Forbes: "Rather than pay $199 just for the unit, users can now get an Xbox for $99—as long as they also take a two-year contract to Xbox Live Gold.
This new low price looks even better when you consider you don’t need to buy a new TV, which is what Samsung and, soon, Apple want you to do. “If you want to start a phenomenon,” says Ballmer, “it doesn’t start with thousand-dollar-plus devices that sell at unreasonably low volume and need major room redesigns.”
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MS: Mission Accomplished
Hey, remember when Sony was criticized for "just using the PS3 as a trojan horse for Blu-Ray" and people liked to say "lol, people don't even play games on PS3, its just a cheap Blu-Ray player for all the people I know haha"? How times change.
Fortunately, things do change quickly as we saw with the original Xbox/PS2 to the 360/PS3. If Sony manages to botch the PS4 launch like they did the PS3 one, and let MS beat them to market by over a year, then they will have deserved their fate. But if both companies release the console within the same time frame, with the same price, and similar specs, it will be very interesting.
Not to mention Sony had those services before Microsoft ever did. So what's there to gloat about? Hell, even Nintendo's Wii/3DS do Netflix and Hulu for free.
Edit: I don't like MS bragging about how Live users spent more time consuming video and music than playing games. Its annoying because we need more games MS, I'm f***ing serious MS, get back in the game.
im not paying them to use my own damn internet when im already paying my cable subscriber.
also MS i dont care about USELESS apps that i could use for free everywhere else, i just want a variety of good exclusives in different genres that defines your system. halo, forza, and fable retreading just doesnt do it for me. man i miss the old big brick xbox i got more use out of it than my 360.
just like to also say only my fellow americans would allow themselves to be screwed out of more money for a videogame system then just paying for it outright.
like someone said in another article we are the reason why places like rent a center still exist.
360 has no games right now worth playing unless you really like kinect, they dont care about their gamer crowd, they just want the wii crowd.
Still not sure why 360 owners are so quick to defend M$ and all considering M$ doesnt care about them. You can cry for games all you want, theyll keep shutting down studios and releasing kinect shovelware.
They spent countless articles moaning about "slow" PS3 sales, they bitched about Sony selling the PS3 at a loss, they predicted that the PS3 slim and price cut was "too late" and it wouldn't sell. On and on it went, completely oblivious of little things like facts and sales figures.
Now they're at it again. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the 360, but Forbes clearly has their blinders on in this article, ignoring everything that's going on outside of the US while almost completely dismissing the competition which has handily outsold the 360 ever since the 360 had competition. Not to mention the waning game selection. Also, no mention that all these extra, living room features cost you compared to the competition and the majority of them aren't even available outside of the US. And the 360 clearly comes up short when you start comparing multimedia features. Where's that in your article, Forbes?
"After only a decade, Microsoft, a software company, has built a stronger hardware product than anyone else has in the space."
I almost threw up a little in my mouth. Get a room!
Billions of dollars on Media Buy Out can not hide the truth forever.
Dark Forbes is a business magazine. All of the "anti-Sony" articles you named are geared toward giving investors knowledge about a potential investment. Slow PS3 and Vita sales hurt dividends. So does selling the console at a loss for so long. MS is making a healthy profit from the 360. That's what investors like to hear. That allows a company to pay large dividends. And that makes them money. So they can buy a new ascot.
@Redgehammer
Apparently the internet knows you better than you know yourself. You should check back tomorrow to see what you're having for lunch.
LOL, this will never fly unless MS is willing to pay the difference in lost revenue.
Europe and Asia and other parts of the world are seen by the average American as a bad evil Communist regime.
But WE'RE the ignorant ones...
It is the same with mobile phones;) You pay more overall;) They make more profit.
Last I checked ps3 had, blu-ray, music unlimited, netflix, film 4, BBC iplayer, stv player, 4 player, a browser, free psn for more tv and film, photo viewer, life plus they are away to get BBC sport app.
All this before ms and even with all ms stuff ps3 is much more well established.
All that but they can't accomplish something as simple as cross game chat. Xbox live is still the better service. yes, you have to pay but I would much rather pay and have it than to be stuck with just PSN. Live is just more unified and just plain better and sony knows this.
$60 a year just for cross game chat and that is it. Yet Sony supplies us with games, services, free online experience, blu ray, and so on but yet your willing to pay $60 just for some cross game chat wow!!!
Another thing, your willing to pay for Live and then pay again for DLC. If you haven't seen buy now that they're stilling money off of you then I don't know when you will.
My bad, I mean to put by after seen instead of buy and stealing after they're instead of stilling.
xbox live has a better infrastructure and is more unified. Sony's PSn still lag behind in things like, some game updates,(which take too long)messaging,cross game chat,(which is an important and wanted feature no matter how much people deny it),and also things like appearing offline really makes a difference. There are other things too but I think people get the point. Say what you want about live and its pricing but right now its still the best. Sony still has work to do before they can claim any victory in this area.
So first there's a console war, now there's a silly living room war. Riiiiight.
Guess which piece of equipment I can use to surf the net(the best possible way to), download movies, watch movies on my big screen with, has a huge hardrive, and I don't have to pay twice for the privelege of using free services and apps??? Yes, that's right, it's called a freaking laptop!
You can buy your phone full price without a contract and use it for 3 years (or more) paying the monthly or sign a contract and save money.
People who sign this Xbox contract, save nothing, miss out on any Live deals through out the two years ($30 instead of $60), and definitely don't need Live to use their 360.
If they wanted to sell their 360 after a year they could, or if they felt Live wasn't worth it they wouldn't need to buy it again next year. This essentially makes sure you pay full price for Live for two years.
If their 360 breaks a year after warranty, they still have to pay for it...if MS was giving the 360 away for free it would be better. It's just not a very good deal.
Halo isn't exciting anymore and Gears isn't either. What else does the Xbox have?
haha but really the tables have turned.
When the PS3 released, Microsoft claimed that it wasn't a game console, but an entertainment center. NOW look who has the better and diverse 1st-Party games.
Most of my friends are so loyal to their Xbox so they never crossed over, but I've gotten new "friends" online to play with.
Microsoft has the ecosystem that can't be matched. They have basically Xbox into a branded service and not hardware. Xbox brand will be everywhere in their ecosystem.
I am a harcore gamer and my gaming / entertainemt time on the 360 is split 50/50. Playing games and watching VoD are the main functions I use my console for.
If I had the same offerings like you guys in NA have, I would probably use even more entertainment apps.
So how is this a bad thing? The Xbox 360 is still a great gaming device and I have 3 core games on preorder (Splinter Cell Blacklist, Halo 4, Resident Evil 6).
*edit* actually I think the competition, especially Nintendo, will have to play catch-up next generation.
"PS3 Winning"
Regardless, the PlayStation is a great console and the Xbox is a great console. This bickering is annoying and tiresome. Just play your games, exclusive/multi and watch your movies and have fun. Yes its a simple as that.
I mean it, well done.
Their entire plan to make money on their console through subs and services has been a success to the point people want to pay to play online and thrie core fanbase can be bought off with a Halo or Gears game every year or two. It's an amazing plan and it worked.
Shame it's not a plan I want to be a part of, but best of luck to them and their userbase. The direction for Xbox 8 is set.
That's freakin pathetic.
@ Hicken
The only thing the OP needs to recognize as true is the mass market deeming Microsoft's plan valuable thus worth buying into this generation. Sony's plan was a train-wreck.