We’re still a few months from holiday shopping season, but I’m making this prediction now: The Xbox 360 is this year’s PS3.
Why am I so confident? Well, take the case of this dude named Brian. He’s having trouble getting his 360 to work. Then again, he’s not alone: he’s actually like an estimated 1 in 3 of all 360 owners, costing Microsoft a hit of nearly 2 billion dollars after it extended the 360’s warranty. He’s having so much trouble, nine 360s have collapsed on Brian.
But that’s not even the worst part. This is: Brian Crecente is the editor of Kotaku, currently the world’s most popular gaming blog. This is like a major auto company giving the publisher of Car and Driver magazine a test drive in its latest vehicle, and having the wheels promptly spin off. Nine times.
I like to tease my gamer buds at DU about getting into the fanboy wars; but, this Post at GigaOm + another over at GamePro.com deserve some reflection and comment.
I still find this 1 in 3 info to be a little fishy. I have had a 360 from the start and so far only once did it freeze.
Well how can this be this year’s PS3 if the PS3 wasn’t an issue last year’s and also it isn’t being recalled this year…???
Microsoft has to do better, reach for it’s deep pockets and make an early mid-life upgrade for the 360. Kind of the way Sony did with the PS2.
I dont, im on number 3.
First one would stop reading a disk after 30 -45 min game would freeze, and say “Insert Game Disk”
the second one i had had the Red Ring right out of the box
thirs is working fine for now.
this is the unfortuate side effect of mass manufacturing of high-tech devices – when i worked in the cellular indunstry we would see this alllllllll the time
1.
That is such a typical silly response.
“it cant be 1 out of 3 Xboxes, mine works just fine!”
maybe…JUST maybe, you aren’t guy number 1 out of 3.
I’m waiting for a price drop on the Elite before I buy my 360. I hope it comes before Christmas.
To start off I’m a PS3 owner and a PS2 owner prior to this. I have never owned a XBox and never plan to. That said I don’t think 1 out of 3 is correct I’m thinking it’s more like 1 in 5 or 1 in 6. For those that haven’t had any problem consider this. Given 10 people if one person has had there 360 replaced 2 times what are the odds? 1 in 5 . So as you can see it doesn’t take much to skew the numbers.
On another note I think sales figures for this winter will be pretty much tied between Sony and Microsoft. The sad part of the console war is that Microsoft has not made a dime from there gaming division ever not with the XBox or the 360. Sony was making billions on the PS2 and states they are turning a profit on the PS3 already. Which of these to cases sounds like a long term sustainable situation?
You know your blog is interesting, your stories are interesting, your technical knowledge is impressive, but your opinions are as usual way off the mark. You obviously are not talking to any true gamers because if you were you would know this is not possible. Bungie is going to make the 360 irresistible with Halo 3, and every teenager in the entire US will be hounding their parents for a 360 just so they can play Halo 3 Multiplayer. Also, it doesn’t matter how many 360s fail because even a dead 360 is worth more than a working PS3 because as Sarcastic Gamer says….”There’s no frickin games!”
Yeah, and maybe your house too, if your XBox GOES UP IN FLAMES !!! Keep an extinguisher handy while gaming !!!
#7 Don’t worry. Microsoft has deep pockets.
My guess is that 360 vs. ps3 is a touch and go deal. The ps3 will win in the long run. But my gut feeling is that next time Microsoft will win over Sony. Sony has too much of a baggage. They need PS3 to consolidate BluRay and vice-versa. Microsoft is loose. They can loose money till they hit it.
The 360 has a buttload of games coming out this holiday season that will all be big sellers. Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Project Gotham Racing 4, Call of Duty 4, to name only a few. The extended warranty, if anything, is reason TO buy a 360, because if there are problems, you’ll get it replaced for free. The PS3 is still too expensive and there’s still nothing of worth on it.
I call shenanigans.
Halo 3 alone will keep the XBox as a player.
The comment “the 360 will be this year’s PS3” is worthy of scorn, but “most popular gaming blog” is laughable.
This clearly is an attempt to self-generate news by kicking up the gaming crown during a slow news period. Right out of JCD’s Apple playbook.
Can I point out something Some of you have forgotten…
TIME…
360 was released almost 2 years ago..
P3, and Wii, less then 1..
Old Consoles were based on HARD Proven OLD tech.
360,ps3 were designed on ALOT of new tech, and OLD tech.
Old consoles Anyone could program for, and market thru anyone they wished.
New consoles have to distribute ONLY thru Sony and MS..I dont know about the Wii yet.
In the OLD days games were released for ALL models…
Not now…
In the End, about 4-5 years…
MS will make the 720
Sony will make the PS4…
Don’t worry, MSFT will have the bugs worked out by late 2009. in the meantime buy the 10-pak 360 and save 25%.
Maybe if they made the 360 in the form of a big assed table?
#17, please don’t change the subject. This is NOT about Macs. It’s about Wii, PS3, and XBox360, and why 2 of those are failing and the other is putting them to shame.
#19 Actually it’s only about 360
Its just Microsofts way of keeping track of who’s hacking their Xboxes. If I fear that my 360 is one of the 3 that fails them I am not as inclined to open it up because of the voided warranty. Microsoft’s business plan of the 360 didn’t go so well. If I hack it them microsoft stands to lose money. I they recall the hardware then they stand to lose money.
eh, most of the problems with the 360 come from overheating, or adding stupid fans that screw with the power supply. It’s a big PC in a tiny box, treat it as such and you have no problems. Hell, even MS says that: the flaw they talk about is directly related to overheating.
I, and many people I know, have a 360. I’d like a Wii, but almost no-one I know wants a PS3. Anyone I know with a PS2 is happy with that, and will probably upgrade to a 360 or Wii (or both, if they have the cash).
It’s not a significant sampling, but I hear the same thing over and over.
The article is, as someone aboves said, a poor site looking for attention.
Get an old PS2, or an old Xbox. Play these games until you get burned out from the “virtual world” of games. Then go on to real life.
This is all like saying a 1966 Corvette (old xbox or PS2) is less fast on a legal road, than a 2007 Corvette (xbox360 or PS3). Same road, same rules (physics and cops).
Can someone explain what the facination is with the LATEST technology, when we have so much competeing for our spare time?
#20, don’t want to get into “is so, is not”, but the article mentions all 3 systems. 😉
Our house… 3 kids – at least 15 new and old model game systems, hundreds of games, not including PC games. Our XBox is a lot of fun but the controllers wear out prematurely and you can’t buy new replacements (damn them!). 3rd party controllers suck. The 360 was considered but it was too buggy and too expensive. The Wii won out for sheer fun value and portability.
It’s simple: Don’t buy a piece of hardware from a software company.
This is the inherint problem with major revisions to the fabrication process in the middle of a product life cycle. My roomate and I both have an Xbox 360 that has never given us a moment of trouble. However, those machines don’t even have the same parts as the newer Xbox models. I personally wouldn’t let the claims of “1 in 3” sway me from purchasing another ‘box were it necessary. The surreal tribal nature of “gamers” is frightening at times.
26,
NO IT AINT…
Its called, MAKE new models so we can sell then Games they COULD OF HAD, on a PC.
Just give me a composit Output and I can hook it to the TV..
For the record, I am on my second 360, my third PS2, and my second PSP. Also, Microsoft have stated that they fixed the glitch that was causing the red ring, so new systems shouldn’t have a problem. This Christmas would acutally be a good time to by a system. Let’s be honest here, when mom and dad are shopping for little Jimmy, they aren’t concerned with which system has a higher failure rate. They only know Jimmy wants Halo.
Stranglehold, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, etc. Yes, with these and many other titles the 360 will be the next PS3….in Japan. The repairs just give us a longer warranty, so hey!
I’m on my 3rd 360 and I still would take a broken 360 over a “working” PS3, even if the PS3 were given to me. My 360 is very central to my home entertainment experience, gaming aside, and frankly, i could give two shits about anything the PS3 is “capable” of.