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Xbox Losses Double, Xbox Shrinks
seldo writes "According to ITWorld, losses in the last quarter at Microsoft's Home and Entertainment segment have doubled. From the article: 'The segment, which also includes Microsoft's TV platform and PC games, posted a quarterly operating loss of US$348 million, compared with $180 million in the same period a year ago.'" An anonymous reader
points to similar coverage at news.com, pointing out that the company also reports "profits for Office, and one small note about an undisclosed presumably Japanese company that Microsoft if propping up. So, the big question on my mind is, who is Microsoft secretly holding above water, and why? The fact that they are presumably Japanese, seems to point towards an XBox partner. Could this explain the sudden flood of Sega exclusive games?" Another anonymous reader writes "Microsoft will be showing a smaller sized Xbox at E3 this May. In addition to the smaller size of the hardware, the Xbox Lite will also be integrated with Media2Go allowing Xbox users to download digital content such as music and movies. Wonder what this means for all the current Xbox Mod Chips?"
I wonder just exactly what the content and delivery methods for media to the xbox will be? Surely it will contain the DRM tools that Microsoft is so proud of. Will you just be able to download pre-approved things from xbox live connection, or will you be able to share on a home network?
Make the mod chips legal ..the linux users will buy the boxes by the hordes! :)
Don't Tread on OpenSource
Sega's not making exclusives only for the XBox. Monkey Ball, anyone? Both were exclusive to the Gamecube, and big sellers also. Interesting that the company would choose to make exclusive titles for separate systems.
And I so wish they had released Jey Set Radio Future non-exclusively, as I would have so bought that for my Cube already.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
The thing that I've noticed with the XBOX games is the lack of replay value. Buffy game - great for about 7-8 hours, then once it's beaten, it's done. Halo -great game, but you're tired of it after a little while. Etc, etc... The X box live has been a huge disappointment for myself personally, anytime it's been used it's been without the sound, due to the number of 12 year olds who think they're Eminem... 2 cents...
OK, M$ was NEVER going to profit from xbox sales without getting the cost of the box itself down to either lower their loss on each box, or maybe show a profit (don't know exactly which point they're at right now). What's curious is that even though their using "commodity" parts, it has taken them this long to get the thing shrunk. You would think that with all the resources of the various portable manufacturers, they'd be able to tap into a lot of talent when it comes to making smaller/more compact packages. Heck, it's not like the things bleeding edge hardware wise, cooling should not be an issue, and performance isn't (as far as needing to increase it), so why has it taken SOOOOOO long to come up with a smaller cheaper (for M$) xbox? This is a critical time for xbox, it has to wait the entire year before the next holiday rush. In the meantime Sony will be starting to get the PS3 marketing machine into gear, so this smaller xbox is going to have to pull it's own thru this tough period. If it makes it to xmas, M$ is either going to have to rev the hardware again (smaller and faster/better) or pray that next xmas's sales are spectacular, or xbox won't live too much beyond '04.
What Sega is doing is more like aiming their titles at the core audience of the respective consoles.
Sonic, Monkeyball, and the like make sense on the Gamecube.
Panzer Dragoon sOrta on the XBox makes sense.
Shinobi on the PS2 makes a whole lot of sense, though I wish they had made that one cross-platform in the same way they did some of their other titles.
I want NiGHTS on the Cube. That's all I can say.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
The version 1.1 XBOX that started shipping in September of 2002 was hacked in about 1-2 weeks. This means that unless MSFT has really upped the ante with security, it will be more of a fun challenge to the MOD community, rather than a deterrent.
It's been 6 months since they've changed anything significant on the XBOX, so I'm sure the MOD community is waiting for a new challenge.
This could actually be a good thing for two reasons:
1) Game makers would make games that are actually worth playing. Nothing's worse than shelling out $50 for a stinker and being stuck with selling it back as a used game for $15 if you;re lucky.
2) Making games with longer playing times and/or high replayability. As you said, a 20 hour game can be beaten easily within a rental period. This is not so with longer, more involved games that have a lot of hidden content in addition to the main story, such as Grand Theft Auto. (Companies like Gamefly.com that offer unlimited game rentals for $20 a month change that argument though, it's still cheaper to rent two games and keep them for 2 months than it is to buy both and then resell them)
I dont see Blockbuster putting anyone out of business until they can a) offer a monthly unlimited rental plan and b) keep games that are actually worth playing in stock. (And don't forget that there are like 2000+ blockbuster stores un the US, with each of them buying 50-90% of the games for every available console...that's a pretty good subsidy, many of those games are awful and wouldn't have sold near that many copies)
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imagine... imagine. Let me explain in clear terms. I worked in the game industry for 6 years, during the 3dO times, for example.
There is NO DOUBT. The industry thinks that desktops are not the true consumer device and suspect they never will be! The true consumer general purpose computer is expected to be a console, it has to look right for the Stereo/VCR rack, it probably can't have a keyboard shipped with it because people fear the keyboard, but it will probably have to have a way to sneak one on (USB, etc).
This is strongly believed and the only question is When, and What Price Point Wins. 3DO was an early bet, proven too early.
Anyway, there is NO doubt (in my mind at least), that the Xbox is a specific attempt to use the Wintel platform to fill that imagined role as the ubiquitous "general" computer. It's also an attempt to own this platform, which so far they have just taken part in (a major, but not controlling, part), that is to de-commodotize it.
Further, it's the smartest thing about the Xbox. Having to enter through the gaming industry is rough, however, very rough. It might have been easier to just sell the Xbox as a cheap PC to begin with...?
-pyrrho