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Microsoft considered giving away the original Xbox away for freeand even buying Nintendoas bold strokes to enter the game console market it would eventually come to dominate, together with Sony.

According to areport by gamesindustry.biz, those were just two of the original crazy ideas the software maker considered as Microsoft weighed the launch of the Xbox, which debuted in 2001. At the time, the hardware market was dominated by the Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation. Microsofts challenge was to lure game developers to its new platform, and convince gamers that some of the best games would be available to the Microsoft platform.

Oddly enough, however, Microsoft thought at the time that Xbox games would be so-called casual titles, rather than the more hardcore first-person shooters, like Halo, that would eventually define the console's success. As we now know, phones became the destination for casual games.

Why this matters:Its always fun to wonder what if? when we get a peek into a companys thinking around a pivotal product. Microsoft was right about needing to lure top-tier game developers to its new consolesomething it could have done a much better job of with Windows Phone, speaking of phones. Microsoft also managed to make a success of Xbox despite having misread its target market initially.

Speaking to Gamesindustry, Oddworld Inhabitants co-founder Lorne Lanning, who created the Abes Oddysee series of games, recalled Microsoft's initial focus on casual gaming. At the time, Xbox thought that the core market was going to be casual, Lanning said.

Part of Microsoft's strategy at the time, apparently, was to find viable competitors to popular proprietary games, like Nintendo's Super Mario franchise. They said we think youve got something that competes in that Mario space and we think Marios the thing to kill," Lanning described.

According to Lanning, it was in the course of those conversations that Microsoft told him it might give away Xboxes for free. Lanning thought it was a great idea.So now youre like, look, if youre going to give the box away, youre going to win. If youre going to win, we want to be on board, Lanning said.

Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley confirmed that to the site, noting that the console (originally called the DirectXBox) should be free, then transition to running Windows over the life of the console. The console would be a Trojan horse for Windows, he claimed.

Blackley even said that Microsoft had to endure bad ideas like buying Nintendo as a way to enter the gaming market.

As it turned out, the Xbox never ran Windows, although the Xbox One has drawn closer to Windows with apps like Internet Explorer, and plans to stream games originating on the Xbox One to Windows 10 machines and vice versa.

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Report: Microsoft thought about giving Xbox away for free

What is the stand your ground law
Cau students discuss what the stand your ground law.

By: Jeremy Ford

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What is the stand your ground law - Video

Second Amendment activists are redefining the public sphere, and with it, American democracy.

Polls show that gun owners cite self-protection as the primary reason they are armed. Their intentions are generally good and admirable. The gun-rights movement has done a great job making the argument for individuals to be armed to protect themselves and their families in their own homes. What if you are faced with a menacing home intruder and police are far away? In that situation, it makes good sense to be armed.

But there is an unfortunate lesson playing out for those who have armed themselves to feel saferand for all of us, too. The gun-rights movement has worked hard to push an increasingly radical agenda that undermines both our personal safety and our civic fabric. To that extent, there is something almost tragic occurring here: The well-meaning citizens who arm themselves in droves, perhaps even in public, are in that very process threatening the peace and order they seek to preserve, and claim to uphold.

Stand Your Ground laws are a prime example. These laws, which the NRA has championed in almost two-dozen states, are a logical extension of gun rights from the private home into the public sphere. What good is it to carry a gun in public if you are not also legally protected when using it in self-defenseor perceived self-defense? How are guns supposed to deter criminals if gun owners are legally hindered from wielding their weapons? Stand Your Ground removes these legal barriers so that people can better protect themselves.

But this also has social consequences. Thanks to Stand Your Ground, citizens must now fear their armed neighbors in addition to prospective criminals. What if someone who spies you walking down the street thinks you look suspicious? What if you become a target for would-be George Zimmermans? Or what if the man you argue with, or potentially insult or offend, even unintentionally, is armed and irascibleand the argument escalates?

The Secret History of Guns

The latter possibility was chillingly illustrated in a movie theater in Tampa last year, when retired police captain Curtis Reeves shot and killed Chad Oulson after the two had argued, and Oulson threw popcorn in Reeves face. Reeves initially invoked Stand Your Ground, claiming he did not know if Oulson meant him bodily harm. Floridas Stand Your Ground law protects gun owners if they so much as sense the threat of bodily harm. In the darkened movie theater, Reeves said he could not tell the nature of his assailants weaponhe didnt know that Oulson was only throwing popcorn. In a Stand Your Ground society, it makes sense to suspect your neighborand fear the worst.

The gun-rights movement claims it is a staunch defender of the peace, contributing to and bolstering law and order. As gun rights are currently advanced, nothing could be further from the truth.

Increasingly, gun-rights advocates like National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre offer dystopian warnings to make their case. In November, LaPierre wrote a letter to NRA membersfittingly entitled Is Chaos at our Door?outlining this vision. [T]he world that surrounds us is growing more dangerous all the time, he warned. Whether its enemy state actors, foreign terrorists, Mexican drug cartels or domestic criminals, the threats Americans face are massiveand growing. He invoked massive terrorist attacks like those in Mumbai in 2008 or Kenya in 2013, hordes of armed and violent gangs that are embedded coast to coast, and an influx of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds. LaPierre complained that the government had detained and then intentionally released 36,000 illegal aliens with criminal records. Where all these released criminals went, he wrote, no one knows. But you can bet on this: Theyre among us, embedded throughout our society. For all you know, you pass them in your car on your way to work.

LaPierres argument for being armed boils down to this: Americans are on the verge ofor already sinking intoa state of anarchy, where it is each man for himself. In that state, the government cantor wontprotect youOnly you can protect you, he warns.

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How Gun Rights Harm the Rule of Law

Possible Search Engine Optimization Scam Call From 206-397-1233
An April from 29 Prime called me to pitch some bullshit that I don #39;t want or need. This call lasted over 26 minutes. I think her supervisor joined the call and argued with me for about 15 minutes....

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Local Website Design and Google Ranking in Greensboro NC (Head On Marketing)
Live in Burlington, Greensboro, Chapel Hill or surrounding areas of North Carolina? Need the best website design for your company or have a great business idea that you need a new website for?...

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