Microsoft Officially Slashes Japan Xbox Price 45
securitas writes "Reuters' Daisuke Wakabayashi reports that Microsoft will 'cut the price of its Xbox game console by a third in Japan, undercutting rival Sony Corp's recently reduced PlayStation 2 price ahead of the holiday shopping season.' The price cut takes effect on Nov. 20 when it will be reduced to 16,800 yen (US$155) from 24,800 yen (US$228). The cut comes a week after Sony's 20 percent cut in its PS2 price to 19,800 yen (US$182), which takes effect Nov. 13. (Gamespot brief) Does this hint at a holiday price cut for North America, too?" We mentioned price cut rumors for Xbox in Japan a couple of weeks back.
MS is nervous (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2, Insightful)
The only way they're going to make a real gain (even if it's shortlived) is a decent sized price cut compared to the PS2.
Re:MS is nervous (Score:5, Insightful)
If you think the point of the Xbox was to become the dominant console on the planet, you're far more naive than I would have guessed. Microsoft isn't stupid, they know that the PS2 outnumbers the XBox by the tens of millions. The point of the XBox was to show that Microsoft COULD make a worth-while console, and to gain momentum. The XBox 2 won't even try to dominate the market... but it'll make more in-roads for Microsoft. I'd guess the XBox 3 MIGHT start really giving Sony a run for their money.
The XBox is already pretty obviously the most powerful console in the world, but it doesn't have the great games... because it doesn't have the great developers yet. The XBox sent a message to the developers that Microsoft was a very real force in the video game industry. The XBox 2 will send an even greater message, being that the public supports it. Around the time the XBox 2 reaches its 2nd or 3rd birthday, you'll see a massive influx of developers making XBox games. When the XBox 3 is released, Microsoft will clearly have enough developers to make Sony nervous.
The XBox was never going to take over the world... not even close. That was never the point anyway... Just watch out for the XBox 2 or 3.
Re:MS is nervous (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think Microsoft is going to be a company that gets a devoted following (like Nintendo) since they have not really been a great first person game developer (outside of the third party companies that they've bought) so they're not going to have a guaranteed base they can work from.
And my final point is that you didn't hear all this talk of Microsoft planning not to win this generation of hardware with the XBox until after the XBox had lost. There was a program on G4TV regarding the making of the XBox and at the time of the launch, Bill and company seemed quite excited about the prospects. It's easy to say now that MS had planned all along that they wouldn't be able to win but I am sure there was quite a bit of disappointment in the sales department. The first console generation Sony entered, Sony won.
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
I have been hearing this line of reasoning bandied about for some time now and I have two questions:
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2, Interesting)
There's a difference between the market Sony came into and the market Microsoft came into, though. Sony saw a market that wasn't being reach
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
Then how do you explain the roving masses of clerics that append MCSE to their names?
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
I wouldn't say that. Obviously Halo actually came from Bungie, but Microsoft has been putting out some quality titles for their machine. Midtown Madness 3, MechAssault, Crimson Skies, Rallisport Challenge, Project Gotham Racing 1/2, Top Spin, Amped 2, Links 2004 coming soon... All of these titles are a lot of fun and have good balance between fun and depth.
Obviously there's a common theme, all of these games involve vehicles or sports. Microsof
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2)
MS is not a viable competitor right now in Japan (you know, that country that the article is about) and probably NEVER will be. In Japan the two big guys are Sony and Nintendo with MS trailing a quite far distant third. The X-Box tanked there, think Turbo Graphics 16 tanked, think Atari Jaguar tanked. This means MS will not be any measurable part of the equation when it comes to imported titles. So it will remain in the gun game/fps/sports game niche it current
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2)
Wish they weren't though... don't like many PS2 games.
Re:MS is nervous (Score:2, Informative)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
It's that this isn't Sony vs MS with Nintendo a niche player. It's Sony kicking everyone's asses, with MS and Nintendo fighting for leftovers. And MS is losing at the moment.
They may not be targeting a similar market to Nintendo, but they can't ignore it because the markets still have a lot of overlap.
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
The only way they're going to make a real gain (even if it's shortlived) is a decent sized price cut compared to the PS2
Right now, the X-Box is getting it's ass handed to it by Nintendo as well. They're going to end up third everywhere but t
whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:3, Insightful)
if MS is going to beat Sony's ps3 to market with their xbox next, they're running short on their window to release a refresher product.
particularly with their less-than-dominant market share, one wouldn't expect it to be worth the investment to redesign the thing if it's only going to be on sale a few months ahead of the xb2.
i'm thinking that the redesign is the only hope for further US price cuts.
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:1)
Very funny.
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:2, Interesting)
The PSOne redesign was only released about a year before the PS2, I don't see why we'd expect redesigns of current-generation products before the end of 2004 given that the next-generation consoles are expected in the 2005/2006 timeframe. Afterall, the redesigns are usually about taking advantage of the consolidation of the various parts in the system (something that the X
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:2)
but the absurdly low price of the GC has changed the landscape a bit.
currently the xbox is the number 2 system (at least in the minds of developers) - but if the GC continues to sell red-hot at firesale prices, that may all change before christmas 04. You may see developer support shifting b
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:2, Insightful)
So, this holiday season will probably determine who finishes at number 2 at the end of this generation.
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:1)
Right, except that, with the exception of the cheap, fast ports that most GC owners don't seem to buy, this probably won't effect the games coming out for the Cube itself, but rather for it's successor, especially if developers expect the next consoles to start hitting
Re:whatever happened to the redesigned xbox? (Score:2)
although, sony also has its pvr/satellite/ps2 box releasing soon in japan. one would wonder if MS has an answ
Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:3, Informative)
This is what is killing the XBOX. Manufacturers have a finite amount of space on their factories, and not one of them is willing to make a 8 gig hard-drive for Microsoft's XBOX when they could be making 120 gig hard-drives for DELL - UNLESSS Microsoft is willing to pay roughly the same price as a 120 gig drive.
If drives were sold by the Gig then the XBOX drive should cost $8 - (WD and Maxtor both sell a 250 Gi
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:2)
A 70Gb drive, OTOH, is probably not going to be sold for much less than a 80. Same amount of parts, similar test amount (perhaps you can avoid testing the unused side of a platter)
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:1)
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:2, Informative)
Is Intel going to keep making 733MHz CPUs for anything less than a premium? Of course not, they probably aren't producing anything under 1GHz any more. Plus, if I remember correctly, there were some differences between the XBox CPU and a standard CPU, though not major, which would also increase the costs. The slowest Intel CPU you can buy at any given time is usually not much less expensive than the slowest current-generation CPU available.
Do you think
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:2)
And through all this, Sony will probably devise a single-chip version of the PS2 and everyone will buy the DVD player that happens to have a PS2 inside rather than buy the PS2 that happens to play DVDs.
Why not even release a PDA based on a shrunk-down PS2 core? They've already got Linux on it.
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:2, Informative)
As it stands they've already got the 2 primary chips down to 1 chip, and they announced in the last couple of months that they're starting production of that chip on a smaller fabrication (90 nanometer iirc). This would probably lead to use in the PS3 for backwards compatibility, though they'd have to maint
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:1)
Who knows, maybe it's a heat issue, or they simply feel that their existing line of PDAs is going in the right direction.
While the Clie PDAs are certainly nice, it would be a mildly entertaining to see Sony come out with a PS2-based PDA Cell Phone to succeed where the N-Gage couldn't.
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:1)
Re:Er --- isn't $155 less than the cost of the HD? (Score:1)
The HDs in the XBox are a meager 8GB... Actually, they're larger than that since no one actually makes 8GB drives anymore, but only the first 8GB are used. In any case a hard drive that size costs nowhere near $155. Pricewatch lists a 25GB 5400rpm Western Digital for $35 shipped.
For $155 you should be able to get about 180 or 200GB of space.
Saw this earlier today... (Score:1)
Re:MS is nervous (Score:1)
That's nice but. . . . (Score:1)