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XBox to Cost Microsoft Big Money


CaptainRAVE

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Microsoft's plan to gain market share in the game console industry by selling XBox under cost will cost the software giant $1 billion before finally becoming profitable in 2004, analysts predict.

 

Analysts estimate that building each console would cost between $320 and $400, but Microsoft is selling them for the same price as Sony's Playstation 2 - $299.

 

However, Microsoft will probably recoup some of these losses through profits from game software. This is a familiar marketing tactic.

 

Its not as if their short of money though

:rolleyes:

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Microsoft thought a lot more XBOX about profitability than you guys ;) If their games sell well they're gonna smoke Nintendo.

 

And what's this about upgrading? Upgrading what? An xbox? No, more than likely in 4 years microsoft will already have a new console. Other console companies do this as a matter of course. In fact, didn't we already have a thread on this topic? One on 'the next version of xbox?'

 

BTW I don't see a downside to introducing another major competitor (Microsoft) in the console industry.

 

I saw Halo on an xbox the other day. It looks very good. And yes you can connect it to another xbox for multiplayer (in addition to split screen play (yuck) on the same xbox).

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Yeah, I heard that MS would be loosing money on each system. It may be a rumour, but I heard that Nintendo makes a small profit on the sale of each GameCube.

 

As for competition, in a way it might be sort of good. But system exclusives only hurt the consumer in the long run...I don't much care to have to buy an xbox, GameCube, PS2, and Dreamcast just to play every game I want to play. The old adage of two's company and three's a crowd couldn't be truer.

 

Also, it was interesting to read some guy from Sony saying that the PS2 will still be around in a while because it is a very deep machine. But more interesting was that he had the opinion that the best/fastest hardware has nothing to do with the quality of games that come out for it. How true.... He also felt that their competitor, Nintendo, was a very solid game hardware/software company...whereas Microsoft is not.

 

Finally, just ask many game developers about DirectX ( an MS product). It took them until version 8 to finally achieve what OpenGL could do in version 1.1. Incidentally, OpenGL was developed by SGI, people that actually know something about writing a graphics API. In my opinion, MS just likes to get their hands on things and muck it up for others. Seeing as how they essentially control the OS market, they have extra leverage for passing their garbage off on others. You praise competition in the console market yet completely ignore the fact that MS has bullied out any other competitor and so we ( the customer ) have few options for better alternatives.

 

[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: Rancor ]

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Practically all consoles are sold at or under cost. Console companies make their money through software licensing.

 

Microsoft's "plan to gain market share" is no different than any other console company's market plan. What's the big deal?

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Microsoft's "plan to gain market share" is no different than any other console company's market plan. What's the big deal?

 

I agree. But were the pearl enamled buttons and gold plating on the case really necessary? Or how about the can of caviare and bottle of champagne that comes packed with every game?

 

I think M$ has gone too far this time...

 

IMHO, they should have just let <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/jcarusone/iMovieTheater2.html">Steve Ballmer</a> do all the advertising, personally. ; )

 

[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: Kurgan ]

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Yeah, Halo looks to be a good game...but probably not an excellent one. Of course I'm only expressing my opinion on this one, but I say that because of the notoriously bad way that FPS games tend to play on a console. There should just be a handbook that gets sent to every console developer that states: "Though shalt not make an First Person Shooter for a console."

 

Too bad that Microsoft had to snatch up Bungie, because otherwise, we could be playing Halo on our PC's. Yet another reason to despise Microsoft.

 

And really, there may be some fine games coming out for X-box, but I've vowed that I absolutely will not buy one on priniciple.

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No, I heard that Halo was going to come to the PC and Mac. Question is when? If the x-box deal had never happened, would we be enjoying it *now*, on our PC's? It's all conjecture, but rest assured, the x-box deal will delay its coming to PC.

 

Also, a person can have many different principles. I personally believe ( as does the Supreme Court ) that many of Microsofts deals and practices are at least somewhat shady and go against positive competition. We don't need 5 different OS's to choose from, but having more than one viable option would be nice. Also their little packing deals of hooking their stuff into the OS and making it harder for other companies to provide a competing product is not cool. It ultimately is bad for the consumer because we can't really make many choices between product "X" and "Y"....Based on these factors, and other things, I support MS products as little as possible. Unfortunately, with a computer, I can't avoid many of these issues. With a console, there are other viable alternatives that I'm choosing to give my money to.

 

Related to that, Nintendo actually makes excellent games in-house. Does Microsoft really even make anything in-house anymore? If they do, it's nothing I'd want to play.

 

Anyway, as I stated earlier, I will not buy an x-box for anything. This, of course, is my choice and I am free to come to that conclusion and even to voice it.

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