wraggster
July 29th, 2006, 11:02
Just when we all thought the sniping between the format holders was over, Microsoft’s Richard Teversham has dismissed the launch plans of rivals Sony and Nintendo – whilst hinting at “surprise” spoiler tactics this Q4.
Speaking exclusively to MCV, Teversham questioned whether his competitors could launch their consoles in Europe this year and even accused Sony of abusing its fanbase to sell PS3s at £425.
“Sony has got great loyalty and they are going to seriously use that loyalty to ensure that they sell a console,” said Teversham. “On day one they will have pre-sold most of what they’ve got. But the question is, will they actually be able to launch in Europe and if they do, what are the tiny quantities going to be in Europe.
“And although Wii is almost a GameCube with a DVD drive, is Nintendo going to have enough quantity to satisfy the demand?”
While Teversham ruled out a cut on 360’s SRP before Christmas, he went on to slam PS3’s price tag. “The question is: When are they going to drop the price? I think a lot of gamers out there are going to be saying ‘I’ll wait for the price to drop,’ or even better they’ll buy a 360.”
Teversham also warned that Microsoft has a few spoilers planned for Q4. “I don’t want to reveal any plans at the moment because we want to keep a number of surprises up our sleeve. We will ensure we are good value and we’ll do that through having a variety of pricing on games, a variety of pricing on console offers.”
Teversham went on record to talk about Microsoft's new portable media device project Zune too, as he told MCV: "It is a combination of hardware and software. As for rollout and compatibility you’re going to have to watch this space - when we launch there will be a lot of noise around it. It’s about Microsoft bringing together communities on devices like Xbox, Zune and PC."
Speaking exclusively to MCV, Teversham questioned whether his competitors could launch their consoles in Europe this year and even accused Sony of abusing its fanbase to sell PS3s at £425.
“Sony has got great loyalty and they are going to seriously use that loyalty to ensure that they sell a console,” said Teversham. “On day one they will have pre-sold most of what they’ve got. But the question is, will they actually be able to launch in Europe and if they do, what are the tiny quantities going to be in Europe.
“And although Wii is almost a GameCube with a DVD drive, is Nintendo going to have enough quantity to satisfy the demand?”
While Teversham ruled out a cut on 360’s SRP before Christmas, he went on to slam PS3’s price tag. “The question is: When are they going to drop the price? I think a lot of gamers out there are going to be saying ‘I’ll wait for the price to drop,’ or even better they’ll buy a 360.”
Teversham also warned that Microsoft has a few spoilers planned for Q4. “I don’t want to reveal any plans at the moment because we want to keep a number of surprises up our sleeve. We will ensure we are good value and we’ll do that through having a variety of pricing on games, a variety of pricing on console offers.”
Teversham went on record to talk about Microsoft's new portable media device project Zune too, as he told MCV: "It is a combination of hardware and software. As for rollout and compatibility you’re going to have to watch this space - when we launch there will be a lot of noise around it. It’s about Microsoft bringing together communities on devices like Xbox, Zune and PC."