Microsoft Admits to Release Schedule Bungle 43
Eurogamer is reporting on comments made by Microsoft Games Studio general manager Phil Spencer, who has said that first party titles were not released often enough during the 360's first year. While true in all markets, this has especially been a problem in the U.K., where a delay of 210 days separated Dead Rising and Nintey-Nine Nights. From the article: "'I won't duck the question. Obviously our job as a first-party publisher is to lead on our platform and to create content not only that appeals to a broad set of customers, but also content that comes out with a regular pacing to continue to freshen the shelves,' Spencer said. 'But I wouldn't disagree with you that there were periods this year where there were gaps that were too long from first-party.' Microsoft's gaming blackspot was mirrored by a paucity of heavyweight third-party releases over a particular barren summer during which the firm arguably failed to capitalise on good early momentum and the absence of Sony's rival PlayStation 3 system."
Video game spam (Score:1, Insightful)
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I just read the tech specs and developers blog and can't find anything to the name.
I can almost get that 360 is half of 720 and that the games will play at 720p but I think that is a stretch.
The fact that some or all games are in surround sound is also a bit stretchy. Why would you name your console after your audio capabilities?
Both the XBox and XBox 360 utilize 3D rendered graphics so that doesn't make any sense either.
Someone told me that it was Microsoft copying Nintendo on the Revolution name - I can get that and it's almost believable. In fact it's more believable over the other ones I mentioned.
They could have called it XBox Zingo and it would make more sense than XBox 360.
Every time I hear 360 to convey the newest XBox brings back memories of the CD-i and 3DO. Granted that the 360 is more successful than the CD-i and 3DO combined but it still means a crappy marketing naming team behind it to me.
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What exactly is 360 supposed to convey in the name XBox 360?
It's supposed to convey nothing more than "OMGWTFBBQ 360 is higher then 3 so the XBox 360 must be better than the PS3".
No, seriously. The marketing guys at Microsoft realised that putting out an XBox 2 versus a PlayStation 3 would sound very bad indeed as a large chunk of the public would see 3 > 2 and therefore better. Since they couldn't call it an XBox 3, they had to come up some other wowser name instead.
Enter the 360 - totally meaningl
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The angle on the 360 > `the number 3` makes the most sense however I still feel that they copied the name from `Revolution`.
Whatever happened to the good ole days when it was Atari vs Intellivision, Genesis vs Turbografx?
I'm rooting for Nintento on this round as history has shown that the console prices drop 50% after a couple of years.
At that rate, the 360 is still over $200 for a usable unit. Sam
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When SGI released their O2, they specifically mentioned that it doesn't stand for anything , and even though the 2 was subscripted, had no relationship to any molecule of oxygen. I'm sure you can find many more stupid and senseless marketing redos, in logos, product names, etc. Marketing doesn't need reasons or facts.
In the case of the 360, perhaps you can argue that it's the "complete" gaming solution. yah, whatever. I wonder the same thing about Yahoo's 360. The link
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The operating temperature??
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Though I do agree that the lineup has been fairly weak. In a whole year there should be too many good games to count on your fingers and toes.
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Explain the logic in that, please.
1 bungle down (Score:3, Funny)
Eh? (Score:1)
well... (Score:4, Informative)
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N3 was published by Microsoft, though. But yes, the comparison is silly since the article was talking about Microsoft-published games.
Maybe they'll make up for it by bringing Forza 2 back into the Holiday timeframe ...
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Also, in the games business, "first-party" refers to games published by the platform holder, not necessarily developed by it.
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Well, as someone who worked in the game business (at a third-party publisher) for many years, I can tell you that this is in fact not at all true.
First-party means games developed in-house. Nintendo's EAD being the only "pure" example left, although you could probably rightly argue that any developer purchased and then brought under the fold of one of the console manufacturers also q
Mod parent up (Score:1)
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Perhaps there are some distinctions from company to company about how exactly the terminology is used, leadi
On the right track... (Score:1)
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Sorry, but the way this works is that the schedule is actively tailored towards November if you're a heavy hitter, and around it if you want to break into the market. (I.e. September or January)
Blame the market - people buy more games around XMas & Turkey Day.
210 Days? (Score:1)
And in other news... (Score:2)