Xbox 360 Launches In U.S.

Well, it's here. Braving long lines and launch parties, and even jail time, those that were willing to pony up the time and money have their hands on the first player in the next-gen war. 360 impressions are available all across the web, with [H]ardOCP and Gamespot offering exhaustive experiences for the interested gamer. The BBC, as always, offers a bigger perspective on the launch, and Gamasutra confirms that Microsoft is in for the long haul in the games industry. From the BBC: "Sony and Nintendo are planning to unleash their next gen consoles during 2006, giving Microsoft an edge over its rivals. The software giant is virtually tied with Nintendo for second place, way behind Sony, in a games market worth $25 billion globally. Microsoft has ambitious plans for its new machine. It said it expects to ship up to three million 360s worldwide within 90 days. But the company has admitted that the worldwide launch of the console could mean shortages in the run-up to Christmas. The console is due to hit Europe on 2 December and Japan on 10 December and some retailers are also warning about limited supplies."

Comments

Edge?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like the Dreamcast had, eh?

In short, people will wait for the next-gen offerings from Nintendo and Sony.

Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul

[sidb]

I wonder how many of these will actually go straight from the store to eBay

2734 when I checked. That might be one or two percent of the entire US supply so far.

Fry's Line

[DarkHand]

My Dad works at the Fry's Electronics in Downers Grove, IL, and there was a line around the building when we got there at 7am this morning. I thought there was some kind of early Black Friday thing going on until I remembered the XBox launch date.

To the edge and beyond

[Dobeln]

"Some gamers have gone to even greater extremes - like the man who robbed an Electronics Boutique store in Stafford, Virginia in the early hours of this morning. According to US website GameSpot, he held the store manager up at gunpoint and ordered him to hand over two Xbox 360s. Presumably ones with hard drives."

Gee, Microsoft are really taking viral marketing to new heights here. Move over iLoveBees... ;)

I don't know...

[Anonymous Coward]

...I would like to see a TCO report between this, the PS3 and the revolution. I'm seriously thinking of investing in a game console.

Re:I don't know...

[Zigg]

Not free access. Many, many Nintendo reps (including president Iwata) have gone on record saying not free. You'll pay. You won't pay much, but you'll pay.

Re:I don't know...

[Richard Frost]

... president Iwata... [has] gone on record saying not free. You'll pay. You won't pay much, but you'll pay.

This Iwata guy has got to be the nicest super villan ever.

Ridiculous people

[op12]

Apparently some people are willing to pay over a thousand bucks for one.

--
For those that haven't gone blind yet (article minus the blinding blue theme): http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/22/174625 1&tid=211

It launched?

[BushCheney08]

It launched already??? Why haven't I heard anything about this yet?!?! The slashdot editors need to get off their asses and help hype this thing a little bit...

Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul

[xero9]

Actually, I bought an original Xbox not to play games on, but to use as a media device. It really worked great for all the TV shows and movied I snagged off usenet. Simply put all my files in a shared folder on my computer and fire up Xbox Media Center on the Xbox, and watch what ever I wanted on a nice 35" TV instead of my 17" monitor. It wasn't until I discovered Rainbow Six 3 that I actually started to use it to play games.

Re:So......

[ackthpt]

....... When will we see a LINUX distro for it?

Just before a chair is hurled through your window with a Cease and Desist letter attached to it.

do it and we'll bury you, love steve

So is there a sight for posting pools on the interent as to when the first article will appear on /. announcing a successful 1) Linux install 2) Mod chip ?

Actually if you read the HARDOCP review

[Shivetya]

you will see that this machine really is well done and offers lots of useful features. It is very well thought out and if you opt for the harddrive you get even more options.

I was actually impressed with its ability to work with other devices to include an iPOD and PsP. The nice thing about this machine is that it really is expandable as wireless gives them many options. You will probably see an addon keyboard/mouse combo one day.

There are many of us out here who don't need our PCs to program on, we have them for games, other entertainment, e-mail, and surfing. Give me an insta-on box with those features and I may just consider it. The XBOX360 is actually the first console I am seriously considering because of the potential.

Playing DvDs is a bonus, if it means one less component I have to hook up or keep up with all the better. People harped on the PS2 for the same reason yet I know many who have one for that very reason.

Just because its Microsoft doesn't make it wrong which seems to be your whole beef against it. (who made it)

(allow me to run some IBM style emulator/vpn over the net with a wireless keyboard and I really really need a PC even less)

Re:Actually if you read the HARDOCP review

[HanzoSpam]

I was actually impressed with its ability to work with other devices to include an iPOD and PsP. The nice thing about this machine is that it really is expandable as wireless gives them many options. You will probably see an addon keyboard/mouse combo one day.

There are many of us out here who don't need our PCs to program on, we have them for games, other entertainment, e-mail, and surfing. Give me an insta-on box with those features and I may just consider it. The XBOX360 is actually the first console I am seriously considering because of the potential.

That's the point I think is being missed. After everything is said and done, the thing is still, design-wise, pretty much a glorified PC. Microsoft has come out with a proprietary platform which they're using the gamer market to propagate. They can gradually add other functionality to increase it's market.

Don't be surprised when it eventually evolves into what amounts to the Microsoft version of the Mac.

Re:Actually if you read the HARDOCP review

[badasscat]

That's the point I think is being missed. After everything is said and done, the thing is still, design-wise, pretty much a glorified PC. Microsoft has come out with a proprietary platform which they're using the gamer market to propagate. They can gradually add other functionality to increase it's market.

What, you mean kinda like this?

The fact of the matter is every console is pretty much a "glorified PC" (or a "dumbed down" PC, depending on your perspective), and every single time - yes, every single time a new console is released, the manufacturer claims that it's going to do this, that and the other thing eventually, or that it's going to converge a whole bunch of devices into one. This is true going all the way back to the Odyssey II and Atari 2600, which also promised PC functionality. The Sega CD and NEC Turbo CD were the first (or among the first) to then promise home entertainment functionality once optical storage became the norm.

The reality is people just don't care. A few do, and those are the kind of people that sued Mattel when they never actually released their promised keyboard component from lack of interest (they only had something like 4,000 orders, which meant they couldn't get the component cost low enough to make a profit). Those people can be very vocal. They're the real hardcore. They're on the internet complaining when companies don't release promised add-ons, they're the ones that always have to be the contrarians when someone like me points out that they're the minority.

But they are the extreme, extreme minority. I agree with the parent poster who said as soon as the next hot console comes along, gamers will abandon the Xbox 360, because it really is about the games and only about the games, and it always will be. This is not going to be some great window into the living room. It is simply the console of the moment, and in five years it will be forgotten like every other console of the moment. MS is not creating some sort of home entertainment "standard" with the Xbox 360.

It never ceases to amuse me how people say the exact same things every time a new console is released. "It's going to do all these great things besides playing video games! It's revolutionary!" Ha! So in other words, it's just like every other console ever.

Played It

[NetFusion]

A friend waited in the hype cue at a Wallmart for 8 hours and picked one up last night. Apparently they had 32 to sell and and a line of 50 people. At 10mins before midnight a guy shows up walking the line waving 300 bucks for someones spot in line. Needless to say someone thought having his xbox mostly paid for a little later, rather then tonight, was worth giving up his spot.

But thankfuly not my pixel junkie mate and I got to play it. Overall it seems really solid but out of the 4 games he got, nothing grabbed me. His long wait for a native title that can push this new system to its limit has begun.

eBay

[billybob]

Lord a'mighty, have you seen how much these fuckers are going for on ebay? Check out the listings... one even sold for over 5,000 dollars (yes, five thousand).... Wow.

Re:eBay

[tonywong]

How do you know it's not 2 microsoft marketing employees kiting up the price of a unit to hype it?

The cost of such an astroturfing operation is the eBay listing fees and that's it. Pretty cheap for a lot of buzz.

Just a thought.

Out first=Clear Advantage?

[Puhase]

I'm still unclear about why the fact that 360 is out first is a definitive advantage. I guess they get a chance to take a first crack at the market, but...there seems to be some extremely dark clouds on the horizon due to this early arrival.
1. No HD-DVD or Blu-Ray- whatever happens with this media format debacle, the people with the new 360 out now wont have it.
2. Future Version Product Confusion/Backlash- Because of the above, when they begin to release future updated hardware versions of the 360, the market will be confused as to what they should purchase. Its not a new system, but it has new features this time around. Will there be expensive add-ons to accommodate current owners? Because those who have the old and not the new are gonna be pissed that they didn't get the finished system. This isn't the slim-downed PS2 I'm talking about here. That was a cosmetic change or downgrade option(imho), this will be a complete technical upgrade.
3. Debut game lineup-What lineup? If I don't like sports or shooting Nazi's... not much left, maybe Kameo. Much of the "meat and potatoes" was delayed past X-mas, creating a weird kinda of late winter "secondary launch".
4.All they are competing with is heresay and conjecture-The hard and fast realities of the PS3 and Revolution are still out in the open. So a decision by the consumer is hard to make, because no real comparison can be made. This will inevitably create a bubble of "undecided". Although with how rabid gamers can be, there will always be those too impatient to wait.

I'm no fanboy, I own all three of the current generation and agree all have things about them I like. It just seems to me that we've got a situation here where the 4th grader has rushed to finish his test first and hand it in to the teacher so he can look back at the class and say "I'm done first". Even though he did a sloppy job, didn't fully answer each question and in the end didn't get a great grade.

Poorly Managed Release. Traders making money.

[managedcode]

Disappointed lot of gamers. Release was very poorly managed with just 20 pieces for every store. Whether Microsoft made money or not, eBay and speculators are making money. The latest Winning bid: US $2,225.00

Sony should lower the price of PS2 to $99

[Sundroid]

partly to offer some kind of counter offense against Microsoft's Xbox 360 blitz, partly to rehabilitate itself from the DRM rootkit mess.

sony audio cd?

[Anonymous Coward]

if you play a sony audio cd in it.. does it install it's rootkit?

what a tough decision..

we hate MS because their evil..
we now hate sony because their evil..

nintendo games suck because they're not evil..

what's a geek to do.

My problem with gaming...

[jferris]

...still holds true for the Xbox360. I am not a graphics whore, so Microsoft isn't offerring anything of interest to me. I own a DVD player, I already have a computer, and I don't plan on getting HDTV to have prettier games. At least Nintendo is attempting to innovate. And if their innovation doesn't pan out, they have a fallback plan - in that there will be an "accessory" for the Revolution that will allow you to use the new controller in some sort of an "old fashioned" controller shell. As for the PS3, it is going to be awfully powerful - and that is really all I know for sure about it. The problem here is not me, as a gamer, saying "Make me a prettier game!". It has come down to me saying "Make me a game that will take longer than a weekend to beat. And don't do it by requiring me to power up characters for no other purpose than to burn time or placing impassible FMV sequences in the fifteen minute or more range (are you listening Square Enix?)."

Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul

[nmb3000]

Microsoft touts this as a brilliant center of home media and that's probably true for anyone who doesn't already have a home entertainment center of some sort. But what the distillate is you're not going to buy it to watch DVDs on, you're going to play games with it. You're not going to surf the internet, you're going to play games with it. It won't transform you into some actuallized renaissance man (or woman) through shear wonderfulness of the Total Microsoft Experience, you will play games with it.

See, that's the thing. I believe more people than you give credit will use it as both a media center and a game console. Essentially anyone living in a smaller space like an apartment will like the idea being able to play games, watch movies and listen to music--all in high-definition and surround sound--without having a big (and expensive) stack of components.

In addition, the console brings something pretty new to the scene. Now, if you have video or audio stored on your computer you can play it on your 360 via wireless or wired networking. Why try to watch content on your computer from an uncomfortable chair using poor speakers watching on a small monitor when instead you can watch it from the comfort of a coutch on a large TV screen (YMMV here).

Is the 360 some magical gift from God? Obviously not, but in the same token it's not the same game console we played back in 1985. Also, nobody should make it sound like it's a big Microsoft ploy to hype this up as much as they can. Sony is just as bad (if not worse in some ways) about hyping up anything new they release. Nintendo doesn't seem to be quite as bad, but they still do some crazy stuff to try and get attention.

fake shortage may backfire

[asv108]

From all accounts, it appears that Microsoft is trying to create an artificial shortage by only allowing a small number of units to be sold today. I called a few retailers this morning, all of them are sold out. Most of them had less that 40 systems for sale, and this in the Philadelphia area, not some rural market.

While the intended effect is to create a buzz that encourages a christmas buying frenzy, it could backfire just as well. The original Xbox launch had an enormous supply. I wasn't really looking to buy an xbox at the time, but I happened to be in Best Buy 2 days after the launch, so I decided to give it a shot.

Today, Xbox 360's are selling for nearly $2,000 on ebay. Not even a package, just the system. The "shortage buzz" will certainly keep casual purchasers away and I'm sure quite a few people might decide to wait a few months for the ps3.

Re:I admit it

[Red Flayer]

1. "Microsoft sooo does not belong in the game console market. They make Office software, for Christ's sake."

Lest you forget, they also make an Operating System. They also make media apps. Why are you upset about greater competition in the console market? That should benefit all of us.

2. "The first X-Box was just a PC in a box."

Ata fraction of the cost. Tons of people won't spend $1k to buy a new computer, but $300 for a console is fine.

3. "The name is stupid and personifies what I hate about this machine and its community"

What does this have to do with anything? Is the Dreamcast, or the Revolution, any better? Who cares what it's called.

4. "The game library will mostly just be PC ports and Playstation ports"

See above comment re: PC-in-a-box. Also, as a social activity, gaming on a PC with a few friends just sucks. Much easier to sit on the couch.

5. "At least with the Playstation 3, it has the appeal of being the absolute top hardware"

Hah. It's not so different from the 360. By the time the PS3 launches, it won't be near the top, compared to first-class gaming rigs.

6. "Instead of letting the product sell itself based on its own value, as other companies do (a cliched example, but see Apple and its iPod...all Steve Jobs had to do was hold up an iPod nano to the camera, and everyone was SOLD on it)"

You really crack me up. Apple spent millions and millions to market the iPod brand.
"this thing is just a shareholder-driven profit grab"

Now, a profit grab would imply that MS is making a profit on these. They are building a long-term business with the 360, not grabbing profits.
"not a genuinely fantastic product from a company that actually makes games and game consoles and belongs in that market

I won't claim to know if the 360 is fantastic or not, but like it or not: MS makes game consoles and they also make games. By your rationale, shouldn't Sony stick with audio equipment, and get the hell out of the game console market?

It's obvious you hate MS. That's fine. By why are you upset that they released a product YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY? Or are you just upset that it gets press?

HA HA HA

[timeOday]

Check out the "Ask seller a question" on that $5000 XBox:

Q: Do you have the xbox360 listed here in hand ready to ship today the 22nd or tomorrow the 23rd?

A: Due to the unexpected low stock received, the item will ship within 2 weeks. Sorry

Zero Hour

[neafevoc]

I was at the Xbox Zero Hour release party last night (in Palmdale, CA). It wasn't that crowded at the event. I didn't have a problem playing every game on the show floor. I'm sorry to say that I'm not all that impressed with the release titles. (Yeah, I know first generation.) I also had a chance to buy one last night, but I didn't (however, hundreds of others did).

I am impressed how well Live is integrated with the console. When we got there, they gave us a free memory unit and helped us transfer our Live account on it. Then we were able to play on Live wtih the number of games that were available. I think Live will dominate over whatever Sony has to offer as far as online integration with the console.

Despite being not overly impressed with any of the titles, there was one that my buddy and I played for over an hour. It was from Live Arcade (a number of small titles you can download from Live). The game was called Geometry Wars. Yes, strangely enough, it wasn't the multi-million dollar developed games that won my game of the show, but this small independently developed game you can download from Live.

I'll wait around like I did with the original Xbox before I get one. Same thing goes with the PS3. Comes back to what we said many a time: good games make good consoles.

Re:Zero Hour

[Saige]

I realized after a bit of play last night and this morning that Live is what's going to make or break the 360. The better graphics and more power is nice, but it's the amazing ton of features on Live that make it such a next-gen experience. Being able to voice chat with my friends while we play different games and even switch between them. Streaming my music from my PC to my 360 as a custom soundtrack in any game. Achievements and Gamer scores. Xbox Live Marketplace offering amazing games for $5.

I feel about 10x more connected to people on my friends list than I did on the original Xbox. It's no longer this separate "play online" section - you're ALWAYS playing online in one way or another, with scoreboards or directly against opponents.

I really think that anyone with a 360 and broadband needs to at LEAST make sure they're connected with a silver account, even if you don't want to pay the $50 to play online. It adds that much.

Some of the consoles faulty ?!

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems that at least some of the Xbox 360 consoles are faulty... No clear problem is pinpointed at the moment, but one strong cause could be overheating; http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?s=c04af2866 ed9534607ad98ce292b6a3e&showtopic=462099

Re:Not Trolling, just bitter

[vertinox]

Where are all these people that have $500C for a game system with no games?

You know that guy Dvorak... You know about his praise of the menus... Well... Lets just say they are really good menus.

Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul

[stonedonkey]

Seriously, at $399 a unit, I'm absolutely shocked that Microsoft is still losing money on the thing. The CPU and the GPU are the two expensive components. In bulk, I'd have a hard time believing that they cost more than $150-$175 together. The rest of the hardware is relatively inexpensive stuff, costing maybe $50-$100 at most. That leaves me with a total of $200-$275 for manufacturing, making me wonder where the inefficiency is. Is Microsoft really that BAD at hardware design that they can't sell a $399 integrated PC at anything less than a loss?

Yeah, they'll make a killing since they didn't spend a penny on advertising, manufacturing, research and development, haggling with developes, distribution... nigga, please.