The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell is killing its four big balls XPS gaming machines (not the entire XPS line, like the standard notebooks, which are selling really well) to focus all of its juice on Alienware as its sole gaming brand. The timeline isn't overly specific, but the clock is ticking for Dell's XPS WoW notebook and their car-sized (and priced) 730 tower. We actually sorta figured this was coming.
While the cross-competition issue is obvious, our suspicions became more solid because of the bit buried in the announcement of Alienware's mondo 17-inch gaming notebook that Alienware was going to move into budget gaming PCs for more mainstream gamers. Why cannibalize themselves on both the upper and lower ends? Course, this just means the Alienware name is going to be tied even more closely to Dell, so whatever cachet left in the name is probably toast, like your wallet after buying one. [WSJ]
