Gamstop has good news for gamers!
Gamestop, the world’s biggest Game retailer has declared a 57.2 Million dollar 2nd Quarter profit. The retailer is predicting a sales rise of over 23% during the remaining part of this year. Its prediction in taking into account a $50 reduction in the prices of both the Xbox 360 and PS3. Chief Operations officer, Dan DeMatteo, said in a conference call “Our guidance continues to assume the hardware price cut we talked about at the very beginning of the year, assuming there is about a $50 price cut on both the [Xbox 360] and PS3 going into the holiday season.”
The statement that confirms the rumor earlier this month that stealthgamers reported.
Dematteo also mentioned that the sales rise would continue through 2009, “because most likely what will happen is the manufacturers will begin lowering the price to keep the velocity going.”
That is some great news for gamers who currently don’t have the money to buy either one of the consoles, and best of all it is coming from a very reliable source.
If Sony or Microsoft announces a price cut it will be the first this year, since throughout the year both producers have upgraded their hardware or software to boost sales, and now it looks like they have to cut the price.
Faizan Zakir, Stealthgamers.com
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Rumors! Anticipation for motion powered Xbox not over yet!
Earlier this year Rumors spread that an X-box 360 arcade with a motion controller is set to be announced! Gamers anticipated that it would be announced at this years E3 conference but the conference concluded with no formal announcement. Then came the Leipzig Games Convention which closed yesterday with no comment on the rumor leaving a cloud of doubt for optimistic Xbox fans.
But it’s not over yet, according to a fresh rumor Microsoft has a gift prepared for the holidays, a $199 Xbox 360 arcade, packed with a motion controller and a hand-full of motion-controlled games.
The rumor started when a famous gaming blog received a phone call from an unnamed source, “close to Microsoft’s marketing department.” and stated that the new Xbox 360 will be target family oriented entertainment and is designed to compete with the Nintendo Wii, which is by far the best selling video game Console in the market.
The source also stated that the controller is purportedly made by Rare, and it would come in the $199 Xbox 360 arcade box! It will also be available for sale for existing Xbox 360 owners.
The authenticity of the rumors will be judged in the months to come, but my point of view, Microsoft not commenting on the rumor at big events like the GC and E3, it seems unlikely.
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Xbox 360 stock sells out! In Japan!
According to the Xbox 360’s official forum, Kutako, that it has been difficult to get your hands on a new Xbox 360, due to shortages in stock in Japan.
Microsoft’s statement on Kutako read:
“Currently, the Xbox 360 is sold out, and retailers are unable to restock their supply. This is a result of our own sales targets being exceeded by the actual customer sales. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers, retailers and business partners.
Here at Microsoft, we are moving forward quickly with console production, and plan to ship the standard Xbox 360 model out this September. Furthermore, we will sequentially be shipping out the Elite and the Arcade models. We ask that you please patiently wait until the console is shipped.”
It is odd that, a few thousand extra sales was all it took to finish of the entire month’s stock! That sends out the message that Microsoft itself believes that the Xbox 360 no longer has the potential for a large sales volume.
This coming at a time when the Xbox’s competitors are gaining market share, could cause some serious damage to the company, especially when the PS3 is produced in Japan and has no problems with stock!
Microsoft is betting on the patience of RPG fans!
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500 MS Points free in your Xbox 360 Live account!
In case you guys were wondering if it was a typing error, we can gladly confirm that it isn’t, as rumours have been surfacing that some Xbox Live account users out there, have been receiving 500 free MS points on their accounts.
There seems to be a state of confusion going on as there hasn’t been an official word on this issue and the reasons for it.
Apparently, gamers who had pre-ordered a copy of Grand theft Auto IV, also received a special offer, granting the customers 500 free MS points, turns out though that this offer had an expiry date and customers were no longer able to redeem their points, this could be a way of a refund from Microsoft who those who had felt disappointed.
Even more bizarre, some gamers are even complaining of points being deducted from their accounts for no apparent reason, so something obviously needs to be sorted out, expect an official announcement from Microsoft soon.
A flawed Xbox Live points system can cost Microsoft big bucks or even a lawsuit.
Lets hope for the best and prepare for the worst!
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Price Cut for Xbox 360 expected!
During its E3 conference this year, Microsoft confirmed that its 20GB Xbox 360 would be dropped down to $299 and that a new 60GB SKU would soon take its place for $349.
Ars Technica is reporting that their reliable mole (who has apparently undergone a Joker makeover, as the picture proves) has said that a fairly significant price drop is coming in early September.
• Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
• Pro (60GB) to $299
• Elite (120GB) to $399
A company spokeswoman said Microsoft has nothing to announce at this time.
Microsoft last cut the price of the Xbox Pro in August, from $399 to $349, prior to the release of “Halo 3″ the following month.
A cut to $299 makes the Xbox 360 Pro $100 less than Sony Corp’s PS3 with a 40 gigabyte hard drive. Microsoft is locked in a three-way competition with Nintendo’s Wii and the PlayStation 3, which comes with a high-definition Blu-ray video player.
Last week, a leaked memo allegedly sent to GameStop and Blockbuster employees indicated Microsoft would begin phasing out the 20GB hard drive. In its place, the company would start including a 60GB device with new Xbox 360 Pros later this month and in October offering a stand-alone 60GB accessory for $99. The memo also indicated that Microsoft would drop the current price of the stand-alone 120GB hard drive to $150 in September.
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“Too Human” Finally Goes Gold
Microsoft Game Studios and Silicon Knights announced today that the blockbuster action RPG “Too Human” has gone gold and will be shipping to retailers throughout North America on August 19. In anticipation of the title’s release, gamers can jump into the first level of “Too Human” with a demo now available on Xbox LIVE. The Too Human demo has already been downloaded more than any other action demo on Xbox LIVE Marketplace in its first week of availability and has been one of the top played titles on Xbox LIVE overall. In addition, gamers that pre-order will get access to five exclusive armor sets, one for each class in the game.
The demo surpassed 900,000 downloads over Xbox Live. The game has been in development for over ten years, transitioning from PS1 to PS2 and now Xbox 360. It is, in many ways, Silicon Knights putting all of their chips on the table.
Too Human, for those who haven’t been paying attention, is an action RPG from the mind of Denis Dyack. Featuring online co-operative play, the game allows players to take control of a sci-fi reimagining of the Norse god Baldur to hack and slash your way through other sci-fi reimaginings of Norse mythology. If you’re unsure about the game, get the demo. The demo has completely changed my perspective.
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PS3 Set to Cash in on Blue-Ray advantage!
Could the Xbox 360 version of id Software’s Rage look worse on the Xbox 360 than on the PlayStation 3? Speaking at the ongoing QuakeCon event in Dallas, Texas, id Software co-founder John Carmack warned that two-DVD compression - as opposed to a single Blu-ray disc - could degrade the the forthcoming action title’s look.
According to Shacknews Carmack noted three DVDs will be needed for the Xbox 360 version, although royalty fees to include a third disc would rule out this option. Unless Microsoft makes a concession, id will be forced to release the game on two DVDs with heavy compression, thus making the game look worse than the PS3 version.
Carmack stressed that the issue is entirely related to storage and has nothing to do with the Xbox 360 hardware. However, he added that the PS3’s Blu-ray does give the console an advantage.
The worst thing is that this s coming at a time when the PS3 closing in on the gap in Xbox sales. Microsoft will have to find a solution quick enough to prevent the PS3 from being the most profitable console for game makers.
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PS3 to Out sale Xbox 360, says Activision
In a conference call following the June quarter earnings release from Activision, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith provided his company’s own forecast for how the console wars would turn out in 2008. While Nintendo is still the big winner, Activision does think Sony will edge out Microsoft this year.
Sony said on Tuesday it had sold 1.56 million units in the April-June quarter, up from 700,000 units a year earlier.
The Wii is forecast to sell 15 million units in 2008, compared to 8 million units for the PS3 and 6-7 million units for the Xbox 360. And Sony’s PS2, which after all these years is still thriving, is expected to sell a total of 4-5 million units this year.
Additionally, while Griffith did not provide a breakdown for PSP versus Nintendo DS, he did state that the portable market will see unit sales of more than 24 million.
Sony has left unchanged its targets to sell 10 million units of the PS3 and 15 million units of the PSP in the year ending March 2009.
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Microsoft re-invents Xbox 360 experience (Warning Spoilers inside, free access to the new dashboard)
If you’re a big Xbox Live fan and don’t feel like waiting until this fall for the big redesign of the service that Microsoft has promised, there’s apparently a way to play with a leaked version of it now.
The interface looks somewhat similar to Vista Media Centre in its basic structure, but with more emphasis on visuals. Also, a new “party” mode will allow an 8 person chat to be carried out regardless of where you are within the Xbox Live community. This party can also move as a group through different games in XBLA and their new Primetime feature, which has multiplayer-oriented party games. The update is expected to come in the fall.
For all you stealthgamers.com visitors, a video showing a method to access the new dashboard. (This hack may not work for all Xbox live users)
If you’re somewhat tech-savvy and don’t have problems messing around with code, various Xbox security checks, burning CDs, and things like that, XHavok87’s (name of blog that discovered it) hack might just work for you.
Instead than trying to re-create the instructions here, I’ll just say that the XHavok87 blog entry has them with a high degree of detail. I can’t vouch for the efficacy of the instructions, having not tried them myself.
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August - the month belongs to gaming
Gamers could have had a better month. August is coming and august is the month gamers will have the time of their lives. Reason the release of games like Galaga Legions, Braid, Castle Crashers, Bionic Commando Rearmed and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 in the same month. It isn’t just the gamers that are rejoicing. Tech (and now gaming giant) like Microsoft are also heavily betting on it. It’s time to get bullish for Microsoft its with Live Arcade releases what many are calling the Summer of Arcade (there is also a contest by the same name running at www.xbox.com/summerofarcade.)
Earlier this month Microsoft has officially confirmed that the reduction in the price of Xbox 360 range would make it a almost $50 reduction thus making it the cheapest new gen console in the market. Noteworthy is
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