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Microsoft Corp which is trying to unseat gaming market leader Sony Corp, said on Wednesday the Japanese consumer electronics maker has lost some of the advantages that made its PlayStation gaming machine a top-selling video game console.
Microsoft has forged stronger relationships with the industry's top game publishers -- alliances that can make-or-break a console's success -- and for the first time, will beat Sony to market with its next-generation console.
Sony, which unseated Nintendo Co. Ltd. as the industry's top console maker and drove Sega's Genesis console out of business a decade ago, still controls more than two-thirds of the market.
Sony's current generation console, the PlayStation 2, beat Microsoft's Xbox console to the market more than four years ago. This time, however, Microsoft is launching its next-generation Xbox 360 console ahead of the 2005 holiday season, ahead of Sony's planned launch of its PlayStation 3 in Spring 2006.
Since they last faced off, Microsoft has courted the industry's top video game publishers, including Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Square Enix Co. Ltd. (9684.T: Quote, Profile, Research) in the same way Sony courted the top game makers a decade ago when the PlayStation first launched, said Robbie Bach, chief of Microsoft's home and entertainment division.
"What happens is there's a certain amount of ego -- it gets in the way of what's important, which is that it's all about partner (game publisher) success," Bach said.
Microsoft has also offered game publishers a bigger cut of the proceeds from game sales and hired key executives from within the gaming industry to court developers.
That's also the model Microsoft adopted for Windows, luring top software companies to write programs for its personal computer operating system, making it a monopoly.
"It goes back to our roots," Bach said.
Sony, meanwhile, said Microsoft's Xbox 360 won't be able to compete against Sony's newest console because it lacks future technology, such as newly designed microchips, high-resolution graphics and a next-generation DVD player.
"It's a box made of future technology as opposed to Xbox 1.5, which seems to be a combination of things available today," said Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, implying slyly that the Xbox 360 isn't quite a full upgrade to version "2.0."
Both companies are trash-talking each other and playing up the future capabilities of their newest gaming machines, partly because the time lag between major console releases is getting longer and longer.
Bach said software update services, which can keep console system hardware up-to-date, allow for longer life cycles and Microsoft had already demonstrated such capabilities for its current-generation Xbox console.
"We've built in a lot of headroom," Bach said.
Bach also noted Sony's lack of talk over an online strategy for the PlayStation 3.
Microsoft said it will have more than 2 million users for its Xbox Live online service by the end of June. The software giant is introducing a free Xbox Live service with Xbox 360 that it says will put more than half of that console's gamers online.
-data-
Microsoft Corp which is trying to unseat gaming market leader Sony Corp, said on Wednesday the Japanese consumer electronics maker has lost some of the advantages that made its PlayStation gaming machine a top-selling video game console.
Microsoft has forged stronger relationships with the industry's top game publishers -- alliances that can make-or-break a console's success -- and for the first time, will beat Sony to market with its next-generation console.
Sony, which unseated Nintendo Co. Ltd. as the industry's top console maker and drove Sega's Genesis console out of business a decade ago, still controls more than two-thirds of the market.
Sony's current generation console, the PlayStation 2, beat Microsoft's Xbox console to the market more than four years ago. This time, however, Microsoft is launching its next-generation Xbox 360 console ahead of the 2005 holiday season, ahead of Sony's planned launch of its PlayStation 3 in Spring 2006.
Since they last faced off, Microsoft has courted the industry's top video game publishers, including Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Square Enix Co. Ltd. (9684.T: Quote, Profile, Research) in the same way Sony courted the top game makers a decade ago when the PlayStation first launched, said Robbie Bach, chief of Microsoft's home and entertainment division.
"What happens is there's a certain amount of ego -- it gets in the way of what's important, which is that it's all about partner (game publisher) success," Bach said.
Microsoft has also offered game publishers a bigger cut of the proceeds from game sales and hired key executives from within the gaming industry to court developers.
That's also the model Microsoft adopted for Windows, luring top software companies to write programs for its personal computer operating system, making it a monopoly.
"It goes back to our roots," Bach said.
Sony, meanwhile, said Microsoft's Xbox 360 won't be able to compete against Sony's newest console because it lacks future technology, such as newly designed microchips, high-resolution graphics and a next-generation DVD player.
"It's a box made of future technology as opposed to Xbox 1.5, which seems to be a combination of things available today," said Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, implying slyly that the Xbox 360 isn't quite a full upgrade to version "2.0."
Both companies are trash-talking each other and playing up the future capabilities of their newest gaming machines, partly because the time lag between major console releases is getting longer and longer.
Bach said software update services, which can keep console system hardware up-to-date, allow for longer life cycles and Microsoft had already demonstrated such capabilities for its current-generation Xbox console.
"We've built in a lot of headroom," Bach said.
Bach also noted Sony's lack of talk over an online strategy for the PlayStation 3.
Microsoft said it will have more than 2 million users for its Xbox Live online service by the end of June. The software giant is introducing a free Xbox Live service with Xbox 360 that it says will put more than half of that console's gamers online.
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