The Xbox will sell for a recommended retail price (RRP) of AUD$649, including GST. The majority of Xbox games are expected to sell for an RRP of AUD$99.95. It will be available in Australia on March 14 2002.
Addressing concerns over the availability of the system, the size of the initial retail shipment was revealed. More than 100,000 Xbox video game systems are planned for the first three months of the Xbox's sale, to the end of June 2002. This is an ambitious figure, considering the current sales of Sony's Playstation 2 platform have only recently exceeded 160,000 in Australia after several price reductions.
The Xbox is a console videogame system that attaches to a television.
The Xbox is a massively powerful system that incorporates a DVD player and PC hardware components to deliver a dynamic visceral experience to players. The designers of the Xbox are expecting the quality of the games on the system to exceed the public's expectations.
The Xbox features aggressive next-generation features such as a built-in hard-disk and built-in Broadband adapter, making the system Internet-ready out of the box. The Xbox online system however, will not be ready for launch, instead following at least six months afterwards according to anecdotal industry expectations.
The information comes in the wake of a sleeper advertising campaign designed to prevent users from purchasing the Xbox's competition, the existing Playstation 2 machine and upcoming Nintendo Gamecube. The campaign has included bus-stop ads, posters sticky-taped to telegraph poles in metro areas and controversially, painted logos emblazoned onto footpaths in high pedestrian traffic areas.
Microsoft was recently cautioned by South Sydney Council over the spray-paint portion of the guerilla campaign, being forced to remove the defacements or face steep charges for their removal.
Yes, but where are the games?