Microsoft: Xbox 360 Is The Console of The Long Future

[pneuma08]

.... the 360 at this point and time has sold more than the PS3 and its still selling well enough considering the competition, the WII is more a toy than a game machine so its not in direct competition the PS3 is catching up and selling more on a monthly basis because everyone pretty much has a 360......

Has sold and is selling are different things. "Total units sold" is skewed anyway because the 360 was out for a year before the other two, but in any event the rate at which they are moving has slowed lately. The PS3 basically has all the momentum right now, as the rest of the people in this thread like to point out.

I guess what I'm getting at is slow sales (reason irrelevant) are not good sales. The PS3 is just getting into full swing so it makes sense to keep that around, but the 360 is winding down. We'll see how Natal pans out but I do not think it will end well.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I think they could be right in a way, but misunderstanding what 'long haul' means right now.

PS2 didn't actually last that long before the PS3 came out (PS1s still being sold right up until the end, PS2s still around if you look hard enough), but the PS3 may really be the long hauler of this generation of consoles.

For all the ribbing on the Wii, it really doesn't have that much life left, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Nintendo take all the experience of the Wii, add decent third party extras and boost that graphics engine, and they win the next console war as well.

360, by my reckoning, is a halfway house. It's going to outlast the Wii, but it won't last as long as the PS3 can. This also assumes that Sony don't get greedy and release PS4 before PS3 has run it's natural life, which is what I feel they did with PS2 and 3. That said, I think 360s have go some milieage left to run before they get old and creaky, and maybe next time around Microsoft can fix that goddamn red ring.

 

[clankwise]

Well in the gaming industry new ways of playing games often fail. Wiimote sixaxis virtual and many ness acsseories, Even if natal works those big multiplatform game wont proably use them and it will die. Also there will be a new gaming console that makes xbox 360 obsolete and the underdog where it will proably die.look at all the game systems which have died but have been great.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I'm split on this. On the plus side, no "new" console will mean that I don't have to buy a new console when the next halo/mass effect/ what have you gets made. Also there isn't anything really wrong with the processing power of the 360. I mean, yes, I realize it isn't going to be as good as a good PC, but I'm at least satisfied with the graphics and the fact that it can render 2000 AI enemies in games like dead rising 2 leads me to believe that it's capable of handling pretty much anything that's necessary within the foreseeable future.

On the down side, it doesn't look as nice on big TVs as the PS3 does, and 360s have an uncomfortably high failure rate. Plus no advances in technology means that any major advance in gameplay probably couldn't be handled.

 

[Green Tentacle]

I gave up on Microsoft's claims about how all their products will be great.

Just look at the Vista.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I love my Xbox, glad to hear it. Natal will be a fun toy.

"Xbox 666" - I'd buy that in a heart beat and make a throne of skulls to place it on.

 

[hypothetical fact]

I for one look forward to chatting up milo.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

.... the 360 at this point and time has sold more than the PS3 and its still selling well enough considering the competition, the WII is more a toy than a game machine so its not in direct competition the PS3 is catching up and selling more on a monthly basis because everyone pretty much has a 360......

Has sold and is selling are different things. "Total units sold" is skewed anyway because the 360 was out for a year before the other two, but in any event the rate at which they are moving has slowed lately. The PS3 basically has all the momentum right now, as the rest of the people in this thread like to point out.

I guess what I'm getting at is slow sales (reason irrelevant) are not good sales. The PS3 is just getting into full swing so it makes sense to keep that around, but the 360 is winding down. We'll see how Natal pans out but I do not think it will end well.

I can agree with that, but my point is they are doing well enough to milk the franchise for a few more years before they just have to do something, its when devs in groups'n'numbers start moving over to the PS3 and the 360 gets crappy ports and what not that's when they need to change everything but for now and at least for 3 more years I do not see the need to change to a new console(well I would love it if they did but from thier perspective there is no need). I just hope they do not alienate the 360 users like sony did with PS2 users if MS did that it would be disastrous....

 

[pneuma08]

I can agree with that, but my point is they are doing well enough to milk the franchise for a few more years before they just have to do something, its when devs in groups'n'numbers start moving over to the PS3 and the 360 gets crappy ports and what not that's when they need to change everything but for now and at least for 3 more years I do not see the need to change to a new console(well I would love it if they did but from thier perspective there is no need). I just hope they do not alienate the 360 users like sony did with PS2 users if MS did that it would be disastrous....

Well, I think you're being way too generous with your estimates. Years are a very long time in the console market.

But only time will tell.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

You can stream 1080p movies right now on an XBOX 360 nearly the same quality as any blue ray you put into a PS3. You can save ANY XBOX 360 game to the hard drive, eliminating the need to load multiple dics more than once.

... and whenever doing those things is more convenient than getting a single disc (that you can sell used, or borrow from friends) with higher-quality audio and video formats, PS3 owners will do that. PS3 has a hard drive too lol. It's just that discs are way better until we get way faster internets.

Microsoft's idea of hanging on to the 360 for a while is a bad idea, all of their strategies up to now have been about buying the short-term advantage:

MS got their console out the door first with cheapass hardware and godawful defects they still haven't fixed. A year later Sony comes out with a more open and reliable system and all kinds of nice built-ins like wireless networking and higher-capacity discs. Sony even rubbed some salt in it by switching up to the Slim PS3 after a couple years, generating a marketing and sales spike for an existing console while Nin and MS had nothing.

MS paid developers to develop and release games on 360 a year ahead of PS3 instead of making them proper exclusives. A year later the game comes out for PS3 with fixed-up bugs and more content. It's a bunch of crap and made Microsoft start looking bad starting like last year when Star Ocean and Fallout 3 DLC went multi-platform.

Hopefully Microsoft's just lying through their teeth and working on a next-gen console they can drop on us in the near future... actually it could be any time now since 360 owners are already used to buying new hardware every year or two. As long as the next machine's got BC and can transfer all your 360 data to the new hard drive they're good to go.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I can agree with that, but my point is they are doing well enough to milk the franchise for a few more years before they just have to do something, its when devs in groups'n'numbers start moving over to the PS3 and the 360 gets crappy ports and what not that's when they need to change everything but for now and at least for 3 more years I do not see the need to change to a new console(well I would love it if they did but from thier perspective there is no need). I just hope they do not alienate the 360 users like sony did with PS2 users if MS did that it would be disastrous....

Well, I think you're being way too generous with your estimates. Years are a very long time in the console market.

But only time will tell.

I would be surprised if they hold out more than 2, but 2-3 years feels about right, but who knows they may come out with a new console in 011. Whatever they do it better be fully compatible with the 360.