NEWS - Friday, April 5, 2002
Figures And Online Plans For Australia
Data from analyst firm Inform shows PS2 sales reached 6255 for the week March 18-24, while Xbox sales were just 3065. Retailers previously sold 9124 Xbox units in the first four days after the March 14 launch. But a sales total of 12,189 is far short of the 27,000 consoles Microsoft supplied to retailers in the first week. Click here for the full article and read what Xbox director Alan Bowman had to say. As far as the online plans go for Australia, Australian Xboxers will have to wait until next year to play the network games for which the Microsoft machine was designed. The delay also effects possible bundle deals with broadband providers. Despite having a hard drive and being custom made for broadband access Microsoft has dragged its feet on having the unit ready to plug into a central games portal through the Internet. Microsoft Australia Xbox manager Alan Bowman said the company would be "making some announcements around this mid year with respect to our US offering." But he added that while a US games portal would be up and running this year, local punters will have to wait longer. Bowman said the US site would not be available to non US subscribers but when the Australian site is launched next year it would likely be a mirror of the US site. Click here for the full article and read what Xbox director Alan Bowman had to say.Source: http://www.xboxau.com/
