Xbox 360: multiple versions planned, WebTV to ship on premium edition?
Two different Xbox 360 bundles to hit retail in time for Christmas
Microsoft's is still planning to ship two different versions of its Xbox 360 console at launch, according to sources close to the company - while reports suggest that the high-end version may feature the firm's WebTV system.
It's long been thought that Microsoft plans to ship two different Xbox 360 bundles, one with a hard drive and one without, and give users the option of upgrading the low-end system with a hard drive accessory.
Sources close to the firm have confirmed this week that there's much talk of two distinct price points, which seems to indicate that this is still the plan for launch - while a report on well-connected gaming blog Kotaku gives an indication of how the two different models will be differentiated.
The site reports that the basic edition of Xbox 360 - the version without the hard drive - will not have backwards compatibility, while the "premium" version with the hard drive will ship with Microsoft's WebTV functionality built-in.
WebTV is Microsoft's effort at bringing internet communication and media functionality to the living room, and includes basic functionality such as web, e-mail and IM access along with the ability to stream music and video channels from the 'net or from local PCs.
Integrating the system with Xbox 360 would be a logical move, and a major land-grab for Microsoft in this space - which is tipped to become more important in the coming years as increasing amounts of content are broadcast over the Internet as opposed to over traditional TV networks.
A major question mark over the possibility of a the two-tier Xbox launch, however, lies with the question of customised content - one of J Allard's most vaunted goals for the new system - and how that would tie in with a low-end Xbox 360 without a mass storage device.
One part of the answer to that question is the inclusion of a high-capacity solid state memory device with the system, which wouldn't be large enough to store music or movies in any significant volume - or to act as a cache for Xbox games, as the existing Xbox' hard drive does - but would be able to act as a cache customised game assets.
Indeed, last year Israeli flash memory specialist M-Systems confirmed that it is working on a memory solution for Xbox 2, with CEO Dov Moran stating that "when users want to save their e-mail messages, copy music, or anything like that, the only storage they’ll have is what we give them."
Another part of the answer to that question may come from Kotaku's sources, who indicated to the site that around 80 per cent of the systems produced for launch would be the "premium" version - suggesting that the lower-end model is, more than anything else, a concession to launching a competitively priced "games only" system.
Sony is also widely expected to launch multiple versions of the PlayStation 3 console, which is due to arrive in 2006, with both "home media server" and stripped down "basic console" versions believed to be on the cards.
Analysts: 3 million Xbox 360s shipped by Xmas
Goldman Sachs says it expects Microsoft's next-gen console to arrive in force this year--perhaps as early as October--for under $300.
With the unveiling of the next-generation Xbox on the horizon, doubts that the console will not arrive this year are steadily evaporating. Any lingering uncertainty was further dispelled today when the online edition of Forbes reported that top-flight investment firm Goldman Sachs "expects" the console to arrive in time for the 2005 holiday season.
According to Forbes, Goldman Sachs is predicting that the next-gen Xbox, now increasingly referred to as the Xbox 360, will "be available for retail sale in October or November at a retail price of about $249 to $299." Goldman says it "expects" Microsoft to have shipped around 3 million units by year's end and reiterated its "outperform" rating for Microsoft Corp. stock, which closed at $25.32 today.
Goldman Sachs' predictions were backed up by another high-profile analyst's report. "We expect Microsoft to announce a release date for the next-gen Xbox in the October/November 2005 period," said Boris Markovich of TerraNova Institutional.
In the same report, Goldman Sachs said it does not see the PlayStation 3 appearing on US store shelves until mid-2006. The company predicted that an earlier launch--sometime in the first calendar quarter of 2006--in Japan is likely.
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