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"10 weeks left and it could then all be over!"

As you may or may not be aware both Nintendo and Microsoft are depending on this christmas to result in massive sales of their consoles. If either of them are seen to fail in the us and elsewhere in a big way its curtains for them. Shortly after christmas business analysts will look at the figures and make predictions of how that console is performing. If its thumbs down then ultimately in a very short time that console will be cancelled. Despite what many people say about Xbox and that Microsoft can absorb losses no problem and they are in for the long term if the xbox is being constantly rejected by the consumer even at its current ultra competitive price point its the end. The same is true of Gamecube except the gamecube is doing a few million better than xbox because its selling reasonably well in europe and japan. Theres little point in there being an xbox II if again it won't sell because its not called a Playstation.

I can't say I'm happy about this as I personally don't rate the ps2 but it has 80%+ of the home console market to itself.

Remember that the PS2 was not an instant success - it took over a year to really kickstart it's success, it may have sold out everywhere on launch but that was because Sony screwed up the availability.

At the end of the day, Christmas does not make and break a console completely. First Christmas Sony had with PS2 was a mess - it was pretty hard to find a console because they hadn't imported enough of them !

Also, sales in Europe are not the sole determination of success - in America the three consoles are selling pretty much even, whilst in Japan a different console leads sales every week.

Software sales are what really count, waste of time selling loads of consoles if those owners don't buy software very much because software is the real money spinner. With Xbox live ahead - which looks great - Microsoft are going to be signing on a hell of a lot of people who, after the first year, will probably continue to pay monthly for online gaming. Once MS has done this, MMRPG will also be really popular, and they can charge small fees for this as well.

The console industry isn't a place for anyone looking for quick returns, but I think Sony has become complacent this year - online play for PS2 is in a mess, despite it being running in America and Japan, and GTA Vice and Getaway seem to be getting all the press attention. I think Nintendo and Microsoft are both going to having a good christmas this year in the UK.

~~Belldandy~~

It all comes down to word of mouth between people. The X-Box has really been picking up and I think this is due to people giving the console a chance then spreading their recommendation of it around.
I mean just going by me alone, I must have talked around 5 or 6 people into buying one and straight away they came back to me saying how excellent it was.

Another 2 blokes at my workplace were looking to get a console and didn't know which one to get. Of course they'd only really heard of the word Playstation with a basic knowledge of what the name Nintendo is.
I told them about X-Box and they became very interested, so I brought one of my mags to work and they looked through and that was that - their decision was made.
I think they're planning to buy around the end of this month/early December time when they have a little more free money to get it. But this is the power of word of mouth. No doubt in turn, these people I've directed towards the console have done the same - even if its just with 1 or 2 people. Thats really how the Playstation became popular.

I think X-Box will be fine if it can just get a good footing in the U.S and Europe. If it has these 2 territories, then Japan isn't a neccesity.
Just because Japan is thought of as the games capitol of the world, that doesn't make it the be all and end all of a consoles survival. The Megadrive did fine without Japan's backing thanks to its popularity in the West. Japan might have a large population, but then things are more than slightly brought level when you match them to the populations of the U.S and Europe.

As Microsoft know, they are the new boys on the console front and it will take a little patience while word of mouth spreads. Of course a good advertising campaign wouldn't go amiss either. I think Microsoft should be throwing out ads for games such as Unreal Championship, Splinter Cell and Mech Assault while releasing new ads for games such as Halo, DOA3 and PGR that show plenty of in game footage as all these titles have plenty to boast about.

As you may or may not be aware both Nintendo and Microsoft are depending on this christmas to result in massive sales of their consoles. If either of them are seen to fail in the us and elsewhere in a big way its curtains for them. Shortly after christmas business analysts will look at the figures and make predictions of how that console is performing. If its thumbs down then ultimately in a very short time that console will be cancelled. Despite what many people say about Xbox and that Microsoft can absorb losses no problem and they are in for the long term if the xbox is being constantly rejected by the consumer even at its current ultra competitive price point its the end. The same is true of Gamecube except the gamecube is doing a few million better than xbox because its selling reasonably well in europe and japan. Theres little point in there being an xbox II if again it won't sell because its not called a Playstation.

I can't say I'm happy about this as I personally don't rate the ps2 but it has 80%+ of the home console market to itself.