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Killing Off the Original Xbox: A Big Microsoft Mistake
I saw this posting the other day.. does everyone agree? I still have my original xbox and my xbox 360 and I think the original xbox games were just fine. I don't think the 360 games are THAT much better in the long run. So, in my opinion, this article is dead on. They should have continued and sold games for the older xbox and not only do I think they would have made more money but I think it would have saved some of us who spent the money to upgrade to the newer 360 from being a bit dissapointed..
Now Microsoft (MSFT) introduced the Xbox in November 2001 and deliberately brought out their next machine, the 360, just four years later, in November 2005, so as to be first to market with the next generation. They kept the two models as a range for just one year, killing off the original Xbox in November 2006 when it was just five years old. To me it looks like they killed off the original Xbox half way through its life. They could have re-engineered it to make it far cheaper to manufacture (just as Sony did with the PSOne) and kept on selling it for another five years as part of a two product line. They would have sold tens of millions of additional units if the continuing success of the Playstation 2 is anything to go by. Now imagine the benefits if they has kept the original Xbox alive. It would have given them market presence in the massive developing countries of China and India were lower incomes favor a cheaper machine. It would have brought millions of new people to Xbox live, helping to lock them into buying future generations of Microsoft consoles. And it would have made enormous profits from the continuing sale of the Xbox game back catalogue. |
I don't really agree at all. People in the market for a cheap last-gen machine are almost always going to go with a PS2.
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As an owner of an Xbox and a 360. The upgrade was HUGE. I don't see how anyone could say they were disappointed.
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Not a mistake at all. The original Xbox lost them a lot of money, but the 360 has been a huge seller. Hardware problems aside, Microsoft has done just about everything right when it comes to the 360.
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Nvidia made the GPU for the original Xbox. As I understand it, Microsoft and Nvidia had a falling out which is why the original Xbox stopped production after a mere four years.
I don't think they would have made "an enormous profit from the continuing sale of the Xbox game back catalogue" either. Stores typically don't stock older games. Most older game sales are used game sales which the developers see no revenue from.
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
As an owner of an Xbox and a 360. The upgrade was HUGE. I don't see how anyone could say they were disappointed.
If they don't see a difference, it is probably because they aren't playing the 360 in HD. |
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
As an owner of an Xbox and a 360. The upgrade was HUGE. I don't see how anyone could say they were disappointed.
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Yeah, the upgrade (visually and online/content delivery wise) was just too huge to ignore.
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Ridiculous article. The original system is inferior to the 360 in literally every single way, and it's not even close.
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Aside from getting to market sooner, the popularity of modding the console (which made it easy to copy games) may have played a role here. Plus, the expense of manufacturing was greater than usual due to their use of off-the-shelf parts rather than a custom design.
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Only i wanted now is new BC list. Its almost 6 months still not see MS Updating they new XBOX games can play on 360.
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The Xbox had gone as far as it was going to go, and MS had no way to trim the price due to the falling out with NVidea. It seemed sudden at the time, but it's not like all your games suddenly stopped working.
The only sad thing was that there were some genuinely good 3rd party games that came out after the Xbox's execution which I think deserved a little more MS advertising support. |
As it looks now Microsoft made the right decision by killing the original. The moved fully to the next gen and many people moved with them. Sony is still trying to cater to both markets and it looks like the PS2 is eating up possible PS3 sales.
Microsoft went from a distance second in the US to first place and Sony went from a dominate first to third. To me that says it all. |
As much as I love my 360, it's hard to argue that Microsoft is in first...seems pretty clear that the Wii is, at this point.
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Sometimes it is best to just let products go to save face for newer products. In the case of MS, they were right to go full speed ahead on what everyone knew was a much better console.
I'd honestly say I've enjoyed the 360 as much as my old SNES. |
Originally Posted by Drexl
Aside from getting to market sooner, the popularity of modding the console (which made it easy to copy games) may have played a role here. Plus, the expense of manufacturing was greater than usual due to their use of off-the-shelf parts rather than a custom design.
Also, they have clearly proven that the year lead time worked. |
Originally Posted by abrg923
As much as I love my 360, it's hard to argue that Microsoft is in first...seems pretty clear that the Wii is, at this point.
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Originally Posted by Jtnguyen12
Only i wanted now is new BC list. Its almost 6 months still not see MS Updating they new XBOX games can play on 360.
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Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
As an owner of an Xbox and a 360. The upgrade was HUGE. I don't see how anyone could say they were disappointed.
Yeah I have to agree. |
The half assed BC is starting to look pretty good actually, especially if you're prepared to cut them some slack for the difficulty of emulating on a totally different architecture and CPU (which really you should). The Wii is obviously much better but they were able to stick with the same architecture this time round.
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With 3 kids and myself, one system is not enough. My 360 and original xbox both see alot of game time. My Wii, Dreamcast and PS2 are collecting dust.
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Originally Posted by Chris_D
The half assed BC is starting to look pretty good actually, especially if you're prepared to cut them some slack for the difficulty of emulating on a totally different architecture and CPU (which really you should). The Wii is obviously much better but they were able to stick with the same architecture this time round.
I edited my post before reading yours. I guess we'll see. Obviously it's not important to them. |
I still have and use my original xbox, but this article seems off base.
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Originally Posted by Giantrobo
I edited my post before reading yours. I guess we'll see. Obviously it's not important to them.
"We under promised and over delivered on backward compatibility." Peter Moores comments were a bit laughable when he made them, but looking at the list of compatible titles now, including ALOT of requested fan favourites, then you gotta respect the effort made, especially with how Sony did a 180 on theirs, twice now. |
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
I agree if you're only taking into consideration consoles sold. If you add in software sales I imagine the 360 blows away the Wii.
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Originally Posted by abrg923
As much as I love my 360, it's hard to argue that Microsoft is in first...seems pretty clear that the Wii is, at this point.
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Originally Posted by Chris_D
Well using the Intel x86 and NVidea architecture was not a good option for them this time round, especially in view of the legal issues with NVidea. Therefore, I think they've done a pretty outstanding job delivering what they've managed on the 360. There are still PS1 games that I can't run properly on my PC, and emulating a totally different architecture is no easy feat.
"We under promised and over delivered on backward compatibility." Peter Moores comments were a bit laughable when he made them, but looking at the list of compatible titles now, including ALOT of requested fan favourites, then you gotta respect the effort made, especially with how Sony did a 180 on theirs, twice now. |
Originally Posted by General Zod
I don't think the 360 games are THAT much better in the long run.
HD sound. Integrated friends list / messaging. Put on your own background music. They are MUCH, much better. |
I played my original Xbox on the same 65 inch HDTV that I am playing on my 360 now. If you can't tell a difference between the two...you are blind.
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Nah, Microsoft and Nintendo both did what they had to do when they ditched their old consoles quickly.
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I don't mind Microsoft ditching the XBox. Although it's funny, considering at the time i remember a lot of people here whining and bitching about Microsoft's 4 year schedule and how games look good enough as it is.
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I understand why MS ended production on the XBox1 and it's games due to the limitations of BC, but I don't understand why Nintendo stopped making GC Games. I've had to Gamefly a bunch of them because I can't get them new anywhere since getting the Wii, and wanting to play a lot of the "great" old GC games.
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I think it was smart of Microsoft to do away with the xbox. Look at Sony and the fact that their own sales of PS2 are hurting their sales of PS3.
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Originally Posted by waporvare
I think it was smart of Microsoft to do away with the xbox. Look at Sony and the fact that their own sales of PS2 are hurting their sales of PS3.
No more than DVD sales are hurting BD / HD DVD sales... People just aren't convinced on why they need to make the jump. I feel like this year has been the 360's year for its software library. Between Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, GHII and GHIII, Blue Dragon, Forza, etc... There were tons of games for everyone (who likes those games). Sony's "big" games (MGS, GT Prelude Preview etc, Little Big Planet, Home) are coming next year. Same with Nintendo, to an extent. |
I'm holding onto my original xbox for games like HOTD 3 and Steel Battalion (hopefully once I get a decent apartment post-army I'll be able to set the whole thing up conveniently) and the few others that 360 emulation won't handle -- plus my saved games.
Still, the 360 is definitely worth the $$$ I've put in so far. No real complaints. |
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
I agree if you're only taking into consideration consoles sold. If you add in software sales I imagine the 360 blows away the Wii.
Back on the topic of the 360 timing, I think that they made a great decision to put it out (and kill the original) when they did. They have sold more hardware and software than Sony and Nintendo. Heck, they are even doing much better in Japan. Also, when you compare PS3 games to 360 games the 360 developers have had a full year more time to work on and get comfortable with the 360 hardware, so the games for 360 currently look better than the PS3 (with some exceptions). |
Originally Posted by orangecrush18
This seems true, but the Wii is killing both MS and Sony in the most important category: profit.
Back on the topic of the 360 timing, I think that they made a great decision to put it out (and kill the original) when they did. They have sold more hardware and software than Sony and Nintendo. Heck, they are even doing much better in Japan. Also, when you compare PS3 games to 360 games the 360 developers have had a full year more time to work on and get comfortable with the 360 hardware, so the games for 360 currently look better than the PS3 (with some exceptions). |
I bought my original Xbox on launch day, and was late to the 360 game (I just got one in February of this year), but I think the difference between Xbox and Xbox 360 is night and day. I have a hard time going back to original Xbox games now, so I definitely think the time was right for MS to pull the trigger on the 360.
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I think the element that made the changeover perfect is the fact that Hi-Def tvs have really drop in price.
During the PS2 and Xbox years, The gaming industry has stated that these console have pushed the Standard tv to it's limit. The future gains will only come with Hi-def tvs. |
The 360 took some time to get the great games, but once it did, there is no going back.
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I picked up my Xbox in 2002 and didn't move to the 360 until this August so it got plenty of use and it still gets used every day since it's my media server (thank you XBMC). That being said it was clear that it would never overtake the PS2 so it was a smart choice to ditch it and go next-gen early.
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