Microsoft roundup
It seems that the 360 will get a $50 price drop next month. The rumor
is that Microsoft wants to empty the pipeline of the original 360
hardware models that contain the known hardware flaw. Microsoft has
seriously dropped their shipments of 360s to retail as they start to
make the new revision which will use the smaller CPU/GPU that should
produce less heat. We know that to have the Halo 3 360 out in stores
in time for the September release so August makes sense. This model
should have a 20 GB HDD with and HDMI port.
Microsoft really has to respond to the PS3 price cut because early result suggest the PS3 sales have almost doubled in the US. The price cut is North America only so the sales boost is only in the US. The question is how long will this increase last and how will a 360 price cut cut into the PS3 sales. Right now the PS3 is a cheap BluRay player and that's about all it's used for now.
As most of you know Pete Moore has left Microsoft to become President of EA Sports. Peter Moore was the top guy at Microsoft's Xbox division. This move is not a lateral move by any means. Microsoft is paying Moore a lot of money to leave Microsoft and go to EA. Is Moore the fall guy for the 360's hardware failures? You bet he is along with a few Asian manufactures we'll never hear from. Moore was a dubious choice to head up Xbox since he was at the helm that drove the Sega Dreamcast into the ground. A lot of people wanted J Allard back, currently heading up Zune, to lead the Xbox team but instead they got Don Mattrick from EA with a ton of games industry experience.
EA is the largest game publisher in the world with offices everywhere so it's not too surprising a move. Kind of odd EA and Microsoft are trading execs but we'll see what happens. It is now clear that another fall out of the deal is X07 is officially dead. The Xbox centric European game conference will be replaced with a British game conference. Since the only people that buy Xbox 360s are English speaking folks it makes more sense to aim at your core market.
Microsoft really has to respond to the PS3 price cut because early result suggest the PS3 sales have almost doubled in the US. The price cut is North America only so the sales boost is only in the US. The question is how long will this increase last and how will a 360 price cut cut into the PS3 sales. Right now the PS3 is a cheap BluRay player and that's about all it's used for now.
As most of you know Pete Moore has left Microsoft to become President of EA Sports. Peter Moore was the top guy at Microsoft's Xbox division. This move is not a lateral move by any means. Microsoft is paying Moore a lot of money to leave Microsoft and go to EA. Is Moore the fall guy for the 360's hardware failures? You bet he is along with a few Asian manufactures we'll never hear from. Moore was a dubious choice to head up Xbox since he was at the helm that drove the Sega Dreamcast into the ground. A lot of people wanted J Allard back, currently heading up Zune, to lead the Xbox team but instead they got Don Mattrick from EA with a ton of games industry experience.
EA is the largest game publisher in the world with offices everywhere so it's not too surprising a move. Kind of odd EA and Microsoft are trading execs but we'll see what happens. It is now clear that another fall out of the deal is X07 is officially dead. The Xbox centric European game conference will be replaced with a British game conference. Since the only people that buy Xbox 360s are English speaking folks it makes more sense to aim at your core market.
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