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An interesting dialog with Peter Moore, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing for Xbox, covers issues ranging from the two SKUs to replenishing consoles in stores. Moore argues that consumers were given a choice at launch with the two SKUs (core and premium,) but were they really? Because of the severe shortage, if consumers were only able to purchase a core bundle - even though they’d prefer a premium - many times they went with the less preferred core package. Some choice, eh?
As for future shipments to stores, here’s what Moore had to say:
We’re working around the clock to get all of our retailers, large and small, as many consoles as we can humanly make. We understand the amazing demand for Xbox 360, and we will continue to do our best. However, demand will outstrip supply for this busy holiday season. We expect supply to catch up with demand sometime early next year.
For all those folks that want an Xbox 360 and have not been able to get their hands on one, I want to thank you for your patience. Keep checking in with your local retailers and ask them when they expect their next shipments so you can plan accordingly.
Supply will “catch up with demand sometime early next year?” How early are we talking? Will everyone who wants a 360 now have one by January or February? Unlikely, but then again it wouldn’t be surprising if people who are demanding 360s now just decide to wait a little longer to get a machine. Or they could decide to simply wait for a certain upcoming Sony or Nintendo home console.
In the meantime, anyone who wants a 360 before Christmas may have to pester their local retailer, or import from Japan, in the meantime.
Read More 
| GameDaily
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So I was browsing Google Video and found a clip of a high school talent show. Usually they’re nothing to be impressed by, but I wanted to share this neat bit of information with everyone. These kids took the time and effort to learn how to play all the different types of Super Mario music on some xylophones and a drum set. You have to check it out!
Read More | Mario Music Unleashed
According to the consumer electronics retailer, its videogame sales were down for the fiscal third quarter compared to last year. Best Buy reports that while Xbox 360 sales have been strong, despite shortages, sales of older consoles were lacking. So why were older console sales down? Seeing as the videogame industry is cyclical, it’s only to be expected that every several years prior to new hardware releases that older console sales go into a slump. Rather than blowing money on an Xbox, gamers are saving their pennies for an Xbox 360.
Read More | Next-Gen
In quite a contrast to the Xbox 360 sell-outs we’ve been seeing across the US and EU, Microsoft only managed to sell 28% of the 360 units that were shipped to Japan. The 28% translates to a total of 41,817 Xbox 360s sold within the first two days of the console’s Japanese release. While the 360 sold around 322,000 in the United States upon launch, it could have easily sold more had the shortage not been so severe.
Sure, we’ve heard of the original Xbox’s staggeringly low sales numbers in Japan but Microsoft, and a lot of gamers, hoped it’d be different this time around. Microsoft’s certainly made vast improvements to its hardware and software line-up that should please Japanese consumers, but the bulk of the 360’s launch titles simply don’t appeal to Japanese gamers as much as they do to other gamers around the world. For example, take all of the first person shooters on the 360 (Perfect Dark Zero, Condemned, Call of Duty 2, and more). Japanese gamers just have never been too big on the shooters, so it’s no wonder they didn’t sell well. In fact, Ridge Racer seems to be the biggest hit over there. Japanese gamers want more from Microsoft, so hopefully the company will deliver in the near future.
Of course the biggest kicker of all is the 360’s price over there. The console (that’s right - there’s only one option) sells for 37,900 yen, or about $316. With a hard drive. Basically, Japan gets our $400 model for $84 dollars less. And they’ve got units still sitting on store shelves while Americans, and Europeans, are left out in the cold. While pulling off a global launch represents a bold move for Microsoft, we wish the company had done a smoother job and delivered more machines where they’re desired.
Read More | Bloomberg
Surely you remember Sam & Max from Sam & Max: Hit the Road! The classic PC game that was released over ten years ago featuring the hysterical and lovable dog (Sam) and rabbit (Max) crime fighting pair. Well just today, a clickable, interactive comic hit the web. And here’s what the duo’s creator has to say about it.
“I think Sam & Max are adaptable to almost any story format and this is a chance to send them on a rambling epic adventure,” Purcell said. “The main thrust of the story as always is to give Sam & Max a chance to blather on with each other against a colorful backdrop. In the second installment, Sam & Max’s long-silenced yammering will pick up where it left off years ago.”
Read More | Telltale Games
Call of Duty 2 Bug
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
Doug Perry, IGN Xbox 360’s Editor in Chief, created a forum post on the IGN Boards detailing a bug in the Xbox 360 version of COD2. Apparently the glitch involves COD2 locking up randomly followed by deletion of your saved progress. Different forum members had similar experiences and expressed frustration with having lost their saves after pouring so much time into the game. As of right now, Doug’s waiting to hear back on the issue from Activision. In the meantime he offered a short-term solution that seems to fix the problem. The fix follows:
To maintain your saves, you have to log into your gamer ID before booting up the game. If you log onto the system through the front end of the game, your file will be written over.
Once again, that’s just a short-term fix and hopefully we’ll hear details of a permanent solution (hopefully a patch) in the near future.
Read More | IGN 360 Boards
Snoopy Comes Home To Fight Red Baron
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox,
That’s right, your favorite beagle is coming to a home videogame console near you next fall. Out of the whole Peanuts bunch, Snoopy is certainly the coolest and it’s about time he’s the star of another videogame (see Snoopy Tennis, Snoopy Concert, and others.) But honestly, none of those games were very good.
What may be the biggest move for Snoopy in years is the fact that Namco is developing his new title, Snoopy vs. the Red Baron. Could any other developer be better suited to make this game? Probably not considering Namco has the Ace Combat series under its belt. Sure, Namco’s Star Fox: Assault wasn’t the greatest, but we’ve still got hope.
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron is coming for PS2, PSP, and Xbox. The game will also feature over fifty missions, and Peanuts stars including Charlie Brown, Linus, and Woodstock. This is a remake of the classic Atari 2600 game.
Read More | IGN
The Angry Gamer: For the Love of Spiderman
Posted by Charles Leake Categories: Action, Corporate News, Features,
If you loved Activision’s Spider-Man games, then you will love Activision’s latest news. If you hate them, like me, then this is…well, not so good.
Activision has announced that they have signed a worldwide exclusive contract with Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. to publish twelve years worth of Spider-Man games. Talk about your long term exclusive contracts, EA only signed on for five years with the NFL.
The big thing about this news there has been no outrage. The gaming press went nuts when EA signed a five year contract with NFL, screaming that it was unfair and about how EA, without competition, would pump out one crappy football game after another. That as consumers we will buy like the lemmings we are. Guess what, the same is true for Spider-Man games. Every year, even sometimes twice a year, Activision releases a Spider-man game. And like lemmings we rush out and buy them.
Click to continue reading The Angry Gamer: For the Love of Spiderman
Ubisoft King Kong Interview
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Adventure, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Played the new King Kong game? It’s surprisingly good, even if it’s a little bit on the shorter side.
Considering that games based on movies usually don’t turn out this good, it’s interesting to take a look inside Ubisoft and see what made the game’s development special. GameDaily recently posted an interview with some members of the Kong development team that’s definitely worth checking out. In fact, here’s a Q&A excerpt:
BIZ: Obviously creating the official game for the movie is a huge undertaking. What steps were needed to ensure that production stayed on course?
Xavier: The main challenge is to work in parallel with a movie and a universe that is created as you are developing the game. You have to anticipate, to wait for assets to be delivered, and make sure you validate on a regular basis the different choices you make to make sure you are on the right track… while making sure everything still fits in your planning.
Peter J made us feel comfortable because he really did not want the game to be a simple adaptation of the movie but he sees the game as a sister or a brother to the movie and an expansion to his universe. That means he accepted (and was suggesting) differences between the movie and the game in order to meet our constraints and make the best game possible. We also worked with Philippa Boyens (co scenarist) to make sure we were respecting characters and tone.
You need a lot of exchanges, and we were lucky to go to New Zealand five times to breathe some of Kong’s air!
Five times to New Zealand?? If only we were so lucky…but then again, we could just boot up a copy of the game and find ourselves in a remote jungle without having to sit on a plane for hours on end.
Read More | GameDaily
December’s Upcoming Game Releases
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, Portable/Mobile, PSP, Release Dates, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Looking for some new games to spend your hard-earned money on? Well you’re in luck! What follows is a list of games that will be hitting retail shops between now and the end of 2005.
This Week:
Final Fantasy IV Advanced - GBA
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku I & II - GBA
Chaos Field - GCN
Gauntlet Seven Sorrows - Xbox/PS2
Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play - PSP
Next Week:
Pocket Dogs - GBA
Samurai Showdown V - Xbox
Dead or Alive 4 - Xbox 360
Aside from Dead or Alive 4, it looks like there isn’t anything too excited due out for the rest of the year. Furthermore, will Dead or Alive 4 even come out this year? It’s slated to ship on December 21st, but it wouldn’t be that surprising if it were delayed again.
Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play could turn out to be a keeper, but we’ll hold judgment on it for now. And finally what the heck is Pocket Dogs? Dare it be a Nintendogs rip-off?
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