Slashdot Mirror
Kevin Bachus Talks Next-Gen Console Wars
conq writes "In a piece on BusinessWeek, former Microsoft exex Kevin Bachus, who was part of the team who pitched the XBox to Bill Gates gives his opinion on the Microsoft/Sony gaming war: '...I believe that regardless of who comes out on top this time, the margin will be the closest it's been since the heady days of Nintendo and Sega. And as always, the winners will be the consumers and the publishers.'"
Is the guy from the Phantom console scam?
"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
Bill Gates gives his opinion on the Microsoft/Sony gaming war:
//two can play at hyperbole!
Gates later expounded that the army has acheived a stunning victory on the african front, completely routing our enemies in Eurasia and taking over a million prisoners. In other news, chocolate rations will be increased to 25 grams a week...
As the PSP and various other high end systems have proven, it really doesn't matter what kind of hardware you have in your box if your games don't live up to it. I rather hope that next gen games will focus more on being fun to play, and more importantly fun to replay, than just fun to look at. I'm not too optimistic on the MS and Sony front as I've seen the crap titles that launched with the 360 and Sony's too bogged down with hardware problems to worry about listening to users. The Revolution looks promising in it's own way, but if it can't pick up a decent marketshare then all of the gimmiks in the world won't save it. We can only hope that the best games will come out on top, and not the best hardware tech.
Did anyone else read this as Kevin Bacon? For the life of me I couldn't figure out why Kevin Bacon was commenting on consoles.
former Microsoft exex Kevin Bachus
a former ex ex?
This guy must've really had an interesting time while working at MS.
Do you see war somewhere ?
How someone can speak about war, when only one soldier was there !
Where PS3 ? Where Revolution ?
When PS3 ? May be in 2007 ? May be !
When Revolution ? May be in 2007 ? May Be !
What a war !
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Uh, there is no 'war' between Sony and Microsoft.
Microsoft is nothing more than a company that came in last place in the current gen console race behind Nintendo. And Microsoft's second entry into the console market is doing roughly two to three times WORSE than the first Xbox.
The 360 is:
1) Completely dead in Japan
2) Almost dead in Europe
3) Sold a pathetic 190k consoles in March in the US - five months into its life and it is getting outsold by the six year old Sony PS2
And there are 360 sitting unsold on store shelves in every major US retailer for over a month now. The 360 is on track to sell no more than three million units this year. That's one dead console.
The 360 is a marketplace failure. No one outside of the most diehard of Dreamcast and Xbox fans gives a damn about the system. Notice the major switch to pushing Vista gaming recently by Microsoft... They see the writing on the wall for the Xbox project.
The next gen race is going to be brutal between Sony and Nintendo - with Nintendo standing a good chance of actually outselling Sony in Japan this upcoming console cycle and selling probably around N64 levels in the US and Europe. Microsoft is no longer relevant to the console market.
After jumping ship from Microsoft to Infinium, like a dot-bomb era flea, Bacchus' opinions are worth next to nothing in my opinion. The man fucked the dog for the sake of a ridiculously obvious scam that's resulted in nothing but ridicule, frivolous lawsuits and vaporware; anything he has to say about the industry he clearly has no understanding of is a desperate attempt to rebuild his annihilated credibility.
Random Dude talks about some unpredictable outcome! He is from Random Company! You have to read it! And click ads, please!
"who was part of the team who pitched the XBox to Bill Gates" is the "I invented the internet" of console gaming.
This is the only post worth reading in this thread.
I see the war being mainly between the 360 and the revolution, unless the following becomes true: /. backlog)
1) The playstion 3 is NOT $600-700 as stated by a the french sony spokesman (no link, on
2) They are able to hit xmas US 06 with ample supply (I think they will run into the same probs as the 360).
Number 1 is based on the fact that 600-700 is way too much for a console. Buying another controller, recharge kit, and game, and you're already into middle ground PC costs, plus you can get a 360 and a revolution for that price. Sure, they have blu-ray, but I'm betting I'm not the only one waiting for Apex blu-ray/HD-DVD combo players for $50, and I bet we'll see those within a year or two.
Number two is based on the fact that if they run into the same supply problems as the 360 (like they did with the playstation 2) then it means we won't even see the console in stores until 3-6 months after release, giving the 360 and revolution more time to establish a decent game base, and is a greater chance for people to say "screw it, I'm not waiting 6 months, there are 360s and revolutions on the shelves right now...".
Kevin Bachus was in Microsoft with Bill Gates, who guest starred on "Frasier" with Kelsey Grammer, who was in "15 Minutes" with David Alan Grier, who was in "The Woodsman" with Kevin Bacon.
Because they're sold out, and selling every single box they can ship. If they could manufacture and sell twice as many, they'd still be sold out.
It's a pointless statistic, to say it's selling at half the rate of the XBox. It's simply not comparable, because they're selling every single box they can get onto a store shelf.
Everyone - and that doesn't mean just us geeks - knows that M$ has never built anything even remotely good before it hit version 3.0
So whatever comes after the Xbox360 will be what's interesting. Xbox was just a test to see how many dumb people the console market offers (result: A lot). Xbox360 is M$'s try to do a proper console, and like windos 2.0 it's behind the competition and isn't there, yet. But Xbox720 (or whatever) will be like windos 3.0 - almost there, and good enough for way too many people.
There'll be no "war", except in the media, of course ("console war!!! OMG!" just sells much better than "not so spectacular console comparison made"). Just look at the architecture of the PS3 and you see how much more advanced it is. But M$ has deep pockets, a lot of stamina, and will sink another couple billions into the loss-leader just to get market share. And then when Xbox4 or so comes out, they'll have had enough paid-for-by-the-consumer beta tests to make a product that is good enough, cheap enough and has enough of the industry behind it to drive it home like a piledriver. The choice for most people then will be "Xbox or no console?", pretty much like it is with computers today.
That's where they're going. So move on, nothing to see here, this "war" is just a training excercise.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
According to this, the 360 is going nowhere in Japan (note: I can't vouch for the accuracy of the page, but I have no reason to doubt it). And these are recent numbers, about a month old. In addition, remember this:
"Microsoft's head of games division, Peter Moore, has repeatedly said that there would be no true success for Microsoft without Xbox's success in Japan," Sensui said.
Taken from a recent article here.
Ok, so the 360 has been selling about 1000 a week in Japan. We're like, what, 15 weeks into the year? That puts them on track to have around 150,000 units sold by the end of the year. Sure, as the Reuters article states, they're going to release more games, but once people already think you've bombed and the PS3 and Rev are getting really close, who in their freakin right mind is going to jump on the 360 bandwagon (in Japan)? For reference, the DS Lite sold over 100K IN ONE WEEK. The PSP has sold over 3 million in Japan, and is still a luke-warm success (being outsold by the DS + DS Lite 5-1 week by week).
I'm having trouble finding non-Japanese numbers, but MS themselves said they needed success in Japan, and the numbers just don't look good.
An xbox360 at best buy costs $399.99--unless you go for the lesser core system for $299.99
I can only assume that a ps3 will be in that higher price range, around $400 to $500 at release (and as a side note thats when MS will drop the 360's price, or offer free games with it, or free xbox live or something).
A Mac Mini costs $599.99 and can dual boot into windows and then run all those MS compatible games.
I think a lot of people are going to consider the nextgen consoles way too expensive for too few features and opt for a Nintendo Revolution as Nintendo seems to be the "baragain label" these days.
Everyone complains about the console wars one way or the other: M$ is greedy, $ony $ucks, Revolution controller is dumb, etc. But as for myself and a few other people I know, we've already made our decision.
Whatever console has the best games, we're going to buy.
I've made this statement before, and I'll make it again: whichever console has the best/most RPGs wins. That single statement has been true for the past 4 console wars (NES won, SNES won, PS won, PS2 won. All of them had more RPGs than the competing systems; granted, that's not to say that the other systems didn't have good games or good RPGs, but the opposing system simply had more). I'm willing to bet that the 360 has no RPGs to speak of (Oblivion doesn't count), and therefore I'm not going to buy it. Now, that of course is my own opinion and personal experience, but I'm not the only one who feels this way. Mark my words: whichever console has the most and/or best RPGs WILL win. Four other systems can't be wrong.
And just as an after-thought, 360s are currently sitting on my local Wal-Mart and Hastings shelves gathering dust.
And as always, the winners will be the consumers and the publishers.
I don't wish to sound so pessimistic here, but I really can't see how -- between the 360 and the PS3 -- the consumers will be winners in this coming console generation (I don't think 'war' applies as it just seems like a pissing contest between Microsoft and Sony). Their development focus seems centered on the wrong things, for one. Number crunching, graphical horsepower, and 3rd party developer support is all fine and well, but it doesn't always make for fun games.
The biggest issue, though, is price. The 360, adequately equipped with a selection of nearly-requisite accessories, is well over $400. And that's before the first game (I'm not counting Live! content because not everyone has broadband). When the PS3 is released, I suspect, as rumors have suggested, that it's price will be slightly higher. Games in this round are also expected to be more expensive for both consoles, and who wants to pay $70 for a sequel of a sequel that's lackluster at best?
I remember rolling up into a Toys 'R Us back in the 80s and buying a brand new Nintendo Entertainment System for just under $100US. Yeah, a 'current-gen' console shortly after nation-wide rollout for UNDER ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Unthinkable nowadays, isn't it? Toss in my first game -- The Legend of Zelda -- and I was set and still under the $200 mark. New games? At the time, I rented them. If I liked them, I bought them, and they certainly didn't cost $70.
Rising cost of living, rising gas prices, and the rising price of sub-standard entertainment (film, music, television, and video games)... I can't see how the consumers are winners.
I'm not saying there won't be some good games on either console, but it's so bloody expensive. And for gamers on a budget, it's completely out of reach until sometime after the six-month mark when those pennies have been saved and the console price drops a bit. I mean, I don't even get to play many of the new PC games until they get into the $10-$20 bargain level because of financial issues.
Nintendo, on the other hand, seems better-focused on providing an actual product at a price that's easier to swallow. They seem focused on fun, too, and while I'm sure it'll have its share of games that suck, I feel that the majority will be innovative and entertaining.
The bottom line for all three companies is to push a product and make a profit, as it is with any company, really, but I believe Nintendo has a better hold on what people are after, and they seem to care more about their customer having fun. And in video games, it's about enjoying yourself. And it doesn't hurt that they also conscientious about costs to the consumer.
In the end? Well, I'll probably end up buying all three consoles, wallet willing, but I foresee my first purchase in this generation being a Nintendo console.
[End of Line]
I'd link to show you but it's on the Slashdot backlog check it yourself.
Bacchus has zero credibility. I hope Infinium paid him well, because I wouldn't trust him with another system launch.
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
You should keep it in mind that gaming console is not like an office productibity suite or an operating system for business machines. It's entertainment business. If money is the only way to the success in entertainment business Bill Gates would have become a rock star by now.