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Gaming Life Down Under
Bad news for Microsoft, while the GameCube gets ready to launch in Australia.

May 13, 2002 -







Welcome to another edition of Gaming Life down Under. Big news this week with price drops aplenty across both new systems, as well as some humorous letters, a close up of some breasts from Dead or Alive 3 as well as fanboy accusations directed at my good self.


Price Drop

By now most people would have heard about the massive price drop of Xbox in Australia (as well as all other PAL regions). Overnight the Xbox dropped from $650AUD to $399AUD, for two days the GameCube and Xbox were to be the same price.

Nintendo, who have maintained from the beginning to always be the most competitively priced console, finally lowered the price of the GameCube to $329AUD, a further saving of $70AUD. This left Sony's Playstation2 looking a little old and frail sitting on store shelves for $450AUD. People expecting Sony to follow suit in the price drops were disappointed, when the console remained, and still remains, at around the $450AUD mark.

An odd move by the market leader, since its once great claim to fame, the inclusion of a DVD player, has been overshadowed by the new Xbox with superior DVD playing capabilities as well as a cheaper price. Records continued to fall, not only making this the first time a consoles has launched cheaper in Pal regions than anywhere else, but also the price drop caused an influx of pre orders for GameCube, pushing it past the PS2s pre-order record in the UK and getting dangerously close in Australia with still a week to go before launch. Meanwhile most stores have reported only a small increase in interest towards the green and black beast. Most stores that were contacted are still attempting to sell their first delivery of units since the price drop, when most had expected second and third deliveries to already be in store and selling.

Things get a little worse for Microsoft, with a number of key independent video game retailers who I managed to contact telling me the drop may have done more harm than good for the console. One manager of a Sydney independent store said "What they have done is piss off people that had already brought the console and damaged prospective buyers confidence in the system, I am starting to wish I had of followed the lead of Harvey Norman and not stocked the damn thing."

This sentiment was echoed, perhaps not as harshly, by three other managers I contacted two days after the price drop. Harvey Norman, a popular Australian electronics chain opted not to sell the Xbox due to the fact it was far to expensive, the chain was not backward in coming forward when Microsoft announced the price drop, "We told you so!"

Just in relation to the negative backlash to the Xbox price drop, which I don't think is truly negative to begin with (check games sales charts), I don't like to editorialize in this column to much, but I would ask readers to keep in mind that Microsoft did not need to offer any reward to people who purchased the console early at the $649AUD price point, in fact, Microsoft were well within their rights to leave buyers out in the cold.

Granted that such an act would have caused riots among the 3,000 or so owners who lined up and bought the console early, but they could have done it and this offering should be seen for what it is, a gift.


Ooops My Bad

I received this email from a concerned reader a few days ago.


Heath,

In your piece on IGN you mentioned that Xbox had sold over 10,000 consoles in three days yet I was reading the newspaper today and they stated they had only sold 3000 consoles in four weeks? I thought maybe the paper was wrong since you are in the business and would know what you are talking about, but after speaking to someone at Microsoft they have confirmed that the paper is correct. This proves that IGN are in Microsoft's pocket and you tried to push the console by inflating their sales figures. I won't read your articles again.

-- Thomas Lombard


Note: This email was received the day after the price drop, when the Australian mainstream media went a little crazy over the price war that was developing.>

I was genuinely surprised to get this email, I immediately went out and got a paper and he was 100% correct, mainstream media were reporting the system had only sold 3,000 units in 3 or so weeks. So why would I just make up the deluded 10,000+ figure? Well the truth is, I didn't. I got the figure from an official Microsoft press release three days after the launch, in my naïveté I took their word for it and ran with the information. Suffice it to say I have learnt my lesson. If it appears I am not to upset with this then you would be right, remember we are dealing with a console that according to Microsoft can push eight trillion polygons a nanosecond, does your dishes and promises not to date your sister until you give it permission, so what is 7,000 consoles sold between friends?

Just another little thing to clear up, it was released this week that the Microsoft Xbox does not support progressive scan or HDTV in Pal regions. These features were taken out of the consoles before the Launch and Microsoft have stopped shipping the High Definition packs to Australian retailers. Although this was apparently no secret, Microsoft should have perhaps taken the "Future-Proof" information off the side of the machines boxes, and instructed sales staff at retailers not to use it as a sales tool, as one of the things I was told when purchasing my Xbox (remember first in line!) was that the machine was a top of the line DVD player, far superior to PS2 because it carried progressive scan and HDTV support. Not good enough Microsoft!







If this doesn't make you want to buy an Xbox, then nothing will. The anti-sexism in advertising lobby is fuming, meanwhile more and more young boys are being caught with copies of DOA3 under their mattresses.


Going Ga-Ga over the GameCube

Yes I agree, that was probably the worst lead in line to a news piece in the history of written language, but that doesn't detract from the fact that the GameCube is well on track to having the most successful system launch in Australia's history. Coming off huge success in Europe, some retailers in Australia have already started turning away prospective GameCube pre-orders, having filled their quotas of launch consoles. EB stores throughout Australia's major cities have averaged over 70 pre orders for the GameCube, while independents, who can not match the same Pack deals, are also doing remarkably well on just the single console. EB stores are offering a $499AUD ($265USD) Bundle pack, this includes the GameCube (in Indigo or Jet), an extra controller (in Indigo, Clear Indigo, Jet, or Spice), a memory card, a copy of either Luigi's Mansion or Wave Race and an exclusive GameCube carry bag.

This may sound tempting but Toys R Us are offering a surprisingly better deal, their bundle, at $529AUD, includes the GameCube, memory card, GameCube hint book (four hint books for the price of one), 5x$10 Gift vouchers for their store, and a copy of Wave Race and Luigi's Mansion! That's right, all for $529AUD!! Which translates to $280USD. Other retailers are offering sub-par deals, where your pre-order is rewarded with a free third party controller, you can't deny that Toys R Us has the best offer going, and thank you to Gaming Life Down Under reader dim_light for the heads up on the deal.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will be flying into Melbourne on the 17th , and will make it to one of the three major launches they are having in the rainy city. If you would like to come up and say Hi, I will be the guy wearing an Xbox T-shirt and lying beaten and bloody in a corner, cause lets face it, Nintendo fanboys are the most fun. I will be back for Friday's IGN Insider update with pictures and all the news from the big Australian launch.



Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X has been bought forward to compete head to head with the GameCube launch, announced last week the title will be released on the 17th of May, the same day as the GameCube launch. This should come as no surprise to anyone, since word was that the Pal versions of the game have been ready for some time and Sony were merely waiting for a 'perfect' time to release the killer RPG title. Final Fantasy Anthology (featuring FF 4 and 5) will be released on the same day, also readers should take note that the RRP of Final Fantasy X has risen from $99.95 to $109.95. Hopefully the new price won't put off too many prospective owners off buying the game, but since a lot of hardcore gamers have just forked over a few hundred dollars for a new system, I have to wonder if the $10 extra was really a good decision on this title.








When I first saw this I thought it was Nintendo advertising for E3, bit it's just a crazy new marketing scheme concocted by Nintendo to confuse us, and draw our attention away from the DOA3 advertising Microsoft have everywhere. So far, it isn't succeeding, perhaps close-ups of Luigi in a push up bra would do the trick?

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Ubisoft Montréal
Animateur Far Cry Xbox