Microsoft makes big play for gamers

By PETER GRIFFIN

The global video-game console war between Sony and Microsoft will sweep across New Zealand next month when Microsoft unleashes the Xbox on local gamers.

As it has done in the rest of the world, Microsoft will match Sony on price, selling the Xbox for $499, the heavily discounted price that Sony's PlayStation 2 console now sells for.

From October 3, gamers will be able to buy a Machine with more grunt than both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's Gamecube, but market leader Sony has had a long head start, having sold about 85,000 PlayStation 2 consoles and more than 400,000 of the first-generation machines.

Xbox's features stack up like that of an entry-level PC. Powered by a 733MHz (megahertz) Pentium 3 processor, it comes equipped with a 8GB hard drive, 250MHz NVIDIA graphics processing unit, built-in ethernet port and the ability to play music CDs and DVD movies.

Launching the console last week, Xbox marketing manager Wilf Robinson said he expected thousands to be sold in the run-up to Christmas.

Sales in the last four weeks of the year typically accounted for 40 per cent of annual business for console vendors, so a successful launch and marketing campaign were crucial.

Robinson said experience in the United States and Japan showed the console market as a whole grew with Xbox's arrival.

"The big question is, how much does the market grow by? At the price we're coming in at it's a commoditised product - we're aiming at families, not just hardcore gamers.

"The whole reason I joined Microsoft was Xbox," said Robinson, a defector from Sony.

"I knew what the issues with PlayStation were. I knew what the hype was."

Peripherals such as extra controllers, link cables and memory units - where retailers such as Harvey Norman, Noel Leeming and Dick Smith will make their money on Xbox - range from $40 to $80.

Early buyers will have 80 Xbox games to choose from, with about 70 more to be released by year's end. They will cost $90 to $130 each.

Alan Bowman, the Australia-based regional manager for Xbox, said: "We have different versions of Xbox for different territories, which adds some complexity on the operational side. We always planned on it being a staggered process."

Local Xbox owners still do not know when they will be able to take advantage of the machine's online gaming functions - a major selling point over PlayStation 2.

Xbox Live, a Microsoft service that allows high-speed multiplayer gaming over a broadband connection, will be launched in the US in mid-November.

Bowman said Xbox Live would come to Australia and New Zealand next year, when there were enough machines to support the service.

But the take-up may be hampered by New Zealand's relatively low broadband penetration rate.

Bowman said widespread access to high-speed internet was critical to the success of Xbox Live, and the download allowances imposed by some broadband providers would be quickly eaten up by gamers.

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