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Xbox Price Drops For Australia And Europe
wallitron writes: "Due to slow sales in Australia, Microsoft is looking to drop the price of it's XBox to $399 (around $200US). With a fast CPU, wizzy graphics card, ethernet, DVD and TV out, it would be a handy thing in the living room if it ran a real OS. At that price it seems good value. Check out the article on the price drop." There are price drops in Europe, too.
in terms of software, etc...
Of course, Australia uses PAL, but is that what the XBOX uses as well (most TVs in Australia can display NTSC as well.) maybe I should just import one from Australia.
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Could the future bode ill for our intrepid heroes?
I dont believe they were complaining that it wouldnt run Linux, they were saying that it would be a "killer app" so to speak if it HAD an OS; with it there would be no other computer equipment needed for a family-solution. Don't be so quick to flame. ;)
I thought I read that you can't dump a product on market in EU. That is, they can't sell it for less than the manufacturing costs. Apparently Xbox had at least an extra 100 on the price. For the new cost (299) it'd be almost worth it just for a DVD player.
you forgot the 10 gig hard disk, dvd rom, ethernet controller and 256 channel dolby capable soround sound.
2 sacks of pocket change should cover it.
> it would be a handy thing in the living room if it ran a real OS.
Why would it matter what OS it runs? If it used Linux instead, it wouldn't suddenly have more functionality. It wouldn't suddenly have the ability to open your curtains or turn on your coffee machine. It already does what it's supposed to do: play games.
No console game player should ever care what OS their game system uses.
(I wonder if the Indrema never came to light because they expected gamers to manually mount the DVD drive before playing each game.)
I attempted to play Tux Racer and I got bored pretty quickly. I got through maybe one full hour of gameplay and didn't even make the cut to get an icon in my gnome panel.
Now, I have SSX Tricky for PS2 and thought it would in no way inspire me but I became addicted because of the great soundtrack, the hidden courses, the various players with different physics depending on board, etc... If Linux advocates *insist* on claiming that Tux Racer is on par with games that could be obtained via the consoles then they're smoking some of that Hawaiian shit that my friends have all supposedly sampled with their girlfriends in Canada.
The best way to advocate Linux is to say, "This is what it's capable of..." but if you put Tux Racer into the hands of a 19 year old telling them, "don't look at the EVIL Microsoft Borg-ware, look at this great game!" then you, my friend, are soon to be extint.
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- Michael Sims2 extra games are worthless?
Why did you buy a console then?
OK now, cut that out. April 1st was a few weeks ago. I get the feeling, however, that you aren't joking.
These products serve vastly different markets. Putting a keyboard and mouse on an XBox does NOT make it nearly as versatile as a PC. Set top boxes have tried that several times and failed. Why?
Where's my XBox? In the living room.
Where's my PC? In my office.
When I'm surfing the web or writing an email on my XBox, nobody else can watch TV.
I also don't have as much privacy, and I don't have anywhere convenient to put the mouse or keyboard.
Get it?
"Scientists prove we were never here."
-- Devo
Which is pretty crazy considering that PAL actually gives you a better picture than NTSC.
Microsoft - Where would you like to go today, Maybe Jail?
How can you be bound by a EULA at the time you buy something? (I'm honestly just curious. It would seem that the EULA could have no effect on where you buy something, because you hadn't agreed to it at that point. Am I wrong?)
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Hoorays for lowering the price of the Xbox unit itself, but what about the games? As a PC gamer enthusiast, the relatively high price of Xbox games at around 100 euros makes me think twice before buying this...thing into my living room. Sure, it's also a DVD player, but most of all, it's a game console, obviously.
I mean, what fun is it, if I have to think about my budget for the whole month when buying a game? I don't want my game buying decision to be a well-thought, rational financial decision, but instead I just want to think whether this game will be entertaining me enough in order to justify the amount of money I'm giving away for it.
The high price of the games takes that fun away, and atleast for me, the Xbox remains on the shelf at the local store, waiting for those game prices to come down.
And really, don't start with that piracy thing and how it really justifies the high price. It doesn't.
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Zarathustra.fi
Modern man has no goal, no aim, no ideals.
To save your $100 youd have to get around region coded games, incompatable tv color standards, different voltage, lack of locally redemable warranty and the cost of international shipping.
Actually why don't you go ahead and do that. It sounds like the smartest thing you'll ever do in your life, you damn karma whore.
_________________
EBAY SAFETY TIPZ!
It will be interesting to see what Sony does in response. It's seems clear that they will drop prices in response but the question is how much. The way I see it Sony basically has 2 options. First they can drop their price a bit. Keep their profit margins and try and wait it out hoping the X-box doesn't get too big. Or they can respond with their one big price cut and try and hurt MS bad enough to force them out of the market for good. If Sony is able to force MS out of the consol market that is a huge boon for them because that destroys their major competition, right now Sony is very established in that market and I dno't see them giving any ground without a big fight. MS on the other hand has a lot of cash in the bank (I heard someone say it could run for another 10 years without another dime of revenue?!?) and they have a lot of other interests involved with the sucess of X-box (MS in the living room), it will be interesting to see how far MS decides to stick it out. I think the question is how far will this price war go, I can't see MS dropping the price much more but they are ruthless. If Sony doesn't do something big I think X-box is here to stay, MS ain't cashing in their chips at this point and there will be some very heavy competion in the consol market. It will be very interesting to see what kind of response Sony makes to this price cut. We could end up with anything from a Sony-MS split in consols to a corporate game of chicken.
I stole this Sig
How come sony dropping the price to edge out microsoft is a huge boon, but microsoft dropping them to beat sony is them being ruthless? You see this constantly on slashdot. Sure MS dont stick to standards, dont have the most superior product, etc etc. In the end though their loyalties lie not to "the industry" but to the share holders. I dont think at any stage microsoft should be sitting back going "what is the best thing I can do for the IT world today? oh not release a new OS because this one is just dandy!" they should be going "get a new OS out faster, we need to keep our share holders happy". Yes it's not ideal, but it's simply intelligent business practice and they deserve every cent they can squeeze out of people. Nobody has any right to complain, we drive the market. Dont like the product, dont buy it. If it's a success, bad luck you were in the minority. Want to do something about it? All the whining flaming trolls on here who hate MS should buy up as many shares as they can and influence the direction of the company. I sincerly doubt many of you would maintain your stance were the outcome going to affect your own back pocket* *please dont take as a dig to the initial poster, just a criticism of the ever increase MS hate fud on slashdot of late.
Glenn
The Smrt way to trade CFDs on the ASX
You are really sad.
Yeah I know this is a geek-oriented site but - for the love of Jehovah or whoever - quit bitching about MS. They came up with a great product at a cheap price that is now even cheaper.
If any multi-millionaire was as grim as you are and actually bought all these X-Boxen they'd be idiots. I'd rather they gave the money to charity rather than spend it on a beef with BillG.
And who mentioned Tux-Racer? Listen, I love the idea of Linux as much as the next geek but how *average* is that game? And thats the best they can come up with?
Grow up guys!(you are all guys, aren't you??)
- seany.
Sure. So will you. They'll lose even more if you don't buy it at all, and you'll keep your money in your own pocket.
Funny huh, how that works out.
"Killer app" means "killer application," which in turn implies some use of a technology that is desired by a lot of people, and not easily satisfiable otherwise. Even if you did install a general-purpose OS on your video game console and hooked it up to a TV, what do you have? Pretty much just a PC hooked up to a TV, which in itself is not all that exciting; it certainly doesn't demonstrate a "killer app." TiVo has a killer app, IMO, but the important part there is the monthly directory service and the software interface.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Clearly the Xbox is not doing so hot. Mindshare reigns supreme in such things. From my own (long, sordid, embarrasing) experience with console gaming, all it takes is for gamers to start with the 'ConsoleX is dead' talk. Which is infuriating from a certain point of view (just ask a DreamCast owner), but that's the way things go. The game market is like the stock market - perception is everything.
So now we have MS losing over $100 US on ever Xbox, and Sony has announced PS2 on a chip, which will significantly, drive the cost down. This has got to drive MS nuts, as they're not used to competing on these terms (i.e. brutally efficient hardware manufacturing. Really, who wants to compete with the Japanese here.) They know they need control of the living room. It's the beachhead for the next battle. And Sony is entrenched like a mntherfncker.
Didn't Microsoft's slogan used to be "a computer on every desk and in every home in America", or something to that effect? Always thought that was odd for a software company... well, before they started putting their OS into phones, consoles, and Things With Buttons.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
One thing I find interesting is that I've repeatedly heard the argument that Microsoft can just throw money at XBox until it succeeds. The whole first-iteration-sucks but the third-one-will-be-good thing Microsoft is famous for.
I don't buy it.
The XBox looks likely to fail. It's getting its ass whipped everywhere but America, and even here the GameCube has started to outsell it despite no strong releases on the GameCube side. When Resident Evil, Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Eternal Darkness, and Star Fox Adventures hit the GameCube (supposedly all this year), Microsoft will need to have some damned strong support on their side to survive just in North America. And, barring some big surprises being revealed at E3, it doesn't look like they have too many great games coming, at least not that will stand up to Zelda and Mario. In any case, no matter how they do here, I think it's very likely that Japan, Europe, and Australia are lost causes.
Suppose they do fail utterly -- they have to discontinue the XBox because people aren't buying it. Now, this is Microsoft, so of course they go back to the drawing board and release the even-more-powerful XBox 2. Twice as powerful as the Playstation 3, say, and a bit cheaper. Sounds great, right? Microsoft can just keep shoveling these things into the market until one of them sticks, the same way they've done with everything else.
Well, no. Firstly, Microsoft's first-party games won't support the XBox 2 by itself. Nintendo is the only game company in the world that can pull that trick off. So the XBox 2 will need third-party support in order to have any games at all, and without games nobody will buy the system, no matter how powerful it is.
Even after the XBox failure, many PC game companies might be willing to port their stuff to the XBox 2 for a quick buck. But can you imagine *anybody* developing exclusive software for the XBox 2, after the complete and utter failure of the XBox? Well, it's not impossible, but the XBox 2 would have to have a lot going for it in order to attract any third-party game companies. The Japanese third-parties, in particular, would be unlikely to touch the thing after the obvious failure of the first. They're leery enough dealing with the first one, and only tremendous work on Microsoft's part got any Japanese support at all.
I'm well aware that Microsoft has deep pockets and can afford to buy game companies outright in order to force them to develop for the XBox 2 -- but that's not the point. They've already bought Bungie, and shovelled money at others, and it doesn't seem to be making a hell of a lot of difference. They need to fix the problem *now*, or it will be far, far more expensive to try to salvage the XBox 2. Microsoft isn't stupid -- they are perfectly well aware that unless they succeed now, it will be *really* expensive to try to make a comeback.
In my view, if the XBox fails, it's all over for Microsoft's game console business. It will be really tough to buy back consumer and third-party confidence after the fiasco that looks to be shaping up.
ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
It seems to me that most of these comments are coming from people that don't even own an X-Box.
/. and sourceforge tomorrow, no strings attached, that most everyone here would be in an uproar. It's a damn shame that no one can see the bigger picture here. I'm happy that a US company has the edge over the others. The strength of MS is a piece of what makes the US a superpower. It's funny, the death of the US is going to be the fact that we are slowly cutting our legs out from under us. Senator Disney and all this MS hate make me sick. Wake up kids, if it keeps up, China will rule the world.
Fact:
Xbox has superior graphics
Xbox has just as many good launch titles as PS2 did. PS2 had SSX and not much else. Xbox has Halo.
Everyone just jumps to hate MS for everything they do. I'm sure that if MS decided to give $1B to
I've read many allusions to this all over the web and I have one question: What the h3ll are you talking about?
It's a GAME CONSOLE! Here's what you do with it: 1) plug it in, 2) turn it on, 3) insert a game disk and 4) start playing.
Exactly what is it that you want to do with this thing that requires a 'real OS'? If your answer goes beyond steps 1 through 4 above then I think you're a bit confused; you don't want a game console, you want something else entirely. It's called a computer.