Microsoft’s High Hopes Holiday Lineup

This year Microsoft believes they’ve got a heavy hitter lineup of titles starting around now until the end of the year including: Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band 2 and Fallout 3. They’re also looking at Lips, their karaoke title with a casual appeal to bring on the sales figures this season.

What about the PlayStation 3? Some of these titles, such as Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 are not exclusives so both consoles have their chance, right? Microsoft’s looking at historical data on trends from Madden 2009 and see the 360 console out-selling the game even though it’s a shared franchise title.

Strong sales on the Xbox 360 suggest we’ll see those same sales this holiday season. Sure, the PlayStation 3 will get some big numbers thrown up but they may not compete on the same level as the Xbox 360.

All-in-all, Microsoft wants to toss up the one-million game units sold for the holidays, not including consoles we believe. That’s a strong holiday sales cycle if they can pull it off.

Even with economic downturns and financial markets doing poorly, entertainment tends to be something people are willing to invest. Will they pull it off? Will PlayStation 3 keep up?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 347: Final FantasyEpisode 347: Final Fantasy

This week’s podcast features the Gaming Flashback of Final Fantasy VI, which takes up a third of the podcast as Paul and Jordan enthuse about the Japanese roleplaying game at length – so much so, that some news items were skipped over due to running length. Jonah prepares for his trip to PAX East 2014 for the weekend. He also proclaims Emperor Palpatine dancing in Kinect Star Wars the best thing to ever happen for Star Wars.

This week’s news includes:

  • Amazon says FireTV will boost mid-market games
  • Borderlands 2 Vita bundle hits on May 6, game launches May 13
  • Molyneux predicts Kinect-less Xbox One
  • Microsoft looking into Xbox 360 emulation through Xbox One

A lot of Listener Feedback this week, and the Question of the Week is “What mobile games have you played recently?”

Sony Home Arrives This YearSony Home Arrives This Year

From the horses mouth, Home producer Martijn Van der Meulen “100% guarantees” PlayStation gamers will have the infamous Sony Home before the end of this year. He didn’t, however, mention what defines Sony Home as a finished product. Perhaps just the shell of a social gaming network frame or a fully fleshed out product.

Most social network sites are constantly “works in progress” so we’re guessing Sony Home won’t be finished but it will be available or “shipped” if one could call it so. The trick comes down to the punch-list of features which nobody has seen; all we’ve got to go on was the 2007 GDC announcement of Home and all of its “rich features.”

The product has been delayed a few times now, chances are good the punch-list of features will be smaller than initially announced. It will no doubt be a work in progress for years to come… if anyone cares to use it.

Episode 351: Explicit LyricsEpisode 351: Explicit Lyrics

This week’s episode is shockingly adult, so the warning about explicit lyrics is up. Aside from the dirtiness, the episode features the following news:

  • Apple refuses to allow an educational app on female stimulation
  • Zenimax announces lawsuit against Oculus
  • Sony may be working on newer PS4, PS3 models
  • PS4 game pre-loading will begin with Destiny
  • External storage coming in Xbox One system update in June
  • Blizzard is suing Starcraft 2 hackers for profiting off mods

This plus Listener Feedback and the Question of the Week, “What is your favorite party game?”