Exec: Microsoft Depends on Gamers

Dennis Faas's picture

With the launch of the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3 now underway, the next-gen war between these two gaming powerhouses and Microsoft (producers of the Xbox 360) is now officially on.

That should make for some mudslinging in the media and ambitious attempts to trump one another in the general gaming realm. However, although the former two systems -- the Wii and PS3 -- are produced by makers who do depend on the success of their consoles, it's surprising to hear Microsoft's Xbox 360 chief Peter Moore tell the media that the software giant (which has its hands in pretty much everything) depends on gamers to grow.

Moore's statement was made during MS' launch of the not-so-expected but popularly received Video Marketplace for the Xbox Live system. The online service will allow gamers to download high definition movies and television shows from Microsoft's online service. Users require a gold membership to do so ($60/year) and will have to pay for each downloaded property (which is supposed to be competitive with Apple's iTunes network). (source: hardocp.com)

Clearly, Microsoft is the king of online gaming and now, will surely take over as the HD (high definition) distributor for next-gen gamers. Still, it's startling to hear the exec for such a diverse company proclaim that MS depends on 360 gamers, when one gets the impression that it's still possible that the console could sink and Vista would simply make up for such problems. The same could never be said for Nintendo, and probably not even tech developer Sony.

Although there are reports that the HD service is running into problems during its first few weeks, most indicators suggest that this only because of an overwhelming flood of interest. That's going to take some time for the network to integrate, but is obviously a very good thing. (Source: reuters.com)

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