Price promotions are an industry staple, but few have got the trade talking like Microsoft’s latest offer.
The platform holder’s US stores are selling a 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect for just $99. The catch? It comes with a two-year subscription to Xbox Live, priced at $15 per month, and an early termination fee.
This model is commonplace in other sectors: smartphone handsets are discounted or free with contracts, and media packages like Sky+ come with a free set-top box.
But it’s rarely been tried in gaming before.
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy X 25th anniversary site, revealing new Nomura art, books, music releases, and merchandise.
Look I know VIII has its issues and all that but how on earth can the do big anniversary events with new artwork and merchandise for VII, IX and X yet VIII got sweet f*** all.
They could have given it something during its 25th anniversary yet all it got was a single Happy Anniversary post on their social media.
they should know that we are OG fans of VIII as it sold truckload as well. not as much as VII or X. I personally didn't like IX but X and VI are my personal fav.
Shadow Hearts 2 covenant is another game I love. I hope one day someone can make remake, I would be delighted
Final Fantasy VIII is great and you are always the first to defend it in the comments
The Wii is now a retro console. Let’s get nostalgic about an often maligned system.
Crazy to think the WII is to the Switch 2, as the NES was to the WII back then. 20 Year difference.
My wife asks me to bust it out (heh) everyone once in a while to play bowling and tennis with the kids. There was a ton of slop on it but some good stuff as well.
Wii was great but boy howdy did it cause Microsoft to go on a dark walk with the Kinect and the disastrous XBox One launch that they arguably never recovered from.
Not nostalgic for me.. I was there.. anyone who wasnt a little kid realized it was a gamecube with shit tacked onto it, it was the "joke" system and was well below even the switch in terms of comparing it to the latest machines at the time. The machine was well loved by young people and "casual gamers" who now remember it 20 years on, or in most cases more of its sales came in the 15-20 years ago range not right at launch- but again its not nostalgic for people who were "gamers" then really, just for those who ended up with one in their house, the games , graphics, interface and online features were archaic already in 2006.
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
It's sort of happening now with mobile phones and Ps3's/Wii's etc In the package...Or even Brighthouse style contracts...though I wouldn't personal do this ish
I can see this as a win win in some sorts. It means a company like Microsoft can go all out on the specs of their next console and have customers pay the premium price through contractual obligations, which would bring the initial investment of the customer, down to something more feasible. If not, then I suspect next-gen hardware won't be as advanced as some would hope.
If you think about it all the successful products out there are on contracts with monthly payments.(Cell Phones and Cars...etc)
I wouldn't be surprised if this occurs. Think about it. It is great to advertise at a seemingly low price and it is very successful in the mobile market. We will see if it is implemented and more importantly how (really expensive/hidden costs) to see if it is actually beneficial.
Remember this. Software is where these companies make most of their money. People usually buy 1-2 consoles and dozen and dozens of games. One day consoles will probably be free w/ a contract (2-5yrs) to the online subscription (just like the 360 and cell phones). They will be required to be online to play and will be disconnected from the network for non-payment. Like I said software is where they make their money, could you imagine if they had 500 million in the wild how much they would make off of a blockbuster game release. Basically the "cell phone business platform" will take over intergrating the payment of the console and the payment of the service into a monthly payment. It probably won't just be videogames that sees this business structure forced into it, the more things that become "connected" will see this happen (TV, Music, CPUs, Etc).