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XBox (Games) Classic Games (Games)

360 Sells Briskly, Geometry Wars Arcade Hit 43

Posted by Zonk from the such-a-good-game. dept.
RemovableBait writes "Microsoft's Xbox 360 has sold over 600,000 units so far and is on track to sell over 4.5 million consoles by the end of the business year. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft could have sold many more as 'video game publishers and retailers have said shipments during the key holiday season fell short of expectations'. If Microsoft's predictions are correct, this could pose a major threat to Sony's well-established PlayStation line of consoles." Relatedly, Saige writes "The Live Arcade on the original Xbox was ignored by just about everyone who owned that console. However, the updated version on the Xbox 360 is getting a totally different reception, spearheaded by the popular Geometry Wars, an old-school style 2-D shooter in the vein of Robotron: 2084 that has eye candy deserving of a next-gen title - all for $5. The demo has been downloaded 200,000 times."
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360 Sells Briskly, Geometry Wars Arcade Hit More

360 Sells Briskly, Geometry Wars Arcade Hit

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  • What are the European numbers? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Utopia ( 149375 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @01:43PM (#14471841)
    600000 is just the numbers for U.S.
    Would be interesting to get a figure of the sales in Canada/Mexico/Europe.

  • I love mine (Score:2, Redundant)

    by bigman2003 ( 671309 )
    Well, I'll say something before the trolls get here-

    I've got a 360, and I love it. Rock solid all around, including visuals, sound, connectivity to other devices...

    So far I am playing 3 games- Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham 3, and Geometry Wars.

    Yes, each of those games is a sequel, but they are all awesome.

    A lot of people probably hate the 360- but if Microsoft can put enough consoles out, then they should have a winner on their hands.

  • Amusing. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by polyp2000 ( 444682 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @02:10PM (#14471959) Homepage Journal
    If Microsoft's predictions are correct, this could pose a major threat to Sony's well-established PlayStation line of consoles.

    I wonder what Sony's or Nintendo's predictions might be...

    Most unbiased indications are saying that XBox 360 is not doing quite as well as they would have hoped, especially in Japan where the reception has been lukewarm at best. Couple that with the fairly unimpressive game line-up it's not going to take Nostradamus to see that were just going to have to see what happens in the forthcoming months.

    The XBox 360 hype never seemed to pick up steam (at least in the UK) and now there are units on shelves that hype has largely subsided. At the moment the XBox360 is only competing with current hardware on shelve's, that includes its younger brother (Xbox), the PS2 and the gamecube. PS2 units sold is probably rapidly approaching 100 million units worldwide ....

    So until we see the other Next Gen consoles on shelve's this is just idle speculation.

    http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=84 98&page=2 [pcvsconsole.com]

    I dont think XBox 360 is much of a threat to Sony, or Nintendo just yet ;)

    Nick ...

    • Re:Amusing. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by CaseM ( 746707 )
      Most unbiased indications are saying that XBox 360 is not doing quite as well as they would have hoped, especially in Japan where the reception has been lukewarm at best.

      What the hell are you talking about? The thing is sold out everywhere BUT Japan.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @02:18PM (#14471997)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Bad analogy. Once a unit is "sold", it doesn't get "unsold", at least in terms of Microsoft's sales figures. Temperatures fluctuate all the time. But I'm sure you knew this. ;-)

      • Re:on track? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by fwitness ( 195565 )
        I'm sure he did know it, but I believe I read this the same way as the grandparent post. I'm no marketing genious, but with the PS3 and Revolution to both launch this year, and console gaming undergoing one of it's most radical changes ever, I personally can't see any way to predict anything at this point with reasonable accuracy. Current variables with no known good trends:

        Networked consoles:Only the XBox has really done this, with an impressive yet scarce penetration. Any data is at best 3 years old, n

      • Sure the Earth will reach 510 F. You weren't taking into account the heat generated by those 4.5 million 360's that are going to sell.

    • Unfortunately for those of us in Canada we're on track to reach absolute zero by the end of the year.

  • XBox Live Arcade (Score:5, Interesting)

    by protektor ( 63514 ) on Saturday January 14, 2006 @02:20PM (#14472002)

    What strikes me as interesting is not so much how well the XBox 360 is or isn't selling but what consumer reaction to the new XBox Live Arcade/Market place has been. It seem to have been overwelmingly in favor of it and everyone seem to love the new market place and arcade download titles. So does this mark the new way of how all consoles are now expected to be online? If so does it mean if Sony doesn't offer something even somewhat similar that consumers will consider is a mark against the PS3 if Sony doesn't offer something similar? Since it would seem that Nintendo is going to offer some sort of unified online market place with the Revolution since they are going to be offering their entire back catalog of products for download somehow.

    It would seem that Sony would be the only next generation console maker without some kind of online market place and no content download function available for their next generation console.

    • I guess it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Nintendo to offer up 3rd party developer download titles much like what Microsoft is doing, only with the Revolution since they have already said they are going to let people download the back catalog. Seems like a no-brainer to me for Nintendo to develop more 3rd party developers and build a bigger online download catalog much like what Microsoft is doing with their online Marketplace. I would be very suprised if Nintendo didn't offer 3rd party developers so
    • No, as of right now all it means is that the most hardcore Xbox 1 players have bought 360s--the 15% of Xbox 1 users that sucscribed to Live in the first place.
  • It used to be 5.5m units and MS revised it down by a full million. So with less then a million sold they already reduced their projected sales by more then they sold.

    Of course so far it is pure production problems that is limiting sales in the west BUT it is hardly like they are on track.

    This article would be better if it mentioned this, now it seems a bit to much like a press release.

    • The revised number is not driven by a lack of sales but a lack of supply as production did not perform as expected. They sold out in the US. They are still sold out. You can't buy one anywhere.

      If they had the supply to meet the demand, I do not think that goal would have needed revising.

    • Some might have missed the wording "by the end of the current business year" ... which is June 30, 2006. They are talking about that many units in 5 1/2 months, not 11 1/2. Also, it is just slightly less than a million worldwide: 600K in the US, 300K in Europe, and at least 6 in Japan.

  • That's pretty high for the period mentioned. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Godeke ( 32895 ) * on Saturday January 14, 2006 @02:51PM (#14472175)
    If they only got 600,000 units in the hands of gamers during the most brisk console buying period, 2-2.5 million would be a more reasonable prediction for June. I'm a huge game buyer (X-Box, Game Cube and two PS2 in the house now) and I couldn't be more unimpressed with the 360. Its all in the *games* guys... and so far the delivery of good games just hasn't happened. I only picked up the X-Box because of Steel Battalions, and then *tried* to find games for it since I had it in the back room where I could keep the volume up late at night. So... what did I play over the holidays? Ratchet, Sly 3, God of War and Need for Speed Underground. All on the second PS2 I bought so I actually *wanted* to play games on the back room TV... a TV I bought *for* the X-Box. That isn't to say I haven't played anything on the X-Box (Splinter Cell co-op was cool) but it gets ¼ the play time the PS2 does.

    I'll check back in when the lineup doesn't look like a wannabe PC solution, because first person shooters are *still* better on the PC. The most amusing part: I'm supposed to be impressed by Live Arcade so I can play games I can play for free in Flash online. Bah... I'm far *more* interested in the retro gaming option on the Revolution, thanks.
  • they might have sold less, or be looking at a lower sale projection for the year. the limited supply generated a lot of buzz. what other product for about this price or more do you see any other manufacturer making 600,000 or more of an item in the first month or so it is released?

  • 600,000 in 7 weeks is NOT brisk (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's actually one of the weakest console launches in recent history.

    See Dreamcast:

    "In the United States alone, a record 200,000 units had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks..."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast [wikipedia.org]

    Playstation 2:
    500,000 in the first TWO days in North America, 980,000 over the opening weekend in Japan.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 [wikipedia.org]

    Certainly MS would have sold more if they had had more, but as it stands this is a weak launch, not 'sellin

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