Xbox 360 Battling: 'Microsoft's next-gen gear has lost its early ascendancy' - Jason Hill

XBOX 360 has just celebrated its second anniversary in Australia and enjoys the strongest library of games and the best online network compared to its "next-generation" console rivals.

Microsoft made the most of being first to market with a next-gen console, but suddenly finds itself on the back foot. Nintendo's Wii has already overtaken the Xbox 360's Australian installed base thanks to rampant sales, and Sony's PS3 weekly sales are now also consistently higher than 360, suggesting Microsoft's console has lost its early momentum.

[TheREALHarryEtTubMan]

nooooooooooooooooooo!!!! :\

[Phil Harrison Mklll]

It's great seeing the xFlop360 fall :P
&all there pathetic xbox slaves dying :D
THE WAR HAS BEEN WON
Bring on the xZUNE480YahooooooooHDi :D

[Shaka2K6]

Anyways, microflop is in the tubes right now the biggest issue with the xbug 3rd60 is the lack of good exclusive AAA games for 2008, gears of short 2 looks like crap next to Haze.

[Doctor Who]

its amazing really, microsoft has all that money and they still cant beat the PS3. Funny really

[Official General]

Oh my gosh what the f**k???? LOL, look that Halo (Gaylo) avatar thats just totally hilarious and funny!!!! Man how did you do that? Just look at that, two Master Chiefs kissing and hugging? ROTFL LOL, thats just damn crazy man, what a diss, an absolute diss! LOL HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

[Varsarus]

LOL

[Hellsvacancy]

do we need 2 talk about the fall of xbox AGAIN!!!

[Bathyj]

People STILL talk about the Roman Empire and Titanic. Its a big deal to see something so big, sinking before your eyes.

Nice Avatar.

[kornbeaner]

All faulty hardware and other issues aside, the main problem with the Xbox brand is that it hasn't found that X-factor, that little niche that will make other consumers beside just the hardcore purchase one. They might need to assess their marketing and pricing a little. Because $50 a year for the service is great for the hardcore, but for the average consumer that just another bill added to a product that is a luxury to begin with.

[sonarus]

Well said.

[Clinton514]

I don't like mentioning it due to rabbit opinion haters on this site but MS has rabidly approached their saturation point and it's time for them to think up ways to expand beyond their core audience.

[LevDog]

HaHaHaHa banjo kazooie huh? Watch out Ps3.. Please look at those titles.. 2 of em are even worth a damn.. 360 isnt dead.. but it is on life support.. XBL isnt even that much better than PSN.. So you have ahcievments and gamer score.. Besides yourself does any other gamer actually look at it.. UMM No, No other gamer cares what others achievments and gamer score are seriously.. PSN is adding all the features that XBL has and it will be free.. Plus you can vid chat with up to six friends or clan mates at the same time.. something XBL cant do.. No point in paying for XBL seriously

[Amanosenpai]

-X box 360 lost australia, but it still has US (for now ^^)

[MOTO-X]

I like your style there LevDog. I dont even know a person that owns a 360. Love my Ps3 though

[Kaz Hirai]

Nazisoft failed with their 1 year lead,
I laughed so hard I nearly peed!
The DEADBOX 360 is a true FLOP,
Why do you PIGS love Nazisoft’s SLOP?

Your ‘08 “line-up” makes King Kaz sick,
Your “console” is nothing but a brick!
You PIGS are deluded, you don’t have a clue,
My Sony Soldiers are coming for you!

MWAH-HA-HA-HA!!!

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 4]

...Look what it said...

''We're still going to have the core games like Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Halo Wars, Too Human, etc., but we'll also have the likes of Banjo-Kazooie, Guitar Hero 4, Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, those sort of things''

Banjo-Kazooie!!! ;-D (From 'Rare' i.e the cr*p half!!!) ;-D

+Yeah G.O.W 2 IS THE BEST GAME EVER... i.e God Of War 2!!! ;-D

[Shadow Man]

Sony fanboys are out of control LOL. Is everything you say has to be RROD XBOX SUX NAZISIFT WTF. So what if xbox 08 line up is not as goo as ps3? Don't worry about it. Just push the little X on the top right corner of your screen OK! I SKEE SKEE on your Sony soldiers!

[InYourMom]

You do know that the PS3 is still last in install base right??

LAST!!

Someone can not be as obssessed enough as you guys to post in just about every single 360 article to not actually want one. You know you want one. Can you just not afford another console and games? I just don't get it how a group of droids can be so involved in every 360 article without having some kind of obsession for it. You guys comment more than people who actually own the system.

[Amanosenpai]

I love u guys, u are fawking great ... LOL... gimme more SONY

[Bathyj]

Mom
PS3 is last cos it started last. Its quickly catching up but in case you haven't noticed. Only USA has any hope of holding out but that will crumble too when they realize they're the only ones who like broken toys. It'll happen, even if it takes till M$ abandons you again.

If waiting a year to have reliable hardware means PS3 install base is slightly behind Xboxes then so be it. I mean seriously what are we, 5 million behind at most? Probably 2 or 3 million if you only count WORKING machines still in operation. 5 Million sounds like a lot when you've only sold 10M, but when you're up to 50M or 100M its nothing really. Typical SHORTSIGHTED M$ thinking.

And remember Sony might have been slightly late (hence your fantastic lead), but M$ was waaaaaay early. Thats pretty obvious from the quality of the machines. We'll see who had short term benefits and who had long term.

[eagle21]

lol ;)

[LightningPS3]

360 outsold PS3 in March NPD.

Remember the 360 had shortages, and now they should be back at full strength.

Don't get ahead of yourself. PS3 is still in some trouble. Atleast they have Dualshock 3 now but they're still loosing the price war.

I still don't like how they're using Blu ray as a reason for why PS3 costs more.

Gamers don't care about Blu ray.

They're doing better, but still not good enough.

:(

[Adamalicious]

What is your definition of "good enough" - the PS3 is outselling the 360 globally so how well is the 360 doing?

How exactly are they "loosing the price war" - what data are you basing that on?

P.S. - I didn't intentionally pick quotes that showcased poor grammar - it just happened that way.

[LightningPS3]

when the NPD comes out.

Right now, you're too defensive anyway.

[hazeblaze]

There weren't any shortages... both Jan & Feb 360's were readily available at Walmart and most online retailers here in the U.S. That was just Microsoft's excuse.

They would not have lowered the price in Europe if they were having shortages... that's just economics 101: supply and demand. You don't lower your prices when your product is in such high demand that it is hard to find! Otherwise lowering your price cannot have the effect of selling more hardware... b/c you don't have any extra hardware to sell. And even if the shortages were only in the U.S... they would have re-allocated shipments to the U.S. where their product was in "such high demand" instead of selling more machines at a loss in a region where there was no high demand for it.

The 360 is going to have tough times ahead for the rest of this gen... but it's not out of the fight. Titles like Gears 2, Ninja Gaiden 2, & Fable 2 will help keep it alive. And I think titles like Alan Wake & Left for Dead will be hits for hardcore gamers... but probably won't show up on the radar of most mainstream gamers, and aren't likely to move consoles as a result. Either way, all it has to do is survive 2008 and come back with some big surprises in 2009! Of the two consoles, I prefer my PS3. But 2009 could be anybody's year (but Microsoft would need some really heavyweight surprises to go up against GOW III & FF XIII)!

[mikeslemonade]

This article isn't about the NPD it's about how the 360 isn't taken off in worldwide specifically in Australia. The heavy hitters have not arrived for the PS3 yet, so the PS3 is poised to do even better. The heavy hitters are GTA4(it will also help 360), MGS4, FFXIII, GT5, the fall lineup of games, and Blu-ray. Dualshock 3 isn't a reason to own a PS3 you're the exception.

The 360 has no games that will expand the audience in 2008 besides Alan Wake and GTA4. Ninja Gaiden caters to the people who bought the 360 for DMC4, Fable 2 caters to the Mass Effect Oblivion crowd, Too human caters to the Mass Effect and Oblivion crowd, Left 4 Dead caters to the shooter crowd. Gears of War 2 caters to the Gears of War 1 and Halo 3 audience. In other words 360 doesn't really have a system seller.

[sonarus]

I seriously seriously doubt that. 360 supply issues were blown out of proportion really. I go to my gamestop and i see 360's everytime. They have like tons of used ones too more than i have ever seen in fact.

360 may outsell the ps3 in March but i seriously seriously doubt it.

[SL1M DADDY]

You'll explain it to us when the NPD numbers come out for this month? Ok... So if the 360 happens to outsell the PS3 in North America, does that mean anything when the PS3 is killing the 360 across the rest of the globe? Nope, in fact, worldwide sales look more in favor of the PS3 but in all honesty, does any of that make us sleep better at night? Does it make you feel better if your console sells more than the others? If so then you need to seek help.

[Obama]

MS should take some viagra.

[OJ_juice]

MS should take a phoenix down. Cuz they dead.

[Stryfeno1]

Lol at all the naysayers...Wasn't all this been said before since on the 360 launched? And at the end of the day, MS always prove all those fanboys wrong.

This excessive complaining and negative banter is getting tiresome. Wait for E3 and see what MS has up their sleeve. We all know the PS3 and some of the Wii lineup...But do you know the 360s for the rest of 08 and 09?

[LevDog]

You act like Sony has shown all their cards.. Sony has games and features they havent shown either..

[bootsielon]

Sony and Nintendo can't have any aces up their sleeves, they're not the allpowerful Microsoft, Microsoft must win, Microsoft still has tons of fuel on the 360 rocketship despite it having already launched Halo 3, nobody cares about RROD, people love paying 50 bucks for online play and no next-gen video player, all people love the same shooter and testosterone filled genres, we don't need japan, bla bla bla. Oh wait.

[hazeblaze]

Well... analysts had been worried that the 360 was losing steam if you look back to articles from Jan 2007. But the point is.... they were right. Sales did pick back up in the fall of that year... but both of the new consoles for that year (Wii & PS3) sold more than the 360 did (worldwide sales)! And the PS3 did so while costing $200 more and having less games. With the PS3 outselling the 360 in the U.S. now too... they had better have some REALLY GREAT tricks left up their sleeves.

They have no hope of winning this gen. But I think they did a great job of stealing some market share from Sony. Of course the major congratulations in that area goes to Nintendo.

[InYourMom]

" all people love the same shooter and testosterone filled genres"

Ignorant! The 360 has a wide variety of genres and many more than the PS3. JRPG, RTS, Sports/Racing, TPS and FPS, Puzzle games, board games on and on. That is a very narrow point of view you have there and I'm sure it is rooted in your console preference. But the idea that the 360 only has shooters is wrong.

Btw what is the most anticipated games coming to the PS3? MGS4 (shooter with testosterone), RFOM2 (same), Killzone 2 (same).

[nsky171]

Actually Microsoft didnt' steal any market share from Sony or anybody else yet. They haven't even pass their own yet.
xbox around 25 million
xbox 360 is now at 18 million right now.

They need to have more than their original 25 million in order to take marketshare from Sony/Nintendo.

[xg-ei8ht]

The 360 is fine sales wise for games etc, it's losing ground hardware wise, not because of shortages, but because alot of ppl are moving to the ps3 or wii, depending on gamer.

Talking about japan, how many units do u think sony is gonna shift with mgs4, from what i've seen and read. I think it'll recieve 10's and 9.9's across the board. and sales will be unreal.

And alot of other countries love mgs/gtp etc.

Just watch the ps3 sales in the next few months.

[DFresh]

Microsoft does have more games but not all of them are console sellers.
Only 4 made it big.
Halo 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War, and Bioshock.
It wasn't until 2007 the 360 truly got it's shine on.
2005 was just average since they were the only next gen console of choice at the time.
2006 again maybe a tiny bit of shine with Gears of War.
2008 might mean a little bit better than 2007 for games and sells.
Microsoft just lost ground in Japan and are completely cut off and in Europe their fading quickly.
Only place keeping the 360 alive is America.
Microsoft is just in a little bit of a struggle right now and if nothing comes out that big anytime soon I'm afraid they will lose.
I might be wrong but the evidence is speaking for itself.

[The Killer]

it was obvious from the beginning to me that this how it will turn out with the exception of wii.

[Rageanitus]

Big time losses.

The rrod will not only haunt current potential buyers but also future buyers for the xbox 3.

I think they blew their load too quickly.

[whoelse]

TBH, i really cant see how the Xbox can come back. There's only one game that is guaranteed to be exclusive and that's Gears of War 2 but that's hardly going to change the outcome. They set their sights on GTA IV buts that's proving to be a bigger console shifter by far for the PS3 that 360.

[hazeblaze]

Not true... They still have quite a few exclusives left. However, the ONLY reason I'll be purchasing them is b/c I happen to already have a 360. But truthfully, they don't have any exclusives coming out this year that I would have bought the system for. Even more truthfully, my 360 purchases are going to be limited to how much money I have left after buying some of the awesome games coming to the PS3 this year. It's not that the 360 doesn't have any exclusives left... it just lacks the high caliber exclusives that will be coming to the PS3.

[whoelse]

To verify, i meant only have 1 BIG exclusive, not only 1 exclusive full stop.

[Meus Renaissance]

It's one thing the 360 losing its momentum but its another thing for Sony/Nintendo to fully take advantage of that. May and July's NPD figures will be fascinating - how much does GTA4 and Metal Gear actually propel Sony?

[DJ]

We still need to wait until the end of 2008 to see whether the 360 truly is delegated to last place this generation, or if this was just a temporary slip-up. I'm still waiting to see if they have any compelling titles at E3 that haven't been revealed yet (though we've been saying that for the past 3 game conferences) or if Sony ends up screwing up their chance to fully overtake the 360.

I doubt they will This time, but it's always a possibility.

[jessupj]

I don't think 360 is dead. I like to think it still has many years. I honestly will get one if they do ever fix their problems. The 360 and Ps3 are both good for each other, make so mistake. If any one of them dies everyone loses.

Here's to both consoles co-exsisting :)