Microsoft's XBox 3 Could Give It Market Supremacy 48 comments
-
Font Size:
-
Print
- TweetThis
The following is just speculative fun. But it is based firmly in reality.
The Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 is very, very well designed. Part of this design genius is ease of manufacture and potential for cost reduction. So I see this console as having a ten year life. This should easily see it up to 2015.
This year Microsoft will use their manufacturing cost advantage to use the price mechanism to build market share in the face of Sony (SNE)’s AAA game releases. This will leave headroom in the market for them to introduce a new premium console giving them a two model range, just as Sony have had for a few years now. It will also make the 360 a cheap mass market machine which will have the effect of growing Xbox Live enormously. And this is the most important thing for Microsoft. It is the online platform which, ultimately, will be the main event.
The new premium console (Xbox 3) will feature a gesture interface and probably integration with a new handheld game console. Microsoft have a great incentive to go for this two model (plus handheld) strategy sooner rather than later because Sony are currently too weak to respond. So it would be a knockout blow that could give them market supremacy.
The new Microsoft handheld will be son of Zune, with iPhone and Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) DS features. This device looks pretty inevitable and will give access to Xbox Live anywhere and everywhere and with its integration to Xbox 3 it will bring a whole raft of new capabilities to the consumer.
Another factor to remember is that Nintendo will have to do something about the Wii. This machine is really Gamecube 1.5 with a gesture interface. Its old technology will find it out. So Wii2 cannot be too far away, and it is something that Microsoft must have an answer for.
So when will we see Xbox 3? The normal console cycle is for new models every 5 years. Which would put availabilty at the end of 2010. I can see Microsoft bringing this forward a year to 2009. The current year year is too soon as they still have to build the market position of the 360. So next year it is then! And rememeber that for just about every new product area that Microsoft has entered, it is their third generation of that product that gives them world domination.
Related Articles
|
-
The Seeking Alpha 100
See allThe top 100 stock
market authors
selected for publication
Seeking Alpha 100 » -
Fastest Climbers
Authors with the largestSee all
increase in followers
in the last 7 days
Fastest Climbers » -
Top Commenters
Top commenters,See all
as ranked by their peers
Top Commenters » -
Top Instabloggers
The 100 most activeSee all
Instabloggers.
Top Instabloggers » -
Top StockTalkers
TopSee all
StockTalkers.
Top StockTalkers »
This article has 48 comments:
"But it is based firmly in reality."
This had the ufortunate side effect of turning the rest of the article into total horse shit.
The Xbox 360 is perhaps the most poorly designed MAJOR console ever. That statement you make is just ludicrious, NOT based in reality (Red Ring of Death, many reports saying the Xbox 360 has a failure rate close to 30%) and borderline-fanboyish.
(I say major because there undoubtedly have been many consoles developed by less well known companies that have also been poorly designed, ie Nokia NGage).
What the author, Bruce, is talking about is the guts of the system; the components built are relatively cheap compared to the innards of a PS3.
Microsoft is also the king of bringing back a product, newly improved. Who would have thought that Windows would have succeeded with the first launch and all its faults?
Microsoft actually listens to it's customers and uses that information to improve their products. I don't doubt that a future Xbox 720/1080 will really give Sony a run for their money.
I think it's going to be a fun gamble to see what Microsoft will do about future games that will need larger disc space. Microsoft has been supporting the Hd-Dvd system but with Blu-ray all but having won the movie market, Hd-Dvd will be dieing out. Will Microsoft start supporting the Blu-ray format by it's competitor Sony?
The only way for HD-Dvd to last a while longer, at this point, is to become a burning solution for PC users.
PC users will always need larger discs to hold all the data that they accumulate. With Blu-ray burners available and no Hd-DVD burners yet that I have seen, even this might be a hard battle...
One of the main reasons people speculate that MS went with HD DVD was to sabatoge the Blu-ray in favor of downloaded games.
That probably won't make sense for XBox 3 but probably XBox 4.
As for the hardware reliability comments, they are valid. MS is new to this game and needs to ramp up. Having a clear lead in excellent games and superior online does not fix everything.
But the key to the Xbox720 is all about keeping the platform exactly the same, just boosting CPU, Memory & Video card capability.
There's no way the Xbox 360 will last until 2015 with a technically superior competitor in the PS3 and a cheaper, more innovative competitor in the Wii. The impending death of HD-DVD is a huge blow to Microsoft as well.
PS: By the way, Sony reported good numbers from both their PS3 and PS2 units. And we all know about Nintendo's big gains. World domination probably won't come for Microsoft in the next console generation if ever.
- Wow, if thats not fanboy reasoning, i don't know what is....
if you look at last gen sony DID clearly win out, despite the Xbox being the technically superior competitor, as well as being the most innovative console of the gen. with a well working online system.
So I ask, how does any of that determine who'll TRUELY come out ahead???
It's all about the quality of the games man.... NOTHING else when it comes to a GAMING console. Price plays a role in how early it's adopted, but even the cheapest console dies without good games.
My prediction: this stock will go nowhere in the next decade. Get out while the gettin's good.
Blu-Ray is gonna beat HD-DVD...Not likely. Paramount/Universal has a HUGE stake in the movie industry, and they are staying with HD-DVD. Warner Bro.'s? Dont need them. All they have is Batman. A strong presence, true, but HD DVD still has Transformers, which has out sold every version of the Batman Series, COMBINED. But lets just say Blu-Ray, DOES have some advantage in the format "war"....thats like being the prettiest kid with down-syndrome. Why? Because HD content can be streamed from almost every new device. HD movies will be downloaded straight to our HDD's, eliminating the "disc" forever. How many of you still buy CDs? How many of you bought HD-CD's or SA-CD's? Exactly. MP3's took over? And for those of you who dont know what those formats are---look it up. Who wins the format war? NOBODY. Because within the year that format will be next to obsolete. The Reason alot of studios jumped onto the Bluray band wagon, is because of strength in numbers. It doesnt matter which side they choose, as long as they ALL choose the same side. Why? Because that way you ensure victory. Why is it so important to have this victory? Because you might as well be on the winning side while they last(are going strong)----which will be another full year at best.
Do yourselves a favor. Stop buying into speculation, and look at the facts. Have you read the specs on the 360's and PS3's hardware? PS3 has more power when it comes to stuff like, making spreadsheets. 360's power lies in math, and processing on a visual level----pretty much what every game consists of. Nothing is wrong with PS3, but it just takes alot longer to make these games....but once they are made--they look stellar.
If your seriously concerned about power and versatility---build or buy a PC. Throw in some serious Hardware, run a liquid colling system, and overclock it. There is NOTHING a PC cannot do. Plus "Games For Windows" has a GREAT library of titles, and most of them come with a TON of extra content and extras---plus they have dedicated servers for free online play.
Steve C
Do you really believe digital downloads are the next media? I wouldn't. You use MP3s as an example, but the truth is, MP3 sales only make up about 11% of music sales. CDs sales are still strong and still breaking records. Trust me, CDs aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The same is going to be true for Blu-rays. HD-DVD has lost this war, and the sooner you realize this, the sooner you can move on like the rest of us. Paramount and Universal are huge studios, but they only make up a combined total of 30% of the industry. It isn't looking good at all, especially with rumors, they are both no longer exclusive to HD-DVD (they may release in both). As you wait for these digital downloads, we'll all be buying the next media format (Blu-ray). Digital download is very far away, my friend. The infrastructure is not in place to do this and won't be for several years (maybe 10 or more). Think about it. An average 1080P movie will take about 30Gs. The average download speed in America is 1.5Mbps, with many still using dial-up. It would take hours to download that movie. Sure, they offer HD downloads now, but as far as I know, they are not full 1080P (they are 720p) and compressed with quality loss of both video and audio. Not to mention, I have about 550 movies. If these were in 1080P, it would take 16,000 GBs of space. Now where the hell am I going to get that from? People still want a hard copy of movies, just like people still want hard copies of CDs. It won't change for a very long time. So you sit back and wait for these downloads and the rest of us will watch our movies in glorious 1080P. Your console argument is also sickening and leads me to believe you are a lot younger than I am. You are presenting the same arguments that were presented when the PS2 launched. I'll post a link to the irony.
archive.salon.com/tech...
And, don't forget, Universal is run by Zucker, a demonstrably incompetant idiot.
"Digital download is very far away, my friend. [bandwidth concerns]"
Correct. That's why Apple's NON-HD downloadable video is outselling everybody else, by far. Also, Apples movies will play on portable devices, unlike AMZN Unbox.
"The new premium console (Xbox 3) will feature a gesture interface"
Whoa-- like some putrid MSFT knockoff of Wii technology will matter? I think we know the "gesture" everyone will be using, when their XBox's overheat/burst into flame!
"The new Microsoft handheld will be son of Zune"
Gee. That means, maybe sales for everybody who works at Microsoft and their immediate families. There'lll be much "squirting" in Redmond!
Mr. Everiss should comment on Pork bellies or some other subject where he may have a better grasp of the facts.
bits.blogs.nytimes.com...
They will finish publishing a couple more titles in HD-DVD format to finish their contract and that sounds like the end of a hammer hitting the nail in the coffin.
i have no doubt microsoft will also kill the 360 to direct attention to the next xbox, sadly its probably true.
i also have no doubt sony will continue to support the ps3 for a long time
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.] xbox 360 has the best graphics out of any system out and it has the best games. I dont know how it can't be well designed and have such live like graphics.
Nitro - ur a dumb
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.] ! The 360 is so much more popular than wii and ps3. they both had there chance and they screwed up
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.]
I have every "next-gen" system available (along with many many past consoles). To be objective, I have to admit to M$ putting out a bad console (i.e. red ring of death). I had it happen on both 360's I own. I will say that M$ fixed my 360's quickly and with no problems.
So they made a bad product? At least they are willing to shell out the money to fix all the broken consoles in the world. I have to give them the respect they deserve for that.
Now, comparing the PS3, Wii and 360 ....
Wii is a good console. It is fun and innovative .... and dull after a few weeks. Seriously, the only games I have been able to enjoy from beginning to end on the Wii was Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy. All the other games are just gimmicky and become boring. I think the Wii's strength is soley in it's ability to capture a new audience for gaming. However, once that audience takes a liking to games, Sony and Microsoft will profit from it.
PS3 vs 360: Well, the PS3 has some games that are exclusive to it that are either here or coming that I am waiting on. However, there really aren't that many. As such, I would much rather purchase a multi-platform for the 360 over the PS3. Live is hands down better than PS Network and who knew that achievements would be such a cool little additive to games?
Look, all systems have exclusives that make it worth owning the console for, no one is disputing that. But for my dollar, I will buy games for the 360 and Bluray movies for my PS3.
I just hope that when M$ DOES market the Xbox 3 / Xbox 720 / Xbox whatever, that they at least build a better product (hardware realiability wise) that they did with the 360.
Meh .....
It's easy to gripe and moan about MS. It's easy to gripe and moan about Sony. One faction is always going to 'hate' the other. But I belong to both sides and I love both machines. I think MS has created a fantastic console in the 360 and I'm anxious to see what they come up with next.
Besides, look at it this way folks: with more than one console on the market, it's a big WIN situation for the consumers. The console mfgs will keep trying to better one another with new features, cooler games, better quality hardware... We can't lose.
Xbox may have the red rings but it can be sent back to Microsoft and without cost it is fixed or replaced in most cases. The bad thing about xbox is how
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.] loud the fans are, PS3 is quiet. Xbox 360 is the definition of rape against the ps3 online. I'd rather pay for xbox live then go for the PS3's free online. People are saying it'll take a couple years before game developers can finally figure out how to use the full potential of the PS3 but by then the next xbox is probably going to be out. Right now xbox 360 rapes PS3 but later on it might not be the case.
PS Fanboys need to go get a life.
none of u in my eyes cos the pc will allways rule for me shear power hehe...ok back to consoles well both xbox and ps3 have hardware glitches more ps3 i say ..on the grounds of online gameing i am looking forward to seeing xbox and pc online togetther playing aginst each other in clans my vote is the xbox 360 rules for now regaurding consoles hehe....well lets see what MS BRING OUT LATER FOR NET GEN CONSOLE CANT WAITcu guys arround :)
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.] dont forget to bash the 360 a little more in your email so i know how many PS3 fan boys that are trying to make it look like the PS3 was not the worst investment they ever made.
[Comment edited for abusive language. Commenter put on watch.] UP. SONY WILL DIE ITS NONAVOIDABLE JUST LIKE HITTING THE ONE DEAD SQUIRLE IN THE ROAD RIGHT AFTER YOU WASH YOUR CAR. PS3'S GOT NOTHING ON THE 360 GET OVER IT.
P.S. THE ONLY GOOD THING FOR THE PS WAS RISTANCE WITCH I BEAT IN LIKE 10 MINS AND THEN I RETURNED IT AND MY PS3 AND CLEANED MY HANDS OF THEIR INFEIOR GRAPHIX AND POOR GAME PLAY.
There is no way it will last until 2015- two generations of consoles will most likely have passed by then. The format of the next generation of consoles will be key. Sony already have blu-ray so if MS decided to go with it, Sony would have the upper hand with compatibility for ps3 games (if they do this). However, this advantage would be shortlived with MS paying top dollar for the best games.
In my opinion, the future holds a big battle between Sony and MS which (and this is just speculation for you sony fanboys) MS will probably win in the end with superior online play, better games and (most likely) the same array of features as the sony counterpart. Meanwhile, the Wii will be the undercurrent gaming platform- cheap, fun and innovative but lacking any top games.
P.S. if the xbox team bring out a portable console, it will most likely surpass the psp with the benefit of newer technology and hindsight on Sony's efforts.
Now the thing about storage, your 120GB HD costs 130 bucks if i think correctly. i can buy a 250GB hd for my ps3 for around the same price for around 200 dollars i can get a 320GB hd for my ps3 so ms fails with affordable disk space. i don't have to use a LAN cable because i have WiFi which is STANDARD you pay 100 dollars for it which makes the elite cost more then a ps3 i have a bluray player you have to buy a separate one or buy a ps3 (which is the most afordable and considered the best Bluray player on market :P)
PSN is slowly but surely picking up speed it already has put out the patch for XMB access while playing a game and you can send messages to friends in other games. As fast and consistent as Sony has been at giving us new and better updates and add ons its simply a matter of time before PSN rivals Live. which in reality it already does being free vs having to pay 50 bucks for the gold card to do anything. which i have purchased and use. because yes i own a 360 and will be happy to whoop up on you at Halo3 just message BerserkProxy if you want a go. I play my ps3 far more though because games like COD4 have already been declared better looking and smoother by many different magazines and reviewers which it shows and the only reason i get upset is when people have the balls to say that the 360 is just some kind of super "POWERHOUSE!!!" compared to the competition. Its simply not the ps3 was off to a slow start yes because so much of the fan base for ps2 left for xbox and xbox live. Sony is new in the realm of online console gaming and i say are doing well. TrueTexan is my PSN tag if you want to play me on COD4 sometime while im thinking about it.
so now that i have gotten this off my chest. Xbox 360 while yes it had the red rings, it still gets hot and freezes and i wont buy that loud intercooler. It sold more because of an early launch which gave people only one choice in next Gen gaming for a whole year so y es it sold its ass off. Live is nice but it still has alot of bugs and it limits online games in many ways because of its strict policies. Now as for its library of games... i don't care if you have 300 games if only all the games worth buying are the multi platform games then you cant talk shit. you have Gears of War if you like that game i found it to simple much why i got tired of halo. so GoW1(2 coming) Halo3... uh i cant think of any other titles that are really worth naming for being worth a console. so you have a half a shelf worth of games and then a room full of mediocre games that aren't worth the price tag. You spend more than 300 bucks on recharge kits and accessories to make it the equivalent of a ps3 which makes it almost twice a ps3 in the end. you then have to pay 50 dollars a year which adds on to the cost to own the system. You cant watch the now only HD format disc on the market. you have paid 150 bucks for an hd dvd player that is worthless now. The games will not get much better looking for the xbox since it is almost running at max power while the ps3 has just started to be used correctly due to its insane learning curve the devs had to deal with unfortunately. If you dare argue with these facts you are bias and sad. I am not bias i own play and like both but facts are facts. y ou cant argue just say this for now on!!!!! xboxfanboys repeat after me! "I simply prefer the Xbox 360 over the Playstaion 3" which is your right and I'm glad. PS3 fanboys repeat after me!!!!! "I simply prefer the Playstaion 3 over the Xbox 360" there done. Try and argue that please just please.
P.S. any misspelling that has most likely occurred during this long post I'm sorry but i don't really care i wanted to get my point out and in a very quick manner so o wellz. Now i would also like to thank those of you for putting up with some of the incoherent ranting i did through this that i just don't want to fix because it was how i fealt at that time X_x
Yes I may sound a fanboy, mainly cause i know of a multitude of articles which has rated the xbox 360 as the best media center currently avalible.
Shut you whining and just accepts that the xbox 3 is going to exist, so what if its going to use blu ray when they were backing hd dvd, shut all ya faces and go back to some stupid forums for the 2 year olds you all are.
the Xbox 360 has amazing graphics, xbox live, and the best games around. If you look at all the other consoles, there is hardly any games worth mentioning that are exclusive to them. But the Xbox 360 has Halo, GOW, and so many more.
have all the next generation systems and all the old generation ones and i can tell you for a fact, the Xbox 360 kicks all their asses
Get the thermal issues under control. Then put in more memory, a die shrunk processor with more cores and a compatable but much faster graphics chip.
It would run the old games. Game vendors could sell new games that could determine which machine they were on and adjust features and details accordingly.
It is going to take two or three years for the economy to recover and the buying public will be in a frugal state of mind.
I would have the same advice for Playsytation 4..
In both machine you could have the power for ray tracing which is the holy grail for game systems. Withthat much power old games would be more fluid.
If I was to update the 360 I would improve the processor, better memory, put in a 1TB hard drive and include a wii style wireless system. I would also look to include a Blue-Ray player as HD DVD seems to have lost out.
I'm guessing that no one here knows why the 1st xbox was killed off and why the ps2 still lives on.
The 1st xbox cost alot more to manufacture then it was being sold. This meant that M$ had to come up with a new console quick so that they could stop losing money on every xbox sold. That resulted in a rushed, poorly designed xbox 360 which before launch looked very promising.
The ps2 however was cheaper to manufacture than it costs. Unfortunately that s not the case for the ps3 which saw 3 price cuts in the same year and had backwards compatibility eliminated just to cut production costs.
The best thing to speculate is that same thing that happened to the 1st xbox will happen to the ps3. But i m positive that sony will not rush production on the ps4 and deliver a console with a mediocre quality as M$ did with the 360.
On Jan 19 07:39 PM ybutton wrote:
> umm, nitro the xbox didnt just die, it was killed- by microsoft,
> and the ps2 still lives because sony still supports it.
> i have no doubt microsoft will also kill the 360 to direct attention
> to the next xbox, sadly its probably true.
> i also have no doubt sony will continue to support the ps3 for a
> long time
ive had a 360 since they 1st came out and ive sent mine over to germany or w.e. they fix them 5 times but ide still rather have an xbox that breaks every year than a ps3 lol, (i have a ps3 aswel like i just wanted to insult them coz the're shit)
On Jan 13 04:08 AM tendoboy1984 wrote:
> You really think the 360 is well designed? Sure the outer casing
> may look nice, but the heardware is rubbish. The console freezes
> up, crashes, overheats, etc. All of this causes the dreaded 3 Red
> Lights scenario that many 360 owners have had, forcing them to send
> the system in to Microsoft in hopes of getting it repaired... or
> at least getting a refurbished system returned in it's place.
On Jan 14 08:58 AM Tom B wrote:
> "Paramount and Universal are huge studios, but they only make up
> a combined total of 30% of the industry."
>
> And, don't forget, Universal is run by Zucker, a demonstrably incompetant
> idiot.
>
> "Digital download is very far away, my friend. [bandwidth concerns]"
>
>
> Correct. That's why Apple's NON-HD downloadable video is outselling
> everybody else, by far. Also, Apples movies will play on portable
> devices, unlike AMZN Unbox.
>
> "The new premium console (Xbox 3) will feature a gesture interface"
>
>
> Whoa-- like some putrid MSFT knockoff of Wii technology will matter?
> I think we know the "gesture" everyone will be using, when their
> XBox's overheat/burst into flame!
>
> "The new Microsoft handheld will be son of Zune"
>
> Gee. That means, maybe sales for everybody who works at Microsoft
> and their immediate families. There'lll be much "squirting" in Redmond!
>
>
> Mr. Everiss should comment on Pork bellies or some other subject
> where he may have a better grasp of the facts.