They aren't selling off entire businesses but they *are* selling major (controlling) chunks to raise cash to keep their operations going.
Things are tough in the TV business, the slow PS3 launch, and the capital-intensive nature of the semiconductor business are the reason why they are getting out of semi-conductors.
These are short-term tactical moves with long-term consequences:
"The sale allows Sony to pass on the heavy cost of microprocessor devel...
That there is more than just the five Arcade games on the disk:
00:03:18:00 WELCOME VIDEO
n/a PAC-MAN CE
n/a BOOM BOOM ROCKET
n/a UNO
n/a LUXOR 2
n/a FEEDING FRENZY
n/a ZUMA (TRIAL)
n/a MARBLE BLAST ULTRA (TRIAL)
n/a 3D ULTRA MINIGOLF (TRIAL)
n/a FROGGER (TRIAL)
n/a SOLTRIO SOLITAIRE (TRIAL)
n/a VIVA PINATA
n/a SURF'S UP
00:01:07:00 VIVA PINATA
00:01:34:00 SHREK THE THIRD
...
That's Two Worlds. :-)
Not a bad time-killing game, overall, but if you're at all sensitive to flicker...
Yes, let's hope TH gets a handle on the framerate.
Too Human is funded and published by Microsoft game studios so it falls in the same category as Gears of War. A 360 exclusive under lock-n-key for the duration of the development contract. Which, since it is a trilogy, means pretty much this entire console generation.
I wasn't all that interested in this game...until now.
But if it really is as RPG-like as they claim it may have a place in my system. Not sure about the locked-camera thing though; so far the only game I'v...
Its easy! ;-)
1- Internal power supply
2- Built-in Wi-Fi
3- BD-ROM playback
4- Runs Linux
5- Might help cure cancer
Could probably come up with another five, too.
Is that winning a dominant market share is a good thing but winning a dominant market share at *any* cost isn't.
MS has been and remains willing to spend money to get into the game business but the objective has always been to make money. It is a business, after all. Assuming the other guy is not totally incompetent that means that there is going to be an ebb and flow of competition until a balance is reached and you get to a point beyond which it makes no financial sense to pu...
And it does when its appropriate.
But for this generation of consoles, rendering 1080p requires tradeoffs that some developers *choose* not to make. Specifically, to render at 1080 you either have to give up anti-aliasing, HDR lighting, or frame-rate, often more than one.
The 360 has the advantage that when rendering at 720 and displaying at 1080 it costs deveopers nothing; the console does the scaling for free. No coding and no CPU/GPU cycles required; the built-in scaler chips...
Well, now...
Talk about writing big checks!
They'd better be able to cash that hard science fiction check. :-)
...so why give'em away? >;-)
Realistically, you are not the target for those bundles. They're meant to grease the mainstream market rather than dedicated gamers. Thats why they chose a racing game and an action game, both over 6 months old.
New games will sell themselves and if they're good enough (Mass Effect?) might even sell some hardware at full price.
But Metacritic:
http://www.metacritic.com/g...
...lists 254 360 games of which, 210 rate 60 or better and 70 rate 80 or better. That does sound like hundreds of games good enough to buy (considering what PS3 fans are putting their money into) and dozens *anybody* would want to buy.
And that is without including the Backwards-compatible XBOX games:
Generally, you cut prices when sales are weak (July for 360) and bundle in games when you want to grease sales temporarily but are comfortable with the list price long term.
A third option is to drop wholesale price temporarily and keep the list price so retailers can build their own promotional bundles.
MS just cost-reduced the 360 by a good chunk by moving to 65nm chips so they can afford to drop prices but by using promo bundles they can wait to cut prices later when (if) sal...
At the retail level, not from MS, but not this month or next.
Maybe in January if any Halo 3 consoles remain, BB and the like will bundle the Halo Ltd edition 360s with the slower selling Halo game (surprisingly, its the middle version, not the Legendary) in a promo bundle.
They did the same with Halo2 and the translucent green Xboxes last time around.
You can't bundle in Mature titles that would limit the (legal) sale of the package as another nameless outfit did.
Generally, Racing games are popular for bundles because they get rated E. Forza, in addition to being a very good game (aggregate reviews of 90) has a strong online component so its a good showcase of what 360 gaming is about.
Marvel alliance, in addition to being a good game in its own right (aggregate reviews in the 80's) is a single screen *local*...
They just cost-reduced the 360 by moving to 65nm, after all.
They *choose* not to cause they believe people buy consoles to play games and they have all the must-have games. From their point of view, $279 is cheap enough for an HD gaming console that has hundreds of quality games, dozens of AAA titles already out, the premiere online gaming environment, and a fully mature digital media downloads service. Today. Not tomorrow or next year, but today.
They may be right or t...
...than just a corrupt license-cookie server.
As pointed out above, FOX BD releases with the "wonderful" BD+ super-DRM don't play because the players don't have BD+ yet.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2...
At least everbody who is anybody. ;-)
The reason we're stoked about MASS EFFECT is precisely because it comes from BioWare; they have an impeccable track record.
They did KOTOR, JADE EMPIRE, BALDUR'S GATE and a bunch of other premium RPGs.
Well, consider that MS *knows* for sure how the 360 is selling.
They don't have to estimate or extrapolate like NPD or VGChartz or the various pundit/analysts out there. They *know*.
So when MS has to scramble to increase their component orders, that means sales are *exceeding* expectations.
Coming right after the HALO 3 launch it is evidence that Halo is, in fact, selling 360 consoles.
Evidence.
Not rumor, speculation, or anectodal observation.
That ...
http://www.n4g.com/industry...
BIZ: Is it possible that the Halo universe or Bungie's future games could appear on other consoles now?
FO: Right now we're concentrating on the Xbox 360. Which we adore.
I understand reality is hard to accept, but...
First because Ms divested themselves of MSNBC the cable channel but not the web site; they still co-own that. The cable channel was not a fit with MSN but MSNBC is. It wasn't that they needed the money but they didn't have the expertise to (help) run the channel and knew it.
Second, MS also sold off Expedia. Same reason. It wasn't a fit with MSN *and* it was worth more as a separate entity.
Ditto with the recent Bungie divestiture.
See, those were all moves to maximize *l...