MSNBC: Xbox 360 is going to need more than a lengthy warranty to beat competition

[Zeus]

MSNBC has published an editorial which looks at the newfound trouble the Xbox 360 has in the pipeline for itself. The article concludes that MS are going to need more than a lengthy warranty to fight off its competitors who will be sure to attack to the weakeness that is the Xbox 360 hardware failure.


But as the industry hurtles toward the all-important holiday season, Microsoft may need more than a generous warranty and a public mea culpa to stave off its competitors that are sure to capitalize on this admission of hardware failure.

With the Nintendo Wii showing no signs of slowing down (it outsold the Xbox 360 in May and is still nearly impossible to find at retail) and the PlayStation 3 about to put its underwhelming first year behind it with a plethora of new, enticing games, Microsoft's position as market leader in this new generation of video games is, as Moore may say, without guarantee.


News Source: <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19685018/" target="_blank">MSN.com</a>

[poisonousjuice]

MSNBC needs to get some viewers. 360 needs to keep doing what it's doing... putting out good games. I am looking forward to those "enticing" games for PS3 that they mention. I'd be happy to purchase a gimped 20 gig ps3 for $400.

[dannybII]

A plethora of new enticing games for the PS3..... they'd be what? Ermmmm.... no not that it's delayed,,,,, erm..... no not that it's no longer exclusive, erm erm erm erm.

The Wii however is still confounding everyone. Even I don't know why I brought it? Apart from playing the kids old gamecube games it's drivel. Yet still it shifts by the shed load??

[Galgor]

The Wii however is still confounding everyone. Even I don't know why I brought it? Apart from playing the kids old gamecube games it's drivel. Yet still it shifts by the shed load??

Because it's different. It doesn't cost much. Parents associate Nintendo with bringing out child-friendly games. & of course people just keep talking about it. Imho, it's something that everyone can indeed enjoy. Good games take time to develop & get released.. its all a matter of waiting.

[sigma8]

A plethora of new enticing games for the PS3..... they'd be what? Ermmmm.... no not that it's delayed,,,,, erm..... no not that it's no longer exclusive, erm erm erm erm.Lair and Heavenly Sword?

And what does the Xbox360 have that's so enticing and so exclusive? Bioshock and Mass Effect? Maybe. Except...I don't have a 360, but I will still get them. How is it possible do you ask? Because they're not totally exclusive, they'll be out on PC.

Lair and Heavenly Sword are at least exclusive in the actual sense.

[DrEggman]

Metal Gear Solid 4
Lair
Heavenly Sword
Warhawk

Speaking of exclusives, 360 is loosing most of theirs to the PC market.

On Amazon.com PS3 holds the top 3 spots with Wii coming in at #4 and xbox 360 at 22nd place, just above the pink DS. In the top 25, only 3 items are for xbox 360. The 360, the controller and 'The Darkenss' game.

http://amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/ref=sv_vg_1/105-6277837-0304448

[sigma8]

Another problem the Xbox360 has this holiday season:

If Halo3 comes out, it will overshadow everything, possibly hurting sales of other titles--simply because with Xbox, MS has way too many eggs in that one basket. They can break any record they want with that one franchise, but anything else released in its shadow will suffer.

2 million games sold is 2 million games sold. And all the better for Microsoft's pocketbook that it will be first-party profits. That's how they will squeak into the black--they plan to dominate 360 software sales and pocket all the earnings directly. It will be Nintendo-esque, in a way. The first party overshadowing its third parties.

Anyway, when, say, 4 million 360 games get sold this holiday season, and 2-3 million of them are Halo3, the third parties will not be pleased. MS will directly profit from dominating their "support" and report their first profitable quarter.

[xboxuser32]

I can only say one thing to all these comments, "FANBOYS"

[xrippa]

Lair and Heavenly Sword?

And what does the Xbox360 have that's so enticing and so exclusive? Bioshock and Mass Effect? Maybe. Except...I don't have a 360, but I will still get them. How is it possible do you ask? Because they're not totally exclusive, they'll be out on PC.

Lair and Heavenly Sword are at least exclusive in the actual sense.

i totally agree with you. Except Halo 3 will probably be the only game that in a sense... is exclusive for awhile, but the series is not a system seller for me to go buy a 360.

I can only say one thing to all these comments, "FANBOYS"

Coming from a name like yours, that means alot... really.

[amptor]

microsoft are retards with this thing..first ban a user, then the user's system constantly RLOD's, then the user will box it up and ship it back for RMA and gets a fresh one that isn't banned and goes back on live. good work microsoft, piss off your customers twice and don't get anywhere. what a f*cking waste of corporate time. i'm never buying a microsoft product again.

[DaFireStarter]

PC games are definitly not beating XBOX 360 game sales. With piracy and extremely expensive cost of the PC the market is really small(Bioshock?). All three systems have great games coming out for them. For my 360 it's gonna be Liar, heavenly sword, and Drake's Fortune. I doubt Killzone will be out this year. 360: Mass Effect, Too Human, Halo 3, Blue Dragon. Wii: Smash Bros., Galaxy, and Metroid corruption. They all have great games but I think the 360 comes out on top with Quality titles like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Too Human. Oh I forgot to mention Ace Combat 6.

microsoft are retards with this thing..first ban a user, then the user's system constantly RLOD's, then the user will box it up and ship it back for RMA and gets a fresh one that isn't banned and goes back on live. good work microsoft, piss off your customers twice and don't get anywhere. what a f*cking waste of corporate time. i'm never buying a microsoft product again.

That totally makes sense if your plan goes through. You mod your 360 to play pirated games, they bann you, then the 360 is banned, then return it and get a new one that's not banned. Yeah I would be pretty pissed to if I had to replace a broken, banned console too. People just getting more and more retarded everyday huh.

[xboxuser32]

microsoft are retards with this thing..first ban a user, then the user's system constantly RLOD's, then the user will box it up and ship it back for RMA and gets a fresh one that isn't banned and goes back on live. good work microsoft, piss off your customers twice and don't get anywhere. what a f*cking waste of corporate time. i'm never buying a microsoft product again.

Why should the user be piss if he/she got back an unbanned console when they send a banned one? The should be happy that they got an unbanned console. Are you on drugs?

[RAISH]

Why should the user be piss if he/she got back an unbanned console when they send a banned one? The should be happy that they got an unbanned console. Are you on drugs?

Yeah why be pissed at that, its not like there's anything wrong with pirated games to start with is there?

MS are quite within there rights to ban consoles if they detect it, sure my 360 was banned but I'm not complaining. XBOX LIVE is worth the subscription fee so I went out and got a new 360.

What MS really need to start doing to giving away free content on its LIVE system. Bring Clan features to the dash board, bring free downloadable games. Bring the cost of games down to £35 etc.

[Tempos]

I'm not sure the user would get back an unbanned console. When I got my refurbished console, it actually came with a mandatory update (not connected to live, nothing in the drive) which took it down the 4552, the same version as my replaced console. Unless the console I got back was sent to Microsoft because someone tried downgrading, or it bricked during an update - it looks like Microsoft may check what the details of the system you sent in were. It will most likely come up on their system a banned user needs a repair anyway and they will just ban the new console before sending it out, and undo any firmware mod and bans on the current one.

[sigma8]

PC games are definitly not beating XBOX 360 game sales. With piracy and extremely expensive cost of the PC the market is really small(Bioshock?).
Interesting. Gamespot posted news about a gaming survey that discovered the largest group of gamers (like 70%?) were PC gamers.

I'm not claiming to understand it. It did say at least, that the people who spent the most amount of time on games were hardcore console people. Although I think that may have omitted WoW addicts..probably because WoW addicts don't have time for surveys.

unless of course, the survey is being held in Ironforge or Orgrimmar..

[poisonousjuice]

did that survey include people playing minesweeper at work as "PC Gamers" ?

[whackawookie]

Interesting. Gamespot posted news about a gaming survey that discovered the largest group of gamers (like 70%?) were PC gamers.


if your participating in a gamespot survey then your not gaming :D

[DaFireStarter]

Interesting. Gamespot posted news about a gaming survey that discovered the largest group of gamers (like 70%?) were PC gamers.

I'm not claiming to understand it. It did say at least, that the people who spent the most amount of time on games were hardcore console people. Although I think that may have omitted WoW addicts..probably because WoW addicts don't have time for surveys.

unless of course, the survey is being held in Ironforge or Orgrimmar..
Gamestop is such a joke of the review site! I read some of their articles like which console to get and the calling all cars review. They're retarded.

[Scorpion3]

MSNBC needs to get some viewers. 360 needs to keep doing what it's doing... putting out good games. I am looking forward to those "enticing" games for PS3 that they mention. I'd be happy to purchase a gimped 20 gig ps3 for $400.

I actually was watching it today, and they said with the 100 dollar price drop they were equal to the price of the 360. Rofl. They obviously have no clue what they're talking about.

On another note, I miss minesweeper. :( I didn't get it with my XP version.

[MaDDaWg836]

i know so many people waiting on halo 3 to buy a 360. MS is in the lead now and with the price cuts + warranty upgrade, i see it staying that way. well the Wii may cut in first, i have one and personally it collects dust now :(.

[grapeape]

Interesting. Gamespot posted news about a gaming survey that discovered the largest group of gamers (like 70%?) were PC gamers.

I'm not claiming to understand it. It did say at least, that the people who spent the most amount of time on games were hardcore console people. Although I think that may have omitted WoW addicts..probably because WoW addicts don't have time for surveys.

unless of course, the survey is being held in Ironforge or Orgrimmar..

Oh wow 70% of users surveyed on a website about games that you have to get to using a PC play games on their PC....shocking!!!! Thats like having a survey in the back of Nintendo Power then claiming that 70% of the responders had a gamecube. Worthless stat...I have a decent gaming laptop and a good gaming desktop but I dont know a single person near me that has a decent enough system to run any game released in the past year that wasnt by popcap and I run a repair service so I know at least 100 computers within a 1 mile radius of me. That said everyone I know in the neighborhood that is either under 40 or has kids seems to own at least one game console. I would bet that if I ask everyone in my neighborhood if they had heard of gamespot I could count the ones that say yes on one hand. Its a popular website but only in the online sense which makes its audience rather tiny in comparison to the overall population.

[Xenogears V]

-Console more reliable.

-Cut of the price.

-More games with the quality of Gear Of War.

[sigma8]

if your participating in a gamespot survey then your not gaming :D
Did you read what I said? I said it was NEWS ABOUT A SURVEY that gamespot posted. It was from a research group. It was not a Gamespot-run survey. Jeeze.

[sigma8]

Oh wow 70% of users surveyed on a website about games that you have to get to using a PC play games on their PC....shocking!!!!

HEY YOU KNOW HOW MAXCONSOLE POSTS NEWS ABOUT STUFF...? THIS IS THE SAME STUPID THING.

This was not a Gamespot-run survey! It was Gamespot "posting news about a survey".. I forget who did the survey, let me see if I can find it...but either way: YOU ARE IDIOTS who cannot read.

Here is the link:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6173525.html

NPD, bitches.. EN PEE DEE.

And if you add up all the numbers, it's at least half of gamers who use the PC primarily...and since the other segments often include the PC alongside consoles, PC ownership and use is clearly high.

[grapeape]

HEY YOU KNOW HOW MAXCONSOLE POSTS NEWS ABOUT STUFF...? THIS IS THE SAME STUPID THING.

And if you add up all the numbers, it's at least half of gamers who use the PC primarily...and since the other segments often include the PC alongside consoles, PC ownership and use is clearly high.

Ah ok at least now I know how you arrived at that absurd number. You realize that to arrive at 70% you have to include the folks that play solitare and mindsweeper regularly? The only stats for console gamers were "Avid Console Gamers" who according to them didnt play PC games at all. Just ommiting those that play both throws the stats off signifigantly. I would bet there are more that play PC and console games than only consoles.