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[News] MSNBC/Newsweek: XBox 360 Heading Towards Failure?

Loot: Redmond, We Have a Problem, Or, What's Wrong With the Xbox 360

,----[ Quote ]
| At this point, Former becomes impassioned. That's not fair, he says;
| we always saw this as a long-term venture. To which we reply that we
| were talking about the original Xbox, and while other divisions of
| the company throw off more profits in a single quarter than the
| entire $5 billion or so lost in the home and entertainment division
|        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| to date, the fact remains that, as we take-our-word-for-it predicted,
| the Xbox group has been spectacularly unprofitable for Microsoft.
| Hence, our heretofore unpublished Vietnam analogy. The rest of the
| night is a blur, but we digress.
| 
| [...]
| 
| The worst case scenario for Microsoft, then, is one in which the Xbox
| 360's bid for the mass market is blocked by the Wii for the next two to
| three years, at which point the aging and underpowered Wii gives way
| to a cheaper-than-it-is-now PS3 with a selection of AAA titles that's
| far wider than what the PS3 has at the moment; new installments of
| Playstation's own popular and casual-leaning games; and a slew of
| new franchises from Sony's much-larger studio operation.
`----

http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=533168

Also new:

Rumor: MS "forcing" devs to charge for DLC/XBLA?

,----[ Quote ]
| Okay so there is some nasty talk starting to circulate around the
| interwebs that MS is forcing devs to charge for premium DLC for
| games and some for XBLA content.
`----

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=515355

Xbox Live downtime scheduled

,----[ Quote ]
| Xbox 360 gamers won't be able to answer the Call of Duty and the
| Gears of War will cease grinding (online, at least) for the better
| part of a day next week as Microsoft has notified Xbox Live users
| that the service is in for some downtime.
`----

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6168019.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop


Related:

XBLA's Ross Erickson leaves Microsoft, heads over to Sierra Online

,----[ Quote ]
| Of course, this follows XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa's
| departure a couple weeks back. While having two of the most
| senior Xbox Live Arcade execs jump ship in a two week time 
| span after a particularly long string of subpar Wednesdays
| -- nothing, Ms. Pac-Man, Lumines add-on, nothing, Root Beer
| Tapper, Paperboy, nothing -- might seem to imply certain
| disaster, Ross insisted that he and Greg's decided to
| leave under entirely different circumstances.
`----

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/xblas-ross-erickson-leaves-microsoft-heads-over-to-sierra-onli/
http://tinyurl.com/25s6he


XBLA main man jumps ship

,----[ Quote ]
| In somewhat surprising news, Greg Canessa, the big guy behind
| Xbox Live Arcade, has left the Microsoft compound for PopCap Games.
`----

http://www.destructoid.com/xbla-main-man-jumps-ship-29716.phtml


Gamers Say Microsoft Understates Xbox Problems

,----[ Quote ]
| An insider from Electronic Arts, Inc. is saying that the failure rate
| of Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console is actually ten times higher than
| what Microsoft spokespeople have admitted.
| 
| Game Daily BIZ, a gaming industry publication, reported that the
| anonymous source tallied that of the 300 consoles EA has received,
| 30-50 percent of them have failed.
`----

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/xbox_gamers02.html


The Secret Failures of Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| There is no choice involved; even most Linux users are forced to pay for a
| Microsoft license in order to obtain a brand name PC.
|
| [...]
|
| They are bound to an oath to swear allegiance to Windows XP Professional,
| and must never mention Linux and Windows in the same breath. If they step
| out of line in any way, Microsoft dramatically raises their OEM licensing
| fees and sends them to indoctrination camp, where they face chairs being
| hurled at them by angry monkeys.
|
| [...]
|
| Why do Windows enthusiasts exibit much hostility to an obvious fact?
| Because if they admit that 80% of the company's revenues come entirely
| from an OEM tax, and not from any choice on the part of consumers...
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft's decade of investments in WinCE and Windows Mobile
| Smartphones have only barely matched the market share of Palm, which
| itself is a run down company out of ideas. Microsoft couldn't
| out-maneuver the incompetent Palm within a decade of trying; now both
| are ineffectually fighting over the dying PDA industry while Linux and
| Symbian slaughter them in the smartphone arena:
|  
| Symbian 75%; Linux 14%; Microsoft 5%; Palm 5%.
|
| [...]
|
| (many more failures listed)
`----

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/2E6D9BB2-FE1B-4556-8389-67BD581FBCCC.html


How Much is Too Much?

,----[ Summary ]
| Microsoft says it will stick with Xbox. But with years of heavy losses
| behind it, the pressure's on for the gaming division to make good
`----

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061013_283856.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories
http://tinyurl.com/yxdr4j


Microsoft stoic despite massive losses

,----[ Quote ]
| If you were to judge by the PR rhetoric, you'd think the 360 was
| an unstoppable commercial juggernaut. As usual though, PR lies.
`----

http://www.gamerscan.com/articles/06/10/09/microsofts.massive.losses/


Microsoft Hides Its Mobile and Business Apps Divisions

,----[ Quote ]
| The company is folding its two worst-performing divisions -- Microsoft
| Business Solutions (its business applications unit) and its Mobile and
| Embedded units -- into the Microsoft Business Division and Microsoft Home
| and Entertainment units, respectively.
`---- 

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1990243,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535


Xbox Live Outages All Over US?

,----[ Quote ]
| In any case the outages do not seem to affect everyone although I can
| say 2old2play has already received 6 emails, 5 PMs, and several blog
| posts about the outages. One such blogger was told by a service rep that
| he was "experiencing a temporary service outage bubble in his area."
| Apparently the rep had received several similar Xbox Live error codes
| that day, but could not say why. 2old2play is currently trying to contact
| Microsoft for a comment and we'll update this page as we receive word.
`----

http://www.2old2play.com/News/Xbox_Live_Outages_All_Over_US_

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