View Full Version : XBox to be released in late October or early November
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=6766
Xbox 2 will release "in late October, early November"
GamesIndustry.biz staff 12:40 11/02/2005
It's been known in industry circles for months, but the news is now finally starting to leak. You'll be able to buy the next generation Xbox in both America and Europe in 2005, say experts.
While internet news sources today have reported that Microsoft is readying to launch its next generation Xbox hardware in America and Europe in the fourth quarter of this year, Eurogamer has learnt that the specific timing for the machine's roll-out is late October or early November, and merely weeks after the US launch. The exact date is yet to be solidified.
Speaking under conditions of strict anonymity, senior American and British development, publishing and retail sources have confirmed the launch window in the past weeks.
It is also now widely known among British sources that Microsoft UK is currently in the planning stages of a spectacular and unprecedented launch event in central London for the winter release.
While it has been accepted for some time that Xbox 2, currently codenamed Xenon, would be released in America before the end of the year, the news of a Q4 launch in both the UK and Europe will send shockwaves through the industry and gaming community on this side of the Atlantic.
Many have expressed concern that Microsoft is forcing the next generation of console hardware too early, and that the current generation still has much to achieve. The most famous example of this came from then Nintendo of Europe MD David Gosen speaking at an ELSPA summit in London last October, where he lambasted Microsoft for pushing a next generation machine to market in 2005, and even went so far as to question Microsoft's motivation as profit.
"In every cycle, some manufacturer not profiting from the current cycle is eager to kick-start the next one," he said at the time.
EA recently confirmed that next generation Xbox titles would ship alongside current generation offerings later this year, although the certainty of a European release this side of 2006 has been muted: until now.
Microsoft has already publicly snubbed the suggestion of Xbox 2 being shown for the first time at GDC in March, and it now seems obvious that E3 will see the grand unveiling of the machine.
A Microsoft spokesman characteristically swatted away any next gen talk: "Microsoft has not made any announcements regarding the next generation. We are currently very focused on further building the success of the Xbox console today and are not speculating on timing for a future version."
However, it must be noted that with the current lack of Xbox console stock still proving to be a huge problem for retailers and the future Xbox first party release schedule having almost completely dried up, it's an interesting comment for Microsoft to make at the point when every publisher and their dog are busy leaking Xbox 2 software information. Well, nothing new, but it's interesting to have some official confirmation from both British and American devs that the Xenon will be released late October or early November.
Wow that is alot earlier than I expected. Good Find. More towards christmas is what I expected.
Then WHY is MS waiting until E3 to show off anything??
This doesn't make sense from a publicity standpoint. They want to get a jump on Sony in the market. Good idea considering Sony's headway in this market. So why wait until almost the same time to show off your product? Now the public says "well, they are practically both the same, so i don't mind waiting for the PS3" after they both announce the release windows.
MS seems to have built themselves a lead in release time, so they should show as early as possible, to make Sony appear behind, both in production and tech. The average consumer will then go with what they think is the superior product, the Xbox.
Their actual release is not as important as how the public views them as in relation to Nintendo and Sony, and as of now, i don't think they are winning the publicity war.
bustabusta196
02-11-2005, 23:19
Really tired of all these.. rumours and speculations of what will happen or what they will be doing.. I hate when people are like oh cant get this system cause they arent doing this or w/e when they dont know the full story of the system.. Just wait till E3 and then make your decision of where youll be putting your money into.
Well if you hate speculation so much, when some piece of fact comes up it will be on the news so why do you bother reading forums?
bustabusta196
02-11-2005, 23:27
Not really disgruntled about the speculation but really other peoples reactions toward the speculation.. they think oh no the world is gonna end if such and such is said.
MiThRaZoR
02-11-2005, 23:41
So Xbox2 is gonna be released earlier then I expected. I wanted it to be released around December. So I we gotta wait about 5 months untill a PS3 comes out. I think I could wait. But maybe people will buy an Xbox2 instead of PS3. Ahh hell, it's their loss.
A large part of the reason MS would not want to show it off yet is quality of what they can show.
Would you want to show games that are not even in beta stages? How about games that are almost complete running on beta hardware?
Anyone remember all the performance issues with Halo at E3 2001? They got lambasted over the perf issues. The perf issues were caused by slower than retail hardware.
It also just comes down to the games in general. If they wait till at least E3 they will have more publishers and developers will to show off what they have been doing.
Imagine this for a moment.
Sony goes up on stage at E3. Spends have their presentation on the PSP. Then when they get to the PS3 all they have is a few tech demos, a bunch of numbers, some slides claiming they have already won the next generation, then someone comes out and talks about "Cyber-World"
Then MS goes up on stage at E3. They start out with a video that is close to 10 minutes long that pops through a bunch of beautiful looking games. All them in production for Xbox2. Then they talk some numbers. Then show you a ton of games, being played right there on stage.
mckmas8808
02-12-2005, 20:07
*expletive deleted* siren are you a fortune teller. I honestly believe that is exactally whats going to happen. You couldn't have been more correct. We all know that Sony won't be ready to show what M$ can show.
And the Sony still wants to beat Nintendo in the handheld world so breaking big news about Gran Turismo 4 for the PSP and having a playable version will help them crush the DS. Remember beating the DS is REALLY important to Sony. So yeah a few tech demos and some new numbers is all Im expecting. Not that anything is wrong with that.
Chaotic_King
02-13-2005, 20:34
A large part of the reason MS would not want to show it off yet is quality of what they can show.
Would you want to show games that are not even in beta stages? How about games that are almost complete running on beta hardware?
Anyone remember all the performance issues with Halo at E3 2001? They got lambasted over the perf issues. The perf issues were caused by slower than retail hardware.
It also just comes down to the games in general. If they wait till at least E3 they will have more publishers and developers will to show off what they have been doing.
Imagine this for a moment.
Sony goes up on stage at E3. Spends have their presentation on the PSP. Then when they get to the PS3 all they have is a few tech demos, a bunch of numbers, some slides claiming they have already won the next generation, then someone comes out and talks about "Cyber-World"
Then MS goes up on stage at E3. They start out with a video that is close to 10 minutes long that pops through a bunch of beautiful looking games. All them in production for Xbox2. Then they talk some numbers. Then show you a ton of games, being played right there on stage.
I severely hope you are wrong.
Sony goes up on stage at E3. Spends have their presentation on the PSP. Then when they get to the PS3 all they have is a few tech demos, a bunch of numbers, some slides claiming they have already won the next generation, then someone comes out and talks about "Cyber-World"
Then MS goes up on stage at E3. They start out with a video that is close to 10 minutes long that pops through a bunch of beautiful looking games. All them in production for Xbox2. Then they talk some numbers. Then show you a ton of games, being played right there on stage.
That scenario would have been a possiblity -- if it wasn't for the fact that Sony has officially announced that the PS3 will be at E3 in some form. Sure, we don't know what that "form" is, but at least we know we'll be able to see what the actual thing can perform, or hopefully perform.
FmanFORPS3
02-15-2005, 03:29
All I would like Sony to show at E3 is the interior, and exterior of the console :wink:
MS having had kits out for this long is A HUGE advantage, and i wuold be surprised and a little dissapointed if they DIDN't have several AMAZING games up and playable for E3. If that were to happen, i would loose all faith in MS, simply because it would be clear that their supposed headstart was in fact wasted by poor planning.
But i think your estimation of Sony is a little on the short side. I dont think they have given out dev kits till recently for the same reasons that Nintendo havent. I think they are trying to put themselves in a beneficial market position in terms of games. Thusly, i think we will witness some very incredible i house games, playable, and a host of clips from other games, that they threw together and redered to show off the abilities of the console. I doubt that they will be any where near playable, but i think we will get plenty of videos from cutscenes (which i am sure they will forget to mention are cutscenes)
Though it doesn't make alot of sense same as nintendo keeping their kits for so long, i'm sure that this must have entered into their Dev kit release schedual.
Chaotic_King
02-17-2005, 03:58
Sony goes up on stage at E3. Spends have their presentation on the PSP. Then when they get to the PS3 all they have is a few tech demos, a bunch of numbers, some slides claiming they have already won the next generation, then someone comes out and talks about "Cyber-World"
Then MS goes up on stage at E3. They start out with a video that is close to 10 minutes long that pops through a bunch of beautiful looking games. All them in production for Xbox2. Then they talk some numbers. Then show you a ton of games, being played right there on stage.
That scenario would have been a possiblity -- if it wasn't for the fact that Sony has officially announced that the PS3 will be at E3 in some form. Sure, we don't know what that "form" is, but at least we know we'll be able to see what the actual thing can perform, or hopefully perform.
I do believe Sony used the words "playable"... :wink:
(I hope some are...)
supertoast
02-17-2005, 13:42
A large part of the reason MS would not want to show it off yet is quality of what they can show.
Would you want to show games that are not even in beta stages? How about games that are almost complete running on beta hardware?
Anyone remember all the performance issues with Halo at E3 2001? They got lambasted over the perf issues. The perf issues were caused by slower than retail hardware.
It also just comes down to the games in general. If they wait till at least E3 they will have more publishers and developers will to show off what they have been doing.
Imagine this for a moment.
Sony goes up on stage at E3. Spends have their presentation on the PSP. Then when they get to the PS3 all they have is a few tech demos, a bunch of numbers, some slides claiming they have already won the next generation, then someone comes out and talks about "Cyber-World"
Then MS goes up on stage at E3. They start out with a video that is close to 10 minutes long that pops through a bunch of beautiful looking games. All them in production for Xbox2. Then they talk some numbers. Then show you a ton of games, being played right there on stage.
This is what will most likely happen indeed. The reason Sony is going to do this though is because if they didn't show the PS3 this year, imagine how much momentum the next Xbox would have? It's not like that having real game demos is going to win over all the crowds to the Xbox2 either. Most people there will realize that the PS3 graphics will be the same or better and the hype for the PS3 will most likely grown more than the Xbox2 because of it's numbers. The biggest plus that MS will get from showing off the new games is like you said, it will attract more developers
RPGDreamer
09-21-2006, 21:13
We've been getting a steady flow of PlayStation 3 news as the Tokyo Game Show is about to start, and the latest companies to make an announcement is SEGA and From Software: Armored Core 4 will be launching in the Spring of 2007. No exact date or other details were announced.
At the moment, it is unclear if the release date only applys to Japan, and since it was announced near the start of the Tokyo Game Show, we suspect that the North American and European versions may be released later.
More news on the game is expected to be announced at the Tokyo Game Show which will be kicking off in a few hours.
Live: http://www.ps3land.com/article-729.php
Cera if you want to do a preview for this game I will supply all the images