By: Jon Christensen on January 6th, 2010 pm31 8:51 pm
CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage this evening at CES Microsoft keynote speech. One of the first things that was on his agenda was to discuss the success of the company’s Xbox 360. According to him, the Xbox 360 has sold 39 million units since it launched back in November of 2005. However, what was more important was the number of software that has been sold, since the original Xbox debuted in 2001.
Microsoft has tallied the total number of games sold since the historic launch almost ten years ago and it stands at about 500 million, which is almost the same number of people living in North America. Obviously, that number would translate well when it comes to how much cash flow came into the seattle-based company, and apparently that would equal to about $20 BILLION.
It’s an easy case to prove that Microsoft entering the gaming industry was a good thing, even with the criticism it received when they first announced the original Xbox during the first half of last decade. Although, even with those great numbers, the company is more than likely still in the red. For the longest time, for every system sold with the original Xbox, Microsoft was loosing quite a bit of money since the debut of the first Xbox — a trend that would later continue when the Xbox 360 launched four years later. Thankfully for Microsoft, this was the plan, and they are not looking to make a quick buck out of their console; but they anticipated well before they unveiled the Xbox that this would be a long term goal, which is still to be the king of the videogames…. They obviously still have a long way to go — but don’t count them out just yet.
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By: Jon Christensen on January 12th, 2009 am31 1:42 am
Here is some footage of Guitar Hero: Metallica from CES. We would like to pick this apart and find some reasonable explanation why we are posting it besides it being the first time we see actual gameplay. But we can’t, and we are sorry for that. The game…well, looks like Guitar Hero, but with Metallica…and the song Fuel. So, if you are obsessed with the metal band, buy it — if not; skip it.
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By: Derek Matias on January 9th, 2009 pm31 6:08 pm
Wednesday night, Techflash.com’s author, Todd Bishop, had the chance to interview Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, at the Consumer Electronics Show. In his interview Todd asked a bunch of questions, most of which we won’t talk about. One question, however, that came up has been brought up many times and is still in question today.
The question is in regards to whether or not the Xbox will ever get a Blu-Ray drive. When asked when Microsoft was going to stop that BS about “Digital Downloads” and get some actual hardware into the Xbox, Robbie responded “We have no plan to do that.” (more…)
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By: Jon Christensen on January 8th, 2009 am31 2:40 am
Update: Microsoft has confirmed that the date announced last night for Halo Wars was a mistake. The original date is still March 3 and NOT February 28.
Microsoft had their 2009 CES keynote speech last night. During the briefing, Robbie Bach confirmed that the anticipated RTS game ‘Halo Wars‘ will be released in North America on February 28; three days earlier than previously thought for the Xbox 360. The company also revealed that a demo will be made available for Xbox Live subscribers on February 5, 2009.
During the same conference, Bach also assured the large crowd that Bungie’s Halo 3: ODST expansion will be out later this year. Although a specific date has yet to be announced.
We are looking forward to those two games, but we are a little nervous what Microsoft plans are for this year. As of now, they have yet to announce a major release title for 2009 — hopefully they have something up their sleeve for E3 because if they don’t; Sony has a great opportunity to play catch up.
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By: Jon Christensen on January 6th, 2009 am31 4:10 am
Probably the most underrated racer, Forza Motorsport for the Xbox, looks like its going to have a third installment soon. CVG found out that a design company called Kaarbo Designs accidentally released some images on their website for a Forza 3 game. The images are some art promoting the game. What is particularly interesting is the same design company also worked on identical projects for the previous Forza games.
I hope during CES Microsoft can shed some light on these leaks — like an announcement maybe? When we hear more, we will make sure to post it. Click here to check out some more work from Kaarbo.
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