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Console Pricing Economics
Red Mercury writes "Red Mercury has just released a new installment of Monday Morning CEO. Today's topic: XBox Economics. The article explains some of the myths and realities about game console pricing, how the current price war is playing out, why Sony is winning, and why Microsoft is losing." Interesting piece about all the recent console price cuts.
That's right we're gonna have us a great big roast on the flames of the XBOX funeral pyre? Dance naked round the flames and shit while the XBOXes all go up the fucking chimney. Wanna know why?
1 Millard Fillmore syndrome - we did it that way when he was President and we're not changing now. We know better, even if we don't we'll licence our way to prosperity.
2 The XBOX is not a console - its a computer in a kewl box and no monitor. It's too damn complex no matter how great it works. MS shoulda built a player module for your PC to play the XBOX games on. OR better yet make DirectXBOX-9 or something that shims the games to your high end GAMER PC. Those people will buy a trillion games that you make a few bucks on each copy.
What do "XBox Live Network", "Nintendo Drops GameCube Price to $150" and "Console Pricing Economics" have in common? They're all ways to allow more posts saying "M$ and their suX-box suck!"
I understand your concerns, but the data points you provide arent as scary as they seem.
Lets start with Senator Disney for a sec: The probability that general purpose PCs will be outlawed is surprisingly slim. It was universally turned down not that long ago.
Could MS make a proprietary PC? Oh yeah. So what? I dont think MS could extend their monopoly over to custom hardware.
The reason that Windows is dominant now is that MS has made agreements with lots of PC manufacturers to put Windows on the box. People want PCs, but they are hard pressed to find a PC that doesnt have Windows on it. If MS were to make a proprietary version, though, who would buy it? MS cant force anybody into it no matter what experience they gained from the XBOX.
If Sen Disney's bill passed, then set top boxes would be inevitable. MS wouldnt be the only one to make one. And guess what? They'd have a hard time getting their OS into somebody else's. If Sony, for example, made a set top box to use as a PC, would they go with Windows? Given their history with other companies (Like Nintendo, for example...) Id say that the answer is no. Theyd want to keep all the royalties etc that they'd get from the reasons you mentioned before.
I dont know if Im making my points clear enough. I do think your conerns are valid, but I dont think that itll be as bad as you are imagining.
"Derp de derp."
I don't understand why so many (presumably) Americans are so gleeful at Microsoft's failure in this market. For years Japan has run massive trade surpluses with the USA due to unfair trade practices. One reason the X-Box has failed in Japan is due to their negative opinion of American products, and their inherent nationalism. If it had been even marginally successful there a lot of the pressure would be off of MS right now. I personally would rather see Microsoft have a monopoly on consoles than Sony, as it would benefit American workers as well as shareholders and pension funds.