The bid for the custom autographed Halo 3 Xbox 360 is now over. The lucky auctioneer, Bidder 27 walks away with the console for a whopping AU $24,300.00 or a cool $20,174.52 USD. That's pretty generous, and hopefully Xbox Australia's Konsoles for Kids puts the money to good use with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We're very happy that the auction was a success. That all being said, we hope the winning bidder gets the Legendary Edition, as it would be kinda silly if he didn't.
According to a recent article on DigiTimes, a manufacturing company by the name of Wistron will discontinue is production of the Xbox 360 in 2008. The reasons for this are cited as declining profits on manufacturing the Xbox 360 and Microsoft's new manufacturing relationship with Celestica. According to TeamXbox, Wistron has been manufacturing Xbox 360s since the system's launch.
While the above headline is both dramatic and true, it's also not quite as grand as it sounds. The Xbox 360 managed to sell 35,343 units last week. Not exactly a staggering number compared to, say, the DS Lite (310,000 units), but it still marks a drastic increase for our favorite console, which sold just over 4,000 units the week before. Savvy readers would probably guess that Blue Dragon had a big influence on this increase, and such readers would be right. Blue Dragon managed to land in the number 4 spot in software sales, as Joystiq reports the game sold a whopping 80,348 copies. Seeing a sharp increase in both hardware and software sales is definitely a good thing for Microsoft in Japan, but the battle is far from over. If they want 360s to keep moving, Microsoft will have to prove the console's worth by giving Japanese gamers the games they want, and that means more than Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon 2.
Some of you may have seen the latest Xbox 360 ad -- we saw it during Adult Swim. The commercial depicts thousands of Xbox 360 game cases flying around to assemble the 360 console itself, like a puzzle. The commercial closes, saying that, "The next generation is over 100 high-def games. The next generation is now." It's a very slick way of reminding consumers that the 360 has more games to offer this holiday than its other next gen competitors, and also that you won't have to wait in line to get one. See the commercial after the break.
Several of our readers have tipped us to the possibility that Microsoft was going to expand the warranty on all 360s manufactured in 2005, and it looks like they were right. Both Engadget and Joystiq have officially confirmed that Microsoft has acknowledged hardware problems with the first batch of Xbox 360s. In order to rectify the situation, Microsoft has decided to repair all consoles manufactured in 2005 for free. In addition, refunds will be paid to a limited group of people who have already paid for repairs, though at the moment we don't have details on exactly who qualifies for a refund. In the meantime we'd suggest readers get on the phone with customer support for more information.
Yesterday, Neil Thompson, head honcho of Xbox UK, pounced on the opportunity to twist the knife in Sony's already festering PR wound (watch out, it could be gangrenous!). Dissing both Sony's choice of Blu-ray and their failure to execute a worldwide launch, he said:
Covering PS3 news is anathema to some of our readers, but we must comment on Sony's surprise announcements today. In case you haven't heard, Sony set us up the bomb today that they will ship a worldwide total of 500,000 PS3s at launch, and only in the US and Japan at that. Given these numbers, Sony also readjusted their end of the year sales estimate to 2 million units (down from 4 million). Even more perplexing, Japan will only see 100,000 of the first shipment. Even more perplexing than that, Europe will see a grand total of zero (zed) PS3 units at launch. Which of course means that the PS3 won't actually be launching at all in Europe, at least, not this year. Our sad crumpet munching friends will have to wait until March of 2007 to snag a PS3. At least you have Dead Rising now. What, if anything, does this mean for the 360? Read on for our take.
Next Generation more or less shot down yesterday's rumored price cut for the 360. Basically all they did was reiterate everything we said, only more elaborately and eloquently (we're still flattered though). Michael Pachter of Morgan Securities breaks it down old-school analyst style:
Xbox 360's latest financial numbers have been flying about for a few days now, like so many winged monkeys. As you can imagine, winged monkeys are sort of dangerous, difficult to understand. Thankfully, Robert Summa broke down the numbers (monkeys, remember) into easily understandable bits (like removing the monkey's wings). Now the numbers are safe for everyone (though somewhat disappointed, having lost the gift of flight). Things of note:
A bold move in the executive slap fight known as the Console Wars today: in an interview with PSM, Kaz Hirai claimed that Microsoft is copying Sony's every move.
"Every time we go down a path, we look behind and they're right there - we just can't shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do. If you look at their strategy in other business areas as well, they tend to do that ... And the other thing is, you take a look at, for example, the fact that we incorporate the Blu-ray drive from day one. You're not going to be asking me, 'So, talk to me about this Blu-ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?' That's exactly the kind of pitfall you fall into if you launch something that's too early, too premature... "
Wow. Yup, Microsoft totally copied the idea of a unified online system, complete with downloadable content and micropayments. Maybe they'll steal Sony's totally original motion controller, too.
I acknowledge that the HD-DVD add on was forced by PS3's inclusion of Blu-ray, but this is getting ri-goddamn-diculous.
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