blunty51 said: - No hardware problems - Japan

I don't know if they can even do well in Japan. They really tried this gen and it worked for a little bit, but the 360 is pretty much dead in Japan now. Even with a lot of Japanese dev support, people in Japan are more likely to keep buying Nintendo and Sony.

I think some people got it all backwards here. Microsoft is not looking to make Live free to compete with PSN, regardless of your beliefs on how equal you think those systems are. On the contrary, I am SURE Sony is looking into ways they can monetize the PSN to attempt to get the revenue streams Live provides Microsoft. That isn't my 360 preference talking there (I have always admitted to preferring my 360 to my PS3), that is my business sense talking.

On topic:

1) Avoid hardware issues like the plague
2) Live integration for a seamless transfer of online identities from the 360
3) Backwards compatibility.
4) Promised updates of the heavy hitters - Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable.
5) New IP's

Given their current place in the European/American markets, they do these things, I think they'll do fine.

Now for Japan....well that would need a totally different strategy.

thx1139 said: Microsoft is already doing it with Xbox Live and all the new features of Xbox Live that are going to make people want to stay. 1. Already the dominant online service for entertainment. Not going to say just games, because it is more than that. 2. Starting this fall Xbox Live TV arrives.  Many people will start moving to Xbox Live TV as source for movies, tv, sports, music in the home family room.  People will get addicted to the Natual UI with Kinect and search with Bing for content. When the next generation starts in a couple of years people that have Xbox 360s and Xbox Live arent going to want to setup new services on new devices that no matter how powerful they are will behind in this area.  So you make the decision to move away from Cable (or in my case DirectTv) and move to Xbox Live TV as primary means of content delivery.  When Xbox vNext shows up no matter what the PS4 has that is where people will go.  The power of the consoles will be comparable to PS4, storage will be similiar, 3rd parties will be treated awesome, development tools will continue to be the best in the business and MS will put more money into 1st parties.

There are more people who didn't get a 360 then did, even if you only count people who bought gaming systems, so even if MS improves live to stay ahead of Sony and get people who have a 360 to buy their next xbox it won't be enough, they need to get new users in and frankly I think the online services gab is bigger this gen then it will be next so there's even less incentive to switch.

Azerth said: kain_kusanagi said: More than anything Microsoft needs to invest in exclusive software. Nothing is more important to potential buyers than seeing killer apps available on only one devise. The first couple years of a consoles life hinge on exclusives. As the years go by they become less important but the next Xbox will need Halo, Forza, Fable, and new IP as well as bring franchises back like Perfect Dark, Crimson Skies, Mechwarrior, etc. Microsoft also needs to invest in expending their first party developers. Nintendo and Sony have dozens of teams working on exclusives while MS likes to pay for publishing rights and timed exclusives. That's fine and it's worked so far, but will Gears of War be exclusive to the next Xbox? Epic owns it so who knows. Mass Effect went multiplatform and so did Bioshock. If Microsoft wants to stay on top they are going to need more AAA 1st party games pumped out by dedicated AAA 1st party developers. im not aruging that they need more exclusives because they do.  But its kind of unfair to comapre the number to sony and nintendo since at one point it was only those two  and thats probly when sony bought/got most of there compines. I also think they should keep the paid xbox live just reduce the price back to were it originally was.  And they need to sell for less then sony which will probly be through the roof just like this gen lol

Sony actually bought several studios this gen, far more then MS in fact. MS made no effort to acquire studios before they put out kinect and it seems all the studios they got for it are working on is kinect mini games. I also sincerely doubt Sony will cell the ps4 for an insane amount again, I mean there is no reason for it, blu ray and the cell have both come down in cost, they did all the hard costly work for upgrading tech with the ps3.

TRios_Zen said: I think some people got it all backwards here. Microsoft is not looking to make Live free to compete with PSN, regardless of your beliefs on how equal you think those systems are. On the contrary, I am SURE Sony is looking into ways they can monetize the PSN to attempt to get the revenue streams Live provides Microsoft. That isn't my 360 preference talking there (I have always admitted to preferring my 360 to my PS3), that is my business sense talking. On topic: 1) Avoid hardware issues like the plague 2) Live integration for a seamless transfer of online identities from the 360 3) Backwards compatibility. 4) Promised updates of the heavy hitters - Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable. 5) New IP's Given their current place in the European/American markets, they do these things, I think they'll do fine. Now for Japan....well that would need a totally different strategy.

Doing those will be enough to do good for sure but I don't think it's enough to win. Gears might not even be in next gen and frankly the series is forgettable, fable is getting worse with each installment, bungie is gone for halo and halo is being used far too often and Sony has almost completely closed the gab in online services unless MS makes online play free I don't see them winning especially if they are forced to rely on the same 4 series again, they also didn't buy enough studios this gen which will make making alot of good new IPs difficult for them.

rottingcorpse1 said: TRios_Zen said: I think some people got it all backwards here. Microsoft is not looking to make Live free to compete with PSN, regardless of your beliefs on how equal you think those systems are. On the contrary, I am SURE Sony is looking into ways they can monetize the PSN to attempt to get the revenue streams Live provides Microsoft. That isn't my 360 preference talking there (I have always admitted to preferring my 360 to my PS3), that is my business sense talking. On topic: 1) Avoid hardware issues like the plague 2) Live integration for a seamless transfer of online identities from the 360 3) Backwards compatibility. 4) Promised updates of the heavy hitters - Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable. 5) New IP's Given their current place in the European/American markets, they do these things, I think they'll do fine. Now for Japan....well that would need a totally different strategy. Doing those will be enough to do good for sure but I don't think it's enough to win. Gears might not even be in next gen and frankly the series is forgettable, fable is getting worse with each installment, bungie is gone for halo and halo is being used far too often and Sony has almost completely closed the gab in online services unless MS makes online play free I don't see them winning especially if they are forced to rely on the same 4 series again, they also didn't buy enough studios this gen which will make making alot of good new IPs difficult for them.

Here is what I'm hearing from you:  Sony is the best, Microsoft has no chance.  All sony studios rock, all Microsoft ones are mini-game creators for kinect.  All Sony IPs rule, all Microsoft ones are forgetable.

That about cover it?

Thanks for your contribution, but you've covered YOUR OPINION now, ad nauseum.  We get it, okay?

killeryoshis said: Microsoft will have to overcome the 3rd chance curse Nintendo's 3rd console was a disaster Sega's 3rd home console was a disaster Sony's 3rd home console was a disaster Atari's 3rd home console was a disaster The 4th console gives the impression they ain't getting that success back Nintendo,Sega,Atari and unknown so far for Sony 5th is a blessing Nintendo and no one else lol Let's see if Microsoft bucks the trend

"Sony's 3rd home console was a disaster"  

XD what?

TRios_Zen said: rottingcorpse1 said: TRios_Zen said: I think some people got it all backwards here. Microsoft is not looking to make Live free to compete with PSN, regardless of your beliefs on how equal you think those systems are. On the contrary, I am SURE Sony is looking into ways they can monetize the PSN to attempt to get the revenue streams Live provides Microsoft. That isn't my 360 preference talking there (I have always admitted to preferring my 360 to my PS3), that is my business sense talking. On topic: 1) Avoid hardware issues like the plague 2) Live integration for a seamless transfer of online identities from the 360 3) Backwards compatibility. 4) Promised updates of the heavy hitters - Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable. 5) New IP's Given their current place in the European/American markets, they do these things, I think they'll do fine. Now for Japan....well that would need a totally different strategy. Doing those will be enough to do good for sure but I don't think it's enough to win. Gears might not even be in next gen and frankly the series is forgettable, fable is getting worse with each installment, bungie is gone for halo and halo is being used far too often and Sony has almost completely closed the gab in online services unless MS makes online play free I don't see them winning especially if they are forced to rely on the same 4 series again, they also didn't buy enough studios this gen which will make making alot of good new IPs difficult for them. Here is what I'm hearing from you:  Sony is the best, Microsoft has no chance.  All sony studios rock, all Microsoft ones are mini-game creators for kinect.  All Sony IPs rule, all Microsoft ones are forgetable. That about cover it? Thanks for your contribution, but you've covered YOUR OPINION now, ad nauseum.  We get it, okay?

Wow someone doesn't agree with you and you insult them, figures. I'm discussing your opinion pointing out flaws in your strategy for MS to win.

Andrespetmonkey said: killeryoshis said: Microsoft will have to overcome the 3rd chance curse Nintendo's 3rd console was a disaster Sega's 3rd home console was a disaster Sony's 3rd home console was a disaster Atari's 3rd home console was a disaster The 4th console gives the impression they ain't getting that success back Nintendo,Sega,Atari and unknown so far for Sony 5th is a blessing Nintendo and no one else lol Let's see if Microsoft bucks the trend "Sony's 3rd home console was a disaster"   XD what?

It was a disaster but Sony pulled it together okay. It is obviously the worst out of the 3 playstations, though it sold the most of any last place console so as far as disasters go Sony weathered it pretty well.

Generally speaking their strategy is mostly fine to continue from here. I see three main weaknesses they could improve:

1 - not enough family/everyone titles - and I don't mean Kinect. They need a much better library of titles for families and young kids that aren't Kinect mini-games.

2 - more exclusives vs timed or partial. The cat came out of the bag here and really apart from a few core titles few people see a 360 exclusive as remaining an exclusive. They need to either secure titles fully or pump them out more themselves

3 - improve Japan - to be honest this is probably their Achilles heel. Either Sony or Nintendo will outstrip them here, and if it's more lopsided next gen (for example Sony romping away with it) then this will make it harder for MS than any of the others to truly win WW. TBH I have no idea here because I don't think MS can change things in the region.

Given 3, unless MS really took a strong lead in US/EMEAA over both Sony and Nintendo I think Japan may keep them from number 1 WW so long as Sony/Nintendo do okay US/EMEAA.