XBox 360 Launching Nov 22

EGSonikku writes "Microsoft has released an official press release regarding the XBox 360 world wide launch just prior to the Tokyo Game Show. Looks like the US will be getting it just prior to Thanksgiving on November 22nd. Europe will get it on December 2nd, and Japan on December 10th."

Comments

November 22

[grub]

Microsoft's marketting gurus will come up with a slogan like "Celebrate the 42nd anniversary of JFK's assassination with a brand new XBOX 360!"

Re:November 22

[CleverNickedName]

I take it "Silent Scope 360" will be a launch title so.

But will it be single-player, or a squad-based multiplayer???

Re:November 22

[Ced_Ex]

I take it "Silent Scope 360" will be a launch title so.

But will it be single-player, or a squad-based multiplayer???

I believe it will have multiplayer capabilities, with a camping spot located on a grassy knoll.

That's a first

[darkjedi521]

Holy cow. Europe's getting a major console release before Japan. That's got to be a first.

Re:That's a first

[dancingmad]

It is interesting.

Japanese consumers aren't stupid, they know the machine's coming out everywhere else before Japan. It's going to look like MS snubbing the country. They're not going to like it and the 360 is going to suffer from a draught of good Japanese games, I think (the titles reported to be in development is the bare minimum it needs and I doubt even those titles are going to buoy the machine too much in Japan).

Re:That's a first

[dividedsky319]

That's probably becuase the Xbox sold pretty horribly in Japan. Microsoft's priorities are probably to get it out to the places that actually care, THEN release and put out an effort in places they've struggled.

Re:That's a first

[popcultureicon]

And I would assume they will also notice that they are getting the cheapest price in the world for the xbox 360. Joystiq says that they are getting the equivalent of the $400 package for $350. They may have to wait a couple extra weeks, but that's still a pretty sweet deal.

Re:That's a first

[elrous0]

It's going to look like MS snubbing the country.

Bill's just letting them know that he hasn't forgotten Pearl Harbor.

-Eric

Last

[coolnicks]

Well at least were not last to get it.

YES!

[RealityMogul]

I honestly can't wait for this thing to hit the shelves. I will be first in line... to pick up a discounted original XBox.

Re:YES!

[Anonymous Coward]

are there any good XBox games?

Are you kidding? There are *tons* of great XBOX games:

- Halo
- Halo 2

What more could you want?

I am not excited

[Anonymous Coward]

I purchased the PS2 and the XBox on release, but the XBox 360 does not have me excited. It doesn't use HD DVD, but standard DVD, costs 400 with hard drive. Wireless is extra, extra controllers are a lot extra. Games are 60 dollars and it doesn't play XBox games.

Where is the advantage in buying this thing? It's not really a huge leap in technology and it's not much to get excited about.

The PSP I bought (v1.5) is a much more interesting device, especially since I have to fly so frequently.

Re:I am not excited

[Spaceman Spiff II]

I know what you mean, but hey, at least it looks pretty cool. ;-)

One console that I am excited about, though, is the Nintendo Revolution due out probably some time next year. The president of Nintendo is going to do the keynote at this year's Tokyo Games thing, and will most likely reveal a giant mystery about it: what the controller is going to be like! Speculation is wide, and a lot of people are thinking it might use gyroscopic technologies to sense the moving of the controller. Also, the Revolution will be able to play every Nintendo game ever made all the way back to the NES!

Tune in at 7PM tonight to see what his announcement is.

Re:I am not excited

[bynary]

I have small children. Wireless controllers are perfect because when they walk between me and the TV they don't trip over my cables and A) yank the cable out of the console or B) yank the console off the entertainment center.

Re:I am not excited

[thatguywhoiam]

One console that I am excited about, though, is the Nintendo Revolution [wikipedia.org] due out probably some time next year. The president of Nintendo is going to do the keynote at this year's Tokyo Games thing, and will most likely reveal a giant mystery about it: what the controller is going to be like! Speculation is wide, and a lot of people are thinking it might use gyroscopic technologies to sense the moving of the controller. Also, the Revolution will be able to play every Nintendo game ever made all the way back to the NES!

Don't take this the wrong way. But...

How can you be so excited about a console you know practically nothing about?

I see this come out in every Xbox 360 / PS3 forum. You know nothing! Revolution may not even be the name of the bloody thing?

So - seriously - wft is there to be excited about? I like Nintendo, they do some neat stuff, but we don't know about the specs, the controller, the format, the lineup... anything!

(flicking holy water) The power of brand compels you! The power of brand ..... compels...

Re:I am not excited

[ColdForged]

Amazing that essentially a "yawn" gets an "Interesting" moderation.

It doesn't use HD DVD, but standard DVD

Does anything? Should they hold up the release date and tack on another $100 -- at least -- to the price for HD-DVD when no one else has it and there's no software for it aside from games?

Wireless is extra, extra controllers are a lot extra.

A wireless controller is included in that $400 you just mentioned with the hard drive. And since when are extra controllers ever included?

Games are 60 dollars and it doesn't play XBox games.

Really? The first-party ones I've seen are still $50. And it will support Xbox games if you have the hard drive, though precisely which Xbox games is still a matter of confusion.

Re:I am not excited

[lurker4hire]

Well, I can't speak for the grandparent poster, but here's why I'm excited for the revolution.

1. Known company with proven (to me, through personal experience) commitment to keeping games fun and trying interesting things with hardware (some fails sure, but at least they're trying)

2. Ability to play every nintendo console game! I missed N64 so I'm really looking forward to that. (btw this is a feature announced at E3)

3. A feeling that they'll try to keep the cost to consumer down. They've pretty much got the low cost thing down, and I'm hoping it'll be a console I don't have to think too hard about picking up. The 360 and PS3 are too expensive to 'just buy' I need to wait and see which is better before making a purchase of that size.

Put all that together and I'm excited... I'm also excited about both the 360 and ps3, but more so to determine which of the two I will buy. I was actually hoping for a more media centre type function from the 360, so it's making me lean more toward waiting and seeing rather than buying anyways.

Re:I am not excited

[jiushao]

Knowing that there is nothing special of interest in a new console (the xbox 360 and PS2) is a lot less exciting than not knowing what will happen with another. So I think "excited" is a good word here. It does not however imply that one should think that it is a sure buy or anything.

To me at least the things we know about the Revolution is that the hardware will be roughly similar to the xbox 360 in the common metrics (give or take 50% it is the same basic CPU, memory and graphics technology). However there is still the possibility that Nintendo has something up its sleeve that might make this generation actually interesting.

I don't want to be one of the grumpy old people complaining about new things, but really, this generation seems to be a very incremental improvement. In some areas even a step back since no console will have a harddrive in their basic configuration. While one can surely upgrade to one of the new ones it is more or less like moving from a GeForce FX to a 7000-series on the PC; you'll get the same basic thing, just a bit more of it.

Don't compare this to the PSX -> PS2 step, sure it just added more power, but the difference is that the PSX were too weak for a lot of gameplay possibilities. There does not seem to be much new gameplay possibilities on the PS3 as of yet (though I'd love to be proven wrong), just a bit more polish and glitz.

Re:XBOX 360

[cmossell]

Correction, it is 120 times better, and exactly 357 better. I thought I'd clear that up for you.

Re:Official MSRP?

[Morgon]

US:

Xbox 360 "Core System" (no HDD, wired controller only) $299.99
Xbox 360 "Premium" (HDD, Wireless, headset, remote) $399.99

Japan:
Xbox360 Premium Edition, $349.99

So MS screwed the USA twice on this deal.. first by contridicting every single one of their interviews and announcements since before E3 ("one sku only", "wireless and hdd", "around $300"), but the ONE thing that the US wants (one sku for a decent price), they're giving to Japan.

The Xbox/MS Games team was the only part of MS that "got it"... now it seems like the business practices plaguing the rest of the company are slowly infecting the last bastion of customer appreciation.

Re:Bah 11/22/05???

[Anonymous Coward]

They could always delay it until June 6th, 2006. Call it "The Number of the Console".

Re:Geek Card Revoked!

[dividedsky319]

Okay, you've never had a console, but admit to playing Dance, Dance Revolution? I suspect your either a girl or gay.

This is the problem with gamers today. If it doesn't involve killing or violence, it's not worth their time. What ever happened the concept of "gameplay"? It's been overshadowed by graphics and "mature content".

I've personally never played DDR, but I wouldn't mind eventually picking up a copy of one of them and a dance pad. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to get together a few friends, have a few drinks, and see how badly we can "dance".

Oh, and I'm a 23 year old straight (engaged, actually) male.

Re:Too Much!

[jbarket]

Then your point is that you're not their target audience, making your opinion more than a little irrelevant.

Thanks for admitting that you're a troll.

Re:games at release

[Hast]

There is a launch title list at the main site.

Just look for it - or perhaps, use Google.

Pretty Good Timing

[blueZhift]

Coming out on Nov 22 is actually pretty good timing. The weekend after Thanksgiving is generally one of the biggest shopping days in the U.S.. So with smart marketing, they should move a fair number of Xbox 360s just on the wave of shopping. The two questions I would have are, what new games will be available, and what current popular Xbox titles will run on it?

If they do well enough, Xbox 360 will be considered the hot item of the holiday season and sell even better. As always though, the games will tell the tale.

Re:Geek Card Revoked!

[NitroWolf]

Okay, you've never had a console, but admit to playing Dance, Dance Revolution? I suspect your either a girl or gay. And I don't say that demeaningly. Its just I can't imagine a red-blooded male American (including Canadians) who would play it, except maybe in secret, and definitely true geeks don't have the coordination for it. Geezus what is Slashdot coming to?!?!

What world have you been living in? DDR is actually quite fun... I'm a 30 something male and straight. So that shoots your theory to shit.

DDR is decent exercise, and it's a fairly hard game. I've never played it in the arcade because I don't want to look like an idiot in front of people, so I opted for the home version both on the Xbox and the PC (Stepmania) and ended up buying some Red Octane Afterburner pads (wish I had went with Cobalt Flux in retrospect).

If you fancy yourself good at video games, I suggest you give DDR a try and see how much you truely suck at coordination. I can whip your ass up one side and down the other at any fighter you care to mention, but a 12 year old girl can kick my ass at DDR playing backwards and blindfolded. I will admit, though, that DDR is a lot about patterns and memorization... kinda like Mortal Combat.

Who is going to buy it and why?

[DrXym]

The mentality of owning something first when its overhyped, unproven, expensive and has a dearth of games strikes me as very peculiar.

Why does anyone do it? What's wrong with waiting 4 or 5 months to gauge the scene? At that point the prices might have lowered a little, the hype will have been replaced with more level headed criticism, and there will certainly more games.

I just don't understand why anyone would do it. I certainly don't understand why on November 22nd / 23rd the news will be filled with clips of losers queuing up and streaming into stores to buy a console at midnight.