| jesus kung fu magic said: The J man believes no , Microsoft is already proving to be big in the game industy and is seen as an equal to sony (which was not the case last gen). So the J man believes that microsoft doesnt need to release 1 year before the competition to get better sales than they are now. |
I disagree. Where do you think Microsoft would be if they had launched the 360 at $600? Even a year in advance? Sony's reputation is the only reason they can even survive such a move, MS isn't there just yet.
As for the 1 year head start, I think Nintendo is likely to have it. They didn't lose money on any consoles, so it's really not hurting them to spend money on the R&D of their next console since early in this generation.
I think it's critical MS release ahead of Sony again, however. The headstart is a massive advantage, and there's really no way for Sony to release earlier. Some people are suggesting Sony just throw in the towel for this gen and wait for the PS4, but this is without considering the fact that a PS4 would be extremely expensive to create and produce. Sony has little choice but to make this generation a long one, due to their current financial crisis. MS doesn't have a similar problem. They can ride the 360 a couple more years, and launch their next console ahead of sony without rushing their product to market like last time. They'll also be able to keep the 360 in production/making profit for a while after the 720 releases, instead of sunsetting it almost overnight like the original Xbox.
