xbox and xbox2 news

pstwo, your slackin

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) ? For the past two years, Microsoft has established a reputation as a follower in the video game war. When Sony acted, Microsoft reacted ? especially when it came to price cuts. Things could be about to change.

Microsoft\'s Xbox may be on the verge of a substantial price cut, falling from $179 to $99 by Labor Day, according to P.J. McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research.

"It is our belief that the price on the consoles in North America could see a stepped drop this year, with both the PS2 and Xbox being cut to $129 between now and the May E3 trade show, with [Microsoft] then cutting the Xbox further to $99 in the late summer," he wrote in a research note released Wednesday.

McNealy also believes Microsoft will launch its next generation console in late 2005 ? a year earlier than has been previously rumored. That would put the Xbox 2 on store shelves up to a full year before Sony\'s PlayStation 3.

Microsoft, when asked about the report, said it does not comment on rumors and speculation.

The predictions are pretty bold ? but not without merit. It\'s no mystery that the price of home video game machines will be coming down this year. After 2003\'s lackluster $20 cuts, Microsoft and Sony both saw console sales falter. Xbox hardware sales fell 18 percent in North America between 2002 and 2003. PlayStation 2 sales were off 49 percent in Holiday 2003. (Only Nintendo, which dropped GameCube prices to $99, saw sales increase.)

The price cut would result in a flood of red ink, though. When Microsoft launched the Xbox in 2001 for $299, it reportedly lost $100 for every unit it sold. Component prices have certainly gone down since then, but the console has never reached the break-even point.

But at this stage of the game (so to speak), Microsoft doesn\'t seem to care much about that. Deep price cuts ? especially if they go unmatched by Sony ? would drive up the number of people who own and begin growing accustomed to the Xbox. And having that deep installed customer base is the key to driving sales of a next generation machine.

So $99 would certainly build brand awareness as Microsoft prepares for the launch of its next machine. But I\'m not sure a 2005 launch is necessarily a good move.


Xbox for $179 has not attracted new buyers.
Yes, being the first to market would let Microsoft do away with that reputation it has as a follower. It might also force Sony to either step up production of the PS3 or increase the technical specs.

But showing your hand a year before the industry\'s 500 lb. gorilla does carries a significant amount of risk. Just ask Sega, which tried doing that with the Dreamcast ? and got booted from the hardware business as a result. Gamers looked at what the Dreamcast could do and were generally impressed ? but decided to save their dollars for the PS2, since they considered it a sure bet.

Microsoft, certainly, is in a much stronger position than Sega. The Xbox\'s buzz factor is on the rise ? and will soar higher if the company opts for a $99 price tag. But it hasn\'t yet established a reputation that\'s strong enough for it to sway Sony loyalists. (Not to mention there\'s a fringe faction that refuses to buy the machine simply because it\'s made by Microsoft.)

Certainly, it could hurt Sony during the crucial holiday sales period ? both 2004 (with Microsoft offering a lower price point) and 2005 (with Microsoft offering a state-of-the-art product). But a rush to market could give Sony time to wind up for a devastating punch.

Look at the software situation. "Halo 2" ? the second installment of the most popular Xbox game (by far) ? is due later this year. Exactly when is a mystery ? Microsoft will only offer "it will be ready when it\'s ready". It\'s possible we won\'t see the game until this holiday season. That would leave an insufficient amount of time to prepare another installment to launch in conjunction with Xbox 2.

Obviously, it\'s not essential that the system launch with its best game. And an argument could be made that holding "Halo 3" to meet the PS3 launch head on might be wise. But the Xbox has so far been unable to deliver another game line that is anywhere near as effective at moving hardware.

All Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) needs to do is announce that a new "Grand Theft Auto" title ? and perhaps a new "Jak" or "Ratchet and Clank" game ? will launch simultaneously with the PS3 and it could suck the wind out of Microsoft\'s (MSFT: Research, Estimates) sails.

And the nightmare scenario in Redmond has to be releasing the Xbox 2 a year early ? only to have it move off shelves at a lackluster pace.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/28/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm?cnn=yes

I\'d buy one for a $100...

McNealy also believes Microsoft will launch its next generation console in late 2005 ? a year earlier than has been previously rumored. That would put the Xbox 2 on store shelves up to a full year before Sony\'s PlayStation 3

If true then the good ship X box 2 is sunk even before its launched.

If Microsoft have any hope in even starting to close the gap between them and sony then they will have to have a tech jump on them (i.e. launch behind the PS3 with a batch of exclusives).

By 2005 the PS2 sales could top 80 million worldwide (or more), leaving them enough room to hold of the X box, NGC & X box 2
Just like the PSX did with the S\\aturn, N64 & DC

Sony can now afford to sit back take stock of the X box 2 and design the PS3 to be "da X box" kuller

[poker game Analogy]
By releaseing first they beasiclly show crads and a let  sony to work longer on the PS3
[/poker game Analogy]

[Jumpman]

I\'d buy one for that much.

haha I love how mm puts the "?" on the text.

Whoever wrote this though I believe he wrote BS

All Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates) needs to do is announce that a new "Grand Theft Auto" title ? and perhaps a new "Jak" or "Ratchet and Clank" game ? will launch simultaneously with the PS3 and it could suck the wind out of Microsoft\'s (MSFT: Research, Estimates) sails.

Its almost as if they are telling us PS2 success is based on sequels of PSX games.
Grand Theft Auto prooved a success and boosted sales on PS2 as well as the new "character based" platform games released but these wont be what will make PS3 succesfull.We ve seen TTT, Wipeout Fusion, Ridge Racer 6 and other sequels of PS1 games appearing on PS2 but these just made consumers keep their estimations and expectations high as well as maintaining the popularity of the "Playstation" name by bringing sequels that were almost like trademark titles for the original PS1.
We ve heard people complaining that the sequels were just rehashes  and Sony wont base their hopes with currntly existing titles just like they did with Crash Bandicoot.
We got games like The Getaway, Jack and Daxter/ Rachet & Clank (2 titles that replaced Crash and brought freshness to the platform games released), as well as few other titles Sony tried to gain exclusive rights I cant remember now.

Originally posted by ooseven
If true then the good ship X box 2 is sunk even before its launched.

If Microsoft have any hope in even starting to close the gap between them and sony then they will have to have a tech jump on them (i.e. launch behind the PS3 with a batch of exclusives).

By 2005 the PS2 sales could top 80 million worldwide (or more), leaving them enough room to hold of the X box, NGC & X box 2
Just like the PSX did with the S\\aturn, N64 & DC

Sony can now afford to sit back take stock of the X box 2 and design the PS3 to be "da X box" kuller

[poker game Analogy]
By releaseing first they beasiclly show crads and a let  sony to work longer on the PS3
[/poker game Analogy]

Man what has happen to you? That makes no sense at all. How can they just sit back and make and xbox kuller as you call it and have it already for production in 1 year.

I would hate to be a developer for the ps3 my game would never make by launch cause sony is sitting back trying to come with those xbox kuller specs.

No but going simple Logic of this generation... if the X box 2 launches first then it will face the same problems that were leveled at the PS2 for being the OLDer console of the generation.

Come to meantion it ... your right what i said makes no sence what so ever...

Note to self must lay of drinking the neet Acetone.

Originally posted by mm
pstwo, your slackin

  I new about this news about 2 days ago but I didn\'t want to post too much Xbox news.      

I have many Xbox news, New games etc to post but I\'ll keep it at a minimum here.    


 Talking about buying a new Xbox, Check out the next Xbox birthday treat.  

http://xbox.totalgames.net/pma/18795

Xbox fans may be in for a treat on the console\'s birthday this year. Several websites have suggested that Microsoft will be releasing a clear white Xbox with matching controllers to mark the machine\'s second anniversary on 14 March.

The celebratory console is rumoured to house a huge 20Gb hard drive - a massive increase over the regular machine. However, as Microsoft claims that the hard drive is the most expensive part of the console, this does make the rumour look rather unlikely.

Last year, Microsoft marked the Xbox\'s first birthday by releasing a clear green model, so there is a precedent for special edition consoles. And we know that clear white consoles exist as they\'re already used by games developers. Whether or not there are enough of those around to be released to the public is another question.

Besides ooseven\'s poor spelling what he has to say makes sense, even if he doesn\'t realize it.  Developing a console for that extra year would make it considerably stronger in the graphics department.  With that being said a lot of the Sony faithful would wait that extra year rather than buy the Xbox 2 which is out at the moment.  I figure Xbox2 will sell well cause they have built up stock but every year Sony gains more followers.