Bethesda boss says next-gen consoles not until after 2014, Skyrim could have been moved to them
Another week, another major player in the world of video games making their predictions as to when the next generation of hardware will be coming. Talking to PSM3 magazine, Bethesda's Todd Howard said he fully believes that it'll stile a while before the new consoles hit, as consumers are happy with the current batch of hardware. He said that not only does he not see the new consoles coming next year, but not even the year after that. However, Bethesda had considered waiting until the next consoles to release Skyrim. "We want [Skyrim] to be fresh. We don't want it to feel, visually or technically, 'Oh this is Fallout 3' or 'this is Oblivion' And if we couldn't do that we would have waited," Howard told PSM3
Hot on the heels of a controversial Game Informer survey comes a new study that also pegs the Xbox 360 as the least reliable console on the market. Electronics-warranty company SquareTrade has issued a survey of 16,000 game consoles it serviced from the second quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2009. The report analyzed approximately 2,500 PlayStation 3s, 2,500 Xbox 360s and 11,000 Wiis selected at random. (The company found Wii owners much more likely to buy warranties.) All consoles had been purchased new and had not been damaged by their owners.
As with the Game Informer study, SquareTrade found that the Xbox 360's failure rate was far higher than its rivals. Some 23.7 percent of those surveyed failed within two years of purchase: 12 percent from the infamous "Red Ring of Death" and 11.7 percent from other problems, including the "E74" error. Both problems are covered by the 360's three-year manufacturer's warranty, which the company began offering in 2007 for a cost of over $1 billion.
Historically, the 360 is more than twice as likely to fail as its rivals.
By contrast, the study found 10 percent of PlayStation 3s surveyed failed within two years of purchase, as did 2.7 percent of Wiis. However, SquareTrade pointed out an April survey by media-research firm Nielsen that concluded the Wii is the least played of the three major consoles, being used for only 516 minutes per month. By contrast, the Xbox 360 is played over twice as much (1,191 minutes per month), with the PS3 lagging slightly behind it (1,053 minutes per month).
Also to its credit, SquareTrade released a timeline for Xbox 360s that failed in their first year. Up until 2007, the 360 "Xenon" and "Zephyr" models were equipped with a 90nm-process CPU and GPU that generated considerable heat--a likely culprit in the still officially unexplained Red Ring of Death failures. Their replacement, called "Falcon," was released in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a cooler 65nm-process CPU and a 90nm GPU, several months after the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite.
However, the Falcon introduction had an adverse immediate effect, with the first two quarters of 2008 seeing first-year 360 failures spike to 10 percent. However, the study points out that a sell-off of older consoles in the fourth quarter of 2007, which then met their maker the following year, could also be a factor.
SquareTrade's analysis of recently purchased 360s appears to back up statements made by Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management Aaron Greenberg. In an interview with GameSpot just before the Xbox 360 Elite $299 price drop, the executive said that Microsoft has made great improvements in the console's quality control.
"I think we've made it clear we stand by the quality of our product, and we will make it right by fixing the problem at no extra cost to you," declared Greenberg. "But at the same time, we've been working hard to make improvements in the products we're currently making, so I really feel like most of this is well behind us."
Hot on the heels of a controversial Game Informer survey comes a new study that also pegs the Xbox 360 as the least reliable console on the market. Electronics-warranty company SquareTrade has issued a survey of 16,000 game consoles it serviced from the second quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2009. The report analyzed approximately 2,500 PlayStation 3s, 2,500 Xbox 360s and 11,000 Wiis selected at random. (The company found Wii owners much more likely to buy warranties.) All consoles had been purchased new and had not been damaged by their owners.
As with the Game Informer study, SquareTrade found that the Xbox 360's failure rate was far higher than its rivals. Some 23.7 percent of those surveyed failed within two years of purchase: 12 percent from the infamous "Red Ring of Death" and 11.7 percent from other problems, including the "E74" error. Both problems are covered by the 360's three-year manufacturer's warranty, which the company began offering in 2007 for a cost of over $1 billion.
Historically, the 360 is more than twice as likely to fail as its rivals.
By contrast, the study found 10 percent of PlayStation 3s surveyed failed within two years of purchase, as did 2.7 percent of Wiis. However, SquareTrade pointed out an April survey by media-research firm Nielsen that concluded the Wii is the least played of the three major consoles, being used for only 516 minutes per month. By contrast, the Xbox 360 is played over twice as much (1,191 minutes per month), with the PS3 lagging slightly behind it (1,053 minutes per month).
Also to its credit, SquareTrade released a timeline for Xbox 360s that failed in their first year. Up until 2007, the 360 "Xenon" and "Zephyr" models were equipped with a 90nm-process CPU and GPU that generated considerable heat--a likely culprit in the still officially unexplained Red Ring of Death failures. Their replacement, called "Falcon," was released in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a cooler 65nm-process CPU and a 90nm GPU, several months after the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite.
However, the Falcon introduction had an adverse immediate effect, with the first two quarters of 2008 seeing first-year 360 failures spike to 10 percent. However, the study points out that a sell-off of older consoles in the fourth quarter of 2007, which then met their maker the following year, could also be a factor.
SquareTrade's analysis of recently purchased 360s appears to back up statements made by Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management Aaron Greenberg. In an interview with GameSpot just before the Xbox 360 Elite $299 price drop, the executive said that Microsoft has made great improvements in the console's quality control.
"I think we've made it clear we stand by the quality of our product, and we will make it right by fixing the problem at no extra cost to you," declared Greenberg. "But at the same time, we've been working hard to make improvements in the products we're currently making, so I really feel like most of this is well behind us."
MetalSSlayerPosts: 6,164destroyer of motherfuckers
So is that 10 percent of PS3 failures from the same time when there was 23.7 percent of 360 failures, or from the time where the 360 failure percent dropped below 4? Because if it's the former I don't see how PS3 fanboys got owned.
Its more about people using the failure rate thing as a reason why they hate the xbox 360 now.
I still don't think I'd buy one. Besides...in the next 3 years I could bet there will be all new consoles to go after. But I would wait at least 2-3 years to get one because I could bet they will shove em out too fast because of demand
Its more about people using the failure rate thing as a reason why they hate the xbox 360 now.
I still don't think I'd buy one. Besides...in the next 3 years I could bet there will be all new consoles to go after. But I would wait at least 2-3 years to get one because I could bet they will shove em out too fast because of demand
i think PS and Xbox will have more consoles coming, if anyone got pushed out of the equation it would probably be nintendo. im pretty sure theres rumors going around about a new sega console.
"That's another thing I love about metal, it's so fuckin' huge yet certain people don't even know it exists." - Rob Zombie
Its more about people using the failure rate thing as a reason why they hate the xbox 360 now.
I still don't think I'd buy one. Besides...in the next 3 years I could bet there will be all new consoles to go after. But I would wait at least 2-3 years to get one because I could bet they will shove em out too fast because of demand
i think PS and Xbox will have more consoles coming, if anyone got pushed out of the equation it would probably be nintendo. im pretty sure theres rumors going around about a new sega console.
Dude, Nintendo sold the most units this cycle...they arent going anywhere
Comments
Another week, another major player in the world of video games making their predictions as to when the next generation of hardware will be coming.
Talking to PSM3 magazine, Bethesda's Todd Howard said he fully believes that it'll stile a while before the new consoles hit, as consumers are happy with the current batch of hardware. He said that not only does he not see the new consoles coming next year, but not even the year after that.
However, Bethesda had considered waiting until the next consoles to release Skyrim.
"We want [Skyrim] to be fresh. We don't want it to feel, visually or technically, 'Oh this is Fallout 3' or 'this is Oblivion' And if we couldn't do that we would have waited," Howard told PSM3
As with the Game Informer study, SquareTrade found that the Xbox 360's failure rate was far higher than its rivals. Some 23.7 percent of those surveyed failed within two years of purchase: 12 percent from the infamous "Red Ring of Death" and 11.7 percent from other problems, including the "E74" error. Both problems are covered by the 360's three-year manufacturer's warranty, which the company began offering in 2007 for a cost of over $1 billion.
Historically, the 360 is more than twice as likely to fail as its rivals.
By contrast, the study found 10 percent of PlayStation 3s surveyed failed within two years of purchase, as did 2.7 percent of Wiis. However, SquareTrade pointed out an April survey by media-research firm Nielsen that concluded the Wii is the least played of the three major consoles, being used for only 516 minutes per month. By contrast, the Xbox 360 is played over twice as much (1,191 minutes per month), with the PS3 lagging slightly behind it (1,053 minutes per month).
Also to its credit, SquareTrade released a timeline for Xbox 360s that failed in their first year. Up until 2007, the 360 "Xenon" and "Zephyr" models were equipped with a 90nm-process CPU and GPU that generated considerable heat--a likely culprit in the still officially unexplained Red Ring of Death failures. Their replacement, called "Falcon," was released in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a cooler 65nm-process CPU and a 90nm GPU, several months after the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite.
However, the Falcon introduction had an adverse immediate effect, with the first two quarters of 2008 seeing first-year 360 failures spike to 10 percent. However, the study points out that a sell-off of older consoles in the fourth quarter of 2007, which then met their maker the following year, could also be a factor.
SquareTrade's analysis of recently purchased 360s appears to back up statements made by Xbox 360 and Xbox Live director of product management Aaron Greenberg. In an interview with GameSpot just before the Xbox 360 Elite $299 price drop, the executive said that Microsoft has made great improvements in the console's quality control.
"I think we've made it clear we stand by the quality of our product, and we will make it right by fixing the problem at no extra cost to you," declared Greenberg. "But at the same time, we've been working hard to make improvements in the products we're currently making, so I really feel like most of this is well behind us."