Michael Corvin

Thinking about this more, I'd like this elaborated on. In the final 4 months we have seen the Elite's price drop $100. They are pimping a new exclusive Modern Warfare 2 bundle. They had a $50 rebate on Elites bought about 6 weeks ago. Then there are the countless game bundles. What more are you expecting?

That's more effort than either Nintendo ($50 price drop) or Sony ($100 drop, game bundles) put forth. In fact it looks like they put more work into finishing third.

Canis Firebrand

Year end figures are not out yet, so its hard to say who sold more then the other.

MS has a large user base already and a hefty catalog of titles.
Sony has a smaller user base and had some big hitters come out recently leading into the holiday season.
Nintendo will always do well with their DS and Wii systems.

fumanstan

Other then the bundles, I don't really see how their price drop as more effort then Sony redesigning their entire console.

fumanstan

Don't tell me you're insinuating 360 favoritism or PS3 bashing over the comments above?

chuckd21

Yep, I want Minority Report controls on my TV. Seriously. I can't wait for that.

Michael Corvin

coupled with the $50 rebate and MW2 console is what I was getting at. One of the developers of MW2 was on Major Nelson a few weeks ago and talked briefly about how long(months and months) it took to get that console designed and released.

But yeah, considering the Slim redesign, on the whole not a whole lot different than Sony. Nintendo gave us $50 off and no extras.

RichC2

When you ban a million consoles, you don't need no stinkin holiday strategy.

dx23

If the marketing for this thing is as horrible as the Seinfeld and Bill Gates commercials and the recent Windows 7 ads, I can see MS Natal becoming a huge bust.

Groucho

How fucking exhausting would that be?

Michael Corvin

I guess it depends on how much you channel surf.

fumanstan

Yeah, the effort has definitely been there on Microsoft's side. I don't see how anyone could say they aren't trying or just sitting by and watching. Nintendo is pretty much the only one that can do that and still be successful.

Sony's done better with their "it does everything" ads though, whereas I can't really recall anything for the XBox in the last few months.

Canis Firebrand

Microsoft has those Jane Lynch(Sue from Glee) doing the It's Fun Time ads.. They are pretty decent for an ad.

I've seen them on tv here and there. Not as much as the Sony ads, though.

Maxwell Smart

I don't understand why microsoft doesnt just release a new 360 w/ a blu-ray drive and wireless. Those are the main advantages the ps3 has over it.

The Bus

If they only had that, then the 360 could have a larger install base than the PS3!

Canis Firebrand

I'm surprised they won't do that either.. Release a new sku with a built-in drive to counter the PS3 and really become the home media powerhouse they want to be.

And, so they do not upset current 360 owner, an external blu-ray drive like the old HD-DVD drive.

That would cement MS into the lead and make their system the all-in-one home entertainment system.

I understand why they are not, as they can focus on the games and making the system a better experience.

But, I have always thought it would be a smart move to include a Blu drive to pull some people buying a PS3 because it is the better blu-ray player on the market.

Cardiff Giant11

ha ha, i heard as part of the campaign the RROD will become the "blue light of death"

Michael Corvin

What do you expect, yellow was already taken.

MoviePage

Zing!

sracer

That misses the appeal of the PS3 over the 360. It isn't just the lack of a BD drive that the 360 is missing.

From day-1 Microsoft and its fans have touted the 360 as the superior nextgen gaming system. That's been the emphasis. The lack of games for the PS3 has been the longstanding argument against the PS3. The multimedia capabilities of the PS3 were brushed off as an unnecessary expense. And so the mindset was created... the 360 as primarily a gaming console.

From day-1 the 360 was gimped on its multimedia capabilities (especially when compared to the marketing build-up prior to launch). It took a little over a year for MS to add support for WMV playback from a locally attached drive. Media streaming from a PC was initially limited to Windows Media Center. The 360 as a media hub was rudimentary. But that didn't matter since the focus of its customer base was primarily interested in gaming. Especially network-connected multiplayer.

The RROD defect didn't help the 360's image either. Some diehards brushed it off as no big deal. But it did affect the perception of others. Couple that with MS' broken XBLA digital purchase system (where game purchases were tied to console serial numbers) and it made for a very sour experience.

Microsoft has always been more about the Marketplace than about the vehicle to get you there. That is pretty obvious for both the 360 and Zune. That is why they place the emphasis of enhancements on the Marketplace experience rather than on the value of the device itself.

I've said early on, that MS was only interested in making an ATM for MS-controlled commercial transactions. That is why $100 20GB harddrives and $100 wifi adapters makes sense to them. That is why you can't add your own pictures and videos to the harddrive and the only way to get music onto it is by ripping audio CDs.

The owner of a 360 has very little control over what they can do with their console vs. what PS3 owners can do with theirs.

I've owned a 360 for 2 years since launch day and currently own a PS3 (original 80GB model upgraded to 500GB). The 360 is still a great gaming system (warts and all). But the PS3 remains the choice for those who are more focused on multimedia.

I don't see MS changing that with the 360.