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Xbox 360 (Xbox 360)
RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1
RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1
Destructoid - July 13, 2007
Submitted by Starless (12) at 1:08AM PST on July 14, 2007
I have a very good source within a major Canadian retailer that guarantees that despite the lack of a cut at E3 this week, the Xbox 360 will drop $100 across all SKU's. When? Sooner than you think. AUGUST 1ST. I can't confirm all the details, but basically in less than 3 weeks the console prices will be the following: -*Xbox 360 core*, $199 American (with pack-in memory unit!). -*Nintendo Wii*, $249 American. -*Xbox 360 Premium*, $299 American. -*Xbox 360 Elite*, $449 Canadian, possibly $399 American. So August 1st, Xbox 360 will be the lowest price console on the market with the core system, and the difference between the 360 Core and the only PS3 will be a staggering $400 US!
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1welshbloke posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 1:23AM PST on July 19, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@pilias_simber,
I am sure games already exist for the 360 that require a memory stick which would in theory lock out the bare bones core systems.
This is very similar to CD moving to DVD for the PC market. The cost of the HD and BR drives will come down to the point that the addon will be small in comparison to todays prices. I do not see the requirement for large data on disks for a number of years. Sony have created a requirement today which in my mind did not actually exist yet.
Expect games that have a requirement for a media device that was not on the original just do not expect it for a while as the need just is not their for the Xbox at least.
I say again the expectation is already in the community that they may need to expand the drive beyond the original so I suspect the seeds are being sown for a system that may require systems specs beyond the original core product in the future. An example will be the Video on demand feature which has been successfully used in the States for some time now which obviously excluded all Core users who did not purchase the additional functionality.[ Oracle ] [ Level 30 ] [ Rank: 60 ]bids
-1pilias_simber posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 2:29PM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@welshbloke,
The 5 year mark was put out there simply because I expect MS to try to launch their new system before everyone else again and while they may support the 360 for a while afterward I don't expect them to continue to support it for much over 1-2 years past the launch of their next system.
I understand the lack of major differences in capabilities between the PS3 and the 360, the games are evidence of the lack of difference between the two which have barely noticable differences between themselves.
While you can upgrade the boxes you still have to continue to support any previous version of the 360 that has come out. This means that since they have a version with no Harddrive, the Core, they cannot take advantage of certain things the PS3 can like loading data onto the harddrive for faster boot speeds because you cannot guarantee they will have the Harddrive to do that.
The only difference we're seeing in the new models are upgrades in the Hard drive size and for the 360, the addition of HDMI ports, which was something hardcore gamers with HD TVs were demanding very strongly.
The problem with adding an add-on to the model is the same, the earlier models do not have it so you cannot assume that every 360 will have the add on, so you cannot make a game that uses those capabilities without severely limiting your demographic, which given the cost to make games on the 360 and the PS3, is not the wisest course of action.
With that said, it is entirely possible that MS will make a BD add on for movie watching at some point, as they have already with the HD DVD drive, but you will never see an internal drive that does this, nor will you see any games that use it.
It is entirely possible, at the rate that game sizes are increasing, that we'll see a majority of 360 games on multiple disks by the end of it's lifecycle, I don't necessarily believe it will impact sales of the games, or the system itself like many PS3 enthusiasts will have you believe, but it is likely, simply because of how large these games are getting and the limiting of technology on DVDs.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
0welshbloke posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 2:07PM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@pilias_simber,
If you assume that this model only has a 5 year life at the best then you could be right.
Although I do not see any reason for the Xbox 360 to have to fold to the PS3 if the PS3 truely has a 10 year cycle. A large capacity drive and a slightly faster CPU is not enough to differentiate the two as much hype as they make about it.
They can upgrade the boxes (PS3/Xbox) during this cycle and if and when the need for a larger data capacity comes it could easily come in the form of an inexpensive addon either Blu ray of HD DVD or a new sku in the case of the Xbox but not a new Xbox generation.
If you believe that the Xbox needs a 30+ disc or extra cpu cycles to get by then you have been misled by the marketing hype that is the PS3. These new systems are a lot more modular than their predecessors and cost more so do not expect them to give up on them soon just because the original kit did not have what you expected.[ Oracle ] [ Level 30 ] [ Rank: 60 ]bids
0pilias_simber posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 8:28PM PST on July 15, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@charron,
In order to add an internal HD DVD drive to the 360 MS would have to jack up the price a good 100-150 bucks over what they sell it for now. It wouldn't give any real advantage over the external drive because you still can't put 360 games on a HD DVD drive so it would only be good for movies.
MS is not putting a next gen drive in this generation's internal system.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
0charron posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 5:46PM PST on July 15, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@welshbloke, the HD-DVD internal probably won't happen for a while (multiple years), and then just as a special SKU. And that's assuming Blu-Ray doesn't become an overwhelming winner, causing Microsoft to desire a Blu-Ray drive instead. They've maintained that it could happen.
As for a Wiimote clone, that'll be in the next XBox iteration, it wouldn't catch on as a peripheral. :P[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 290 ]bids
0welshbloke posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 12:33PM PST on July 15, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@trihunter,
I am not of the opinion that the software launch line up will sell the quantities needed to lift MS sufficiently. A solid price cut coupled with the release of these games in my opinion would.
No we just need to sit back and await the Model with HD-DVD as standard and the wiimote innevitable copy.[ Oracle ] [ Level 30 ] [ Rank: 60 ]bids
1trihunter posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 11:01AM PST on July 15, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1Rumors are too common on this site. I doubt highly that Microsoft would just cut a hundred per unit sold during one of their highest anticipated fall releases since 2004. Mass Effect, Halo 3, GTAIV, Bioshock, and many others will encourage others to buy the system. Why would they cut money when thousands upon thousands of Halo fans are going to buy an Xbox 360 in September?[ Elite ] [ Level 20 ] [ Rank: 286 ]bids
1justcrim posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 9:00AM PST on July 15, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1If this source is correct Microsoft might pull off an upset this holiday season. With the lowest priced next gen hardware, the largest game library, best online, and the most anticipated games coming out this holiday season, they would be set for victory and basicly be forcing the PS3 to cut more then $100 off of their only sku.
I think the best thing I read in this article is that MS will be including a memory unit with the Core system. That idea is long overdue![ Elite ] [ Level 17 ] [ Rank: 595 ]bids
4Laoldar posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 2:50PM PST on July 14, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1@charron,
Well put. A 360 price drop along with the hardware updates (cooler running and quieter) would make me run to the store to grab a 360. It certainly wouldn't impact my Wii software purchases though.
I've noticed a lot of great 360 premium bundles too, so hopefully they'll put together a great one as well.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
6charron posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 1:04PM PST on July 14, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1This is obviously a wait-and-see case, since I couldn't find anything else saying the same. Assuming it is true, it'll obviously have positive ramifications for Microsoft (I'm in the market for a 360 myself, but $400 is too much to justify, and I doubt I'm the only one in such a case), probably do some damage domestically to the PS3 (though little if any in Japan), and honestly may not touch the Wii at all. Even if there's a 360 out there cheaper than the Wii, the people buying up Wiis are looking for exactly that, not a cheap video game console. This won't impact them significantly. Nevermind that Core systems are, in my experience, the rarest of the SKUs in shops.
Basically, if this happens, the 360 will be America's hi-def console, hands-down. The PS3 will have Japan most likely, and from there it's a fight for PAL areas. The Wii, that'll probably keep doin' what it's doin'.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 290 ]bids
4welshbloke posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 5:10AM PST on July 14, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1bids
2Starless posted on Xbox 360 (Xbox 360) at 1:08AM PST on July 14, 2007. RE: RUMOUR: $100 price drop, all SKU's, August 1I have a very good source within a major Canadian retailer that guarantees that despite the lack of a cut at E3 this week, the Xbox 360 will drop $100 across all SKU's. When? Sooner than you think. AUGUST 1ST. I can't confirm all the details, but basically in less than 3 weeks the console prices will be the following: -*Xbox 360 core*, $199 American (with pack-in memory unit!). -*Nintendo Wii*, $249 American. -*Xbox 360 Premium*, $299 American. -*Xbox 360 Elite*, $449 Canadian, possibly $399 American. So August 1st, Xbox 360 will be the lowest price console on the market with the core system, and the difference between the 360 Core and the only PS3 will be a staggering $400 US![ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 12 ]
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Theres a difference between offering downloadable movie content and making a game that would not work on 1/10th of the 360s out there because it requires them to download data onto their harddrive.
There are a number of games coming out for the PS3 that supposedly take advantage of the PS3's harddrive to load extra data to speed up the loadspeeds, that is not something we'll see on the 360 this time around.
There have been expectations from the community since the PS3 was announced at E3 for MS to add a HD DVD drive into their system. Its just not something that is feasible unless they want to make something more expensive than the Elite. On top of that it would hurt sales of the external HD DVD drive which I don't think MS is in a rush to do because accessories are one of their primary sources for profit with the system, along with games.