Industry Reaction To M$ 360 Price scheme

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=796&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=2


The article is 3 pages long. The first page which I will post here deals with the Developers comments. The second page explores the media\'s reaction which seems not to be that good and then the 3rd page we hear what the The Analysts have to say.

Developers and Publishers

Lyle Hall
Studio director
Heavy Iron Studios

"From a developer and publisher perspective, it makes no difference
to us today in how we build our games for Xbox360 because Microsoft has
instructed us in advance to assume no hard drive from a technical
requirements standpoint.

"Longterm, it could limit some of the console\'s technical potential if you have a fairly fractured audience from launch. However, that is always adjustable by the right absolute must-have game coming out that requires the hard disk.  For the retailers, its initial consumer appeal to the casual gaming audience is more limited than last time because the Xbox360 does not offer any new mass market product
innovation like the previous console did in supporting DVD movie
playback."


CS Weaver
Founder
Bethesda Softworks
Also Visiting Scholar at M.I.T

"The idea of selling a $299 \'basic\' (read crippled) version of the new Xbox may make for minor bragging rights and a little press, but it is akin to buying a Ferrari F430 only to find that while the car is beautiful and has a powerful engine, the model you bought lacks a transmission capable of getting out of first gear. You may be able to rev the deep-throated engine and impress the neighbors, but in truth, you will barely be able to get out of the garage.

"This is one of those silly market concepts dreamed up by a middle-aged, non-gamer who once worked at Proctor and Gamble. To him or her I say, \'Stick to Tide and Pringles.\'

"With the original Xbox, I admired Microsoft for having the imagination to incorporate an Ethernet connector. Even though they got the initial timing wrong, it was a leap of faith by a major player who showed the industry they were willing to back a vision. The current play of $299 for a box that is inadequate in order to have bragging rights over Sony is as bad an idea as the RJ45 connector was a good one.

"So, listen up Microsoft - never disrespect your audience. We will understand if you tell us that you cannot match PS3 in price because of the different approach you have taken in order to achieve a better end result. But do NOT confuse the retail chain with a near worthless SKU and try to pull one over on your public for the right to play shell games with price when the PS3 is released next year.

"That is a recipe for more bad word of mouth than any \'under $300\' price will ever achieve in the hearts and minds of your customers. It takes fourteen positive impressions to register “awareness” with a consumer. It takes but one negative impression to wipe it out. I figure with your initial leap of faith added to this latest stupid pet trick, you’re just about even…

Doug Hare
VP of product development
The Collective

"From a developer perspective, I don\'t see [Microsoft\'s decision] having much of an impact other than that most, if not all, games will be developed to function perfectly well without any reliance on a hard drive. If it gets the platform into the hands of more consumers then it surely must be a good thing for the industry."


Scott Miller
CEO
3D Realms

"One word:  Blunder. Developers will almost always cater to the lowest spec\'ed system when it comes to consoles, so as to maximize the customer base.  So, my guess is that few games will truly make significant use of the hard drive, given that it\'s an option that cannot be counted on."

David Perry
President
Shiny Entertainment

"I\'ve personally always been a big fan of being able to upgrade stuff I own.  It\'s like adding a 2GB memory stick to your PSP, when some people are happy with the poopy 32MB card that comes with it, I\'m not.  It\'s like buying a car with an optional GPS built in or not. I hate not having the choice. Choice is your friend. I\'ve been pushing for it for years on the consoles. I even had a friend that once built a prototype console, into which you could add as many processors as you could afford.
 
"The PC model is the example, giving gamers the experience they are happy to pay for. Xbox 360 actually beats the PC as there\'s a common high-quality 3D baseline, so you can only go upwards. I hope Microsoft enjoys the experience from this strategy and truly opens up the model for Xbox 720.  Meaning if I choose to add extra features or enhance features, I can do that.  (Faster hard drives, more texture memory, physics chips etc.) Fingers crossed.



Mark Rein
VP
Epic Games

"I think it\'s a very good strategy given the potential competitive landscape. They get a lower priced version for people who are more cost-conscious and an everything-you-need-for-online-gaming version for those who want the full experience. Developers were always told not to expect a hard drive on every machine so nobody has developed with the assumption it will be there.

"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.

[Nvidia256\'s comment] --> As if you are going to say anything negative about the 360 considering you are the biggest middware provider for 360, same goes for PS3.
 
Jon Middleton
VP business development
Mad Catz

"It’s nice to see that Microsoft brought some creative pricing to their launch strategy. Offering a premium pack complete with all the bells and whistles is great for early adopters, but the addition of an \'a la carte\' approach to a next-gen console release may lead to quicker adoption by the mass gaming community.

"This move should help ease the cost impact and allow retailers to offer a wider array of possible hardware bundles. It will certainly help drive sales for Microsoft’s third party peripheral partners."

Tisk ,Tisk ,Tisk M$ if you wanna fall flat on your face against the mighty SONY, then you have already taken the first step in doing so.

here is what some of the accessories look like. Those faceplates look stupid

[GmanJoe]

At least MS made this console stackable. Dammit, Sony!

microsoft needs to fire whoever was in charge of marketing for xbox 3DO, honestly.

a core version is just retarded and completely defeated the point of having a built in hard drive.

Originally posted by GmanJoe
At least MS made this console stackable. Dammit, Sony!

I guess Sony just wants PS3 on top.

[Living-In-Clip]

"One word: Blunder. Developers will almost always cater to the lowest spec\'ed system when it comes to consoles, so as to maximize the customer base. So, my guess is that few games will truly make significant use of the hard drive, given that it\'s an option that cannot be counted on."

Shouldn\'t they quit worrying about MS and start worrying about Duke Nukem Forever?

Duke Nukem Forever was a joke I guess.....I mean....a real joke.The title even sais it.

Duke Nukem FOREVER.

We will wait forever

why not just throw a 5 gig in the core and 40 gig in the premium

[Jumpman]

why not just have one ocnsole...damn all these money making add on schemes

MS has misplaced the HD cost burden.

They could have made the HD standard again and let the extra costs \'translate\'

into premium price on every game which absolutely requires HD use.

You guys are making such a big deal out of what will turn out to be a non-issue.  Microsoft\'s going to be fine, now you can all rest easy.

"fine" and staying in 2nd (possibly 3rd) place are two different animals

3rd place, please!

What the itty bitty revolution is going take second, as if.

Spicy news :

The harddisk IS required for the Xbox360 to be backwards compatible AT ALL.

quote :- The brochures all confirm that a hard-drive is needed for backwards compatibility (this has been known all along, but it is the first official MS confirmation of the fact).

 So, no Halo 1 or SplinterCell 1 on your core xbox360.

source

Originally posted by Knotter8
Spicy news :

The harddisk IS required for the Xbox360 to be backwards compatible AT ALL.

quote :- The brochures all confirm that a hard-drive is needed for backwards compatibility (this has been known all along, but it is the first official MS confirmation of the fact).

 So, no Halo 1 or SplinterCell 1 on your core xbox360.

source

Thus the backwards compatability is known as being possible on the premium model and not the core.

This all comes down to how well Microsoft communicates to the consumer what the benefits are of either package, and then let the consumer decide what they need.

There will be an audience for both packages, and people won\'t mind shelling out more dollars for the accessories.  Sony proved that with the PSP Value Pak.