"I really do think that the Gamecube fad will die down shortly after next year. The Xbox will start demonstrating it's graphical prowess while the Gamecube is said to be operating at 90-95% efficiency... not much room for improvement. If the Xbox already beats the GC with rumoured 50% efficiency, it won't be long before the Xbox starts handing the GC it's boodie on a platter."
Efficientcy does not mean load. The Xbox will never be that efficient, it might get up to 80%. Right now the GC is no where near a fully load on the CPU or Flipper.
"I am honestly not impressed at all from anything I've seen on the GC. The textures just plain suck, and I won't even get into the backgrounds, or lack thereof. Meanwhile, the Xbox is strutting HUGE outdoor inviroments where tons of stuff is going on, all with awesome textures."
Backgrounds look like crap my ass. If you look closely in SSB2 every thing in the background is fully rendered in 3d. Nothing comes close to RS2.
Have you even seen the GC E3 Vids?
As for DVD playback, wait 5 months and get the Panasonic GC/DVD player. It should cost around the same price as the Xbox, has a silver metalic finish, DD and DTS decoding, and an LCD screen. 😉