Xbox 360 suffers ritual sacrifice

[Professur]

Smash, bang, wallop, wot a picture


By Nick Farrell: Wednesday 23 November 2005, 07:23

A BRAND new Xbox 360 was ritually sacrificed in front of a large line of Xbox Fanboys waiting to buy the latest machines.
Blokes from smashmyxbox.com queued for 55 hours outside Best Buy to be one of the first to own the new gear.

However, to the horror of the waiting line, once buying the much sort after machine, the pair took out a pair of sledgehammers and pummelled it to death in front of them.

The whole thing was shot on film, and will be displayed on the site today. The site owners had collected the money required for their stunt from donors who will apparently get a kick out of seeing a smashed up Xbox.

"This is only a social experiment, for the entertainment of the donors, and visitors of the site," the site organisers said.

The move did not go down well with some of the Xbox geeks on this news group.

One said: "The person who did this should be dragged out into the street and castrated just for his pure disregard for the person who was the first one denied his 360 in that line. With the whole 360 shortage on launch, this is just a nasty asshole move that should not be tolerated."

source

 

[chcr]

With the whole 360 shortage on launch,

Shortage, shmortage. They could have made as many as they wanted (probably did). The "shortage" is strictly a marketing strategy. Working pretty well though, isn't it?

 

[Gonz]

With the whole 360 shortage on launch

Gotta love marketing. A former girlfriend (still a friend of my wifes) called & said she stayed out all night & bought 2, one for them & one for eBay.

No wonder she's an ex.

 

[Gato_Solo]

And there are XBOX 360's on e-bay going for up to $1,600 as of yesterday...

 

[HomeLAN]

Here's what it looks like when it self-destructs without help. I give you the XBox BSOD:

Oops.

 

[Gonz]

like any of us would turn one down

 

[HomeLAN]

I would. I don't like console gaming.

 

[Gonz]

I told my wife that I'd love one but if I bought it it would go on the HDTV. She agreed my computer games were enough

 

[Gato_Solo]

Here's what it looks like when it self-destructs without help. I give you the XBox BSOD:

Oops.

And this is what happens when auctions self destruct.

 

[PT]

 

[MrBishop]

Lemme see.... I wish that I had a camera and was in place to take a picture of the geek communal heart-attack (and spontaneous pimple-explosion due to increased blood pressure) the moment that hammer came down on the X360...right infront of that line!

 

[Gato_Solo]

Lemme see.... I wish that I had a camera and was in place to take a picture of the geek communal heart-attack (and spontaneous pimple-explosion due to increased blood pressure) the moment that hammer came down on the X360...right infront of that line!

You were doing alright until you got to the exploding zits. That was just gross...

 

[IDLEchild]

I give it another 6 months to a year before the first price drop and improved architechure.....

History is a great teacher.

 

[Mirlyn]

I give it another 6 months to a year before the first price drop and improved architechure.....

....and a game released for it worth buying....

 

[Professur]

Microsoft Xbox costs $525 to make

US ANALYST firm iSuppli said it had ripped apart an Xbox 360 to find out just how much the components cost.
The triple core IBM CPU used in the Xbox runs at 3.2GHz, the lads reckon. This CPU costs $106 and that represents 20.2 per cent of the bill of materials (BOM) for the console.

Add in the other integrated circuits and the BOM is a staggering $340 per console.

ATI's graphics chip costs $141 including embedded memory from NEC, a Japanese company.

Add in the DVD drive to the Xbox Premium, the RF board, the wireless controller, the cable, the literature and the packaging and the total BOM is $525.

Isuppli didn't say how much the power cord cost.

Microsoft is selling the unit for $399. Shorely shome mishtake.

source

 

[Gato_Solo]

Re: Microsoft Xbox costs $525 to make

You'll have to remember one thing. Buy in volume, and get a discount. Buy a huge volume, get a huge discount.

 

[Mirlyn]

MS has always admitted to taking a loss on every console (never made a profit on the first xbox either). It's the games where they actual profit.

 

[Gato_Solo]

I don't think they'd take that much of a loss, though. The average game is usually under $50.00, so they'd have to sell 2 games to make up the difference...at full price...and you know how much gamers hate full price unless it's something so good they're too busy playing to break the copyright protection for their buddies...

 

[Inkara1]

...but the online gaming seems to be quite successful for them and that's not free.

 

[Mirlyn]

I don't think they'd take that much of a loss, though. The average game is usually under $50.00, so they'd have to sell 2 games to make up the difference...at full price...and you know how much gamers hate full price unless it's something so good they're too busy playing to break the copyright protection for their buddies...

You'd be suprised. Its the same story for every gaming console manufacturer. With MS, the OS and Software divisions make up for the thin profits in the console, even with the games added in.

Remember, the console costs $300. Each and every time. Games cost more, but only once (development costs). After the initial cost is covered, your $50 Halo game is now pretty much all profit (minus a small retail/distribution and disc burning fee..a matter of dollars). Then they make it a classic title (what is it, platinum or silver?), discount the price to $20, and still profit. Throw in high licensing fees (think cheap, knockoff addons like controllers, memory packs and A/V adaptors), and the profit comes in later.