Xbox 360 trojan horse; retailers doomed
The major games stories of 2007 and 2008 won't be about the so-called triple-A titles with mondo development and marketing budgets. The real change that's brewing as next-generation consoles prepare to invade homes around the world is being introduced much more insidiously. Xbox Live (and as-yet unannounced offerings from Sony and Nintendo) are going to destroy video games retailing as we know it today.
Take a look at the list (below) of publishers that have announced support for the Xbox Live Arcade service: Electronic Arts, Midway Home Entertainment, Capcom, Vivendi Universal Games, Konami, SEGA, Hudson Soft and others. Take a look at the list of games that are being offered. Microsoft plans to make 35 titles available via Xbox Live Arcade by summer 2006. By summer 2007 there could be hundreds of titles. Microsoft is creating demand for broadband delivery of games.
Sure, the games on offer right now are non-threatening casual games, but it's only a matter of time until gamers are downloading entire triple-A titles and not just demos of them. With more and more retailers moving towards the sale of used games, first- and third-party publishers are going to push the direct-to-consumer channel even harder. Here's the game plan:
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Get the technology into living rooms. Sell the console as a regular console, not as a delivery device for Xbox Live Arcade
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Generate demand and drive habitual use by providing a simple, easy-to-navigate interface, frequent demos for highly anticipated new releases, multimedia content, and low, low prices
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Offer larger (200+ GB) hard drive options as consumers begin to fill their drives with content
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Establish consumer trust for your commerce engine through micropayments and other small (low-risk) transactions
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Flip a switch and offer top-tier games via direct download
We've included the official Xbox press release below. Read on for details about which publishers will be offering games for the Xbox Live Arcade.
There will be some missteps. Valve's launch of Half-Life 2 via download service Steam ran into numerous issues that for the most part have been resolved. However, the writing is on the wall: the retail distribution model is about to lose its stranglehold on gamer wallets. It's not if, it's when.
=========== PRESS RELEASE BELOW ===========
Microsoft Unveils New Market for Bite-Sized Game Titles as Industry Heavyweights Pledge Support for Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360
Microsoft Corporate Vice President Peter Moore to Reveal Highly-Anticipated Holiday Titles and Supporting Publishers to Digital Life Consumer Technology Audience
At the Digital Life consumer technology showcase in New York, Microsoft will reveal the launch window portfolio for Xbox Live ® Arcade for Xbox 360.
Peter Moore, corporate vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing for Xbox at Microsoft, will announce in his Digital Life keynote speech the highly-anticipated Xbox Live Arcade launch titles, as well as Xbox Live Arcade support by the world's leading publishers including Midway Home Entertainment, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Vivendi Universal Games, Konami, SEGA, Namco and Hudson Soft.
"The next generation of Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 will enhance the gaming experience for casual and competitive gamers alike, across the globe, providing something for everyone with world-class games and captivating content," said Moore.
Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 will launch in the U.S. and Canada on November 22, 2005, simultaneous with the North American launch of the Xbox 360 console. Similarly, the European and Japanese versions of Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 will launch alongside the European and Japanese console launches on December 2 and December 10, respectively. The next-generation Xbox Live Arcade online service will be fully integrated into the Xbox 360 Dashboard providing a central destination for Xbox 360 gamers to download new games, access their game collections, check out new releases and experience around-the-game features.
The Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 launch portfolio will include the following titles through Holiday 2005:
· Astropop - Popcap Games
· Bankshot Billiards 2 - pixelStorm, Inc
· Bejeweled 2 - Popcap Games
· Crystal Quest - Stainless Games
· Feeding Frenzy - Popcap Games
· Gauntlet - Midway Home Entertainment
· Geometry Wars 2 - Bizarre Creations
· Hardwood Backgammon - Silver Creek Entertainment
· Hardwood Hearts - Silver Creek Entertainment
· Hardwood Spades - Silver Creek Entertainment
· Hexic ® HD - Microsoft Game Studios
· Hoopworld - Streamline Studios
· Jewel Quest - iWin.com
· Joust - Midway Home Entertainment
· Marble Blast Ultra - GarageGames
· Mutant Storm Reloaded - PomPom Games
· Outpost Kaloki - Wahoo Studios
· Robotron 2084 - Midway Home Entertainment
· SmashTV - Midway Home Entertainment
· Wik: Fable of Souls - Reflexive Entertainment
· Zuma - Popcap Games
As an added bonus, the full version of "Hexic HD," the Xbox Live Arcade puzzle game, will be included free of charge with every Xbox 360 System at launch. Designed by world famous Tetris® creator Alexey Pajitnov, "Hexic HD" will be preloaded on the Xbox 360 hard drive.
Additionally, Peter Moore will announce that more than 40 publishers and developers have signed on to support Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 with game titles. These partners include:
· Atari
· Bizarre Creations
· Capcom
· Codemasters
· CTXM
· Digital Eclipse
· Electronic Arts
· Empire Interactive
· Gaia Studios
· GameHouse Studios
· Garage Games
· Gastronaut Studios
· Hamster
· Harmonix
· HipSoft
· Hudson Soft
· iWin
· Konami
· Llamasoft
· Load, Inc
· Mad Doc Software
· Majesco
· Microsoft Game Studios
· Midway Home Entertainment
· Mumbo Jumbo (United Developers)
· Naked Sky Entertainment
· Namco
· Oberon Media
· Pick Up And Play
· pixelStorm, Inc
· PlayFirst
· PomPom Games
· Popcap Games
· Q Entertainment
· RealNetworks, Inc
· Reflexive Entertainment
· Secret Lair Studios
· SEGA
· Silver Creek Entertainment
· SNK Playmore
· Stainless Games
· Streamline Studios
· Tik Games
· Ubisoft
· uWink
· Vivendi Universal Games
· Wahoo Studios
· Wanako Games
· Wild Tangent
Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 will consistently release new games to the service for gamers to download, with 35 titles planned by summer 2006. Gamers can choose from a variety of genres including action arcade titles, coin-op and retro classics, puzzle games, casual sports games, light strategy titles and card & board games. Games will come from the world's leading publishers as well as console developers, downloadable game shops and smaller developers alike, creating a great mix of classic favorites and truly innovative titles for the gamer to choose from.
"We're proud to be part of Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360, the world's first and only destination where gamers can find, download and buy smaller games directly to their console," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. "Retro, casual and hardcore gamers will be pleased to have access to the selection of quality SEGA titles we plan to offer via the new Xbox Live Arcade."
Xbox Live Arcade is powered by Xbox Live Marketplace, enabling gamers to quickly and easily download and unlock Xbox Live Arcade games. Every game in the Xbox Live Arcade will have a free, fully playable trial version that any Xbox Live Gold or Silver member can download onto their hard drive or memory unit.
NOTE: Earlier this week (10/11/05), Microsoft and RealNetworks, Inc announced plans to collaborate in the casual games arena. In this games partnership, RealNetworks will develop a series of new casual games for Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360.
About Xbox Live
Xbox Live continues to transform and unite Xbox communities worldwide, with a presence in 24 countries, and a global community of more than 2 million members. As the first global, unified online console games service, Xbox Live offers world class games, intelligent matchmaking, tournaments, unique programming and integration with Xbox.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
MS is going to have to do a whole lot better than $100 for a 20GB HDD for this to work.
Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
1) Why do you post this so negatively?
2) Don't see it happening. People like to own tangible things, it warrants their purchase(as well as provide an entire sub-market, used game sales which is Gstop's big money maker). People like having the boxes and discs. Also, it'd be rather limiting as to how many games we could buy. I realize downloads are fast, but if my drive got full I'd be really discouraged from deleting it to make room for another game. Also, a lot of N games are multiplayer, and not having an actual disc to bring to a friends house to play there would kind of ruin the experience.
Digital RENTALS might work... Where the file terminates validation after X days and stops working... Then you don't run into the issue of drive space being so limited. That's the most I can see though.
Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
US bandwidth sucks. Its faster for me to go to the mall on the other side of the city, eat a hot dog, watch a movie, browse the video game store, then buy a game and drive back home in the time it takes to download a fraction of the content on a DL DVD let alone blue-ray or something.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Scott -- I believe they can and will do MUCH, MUCH better. The 20GB drive may be more of an attempt to allay channel fears. Why would Wal-Mart or GameStop want to stock a device that will ultimately shift consumer behavior out of their stores? A 20GB drive is just a proof of concept. It's to get consumers used to the idea of downloadable games. There will be terabyte options before this generation of consoles sees sunset.
DigitalFirefly @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I've used something like this before. It's called Steam.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Steve: not sure you've been keeping up with Verizon's launch of Fios. It's a 15mb/s fiber-to-the-home service launched in limited markets right now. That's one way to deal with the issue.
The other way to deal with the issue is to focus more on episodic content. Why download an entire game? Developers will start offering two levels of a game per week for download. If a triple-A game clocks in at 9GB (about the max capacity for a DVD) with 20 levels, that's only about 450MB per level (assuming equal distribution for simplicity's sake).
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
DigitalFirefly: I mentioned Steam. ;)
Dignan17 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"1) Why do you post this so negatively?"
He posts it negatively because it's true. Simple math would assume that a 200GB XBOX drive would cost $1000. I assume that it won't, but how can they possibly charge $100 for the 20GB drive if they have this plan in place. It's ridiculous.
"2) Don't see it happening. People like to own tangible things, it warrants their purchase"
You've heard of the iTunes Store, right? If people are willing to give up CDs which are designed mostly by the artists and used to be handled every day, they're not going to feel bad about giving up generic video game packaging that's designed by advertisers and are handled more infrequently.
SickNic @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I don't see why this is a bad thing... I mean, retailers are getting 95% profit on used games, marking them $5 less than a brand new copy. Thats robery in my book. If a company can let you download a whole game without the packaging and shipping costs, making it cheaper for me, then I am down with buying it that way. I am all for new ways of distribution, which is why I love iTunes, and it's soon to be downloadable TV episodes.
Retailers need to change with the times. If they don't, it could lead to more pirating... If you can't beat em, join them, and it sounds like Microsoft already understands that, with the XBL arcade, the media center, the bigger hard drives, and the customizable faceplate/blades.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"how can they possibly charge $100 for the 20GB drive if they have this plan in place"
They're keeping the HD price high to make sure that it's not too threatening to retailers. MS must have a careful balance here. If they were to start offering terabyte drives at reasonable prices, retailers might be loathe to carry the Xbox 360, since it would be VERY clear that MS is gunning for them.
A 20GB drive keeps the Xbox Live Arcade service non threatening.
Third party manufacturers will come out with hard drive add-ons that completely blow this 20GB launch offering out of the water. It really is a trojan horse.
glaaki @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I don't see AAA titles going this way. How many games could you fit on a 200gb drive. I would bet not even 20 with OS, media content and save games. If the industry goes Blu Ray or HD-DVD forget about it. You could then only fit a handful of games. Might work for little arcade games, but not for HD movies or games.
Kuyu @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
This is the future of movies, music, and games. The last hundred songs I've bought were digital copies. The last 15 movies I've watched were on-demand new releases. The same thing will happen with games.
Can you still buy a CD or DVD? Of course, but that's not the only method anymore. Think about all the people with modded xbox's. They don't own a single game disc.
Allard and Moore have already stated repeatedly that this is their answer to Blu-Ray. 7 years ago everyone was debating new HD-audio formats, and we all see how popular those got (mp3 anyone?).
Games will pre-load when they go "gold", just like steam. The minute they're released, it will be playable. I'm sure rentals will happen too (good idea, btw).
I also bet that a 250 GB HDD will be $200, but will include enough marketplace dollars to buy two full games.
CKpr @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
MS is pretty crafty when it comes to completely
taking over a new market.
They'll eventually have terabyte drives for $100
and people will buy a ton of these to download
a few games onto. The same games over live will
be ~$30 bucks and will seem like a bargain over
the $50+ store bought versions. MS will drive
broadband adoption, get people to hook up their
360's, cut the retail stores out of the deal for
evenmore M$ profit and sell a ton of disk drives
and LIVE downloads in the process.
Publishers and developers will love it (higher
profits, quick distribution), and gamers will
love it for the quick access to new content.
Retailers may not even care, since they just
have to stock hard disks and make a profit on
those.
Nossy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
So now that we have a Hard Drive with downloadable contents from the Internet, does this mean that game consoles are more at risks for Viruses and Spams? I mean I recalled a few weeks ago I read somewhere about a DS or PSP virus or something? Do we have to now get antiviral software for our gaming consoles?
skooby @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I would say that Arcade will suppliment retail offerings. As will Live...
A $1.00 1 Meg music file is one thing. $59.97 8+ GBytes is something quiet different. People do want something more tangible for this level of investment.
I imagine that the type of things that will be available will be small offerings <100 Meg.
But add-ons like Steam would be great throught this channel.
GDUB @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Is this going to kill my PHANTOM?
I am so waiting for it just like that matter transporter thats just around the corner.
Zachary @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
No, No, No, No....I want to peel the cellophane off of the case, I want to own a physical copy of things I purchase, I would never, ever, use a system like this for anything more than demos. If something like this would ever come to be the norm I would quit gaming altogether.
JRM @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
is it me, or will "homebrew" be the real wave of the future?
...especially if this online stuff takes off like MS wants it to...
GlitchCog @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I hope they do kill off game stores since Game Stop is the only one left. If it goes down, I won't be shedding any tears.
JDH @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I love this idea as a gamer. Tangible you say? Isn't a file (myFile.game) a tangible asset nowadays?
Electronic distribution should make games cheaper too right? The game companies don't have to pay as much for manufacturing. They don't have to sift thru cuts of profits from retailers.
I can't wait to see what type of downloads will be available from the Xbox Live Store. I like the micro-transaction idea. Especially, if I, as a gamer, can create content and sell it as a vendor in the system.
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
#13 Nossy - I don't think viruses will be that much of an issue for Xbox Live. Everything will coming through MS so the only way to sneak a virus in would be through an 'inside job'.
The PSP virus (trojan horse really) is coming from people going outside of Sony.
Venomous @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I dont like itunes. I still like to OWN my music. But I download music that Im not sure of to try it. Maby it will be the same for games. It reminds me of cell phones. You downloaded 4 games from verizon, your phone needs to be swapped out, you lose the games. So I paid for them, but really never owned them. I need a hard copy.
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"is it me, or will "homebrew" be the real wave of the future?"
Ha ha. Exactly right. We will all pay $300 just to play SNES games for free. And yes, we are all really that stupid.
Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"Retailers may not even care, since they just
have to stock hard disks and make a profit on
those."
--- Dude, you realize that retailers make NO money almost on systems? They sell it for about $2 more than they pay Sony/MS/Nintendo + shipping. Then they make about $20 per game. If you eliminate games in the stores, you're pretty much eliminating casual browsers from picking up games, and making it obnoxious to buy systems(online via SonyStyle or something). Besides, how many users had live? Like 1mil or something? That's such an entirely small fraction of gamers. Granted they're talking down the line, but by the end of the next generation (2009 by MS's tiggerhappy habbits), there's no way they could do that without alienating a huge market. Let's not forget about the possibility of internet connections dying / getting censored. Then we have remote regions like in the UP of michigan where broadband isn't even an option in 90% of the areas.
Then we have people like my friend's mom(and most older people) that are wary about purchases over the internet, much less over a video game system. Identity theft is way too high, not to mention I've personally had issues with online purchases and double charges or phantom charges. I just see a LOT of testing needed to be worked out.
Anyways, back to the retailers not caring market... Do you have any clue how many people Gamestop employs? This would basically kill off a huge business if all games went this route.
*cheers for DVD sales*
n8 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Sure, for the moment, the 20 GB hard drive cannot possibly keep a complete archive of games - but who says that the game has to be on your hard drive for you to 'own' it? Download level by level, mission by mission, etc and you only have to keep a few hundred megs on your drive to have the game ready to play. Need more space for a new game? Just delete it - Microsoft has a record of your purchase and you can download it again when you want to play it. Or get a bigger harddrive from Microsoft. Want to use it at a friend's house - sorry, your out of luck. Maybe you can enter a code and download it temporarily or something.
And Chris7opher: your point about used games is exactly the reason that Microsoft and publishers want to do this. Retailers can make a profit 10 times on the same game if it keeps coming in and going out. Used games are a huge market from which Microsoft and publishers make...nothing. They want a piece of that. If they can cut out the retail margin (keep it for themselves) and sell you a game digitally at full price that you can't sell on the used market later, that means someone else who wants it will have to buy it at full price.
In the grand scheme of write-once-sell-many products, the incremental unit costs - no matter how small - can and will be eliminated as soon as it becomes possible. The all digital world is the most profitable for the creator of the work, and they will do everything they can to remove the profit potential from anyone who makes money from their work by selling it retail, renting it or whatever. Whether or not this is ultimately a good decision (since some would argue that a market in used games actually drives the market for new games) is a different question.
delerious @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
At least someone else is waiting for the Phantom too.......They said on their G4 announcement that they'd try and announce a launch date around the time the 360's was announced......they still haven't announced.
Online distribution of games will be great, but if M$ makes a lot of the profits and less and less disc versions were purchased they could get sued again. Unless they stopped distrobution on discs and just let you use cards(like those Live cards) or you credit card to get games.
It's working well on steam as of now.
Nossy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Maybe we will start seeing subscription based handheld video game systems too? Is that one of the innovations people are looking for in the next-gen? Maybe something similar to N-gage, cell-phone, Mp3, Live Arcade. Yeap I can see it already. Oh damn, did I just give MS an idea to "borrow" from?
matthew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
#15 - that $1 music file costs $2 or more in the store - do you really expect the charge on downloadable content to be the same as retail? If so, it defeats one main reason for downloadable games - a substantial decrease in price because of less overhead (packaging, etc)
Also, with FiOS which is quite fast, one would expect that not necessarily all the files would need to be downloaded to the hard drive to run a game. Load up Burnout 5, and it'll download and run each track as you need it or play it, saving significant file space on the HDD.
Definately how things will go, I believe. Well written and said.
-m.
Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"Load up Burnout 5, and it'll download and run each track as you need it or play it, saving significant file space on the HDD."
That's a horrible idea, since load times as is are plenty long enough. Discs read way faster than any network connection short of LAN peer to peer.
The idea of my video game experience coming to a hault because their servers are busy pumping data sucks. Imagine just getting to a cutscene in FFXIII and then the servers go down... you sit there hanging... Even if you wanted to reboot and get to it again from a save point, you have to wait for the servers come back up. ALL servers go down, or have maintainence. Yes, I'm addicted to gaming and will cringe when that happens. Always did with EQ, and definitely will if my console experience is raped in such a way.
PickyPants @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Great Article!
One thing though. Microsoft can't be pushing the 20GB hard drives to make retailers "feel better." If they could release a 50, 100 or even 200 for the same price right now, there is no doubt in my mind that they would. If we are assuming the retailers are smart enough to be "on" to this scheme by microsoft, then we can assume those same retailers would already know what's coming.
Rare Hare @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
i wholeheartedly agree with you, Christopher. they need to just stick with what works, and that's selling individual peices of software on tangible formats.
Ken Bauer @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Also consider a move toward "episodic" games
anonymous coward @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Anything that sticks it to those dicks at Gamespot can't be bad.
"Do you want a subscription to this shitty magazine?"
"Do you want to preorder this game coming out that I not-so-casually mentioned while making smalltalk at the register?"
"How about some cables or memory cards?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't like a used unit instead of refurb?"
"How about a Gamespot card?"
"You know we have a used copy of that for 25 cents less than a new one."
"You know the XBox360 is going to be a hot item this year. It'll sell out. You better preorder one if you want one."
"If you buy 7 used games we give you the 8tth for free, you know. How about buying 6 more games?"
Die. Die. Die.
BXJoseff @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
So microsoft couldn't completely monopolize the computing industry with their retarded OS...so now they're going after the gaming industry instead....damn...the author of this article managed to bring about feelings of ARMAGADDEON as I read it...good work!
PiratePete @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Look, CKpr and vc got it. Why do you think that MS got into the video game console biz in the first place? Cause Bill Gates a gamer? Cause he wants to run a multi million dollar money loosing division as a part of his corp. NO, Its all about controlling the content going into the average home. And this XBoxLive is gonna do it for him. Remember MS web TV? Didnt take off too well. Then he saw how many millions of homes Sony was getting there hardware into, something that could eventually allow streamed content directly into the home. They just had to get into this. Notice why XBoxLive is going to be such a big part of the 360. I guarantee you that soon you will be able to stream DVD quality movies, music videos and even MP3s right thru XBoxLive all for a lower price. The 360 has many features and is made to work seamlessly with Windows XP media center. This is going to be a HUGE cash cow for MS. The 20Gig removable HD that they are offering at launch is a joke. It was just provide to allay the hard core gamers fears. MS knows that even though with all the bad things people said about the xbox, the standard HD was a big plus. Now with the 360 its removable, watch and see what the 3rd party hardware guys are going to do with that. Huge drives are going to come out.
What do you thinks gonna happen when you know that you can get a A list title out on release date with out even leaving your couch all for cheaper then retail. Hell ya youre gonna snap it up. Especially when MS is going to give Xbox360 Live users some free credits (Obtained various ways as thanks for using their online service) that they can use towards purchases.
Its going to be the hardcore gamers thats going to really push this new way of getting content. Cause we all know we hate to wait for anything. And the closer to free the better. As the kinks get worked out more and more average Live users will also be willing to download and purchase games and content. This round MS is planning and going to make a lot of money off of this.
CKpr @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Exactly, and who needs HD-DVD/BluRay when you
can have the consumer shell out tons of money on
new drives to fit all the content? M$, you
so crazay...might actually work.
Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"Its going to be the hardcore gamers thats going to really push this new way of getting content. Cause we all know we hate to wait for anything."
Speak for yourself. I personally much rather go up to GameStop and buy a game, browse and look at other system's games, as well as browse what's coming out and chat it up with fellow gamers. Then the whole part of having a physical copy of the game to keep on my shelf is a nice reminder. I mean, look at all the NES/SNES collections people have online in their gaming rooms. Joystiq did an article on "where you game" about 6 months ago. I can guarantee 98% of those games they had in their room didn't get played anymore, but they like to A)Be able to see what they've obtained
B)Brag
C)Pop in and play in the rare occurance they get a hankering for A Boy and His Blob.
The only thing digital content is good for is pirating. Arrrgghh matey.
And anonymous coward... It's "gameSTOP". there's a big difference between gameSTOP and gameSPOT. Eitherway, I never really had trouble just telling people "no" when they ask that, or cut them off early when they start to propose such a statement. As I'm a regular now though, they know that I come in there with a set ammount of money, and I don't do reserves because games get pushed way too often these days. That, and again... arrrgghh matey!
Wolf @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Where is Tatio? Screw the 360, I'll just play Tatio ledgends on the normal Xbox
Andrew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
If the $20 gb HD is $100 dollars, god forbid we should know what a $200 gb HD would be..
I wonder how long it will be before the modders release a mod (chip?) that allows players to attach regular ( and apparently not price jacked ) hard-drives onto their Xbox 360s. 1 month, 2?
The problem is, Microsoft knows so little about mods, and only concerns them as a threat to their profit. While not taking heed to the fact that mods can in fact help the sale of the console (Although maybe not games..)
I mean, how many people picked up an PSP straight forward for all the home-brew games, Eh?
It'd be better if they just looked the other way... :/
For us and for them.
I hate dunces.
Syd! @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"I mean, how many people picked up an PSP straight forward for all the home-brew games, Eh?"
Yes, but do you think the companies actually want this? No. Think about it. They sell the system at a lose, they NEED you to buy games for them to make any money. If you just buy the system and no games, they are losing money... that would be why the PSP has so many firmware updates, sony doesn't like whats going on.
Azerael @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
So when will we be able to download the Hard-Drives, too?
OTAM @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I'm glad someone sees it like I do (Christopher).
I'd much rather go down to Gamestop with my car of friends all chatting about games and then looking through the store at new games and go on our various gaming chitchat with the employees.
xbair @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
So OTAM and Christopher, you would rather go to Gamestop and pay $20 to $30 more for a game?
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Most people will not pay $20 more for a game just to have the physical media. People are investing hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars building out iTunes music libraries. They're doing this because building the same library through physical media is:
(a) more difficult
(b) more expensive
(c) more time-consuming
(d) more space-consuming
When (not if) Microsoft starts offering premium games via digital download at a discount to retail prices, you can be sure that people will choose to skip the trip and hit a button on their controller to purchase the game.
Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"So OTAM and Christopher, you would rather go to Gamestop and pay $20 to $30 more for a game?"
---Are you kidding? If they did that, they'd earn the same money as they do now. There's no point in that. The point is to charge the same, maybe $5 less, so they get another $20-25 per sale. Was Half Life 2 $30 on Steam? Didn't think so.
So yes, I rather spend $50-60 for a physical game than $45-60 for a digital download.
swoosh bnd @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"Most people will not pay $20 more for a game just to have the physical media. People are investing hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars building out iTunes music libraries. They're doing this because building the same library through physical media is"
One thing that's different is that those buying all the itunes music can easily be converted to physical media while those that would be purchased on the Xbox 360 will always remain as nonphysical media.
Bob Vila @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
"One thing that's different is that those buying all the itunes music can easily be converted to physical media while those that would be purchased on the Xbox 360 will always remain as nonphysical media."
You do realize that the 2.5" portable hard drive is detachable. So technically it is physical in the means of being able to be transferable, like other physical media. The only thing people can't do is copy and duplicate the media - which is good for the gaming business.
Consumers like this for convenience.
Businesses like like this for property protection
Microsoft wins.
Erin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Seems to be the way that a lot of traditionally physical media is going. You have the explosion of digital music and digital music players like the iPod, with their online store of more songs then you would likely ever find in a common retailer. Additionally, movies seem to be heading this way, with studios like Universal announcing that they will begin to make their movies available online regardless of how the DVD format wars go.
It's only natural, progression-wise, that other forms of physical media be translated to virtual retail. Companies may be able to take a bigger cut of the profits by selling direct to the customer without the middle man.
I'm not saying that this is a particularly good thing. It certainly makes life a little easier for people with fast connections who can download games without too much frustration. Retailers will have to shift their focus to used games and gaming merchandise in order to compete. They may retain some market share with those of us cursed with crappy connections, or who simply must have something to hold and cuddle as proof of purchase.
Jetfire @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
The hard drive is removable. Here is another thought. MS will provide a device which will allow this removable drive to be used outside of the 360. It will have video capabilities, basically making it a portable 330. All the digital content on your drive could then be used on the go, making your digital purchases all that more alluring.
Fear Lis @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Everyone who mentions "$100 for a 20Gig HD" is very uneducated if you don't know your history of hardware and prices. That "price" is for now and MS (and any other manufacturer) knows it will be "cheaper" for 80HD, 100HD and 200HD in the future.
Why so expensive now...simple...MS need to make a profit(too much for my opinion) for those who don't have a HD wait it's totally insane to purchase a 20HD for $100 unless your Mr. Moneybags