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[moondance]

Just been reading the beyond3d forums where everyone is going gaga over nvidia teaming up with Sony. Seems the consensus there is cell tech + nvidia gpu (possibly cell based as well) + Sony marketing = big advantage Playstation. Without the perceived hardware edge this time but with their vast amount of money reserves couldn't Microsoft just try to price Sony out of the market. With so much at stake next-gen (the fight for the living room) will they be willing to hemorrhage money for however long it takes to win this war.

 

[bishoptl]

In a word? No.

MS has shareholders too - and they're not going to watch the Home Division bleed out cash ad infinitum.

Thank you and good night.

 

[kumanoki]

I concur wholeheartedly with this response.

 

[Monk]

What is this? The anti dopeyfish thread?

 

[radioheadrule83]

People would choose PS2 and Xbox over the Gamecube even if it was half as cheap. Whichever is perceived to be the overall best will be the first one that someone buys. A price war on software would be awesome IMO, but I doubt on hardware it'll make much difference. Maybe if it's done really early on. They usually like to make suckers of early adopters with a high price.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

As always, the quality and quantity of the games will decide the winner of the next-gen war.

Gamecube = quality titles, but few and far between

Xbox = very few good titles (but damned good ones!), lots of ports that are available on...

PS2 = ...and they had lots of titles period. Crappy ones, good ones, great ones, ones where the blank disc itself was worth more than the actual game...

And from the people I talked to, modding the Xbox played a big role in their purchase too...

 

[soundwave05]

I think Sony will match whatever price drops Microsoft will make.

Kutaragi will just say "well, it's a ten year project" or something like that. He's being groomed to be the next president of Sony, so actually in a sense while MS has a bigger pocket book, Sony's game division also has basically a blank cheque by virtue of Kutaragi's position in the company and the level of brand power the Playstation has.

The Playstation as a brand is more important to Sony than XBox is to Microsoft.

 

[jarrod]

I think Sony will match whatever price drops Microsoft will make.

Which is why both Nintendo and Microsoft should be more aggressive with pricing (especially Nintendo in the handheld space). Bleed Sony out of the market, use Sony's same tactics against them.

 

[Pug]

Well i can't see the XB2 being that much cheaper even though Sony have bitten the bullet with regard to GPU solution. Also the news that XB2 will have a HD-DVD probably means cost wise it on par with the PS3 anyway.

 

[sonycowboy]

Pricing is no longer a weapon from a user perspective.

Competitors will drop their price to match immediately, so there is no advantage other than to spur sales of all systems.

 

[Scrow]

i think the gc has proven that when it comes to buying a console, price (being cheaper) doesn't really matter a whole lot.

 

[jarrod]

I dunno, I think Microsoft and Nintendo could both leverage huge price adavantages over Sony. They just have more room to wiggle... this generation there wasn't much of a price war at all, mainly because Sony (who's always leveraged their pricing advantage over others) didn't have any reason to drop. They had an insurmountable lead almost immediately and drove the market. The 32bit generation was really the only one we saw heavy price wars, and that was due to Sony's plan to bleed Sega out of hardware.

If Nintendo charges $79 for DS and Microsoft $199 for Xenon next fall, Sony's sort of screwed. Sony's lucky they don't have a rival as cut throat as they were a decade ago.

 

[Che]

In a word? No.

MS has shareholders too - and they're not going to watch the Home Division bleed out cash ad infinitum.

Thank you and good night.

They'll never get it no matter how many times you repeat it. According to many, MS will provide billions to Xbox[insert number here] till it's all over and MS has finally prevailed.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

As always, the quality and quantity of the games will decide the winner of the next-gen war.


And from the people I talked to, modding the Xbox played a big role in their purchase too...

Initally, that was true for me as well, but with XBL and other games. I think it is worth the purchase. However, streaming music and movies from any part of the house to my Xbox is pretty kickass

 

[Fatghost]

i think the gc has proven that when it comes to buying a console, price (being cheaper) doesn't really matter a whole lot.

I agree. The PS2 has consistently been the most expensive console on the market. The GC has always been cheaper and the Xbox has always been about the same price as the PS2 but with extra hardware/software thrown into the mix.

Consumers are more than willing to pay a higher price for the console they percieve as the best console. MS and Nintendo would do better to match Sony's price and add value elsewhere than to try to be a "budget" option.