Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’
Microsoft announces 250GB Kinect bundle
Microsoft has yanked the 250GB Xbox 360/Kinect bundle out of rumorville; the 9 Special Edition SKU is now official and will be available as Kinect launches in North America on November 4th, the platform holder’s announced today.
A European release hasn’t been confirmed just yet.
Like with the previously announced stand-alone 9 Kinect and 9 4GB console bundle, the package also includes a copy of jumpy-wavy Kinect Adventures, which will be among the 15 or so games expected to be available as the motion tech launches; all of which could be revealed by the end of next week.
Xbox Live fee increased, Pachter still predicts a $100 service
Despite what people may think of Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter, the guy is occasionally right so credit be given where credit is due. For instance, almost a year ago from today, Pachter predicted that the Xbox Live yearly fee would increase to an estimated 0. Though he was slightly off as far as the numbers go and the prediction shot down by Microsoft representatives, the increase did come and was announced as late as yesterday, much to the despise of a whole lot of gamers.
Whether the service will be worth paying extra for or not remains to be seen, and will be argued for and against over the foreseeable future. But while the increase in price is a mild one all in all, Pachter still predicts that a 0 ‘Platinum’ service is in the works and will make itself known sooner or later.
“The extra translates to around 0 – 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft,” said Pachter. “I think that they will reinvest at least this much in developing other new applications, and will roll out a premium service with 0 – 200 million worth of enhancements. If they can get 2 million users to switch from the plan to the 0 plan, they’ll make an extra million a year, and can keep investing to try to grow that business.”
He also referred to a Microsoft/Apple mash-up, in which gamers could eventually manage their iTunes library via their Xbox 360s, if the companies were on enough good terms to create such a service. The point being, while Xbox Live gives great value for money – depending on who you ask – there’s still so much that can be done with the service.
“For all I know, the Platinum plan might include virtual goods credits for various Microsoft games. If members could get specialized Halo armor or weapons worth the extra , they might be more willing to sign up, and it doesn’t really cost Microsoft anything to offer things like that.”
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Update / Rumor: Redesigned 360 controller in 2010
Update: Microsoft’s confirmed it at Gamestop’s annual managers meeting, Slashgamer reports. No prices or dates yet, but the company’s apparently getting ready to announce is tomorrow.
Original story: Microsoft will be launching a new and improved version of the Xbox 360′s controller before the year’s out, Joystiq has it “on good authority.”
According to the site’s “trusted source”, most of the current design will remain the same, but the much picked-upon d-pad is in for quite a change. When rotated 90 degrees, it’s said to raise up about a quarter of an inch; a design that works better with fighting games for example.
Whether this will be a stand-alone controller or is meant to replace the current design in all packaging, as well as any other details, go unmentioned.?
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Get ready for more Halo Mountain Dew, Doritos
Remember those Halo-branded Mountain Dews? Best get ready for more; the marketing campaign for Halo: Reach will out-do that of Halo 3.
An AdAge report reveals that included in the marketing spend — the biggest videogame campaign ever for Microsoft — are live-action shorts, an actual robot that will build a Noble Team monument, as well as Reach-branded beverages and chips for which Microsoft has once again partnered with PepsiCo; 300 million bottles of Mountain Dew and 30 million bags of Doritos will be produced.
Just how much Microsoft will be spending goes undisclosed, but Halo 3‘s .5 million be bested.
See above for the first of the mentioned live-action shorts. It’s the first in a series meant to, according to Microsoft, “capture a poignant snapshot of life on the planet Reach just before the arrival of the dreaded Covenant.”
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Pachter Predicts 3DS Price, Release Date
Wedbush Morgan analyst on his predictions for a 3DS release date and pricing. I know Nintendo don’t sell hardware at a loss like Sony and Microsoft but fingers crossed they keep the price as close to the cost as possible!
“I expect the device to be available only on eBay for its first couple of months. I think that we Westerners won’t have an opportunity to buy before Christmas, so think that sales by Christmas will be limited to a few million in Japan… I see it having huge success as an upgrade device, with sales likely limited only by supply and price. My best guess is that they will price it around 0/£199/€250, so this may limit demand somewhat, and I doubt that Nintendo will manufacture more than 10 – 15 million the first full year… I think that the 3DS’s addressable market is really the current DS market and some overlap with the current PSP market. That’s still a huge market opportunity.”
Source
Tags: 3DS, Michael Pachter, Prediction, Sales
Nin-ten-do.com [expanded by feedex.net]
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