"Sold separately" redux

[WilliamJHolla42]

What I Believe: This is all assumption......

MS is positioning themselves to attack 2 markets: Hard-Core Gamers and Casual Gamers

But How?: As much as we pine about the lack of a HD, there is a package that offers one, and many will purchase this package. These are your hard-core gamers who have been following the XBOX360 since it's humble origins. The package that comes without is for those who just simply "want the system."

The Logic (MS's train of thought): Earlier Release=Earlier Profit. And I'm sure that producing systems without the HD standard will drive down production costs in some incremental amount, which would also help increase profit margin. No matter how we feel about the HD "differentiating" the current gen XBOX, it did not turn a profit for microsoft, and they will not make that mistake again. Removing the HD is not product suicide, it's cost cutting. If all the systems came standard with a HD, we'd probably be paying more for the system, and complaining about that, and Microsoft would still be waiting forever to turn a profit.

It's funny, no matter how much technology advances, how much it costs, we as consumers will never be pleased. A very sad truth friends....

[Lerxt]

Quote: Originally Posted by VeNOM2099

On the other, MS is quite aware that EVERYONE who already owns an Xbox will be going for the Premium pack. What's that 15 Million strong? .

Minus one.

[fossen]

Quote: Originally Posted by VeNOM2099

Personally, I think it's a stupid idea for the simple reason that any sane person will look at both types of consoles, and with some quick calculations will come to the only conclusion possible: it's not worth getting the "Core" system when for barely 100$ more, you get the entire enchillada which would have cost you nearly 300$ more if you bought all the extra component seperately...

Wrong.

It's not worth buying the extra $100 of hard drive when it won't be utilized well. I'm not paying $100 for what will be a big memory card. It's wasn't the hard drive that made Xbox so special ... it was the standard hard drive that made it work. An optional hard drive .... we saw how that panned out on the PS2, didn't we?

[Steelaz1966]

Quote: Originally Posted by fossen

Wrong. It's not worth buying the extra $100 of hard drive when it won't be utilized well. I'm not paying $100 for what will be a big memory card. It's wasn't the hard drive that made Xbox so special ... it was the standard hard drive that made it work. An optional hard drive .... we saw how that panned out on the PS2, didn't we?

Exactly. People keep saying that we are complaining about the cost and that's not true. If they would have just put out the $399 version, I don't think that it would have caused so much of an uproar.

[sdrotar]

To me, it has nothing to do with cost - just the system's potential.
Hard drives do a lot more then just speed up loading times when they're utilized well.

Early adopters of any technology - including consoles - know they're going to pay more for it. C'est la vie. The price ($399) doesn't sound unreasonable to me given the package... until I realize that, like Fossen said, I'm now essentially buying a 20GB memory card instead of a integral part of a system that furthers it's potential.

If Microsoft comes in with an Xbox that's $200 cheaper than the PS3 (which is entirely possible at $299 to a likely $499), then I'm sure it'll really help their sales. But in the long run, they won't have a distinct technical edge at all - no hard drive, no next-gen DVD - and Sony's got the name recognition to outlast them.

I understand the decision, but I fear that it may be short-sighted.

[Flawless]

I'm not sure if people know this or not, but the HDD in the Xbox was far under-utilized. How many games used it for caching? Not as many as people think.

Game caching and faster load times are still going to be there for those that have the HDD. If you don't take my word for it, then listen to Major Nelson's blogcast.

http://www.majornelson.com/

Download Leipzig Press Conference Blogcast in MP3 format 9:42 (3.9 Mb)
http://www.major-nelson.com/blogcast...05-141-mp3.mp3


Microsoft has implemented development standards prior to the package launch to avoid fixed focus on one or the other making fears of a development divide non existant.

Mark Rein (VP Epic Games) thinks the 512MB of RAM is more important and will make a bigger difference than the HDD would have.

Quote:

"Developers already got our big Xbox 360 gift - we got 512MB of RAM. That was a huge win for developers and customers alike and there was no way we were going to get that and a hard drive on every machine. The RAM is more important and will make a bigger difference than the hard drive would have. There will be lots of great reasons why you'd want to buy the hard drive and it will be available as an upgrade so nobody is selling themselves short if they can't afford the all-options version because they can buy those options a-la-carte (for more money mind you) if needed.

[Flawless]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steelaz1966

If they wanted to have two systems, they should have put a hard drive in the core system and sold it for $349. Hard drives don't cost $100. Right now I can get a Maxtor 160 GB, 7200 rpm hd for $49.99. For $79.97, I can get a Seagate 250 GB, 7200 rpm hd. They are only putting in a 20 gb hd. As for how many ps2 games use the hd, the reason that the number is small is because developers can't count on the hd being there. I think that MS messed up on this one.

Is this the PC market? NO

Are those HDD's portable? NO

Do those HDD's come with a pre-loaded game, trailers, and demos? NO

The reason why the PS2 HDD wasn't supported was because it CAME REALLY LATE, was very limited, was never really capitilized upon and (IIRC) required rather extensive support from the developer. The Xbox 360 HDD will be promoted at launch. The two are totally different.

[Steelaz1966]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

Is this the PC market? NO

It's retail. A hard drive is a hard drive. MS is doing the formatting.

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

Are those HDD's portable? NO

Easily made portable, plug and play. You don't have to run an OS on the drive so it's just a matter of plugging it in.

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

Do those HDD's come with a pre-loaded game, trailers, and demos? NO

Not needed. Give the lower end system a blank drive.

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

The reason why the PS2 HDD wasn't supported was because it CAME REALLY LATE, was very limited, was never really capitilized upon and (IIRC) required rather extensive support from the developer. The Xbox 360 HDD will be promoted at launch. The two are totally different

It's still around and still not being utilized.