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What The Heck is Going on with the Xbox Supply?
It looks like there are some strange things going on over at Microsoft with the Xbox. It ends up the shortage of Xbox 360 systems have dramatically hit system sales for two months in a row. Having the supply problems last this long might mean that there is a problem with the parts supply or manufacturing. This is with the current "Falcon" Xbox 360 and is going on parallel to the development of "Jasper", "Opus" and "Valhalla" Xbox 360 systems.
They just announced that the supply problems have caused them to have system sales numbers way off track. The rumor on the internets is that the PS3 outsold the Xbox 360 for new unit sales in the last two months because of it. And here I thought it was all about Chinese New Year.
That's not good considering that GTA IV is almost here and there is going be a lot of folk looking to get an Xbox 360 for it. It's great for them that there is going to be a big demand for Xbox 360 system but folks looking to buy a new system to play GTA IV might be tempted to get a PS3 if there are not enough Xbox 360 systems on the store shelves.
While I am on the topic of video game system sales. How in the world is it that it is March of 2008 and it is still hard to find a Wii system in stock. As of right now it looks like Sony is the only one to have enough units of their system to go around.
There is also a lot of conflicting reports about a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox. Some reports say that they are working on it and they officially said that they had no plan. But that could mean that they are in negotiations working on a prototype and they are not ready to talk about it. The HD-DVD player decoded movies through software and the 360 is powerful enough to run a Blu-ray movie but they can't just instantly get the software and hardware working. Just because they have some engineers and coders working on a project doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to make it to the store shelves with Bill and Steve's thumbs up. I have no doubt that there were folks working on a Xbox 360 system with an internal HD-DVD drive but it was never given the go ahead. There was way too much rumor for there to not have a prototype somewhere.
Both the Xbox 360 accessories market and the Video Rentals through the Xbox Live Marketplace turned out to be a nice profitable business for them.
The Xbox 360 was always intended to get Microsoft a slice of a potential market in digital entertainment distribution and the video marketplace has worked out to be much more profitable than they had originally planned. The question that they are facing right now is to go with a new Blu-ray drive or really push online movie distributions. The biggest thing holding back video sales on Xbox Live is hard drive space.
The problem with the 20-gig hard drive is that there is simply not enough space on the 20 gig HD to buy a lot of Xbox one games and demos and such an still have enough space to download TV shows and movies in HD. They have the 120 Gig hard drive on the Elite but it is a pricey $180.
Now there are Internet rumors of a 60 Gig hard drive coming to the on the pro Xbox 360 and I would seriously consider buy a 60 gig HD if it had an upgrade cable to move all my saved data over to it. I could really see getting a new 60-gig HD if it were reasonably priced. If they could get gamers to upgrade to a larger HD it would make it a lot easier to sell us more games, content and movies on it. Who knows they might actually have movies sales that don't expire after a rental period.
Right now I have my gamertag profiles on a memory unit as RROD insurance. This way if my system dies on me I won't have to recover my Gamertag and hopefully the DRM nightmare will not be as bad. Man I can't wait to get a Jasper powered Xbox 360 and trade in my Xenon to some sucker at GameStop.
However these possible accessories and strategies for where they want to take movies on the Xbox are not in complete competition. They might have a new 60 Gig HD and eventually offer a Blu-Ray player. Of course if they really want to beat Sony and Nintendo they will have to make an Xbox 360 system that does not die suddenly on you and then make enough systems to go around, then everybody will be ecstatic.
Jake at March 14, 2008 
Games
Comments
If you think there aren't enough Xbox 360 units at retailers, I have a bridge to sell you.
Posted by: Tanbir C at March 14, 2008 9:04 AM
I enjoy my 360 and support Microsoft, but let's be for real... this is BS. This is just their attempt to place a positive spin on the news of their low sales. Just earlier in the week an analyst confirmed that the supply issues of Jan had been resolved and expected them to lead Sony in their Feb sales! As a business analyst, it is necessary to conduct research & confirmation of the subject before releasing information to investors!
Additionally, if you do your own consumer research of the subject, 360's were in ready supply with any of the online retailers and all of the local retailers in the Atlanta market last month... this is just BS & Microsoft needs to get it together if they want to stay competitive.
Posted by: Nigel at March 14, 2008 9:10 AM
"Right now I have my gamertag profiles on a memory unit as RROD insurance. This way if my system dies on me I won't have to recover my Gamertag and hopefully the DRM nightmare will not be as bad. Man I can't wait to get a Jasper powered Xbox 360 and trade in my Xenon to some sucker at GameStop.
What a retard xbot, please just give up on your lame expensive excuse for a games console, and on top of it you are still thinking on ripping somebody else off with your disgusting system. Go to hell.
Posted by: IamPS3 at March 14, 2008 9:29 AM
HAHAHA that is hilarious... "Man I can't wait to get a Jasper powered Xbox 360 and trade in my Xenon to some sucker at GameStop."
The funny part is that you are the one willing to pay not once, but twice for a busted ass system that could very well over the hill already. I doubt they will give you more than $120 for your old box which leaves you with a another ~$200 bill. I think you are the sucker man, $500 worth of 360's, assuming you haven't bought the wifi adapter, or had to get it fixed.
Posted by: jbj at March 14, 2008 10:59 AM
360 Shortages are a fallacy......I don't see how anyone can actually believe this
They don't sell enough consoles for there to be shortages....
Nintendo/Wii sells the most consoles month in and month out (by a large margin) and has legitimate shortage issues.
Posted by: Mike at March 14, 2008 11:03 AM
More of IamPS3's childish antics and general lameness can be found at the worst fanboy invested pile of garbage know as N4G.com!!!
He performs on Tuesdays and Fridays, if his mom will allow him.
Posted by: UareStupid at March 14, 2008 11:10 AM
c'mon the shortage is (I'm 100% speculative!) because the want to phase out old stock and introduce new machines in April 2008.
Why do you think they make these price cuts in Euroland? To get rid of the old stock so they can roll out the new one.
Posted by: Jim at March 14, 2008 11:27 AM
Supply problems?
Haha, that's a good one.
Oh, wait. They are being serious.
Posted by: Daniel Corban at March 14, 2008 11:29 AM
Ahh. Fanboys..
Despite the very real potential for systematic catastrophic hardware failure I would still rather get another Xbox 360 than get a PS3. I just don’t see the games and I don’t see a point. I don’t need both an Xbox 360 and a PS3 and I have way to much invested in 360 games. I do love my PSP and PS2.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at March 14, 2008 11:37 AM
So was this post linked to from some "I love the PS3" forum or something.
Gamestop offers $170 in trade in for a Xbox 360 so it's about $110 before taxes to upgrade to a newer unit.
Still I can't think of any exclusive games on the PS3 THAT ARE ACTUALLY ON THE MARKET that are worth me me caring about right now. oh.. Lair!
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at March 14, 2008 11:51 AM
And, if truth be known, HD-DVD lost out to Blue Ray for the same reason - supply shortages. And, for you doubters, M$ has no reason to mislead us --- ooops, sorry, I have to go...I just dropped my bong!!!
Posted by: Encore514 at March 14, 2008 12:14 PM
WTF People MS Its actually telling the thruth I know here in San Antonio you cant get one at all and I travel to austin and they didnt have that many either, so I believe that it depends of were we at. I had to buy one because my 1st xbox died on me after 7 years of hard gaming in softmod experience tee-hee. Lets see what I can do to this Bad boy and Ill bet that I will not get the RROD you dumb freaks with the intelligence of a baboons ass.
Posted by: Wally Sausage Flavor at March 14, 2008 12:59 PM
All this stuff just makes me happy to have lived within the time-frame of seeing the game industry go from kind of a joke to a ridiculously large and powerful industry.
30 years ago, 'Red Ring of Death' probably meant you had some sort of horrible STD.
Posted by: Alan at March 14, 2008 3:47 PM
i can actually side with this story as in all my local game stores there have been about a 3 to 1 ps3 to xbox360 ratio. but then again i just thought the ps3 wasnt selling as well because of a lesser demand. on a side note everytime i walk into my local walmart i see a wii sitting on the shelves, when i got mine in mid june of 2007 i asked the clerk how long it had been sitting there and it turned out it had been about 2 weeks. I'm not too sure that the wii shortages are quite as prevalent where i live.
Posted by: Newtie at March 15, 2008 3:05 AM
