glh's Journal: Thoughts on XBOX 360

I was reading the front page article today on XBox 360 interview. Dare I say it, but I am honestly starting to have second thoughts about it. I think MS is making a few strategic errors.

Error #1) Not including the hard drive. This is obviously one of the biggest items of controversey. Reasons offered:
    a) We want to make a cheaper option for the entry level gamer! ME: OK, this may be a good reason.
    b) Hard core gamers are really the only ones that want a hard drive.ME: Not true. Especially because of the other comment: it says that in order to have backward compatibility, you will need the hard drive. By that logic, does that mean that only hard core gamers want to play their old games on Xbox 360? I don't think so.
    c) You'll be able to "add-on" later if you become a hard-core gamer. ME: True, but for $100 that is an awful lot for a 2.5" 20 GB hard drive and some cables, which is essentially what you are getting.

Error #2 - HD-DVD) This is not 100%, but if MS goes HD-DVD then I think they are making a mistake. Blu-Ray will have significantly more storage space, and will probably be the PS3 choice. Of course, Blu-Ray is a Sony technology, so it is should be no surprise that XBOX doesn't want it.

Things going for it:

1) Xbox 360 live - definitely a great experience. This will be a huge seller.

2) Game titles like Halo 3... 'nuff said.

3) Media Center capability - another big seller in my opinion. I run Media Center 2005 and to have it on an Xbox 360 would be great, especially if it is a richer experience w/ HDTV.

Anyway, I think there will be a lot of good things about the Xbox 360, but I think when PS3 makes its debut people will think long and hard. If MSFT has it's way, everyone will already own an Xbox and be having too much fun with it. I still plan on getting one, but I hope to see them offer change on a few of the above issues. Namely, including the HDD. I think this ought to be standard, period. I'm not even sure how they would do Xbox Live w/o a hard drive. Maybe burn your info to a DVD? Otherwise you'd be typing your info, downloading contacts, etc. each time.

I believe...

[NeeNee3]

there are going to be 2 systems available when XBox 360 launches...the core system w/out the harddrive priced at $299, and then the one with all the bells and whistles, supposedly priced at $399.

I'll be going with the latter, of course, because it includes the harddrive, a wireless remote, the headset, the media remote, and I forget what else. But it's definitely cheaper in the long run than adding on all of the components separately.

Re:I believe...

[glh]

I'll be going with the latter, of course, because it includes the harddrive, a wireless remote, the headset, the media remote, and I forget what else. But it's definitely cheaper in the long run than adding on all of the components separately.

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I'm sure it'll be more like $450 at least until after Christmas... On a related note, I am hoping to find a good place to pre-order.

I think it'd be better to include the hard drive, start the price at $350, and charge another $50 or so f

Re:I believe...

[jfollas]

I also heard that they're going to produce significantly fewer of the "base models", so chances are, you'll only find the $400 version in stock at any one time.

I look at it as being similar to the Atari 400 [oldcomputers.net] and the Atart 800 [oldcomputers.net], which were sold at the same time starting in 1979. Frugal people who desparately wanted a computer back then might have purchased the Atari 400 for $200-500, with half the memory as the 800, half the expansion capabilities, and a membrane keyboard. For just under double the price ($

Re:I believe...

[glh]

Was the Atari 400 a bad purchase? Perhaps, but this was the early 80's, so those who didn't know any better still got a computer that worked. And those who did know better skipped the 400 and went straight for the 800.


We were in the crowd that bought the Atari 800, but I don't think it was until 81 or 82. What a great purchase that was, too :) It was especially nice when the double sided floppy drive came out (Happy Drive?). I learned quite a bit on that old Atari. The one thing I remember about the Ata

Marketing...

[arb]

Not including the hard drive in the "base" model is purely a marketing move. This will allow them to price the base unit such that they can claim to have the "cheapest" next gen console. The fact that it is almost unusable, or that the cost to upgrade it to the full-blown model will be prohibitive will be overlooked by the marketing people.

Of course, there are valid reasons for offering stripped-down systems and a clear, if overly expensive, upgrade path. Some people might not be able to afford $400, but mi