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Why Microsoft's Keeping the Next Xbox Under Wraps
donniebaseball23 writes "Microsoft recently confirmed that it's not going to be talking at all about its next Xbox, codenamed Durango, at this year's E3, instead keeping the focus on Xbox 360. Forbes columnist Chris Morris explains that Microsoft likely doesn't have games to show for the system yet — and why should they take the focus off Xbox 360, which currently has a lot of momentum? Ultimately, though, the decision not to show the next system 'could have a ripple effect on the rest of the industry,' he says. And by pushing Durango's unveiling back a year, 'Microsoft could find itself going head to head with Sony in a battle of features, even if the machines don't hit shelves at the same time.'"
The latest rumor is that an ARM-based Xbox 'lite' is planned for 2013, with a true successor to the 360 coming some time after that.
I think that while Microsoft would certainly like to release the new Xbox already, they are afraid of doing so. Not because of Sony, but because of Nintendo.
The last generation surprised everyone on the console front. Hardcore gamers kept playing with PS3 and Xbox360, but Wii ultimately won the round by attracting general population into gaming. Suddenly you had millions of new people introduced into gaming, especially girls. While Microsoft has always produced quality products and by far they are the best on the industry on lots of products, they don't know how to capture that market. They want it badly, but they want to look how Nintendo succeeds with their Wii successor. By delaying the release they can learn from Nintendo's mistakes and hit them hard next year and become the #1 of next generation consoles.
Just keep in mind, MS and Sony, that every year your systems age is another year for more of your users to look at their friends' new PC's and say "Wow, that blows away my console!" Being more-and-more obsolete is not a good position to be in in the videogaming world. Every time I've turned away from consoles in the past, it's been because I was impressed by how advanced the PC's had gotten compared to the consoles.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Microsoft is planning to have XBOX 720 run a variation of Windows 8. This would finally kill the 'black sheep' from their platform lineup and complete their "Windows Everywhere" vision.
They should call the 360 a "burning platform" to drum up some excitement for the possible future versions.
They could call it "Deepwater Horizon". That should drum up support!
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
Nah, hook it up to the next installment of the Hunger Games - "Catching Fire".
Works on so many levels.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Why pre-announce something that is far from being ready to ship? All that would do is steal sales and thunder away from your existing product. The only reason to announce a new console early is if a competitor is getting ready to release something significant enough to affect your market share. Seems like this is just an excuse for a fluff article.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The current Xbox 360 is still generating massive amounts of revenue, http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2012/01/12/xbox-360-extends-win-streak-to-12-straight-months-with-banner-holiday-sales.aspx, if they introduce a new platform, it will kill off the current version and forego the millions in additional revenue by extending the life of the 360. only when sales start to slump will the 720 be announced.
Sold about 20M more units but from what I've read in Business Week I think it was a few months ago the problem is in game sales. Those casual gamers tend to by a few games and then stop. XBox and PS3 gamers tend to by a few games a quarter. Wii has a lot of add ons too but I suspect XBox with Kinect and its higher initial price probably makes the hardware sales a wash but they sell more games.
A bigger issue might be Kinect: maybe they don't have a new piece of hardware available yet and don't want to get caught being the company that releases the same accessory as the previous console confusing the argument for upgrading. They might end up coming out with it integrated in the console I suspect.
First is that they tend to be an "and a" console. Meaning people seem to own one of the others "and a Wii". Ok, nothing wrong with that, but it does seem to be that it isn't so much competing and taking away the market for the other two, but living along with them. That does, of course, mean fighting in terms of getting game sales. People may well elect to buy for their other console.
Second thing I've noticed is they don't seem to get used that much both by the people who have multiple consoles, and those that just have Wiis. They seem to get treated like board games in that they get played with a bit, but then put away only to be taken out for parties. Again, nothing wrong with that, but people don't seem to be buying a bunch of games for them. They get some at first but then set it aside
This seems to be accelerating as the novelty of the motion control is wearing off.
The Wii is not a failure, in any way shape or form, but it is not some massively dominant game platform.
Why would I want to lose the ability to use my phone as, well, a phone to plug it in to my TV and play games or watch movies on it? I could instead just buy a device that plays games and does so better, and then keep my phone as a phone.
To me this is like suggesting you get rid of your oven, toaster, kettle, and so on and only have a microwave. Yes, technically you can get along with just a microwave, it'll cook most things, with some potential issues and reservations. Or, you know, I could not get rid of those and keep different devices for different jobs.
I guess some people didn't know how to interpret the original Xbox 360's error indicator. It takes three red quadrants to make a Red Ring of Death, despite the name. A full red ring (four red quadrants) only means the video cable isn't pushed in all the way.
a $1 smartphone/tablet game may be enough, why get a $200-300 console?
Because smartphones and tablets are limited in the genres that they can do well. Touching objects on the screen, or sliding objects around on the screen? Great. Anything that scrolls, or otherwise would work best with a gamepad? Not so great. Puzzle games like Bejeweled? Great. Puzzle games like Tetris? Not so great. A touch screen is completely flat, meaning that unlike with a directional pad, an analog stick, or a set of buttons, the thumb can't feel where it is on the controller.
It's like they don't want to sell for the PC at all unless you're hemorrhaging money.
For one thing, an iPhone application's developer keeps 70 percent of the revenue after deducting $1000 for each Mac to run Xcode and $100 per year for the developer license. A developer of a game on a CD doesn't get nearly that high of a royalty.