Smart move by Microsoft

[cHodAX]

Giving away an Xbox 360 to any student who purchases a Windows 7 over $699 in value, offer will be North America and France which means it could spread further. It is a very smart move, giving the students Xbox denies Sony a potential sale but also gives them a chance to build some brand loyalty with people who may have never bought Xbox before. Either way it puts more consoles in homes which means a broader consumerbase to sell into.

DailyTech - Students Get Free Xbox with Purchase of Windows PC $699 and Up

 

[Ctuchik]

Just that many schools provide free laptops, or heavily discounted ones...

 

[Bodhi]

Typical Microsoft approach to be honest, throw money at it until it sells. Certainly wouldn't call it smart.

 

[Raven]

It's working though...

 

[Bodhi]

Official: PS3 has more fanboys than the Xbox 360 does ? reghardware

Is it really? reeeeally?

It's working slightly better than WinMo 7 and Hyper-V granted, but not much....

 

[Billargh]

Stuck record, fucking hell.

 

[Chosen]

Official: PS3 has more fanboys than the Xbox 360 does ? reghardware

Is it really? reeeeally?

It's working slightly better than WinMo 7 and Hyper-V granted, but not much....

That article was made 1st april tho. Wonder if it is legit

 

[Aoami]

I get as many legit copies of Windows 7 professional as I want through uni (MSDN). I just give them to other students for free so they don't need to pay $699.

 

[cHodAX]

Typical Microsoft approach to be honest, throw money at it until it sells. Certainly wouldn't call it smart.

lol 57 million units or so, it is already selling.

 

[Bodhi]

lol 57 million units or so, it is already selling.

30 mill have already been accounted for with reoplacing RRODs. Next question?

 

[cHodAX]

30 mill have already been accounted for with reoplacing RRODs. Next question?

Nonsense Bods and you know it, those numbers are sold through to retail and do not count the RROD units that MS replaced with new because those replacements never touched the retail distribution chain. Just man up and admit that Sony have lost more than half it's marketshare, they made strategic mistakes this generation and have paid for it heavily. With luck they will learn from those mistakes and fuck Nintendo in the arse next generation because god knows they deserve it.

 

[Raven]

Yep. I think the PS3 is by far the better hardware. Their problem was it was massively over priced and badly managed. They went the best part of a year without a decent exclusive and were beaten to launch by Microsoft who had a couple of decent exclusives

 

[soze]

Yep. I think the PS3 is by far the better hardware. Their problem was it was massively over priced and badly managed. They went the best part of a year without a decent exclusive and were beaten to launch by Microsoft who had a couple of decent exclusives

I am not saying you meant it this way.

That is one of the things I never got the PS3 was not overpriced they sold it at a loss on the unit the price decreases came when they could. I am sure sony though they were doing the right thing pushing the hardware to the very bleeding limit but they have been proved wrong with the Wii that has all the power of a PSP kicking its arse.

I just hope Sony do bother with a PS4 as after all the hate they have received about the PS3 and now the "privacy data cock up" if they get a nice big fine for that they could scrap the idea altogether and then there would be no competition for MS.

 

[old.user4556]

Groundhog day

 

[Ctuchik]

Wonder what would happen if Sony and Microsoft started to work together on a new console...

That would probably be pretty scary...

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It would be near impossible to code for

 

[Zenith.UK]

Wonder what would happen if Sony and Microsoft started to work together on a new console...

That would probably be pretty scary...

From a hardware/software point of view, they could do it. Sony hardware, MS software.
When it comes to the ideology of game licencing, they'd both want to be in charge and so it wouldn't work.

 

[MYstIC G]

PS3 was never going to gain a foot hold quickly at a cost of £600. In terms of hardware, Nintendo won this generation. Wii sold tonnes, all at a profit, opened up gaming to new generations and associated it with the Nintendo brand.

This offer is an exceptionally smart move from Microsoft, kick Sony while they're down and I have no sympathy for either company to be honest since they both muscled into the old school gaming market.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Technically you could argue that Wii didn't win this generation since it's closer to the older generation in terms of hardware and capabilities than the PS3/360.

But yes, Nintendo are the "winners" as such in terms of company.

 

[cHodAX]

Yep. I think the PS3 is by far the better hardware. Their problem was it was massively over priced and badly managed. They went the best part of a year without a decent exclusive and were beaten to launch by Microsoft who had a couple of decent exclusives

What makes it better hardware? Blu-ray? Granted that is an advantage! Anything else? CELL? Brilliant media streamer, not brilliant for game coding, the SPE can be useful but requires masses of time and investment to get over the lack of branch prediction. GPU? Nu-huh, nope, no way. Raw GPU horsepower slightly lower on PS3 than 360 and also lacks the onboard vram. Memory subsystem? Biggest thing holding PS3 back, a total clusterfuck of a design that requires a ton of workarounds to get good performance from. CELL is starved in some situations on that ass-backward memory architecture.

The truth is the hardware in both is very evenly matched, PS3 does media LOADS better but 360 is boatloads easier to write general purpose and game code for. PS3 has the better optical media. It is all pretty close and the differences aren't anything like the fanboys on either side would have you believe. Just look at the games and we can all see that anyway.

 

[Ctuchik]

PS3 was never going to gain a foot hold quickly at a cost of £600. In terms of hardware, Nintendo won this generation. Wii sold tonnes, all at a profit, opened up gaming to new generations and associated it with the Nintendo brand.

This offer is an exceptionally smart move from Microsoft, kick Sony while they're down and I have no sympathy for either company to be honest since they both muscled into the old school gaming market.

Nintendo is doing well because its a kids gaming console, the vast majority of adults that buy it usually buys it for their kids, and the rest buys it just because and then leave it collecting dust.

And neither Microsoft nor Sony is all that interested in putting money in that age group, so Nintendo basically is guaranteed to do well, no matter what they come up with because they are the only console catering for that age group.

 

[Chronictank]

And neither Microsoft nor Sony is all that interested in putting money in that age group, so Nintendo basically is guaranteed to do well, no matter what they come up with because they are the only console catering for that age group.

Well that's nonsense, both MS and Sony have put a fair amount of investment to try and break into the market. They just haven't quite got it right yet, i suspect it has more to do with their marketing strategies rather than the product

Both Kinect (kinect adventures, kinectimals, sports etc..) and Move (Sports Champions, Eye Pets, start the party, tumble, etc..) have titles aimed at the age group

Playstation did the release with Disney (sing it) which wouldn't have been cheap for the licensing, ModNation racers is essentially lego racer, create, family game night there are loads.

Xbox tried the snoopy franchise, viva piniata, the lego franchise, ben10 franchise, Keflings and so on..

 

[soze]

If Sony had released the Move on the PS2 they could have a version of the Wii for £80. Work on a way to port games from the Wii and it could have been a real money spinner.

 

[Ctuchik]

Well that's nonsense, both MS and Sony have put a fair amount of investment to try and break into the market. They just haven't quite got it right yet, i suspect it has more to do with their marketing strategies rather than the product

Both Kinect (kinect adventures, kinectimals, sports etc..) and Move (Sports Champions, Eye Pets, start the party, tumble, etc..) have titles aimed at the age group

Playstation did the release with Disney (sing it) which wouldn't have been cheap for the licensing, ModNation racers is essentially lego racer, create, family game night there are loads.

Xbox tried the snoopy franchise, viva piniata, the lego franchise, ben10 franchise, Keflings and so on..

Yeah maybe so, but either which way Nintendo has monopoly on that age group because there is no real alternative.

[slightly off-topic]
The games Microsoft and Sony tried to break in with may have been aimed for kids but as far as i could see they were basically games for 15+ year olds "dressed up" as an 8 year old. To hard, to advanced, to fiddly...

Nintendo on the other hand is on it's way to do the opposite, some games for the 3DS is aimed for grown ups but they still try to make them look like kids games...

There's one game for 3DS (Dead or Alive: Dimensions) that they won't even release in sweden because in one of the playmodes it could be interpreted as child porn...
[/off-topic]

Anyway, Nintendo is doing well because it's the only console dedicated to kids, and Sony and Microsoft can not properly compete with that.

 

[cHodAX]

If Sony had released the Move on the PS2 they could have a version of the Wii for £80. Work on a way to port games from the Wii and it could have been a real money spinner.

Damn right, that would have been massive money, 120 million plus PS2's still out there.

 

[Lethul]

I get as many legit copies of Windows 7 professional as I want through uni (MSDN). I just give them to other students for free so they don't need to pay $699.

Same Altho I don't give them away! (think we are limited to one key per product)

 

[soze]

This is not limited to buying a Licence its any new PC purchased. So when the Student buggers off to college and gets a new machine they also get a free 360 to go in the dorm room. They then buy a load of games a few spare controllers and some on line services. I think this is a decent idea.

 

[Chronictank]

Anyway, Nintendo is doing well because it's the only console dedicated to kids, and Sony and Microsoft can not properly compete with that.

YouTube - ‪Mad World for Wii Gameplay‬‏

i cba to comment on the rest as you didn't even look the games up, both the ps3 and 360 are very viable platforms for kids games and have some great games

so again
marketing + price point = win