Say it with me....THIRD PERSON SHOOTER.

From what I know the Arcade makes up 10%-20% of all 360 sales. Lets say that this week the Arcade made up 15% of sales (the $299 Pro effect is still visible). 15% of 60 k is 9k. If after reaching the $199 sweet price point Arcade sales double, there will be 20k Arcades sold each week, which is a 11k boost. I don't think the Arcade is capable of significantely boosting sales. Maybe the Pro, but not the Arcade.

i think thats the problem, serious xbox360 have great games, but it RRoD is so famous many will think over.

many say "it won't happen to me". and when it does, you see thread like "nooooooooooooooooo! :(" at least each a a month.

sony its starting to get momemtum, but really the price  its what hurting them

i seen the metal gear solid bundle going for 787$.

and people are still buying it more than a  600$ elite.

Elites are usually always in stock unlike the MGS4 bundles, Elites are $450.

Sony needs to stock these better.

I think MS will do well once they release the Xbox "720", cause they can release it next year (2009) and people who buy "Xbox" will snatch it up cause they are used to 4 year cycles.

People who bought a PS3 are expecting it to be a sonys lead console for at least 6 years (if not 10 with the "10 year plan") so that will be 2012 (3 years after the 720).

I hope that both companies learn from their mistakes (MS making hardware that doesnt break all the time, and Sony making their console easy to programme for) in the next round of consoles...or i hope they join forces to take down the WII!!! ; )

Janka...There's no way MS is releasing a new console next year...

If 360 sales crash next year, I would expect a 720. Otherwise I think MS will want to make back some of the money they were losing in 2001-07.

It has nothing to do with companies learning their mistakes. Xbox 1 was a pretty reliable piece of hardware while the first few PS2 version were complete garbage.

It more has to do the timeframe in which companies must design consoles, the contractors they chooose...etc.

XBOX 1 life was cut short by microsoft getting screwed by NVIDIA(who stopped producting the graphics chip). Xbox 360 had to be rushed because of this...

If nividia pulled the same move on Sony and the PS3, we would see a ps4 much sooner than the supposed 10 years.

@TheBigFatJ

All I know is that the 360 is delivering to its 20m+ audience very very well and giving us the games we want (and this holiday, we will get too much even). If I am not thinking of getting another console or upgrading my PC, then it has served me in terms of my gaming habits, and Im sure a majority of 360 owners.

Lets not forget, if you want to argue whos in the best position, that the PS3 has had a price cut of $200 and the 360 had only a $50 price cut, so who has more financial leeway? And in terms of monetary reserves, you cant even compare Sony and Microsoft in the same league. Furthermore, how could you forget that Sony was as dominant as MS was with Windows only a few years ago?

Actually, your article is showing how far MS has come with their only gaming console. The 360 was supposed to 'Dreamcast away' and 'lulz completely die when PS3 is here and only last 2-3 more years'. Nows its compared to a complete monopoly only 3 years back. And I firmly believe we are not even halfway in its life yet and next-gen is only now starting to kick in.

If you want to argue about E3 presentations and innovation, if you think MS is bad, then what do you tihnk about Sony? The only presentation with last gen console? Their finale of innovation is putting 256 players in a match? God of War 3? Killzone 2? Motorstorm 2? New PSP games? And lets not forget, the two biggest franchises born this generation on non-handheld consoles are Wii Sports and Gears of War. Wheres the Sony one? We will see if LBP, the one everyone is touting, comes even close to that.

And Nintendos? Well... you just have to log on anywhere to know the disappointment of the games line-up for the rest of the year. Yes it will still sell truckloads because its opening up a whole market of video game perception. Also, gamers were shouting for Mario no. 400 and Zelda no. 500, and this is fine, but if 360 fans want Halo 4 and Gears 3, this is 'lulz all shooters no innovation'.

Now the Avatars are just a natural evolution of the Gamercard service and is only one part of it. The Live party and HDD optional full install features are much more exciting to the 360 audience. And if MS have to go down this route to make the Xbox a more family friendly console so that they can build profits, its fine. You know why? Because we know that it will be spent on the core thing that the 360 has always been delivering spades in - the games.

lol@ the usual suspects piggybacking on the ars article to do some agenda pushing.