Xbox 360 is now officially launched but in insufficient numbers to satisfy demand. Some believe this is a ploy to create an impression of a “must have” item and generate extra demand.

The new consoles, which not only serve up games but can play music, display photos and show DVDs, are the centrepiece of a strategy that will eventually involve Microsoft’s new online services hub, Windows Live, Chairman Bill Gates has said. “In the living room itself, Xbox 360 is our centrepiece and a product that redefines what goes on there.”

Gates said on Monday that he expects Xbox Live, Microsoft’s service that links gamers worldwide, to eventually work with Windows instant messenger, soon to be part of Windows Live.

SeattlePi.com reports : “Analyst Rob Enderle said the move to more closely link Xbox Live with Windows Live intends to bolster loyalty to Microsoft products. Microsoft ‘can tie that stuff together so that you as a customer become wedded to the Microsoft platform for everything you do,’ he said. Microsoft ~ and Gates in particular ~ have long touted the idea of the high-tech living room and den, but the concept is still too geeky for most people.”

The use of Xbox 360 as a Media Center extender is a grandiose attempt to link all sources of entertainment in a house and control them from a single remote. Jupiter Research, however, says that WiFi connections don’t work and only a high-end ethernet link will do. Despite Chris Anderson talking it up as as a player in his “Long Tail” scenario, some analysts believe this will not be its main selling point. Gamers will still call the tune, even if iTunes are not yet signed up.

Nowadays, of course, everything is in beta and part of a wider, developing strategy. The firment draws in revenues and ties buyers into future developments. Microsoft’s press release burbles about “midnight madness frenzy” and of “droves” of gamers trecking across California’s Mojave Desert to an “Xbox 360 oasis”.

Meanwhile, the shortages persist. One savvy gamer said the only way to get one before Christmas “is to go to Japan”.