Microsoft on Sony; "We have a great opportunity to push them to the brink in terms of finishing behind us in this generation"

just for laughs, remember this from 2002:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...tiger/Over.jpg



anyway,


http://www.news.com/Xbox-tries-to-ge...3-6209063.html


With next week's release of Halo 3, gamers will get their chance to
see just what happens to Master Chief at the end of the trilogy.
For Microsoft, it's a golden opportunity to get some positive mojo for
the Xbox 360 after a summer's worth of headlines centered around
quality problems that forced the company to extend the console's
warranty and take a $1 billion charge.

"This is the kind of attention that we'd prefer," said Shane Kim,
general manager for Microsoft's game studios.

There is little doubt the game, which goes on sale at midnight on
Tuesday, will be a blockbuster release. Brokerage Wedbush Morgan
predicts that Microsoft could sell 3 million copies in the product's
first 12 days. The 2004 release of Halo 2 brought in $125 million in
its first day, a then-record, Kim said. That's a far cry from the kind
of revenue that Windows or Office generates in a quarter, but it's
still some serious cash.

"Halo is one of those 'sure thing' releases for the industry," said
Anita Frazier, a video game analyst at NPD Group. Microsoft has
already sold out of an ultra high-end "legendary edition" that
includes a Spartan helmet.

But the real question is what the broader impact of Halo will be,
particularly on sales of the Xbox 360. Kim said he has talked with
retailers, some of whom expect 30 percent of early Halo 3 purchasers
to also take home an Xbox 360.

"We're pretty convinced that a lot of Xbox 360s are going to get sold
along with copies of Halo 3," Kim said.

Wedbush Morgan predicts that, spurred by Halo, Microsoft might sell
400,000 consoles for September, the most it would have sold in any non-
holiday month since its launch.

Microsoft, already outpacing Sony's PlayStation 3, hopes it can
declare victory over its archrival after this holiday season. "We have
a great opportunity to push them to the brink in terms of finishing
behind us in this generation," Kim said.

This holiday season is seen as a critical one, with Microsoft, Sony
and Nintendo all at full production.

The wild card has been the success of Nintendo's Wii, which has been
outselling both rivals by a considerable margin in recent months.

Kim acknowledges Microsoft needs to become better at attracting the
casual gamers who have been drawn to the Wii with its easy-to-pick-up
games and intuitive motion-sensitive controller.

"We have to compete for that customer," Kim said. "There's no question
about it."

While Kim didn't offer any specific plans, he said that the company
doesn't plan to wait to lure some of those casual gamers over to Xbox.
"That's a 'this generation' thing and not a 'next-generation' thing."

The release of Halo 3 will be a key test, though, for just how much
confidence Microsoft has managed to restore with its warranty
extension.

Kim said Microsoft hopes its problems are behind it.

"From everything we can tell we have been able to remove a lot of
concerns and doubts in people's minds," he said.

"Halo is one of those 'sure thing' releases for the industry."
--Anita Frazier, analyst, NPD Group Some consumers are still griping,
however. One reader recently wrote in to CNET News.com earlier this
month, upset that Microsoft said his Xbox's hardware problems were not
covered by its warranty extension program.

Even with Halo 3's release imminent, he said, "I am seriously
considering tossing this and the games and going with a different
console."

Alyson Craghead, part of a group of female professional gamers known
as the Frag Dolls and a Halo expert, can't wait to get her hands on
Halo 3.

She took part in the beta test earlier this year. "I'm curious to see
how the story ends," Craghead said. "Bungie (the Microsoft game studio
behind Halo) is just so good at telling the story."

Craghead was a diehard Quake player until a friend convinced her to
give Halo a try four years ago. For a while last year she was working
eight hours, playing Halo 2 for eight hours and then sleeping.

She really liked the ability to play the game with others over the
Internet through Xbox Live, but grew somewhat frustrated with the
level of cheating. "Over the past six months to a year, there have
been so many cheaters and modders," Craghead said. "It's not as fun as
it was right off."

Craghead's professional game playing duties (spending 40 to 60 hours a
week playing Rainbow Six Vegas) have also cut into her Halo time, but
she plans to reconnect with Master Chief once the new Halo debuts.

"I will make time for Halo 3," she said.

It's that kind of enthusiasm that Microsoft is hoping will be
contagious and eventually spread beyond Halo and even the Xbox.

"It's important to add that hipness and coolness to Microsoft, the
brand," Kim said.

Microsoft is also working to extend the Halo franchise. Although Halo
3 is definitely the last in the trilogy, the company has two Halo-
related games in the works.

One, Halo Wars, is an action-strategy title due out early next year
from Ensemble Studios, another game studio within Microsoft's game
division.

Microsoft is being stingy with details on the other venture, which it
says is a new interactive series to be set "in the Halo universe."

What it won't be, is a Halo 4. "Halo 3 really is the end of the
trilogy," Kim said. "Master Chief will finish that fight."

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Filmmaker Peter Jackson was due to help create a Halo movie, announced
back in 2005, but plans were shelved a year later. Kim said it is
still likely that Halo will make it to the big screen.

"I remain convinced that a great Halo movie will be made sometime in
the near future," Kim said, but didn't reveal any new details on how
that might happen. "We continue to be in active discussions with our
friends and potential partners in Hollywood."

Microsoft also has done some product tie-ins, including Halo 3-themed
Xbox 360s and Zunes.

Halo remains largely a console story. However, the company did release
a Windows Vista version of Halo 2 earlier this year.

"That's done OK," Kim said, but added, "We don't have any announced
plans to bring Halo 3 to any additional platforms."

On 22 Sep, 17:42, AirRaid <AirRaid...@gmail.com> wrote:

ps3 is better