Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> I finally have some numbers (they have been strategically hiding divisions
> [see refs] to mitigate the damage in reports).
>
> MS cuts 360 estimates, Xbox division posts $289m loss
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division has posted a US $289
> | million (EUR 223.6m) loss for the second quarter - and cut fiscal year
> | estimates for Xbox 360 hardware.
> `----
>
> http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=22385
>
I'm not the least surprised that the XBOX360 isn't doing well.
It is a machine who's graphics are exceptionally good, that is no doubt a
selling point when people look at it in Tescos. I fell for it too, when I
bought one for the neices/nephews.
But then there is the next part which happens when you get it home. The
games are very limited, if you look at the shelves you see maybe four types
of games, so if you have one of each type you effectively have them all.
But those games are just the recompiled version of those that the kids have
already played on a PC. The Lord of the Rings game, the nephew badgered me
for weeks to get it for him, only to discover that it is really just the
same as a warlord game he already had, just the little characters are
dressed a bit differently thats all, but because of the limited control of
the games machines, he can't actually do as much with it as he can with the
PC game.
Then there is the slow slow very very slow gaps in any game, why on earth
does this machine have to go through the long long long reload sequence
for each section of any game. Even if you are doing the same section again.
Surely they could run the code in a nondestructive way.
Your supposed to limit the amount of play for kids on these things. We
didn't have to do that, the kids limited themselves because they found it
all a bit dull. The game that did get them hooked in the end is a fairly
new one, Snooker, it is cleverly done, still slow slow slow between
sequences, but it's alright. Even so, the kids can go a week or so at a
time without bothering to even turn the machine on.
Then in comparrison one of the houses has the Wii, it is another world
entirely, fun, energetic and out-of-your-seat. You should see some of the
videos we have of family members playing, I can't describe it well, but it
really is a game that is built for pure fun. The accidents we've had, I
bashed one of the kids playing golf, a brother-in-law is in the dog house
for standing on a neice, my sister is constantly grumbling because she
hasn't got any cups that match anymore because so many have gone flying.
But still, china is only mud in the end, it's all fun and thats what these
games are meant to be.
I can't see people going back to the gormless staring at the screen, getting
back ache and a fat arse, those days are gone.
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