SE2 Labs Builds a Wii60

Last night at the Digital Life Holiday Press Event, SE2 Labs showed off a configuration of their ITC One that has an integrated Xbox 360 and a Wii. The Frankenstein Monstrosity of home entertainment is meant to be a one piece system that contains everything your home theater needs: Audio equipment, HDTV receiver, HD-DVD Player, DVR, an iPod dock, and lastly but most importantly, gaming consoles. Just add a television and you're good to go. If you can afford a TV after dropping TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ON THIS BEAST.

Hit the jump for a rundown of a few problems that keep this thing from being truly droolworthy, followed by some hardware porn...

Problem 1: There is an inflexible two drive bay rule on this thing. One of them has to be a 360, and the other one can either be a Wii or an HD-DVD drive. As you may have guessed, the HD-DVD player is the 360 add-on drive, so if Wii + HD-DVD or Wii60 + HD-DVD is your dream, you're SOL.

Problem 2: They've done a good job of completely deconstructing the 360 and relocating its various ports and jacks around the front and back of the unit, but the Wii is left intact and therefore if you can't see it you can't get to it. Meaning: No GameCube controller ports or memory card ports, and no USB ports. They are using a wireless sensor bar that the President of the company insisted was first party Nintendo. I think the difference in our income levels was significant enough for him to realize he needn't listen to my assurances that no such thing exists.

Problem 3: As much as they try to make this thing look small in the pictures, it is HUGE. And not very attractive.

Problem 4: You know how I mentioned it was $20k? Well, that's for the stripped down cheapest configuration. That's right, these puppies are $20k AND UP.

In the interest of fairness, there are some good things about the ITC One. The cooling is supposedly much better for the 360 than the original box, and allegedly quieter as well. So it could cut down on the red ring of death, and not just because there is no light ring on this thing. Also, there is a button on it that will make your remote beep wherever it is. Which is the most obvious feature to be missing from home entertainment since the remote was invented.