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Fuzzy Logic Microsoft to cut price and create Xbox Three-Six-Wii?
Fuzzy Logic Microsoft to cut price and create Xbox Three-Six-Wii? | Microsoft to cut price and create Xbox Three-Six-Wii? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Sunday, 10 June 2007 | |
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Page 1 of 2
In an interview with Bloomberg, Microsoft Xbox executives Peter Moore, Corporate VP of the ‘Interactive Entertainment Business’ in the Entertainment and Devices Division of Microsoft, Albert Penello, Director of Xbox Global Platform Marketing and David Hufford, Director of Xbox Product Management, spoke quite frankly about where Microsoft wants to be in the world of console gaming. Moore made it clear that he wanted the Xbox 360 to appeal to millions more people than did the original Xbox games console when he said that: “ If we don't make that move, make it early and expand our demographic, we will wind up in the same place as with Xbox 1, a solid business with 25 million people. What I need is a solid business with 90 million people”. The reason why Moore says the Xbox 360 would only appeal to the same kind of user base as the original Xbox is because most of the Xbox 360’s game titles have been aimed at a hardcore gamer market. Although Microsoft have been trying to change their image among non-hardcore gamers, i.e. everyone else, with games such as Viva Pinata, and more recently, Guitar Hero 2, which was a hit on the PS2 platform, what Microsoft are saying is that they realize they need to offer many more of the kinds of games that appeal to a wide audience – while also churning out hit hardcore favorites such as Gears of War and Halo 3 to try and keep everyone happy. Albert Penello, the Director of Xbox Global Platform Marketing says that: “If you don't start building that content and reputation it never comes. I don't want to be pigeonholed as a hard-core machine”. Naturally, Penello says this because the Xbox 360 has been, certainly up until titles like Viva Pinata and Guitar Hero 2, primarily seen as a true gamer’s console that was brimming with the latest technology, which also worked seamlessly with your Windows XP or Vista computer as a ‘Media Extender’. With all those features and more, including, in the US, downloads of movies and TV shows in standard and high definition, outdoing iTunes which only sells video content in standard definition (if that), the Xbox 360 was seen as the perfect weapon against the PS3. The problem is that that Nintendo’s surprising entry, the Wii, has changed the landscape. Microsoft can still claim the most ‘next-gen’ games consoles sold worldwide, but Nintendo are fast catching up, with the PS3 in third place. The new target is now Nintendo, in addition to the PS3, and part of this is the price of the Nintendo Wii. At US $250, it’s cheaper than the Xbox 360 and less than half the price of the 60GB PS3.
So, what will it take for the Xbox 360 to beat the Nintendo Wii? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion... |
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