A Gamer’s Guide to the Gaming Industry – Part 5
Running through what we talked about the Xbox 360 in the previous article, the Xbox 360 seemed to have rushed its release and although it had a stellar line up of titles on offer, it had a number of technical issues, which resulted in every two out of three
Xbox 360s being exchanged for new ones.
The issue became infamous as the RROD or Red Ring Of Death, which signified that the console had overheated and was now nothing more than a pile of scrap. While it was a huge concern with the launch model and the Xbox 360 Arcade, the versions released later
on did not suffer as much from the issue.
So it seems that Microsoft may have done everyone over by releasing a faulty product early in the hopes of gaining a significant market share.
Do not get us wrong, we spend ours playing Gears of War on the 360 and we are not being biased, just pointing out the facts. It was interesting to note that Microsoft boasted that they could not keep up with the demand for the 360s and that retailers have
empty shelves where 360s once sat.
While the sales of the 360 were phenomenal, there was a slight catch and that was the fact that the reason the shelves were empty was because more than half of those Xbox 360s had been exchanged for faulty ones.
However, once Microsoft got that out of their system, the 360 became a reliable companion gamers could sneeze without fear around and is going from strength (Halo Reach) to strength (Gears of War 3).
Yes, it had vastly improved graphics, a stronger processor and wireless controllers, but it was nothing new, just a more powerful successor to the original Xbox.
Which was not a bad thing at that time, but that meant that it would find it hard to compete later on, especially when Sony announced their 10-year plan and continued to add new features to their PlayStation 3, leaving the 360 behind.
For those who were not interested in the industry during that time, Sony came into the market with the PS3 and did fairly poorly before picking up the pace, Nintendo was selling Wiis like there was no tomorrow and Microsoft saw its sales declining as the
other consoles were offering something new and fresh.
What Microsoft, and Sony, did was jump on the Wii’s motion controlled bandwagon. Sony announced the PlayStation Move and Microsoft began developing the Kinect, which for some odd reason was dubbed the NATAL. What were you thinking Microsoft?
Faster than Fernando Torres signing for Chelsea, the Kinect was a huge hit. In fact, it was outselling any other console on the market. Microsoft had done it; they had taken their dwindling, almost out of date, 360 and breathed new life in it with the Kinect.
A stroke of genius that paid off substantial dividends.
However, they did over do the Kinect thing during this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) when every single Xbox 360 title seemed to have something to do with the peripheral, leaving everyone sick of the word.
A majority of the 360s market is in North America, with sales of the console virtually non-existant in Asia, even the PlayStation Portable sells more than that over there.
Rumours are ripe that Microsoft plan to announce their next console at next year’s E3, which means the 360 could be on its last legs, though it has to be said it would have been less of a major market force had it not been for the Kinect.
To understand how Nintendo was the reason both Sony and Microsoft added motion control to their consoles, read the next part of the article
A Gamer’s Guide to the Gaming Industry – Part 6 - Feature
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
Tags: