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Microsoft has announced that after the unexpectedly poor performance of the X-Box they intend to do a spot of remarketing.
They have scheduled a series of promotional events and have set a target for the X-Box to be the number one gift for this Christmas.
Fair enough.
In these promotional events they will be promoting X-Box titles such as Halo, Dead or alive 3 and Project Gotham.
Whuh?
So lets just get this straight. They plan to remarket the same console, the same design and even the same games.
Now lets see, they could have addressed problems such as the size of the joypad (a problem which I believe has been solved In Japan), but no.
They could have a few exclusive new titles lined up to coincide with the new campaign. But no.
They could have made some better (and perhaps a little more adult ) television adverts. But no.
Now like I said, I don’t pretend to be a marketing wonder but just how are they going to get the product to sell more without giving the public a little bit extra?
Now don’t think this is a ‘Lets dump on the X-Box’ type topic. It’s just Microsoft’s business practices I am commenting on.
But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
They have scheduled a series of promotional events and have set a target for the X-Box to be the number one gift for this Christmas.
Fair enough.
In these promotional events they will be promoting X-Box titles such as Halo, Dead or alive 3 and Project Gotham.
Whuh?
So lets just get this straight. They plan to remarket the same console, the same design and even the same games.
Now lets see, they could have addressed problems such as the size of the joypad (a problem which I believe has been solved In Japan), but no.
They could have a few exclusive new titles lined up to coincide with the new campaign. But no.
They could have made some better (and perhaps a little more adult ) television adverts. But no.
Now like I said, I don’t pretend to be a marketing wonder but just how are they going to get the product to sell more without giving the public a little bit extra?
Now don’t think this is a ‘Lets dump on the X-Box’ type topic. It’s just Microsoft’s business practices I am commenting on.
But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
Microsoft has announced that after the unexpectedly poor performance of the X-Box they intend to do a spot of remarketing.
They have scheduled a series of promotional events and have set a target for the X-Box to be the number one gift for this Christmas.
Fair enough.
In these promotional events they will be promoting X-Box titles such as Halo, Dead or alive 3 and Project Gotham.
Whuh?
So lets just get this straight. They plan to remarket the same console, the same design and even the same games.
Now lets see, they could have addressed problems such as the size of the joypad (a problem which I believe has been solved In Japan), but no.
They could have a few exclusive new titles lined up to coincide with the new campaign. But no.
They could have made some better (and perhaps a little more adult ) television adverts. But no.
Now like I said, I don’t pretend to be a marketing wonder but just how are they going to get the product to sell more without giving the public a little bit extra?
Now don’t think this is a ‘Lets dump on the X-Box’ type topic. It’s just Microsoft’s business practices I am commenting on.
But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
They have scheduled a series of promotional events and have set a target for the X-Box to be the number one gift for this Christmas.
Fair enough.
In these promotional events they will be promoting X-Box titles such as Halo, Dead or alive 3 and Project Gotham.
Whuh?
So lets just get this straight. They plan to remarket the same console, the same design and even the same games.
Now lets see, they could have addressed problems such as the size of the joypad (a problem which I believe has been solved In Japan), but no.
They could have a few exclusive new titles lined up to coincide with the new campaign. But no.
They could have made some better (and perhaps a little more adult ) television adverts. But no.
Now like I said, I don’t pretend to be a marketing wonder but just how are they going to get the product to sell more without giving the public a little bit extra?
Now don’t think this is a ‘Lets dump on the X-Box’ type topic. It’s just Microsoft’s business practices I am commenting on.
But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
I know what you mean, they talk about remarketing it - by doing exactly the same thing.
Surely a good start would be attending ECTS, and showing off what's coming up, try to shake off the one-game wonder (Halo) tag it's been lumped with.
Surely a good start would be attending ECTS, and showing off what's coming up, try to shake off the one-game wonder (Halo) tag it's been lumped with.
Personally I don't think Microsoft is too bothered with launching a rescue program because ultimately the fate of the X-box won't have a vast impact on Microsoft's fortunes. If Windows sales bombed then they might get worried, but as things stand, Microsoft could comfortably buy out their competitors without too many problems.
I think they set the original price too high, and so missed the boat a little. But come the next MS console, their fortunes might fair a little better.
I think they set the original price too high, and so missed the boat a little. But come the next MS console, their fortunes might fair a little better.
Meka Dragon wrote:
> I know what you mean, they talk about remarketing it - by doing
> exactly the same thing.
It's fourth generation post-modern reverse reverse psychology marketing :-)
But isn't that all advertising is anyway, convincing people that the same product is actually different?
> I know what you mean, they talk about remarketing it - by doing
> exactly the same thing.
It's fourth generation post-modern reverse reverse psychology marketing :-)
But isn't that all advertising is anyway, convincing people that the same product is actually different?
Yes i read that on digitiser with bewilderment. As Meka said it is somewhat a one trick pony, to remedy the situation i would be desperate to get out some demo code of a new groung breaking title. People have been playing Halo ,PGR and DOA3 for months now, at home and in the shop pods. The queues for the pods are already Waning, so why the hell stake your chance on games people have already played?
Microsoft need to demonstrate the Xbox with new content (games). Going over the same ground again is a waste of money - and few people (if any) will take any notice. MS need to push the "new" stuff - not show us just what we already have seen. I think any talk of new Xbox or Xbox with tv recorder, etc just dilutes the brand and is the wrong thing to say right now. They must concentrate on the existing machine with new games and add ons. As for broadband - MS are over estimating 2 things...
The number of people that have access to broadband.
How many people are prepared to pay a broadband connection fee and XBox Live fee each month.
Right now, XBox is just fighting to hold it's own against the GameCube. They are both fighting for their own survival.
The number of people that have access to broadband.
How many people are prepared to pay a broadband connection fee and XBox Live fee each month.
Right now, XBox is just fighting to hold it's own against the GameCube. They are both fighting for their own survival.
Tetchy wrote:
> But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
Microsoft and Gates are always making enourmos blunders... the 'no oine needs moer than 640K' and 'Internet is just a Fad' are two that generally get stirred up...
I think a lot of strength comes from Microsofts flexibility, to repeatedly, U-turn their companies values of the head of a coin... which, for a company the size of MS is no small feat... especially since they seem to do it without losing face, succesfully rebranding their goals angain and again.
The success of the X-Box so far reminds me a lot of MS's introduction of IE...
At a time when Netscape was easily the lead browser market, Microsoft bought a second rate browser development company, and after minor cosmetic changes, released it as its contribution to the browser market. Which everyone proceeded, righly, to mock and deride as a poor half hearted efforts, they kepts plugging away, adding features, stealing ideas, and of course infamously making it part of their Windows products. Even after Netscapes market share had been decimated, IE developers didnt miss a beat, pushing IE into the public conciousness...
As it did with Windows originally... does anyone remember Windows pre-3.1... Starting fair inociously, they developed the basic product, developing new features, blatently stealing others (Mainly the refinements of what Apple stole Xerox park), creating a product that sucessfully beat all opposition...
As they did with Word... creating a Wordprocessor in a market dominated by Wordperfect, they created a basic product, and developed the idea, creating features of their own, and stealing others, employing decent business strategy (jumping to Word 6 being the most famous)
They do seem to have a track record of throwing their hat into the ring, into a market they know nothing about, with a basic product and basic business strategy, and then learning from their... rather than hitting the market with preconcieved ideas, working around individual problems as they arise, taking advantage of situations as they become avalible... They learn how the market operates, what works, what doesnt, developing some ideas, stealing others.
The X-Box is MS V.1 and there arn't many MSV.1 products that people remember, Windows 3.11+, Word2, or more likely Word6, MS-DOS 3, IE4, etc...
Though as the developers of WordPerfect, Netscape, OS2, etc... you can deride and ignore Microsoft at nones peril but your own...
And as Lennie Bruce One said, 'Shut your mouth, and open your mind'
> But hey, who am I to question the mighty Gates.
Microsoft and Gates are always making enourmos blunders... the 'no oine needs moer than 640K' and 'Internet is just a Fad' are two that generally get stirred up...
I think a lot of strength comes from Microsofts flexibility, to repeatedly, U-turn their companies values of the head of a coin... which, for a company the size of MS is no small feat... especially since they seem to do it without losing face, succesfully rebranding their goals angain and again.
The success of the X-Box so far reminds me a lot of MS's introduction of IE...
At a time when Netscape was easily the lead browser market, Microsoft bought a second rate browser development company, and after minor cosmetic changes, released it as its contribution to the browser market. Which everyone proceeded, righly, to mock and deride as a poor half hearted efforts, they kepts plugging away, adding features, stealing ideas, and of course infamously making it part of their Windows products. Even after Netscapes market share had been decimated, IE developers didnt miss a beat, pushing IE into the public conciousness...
As it did with Windows originally... does anyone remember Windows pre-3.1... Starting fair inociously, they developed the basic product, developing new features, blatently stealing others (Mainly the refinements of what Apple stole Xerox park), creating a product that sucessfully beat all opposition...
As they did with Word... creating a Wordprocessor in a market dominated by Wordperfect, they created a basic product, and developed the idea, creating features of their own, and stealing others, employing decent business strategy (jumping to Word 6 being the most famous)
They do seem to have a track record of throwing their hat into the ring, into a market they know nothing about, with a basic product and basic business strategy, and then learning from their... rather than hitting the market with preconcieved ideas, working around individual problems as they arise, taking advantage of situations as they become avalible... They learn how the market operates, what works, what doesnt, developing some ideas, stealing others.
The X-Box is MS V.1 and there arn't many MSV.1 products that people remember, Windows 3.11+, Word2, or more likely Word6, MS-DOS 3, IE4, etc...
Though as the developers of WordPerfect, Netscape, OS2, etc... you can deride and ignore Microsoft at nones peril but your own...
And as Lennie Bruce One said, 'Shut your mouth, and open your mind'
Meka Dragon wrote:
> Surely a good start would be attending ECTS, and showing off what's
> coming up, try to shake off the one-game wonder (Halo) tag it's been
> lumped with.
I've not seen the launch line-up for any of the consoles, but I suspect things may start comming to life when the Christmas lineups for the consoles are released...
From press clippings I've read, MS seems to be interested in writing business control into their contracts with gaming companies, rather than attempting to control game content, they seem more interested in controlling release dates, marketing, distribution, etc...
> Surely a good start would be attending ECTS, and showing off what's
> coming up, try to shake off the one-game wonder (Halo) tag it's been
> lumped with.
I've not seen the launch line-up for any of the consoles, but I suspect things may start comming to life when the Christmas lineups for the consoles are released...
From press clippings I've read, MS seems to be interested in writing business control into their contracts with gaming companies, rather than attempting to control game content, they seem more interested in controlling release dates, marketing, distribution, etc...