The Xbox 360 is dead

Mike Bantick
Monday, 07 April 2008 04:38

Opinion and Analysis

In Australia the PS3 comes in one flavour only, the non PS2 backwards compatible, 40 GB hard drive model.  At AU$699 this currently stands at a nice price point for Blu-ray disc players.

The Xbox 360 however has been plagued with PR problems, noisy disc drives,disc scratching, red rings of death issues and the failure of HD DVD – the Microsoft backed high definition disc format.

But the fact remains, as a gaming platform, with its range of games, excellent online service (restricted as that may be in Australia – with no video download service) , solid support and range of models/options the Xbox 360 is a fantastic game console.

It is something iTWire has touched on before , Microsoft losing the PR battle, perhaps this needs to be expanded to question the Microsoft PR battle to include both the public as well as retailers.

If the Xbox 360 is truly dead, this would be a big loss to gamers, even those that favour the other platforms.  Microsoft has competed directly both in the high end technology market inhabited by the Sony PS3 and to a lesser extent – on the hardware front with the Xbox 360 Arcade – against the mass appeal of the Nintendo Wii.  Losing that direct market competition will result in a relaxation of both Nintendo and Sony to drive innovation and improve on what is already another golden age of gaming.