On 14 March 2002, the Xbox will hit the retail channel in Australia, with 100,000 units planned for the first three months. Microsoft announced that its initial 300,000 units on sale at launch in the
On 14 March 2002, the Xbox will hit the retail channel in Australia, with 100,000 units planned for the first three months. Microsoft announced that its initial 300,000 units on sale at launch in the US sold out in the first few days, and its intention was to supply between one and 1.5 million units in the US by the end of 2001. There is no doubt that Microsoft will sell a lot of Xboxes, though speculation on the manufacturing cost of the Xbox indicates that Microsoft could be losing up to $150 per sale and is hoping to recoup some of the costs in game sales and licensing costs. Even if Microsoft does lose a significant chunk of money on the Xbox, it will have irrevocably established itself in the gaming console market, and more importantly, in the living room of millions of peoples homes. This fits in with Microsofts broader vision of where it sees the direction of personal computing going in terms of Internet connectivity, interactive television, on-demand movies and music, communications and home entertainment. Along with its .NET strategy, the Xbox could be Microsofts stepping stone into the future of computing in the home and the office.
It has some competition though. Sony is not hiding the fact that it sees a very similar future for home computing, and the next generation of Sony console is likely to be a further advancement of this vision. Nintendo has also launched the GameCube in the US with massive sales. It managed to sell around 600,000 of the $US199 GameCubes in the two weeks since its launch, and it was expecting to sell around 1.3 million units by the end of 2001. This makes for a hot 2002 in terms of console wars, though it is still unclear what Nintendos plans are for Australia, with no official announcements made at this stage relating to launch date, number of units to be shipped, the price or even whether Australia figures in Nintendos plans for the first half of 2002. Hopefully, Nintendo will pull its finger out soon and well take a thorough look at the GameCube before the Xbox is launched.
Internet connectivity is also an expected feature for the Xbox in Australia. At the moment Microsoft is still negotiating with a number of broadband carriers, and it states that it is totally agnostic to the carrier, as long as the service is there for the gamers. As soon as the connectivity is enabled, you can be sure that we will run the sucker up to see whether it is the revolution Microsoft has been talking about.
So, the final question, after looking at the hardware, the games, and the future, is: should you buy one? Well, the games are fun and Halo is cool, though many PC gamers might prefer it on their PC. It all looks excellent, although it will only be a matter of a year before the PC well and truly out paces the Xbox in terms of graphics even though the PC is already more powerful, it is the software developers who need to catch up with the special features in the new generations of graphics chips. Its only $649, which is not a lot to pay for such a powerful device, although the GameCube, if Nintendo ever gets around to looking at Australia, could well be cheaper, and the PlayStation2 is already cheaper.
What this all means is, if you like the look of the games, dont have a powerful PC, want a different gaming experience, and the extra functionality as a DVD player appeals to you, then the Xbox is a good call. On the other hand, if you are an ardent PC gamer, have a fairly hefty rig already, prefer games like flight simulators, first person shooters and strategy games, and are not into fighting and racing games, then the PC is still the best choice.