Xbox Price

[akirru]

$300 is a nice entry price for a console in my opinion and it should mean that the xbox360 gets a lot of early adopters.

I also think that it was a nice move on Microsofts part assuming it does come out at $300 as J. Allard suggests that it will.

I know MS can take this loss on the hardware but can Sony compete with this deficit? I like many intend to probably buy both, just to clear that up. Although Sony were suggesting much higher prices for entry consoles this gen, even the PS2 was more expensive on release.

Plus when Sony do release their console in the words of Bill Gates "they walking into Halo3" and probably another pricecut. Speculation to a certain extent.

Although what do you guys think? can MS be market leader this gen? or are Sony going to win people for the third time?

 

[pc999]

Meybe even 250 is possible, it would gave them a big lead over S and N.

And gave more buyer for the big number of games coming form the lunch window (just from those who dont want to upgrade their PC to Prey, Q4 ... should be a nice number), it will a lot of gamesif each one sell reasonable it would give a nice proffit from the start.

Playing Ns GC game from the star but with third party suport. .

 

[one]

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23427

 

[Kolgar]

PS2 launched at $299 in the US. Wasn't clear if you were suggesting it was more.

Plus when Sony do release their console in the words of Bill Gates "they walking into Halo3" and probably another pricecut. Speculation to a certain extent.

Although what do you guys think? can MS be market leader this gen? or are Sony going to win people for the third time?

I think the best Microsoft can hope to do is gain market share this gen. They have a real shot at it in the US, where they're most competitive, and certainly in Japan, where they have nowhere to go but up.

To unseat Sony, Microsoft is going to have to secure a lot of system-selling exclusives, and that means luring developers away from Sony - no easy task, as with the increased cost of games development, these companies are going to be tempted to stay with the safe bet (PlayStation).

As we saw in the 32-bit days, a single huge defection (Square with Final Fantasy) can have a big impact on the overall picture. Still, it seems Sony's actually attracting more support this time around, which makes MS's job just that much tougher.

MS seems to be trying hard to differentiate its system with Live. Clearly, MS offers a more fully developed online solution, and this will be a big draw for some gamers. By itself, this is a reason MS may attract some of Sony's audience.

On the other hand, I don't know how much stock I'd put in the "Halo effect." Halo fans are going to buy an Xbox 360 no matter what - so I doubt this one game will have that big an impact on PS3's launch.

What's more, I think it likely that many Halo fans also owned a PS2 this generation. These guys are hardcore gamers, and that means they're likely to buy a PS3 regardless.

In the end, this is Sony's game to lose. They'd have to make some pretty big mistakes for MS to beat them. (For example, if PS3 is too costly to manufacture, and they came in at a prohibitive price point, or if the launch games do not live up to expectations - especially in comparison with Xbox 360 games.)

However, I don't see them making any dumb mistakes. They're a smart company, and they've been doing this a while. No doubt they're in for a tough fight, but ultimately, I see them keeping the lion's share of the market next gen.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

However, I don't see them making any dumb mistakes. They're a smart company, and they've been doing this a while. No doubt they're in for a tough fight, but ultimately, I see them keeping the lion's share of the market next gen.

I agree that they are going to keep the lion's share, but Sony had big problems at PS2 launch,shortages being the main example, I'm not sure they can afford to repeat that.

edit: Fixed so that it makes even little sense.

 

[Danack]

Price from Play.com

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=X360&title=659411&pa=rnr

Due for release on 29/11/2005
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Detachable and upgradeable 20 GB hard drive (not included)

Uh-huh. Guess this might just be an estimate.

 

[cthellis42]

It's actually questionable whether Sony's launch shortages hindered it or helped it. It certainly fed demand, created extra press, and got everyone over-hyped on it...

They can't pull off the same thing this time around, though, as there will be competition just before it--and probably just after it--and if they pull off solid launches they would actually lose customers due to shortages rather than hyping them up while waiting for more to become available.

The only real way to not have shortages, though, is to make sure to get a lot of them in queue and have a decent and dependable production running on in the background at launch, and it's unsure as to what kind of queue any of the companies want to make sure they have filled before launch (as opposed to losing their desired windows if they have problems) and how quickly their production line gets up to snuff. We'll see how it plays out, but it's a big question as to how much time and how many units anyone is willing to give to the competition before getting on the field.