X360 Pre-Launch Notes

It will be interesting to see which console ends up leading in the quite-not-so-next-gen-anymore console wars. Microsoft's offering is very near shelf life, with only about a month remaining in the US before the graphical powerhouse and worldwide connected hits the market. Sony's offering on the other hand is all paper. Sure, some so-called demo's have been shown but so far nothing playable has come up. Killzone and MGS4 look absolutely fantastic - they are about the only ones up to now. Hmmm... it makes me wonder how far into development the machine is and if it will really be able to go on-sale during the first quarter of 2006.

However Sony may proceed, I am digressing. X360 is where the attention is now and Microsoft's game division personnel is probably doing overtime now. According to a recent story on BBC News "there is a reason why nobody attempted a world-wide launch before". Microsoft's marketing honcho is quoted as saying that Microsoft is "going to rent every 747 we can find." ... which will turn out to be quite expensive. Previous reports off Sony's decision to include a $100 dollar optical drive where greeted by scepticism as it would be making the machine too expensive - or Sony's losses on each unit sold unbearable. I do not believe these reports. I do not believe $100 dollar will make a difference; neither do I that air-lifting initial stock to their destinations will. Becoming a leader in a console race easily recovers the money you loose by doing these things.

Gamewise, Microsoft does seem quite prepared as well; even with the article mentioning that "these (tripple-A launch, ed) games are not far from being done, and if they're three weeks after the launch or they're on launch day I don't think it makes a significant difference." And I suppose he is correct. Must-have launch games might make a difference for new systems, as in "unknown" ones, but Microsoft has established its name. Consumers know that Microsoft will eventually deliver these games, so IMHO they will accept to wait.

I got to go again. All in all, I think Microsoft has got it prepared quite well. If they are able to ship large enouh quantities to all territories, the console's launch will be smoking. If they are able to keep off bad press, counter Sony's marketing campaigns and deliver great quality games during the the first year-or-so, the machine will rule - first or second. With these two options available, I just typed down an undiscussable Truth.