Microsoft Could Use Price as a Weapon

TayTayShaniqua - 545 days 23 hours ago

People have been making the same idiotic claims since the first Xbox was announced years ago. Microsoft was just going to buy out the entire console market 'LOL! with Bill's pocket change!!!' were the claims.

The very latest Microsoft conference call it was admitted that they are still losing money on the 360 hardware and they had no ETA on when they would - only that they were 'making progress'.

The only thing keeping the Xbox alive and not killed off by management are the absurd 50 dollar a year online fees Microsoft forces Xbox owners to pay to be allowed to play laggy P2P games online.

Sony has confirmed they have reached the break even point on the console manufacturing costs after the dramatic cost reductions in BluRay drives. No one can compete with Sony on console manufacturing design and cost reduction.

Even if Microsoft could afford to pile on even more losses for bigger price cuts it wouldn't make a bit of difference. Who the hell would be dumb enough to buy the worst console in the history of gaming just to save 50-100 bucks?

130 million people bought PS2s for:

Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy
God of War
Ratchet and Clank
Team ICO
Gran Turismo
Jak and Daxster
Killzone
Singstar
SOCOM

just to name a few of the major Playstation exclusives. And somehow a price cut is going to cause those 130 million gamers to give up the most powerful console, BluRay movies, incredible reliability, silent console operation, free online gaming for all, dedicated servers, Home, PS1 and PS2 backwards compatibility

for...a somewhat cheaper Xbox 360 that:

is the worst hardware ever made
noisiest console ever
disc scratching and destroying
crappy graphics
50 dollar a year online charges
laggy P2P networking

and

Halo

LOL!

Dream on.

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KimboSlice - 545 days 23 hours ago

Here is my opinion without bias: the 360 price cut will only be successful if sony does'nt do the same, If sony decides to do the same then the ps3 will continue to outsell the 360 and the reason why is because online for sony is free and MS is still charging $50 for live.

If MS makes xbox live free along with this price cut then I honestly think that the ps3 would be in trouble.

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Isaac - 545 days 23 hours ago

Microsoft dropped the price of the 360 everywhere in the world except the US and it made no difference. Sony will simply wait and see how much it impacts them in the long term. It is natural that Sony would be outsold the first month of the price drop, but if sales on 360 go back to normal, then Sony can live without dropping the price. If not then they will have to respond. They probably have SKU reshuffling, value increasing with more HDD space and or USB slots and bundling with games, anything before a price drop. If all else fails a price drop is almost guaranteed.

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fusionboxer - 545 days 22 hours ago

Hell if the price gets low enough maybe i'll get another one. I had previous 360's bust so I gave up, but if it gets cheap enough I might reconsider.

However the only thing stopping me is the lack of games that appeal to me this year. Strange how things got swapped. Last year I was looking forward to more 360 games and this year the ps3 is surprising/impressing me with each new announcement.

For example I'm loving 2.4 so far and have 13 trophies in super stardust hd, but it would be great if more games had it like how the 360 has achievements for all of their games. That's definitely one thing I miss, but I have to admit I think (if SSHD is any indication) Sony does the trophy/achievement thing better with the leveling system and bronze, silver, gold, and platinum thing.

But yea. If Microsoft wants to drop the price on the 360 then I say go for it. It can only mean good things for us consumers. Maybe sony will respond with yet another price drop or a new bundle for future users.

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ThanatosDMC - 545 days 21 hours ago

It's quality not... umm... a toaster my friend.

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Isaac - 545 days 23 hours ago

Halo 3 barely came out and there is only so many people that want to play another shooter on Xbox 360. There aren't many games, if any, that revolutionized other genres either.

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socomnick - 545 days 20 hours ago

well I expect alot of current ps3 only owners jumping ship to the xbox 360 in order to enjoy the myriad of rpgs on the xbox.

Sony is the one that has no variety they rely too heavily on shooters. Res2, killzone 2

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Madgunner - 545 days 23 hours ago

Halo 4 ... first of all its rumored... even if they do announce that game, it still wont be enough , sure it boosted some consoles in 2007 but in the end ... who won WORLDWIDE.. .. that was ps3 with very little titles out. this and next year u have heavy hitter such as R2 LBP and of course !MGS4! and stepping early into 09 we will see games like god of war Etc, get out of here with your Absurd comments as for E3 u act like sony doesnt have things up its sleve as well, heres a bit of advice .. wait for E3 then talk garbage gear 2 .. good game no arguments u talk about how sony is 2 years behind on updates , but yet that disc reader known as dvd is what 8 - 10 + years behind on techonology itself, go back to your room and go sit in a corner kid

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strotee - 545 days 23 hours ago

Don't forget:

Too Human
Alone in the Dark

oh wait.....

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DJtyler - 545 days 23 hours ago

WRONG. The winner of this generation is far from decided. Anyone willing to claim victory at this point is a delusional fanboy. You are correct when you say MS has amazing games coming (like the next Halo and Gears) but don't forget SONY. God of War 3, FFXIII, LBP and many others.

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xhairs9 - 545 days 21 hours ago

lol...Sony dead? hardly.

With 2.40 and the new exclusives due, I see a massive number of consoles being sold soon. As far as Halo 4? Yes, sure, rumor anyone? It could be stated as being fact but at this point I'm pretty sure everyone has played Halo and if they're planning on buying a 360 to play it, they've already done so with Halo 3. Halo 4 is much like a Geow2, a good game, good sales, but not a console pusher.

As far as Too Human, you can't be serious. Of anyone who's even seen the game play videos it's completely obvious that the game is years behind the Wii in graphics and animation. Gameplay? Possibility, but in this game I can definitely see the graphics and animations being a huge factor in gameplay as far as glitches go.

3 secret releases? Yeah ok, we've heard nothing from Sony about any games really up to date, whose to say they don't have anything? Watch your TV for 2 hours, how many 360 ads to do you see? How many PS3 ads do you see? Sony doesn't jump to advertise everything they have and are going to have, so what makes you think they're going to tell everyone what's in store for E3? Get over yourself.

As far as games coming out for the 360 the only two titles that spark interest in me: Fable 2 & Geow2. And Geow2 is only going to be another multiplayer game as was the first one, as are all the Halo's and as are pretty much any FPS games to date.

Let us not forget the mandatory installs that were once laughable by 360 owners and haunted by PS3 owners. It has come to my attention that Alone in the Dark now requires an HDD. Karma anyone? This follows the lack of good games coming out for the 360 (NG2 etc. etc.) These hyped games are now being seen in their true forms: A pile of dog turds in a brown bag on your porch (or shall I say in your 360 causing over-heating).

It's only a matter of time before you're sitting in your corner crying over your RROD'd xbox 360 and the lack of "next-gen" games coming out. I foresee you begging your parents to buy you a PS3 for Christmas with all the new releases PS3 is getting this holiday season.

Yours truly,

Xhairs9

...not.

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Isaac - 545 days 23 hours ago

I can only say great about "Fable 2" and it is Western. The other two are as niche as they get except in Japan, but in Japan you know how Xbox 360 is doing. If Microsoft does not have Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or Kingdom Hearts, they will never make themselves a market in Japan.

Besides, what is it that you like about Microsoft? That they reveal titles early? So now you want Halo 4 to come out soon? Killer Instinct 3 and Gears 2 might be great games, but it is doubtful that all these hardcore games and price drops will do anything for 360. Most of these games are not new genres or experiences, they are simply beefed up games of existing genres, and with the negative brand equity Microsoft has made of themselves with the death ring fiasco, I doubt they will ever penetrate into something called critical mass.

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gogators - 545 days 21 hours ago

the Genesis was pretty successful and it sold what, around 40 million consoles over it's life time. The 360 even at 299, is still very expensive when you think about it over previous generations. They aren't even at mass market prices and they seem to have done okay. They certainly could have done better, but 360 owners seem to like games and buy a good number of them. No one knows how Infinite Undiscovery and Tales of Vesperia will turn out, but they have been promising so far. They both may even turn out to be great, but we won't know for now.

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Action Bastard - 545 days 20 hours ago

But look at the total sales numbers of the consoles. PS2- over 100mil, GC- 23mil, Xbox- 24mil. There's more to those sales numbers than price and price alone. I heard the price elasticity argument in HD DVD vs. Blu ray debates and we know how that turned out.

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red_ring_of_death - 545 days 23 hours ago

your right
people still have 2 pay $50 for xbl=xboxlag

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BLUR111 - 545 days 22 hours ago

I know. 1 dollar a week for 13 months wow that's insane dude.

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TayTayShaniqua - 545 days 22 hours ago

"I know. 1 dollar a week for 13 months wow that's insane dude."

Yep, and for just 2 dollars a week for 13 months gamers can get a PS3 with:

All the games they want from the PS2 and PS1
Rock solid reliability / no RRoD
1080p BluRay movies
Silent console operation
The best graphics by a huge margin
The best online service with lagfree dedicated servers
The largest and most diverse first part exclusive developer lineup of 20 or so dev houses vs on 3-4 for Microsoft

What an amazing bargain the PS3 is!

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BLUR111 - 545 days 22 hours ago

if you was a gamer you would know the graphics are the exact same. The best graphics by a huge margin ... LOL oh and i have both ps3 and xbox360.

so i'm sorry if that you failed to insult me

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juuken - 545 days 22 hours ago

BLUR...if graphics are exactly the same, then why do 360 fanboys love to use comparison videos to see just how well multi-platform games look on the 360?

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BLUR111 - 545 days 21 hours ago

IDK, well you would have to ask them that.

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ThanatosDMC - 545 days 17 hours ago

Yeah, Sh!t doesnt sell...

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karlostomy - 544 days 15 hours ago

right-on man. So poignant.

I have been pointing that out for months and months and months.
But sometimes ps3 fans just like to ignore reality.

oh, gawd. who am i kidding.... they do that ALL the time.

200 weeks is how many years kiddies?

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