Writing off the 360

[Lord N]

No one is saying that the 360's sales are going to plummet, just that they are fixed and will stagnate next year, which is very likely.

I've said most of this before, but I'll say it again:

Games like Alan Wake, Too Human, Fable 2, Halo Wars, Banjo-Kazooie, Ninja Gaiden 2, etc are not proven system sellers, and some aren't even proven IPs, which means that they could end up selling over 1M copies, but they'll have sold to the userbase ala Lost Planet, GRAW2, Forza 2, Bioshock, or they could end as dissapointments or even up flopping outright, and saying that they are going to cause tremendous hardware boosts is no different from people saying the same thing about Motorstorm, Lair, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, R&C, in regards to the PS3 . There's GTAIV, but it's also on the PS3, and it really isn't a proven hardware mover because GTA3 and GTA:VC were released on a system that was selling extremely well without it. It was the PS2 that moved these titles, not the other way around. It had Halo, its strongest title by far release this year, and it will still have sold only about 8 million units by years end and only about 1.5m more than the previous year, so I really don't see how any of the aforementioned titles are going to make things any different.

Even if the 360 sees a price cut, it will most likely be by another lousy 50 bucks, and $300 is a lot of money to pay for a console that's in its third year, especially since it will still be above mass market price point.

By and by, the 360's most prolific titles are indeed shooters, racing/driving sims, and sports titles, and these only appeal to the core gamer and the hardcore gamer and the first and third have almost no appeal outside of NA.

That being said, how are 360 sales going to increase significantly when most of the advantages it had in 2007 will be nullified or greatly mitigated(especially software) in 2008, when it is still above mass market price-point, and when it still only appeals to the core and hardcore gamer and is the least desired console outside of N. America?