Slashdot Mirror
3 Million in Xbox 2 Sales At Christmas?
Forbes has a look at the upcoming release of the Xbox 2 console, from Goldman-Sachs. Speculation is put forth on the unit's cost as well as how it might do in sales. From the article: "The research firm, which rates Microsoft at 'outperform,' expects Xbox 2 to be available for retail sale in October or November at a retail price of about $249 to $299."
I know PS3 is coming (maybe this year too) but I expect much of that is because of MS pushing to get XBox 2 out early.
The PS3 is scheduled for a 2006 release.
Despite the fate that hit the consoles trying to launch before Sony (Saturn, Dreamcast) I believe MS is going to take first place with the Xenon. Sony had their two generations on the top now, their policies are starting to piss devs off and the Cell might prove to be a bigger problem for devs than thought to be. MS has the momentum, they are seen as cool by the casual gamer. They are preparing to offer some games that appeal to the japanese customer base.
Historically, noone lasted more than two generations on the top and it was always the newcomer who took the crown. Atari fell after one gen, Nintendo and Sega after two. Analysts are predicting Sony's downfall and the PSP might hurt them.
I, for one, don't welcome our new monopolist console overlords.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
The firm expects Microsoft to ship about 3 million units of the Xbox 2 worldwide in the December quarter.
That's what was said in the article. This means that the quarter can range from NOV to JAN and beyond. So this is not saying that DEC it will sell 3 million units alone but over a 3 month period.
I SERIOUSLY think this is an insane notion but at least they are keeping the price right at $249-299. That's about the breaking point for most consumers nowadays.
Me? I won't buy one until the modders got it and I can pick it up for $150 at the pawn shop where I got my last 3.
Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
Then it just might be possible. I think they have some advanced knowledge of what the next-gen Xbox could come bundled with or some kind of killer app that is going to ship with it. There's gotta be some reason they think MS could move 3 mil units. That's a lot of hardware.
http://tech-hawg.blogspot.com
Nintendo and Sega after two... it was always the newcomer who took the crown.
How do you figure?
Remember that the SNES and the Genesis were in the same console generation. You'd be hard pressed to say that either company "won" that round, and Sega was hardly a newcomer at this point. You can't call Microsoft a newcomer anymore either.
Gamecube launched at $199. And there's speculation that since XBox 2 will have a few variations with respect to included hardware that the lowest end might be a little below the standard price.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
There are 3 companies...Microsoft not being the top player...how can you call them a monopoly? Gaming is becoming more mainstream...the market may be able to handle 3 players now. I think right now is perfect...we have 3 strong competitors which is always a benefit to the consumer. MS is not going to take over this market. They are making a lot of good choices though (like signing Japanese game making companies to make games for them). I am looking forward to all of the next generation consoles. I am not going to buy any of them right when they come out though. Just like the PSP, I am going to give them time to mature and let the price drop. Really, there are still too many quality titles on the "older" gen systems that I need to compete before even thinking of what's next. The only good thing about being older is now I can be patient on these sort of things. As a kid, I needed the next big thing yesterday.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
The longer they waited to launch, the better the launch titles would be, and hardware improvements will mean they could either make the machine better, or reduce their losses for the same spec.
If they do go early, they are trading off just one christmas as the only next-gen console in the shops against 4 years of being the least modern console when the other 2 arrive.
There are only 2 ways this strategy is going to be cost effective:
If they can get a contolling market share over that first holiday season or;
If they have the processor power/locked in developers needed to compete on the quality of games for the next 4 years, or however long this generation lasts, despit the others having more hardweare development time.
Given that Nintendo already tried the second option and pretty much failed to set the world on fire with the Gamecube, and Sega tried the first option with the Dreamcast and got burnt to a crisp, I really don't know what Microsoft are thinking.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Xbox2 strategy was a quick cash-grab before folding the home gaming divison, especially if Sony's cell chips deliver the computing power they are promising in a usable form.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but in those (possible) controller images, there is no cord. Could it be wireless will now become standard?
I think MS is in an unfortunate position if they want to grab the HD high ground as their XBox2 is supposed to only have a DVD drive. While it is conceivable that they will push more of their WMV9 HD DVDs for this platform I would say it is much more likely that there will be significant HD movies on the Blu Ray discs that the PS3 is going to use. More to the point, the extra capacity of the discs will give PS3 developers more room to do some great things. The more I look the more the XBox2 looks like the Dreamcast of this next generation. The DC had a CD-ROM drive whereas the competition have DVD drives. The DC came out too early and the game developers couldn't justify working just on that platform so games didn't really shine compared with those for the PlayStation. It doesn't bode well for Microsoft. They really should wait until HD-DVD is ready and go with that but of course then they lose their six month (at best) head start on Sony. Without an HD video format the XBox2 is going to look old hat before its packaging is cold....
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
I wouldn't be surprised if the standard output cables that come with the Xbox are some sort of HD format like HDMI, and then you have to buy a seperate one for older Composite(RCA) or RF connections just like you do with the current generation for RFs.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
One of the latest rumors, was that a dressed up version of Halo 2 (or 2.5, whatever) would be installed on the hard-drive/whatever-memory of the Xbox 2.
Of the 6 million or so people who bought Halo 2 in the opening months...a super-deluxe version in HD with new maps, and an ending would entice at least a million people to buy right away.
Including me.
MX vs. ATV is an HD game...but it looks like ass. Yes, very clear ass, but still ass. I would like to see what the Xbox 2 hardware can do with HD.
No reason to lie.
About 18 months ago I took a chance on a 4:3 HDTV. I figured that MOST of the TV I watched was 4:3 anyway. And, since my limitation is width (TV cabinet limitation that is) a little extra height would be okay.
Just this weekend I finally ran 1080i for the first time. I was very happily surprised when my TV showed the image in a letterbox format...I was a little worried that it would just chop off the edges.
So my gamble paid off- I've been enjoying a nice big 4:3 TV for a year and a half...and I am ready when the new Xbox comes out with real HD support.
I am a little disappointed that my TV cannot go to 720p. But, at the time I bought my TV there was a huge difference in cost between a 1080i set, and a 720p set.
No reason to lie.
"The market will not support 3 consoles."
Where have you been for the last four years?
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck