popular.
Xbox prices have been slashed to below that of the PS2 not because it costs
that much (Xbox hemorrhages money on hardware sales) but because it's
struggling to gain ground. PS2 prices haven't dropped (although Sony does,
in fact, make a profit on hardware) simply because sales are still string
enough to keep them high.
Last I heard PS2 sales, worldwide, had topped 70 million units. Both Xbox
and GameCube have yet to hit the 10 million mark.
It's also interesting to note that some current figures actually show the
GameCube as the number two console, not XBox - primarily due to Nintendo's
price drop to $99.
Also although a much, much smaller percentage of PS2 owners are online than
Xbox owners it looks like more PS2s are online that XBoxs - although the
numbers are fuzzy since PS2 owners are not forced through a single (and thus
demographically meaningful) portal. (Personally I'm not online with either.
I have enough trouble finding time to finish games as it is without starting
games that NEVER end. ;^) )
I'm not saying that the Xbox is a lost cause by any means. but it's best to
keep things in perspective. It IS very popular, just not so overwhelmingly
so (yet) that it's future is certain.
Jim Davis
_____
From: Angel Stewart [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 10:48 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: RE: Bleak future for videogamers?
What's your definition of 'not a popular console' ? There are three
consoles.
Xbox is number 2.
That means it's very popular, and becoming even more so.
It is also leading all the other console in Online Play.
Therefore what it does will set a standard for the other top consoles to
follow with regards to online play, which is exactly what has been
happening.
Thus there's no evidence that Microsoft is grasping at straws here.
PS2 is playing catchup to the Xbox Live service at the moment, but who
knows because they have had time to check out the competition they may
deliver something better.
As to the speculation that STEAM will crash the first three days, and go
under as a result of this,Several MMORPGs crashed when they were first
launched and there was a rush to register and download content. These
have not gone under and in fact Everquest is going strong and so is Star
Wars Galaxies which had horrible problems with registering etc. at
launch.
So we have clear, real world examples that contradict your assertions.
-Angel
-----Original Message-----
From: Kwang Suh [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The XBox is not a very popular console, and as such MS is grasping at
straws
trying to come up with ways to entice customers.
Steam will be down for at least three days after HL2 is released,
pissing
off a bunch of customers. Steam will then go under after they realize
that
their bandwidth costs were much higher than they anticipated.
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