Microsoft Sold Out of 360s Last Month

[WittyInfidel]

Wow, the sales would have been helped by Kinect obviously but it is still a good profit.

Also, to the people who say that Kinect/Move are EyeToy/Wii rip offs, well...

Spoiler: Here is why you are wrong.

I truly cannot stand this man. I've never heard him before, and he made good points, but hearing him talk seems to just fill me with anger. I had to stop listening to him because I was mad enough to chew the face off a cute puppy.

Not sure what got my Irish up, but I think I should avoid him at all costs.

 

[TPiddy]

Well, to be fair to Sony, which you're not. They never said Move would fly off the shelves from the get-go, nor did they claim it would win the Holiday season for them. Nor did they give them away en-masse. So, if Move doesn't perform in the millions out the gate, it doesn't surprise me. That having been said, they still had way more advertisements than Microsoft did for Kinect (I've seen more Kinect ads of late though). At least, that's what I saw on TV, others may have seen differently, could come down to who bought what time on which channels. They did however, fully support the device with a plethora of titles, which hit numerous genres. Not just the family/party scene.

I don't really see how Move was a gamble, especially given how long its been in development. It was natural for the other two major console devs to adopt a motion controlling solution. Sony's, imo, hits the middle ground that the Wii and Kinect could not. It has applications to many games we currently play, as well as possibilities for innovation in the future. Having played several games (quite often) with the Eye, prior to Move's launch, it's capacity for recognition is pretty dang good as it is. So adding in the controller is simply improving on an already working (albeit underused for the time) design. Nintendo refuses to make any games that are even remotely adult, so as an adult, I just don't have any interest in it. Kinect hasn't shown me how it's going to tackle games we currently play, again, not interested in something they 'may get to work eventually'. Show me how Kinect applies to me, now, and maybe I'll work on getting it setup on my PC (certainly not getting a 360). Additionally, bogarting franchises like Steel Batallion into Kinect compatibility also doesn't fly well with me either.

And no, Sony didn't push off new releases out of fear of anything. They most likely did so to free up space for Gran Turismo 5 and Move. Both of which represented some decent expenses (wheel, extra controllers etc...). Now they have a ridiculous lineup for 2011, something Microsoft, with their currently announced lineup, has no chance of matching game for game. Not even remotely close.

They do however, have their cash cows, Halo and Gears. Those will definitely sell very well, but Sony as usual has more games that touch more genres, which appeals to me more.

You're right. Sony just added the move as an overpriced peripheral to get into the casual market. They released it in September and to minimal marketing. However, Kinect's bundle sales have been a boon to 360 sales in general, which ultimately should have been Sony's goal considering that they are still behind 360 in total install base.

Move will just get shoe-horned into current games just like SixAxis was, and people will end up hating it, just like they hate SixAxis. Anyone can make grandiose generalizations.

Yes, Sony has a very strong lineup this year, of games we've all seen before. While 360 is not immune to this problem, they seem to have more original IP coming out this year and a lot of that is due to the innovation seen with Kinect. However, I will concede that, overall, Sony has more AAA exclusives coming this year than 360. It shouldneeds to be a strong year for them.

I don't hate Sony.... I just expect better out of them and they have yet to live up to it. They've pretty much re-hashed and re-packaged every single PS2 game out there, which is pretty much par for the course given that the controller and the system were largely re-hashes of the PS2, outside of the inclusion of Blu-Ray.

 

[C95J]

Wow, the sales would have been helped by Kinect obviously but it is still a good profit.

Also, to the people who say that Kinect/Move are EyeToy/Wii rip offs, well...

Spoiler: Here is why you are wrong.

I truly cannot stand this man. I've never heard him before, and he made good points, but hearing him talk seems to just fill me with anger. I had to stop listening to him because I was mad enough to chew the face off a cute puppy.

Not sure what got my Irish up, but I think I should avoid him at all costs.

You should subscribe to him on Youtube: Blunty3000

I must admit on a few of his videos he can get a bit arrogant and full of himself but most of his content is good and he makes good reviews and previews of all sorts.

 

[WittyInfidel]

I didn't mean any type of arrogance or anything. There was something...subconscious about it, really. A whole cats & dogs kind of thing. There's just something about him, or about me, that would just make it to where we couldn't be in the same room at the same time. I didn't find his voice irritating or his mannerisms offensive. But I still wanted to have a go at the guy.

Fish gotta swim, rain falls, and this guy and I would try to kill each other.

 

[TPiddy]

I disagree, it was priced appropriately for people who already owned PS3's, and even better for those who had an Eye (Check and Check). Whereas, Kinect was priced for new adopters, and against current owners. The marketing, part of the Kevin Butler series, was more than adequate and I saw it plenty of times. So, I would say it was definitely more than average on Sony's part, however, I again remind you that Sony even went as far to make a public statement that they didn't expect Move to burn up the sales charts.

Where it becomes over-priced is the cost of each additional remote. A cost Kinect does not have.

...however, that's not really a problem with the peripheral, that's more the developers fault for either caving to Sony's demands of Move compatibility, or simply wanting to hit even greater demographics with their titles. Neither of which are acceptable excuses in my book.

This is my problem... Sony's demands of Move compatibility. MS has wisely decided not to force Kinect onto core devs, keeping it out of the hardcore games, as it was removed from Fable III, and I doubt it will be included in GoW 3. Forza is the only AAA title so far I've seen that is touting Kinect support.

As stated previously though, Kinect has yet to show me anything I really need to play, or feel like I'm 'missing'. Ya know?

I feel the same way. The Kinect soccer was interested and Dance Central is party fun, but it doesn't have a 'killer app' and won't for a while. Still, the potential it lends to stuff like RTS games, RPG's and the like will probably bear some pretty good fruit.

Eh? Sony, thus far, has announced 20 exclusives, on that list, there are several newer indie games, older PS2/1 franchise sequels, several PS3 franchise sequels, a handful of the AAA even have Move compatibility, and I'm seeing 1 HD remake in the name of the Ico collection. And given The Last Guardian is launching next year, I don't really see that as a stupid move.

This is what I'm saying... it's the same old, same old, and I did admit that 360 has been doing it as well, but I wasn't interested in God of War, Resistance, Killzone, Motorstorm or Infamous when they first came out, so why would I bother with their respective sequels now? And HD repackagings of both the Ico collection and the God of War collection are just sad money-making schemes because they removed backwards compatibility.

As I've said before... the PS3 came into it's own in 2008. Since the price drop, the decision is much harder to make, and the only reason I don't have one is because I keep missing 360 titles I want to play, why would I compound that problem by adding more games to my backlog?

However, as for disappointing me... the controllers, bar none were my biggest disappointment. They're just re-hashed PS2 controllers with 'hybrid' features of the 360 controller (triggers) and the wii-mote (sixaxis), neither implementation done particularly well. The only good thing about them is the battery.

Then it was the constant returning to the well. Resident Evil, Killzone, God of War, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear.... Their original IP like Motorstorm Lair, and Resistance seemed weak and contrived, and yes I've played all 3. The system just doesn't appeal to my gaming tastes any longer, when there was a time that it used to. Hell, the first thing I ever bought with my first credit card was a PS2. And I bought that for Twisted Metal Black. The only real PS3 games that have generated any interest at all for me would be LBP, Heavy Rain, Uncharted and the upcoming Twisted Metal.

360, on the other hand, hit us with Oblivion, which was a continuation of their elder scrolls ports from XBox, then followed that up with Dead Rising, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Gears of War and Crackdown. All 'new' IP, before finally dropping their first sequel to Halo, 2 years after the system was released, and a follow up to Fable. I say 'new' because I realize Bioshock is a spiritual successor to System Shock on PC, but it was still new to XBox owners.

Microsoft, being a generation behind the PS3, hasn't had as many franchises or as big of a library to build on, but to start franchises like Mass Effect and Gears of War on the 360 and have them be as great as they have been is what really impresses me about the system and it's part of the reason why I won't bother to change.

 

[Trogdor1138]

While I very much by far prefer the PS3 for gaming needs and have a Move, uninterested in Kinect...

Good on Microsoft I say, I mean, I thought the Kinect wouldn't sell anywhere near that well, so I have to say I was wrong about the market uptake for it. They went for the mass marketing approach, but hey, it worked right? So yeah, they hit their audience.

I'll try out a Kinect eventually if a friend has one or something, for now I'm having fun with Sports Champions though.

 

[squid5580]

Wow, the sales would have been helped by Kinect obviously but it is still a good profit.

Also, to the people who say that Kinect/Move are EyeToy/Wii rip offs, well...

Spoiler: Here is why you are wrong.

The problem is this video and all the pertaining info is made for informed gamers. Not your average consumer. We gamers have already decided. We gamers know the Wii doesn't read 1:1. Your average consumer on the other hand sees the Wii and sees the Move and they don't know the difference. Most will figure meh I already have a Wii. But the kinect if it does even close to what it promises is a whole new frontier. That is one step closer to the holodeck.

Oh and for the record because the Move actually does what the Wii (and Wii Motion Plus) promised to do doesn't make it a whole new beast. It just means it is an improvement on an existing product. Gets hard to justify the $100 price tag if you have already invested $200 (plus acc and games) which is the people they want to attract. The Kinect is a whole new beast in the eyes of you average consumer.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Oh, those sneaky people. Come out with Kinect and suddenly everyone wants one. Want a Kinect, you need a 360... MS ships out tons of 360s.

 

[TPiddy]

Mass Effect is a great franchise, but it also exists on the PC, makes little to no sense to pay for the priviledge of playing it on a lesser system than the one I currently have heh. Gears just hasn't ever interested me as a game. So, no big loss there. Overall, you're acting as if Sony has no exclusive IP, and the issue simply is, they have a ton of IP spanning multiple generations. You seem to be having trouble deciding which is which. But there are plenty.

Actually, the focus of my post was more in the first two years of launch. I did mention Uncharted and LBP, because they came out in that time frame. First two years of 360 were better than the first two years of PS3. Hard to really debate that one. Fast forward to NOW, and it's a much tougher choice, like I had mentioned.

I'm not saying Sony has no exclusive IP, Sony obviously has more. They have more first-party developers than any other system. What I'm saying is that I've been waiting a long time for them to impress me and they've only done it marginally over the last few years. They still have more games and variety, but yet less systems sold, less people playing online, even though it's free, less multi-player efforts...How is it that they're still losing?

 

[TPiddy]

No offense meant here, but you're kind of stuck in the mindset that somehow being in 3rd means nobody's playing online. I mean, that's false you know that, right? Just so we're being clear, PSN is pretty widely used for multi-player games. You're acting as if it's still 6-8 months after the PS3's launch.

And if you're looking for multiplayer effort, what are you doing on console to begin with. I play some MP with my PS3, but I'll be honest, if Sony developed for PC also. I probably wouldn't have bought a launch PS3. Would most likely have gone into my PC alone. I definitely play alot of SFIV and Tekken, so I'd have to get one eventually though heh.

Not saying nobody uses PSN for online gaming, saying significantly less people do than 360. And I won't even get into the "why I don't PC game" discussion because that's another giant can of worms entirely.

LIVE is a fantastic service in spite of what people say about the denizens, which is greatly exaggerated.

 

[xXx5Niq3rzxXx]

I glad that Micosoft are doing well in the recession. It's good to see companies do well in tough times. I hope it keeps up like this, that way the games industry will get a nice boost.

 

[TPiddy]

Not saying nobody uses PSN for online gaming, saying significantly less people do than 360. And I won't even get into the "why I don't PC game" discussion because that's another giant can of worms entirely.

LIVE is a fantastic service in spite of what people say about the denizens, which is greatly exaggerated.

Hey now, I made no comments on the quality of Live or PSN, I was merely stating that PC's are where the mp effort...well, it has no equal. I realize that's opinion but I have used Live, PSN and PC so at least I've tried all 3.

No, I'd be inclined to agree that PC gaming offers the best gaming experience... I just don't game on PC for my own reasons and as such prefer to keep this as a console argument.

 

[Solid Reece]

and the more people playing the bigger room you need. On the tv commocals it shows you how much room you need

 

[Solid Reece]

PC gameing is expencie because you have to keep updateing you compter sofeware and parts