Microsoft in no hurry to introduce next-gen Xbox

[TimBud]

Microsoft in no hurry to upgrade Xbox

 

By Amy Thomson

 

Bloomberg

Posted: 01/12/2009 12:00:00 AM PST

 

Microsoft will rely on its Xbox 360 game console for longer than the previous version because it's getting harder to persuade consumers to upgrade, the head of the company's entertainment unit said.

 

The world's largest software maker will focus on improving the Xbox's games and features rather than rushing to introduce a new model, President Robbie Bach said in an interview. The Xbox 360 started selling in 2005, replacing the original Xbox, which debuted in 2001.

 

Bach made his entertainment and consumer-device division profitable last fiscal year after losing more than $3 billion in the previous two years. Now the executive said the quality of graphics on the Xbox 360 and its competitors, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, is so good that it will be more difficult to get gamers to buy a new version.

 

"Just coming up with something that's faster and prettier isn't going to be sufficient," said Bach, 47. "The life cycle for this generation of consoles — and I'm not just talking about Xbox, I'd include Wii and PS3 as well — is probably going to be a little longer than previous generations."

 

The Xbox improvements are also aimed at winning more users for the company's online gaming service. The Xbox 360 has helped Microsoft boost the number of users for the service, called Xbox Live, to 17 million.

 

U.S. consumers bought 3.3 million Xbox 360 machines in the first 11 months of 2008, according to researcher NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y. Wii sales totaled 8 million, while PlayStation 3 sales stood at 2.8 million.

 

Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, accounted for almost three-quarters of the 10 percent growth in U.S. sales of video games, players and accessories in November, according to NPD. That left the rest of the industry with growth of 3 percent or less, as consumers curbed spending to cope with the recession.

 

"When you look at consumers, they are going to be more value-conscious," Bach said.

 

"We want to make sure that as the economy does start to recover, that we're positioned well."

 

The company is also looking to improve the software for its Zune digital music player, Bach said. The software is designed to differentiate Zune, introduced in 2006, from Apple's best-selling iPod and other players, he said.

 

Microsoft, which is stepping up its investments in the mobile-phone market, doesn't plan to match Apple's iPhone with a single device, opting instead to get its software into many different phones, Bach said.

 

Microsoft's Windows Mobile program is in 11 phones that have sold 1 million units or more, Bach said. The company is betting that it can achieve higher volumes by installing the operating system in several types of handsets.

 

"You should definitely think of our approach as being about choice," Bach said. The market isn't "going to consolidate into four types of phones, and so, if you want to be a high-volume player, you have to service that breadth."

 

Credit crunch or playing it safe?

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_11417526?nclick_check=1

 

The original xbox was on sale for 4 years, so it looks like they could be going for 5 to 7 years (even longer maybe) which is a significant time between generations.

It is fair to assume though that the next M$ xbox is already well into development, although we won't see it by fall 2010 as some predicted.

[t.]

17 million on live! Wow.. that's pretty good. Nice to hear it has lifespan left in it, sadly though I need to buy a new console as there is only a handful of games it will now play without freezing.. yay.

[Guest RB26DETT]

Now the executive said the quality of graphics on the Xbox 360 and its competitors, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, is so good that it will be more difficult to get gamers to buy a new version.

 

Eh... WTF? I'm not impressed with the Wii at all. I've had mine for over a year and only play Wii Sports. I can't play "serious" games on that.

[ShadowGT]

The average lifespan of a generation of gaming console is 6 years. I give it that long before we see a Xbox 720, Playstation 4 or Nintendo Poop (what? it's the next logical name choice after wii lol)

 

Also once the next gen do come Microsoft will drop all support for the 360 just like they did for the original xbox HAHAHAHAHA :D

[YeOldeTDUMan]

Well I don't think this is a bad thing ... why replace the 360 ? It's still selling very well, it has a large customer base and in my opinion the games are on par with the games for the PS3 ... as to what they'd upgrade to it would be stuff like a faster/more powerful CPU, a better graphics card/chip thingy, a bit more on board memory, a larger HDD and possibly changing the disc over to Blueray (I mention possibly on that one) ... but it won't make the games 'better' OK they'll be able to do fancier graphics but in my opinion games are now getting very close to the ultimate limit anyway (as in looking realistic, if a game wants to look realistic that is)

 

just thing of all those parents breathing a sigh of relief at reading this that they doing have to buy their kid a new games console soon just because some company has decided to replace it in a predetermined life cycle

 

Eh... WTF? I'm not impressed with the Wii at all. I've had mine for over a year and only play Wii Sports. I can't play "serious" games on that.

 

When has a Wii ever been about serious games ? a Wii is about family & friends entertainment

[ShadowGT]

Well I don't think this is a bad thing ... why replace the 360 ? It's still selling very well, it has a large customer base and in my opinion the games are on par with the games for the PS3 ... as to what they'd upgrade to it would be stuff like a faster/more powerful CPU, a better graphics card/chip thingy, a bit more on board memory, a larger HDD and possibly changing the disc over to Blueray (I mention possibly on that one) ... but it won't make the games 'better' OK they'll be able to do fancier graphics but in my opinion games are now getting very close to the ultimate limit anyway (as in looking realistic, if a game wants to look realistic that is)

 

just thing of all those parents breathing a sigh of relief at reading this that they doing have to buy their kid a new games console soon just because some company has decided to replace it in a predetermined life cycle

 

 

 

When has a Wii ever been about serious games ? a Wii is about family & friends entertainment

 

But you see if they are gonna do something like that they are better off just making a new generation of Xbox. How may people do you seriously think are gonna go out & rebuy a 360 just because it has blue ray or a slightly faster processor?

[TimBud]

Also once the next gen do come Microsoft will drop all support for the 360 just like they did for the original xbox HAHAHAHAHA :D

 

Whats the point in flogging a dead horse? M$ can save money and put more into its current system. Besides old xbox games are compatible with the 360 anyway.

[ShadowGT]

Whats the point in flogging a dead horse? M$ can save money and put more into its current system. Besides old xbox games are compatible with the 360 anyway.

 

Yeah but how would you like it if you just bought a new car & a few months later a newer model came out & the dealership said because you have the older model we will not service it for you at all because we only service the new model now, how would you like it?...........exactly YOU WOULDN'T LIKE IT!

 

hell my sister still has a old Xbox. The other week she wanted to by a second controller for when her lil niece comes over every couple of weeks so they could play together but she can't because unless you have a 360 Microsoft couldn't give a rats ass about you. So she went and bought a extra PS2 controller & some new PS2 games instead because thankfully sony still looks after their older generation of gaming system.

 

 

By the way that was not a fanboyish rant that was all FACT!

[TimBud]

Cars are completely different to computer systems! What a poor comparison.

 

You can still buy all xbox games and accessories. If they break its all so cheap you don't need to send it to M$ to get it repaired.

[Guest RB26DETT]

 

 

 

When has a Wii ever been about serious games ? a Wii is about family & friends entertainment

 

Well if you don't know there are mainstream titles as well on the Wii like Call of Duty (old ones), Medal of Honor, Need For Speed, Resident Evil, etc etc. which imo are horrible to play on the Wii. Nothing beats a gamepad or keyboard+mouse. I've got MoH and RE and gave up, didn't just seem fun cause of the stupid aiming with remote, it's not perfect. Hence why I only play Wii Sports as that's where the Wii excels.

[ShadowGT]

Cars are completely different to computer systems! What a poor comparison.

 

You can still buy all xbox games and accessories. If they break its all so cheap you don't need to send it to M$ to get it repaired.

 

It may have been a poor comparison but it was a comparison never the less. Also where are all these games & accessories you speak of? only shop i've ever seen have Xbox stuff is EB games & even then they only keep old abused xbox games missing cases,manuals etc & not accessories.

 

*EDIT* OMG my speeling & grammer is shocking tonight. I really shouldn't of stayed up all last night watching Anime (Neon Genesis envangelion FTW)

[TimBud]

In the UK there are plenty of places that still stock small quantities of the accessories. Then there's also ebay, amazon etc.

But if you're too much of a snob to buy 2nd hand then you will struggle.

[YeOldeTDUMan]

Shadow - you read my post wrong ... when I meant upgrade a 360 I didn't mean another 360 I meant it's replacement and whatever that will be called ... sorry for the confusion

 

RB - I know those sort of games exist on the Wii but as I've said before lots of times the Wii is more about the family aspect and although those games exist on the platform it's not the fundamental platform ethos. All the people i know (as in people not from this forum but friends from home/work/etc) that have a Wii wouldn't normally buy a games console but have a Wii because they like the part aspect of it

 

Shadow - on the car front there does come a time when companies give up on parts but normally a 3rd party will make aftermarket bits ... one of the Alfa forums always has people searching for car parts! And I have no issue with the 'life' of a games console, especially as Tim says where if you want to still run it use something like ebay to get a new controller if it breaks

[Nodz86]

Well its different news to what the rumours where 6months ago.

 

Well its not a bad thing, I don't really wanna buy a new console yet. As Hybrid say they may just update this one with Blu Ray and the like or make a slim version like Sony did with the PS1's and PS2's

[DriftNismo]

Yeah, the Wii sucks... But it is fun with other people come over :D.

 

And we don't need any new consoles yet, we've only just upgraded. I know Sony don't plan on another Playstation console for another 10 years, and to be honest, they don't need to. Same with X360, they don't need to make another console for another few years yet, everyone is enjoying both of them right now, there's no need to upgrade again.

 

But when the X720 comes out, I do hope Microsoft don't do the same as they did when the X360 comes out and just completely cut off the previous console gamers. I was a very happy Xbox gamer until the X360 came out and the Xbox apparently didn't exist to Microsoft anymore. That's the only reason I haven't bought an X360; I'd love to have one, but there's no way they're getting my money after that.

 

But to be honest, graphics right now (for X360, PC & PS3) are pretty much the best they can get IMO. I mean how can it look any better than 250k polygons per vehicle in GT5? Or 100k polygons per vehicle in MC:LA? Hopefully when game companies realise they can't get any better graphics than they are right now they will actually start making good games instead of just graphical games, like on the PS1.

 

[/rant]

[kalniel]

But to be honest, graphics right now (for X360, PC & PS3) are pretty much the best they can get IMO. I mean how can it look any better than 250k polygons per vehicle in GT5? Or 100k polygons per vehicle in MC:LA?

In 5 years time you will look back on this statement and feel very silly :p

[DriftNismo]

I really don't think so kal. I mean sure, that thing AMD (or whoever it was) were doing (that looks like real life) will be better, but seriously think about it: they really cannot get better.

[macd79]

ray tracing anyone?

[Shy Guy]

The Wii's main weakness is its lack of power compared its rivals and lack of HardDrive, the power and HardDrive of a 20GB Pro 360 would help the wii lots

[Who]

thankfully sony still looks after their older generation of gaming system.

 

Only because they aren't making any money on PS3 consoles, which are still being sold at at rate that costs sony $49 a console

 

and also, because ending production of a console with 110m+ sales is not going to go down well with the public at all.

[DriftNismo]

Only because they aren't making any money on PS3 consoles, which are still being sold at at rate that costs sony $49 a console

 

Ah, ok. So because Microsoft were making a lot of money from their X360 consoles that justifies them ditching their loyal Xbox gamers?

[kalniel]

I really don't think so kal. I mean sure, that thing AMD (or whoever it was) were doing (that looks like real life) will be better, but seriously think about it: they really cannot get better.

Seriously I do think there's a huge amount of room for improvement.

 

Ah, ok. So because Microsoft were making a lot of money from their X360 consoles that justifies them ditching their loyal Xbox gamers?

There's no such thing as a loyal gamer.

[Who]

Ah, ok. So because Microsoft were making a lot of money from their X360 consoles that justifies them ditching their loyal Xbox gamers?

 

Microsoft is a company, and like any other, is not your best friend. Microsoft makes money by taking yours, that's how life works. Old xbox was a money pit, and IIRC a pit that took away $5bn from their pockets. PS2 still turns over a profit. hence why the big black box is gone and the little black box err, isn't.

 

That's like saying SEGA was just being selfish because it ditched it's 'loyal' customers by killing the dreamcast and leaving the console race. The dreamcast had one of the most defensive (fanboyish) base of customers. even now, Shemnue 2 has a very strong community in particular. but opinions don't matter to the accountants, turnover does, SEGA couldnt sustain a place in the console race, it just couldnt afford to, and now they make second rate shovelware for the wii and beat the rotting corpse of sonic every time they need an easy buck.

[ShadowGT]

costs sony $49 a console[/url]

 

and also, because ending production of a console with 110m+ sales is not going to go down well with the public at all.

 

Havent you heard? Playstation have already made just over a $1 million dollars in 1 month from people buying fake shirts & couches in Playstation HOME. If it keeps up like this it will be a very nice cash cow for Sony.

[Who]

*jawdrop* seriously!?

 

i knew they were taking a hit on consoles and getting it back in games, but seriously!? that much!? wo, perhaps they have got some real money coming in!

 

still, that doesn't detract from my point, PS2 is still about because there is still money to be made, i'm sure if MS were selling a decent amount of xboxes when they introduced the 360, they would have sold it for another few years too.