Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 has sold 700,000 in the land of g’days and kiwis, with the green eye of the console fixing its gaze on a million sales by Christmas. According to Gamespot, the company’s manager for Australia and New Zealand labeled the console as the fastest growing in the region — not dissimilar to statements made by US execs about their own region.
The company didn’t hint at any price or console changes for the Xbox 360 in the region. Execs are “confident” that they’ll reach the million goal with the “console’s current price point.” [joystiq]
Update: XBox NZ just told us that they are definitely on target for Christmas and that currently there’s one console for every 16 households in New Zealand, which basically means you’re not the only one in your street hanging out for ODST or MW2 to drop later in the year.
Matt Rummel, Business manager Harvey Norman had this to say about the 360’s continuing growth;
“People are pulling back on certain luxuries, but are still spending on goods that make the home a more enjoyable place. Products such as the Xbox 360 provide good value entertainment for the family and are still strong sellers for us. We expect this to continue, especially as Xbox 360 continues to release strong titles, and makes further in-roads into the family and female markets. People are also becoming more tech-savvy, and starting to use devices like the Xbox 360 to download content online, and this will also drive growth in the category.”
Fat scruffy guy talks to skinny guy about all the MadCatz gaming gear being produced for Modern Warfare 2. The guy prattles on for over 10 minutes, gushing over his companies range of XBox 360, PS3 and PC gear, all with the MW2 branding, and cutting edge technology such as the throat communicator, based on military specs, but conveniently doesn’t work anything like military specs. A good video for insomniacs.
It’s no surprise that Harmonix is working on expanding the Rock Band franchise in some way. This year brings The Beatles: Rock Band, but what will the future hold? MTV Games head Scott Guthrie talked to MCV about “what is effectively the next game, or ‘Rock Band 3′.” Guthrie doesn’t deny that the next major release from Harmonix could be another artist collaboration a la The Beatles, but whatever the next project is will undoubtedly reflect a major change for the franchise.
“We aren’t standing still,” Guthrie notes. “We will keep moving into new areas and look at new technologies that our platform holder partners are also developing, such as Project Natal from Microsoft. We’re working with them to pull some things together.”
