of Microsoft as a company?

-          Once again, this argument is ridiculous.  The Nintendo Wii offers internet!!!  If anyone has to worry about offending their target audience it would be them, as they are perceived to be the most family friendly of all of the consoles.

The only reason that would remotely make sense would be that Microsoft doesn’t want their hardware to be infiltrated by viruses.  Since the architecture is so similar to Windows, it would make sense that viruses would be able to seemingly make a pretty smooth transition onto the 360’s operating system.  However, this is unproven and only speculation.

While the other two consoles are offering this very useful feature, (ability to watch Hulu.com, Youtube.com, etc) Microsoft, the first console to be released this generation is seemingly lagging behind.  If the 360 didn’t implement a browser in their next season firmware update, I believe the entire world would be in shock.  Microsoft, get your head out of the sand and listen to what your customers want.  This would only give them more of a reason to be on your console for longer, and would transition the 360 to potentially be a better media center than the PS3.