Bonum Certa Men Certa

Early Eulogies to Xbox 360 (Gloomy Forecast, Poor Preorder Numbers, Bungie Leaves)

The mummy



Summary: A roundup of news about Xbox 360 and the new controller which hasn't yet arrived or shown much demand

THE Xbox 360's reality becomes more evident as the weeks go by. Maybe the Xbox 360 will be the next "KIN"-like victim of tough competition; the death of Original Xbox Live was mentioned here in April and questions are still being raised about it. Video games are not as profitable as they used to be, so participation in this area becomes less attractive over time.



DFC says that Xbox 360 will suffer a fall in sales.

DFC Intelligence, the analysis firm, has estimated that Xbox 360 is likely to lose its demands shortly. In the upcoming months, it is going to lose its market to rivals, added DFC.


This is also covered in:

i. Microsoft Xbox 360 Set To Decline Says Analyst Firm

Industry Market Analyst DFC Intelligence has issued a note saying that Microsoft's flagship gaming console, the Xbox 360, has already passed its peak and is set to weaken over the next few years.

The brief, Gamasutra reports, says that Kinect, the newly announced peripheral, will have a neglible impact on the sales of the Xbox before adding that "The Xbox 360 has some good years left, but the platform is clearly on the downside of its lifecycle".


ii. Analyst: Xbox 360 'Clearly On The Downside Of Its Lifecycle'

But despite its efforts to move beyond its core gamer demographic, Microsoft will struggle to make its console relevant to the mass market, as the Xbox 360 moves into its fifth year, according to one analyst.


iii. Has the Xbox 360 hit the 'downside' of its lifecycle?

DFC Intelligence believes the Xbox 360 may have "some" good years left, but estimates the console is on the "downside" of its lifecycle - despite the advent of Microsoft's Kinect platform.


iv. Kinect will struggle to hit mass market

Microsoft may struggle to take the Xbox 360 to the mass market level and it's likely that Kinect, the new Xbox controller, may have a "negligible impact" - that's according to market analysts DFC Intelligence.


That last one talks about Kinect (formerly "Natal"). It was hyped up rather aggressively by Microsoft (marketing costs a lot of money), but Microsoft Kinect pre-orders are said to be disappointing:

Microsoft might have made a major mistake by pricing the Microsoft Kinect as high as $149, a price that means that the peripheral could well carry a suggested retail price of around €£129.99 in the UK.

[...]

He added that pre-orders, at least for Shopto, are currently very low.


"High Kinect Price Leads To Low Pre-Orders," says the headline of another article:

The Kinect has garnered mixed reviews since it was fully unveiled at E3. Fudzilla reports that the biggest issue the motion-capture peripheral faces may be due to its high price tag. The Kinect is set to retail for $149, although Microsoft is adamant that the price could change before launch.


There are claims of a 2-player limit, which would harm the gameplay. The lack of a price tag is also a problem (only specifications are known) and "Kinect will struggle to hit mass market," says this news headline:

Microsoft may struggle to take the Xbox 360 to the mass market level and it's likely that Kinect, the new Xbox controller, may have a "negligible impact" - that's according to market analysts DFC Intelligence.


One Web site asks, "Is the Xbox 360 In Its Death Throes? "

Microsoft has made it clear that they believe Kinect to be the shot in the arm the Xbox 360 needs to remain relevant for another half-decade. Market research firm DFC Intelligence disagrees, and believes that the Xbox's best days are behind it, and Microsoft has hitched its gaming wagon to an old and dying horse.


There are many doubts about the project due to lost leadership [1, 2, 3]. Greenberg is still on board with 'damage control' for Milo, but the bad press keeps coming. "Crackdown 2 Soundtrack Confirmed By Microsoft Is Terrible," says this one Web site and even Microsoft's marketing people cannot stick to one position on Milo, which is embarrassing.

Conflicting reports from Microsoft PR


One site accuses Microsoft of bribing people who write and it asks: "Does GameStop Promote Microsoft Over Sony?"

Microsoft is into giving gifts. Just ask anyone who goes to any trade shows or anyone who has worked for a GameStop or EB in the past decade or so. I was working at an EB when the first Xbox launched and to help promote it, Microsoft reps handed a ton of goodies to EB managers and assistant managers at the annual company meeting. Just recently, when I was down to GameStop, the employees were talking about their upcoming meeting in July, and they all fully expect to get preferential treatment from the big M$.


Microsoft's bribing of journalists for positive Xbox 360 coverage is a subject we wrote about last month [1, 2, 3].

Another site ridicules Microsoft for just playing catch-up by copying competitors and Bungie is officially leaving Microsoft after telling the world that Microsoft was a suppressor of creativity. This was expected and it's not quite the exception, either.

Recent Techrights' Posts

What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
 
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025