In my opinion the reason Xbox 360 will not come here is becasue the userbase that is the people who can and WILLING to afford original xbox gaming is too small and the goverment taxes here make the price of the Xbox even higher here than SG version this makes people who wanted to get an original Xbox getting the SG version so there is no point launching here. Take a look at Malaysian PS3 here, priced at rm 200-300 more compared to the SG version PS3. I belive this will happen if Microsoft is able to launch thier Xbox here.
Microsoft is able to launch Windows Phone 7 here becasue the amount of people who willing to get a smartphone is quite alot compare to the gaming machine .
For most people here, if they wanted gaming they would go for Playstation brand because Playstation is more popular here and most people who are willing to get the gaming console ( probabbly people aged 13- 20 , not including the hardcore guys who are older here (but the percentage of hardcore player is way small compare to the masses ) will definitely go for playstation becasue the brand and blu-ray capablity. For those who are getting Xbox is mainly becasue of Xbox can plays the pirated games.I mean for the masses .
Lets face it, in our society ,much more people cares for things like ipad or iphone than gaming console.For most people they would only play few games that is angry bird and some chinese MMO .People here are not minded to pay alot of money for games. Even the $0.99 games on the iphone are pirated , let alone rm 160+ for one games.

This post has been edited by jackyl: Oct 14 2011, 07:13 PM

Not necessarily true.

If cost is the sole reason, then how you can you explain the sales of Playstation games? The attach rate (game sales per console) for PS3 is pretty low compared to xbox anywhere in the world (not an exaggeration, there's a lot of market research on that) and that's even counting in a number of xbox that doesn't even play original games to begin with! But still in our region, PS3 can garner sales as they should be in any other place, so there's no problem in cost.

*This attach rate is pretty important for console sales as all of them are actually subsidised, and the company are highly relying on game sales*

About tax, don't tell me in SG got no tax. The RRP in malaysia got jacked up simply as the demand is not that fast. Lots of consoles are sold at old RRP while internationally price cuts are introduced time and again, because of that. Plus shops in malaysia already got stocks of PS3 from other country (e.g: singapore) since they are the first one retailers can grab (it's not like Sony Malaysia sells PS3 here since day 1, fat or slim). BTW the bigger reason is that malaysian retailers aren't competitive enough that they just follow the suggested RRP. Heck, if you're in a more competitive market, you'll hear people say "why buy at RRP?".

But enough of all of that above, all that matters is that malaysians accepted official products wholeheartedly, eventhough at a price premium. This is also true for other devices like iPhone too.

So nope, price comparison is not a problem. If following your logic, in malaysia people will just buy Wii over PS3.



Not necessarily true.

Decades ago, Nintendo and Sega are the console king in our country (heck, even the world). Only in late 90's you hear the word Playstation, prior to that even Sony name's somewhat alien to the gaming world. And yet it sells well after that. Ironically, the biggest proportion of buyer for the first/second gen Playstation in our country are only going for pirated game.

Just say the "free lunch" is just to give the unexposed consumers a taste of the game, then charge for them as it gain traction. Analogous to free demos if you ask me.

And if you're just saying that the console is only restricted to certain demographic nowadays you're totally wrong. If you came at least from 80's you'll see in that time consoles are just for kids (and teens). Nowadays it caters both kids and adults alike. Ask around if you find that hard to believe.



In our country, people aren't paying for legit games just because those are marketed heavily. Take example of older gen PS. Lots of shop were really pushing the modded ones instead the unmodded. And so the disc sales, as the medium is pretty cheap they are more than happy to adopt piracy.

But now after 2 generations suddenly shops are pushing for legit units. The medium is too steep-priced to duplicate, and lots of pirated titles are useless anyway due to active piracy circumvention on the console. And now suddenly people are willing to go legit on their game discs.





So I'd say the reason is not about userbase, reluctancy of consumers to go legit, or console/game cost. It's just that MS is playing the oldest marketing game since, err, crack. Leave the people get a taste first. It's a dejavu of brand awareness method being done on first generation playstation in our country.

Furthermore, it's more likely that the current gen console is showing its age (every 7th gen console does). So by having a launch coinciding with new hardware introduction, it will get them a better start. And yet it's no surprise for them to suddenly introduce them here in near time, since it will get them ready pre-next gen console.

This post has been edited by EatMe: Oct 14 2011, 10:06 PM

I am not very sure but i read from somewhere that Malaysian government charge 15% Tax on electronic product. That is one of the reason the price got jacked up so much.

Microsoft do not loose money on each console made anymore , they had thier cost covered for each console made afew years ago since the electronics price has gone down alot since few years ago.

Many shop still heavily promoting pirated game from what i can seen in Penang game shops, even many PS3 customer prefered moded console. I am not very sure this is the case in KL but i am still sure they wikll continue promote pirated game here becasue they can earn more on many pirated sales instead of few original sales.

I am also sure that price is one of the factor people will consider when buying console. There are alot of Wii owners out there in Malaysia, possibly more than PS3 and Xbox combined but these people are more of a casual gamer and do not hang out at game forum to place comment. In many case many of people here still choosing to buy the Wii or PSP becasue the price of the console is cheap and there are lots of "free lunch" ie: pirated game . Many of the casual gamers just want to play games and like the Gimmick of the console (example is the Wii motion control /kinect ) and they probabbly wont even care about the graphic of the game .The term online gaming is still very new to most people and alot of people thinks that the only way to play 2 player online is by going to cyber cafe via lan

Even the HDTV adoption is still not very high yet and the current gen console do not look very good on those SDTV. ( I am also a late adopter of HDTV only got one last year after i got my PS3 for 2 years) So the graphic probably doesnt matter anyway

This post has been edited by jackyl: Oct 14 2011, 11:01 PM

piracy is just an excuse to sales. Simple example of microsoft windows 98/xp which was heavily pirated in malaysia during early 2000. MS step in to promote genuine copy (preloaded in laptops), discounts and bundle and crack down piracy, the numbers of piracy greatly reduced. Good and bad, Population will later accept it by default, as its easier for consumer to acquire them than pirated copies.

All this steps require initial funds and resources and government cooperation. Unless MS sees potential profit out of it, xbox live will not be officially be in MY what more too say the amount of gamers in malaysia and most of them are still in the PC. We are quite lucky Xbox support Singapore provide support for SEA countries

This post has been edited by y3ivan: Oct 17 2011, 01:34 PM

But other than gaming, electronic products (like portable media players, cell phones) are just doing mighty-fine price-wise. In fact cell phones got higher tax than other electronic products since they got the kind of radio modules which make them taxable under higher rates. Yet they are not steeply priced here.

So I'd say the lol pricing is just that the retailers are being lousy.

.

Not necessarily true.

Sure one can assume calculating from the current xbox's Bill of Material (B.O.M) they will incur much lower cost. Unfortunately, it's by thin margin. And that doesnt include workers, packaging, storage, shipment, etc.

MS still lose money on each console being sold. And that's not even including R&D cost and marketing.

.

Like y3vian said, there will become a point where piracy will become too cumbersome (and costly too), and people will eventually embrace genuine products.

As for MS story, gone the days of buying "shop-branded" (or no name) custom-built CPU preloaded with pirated Windows 98. Nowadays people are more comfortable living with their genuine Windows.

As for PS3, it's beginning to be in the same phase. With frequent updates and mandatory updates on newer titles, piracy has become more a pain in the ass. Done the update, all dozens of pirated discs now become useless (with prices of 10 or 20 ringgit per game).

On the xbox, online is no-go if you're advocating piracy. Even piracy becomes more costlier, too. Need to (expensively) reflash the drive that requiring specialised hardware time and again, only to play all your old pirated RM8.00 PlayBox discs that the genuine version now just costs RM30 on the forum or even still fresh in its wrap from online retailer for the same price. And that's not even saying that lots of games are more focused on multiplayer (e.g: as of Medal Of Honor, even the multiplayer version visually looks miles better than its shitty singleplayer).

.

As for Wii's adoption, although i won't buy the made-up assumption that it sells better than any other two consoles combined in malaysia, I'd say it's just that the console is more kid-friendly (the heritage of Nintendo) and that's the bigger reason of its success. As a parent (whose the most probably buying those consoles), Marios are more appealing than gore-filled slaughterfest games with visuals only appropriate for more matured audiences. It's not about gimmick or piracy.

Not saying that Wii only appeals for the adolescents. In fact, it most likely appeals to the 20 to 30-ish year players that appreciate nostalgic games, (since they grew up with NES). That's the charms of it.

Btw as to answer those questions, it's not about the motion-sensing or piracy-friendly appeal.

.

If the word "piracy" still come up in this discussion, I'll just tell you this. Look at the countries list for XBox Live. And you'll see there are other countries that got rampant piracy, yet they've made it to the oficially supported list.

It's just Microsoft's playing the Windows 98 card.

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This post has been edited by EatMe: Oct 17 2011, 05:53 PM

Hi all, sorry for missing in actions for days.

Appreciate for your comments, replies and constructive opinions.

I'm still keen on seeing this happen, will catch up with folks from MS Malaysia and find out what's going on. (Setting up mini action plans to kick start the effort also, stay tuned!)

Will keep you guys posted on the progress!

Interesting discussion. Hope to see updates from Heislyc.

cheers

Nice topic.... Support

it never happen and never be. buy a modded or singapore unit and u much more happier.i and my mate played rosak 3 unit already ad we had lot fun on games, if u like tat keep waiting for the non exist official unit for malaysia...worthless. but mm soft more succks isnt it? did nothing!

My god.. this is the thread that JUST WON'T DIE!!

NEVER! LOL

Well, at the very least, with the launch of the nokia lumia today, isn't windows marketplace supposed to be live in MY? And by that extension xboxlive? As the local windows phone enthusiast, Marauderz, do keep us updated.

The news/rumour is that Maxis and/or Celcom will support operator billing for Windows Phone Marketplace in Malaysia with the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800 today. I'm not sure what this means or how it works until the confirmed details are out.

In any case, i don't think the marketplace and Xbox Live are mutually exclusive. I believe that they are two separate systems that require separate resources and commitment from MSFT.

Unfortunately.. it DOES seem like marketplace and XBox Live is mutually exclusive as I found out through my testing yesterday.

YES, we can sign up for a Malaysian Microsoft billing account.
YES, that makes it very easy for us to link CC to buy stuff in the marketplace.

But..

NO, Xbox Live isn't enabled for the new account!!! If you used a Malaysian tied account with the phone, The Xbox Live tabs DISAPPEAR!

Then if you tried to use the Live ID to sign into the XBox you get an error.

So... is Windows Phone MArketplace and XBox mutually exclusive? Yup.. I really hoped it wouldn't be like what Labbit said... but it is!

Region locking and stuff is not new to us Xbox users, and if any of us XBL players got the phone, we could just stick our XBL Live ID into it and be off. But it's mighty confusing to normal users..

Ahhh, what a sad news. But I think most of us already live comfortably with it now.

US XBL is the best anyway.

YEah.. those of us who are familiar with how to deal with the country regioning wouldn't feel a thing.

Thanks for the warning on xboxlive not being enabled MY accounts. Just got myself a lumia 800 and I have to say it's nice to finally have a good reason to jump away from ios.

Welcome to the WP7tard club. Enjoy the 800.

I'm waiting for the 900/910 to (whichever is the GSM version) to launch in these parts of the world. Looking to upgrade from my HD7 now.

Yeah, its sad about the XBL thing, but for most of us its just business as usual by entering our gamertag live id

where can i find wireless adapter for xbox 360 in malaysia? the black one... where is it?