27th September 2006, 6:56 AM
Microsoft is rumoured to cut the price of its premium Xbox360 down to $299 - including a HD-DVD disc drive, as DigiTimes reports:
Microsoft, to prepare for the price cut, has negotiated reduced production costs for the Xbox 360 with Taiwan-based manufacturing partners, stated the sources. The manufacturers estimate that the total production cost can be reduced by 15-20% due to diminishing costs for most components along with increasing production scales and decreasing defect rates, the sources pointed out.
This rumour comes alongisde speculation that Microsoft has secured an exlusivity deal with Capcom regarding Resident Evil 5, as Games Industry reports:
Industry chatter at the Tokyo event claimed Resident Evil's no-show is owing to Microsoft tying up a shock exclusivity deal for 360, with an announcement due at the US firm's X06 event in Barcelona next week.
Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz at TGS 2006, Xbox boss Sensui refused to pour cold water on the rumour when questioned, stating that it had already been announced for Xbox 360 and adding, somewhat enigmatically: "All I can say is we are very good friends with Mr Inafune [the game's producer]".
If true, this would significantly up Microsoft´s chances in Europe and the US. I am more sceptical about Japan, since the console has been sitting on store shelves even at the ridiculously low price of $250, I believe. In the US and Europe, though, a $299 price tag for the premium version including an HD-DVD drive would spell huge trouble for both Sony and Nintendo. If anything is announced at X06 starting tomorrow, you will read about it here. I am attending the event.
Sources: DigiTimes, Games Industry
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From Kotaku:
Resident Evil 5 Not 360 Exclusive, Says Capcom
So are Mr. Inafune, producer of the Resident Evil games, and Microsoft Bee Effs Effs forever and ever and ever forever? Japanese Xbox boss Takashi Sensui says yes. What does Capcom say? Get your hand of my shoulder, you weirdo!
Specifically, extrapolations from Takashi Sensui's claims of friendship with Capcom should not be taken to mean Resident Evil 5 will be a 360 exclusive like Dead Rising and Lost Planet:
"Resident Evil 5 will release on PS3 and Xbox 360 as announced. There a no plans for an exclusive with the game", a spokesperson from the company told us.
Wishful thinking on Microsoft's part, apparently. Florian Eckhardt
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MS might be tryin to get exclusive rights to RE5 but I sincerely doubt Capcom would allow it, reason being that RE5 is their HD sequel to RE4 and are expecting huge sells in all regions, including Japan. Exclusivity to 360 means zero market in Japan, so I dont see that happening. In their mind they might be seeing RE5 on PS3 grabbing millions of Japanese while RE5 on 360 grabs millions of Americans. And somewhere in the mix is Umbrella Chronicles which should do well in all regions and uses an updated RE4 engine to take advantage of the Wii's extra power. We should end up with screenshots that look nearly identicle though one game will be in HD and the other will not.
Ultimately it's going to depend on how good these games are. If Umbrella Chronicles is a cheap thrown together experiment for Wii it will fail atleast in the states where people still have RE4 on the brain. If RE5 is a hastily thrown together sequel, well, as long as it's as good as RE4 then it wont have a problem grabbing market. But this is Capcom, they're not idiots. I think they're looking at their production costs, very little to Wii, the most to PS3 and wondering who should get their most time and money.
It's no secret that Sony is trying to bombard developers with the idea that if you want to make games for PS3 you will most likely not have the time or money to develop on other consoles. Capcom is fighting that ideal but, I think, only long enough to find out who they should commit to.
So, we approach launch for Wii and PS3. In all honesty the PS3 isn't actually launching. If anyone here is planning on getting one at launch you probably will not get it. 400,000 systems will be picked up by the demographic of rich kids which I believe is exactly that number. So MS is looking at Wii, low price, hugely popular, already a household name, and seeing the possibility of 360 losing share. Of course sales of 360 are almost halted right now and since launch have sold about 5 million systems which is below average. So now here comes Nintendo who promises to grab not only the gaming audience who haven't snagged a 360 yet but also entirely new demographics that MS couldn't touch. Answer: XBox 360 HD gaming, graphics on par with PS3, capable of better looking graphics than Wii for 300 bucks and oh btw includes the ability to play HD-DVD disks. That move would make Nintendo look plain stupid and PS3 would be a laughing stock above and beyond its current problems.
Of course the downside is that MS is already losing hundreds of dollars on 360 with each sale. Now they're going to eat another hundred dollars plus the cost of the HD-DVD add-on? Well, if you're already losing money why not lose more money if it gaurantees better market penetration and higher installed bases and then catch up to hardware costs and profit from software?
Its all rumor, but it's something MS is thinking about for sure.
Microsoft, to prepare for the price cut, has negotiated reduced production costs for the Xbox 360 with Taiwan-based manufacturing partners, stated the sources. The manufacturers estimate that the total production cost can be reduced by 15-20% due to diminishing costs for most components along with increasing production scales and decreasing defect rates, the sources pointed out.
This rumour comes alongisde speculation that Microsoft has secured an exlusivity deal with Capcom regarding Resident Evil 5, as Games Industry reports:
Industry chatter at the Tokyo event claimed Resident Evil's no-show is owing to Microsoft tying up a shock exclusivity deal for 360, with an announcement due at the US firm's X06 event in Barcelona next week.
Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz at TGS 2006, Xbox boss Sensui refused to pour cold water on the rumour when questioned, stating that it had already been announced for Xbox 360 and adding, somewhat enigmatically: "All I can say is we are very good friends with Mr Inafune [the game's producer]".
If true, this would significantly up Microsoft´s chances in Europe and the US. I am more sceptical about Japan, since the console has been sitting on store shelves even at the ridiculously low price of $250, I believe. In the US and Europe, though, a $299 price tag for the premium version including an HD-DVD drive would spell huge trouble for both Sony and Nintendo. If anything is announced at X06 starting tomorrow, you will read about it here. I am attending the event.
Sources: DigiTimes, Games Industry
----
From Kotaku:
Resident Evil 5 Not 360 Exclusive, Says Capcom
So are Mr. Inafune, producer of the Resident Evil games, and Microsoft Bee Effs Effs forever and ever and ever forever? Japanese Xbox boss Takashi Sensui says yes. What does Capcom say? Get your hand of my shoulder, you weirdo!
Specifically, extrapolations from Takashi Sensui's claims of friendship with Capcom should not be taken to mean Resident Evil 5 will be a 360 exclusive like Dead Rising and Lost Planet:
"Resident Evil 5 will release on PS3 and Xbox 360 as announced. There a no plans for an exclusive with the game", a spokesperson from the company told us.
Wishful thinking on Microsoft's part, apparently. Florian Eckhardt
---
MS might be tryin to get exclusive rights to RE5 but I sincerely doubt Capcom would allow it, reason being that RE5 is their HD sequel to RE4 and are expecting huge sells in all regions, including Japan. Exclusivity to 360 means zero market in Japan, so I dont see that happening. In their mind they might be seeing RE5 on PS3 grabbing millions of Japanese while RE5 on 360 grabs millions of Americans. And somewhere in the mix is Umbrella Chronicles which should do well in all regions and uses an updated RE4 engine to take advantage of the Wii's extra power. We should end up with screenshots that look nearly identicle though one game will be in HD and the other will not.
Ultimately it's going to depend on how good these games are. If Umbrella Chronicles is a cheap thrown together experiment for Wii it will fail atleast in the states where people still have RE4 on the brain. If RE5 is a hastily thrown together sequel, well, as long as it's as good as RE4 then it wont have a problem grabbing market. But this is Capcom, they're not idiots. I think they're looking at their production costs, very little to Wii, the most to PS3 and wondering who should get their most time and money.
It's no secret that Sony is trying to bombard developers with the idea that if you want to make games for PS3 you will most likely not have the time or money to develop on other consoles. Capcom is fighting that ideal but, I think, only long enough to find out who they should commit to.
So, we approach launch for Wii and PS3. In all honesty the PS3 isn't actually launching. If anyone here is planning on getting one at launch you probably will not get it. 400,000 systems will be picked up by the demographic of rich kids which I believe is exactly that number. So MS is looking at Wii, low price, hugely popular, already a household name, and seeing the possibility of 360 losing share. Of course sales of 360 are almost halted right now and since launch have sold about 5 million systems which is below average. So now here comes Nintendo who promises to grab not only the gaming audience who haven't snagged a 360 yet but also entirely new demographics that MS couldn't touch. Answer: XBox 360 HD gaming, graphics on par with PS3, capable of better looking graphics than Wii for 300 bucks and oh btw includes the ability to play HD-DVD disks. That move would make Nintendo look plain stupid and PS3 would be a laughing stock above and beyond its current problems.
Of course the downside is that MS is already losing hundreds of dollars on 360 with each sale. Now they're going to eat another hundred dollars plus the cost of the HD-DVD add-on? Well, if you're already losing money why not lose more money if it gaurantees better market penetration and higher installed bases and then catch up to hardware costs and profit from software?
Its all rumor, but it's something MS is thinking about for sure.