NPD: 600,000 Xbox 360s Have Sold in U.S.

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.designtechnica.com/article9298.html' target='_blank'>http://news.designtechnica.com/article9298.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"An NPD Group analyst said Friday that Microsoft had sold only 600,000 units of its Xbox 360 gaming consoles in the U.S. since their debut November 22, 2005. If accurate, the pace of Xbox 360 sales would put Microsoft well behind pace for its stated goals of selling 3 million systems withing 90 days of launch, and 4.5 to 5.5 million Xbox 360 systems by mid-2006."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/892345723.jpg" /> <br /><br />For all of the complaints about Xbox 360 shortages, that's still a lot of devices to have manufactured and sold in just a few months, particularly considering the complexity of the Xbox 360. That's also a huge installed base of Windows MCE Extenders. No home theater multimedia device has had this kind of market penetration to date. What I'll be particularly interested to see is if sales of MCE PCs increase as Xbox 360 owners seek to expand the 360's multimedia capabilities.

[MyquiH]

I can't help but feel that this generation of consoles (360, PS3, Revolotion) will have a fairly short (2 year?) lifespan. The consumer electronics companies (and consumers themselves) are in a period of discovery right now -- how do the masses actually want to access entertainment? Do they want to download content (movies/games/music) and how do they want to pay for and own that content? What games do they like to play on consoles? How many of them have or want to bother with home networks? How many of them want or care about high def content? How many of them use portable devices, and which devices are prevalent? These consoles are a stopgap while everyone figures out what the future is in personal entertainment.

Once the dust settles a bit on these questions, I think we'll see an amazing lineup of "killer" consoles from the usual players, and the potential (oh boy, here goes a line I've laughed at from analysts for years) to completely obliterate the lines between game consoles, PCs, PVRs, etc.

Regardless, it'll be fun to watch the carnage. :)

[Jeremy Charette]

Though the 360 has some shortcomings (no TV tuner, small hard drive, etc), I think it has the most capability of the "next-gen" consoles. As far as gaming is concerned, the PS3 will likely look more impressive at launch (first party titles anyway), but by then 360 developers will be getting around to optimizing for the system. Though they're in HD, the 360 games haven't blown me away (with a couple exceptions). The latest Xbox games are nearly as good, graphically, because developers are squeezing every last ounce out of the system. The 360 hasn't even broken a sweat yet. What I'm really waiting for is the Q3-Q4 2006 and Q1 2007 Xbox 360 titles. That's when things will really heat up.

I also think the 360 and PS3 will be around for 3-4 years, not 2. The cycle time for development is at least 3-4 years, so they won't have replacements ready in 2 years. Not to mention that it will take that long for developers to get to the point in system optimization that they are at with the current generation today.

Just wait a few more months. Exciting things are coming.

Oh, and did I mention the video camera, for video chat on Xbox Live? :D

[yada88]

I have to say eh to your comment about penetration. Yes, the 360 is penetrating quickly as a home theatre device. However, as a home theatre device, it sucks. I have a premium hooked up to an MCE2005. The xbox is 8 feet from the computer, and the interface is slow. It takes too long to connect, and fast forwarding is too jumpy. It's simply not as elegant as native MCE. As soon as you start watching a show, 360 should download it to its hard drive, and delete it upon changing. This would help a ton.

[Jeremy Charette]

Are you using ethernet, or wireless? If WiFi, what kind? A, B, G?

[yada88]

I'm using ethernet 100mbps. My school's internet connection comes into my router. My computer is plugged into one port, my MCE machine is plugged into another. Connecting take around 10-15 seconds. Much longer than the 4 seconds my MCE machine takes. The real problem is fast forwarding.

[Jeremy Charette]

Surprising. I'm familiar with these problems with WiFi (particularly B), but not with ethernet.

[cmorris]

I'm using ethernet 100mbps. My school's internet connection comes into my router. My computer is plugged into one port, my MCE machine is plugged into another. Connecting take around 10-15 seconds. Much longer than the 4 seconds my MCE machine takes. The real problem is fast forwarding.

Yeah, something is definitely not right there. What brand of router is it? What are the specs on your MCE machine? I have a similar setup and it connects within a couple of seconds.

[casinova]

I have loved the media extender features! I haven't used any of the other non-hdtv extenders but I have been told that the user interface of the others was very bad. I have a dual-core MCE 2005. There are no differences between the 360 and the MCE 2005 PC. The GUI transitions, playback, and live tv control are super duper. I have done little gaming and more HDTV viewing with my 360! BTW, I am connected via ethernet.

I also agree that the 360 is maturing while the PS3 is only a demo. Xbox Live is growing...M$ has done what Sony &amp; Apple hope to do...put a networked media device into the living room. (mac mini doesn't count, its too weak to decode HDTV)

[top5recrds]

I have purchased every consol system to date that has had similar (“The Buzz”) attention made of it’s availability because “This is going to revolutionize how people play online games” and so far they all suck for online play. They can try to reinvent the computer all they want and it will still suck. I only really ever loved games that where made for my PC first and where only after thoughts for console makers i.e. Quake, Diablo II, Warcraft, Lineage 2, WoW, EQ. They will dupe me no more. This XBox just like the last one will suck for the true online game player.

[pacemkr]

My cousin just bought a pc and a week earlier an HDTV, to his surprise the PC was a media center edition system (he is not very computer literate as you can see). Once I told him what exactly he can do with it and the fact that the xbox 360 he wanted to get since the day it came out is an extender and what that particular fact means... to say the least he cant wait to get his hands on one of those 360s.

Now I am a fan of what microsoft does. I am facinated with what they've been able to accomplish. And being a programer I am very much fan of what they do in that scene as well.

That being said, they really ____ __ this time. You can see they were absolutely not ready to launch the 360, why, well the first and foremost thing being the fact that they didnt make enough of them. However, you can see why they still launched, the holiday season of course, I'm not making revolutionary discoveries here. :lol: What the concequences of their decision are... I dont think I can say. I am sure they worked everything out, in any case however, its pretty frustrating for the customers.

[pacemkr]

I have purchased every consol system to date that has had similar (“The Buzz”) attention made of it’s availability because “This is going to revolutionize how people play online games” and so far they all suck for online play. They can try to reinvent the computer all they want and it will still suck. I only really ever loved games that where made for my PC first and where only after thoughts for console makers i.e. Quake, Diablo II, Warcraft, Lineage 2, WoW, EQ. They will dupe me no more. This XBox just like the last one will suck for the true online game player.

I agree with that (the ONLY game I still play is Battlefield 2, online ofcourse).
However, the consoles have something up their sleve that a computer has very little chance of achieving. The best multiplayer experience. Note that multiplayer and online are not the same thing.

Grabbing the controlers and beating the crap out of your friend sitting right next to you (or having him do it to you) is not the same as doing over the internet. That doesnt sound right... but you get what I mean.