Microsoft Quite Proud Of Xbox 360's Abusive Ownership Relationship

Xbox 360 owners are gluttons for punishment. Many of us have suffered through multiple red rings of death, shipping off coffin after coffin, twiddling our thumbs between repairs and refurbishes. Why? We're already invested in an extensive Xbox 360 games library and an Xbox Live subscription, something Robbie Bach says "speaks to the power of the product offering and service we provide." That's a positive way to look at it, I suppose.

He tells VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi of the 360's notoriously faulty hardware "In the ordinary course of something like this, you would expect it to show up in the customer reaction data. We just haven’t seen that. It speaks to the fact that they love their games and Xbox Live." Bach says customers "know we’re taking care of them," a response that breeds "respect."

Bach also talked about the next generation of Xbox.

Robbie Bach: PSP Is A "Cautionary Tale"

We've been a little down on Robbie Bach lately. Mostly because he - like many other former walking quote machines (Looking at you, Reggie) hasn't been talking nearly as much shit as we're accustomed to, and damnit, that's what we love to see in a corporate exec. But could he finally be inching his way out of his shell? Looks like it! Watch, as he unloads on the PSP in an interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi:

The PSP is a reasonably successful product at the profit-and-loss level. But as a product concept, there are cautionary tales to learn from it. While it is good at producing audio, it’s not a good music player because it doesn’t have local storage (except for flash memory slots). You can’t keep your music there. It has a beautiful screen, but you can only get the video under the Universal Media Disc format. That format hasn’t been successful. On a game level, it has done well. But even there, it is mostly PlayStation 2 ports. There isn’t much original content.

Robbie Bach, (re-?) growing a pair. Better late than never!

Interview with Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, part 1, on Zune [VentureBeat]

"That’s the first time we’ve been able to say that," Bach, chief of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, told the San Jose Mercury News." That’s total Xbox business — service, software and hardware.”

Well, they've got a two-quarter head start toward that bold proclamation. It probably takes some sting out of the depressing sales numbers over in Europe, where an analyst warns that that weak sales there could see the 360 de-listed by retailers in some territory. Some more outtakes from a chat he had with the Merc are after the jump.

Xbox Division Is Back In Black

Microsoft revealed its own financial results for the previous quarter today, showing that the company's Xbox division—better known as the Entertainment & Devices Division, which also includes the Zune and more—was profitable. Again! That makes two quarters in a row that the division succeeded in not losing money, something that should please Master Gates, J Allard and investors. The group pulled in $357 million in operating income for the final quarter of calendar year 2007, much better than the loss of $302 million in 2006.

That puts Microsoft's E&DD team up over a half-billion for fiscal year 2008, which, if they continue to perform positively, will go a long to proving Robbie Bach right about profitability. Hey, they might not be Nintendo numbers, but it's a step in the right direction. After losing billions upon billions since the creation of the Xbox business, two quarters of profit is good news for Microsoft.

Do I hear some of you chanting three-peat(TM)?

Microsoft Reports Record Second Quarter Results [Microsoft]

Bach On The PS3, Profits, And Handheld Possibilities

The Edmonton Journal caught up with Microsoft Entertainment and Devices president Robbie "Xbachs" Bach at CES this week to discuss the success of the Xbox 360. They revisit an interview from four years ago, when the original Xbox was trailing behind the PlayStation 2, where Bach promised that Microsoft would be ready for the next generation.

"Well! There you go, prophetic," Bach said enthusiastically. "In fact it has been a role reversal. We were on first this time like they were last time, we had a product that was more price-competitive this time, and we had a higher attach rate."

Bill Gates final CES keynote wasn't the most action-packed, megaton-heavy affair, but there was one startling revelation. It wasn't so much an announcement as it was an implication, but it would seem that Slash is ready to join another supergroup, one that's unnamed, but we're calling Merino Wool Revolver for now. The band looks to feature two toy guitarists—Bill and Robbie—and one real guitarist, a clear indicator into which of the three independently wealthy men will pull the most groupie ass. Hopefully, the three will feature as bosses in Guitar Hero Encore: Non-threatening Pastel Sweater Edition. Hey, it couldn't be any worse than Rocks the 80s.

Robbie Bach On PSN - No Competition

With a four year head start on the competition, Xbox Live has pretty much set the standard for what gamers look for in a console-based online service, and while the PlayStation Network is a fine service in it's own right and free to boot, it still has a long way to go to catch up with the numbers Microsoft's service is pulling in. Just ask Robbie Bach, the President of Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times he displays supreme confidence in the superiority of their service.

It's fair to say that Xbox Live is clearly head and shoulders above anything anyone else has tried to do. We don't have competition. Sony has done some things online, but nothing that can be called a service. We have a big advantage and we're going to keep pressing that advantage.

Bach, Mattrick Talk Moore, EA

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Gears of War Playable at GDC or E3?