This week marks a national holiday, as many of us know. But while a majority of families nationwide will be diving face first into turkey and stuffing, a large number of gamers will be too busy playing their new Xbox 360s to care about food — much less rarely seen family members.

Microsoft may very well be undermining the pilgrims this year, taking a lot of media coverage away from the presidential pardon of a turkey (just a bit ridiculous) and putting it on their new baby. But will Microsoft triumph with its new console? Will the company meet the same fate as SEGA's ill-fated Dreamcast, as many seem to think? This week Nerd Alert begins a three-part look at the impending console wars and begin to speculate who will come out on top. As this seems to be Bill Gates' week already, we'll start things rolling with a look at the Xbox 360. Game on.

Ryan:

When Microsoft first entered the console race with the Xbox, I was less than enthusiastic. It seemed like Bill Gates wasn't content with making millions of dollars in the PC world and wanted to take over the video game market as well. My own stubborn nature got in the way of me enjoying what was in all honesty a fairly decent console.

When I finally tried the hulking system, I had a bit of a mixed reaction with what I found. The games were gorgeous, flashy and technologically advanced — but they had no real heart. Aside from a few gems like "Halo" and "Ninja Gaiden," Xbox games felt utterly devoid of anything revolutionary. It was almost like watching fireworks — a lot of bang and flash, but no real substance.

My biggest concern with the 360 is that it will simply be more of the same, with nothing truly noteworthy coming from it. The main problem with the Xbox was that it was lacking in third-party support, much like a certain other gaming giant (cough) Nintendo (cough). With the Xbox 360, Microsoft has said one of its major concerns has been getting Japanese third-party developers excited about working with the new console. They wisely went with a controller than can feasibly be grasped by gamers without freakishly large hands and are engulfing the system with a trendy, hipster edge. The idea of interchangeable faceplates to "pimp your Xbox" is certainly novel, but I don't see that appealing to anyone more than casual gamers who want their consoles to "look pretty."

Sundeep:

While some worry games like "Halo 3" might be the Xbox 360's only real showing of competition, the first set of launch titles are certainly wide in terms of variety. Though many of those games are just your everyday sports or racing games, there are certainly some gems that have already got people itching to go out and buy the new console.

Of those, "Perfect Dark Zero" will be the title to be most successful despite its lack of history with the Xbox ("Perfect Dark" was originally released on Nintendo's N64). Until "Halo 3" makes its appearance, "Zero" will end up being the first-person shooter of choice for Xbox 360 owners. "Zero" won't be the only first-person shooter release, however, since Activision will be releasing the long-awaited "Quake 4."

Racing games will also be stepping it up for the Xbox 360 with several fresh titles aimed to make the genre even more real than in previous additions. Both the sixth installment of "Ridge Racer" and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted" are expected to make good impressions with gamers. "Most Wanted" plays on a line of "Need for Speed" games that began with "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit," pitting racers against cops at every turn in the track.

The Xbox 360 will also host most of the traditional sports games including "FIFA 06: World Cup," "Madden NFL 06," "NBA 2K6" and "NBA Live 06." The games look and feel much like their predecessors with the always-nice upgrade of looks. Gamers won't be disappointed with how well Xbox 360's sports world is coming even closer to the real thing.

Ryan:

Perhaps the biggest draw of the 360 experience is the phenomenal service that is Xbox Live. Microsoft presented perhaps the most streamlined online gaming opportunity yet to be seen on consoles, basically by making it as appealing as possible to gamers.

While it wasn't the trump card of the past console wars, many industry insiders are speculating that online gaming is going to be what makes or breaks this next generation of gaming machines. Sony has remained somewhat vague as to what it has planned for online gaming, but recent reports say that it won't have the beautifully centralized service that Microsoft is touting. There is no doubt in my mind that if the next generation wars hinge in any way on online gaming, Microsoft will trounce both Sony and Nintendo. But "industry insiders" are often wrong — and I have a feeling that although online gaming will certainly take off more than it has up to this point, it won't be the focus of any console. Real gamers want quality titles that present creative new ways to experience video games — playing online is simply not enough. Time will tell if Microsoft's online-centralized tactics will pay off, but this gamer has his doubts. But maybe that's just some leftover stubbornness.

Sundeep:

With Gates and Co. playing on an early release date in hopes to break into the Christmas market, many wonder whether they will be able to steal customers away from both Nintendo and Sony. However, what analysts often miss is how observant gamers are of what's coming out and what's the best of the best.

Regardless of how Microsoft releases the Xbox 360, whether or not it succeeds depends almost entirely on the quality of games that will support it. Of course, there's always graphics, accessibility, controller types and other menial video game specifics, but for the most part if a console does not have the benefit of worthy games than it will fail miserably in the long run.

So far, gamers can only be sure that "Halo 3" (when it is released) will be a sturdy release. Sony, on the other hand, can depend on the "Final Fantasy" series, the new set of "Sonic the Hedgehog" titles, "Metal Gear Solid," "Resident Evil" and "Devil May Cry." Even Nintendo can depend on "Zelda," "Mario Kart," "Super Smash Bros." and "Starfox."

The real secret to Microsoft sticking around in the video game business is going to come down to whether or not games like "Perfect Dark Zero" and "Kameo: Elements of Power" are really going to have to make a name for themselves if Xbox is to survive.

To Microsoft's credit, they are releasing "Halo 3" concurrently with the release of Sony's PlayStation 3. Well played, Mr. Gates.

Ryan ([email protected]) and Sundeep ([email protected]) are hopelessly addicted to video games. Neither of them is overly impressed with the Xbox 360, but both have been proven wrong in the past. Who ever thought that "Ico" would be a good game?