• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Pictures

Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Pictures of the year: Technology

A look at the year's best science and technology photos.   Slideshow 

    Microsoft says no plans to cut Xbox Japan price

    TOKYO
    Mon Jul 9, 2007 9:32am EDT

    Stocks

       
    An Xbox 360 unit is pictured at the Microsoft XBox 360 2006 E3 media event in Hollywood, in this May 9, 2006 file photo. Microsoft Corp. has no plans now to cut the price of its Xbox game console in Japan, where it trails far behind rival machines from Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Sony Corp. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

    TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) has no plans now to cut the price of its Xbox game console in Japan, where it trails far behind rival machines from Nintendo Co. Ltd. (7974.OS) and Sony Corp. (6758.T).

    "Xbox prices in Japan are very competitive," Darren Huston, president of Microsoft's Japan unit, told Reuters on Monday. Asked if Microsoft plans to cut prices in Japan after Sony's $100 price cut for the PlayStation3 in the U.S., Huston said, "Not at this time."

    But he later added, "We will be watching market conditions. Price cuts are one option."

    Although popular in the United States, sales of the Xbox 360 have been slow in Japan, Nintendo and Sony's home turf.

    Microsoft sold 122,565 of the consoles in the first half of this year in Japan, while Nintendo sold 1.78 million units of its Wii and Sony sold 503,554 of its PS3 game machines, according to game magazine publisher Enterbrain.

    Microsoft also does not expect recent hardware glitches to affect appetite for its Xbox game console, Huston said.

    Microsoft last week extended its warranty for the video game machine to three years, costing the software giant $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion, due to growing complaints about Xbox 360 failures.

    Microsoft plans to launch its advanced Xbox 360 game console, the Xbox 360 Elite, on October 11 in Japan. The most basic Xbox 360 sells for 29,800 yen ($240), compared with 49,980 yen for the basic model of the PS3 and 24,999 yen for the Wii.


    More from Reuters

    Afghan insurgents kill CIA agents, Canadians

    KABUL (Reuters) - Insurgents intensified their campaign against military targets and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, killing eight U.S. CIA agents at a base and four Canadian servicemen on patrol and a journalist accompanying them.

    » More Top News
    A security camera sits on a building in New York City March 6, 2008. REUTERS/Joshua Lott

    Trial run in Times Square

    Critics say the Sept. 11 trials will endanger America's most populated city. Will a New Year's Eve plan hold up as New York's security template?  Full Article 

    U.S.
    People walk past a branch of Bank of America in New York's financial district April 28, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
    Rolfe Winkler:

    Move your money

    Boycotting "too big to fail" banks is a great idea -- so long as investors remember that banks aren't the only ones responsible for the crisis.  Full Article 

      Commentary