Gadgetoid

gadg-et-oid [gaj-it-oid]

-adjective

1. having the characteristics or form of a gadget;
resembling a mechanical contrivance or device.

Xbox 360 Price Reduction Doubles Sales

Who could have seen this one coming!? Microsoft announced today that their recent price adjustment has significantly increased the sales volume of their little-white-console-that-could; the Xbox 360. Now for the love of god and all that is holy Microsoft, please produce a version of the Xbox 360 that doesn’t look embarrassingly like a squashed marshmallow… some of us 360 owners ARE more than 10 years old.

Call me biased if you will but I prefer the Xbox 360 over its competitors and am always elated to see news of its success. More owners mean more online players, more interest in our coverage of the console and more interest in any games my Xna experimentation may result in.

Of course, despite doubling its sales in Europe due to the recent price drops across the board, the Xbox 360 has a long way to go to cement its success against the rising star that is the Playstation 3 and an even longer way to go to attain such popularity anywhere but the EMEA regions. Of course I would prefer if neither console truly succeeded, no industry should be without a little healthy competition!

In their press release today Microsoft boast more than 7 games sold per 360 in Europe versus less than 4 on both the Playstation 3 and Wii. This says a lot for the massive library of 360 games available compared to the reasonably lukewarm selection on the PS3 and Wii. Of course the Xbox 360 library, with its gargantuan size, is not without droves and droves of worthless dross that most likely account for a majority of these 7 games.

Fortunately both of the European underdogs play host to some absolute must have titles; need I even mention Warhawk and Super Mario Galaxy? This makes the only real choice for hardcore gamers the purchase of all 3 consoles so you can cherry pick only the best titles from each selection and hold your head high above fanboy flame wars laughing manically as you simultaneously play the Wii and Xbox 360 whilst watching your latest Blu-Ray movie rental.

Thursday, April 17th, 2008, Computer Gaming, Xbox 360.