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[BlackThornn]

Microsoft expecting to lose 1.1 Billion dollars on the Xbox by June 2003


Good lord. That's.... a lot of money. p_q

[Sword 4 Hire]

Hahaha...take that Microsoft...oh wait, I own an Xbox as well....

I don't know what to think anymore lol

But that is a lot of money goin down the tube

[Sleazy P Martini]

A lot of xbox owners say that Microsoft is loaded and won't let the Xbox die. But I can't see MS putting up with losses like that for long. I hope it survives.

[Harry]

I can't believe that Microsoft guys were unable to consider losses like these. I guess that the Xbox project is a long-term one... maybe not in this generation, but in the next one the Xbox could have a fan base big enough to fight Sony directly.

[Mercury Shadow]

It's impossible for a brand new company to come into the industry 1 year late (after the ps2) and kill competition with their system. Microsoft has so much money they don't know what to do with it, and they know that with Xbox2, they will have a bigger fan base and a bigger reputation. Micrsoft reps say something like, "yeah, we will lose this battle... but the war isn't over"

[KraftSLU]

just fyi, but this is from quicken.com if you are wondering about what MS is planning with it's xbox endevour:

Its code name is "Freon," reflecting the notion that it is the coolest secret project at Microsoft Corp. These days, at least in the eyes of the Xbox video-game division, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.

What Freon stands for is a souped-up successor to the Xbox console -- capable of playing games but also offering television capabilities, such as pausing live TV and recording shows onto a computer hard drive, say people familiar with the effort. Though it is unclear whether such a product will ever be built, its core concept appears to have the backing of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who wrote in an internal memorandum in January that he was a "big fan" of a machine that would combine video services with gaming.

Such a device, which could cost around $500, would have another big advantage: It could beat video-game market leader Sony Corp. to the punch.

Microsoft officials are mulling releasing some kind of new game machine sometime next year or in 2004, say people familiar with the matter. That timing could shake up the $20 billion global video-game market, breaking a long- established pattern of developing and releasing new systems in roughly five-year cycles. Sony, the undisputed leader in a three-way race with Microsoft and Nintendo Co., isn't expected to release its next PlayStation system until 2005.

Microsoft officials won't comment on Freon. But the software titan has been playing catch-up to Sony since it introduced the Xbox last year. Though Microsoft hoped the introduction of a hard disk and other features would inspire developers to write more exciting games than for the PlayStation 2, Sony's hardware has retained an edge among consumers and programmers.

[BlackThornn]

Freon doesn't seem like such a good idea to me.. I mean sure, the idea is "cool", but at 500$ (I'm assuming US) most of the people who bought an Xbox won't even touch it.. and that's without even considering how they would feel with Microsoft basically having released what they even viewed as an inferior product for two years, only to have a "replacement" product out two years later. It doesn't do well for M$'s rep..

Despite my feelings I'm hoping that the Xbox survives.. but I also find myself hoping that there is a SERIOUS purge in Microsoft's marketing division at the very least.. those guys are fools. And arrogant fools at that. They've kept at least this hardcore gamer from buying an Xbox because of thier ****.. and now they're seeming to WANT to alienate the people that did buy an Xbox.

..Very confusing.. I wonder what the guys at X B A or possibly the Neoseeker Xbox forum would think about this, when they were putting down the PS2 for having a 40$ network addon.. >_< Oooh, that won't/wouldn't be pretty.

[Sleazy P Martini]

Freon huh? I don't know....I buy a console for videogames, not DVD or television extras. Whats next? A console that will wipe my a$$ and fold my laundry?

[BlackThornn]

Microsoft and Cuisinart are proud to present..... The Xbox 3!

Now you can play your video games and dice foods at the same time! It makes julienned fries!!

[Sleazy P Martini]

mmmm..........fries.

[KraftSLU]

Originally posted by BlackThornn
Microsoft and Cuisinart are proud to present..... The Xbox 3!

Now you can play your video games and dice foods at the same time! It makes julienned fries!!

Don't joke, the next video game system that washes my underwear and walks my dog... I don't care if it plays old atari 2800 games and costs 600 bucks... Im buying it.

[Sleazy P Martini]

You said the key words right there. "Video Game System". Do we need all the extras? I think they should focus on improving the gaming experience rather than trying to make an all-in-one entertainment device.

[Mercury Shadow]

I think it's a cool idea to incorperate different things into a video game system... but like you said, most people buying video game systems are looking for video games. Hence the name. It'd be cool if there was an add-on that could do this... for people who auctually want it. Then M$ wouldn't have to charge their rediculous $500 (by the way... are they saying it'll cost $500 to buyers or $500 to make?).

[Sid554]

Then M$ wouldn't have to charge their rediculous $500 (by the way... are they saying it'll cost $500 to buyers or $500 to make?). [/B][/QUOTE]



Either way the whole thing seems silly to me. Who in their right mind would actually buy this thing?

[AsylumEscapee]

Microsoft officials are mulling releasing some kind of new game machine sometime next year or in 2004, say people familiar with the matter. That timing could shake up the $20 billion global video-game market, breaking a long- established pattern of developing and releasing new systems in roughly five-year cycles.

Oh thats just perfect. Thanks a lot Microsoft. Why not make it a 3 year cycle instead? That way by the time ill have to dish out another 300 bucks on a new system, the games on my older system wont even have reached that machines full potential. Goddammit, i was really hoping this wouldnt turn into a race. I see 2 unfinished consoles coming out around 2004-2005. Reminds me of the whole GeForce 3 to GeForce 4 thing. Games havent even begun to use the power of the GeForce 3 and another one comes out.

Boy, Microsoft is really screwing everything up in their plans for world domination. Buying off games from other systems and making them exclusives to sell their precious console, now this.

[Socom]

That's nothing for the rich fool they call the nerdy Bill Gates. I got a Gamecube and PS2 and they both rock. I could have gotten a X-Box but it's nothing new. In built hard drive? HA! The X-Box is simply another name for "PC without everything you don't need to play a game". Bill Gates is the richest Nerd in the world and he came up with normal CD's? Look at Nintendo's bloody Cd's their tiny!!! PS2 have an excuse which is the technology wasn't developed back then. No exuse for the nerd and his larger than VCR "PC without everything you don't need to play a game".

[Sid554]

Originally posted by Socom
Look at Nintendo's bloody Cd's their tiny!!! PS2 have an excuse which is the technology wasn't developed back then.

This was actually done by Nintendo to eliminate piracy of their games. The "cds", as you call them (I assume you're just speaking generally) are actually DVD-format discs with a 1.5 gig capacity. Only nintendo sells blank media and, to my knowledge anyway, only nintendo gamecube uses them.