During my morning Gizmodo read, I came across a post where John Shappert, VP of Interactive Entertainment at Microsoft has stated that he thinks that they’re less than halfway done with the 360. I realize that Project Natal is a huge step for the console, but less than 50%? Come on. The original XBOX was released in 2001 and was discontinued in 2006. That’s 5 years for you math majors out there. This November will mark the 4th birthday for the 360, which would make one think that an XBOX 720 (or maybe XBOX Natal) could be coming next year. Apparently not. Don’t get me wrong, I think that this is a good thing. Maybe the poor sales performance of the PS3 to date has the console makers reevaluating their strategies. Why sink an outrageous sum of money into research and development of a completely new console when it will take you a few years just to break even (or even longer if you are Sony). It makes much more sense to stretch the life of the current generation, and spend those R&D bucks on innovations like NXE, Natal, and anything else they may have up their sleeves, which aren’t nearly as expensive to develop. Another reason why I hope this is true is because I don’t feel like dropping a few hundred bucks more on a new console. If things like Natal are as good as advertised, they’ll get my money. I have a lot of games for my 360, and I hope that it continues to adorn my entertainment center for years to come (with only GREEN lights). Full article is over at Gizmodo.
There was a reason the the orig xbox only went for 5 years, they said it was just their attempt to see if they could get into the market and compete. Most of the big companys have come right out and said they going to go with the 8-10yr plan with current systems, which I think is great. Alot of that goes to the sales of PS2 still and its in its 10th year, the others go to them being smart and looking at the ecconomy. Either way, I like long lifetimes on consoles thats when you get those “classic” games that give you memorys you have forever and thats the main advantage console has over PC games. I buy a great “top of line” PC and its awesome…….for 7 months then a new game comes and I have to get a new $300 vid card. I buy say an Elite for $400 and thats good for 6-7yrs no questions about and no upgraades needed.