Lara
04-17-2005, 01:31 PM
Reuters:
New Xbox News Raises Questions About Old Xbox
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.has eliminated nearly the last shred of doubt that it will release a new Xbox video game console later this year, and the big question is whether gamers will keep on gaming with the current console or start saving for a new version.
Microsoft will take the wraps off the console code-named "Xenon" on May 12 and May 13 in a series of global specials on entertainment channel MTV. The following week the company will give more details in a news conference at the industry trade show E3 in Los Angeles.
And if anyone still doubted that a new console was coming, top publisher Electronic Arts Inc.said Monday it was in development on a new "Need for Speed" game for "a next generation console" as well as all the current boxes.
Assuming that Sony Corp.and Nintendo Co. Ltd.do not release their new consoles this year -- and there is no indication that they will -- Microsoft would get a valuable head start on its competition.
"The timing I think will probably surprise some people," said Ricardo Torres, senior editor at gaming site GameSpot.com. "There are people who are still buying Xboxes right now."
Sony used a one-year advantage to build a commanding lead in the global market for its PlayStation 2, and seeing that example, Microsoft has promised for years that no one would beat it to market this time around.
That rush may leave the current Xbox behind. Microsoft promises new games will continue to come out for the current generation through 2007, but some doubt there will be many.
"I think they have ridden that wave as far as it goes. They got one good holiday season out the of the current generation," said Matt Rosoff, analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent researcher based in Kirkland, Washington.
"Once they announce the new one, their strategy is to build up demand for the new one," Rosoff said.
TOO EARLY?
History is littered with examples of technology companies that announced new products too early and cannibalized their own sales.
Portable computing pioneer Adam Osborne in 1983 boasted that his company had a new machine on the way -- months before it was ready to ship. His Osborne Computer Corp. collapsed later that year under the weight of excess inventory of the older portable model.
But inventory is not much of a problem for Microsoft -- the Xbox has been in short supply since late last year, with no indications of a change any time soon.
"It probably has not gotten any better," said Frederick Jones, the retail game buyer for Game Rush, the gaming unit of Blockbuster Inc., adding that the lack of supply seems to be a constant thing.
Still lingering, he said, is the question of whether supply will get any better in the next few months.
"That concerns me and my team," Jones said, fearing sales and rentals of Xbox games would dip further due to a lack of new hardware.
But even if Xbox hardware sales slow or fade, there will still be new games for the next few years.
"There's plenty to be happy about if you have an Xbox and plenty to keep you content," GameSpot's Torres said. (With additional reporting by Reed Stevenson in Seattle)
New Xbox News Raises Questions About Old Xbox
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.has eliminated nearly the last shred of doubt that it will release a new Xbox video game console later this year, and the big question is whether gamers will keep on gaming with the current console or start saving for a new version.
Microsoft will take the wraps off the console code-named "Xenon" on May 12 and May 13 in a series of global specials on entertainment channel MTV. The following week the company will give more details in a news conference at the industry trade show E3 in Los Angeles.
And if anyone still doubted that a new console was coming, top publisher Electronic Arts Inc.said Monday it was in development on a new "Need for Speed" game for "a next generation console" as well as all the current boxes.
Assuming that Sony Corp.and Nintendo Co. Ltd.do not release their new consoles this year -- and there is no indication that they will -- Microsoft would get a valuable head start on its competition.
"The timing I think will probably surprise some people," said Ricardo Torres, senior editor at gaming site GameSpot.com. "There are people who are still buying Xboxes right now."
Sony used a one-year advantage to build a commanding lead in the global market for its PlayStation 2, and seeing that example, Microsoft has promised for years that no one would beat it to market this time around.
That rush may leave the current Xbox behind. Microsoft promises new games will continue to come out for the current generation through 2007, but some doubt there will be many.
"I think they have ridden that wave as far as it goes. They got one good holiday season out the of the current generation," said Matt Rosoff, analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent researcher based in Kirkland, Washington.
"Once they announce the new one, their strategy is to build up demand for the new one," Rosoff said.
TOO EARLY?
History is littered with examples of technology companies that announced new products too early and cannibalized their own sales.
Portable computing pioneer Adam Osborne in 1983 boasted that his company had a new machine on the way -- months before it was ready to ship. His Osborne Computer Corp. collapsed later that year under the weight of excess inventory of the older portable model.
But inventory is not much of a problem for Microsoft -- the Xbox has been in short supply since late last year, with no indications of a change any time soon.
"It probably has not gotten any better," said Frederick Jones, the retail game buyer for Game Rush, the gaming unit of Blockbuster Inc., adding that the lack of supply seems to be a constant thing.
Still lingering, he said, is the question of whether supply will get any better in the next few months.
"That concerns me and my team," Jones said, fearing sales and rentals of Xbox games would dip further due to a lack of new hardware.
But even if Xbox hardware sales slow or fade, there will still be new games for the next few years.
"There's plenty to be happy about if you have an Xbox and plenty to keep you content," GameSpot's Torres said. (With additional reporting by Reed Stevenson in Seattle)