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360 Sells Briskly, Geometry Wars Arcade Hit
RemovableBait writes "Microsoft's Xbox 360 has sold over 600,000 units so far and is on track to sell over 4.5 million consoles by the end of the business year. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft could have sold many more as 'video game publishers and retailers have said shipments during the key holiday season fell short of expectations'. If Microsoft's predictions are correct, this could pose a major threat to Sony's well-established PlayStation line of consoles." Relatedly, Saige writes "The Live Arcade on the original Xbox was ignored by just about everyone who owned that console. However, the updated version on the Xbox 360 is getting a totally different reception, spearheaded by the popular Geometry Wars, an old-school style 2-D shooter in the vein of Robotron: 2084 that has eye candy deserving of a next-gen title - all for $5. The demo has been downloaded 200,000 times."
600000 is just the numbers for U.S.
Would be interesting to get a figure of the sales in Canada/Mexico/Europe.
Well, I'll say something before the trolls get here-
I've got a 360, and I love it. Rock solid all around, including visuals, sound, connectivity to other devices...
So far I am playing 3 games- Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham 3, and Geometry Wars.
Yes, each of those games is a sequel, but they are all awesome.
A lot of people probably hate the 360- but if Microsoft can put enough consoles out, then they should have a winner on their hands.
No reason to lie.
I'd go as far to say that geometry wars evolved is the only game worth having right now on the xbox 360.
If Microsoft's predictions are correct, this could pose a major threat to Sony's well-established PlayStation line of consoles.
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I wonder what Sony's or Nintendo's predictions might be...
Most unbiased indications are saying that XBox 360 is not doing quite as well as they would have hoped, especially in Japan where the reception has been lukewarm at best. Couple that with the fairly unimpressive game line-up it's not going to take Nostradamus to see that were just going to have to see what happens in the forthcoming months.
The XBox 360 hype never seemed to pick up steam (at least in the UK) and now there are units on shelves that hype has largely subsided. At the moment the XBox360 is only competing with current hardware on shelve's, that includes its younger brother (Xbox), the PS2 and the gamecube. PS2 units sold is probably rapidly approaching 100 million units worldwide
So until we see the other Next Gen consoles on shelve's this is just idle speculation.
http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=8
I dont think XBox 360 is much of a threat to Sony, or Nintendo just yet
Nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has sold over 600,000 units so far and is on track to sell over 4.5 million consoles by the end of the business year.
In other news, the average temperature here increased from 30F to 50F since the beginning of the year -- it's on track to reach 510F by the end of the year.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
What strikes me as interesting is not so much how well the XBox 360 is or isn't selling but what consumer reaction to the new XBox Live Arcade/Market place has been. It seem to have been overwelmingly in favor of it and everyone seem to love the new market place and arcade download titles. So does this mark the new way of how all consoles are now expected to be online? If so does it mean if Sony doesn't offer something even somewhat similar that consumers will consider is a mark against the PS3 if Sony doesn't offer something similar? Since it would seem that Nintendo is going to offer some sort of unified online market place with the Revolution since they are going to be offering their entire back catalog of products for download somehow.
It would seem that Sony would be the only next generation console maker without some kind of online market place and no content download function available for their next generation console.
Of course so far it is pure production problems that is limiting sales in the west BUT it is hardly like they are on track.
This article would be better if it mentioned this, now it seems a bit to much like a press release.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If they only got 600,000 units in the hands of gamers during the most brisk console buying period, 2-2.5 million would be a more reasonable prediction for June. I'm a huge game buyer (X-Box, Game Cube and two PS2 in the house now) and I couldn't be more unimpressed with the 360. Its all in the *games* guys... and so far the delivery of good games just hasn't happened. I only picked up the X-Box because of Steel Battalions, and then *tried* to find games for it since I had it in the back room where I could keep the volume up late at night. So... what did I play over the holidays? Ratchet, Sly 3, God of War and Need for Speed Underground. All on the second PS2 I bought so I actually *wanted* to play games on the back room TV... a TV I bought *for* the X-Box. That isn't to say I haven't played anything on the X-Box (Splinter Cell co-op was cool) but it gets ¼ the play time the PS2 does.
I'll check back in when the lineup doesn't look like a wannabe PC solution, because first person shooters are *still* better on the PC. The most amusing part: I'm supposed to be impressed by Live Arcade so I can play games I can play for free in Flash online. Bah... I'm far *more* interested in the retro gaming option on the Revolution, thanks.
Sig under construction since 1998.
600,000 sold, of which 100,000 were open boxes resold, 20,000 had overheated power supplies, 30,000 ended up scratching a disk, and the rest ended up in typical dumbfuck frat boy houses.
If they had the supply to meet the demand, I do not think that goal would have needed revising.
You've got the wrong evil empire. If you should be hating anyone, it should be Sony, for their intrusive spyware music CD's, their "kills everything it touches" MMORPG division, their shitty DRM-laiden ATRAC codec, and their underpowered and overhyped console and portable gaming systems. Honestly, everything they made since the Playstation 1 has been substandard in quality, or broken in one way or another, and the only reason they're stil alive is HYPE. I can't wait until Microsoft takes over the traditional gaming console world while Nintendo turns into the "awesome" Nintendo all of us 80's and early 90's kids remember with the Nintendo DS and hopefully Nintendo Revolution.
Your vitriol seems, well, so potent it can't be real. Perhaps, El Guapo, you are again mad at something else and taking it out on...?
Are you part of some Microsoft reverse-psychology street team paid to go on anti-Microsoft trolls to drum up support against slashdot groupthink?
Very clever aligning the Xbox 360 with the Dreamcast (a much revered console 'round these parts). Or did I mean to say not very clever?
Either way, I wish you'd STFU. Pretty please? STFU?
I don't understand why the Dreamcast keeps coming up when people talk about the Xbox. It seems that associating a console with the Dreamcast label is the worst possible insult one can make. The equivalent of saying 'Fuck your mother' or whatever is the worst insult one can think of.
The Dreamcast was a console made by Sega years ago that almost no one bought and died quickly.
What does it have to do with Microsoft and the Xbox?
Some might have missed the wording "by the end of the current business year" ... which is June 30, 2006. They are talking about that many units in 5 1/2 months, not 11 1/2.
Also, it is just slightly less than a million worldwide: 600K in the US, 300K in Europe, and at least 6 in Japan.
Did you buy said Sony CDs? I don't think so. Did you write your foolish post with your shitty Windows computer with a shitload of security holes? You know the answer...
they might have sold less, or be looking at a lower sale projection for the year. the limited supply generated a lot of buzz. what other product for about this price or more do you see any other manufacturer making 600,000 or more of an item in the first month or so it is released?
BUT it is hardly like they are on track
Why not? Because you say so? Because "M$" are the Evil Empire? Because this is Slashdot and it's cool to hate Microsoft because you're too poor to afford their products?
They're a multibillion dollar company who've been planning a launch for several years, managed to bring the product to market to a great reception - and they can't make them fast enough, with people lining up outside stores for shipments. What part of that is "not on track?"
If production problems are the biggest thing they have to worry about, then they're home free.
It's actually one of the weakest console launches in recent history.
See Dreamcast:
"In the United States alone, a record 200,000 units had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast
Playstation 2:
500,000 in the first TWO days in North America, 980,000 over the opening weekend in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2
Certainly MS would have sold more if they had had more, but as it stands this is a weak launch, not 'selling briskly.'
The comparison comes from the fact that the Dreamcast was launched a year before Sony's PS2 much as the 360 has been launched before the PS3. Sega was hoping on getting a "next generation" system out early and derailing Sony's dominance in the market. The Dreamcast was initially well received and broke console sales records. Then the juggernaut that was the PS2 hit and sealed the fate of the Dreamcast.
The point is that Microsoft is trying to gain a "first out of the gate" advantage, but console release history has shown that their really may not be any advantage to being first.
Of course one of the things that drove the early PS2 sales was the internal DVD drive. At the time DVD players were still relatively expensive and the bonus of getting a console with a DVD player built in was a big hit (perhaps more so in Japan than the US). Sony is trying to do the same thing with Blue Ray and the PS3.
Sometimes my arms bend back.