Re: Remember the days when people had opinions..... (My take on 360) - Inc. UGVX Exclusive
- From: "PlusNetNews" <usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 19:57:01 +0100
"Bobby Internet" <bobbyinternet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ddvomp$495$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> I myself am
> guilty of this waste and additionally wasted more bandwidth discussing the
> build up to 360, so now its here what do I think?
>
Do tell us. ;)
> The most important thing Microsoft have done to win my heart today is the
> following...
>
> "VIDEOGAME COMPANY TAKE EUROPE SERIOUSLY SHOCKER"
>
> I have been personally screwed by Sega, Nintendo and Sony by being a
> European gamer for 20 years, what with late or non-existent releases, no
PAL
> optimization and worst of all the imaginary currency conversion rate that
> for some reason equates 1 US Dollar to EXACTLY 1 UK Pound.
>
This is an unexpected bonus, isn't it?
I think it was beyond our wildest hopes having heard the rumoured dollar
price that we'd see price points like this in the UK. Good on 'em.
>
> Hmmm, well, the confusion over the hard drive will NEVER be settled.
> Microsoft have just created a million confused parents, and imagine little
> Johnny's face when his copy of Halo 3 doesn't work because he has not got
a
> Hard Drive to download and store the required xbox live updates.
This, for me is the biggest problem. Either developers aren't going to make
use of it, because it limits their sales opportunities, or there's going to
be a serious proportion of the userbase who can't play a large number of
games. At the minute I can't see it as anything other than a bad business
decision. Let's hope it's not a fatal one.
> Then there is the pricing strategy.
> [snip]
> Once they have found the £209 here is what happens next.
> [snip]
> £352 to buy it separately! And you haven't even got a game yet!
Seriously though, I really can't imagine anyone who actually *really* wants
the HDD and wireless controllers buying the console without them. People
will either wait until they can afford it, or not be bothered about the
extras and stick with the vanilla one, I would guess.
>
> Next, the games. Well those launch titles I published last week aren't
> confirmed by MS themselves (yet) but for arguments sake lets pretend they
> are.
>[snip]
> Now this is a HUGE threat to MS. When Xbox launched the most shocking
> statistic was that the average Xbox owner had 3 or 4 games within a month
of
> buying the system, compared to the industry average of 1 and a half. This
> encouraged developers to get on board as game sales were looking a lot
more
> promising than on rival systems, so should the console to game ratio not
be
> as high on 360 there could be disastrous effects.
>
Thing is, they *had* to have a strong launch line up with the xbox. The PS2
was already in a hugely dominant position, and releasing without a really
good range of titles could have led to them sinking without trace. This time
round they've got backwards compatability (maybe) on their side. Also
they've captured the attention of the 'serious' gamer sufficiently that one
or two killer titles at launch and the promise of more to come ought to be
enough to shift some units. Also, I'd expect to see more titles added to the
officially anounced list as the launch date approachs. Time will tell, I
guess.
> The conclusion?
Getting to market first will make a hell of a difference, I'd have thought.
Don't get me wrong, I still expect more PS3s than 360s to be sold in the
long run, but if MS make the most of the time when they're the only next-gen
console on the market then I expect them to be challenging Sony more closely
than they have so far.
Also I suspect that a lot will hinge on the next gen Live experience. Clever
move, I think, having the 'Silver' membership. I find it hard to believe
that they won't end up turning a huge proportion of Silver memberships into
full price Gold ones. It's a far better way to bring people in than free 3
month trials, etc.
I'm looking forward to it, that's for sure.
I just hope the confusion about the HDD doesn't cost them...
>
> (PS. And to those in the know
> Friends, Romans, Countrymen, this is an affirmative action post)
>
amen.
Chris.
GT: SomethingWitty
.
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