Selling Xbox extras

Coming soon to a bookstore near you: Xbox 360 For Dummies.
Okay, not really (hang on, better check amazon.ca to confirm that... yep, not really), but maybe it's not such a bad idea. Despite Microsoft's efforts to make the Xbox 360 console as user-friendly as possible, the bigwigs in Redmond are discovering that 360 owners might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer.
That, or consumers are so blissfully enraptured with the console's gaming capabilities they take for granted that it can do other stuff, like play movies or go online.
"We just got data back that one-third of all Xbox 360 owners don't know that it plays DVDs," said Jeff Bell, corporate vice-president of global marketing for Microsoft's interactive entertainment division, during an interview at the X07 Canada event this week in Toronto.
"Seventy percent didn't know there's a USB door in the front, they found the USB port in the back. They didn't know what the (Xbox Guide) button did to the controller. People didn't know how to hook up to Xbox Live." In an effort to take new users by the hand and gently guide them through the 360's garden of delights, Microsoft will begin shipping new Xbox 360s with a welcome video installed directly on the hard drive (or on a DVD-ROM, in the case of the stripped-down Xbox 360 Core), which will automatically play the first time the console is powered on.
The 2-O-minute tutorial, a light-hearted affair in the vein of Bill Nye the Science Guy, will introduce the console's basic functions and features to users. It's slated to start showing up on new Xbox 360s on sale this fall, and will likely be available for download through Xbox Live as well.
At least the timing means the video will be seen by a lot of people. The Sept. 25 launch of Halo 3 is expected to be the biggest game release of the year, and Microsoft is counting on the return of Master Chief to give Xbox 360 sales a meaty bump.
Unfortunately, the second big blockbuster of the fall was supposed to be Grand Theft Auto IV, which has now been delayed until spring of next year. But Bell said that while GTA IV's delay may be a heartbreaker for fans, it's actually not such a bad thing for Microsoft.
"I believe we benefit from the delay of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Bell. "We would have loved to have launched it this fall, we were disappointed that it moved, but now that it has, let's just take a deep breath. We have BioShock, exclusive. We have Halo 3, exclusive. We have Mass Effect, exclusive. I think it certainly hurts other people more than it hurts us."
Bell is presumably referring to Sony, who were counting on Grand Theft Auto IV to be a system-seller for the PlayStation 3 also this holiday season. But the PS3's fall lineup of exclusives is similarly solid, with Heavenly Sword, the dragon dogfighting game Lair and the Tomb Raider-esque action title Uncharted: Drake's Fortune slated for release before year's end.