"Sold separately" redux

[Splinters From The Pine]

I'm stunned.

As I read the newly-released details regarding the Xbox 360's pricing and packages over and over again, I can't wrap my mind around what I'm reading.
For the first time since the original Xbox launched, I have no clue what...{br}{br}View the Entire Article{br}

[VeNOM2099]

Quote: Originally Posted by Splinters From The Pine

I'm stunned. As I read the newly-released details regarding the Xbox 360's pricing and packages over and over again, I can't wrap my mind around what I'm reading. For the first time since the original Xbox launched, I have no clue what... View the Entire Article

Well, as I've said somehwere else, the problem is that Microsoft does NOT want to be losing money on consoles this time around. Second, not every developer was using the power of the hard-drive to stream some parts of the game onto it. Not many games needed it anyways (not sports games).

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...

In essense, I think that MS is making a marketing coup: on the one hand, they'll appeal to those casual gamers who feel that 299$ is as high as they're willing to spend on a console. Casual Gamers like those that already own a PS2 but don't own an Xbox and who don't want to wait almost half a year more for the PS3 (which may be more expensive even without a hard-drive).

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? Add in maybe another 5 Million who will jump from the Sony bandwagon to the Microsoft one by purchasing the core system (and then generate some extra money by purchasing the "missing" components piecemeal) and you're looking at some interesting financial gains in the first 3-6 months after the release of the Xbox 360.

[Graphik]

Removing the hard drive has got to be the dumbest move by MS. As many times I bragged to friends about my lack of memory cards and that I have never even seen the program used to arrange files on the xbox after 2 years, now its going all down the tubes.

MS is defintily trying to follow Sony by charging extra money for accessories like the Hard Drive. Thing is, it only works for Sony because they established that they were cheap bastards in the very beggining with PS1. Despite the numerous accessories you had to buy, it still outsold the competitors and devs still prefered to utilize that system over Dreamcast. Fast foward to now, MS thinks they can pull the same crap. Shame on them. My guess is they think that since they have the earlier launch, that ppl have no choice but to be suckered into buying extras. People like me, who are impatient and hate to be left behind, have no choice but to fall into MS' deadly web of accessory and add ons.

[luv_mist]

Talk about right timing. Not only a great article but the reason why I might just sell my $299 XBOX 360 and sit this one out. Just not appealing anymore. The epitomy of what I adopted as gaming is being overtaken by stupidity. No logical reasoning behind it that I can see, so why buy it? I'm sure there were other people looking for an opening like this to jump ship. PS3 just picked up more momentum cause of this....

Quote: Originally Posted by Graphik

People like me, who are impatient and hate to be left behind, have no choice but to fall into MS' deadly web of accessory and add ons.

You sir, are the only one I've seen so far. This upgrade in technology is not appealing to me. I have an XBOX but honestly don't play all those RTS or FPS or MMORPG or simple RPG so they're not really appealing to me anymore. Heck, if I want to spend so much, I might as well get all that other crap that Sony will be fine tuning a year or two later. Add ons are fine if the system is great. Sony had a great system with great games. They were already proven, never taking away from their proven foundation. MS on the other hand....

[Shamrock_11]

Microsoft simply know's their consumers, and the consumers they want to attract. Xbox 360 becoming the next Dreamcast??? All you have to do is look at the line-up of launch games and you can see that won't be the case. What you get for $399.99 is an incredible value, and those who are already established customers of Xbox will buy. Microsoft is a very savy, smart company and they know what they are doing. Do you think they have'nt done extensive market research on this? You can guarantee they have done their homework. The fact remains that there will be a fairly long period of time between the Xbox 360 launch and the PS3 launch, which seems to keep growing longer and longer as time passes. The PS3 is going to be insanely expensive when it launches, and we'll all be laughing about this Xbox 360 announcement when the PS3 prices are announced. During that time a ton of awesome next-gen games are going to launch on the Xbox 360, and millons of people will jump on the bandwagon. Microsoft has no worries IMHO.

[DXZeke]

You've heard all the leaks that the Core system for the 360 was going to be 299, while you hear all the leaks saying the PS3 will be 399. That's still a savings....

Then the Hard Drive crisis.
MS said that their HD will support game saves, downloads, music files.
Sony has stated that their HD will only be for MMORPGs and media files. Game saves will only exsist on the memory cards.

Yes it would be nice if the HD was built in, but they are going to bring in some new gamers that will at least try the system at 299 instead of say launching the system for 399.

How many games do you really need the caching power on the Xbox? Look at how many of the PS2 games started using that Streaming trick to have virtually no load times (jax and daxter 3 as an example).

Sports games... they'll probably do the same thing that VC and Take 2 did with the PS2. If you have the Hard Drive you'll have extra replay features, ect.

I don't think the 360 will go the way of the Dreamcast. MS won't quit and thorw in the towel like Sega of Japan did.

All will be well. Like stated above, just wait until the PS3 hits with prices of 399 for the system, 99 for a Hard Drive, 40-50 for a memory card... etc. Then you'll look at what you got with the 360 bundle for 400. a system, wireless controller, media controller, XB live headset, HD cables, a 20 gig HD... you know.

But I see Shawn's point. I just don't think it will be that drastic.

[sdrotar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shamrock_11

Microsoft simply know's their consumers, and the consumers they want to attract. Xbox 360 becoming the next Dreamcast??? All you have to do is look at the line-up of launch games and you can see that won't be the case. What you get for $399.99 is an incredible value, and those who are already established customers of Xbox will buy. Microsoft is a very savy, smart company and they know what they are doing. Do you think they have'nt done extensive market research on this? You can guarantee they have done their homework. The fact remains that there will be a fairly long period of time between the Xbox 360 launch and the PS3 launch, which seems to keep growing longer and longer as time passes. The PS3 is going to be insanely expensive when it launches, and we'll all be laughing about this Xbox 360 announcement when the PS3 prices are announced. During that time a ton of awesome next-gen games are going to launch on the Xbox 360, and millons of people will jump on the bandwagon. Microsoft has no worries IMHO.

The Dreamcast was a heck of a machine for it's time, too.
But it got hammered because of two reasons: EA didn't support them (not a problem for the 360), and the device didn't do quite enough to delineate it from it's competition (still may be a problem). As a result, it couldn't gain enough of a customer base to make a dent, and was soon relegated to the dustbin of history.

Like I said - I want the Xbox 360 to succeed. Think I'd be writing a weekly column on Xbox.com for over two years if I didn't?

But I'm not convinced that this is the right approach. Games will have to developed for the units that don't have an HD, and that means, by nature, that the HD will never be fully utilized.

The Xbox's success has been built upon technological superiority, and it doesn't seem like they're going to maintain quite the same edge with this approach. If not, I don't think it'll have enough to make a dent in Sony's armor. That's all I meant... and I hope I'm completely wrong.

[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.