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100°

Microsoft takes on Wii with 360 Arcade

Xbox boss Robbie Bach talks up new SKU as casual gaming contender

A new $279 Arcade pack will include a wireless controller and several casual titles including Pac-Man, Uno and Luxor 2, reports next-gen.biz.

"Arcade becomes [for us] the ability to bring in a new set of audiences," said Bach."

"They're probably a little bit more casually focused, they're looking for a new family experience or they're more price focused."

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Dannagar6035d ago

If Microsoft wants to take on Wii with 360 Arcade, they are going to need to drop the price to $250, just like Wii. They should consider packing in Viva Pinata and Kameo.

rubarb236035d ago

or keep it at that price and for god sakes, frigg'n add the hdd already.

Jinxstar6035d ago

This is stupid. It should not be the market they are aiming for. Thats the Wii Market. MS should stick to hardcore. Its what they do best.

BIGBAER6035d ago

Instead of viewing the new sku as a watered-down version, the Arcade 360 console takes on a different and casual-gamer targeted identity.

Since a hardrive can be added at any time, the new Arcade 360 turns out to be an excellent entry-level purchase.

It also shows the major difference between Sony's and Microsoft's marketing. The new Arcade 360 just the original entry-level 360. Microsoft adds a memory card along with some arcade games, swaps the wired contoller for a wireless, packs in a new box that is appealing and shows the arcade console's value. Smart. Nice marketing too!

Sony on the other hand keeps shifting skus; dump the 20, slash the 60, add the 80, eliminate the 60 and finally offer a stripped-down, zero-backwards compatability 40gb console that has NO positives except for price.

Again, MS took its low-end console and dressed it up and moved it firmly into casual-gamer land.

Sony? Well they took their low-end unit, stripped it of its backwards compability feature and several hardware features and bumped the hd up to 40gb. Did they come up with a catchy name or target the new sku towards a specific audience? Nah! It's just the new stripped down PS3.

If nothing else, Sony has proven once again that they are CLUELESS when it comes to marketing. Sad, really.

AtlREMF3116035d ago

The games he mentioned are actually demos, not full games. It states that on the box...

bung tickler6035d ago

umm no. you couldnt be more wrong. they are full games that come a on physical disk.

duarteq6035d ago

"A new $279 Arcade pack will include a wireless controller and several casual titles including Pac-Man, Uno and Luxor 2, reports next-gen.biz."

The mighty proclaimed hardcore game console with demos of retro ? nice going. I can put more 120 $ and buy the new model of PS3. X360, no way

bung tickler6035d ago (Edited 6035d ago )

yes, you could spend MORE money to have LESS and overall CRAPPIER games to play ( http://www.metacritic.com/g... )... sure that's a good idea. loser.

AtlREMF3116035d ago (Edited 6035d ago )

Then why does it say Demos of the games on the box as reported by Kotaku the other day? Typo?

they even showed a picture of the box stating it was demos not full games... Please don't kill the messenger. I just want to make sure its accurate.

rubarb236035d ago

i also saw that it included demos not full games, which would made it a crap deal.

bung tickler6034d ago

you get those FULL games PLUS there are five other demos on the game disc. read the box closer... it says PLUS five.. the other game are like marble blast and some others chech here if dont belive me http://www.engadget.com/gal...

60°

Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX

This could be fun as they make great tables. Go big or go extinct. Prime your senses for a neural handshake and step into the cockpit of a Jaeger. It is on you to cancel the apocalypse when Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX on May 16.

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Garethvk1d 5h ago
270°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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darthv721d 1h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle11h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18819h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio8h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning774h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga11h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff218310h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga9h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan5h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

romulus234h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv724h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

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purple10114h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos13h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-3h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac13h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10112h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic10h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead3h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

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thorstein23h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno19h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k418h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson17h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu18h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson17h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -