[Pugger]

before the end of the year, 1.5 million by March.

Seems like US and Euro launch this year then.

http://www.mcvuk.com/html/news/story.jsp?newsId=1930545

[hey69]

I rather wait for E3 or for some official microsoft releasedates
but then again, november is only a 7months away anymore
when are they going to start mass producing these boxes ?

[Shifty Geezer]

This shortage sounds fishy to me. PS2 had a shortage because of a preseason drought followed by ramped demand for the slimline model. Sony have caught up with that demand. XB has a shortage because of Christmas demand only. Well, now it's not selling more than it used to AFAIK, and MS could satisfy that demand with stock to spare. Surely they don't need to increase production on the levels they had last year? Unless they've had technical difficulties I can't see why production would drop, or apparently drop if they're unable to maintain the same levels of supply as previously. Or has the XB just become more desirable and they're moving faster?

[london-boy]

It's a Sony/NVIDIA conspiracy to slow down Xbox sales!!11!1

[BriefcasemanX]

Its exactly what I've been saying. They're waiting til the announcement of X2 so they can piss of less people that aren't on internet messageboards that don't know it's coming out so soon, as well as sell more Xenon's. No one who just bought an xbox this year is going to buy a Xenon at launch. Some of those people might buy an X2 instead, while many of those people will still buy an xbox anyway after the announcement.

Everytime someone goes to buy an xbox 2 at retail the clerk will say, "oh but did you know xbox 2 is coming out in a couple months? They will still be supporting xbox 1, but all the newest coolest games are gonna be on xbox 2, blah blah blah".....or whatever the MS sales rep tells them to say.

[Teasy]

This XBox shortage is just so contrived XBox sales aren't that big, yet MS can't pump out enough consoles to meet a moderate to good demand? I don't think so.

[london-boy]

Or maybe it's just Microsoft trying to remind people that the Xbox exists. Kinda like the "faulty power cord" thing...

Bad publicity is good publicity.

[blakjedi]

Originally Posted by london-boy

Or maybe it's just Microsoft trying to remind people that the Xbox exists. Kinda like the "faulty power cord" thing...

Bad publicity is good publicity.

correct. and why sell more hardware at a loss when you have a new less loss system coming soon... i'd slow the pipeline too...

[london-boy]

Originally Posted by blakjedi

correct. and why sell more hardware at a loss when you have a new less loss system coming soon... i'd slow the pipeline too...

You mean lossless? Cause you think the Xbox2 hardware is lossless?

[nelg]

Originally Posted by [url=http://news.com.com/Microsoft+confirms+Xbox+shortage/2100-1043_3-5629023.html

CNET [/url]] A Microsoft representative confirmed the shortage but would not disclose details. "It's true that surging popularity has led to an inventory issue at retail," according to a statement. "Alongside our partners, we are working to increase our inventory position to catch up with the consumer demand for Xbox."

Microsoft posted better-than-expected Xbox hardware sales over the 2004 holiday shopping season, thanks largely to the overwhelming interest in its "Halo 2" game.

Retailers reported localized shortages over the holiday season, but nothing compared to widespread sellouts of Sony's rival PlayStation 2, which suffered from slow restocking after a redesign of the hardware and a miniature Suez Crisis when a container ship full of PS2 consoles went astray near the Mediterranean.

[a688]

Originally Posted by london-boy

You mean lossless? Cause you think the Xbox2 hardware is lossless?

I think he means lower cost to sell price ratio. In other words, less loss on each unit sold.

[jvd]

Guys they are ramping down production . After this year i don't think they will make xboxs anymore .

People buying pstwos , xboxs and gamecubes now are either buying a second system because the first needs to be replaced or a new model came out (pstwo) , they are very casual gamers and are just getting into the generation of systems because the tripple a titles are cheap , or the last reason , they are finishing up buying the 3 consoles . None of them will be pissed off about a purchase now . They have 4 years of xbox games , cube games and 5 years of pstwo games and by all acounts those games will work on the new systems .

[Shifty Geezer]

From the linked story...

“We have been told to expect roughly one million Xbox 2s in Europe alone by the end of the year, and 1.5 million by the end of March,” a senior source at a major US publisher told MCV. “Microsoft is making a huge commitment, no question.”

The source also suggested that Xbox 2 would not be backwards-compatible with current-gen software, fuelling speculation that many publishers were now deliberately holding back key releases to ensure they are made ‘next-gen ready’ to insure against ongoing shortages.

Backwards compatibilty for XB2 was always looking unlikely. Also, won't Revolution be too 'different' to be backwardsly compatible? I thought Nintendo were saying Revolution wasn't GC's replacement.

As I understand it the only fairly confirmed system with backwards compatibility is PS3, though whether they've managed to pull it off or not is anyone's guess.

Who else thinks XB will become extinct next year? I reckoned in an earlier thread it wouldn't last much longer than XB2's release. JVD's saying death will be even swifter. How hot a potato is XBox?

[jvd]

Its already being choked off by ms . They will release games for awhile. I think they have games confirmed till summer 06' but systems will stop much sooner than that and rightly so , i believe they still loose money on each xbox sold . Why continue putting out a system at 150$ that your loosing money on or breaking even when you have a 300$ system on the market .

[Acert93]

Originally Posted by Shifty Geezer

Backwards compatibilty for XB2 was always looking unlikely. Also, won't Revolution be too 'different' to be backwardsly compatible? I thought Nintendo were saying Revolution wasn't GC's replacement.

As I understand it the only fairly confirmed system with backwards compatibility is PS3, though whether they've managed to pull it off or not is anyone's guess.

You may want to go back and re-read the Nintendo Keynotes for GDC. I am scratching my head trying to figure out how you missed that Nintendo President Iwata announced Revolution will be backwards compatible with GCN and have WiFi. Then again most people focused on the non-X2 news, so I guess you could have missed the Nintendo press releases.

[AzBat]

We were having discussions about this earlier...

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewto...=479492#479492

I'm starting to think that the shortage was all deliberate. They can tout the shortage as not having enough meet the demand, but after the "four-to-six weeks" mentioned in the MCV article they might be able to start ramping up production of the Xbox 360. That's good timing with E3 in May.

Anyway, the lack of confirmation on backward-compatibility for the Xbox 360 definitely muddies-up the waters with regard to how to phase out the Xbox. Maybe they're planning on shipping Xbox 360 without backward compatibility initially, but once it's ready they can completely halt production on the old system? We've basically already determined that it will most likely be a software solution anyway.

Tommy McClain

[Pozer]

Im not sure how they can ramp up production of X2. Are the Xenon chips even sampling yet? Wonder if the updated SDK's shipped also.

[Inane_Dork]

Originally Posted by Pozer

Wonder if the updated SDK's shipped also.

Every month, I think.
Pretty smart way to leverage their huge programmer force, IMO.