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Xbox 360 for $300
Xizer writes "Wal-Mart employees have leaked the price of Microsoft's next-generation console. The Xbox 360 is set to be launched for $299.99. Additionally, games are set to be $59.99 each. Ouch. Looks like the next generation of consoles is going to burn holes in gamers' wallets even moreso than the current generation. One thing is for sure: It's time to start gearing up for an expensive Christmas."
Looks like the next generation of consoles is going to burn holes in gamers' wallets even moreso than the current generation.
Launch price of Xbox 360: $300
Launch price of PS2: $300
Launch price of Xbox: $300
If you account for inflation, the Xbox 360 is cheaper at launch than its predecessor.
$60 a game? That'll buy one mod chip! (if/when released)
Meh, that's the Christmas extortion price, they did the same thing with the original XBox and the PS2 and probably a bunch of other consoles I can't remember.
it's a sig, wtf?
$300 for a really cool triple core Linux box (post hacking, of course)! That's COOL!
Agile Artisans
Ouchie.
$300 isnt that bad considering I remember paying much more for the original X-Box, PS1, and if you go way back to the Atari 2600, I think my parents back then paid close to $400 for it. The games however being 60+ kinda sucks :(
That doesn't seem _that_ bad. I've paid close to $60 for games in the past, and IIRC consoles have cost at least somewhat close to $300 at some points, and that's just the starting cost, it'll come down.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
Boy oh boy, that content sure is getting expensive. Better make more use out of the "cheap" hardware:
http://xbox-linux.org/
How much is microsoft losing on each xbox 360?
So a box and a game is going to cost $360? Brilliant!
Nothing from nowhere I'm no one at all
I find the price tag of $299 VERY good, considering what your getting for that price. Also $299 was in the low range of prices that have been circulating the web (highest being $599)
I'll wait for the PS3 so that the game pricing will drop.
Didn't the original XBOX retail for $300? Given the hardware in the 360, i think $300 is a bangup deal. Chances are in the price category they're not going to have any competition from Sony. Rumor has it that the PS3 will be more than $450. http://www.theinq.net/?article=25111 $59.99 is a bit too expensive for games INHO, but i guess in today's world of software it's to be expected that prices are rising. Of course that's about half a day of work worth of pay (or more) for a lot of us here....
$300 isn't all of too bad for a console, especially considering the hardware present. Looking back, the NES came out at $199 initially, as did the SNES, and N64. The N64 didn't even include any games, just a solitary controller. The $60 price tag for games is what N64 games cost as well.
I'm viewing it as a slightly more expensive initial investment. That, and only that.
and no, I'm not planning on buying one.
Do you understand that buying this, as well as lots of overpriced games, is entirely optional?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
It's time to start gearing up for an expensive Christmas.
Um, no, I don't think so. I own all three consoles from the current generation. In fact, I have two PS2s... one for the living room and one for dressing room. I didn't originally mean for it to be that way: we kept the Game Cube in the living room because when people come over: it is the best for party games. We kept the PS2 out there so my son could continue playing the games he had become accustom to. I bought the X-Box when the price dropped and put it the dressing room so at night I could play without disturbing others. The Steel Battalions reissue didn't hurt.
In the end I *had* to get another PS2 so I could actually play games I wanted. I felt like when I was a kid and we picked up an Odyssey instead of the Atari. There weren't enough games that *I* wanted to play. I still have my X-Box but I find myself working really hard to find games that have that slight edge on the X-Box to make buying them for it worthwhile. (Psychonauts is a recent example, one of a small number).
Combine that with the fact that Live is overrun with punk kids (and now the 360 offers the new "see me flip you off" feature... OH BOY!), the lack of full backwards compatibility and the high price games they are going for... I think I will wait like I did with the X-Box for the price drop and the bargain bins of games. Maybe... if the PS3 doesn't take all my money when it comes out.
Sig under construction since 1998.
A better question would be at how much of a loss are these being sold?
Computer games don't go bad, so just wait a few weeks and buy a used copy. Only the impatient gamers will spend $60. Everyone else will benefit from their folly.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Expensive Christmas? What do you mean? I've been a very nice boy all year so that Santa buys one for me!
(or else I'm gonna rob Wal-Mart, like I've learned from GTA:SA)
Why buy an XBox, when a PC can do so much more than just games.
DVD has been dragging its low capacity ass for far too long. I'll wait for v2.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
Here in the UK, new game releases on all 3 current consoles typically cost 30GBP (you can get them for less in some places, but more in others, so I reckon it balances out). That translates to about 60 bucks doesn't it?
How much were Xbox games when the Xbox was first released? They were about 40GBP (80 dollars!) when I got mine, and that was a while after its official release. Maybe 60 bucks isn't that bad...
Game dev and music blog
$60 = 50. New games normally cost 60 at launch here in Ireland.
Price of Atari 2600 in 1977: $199
Converting that to today's price, it would be about $500. Granted it include nine action packed games with the system, but still, it does give some perspective on the real cost of these things.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
...those kinds of games seem to get rarer and rarer these days.
It's called aging, Sir. Get used to it.
Accoding to http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ that Atari 2600 would cost $634.91, and each cartridge would cost $63.49, in 2005 dollars.
So Xbox 360 is actually a great deal compared to the Atari 2600 if you just look at price.
How quickly we forget. Those topped out at $70 to $80. Nostalgia is evil, especially in the face of transhumanism.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
... the next generation of consoles is going to burn holes in gamers' wallets ...
Forget the next generation. I'm still waiting for a $100 XBox.
$300 today is equilivent (due to inflation) to $265 at the launch of the PS2. It's actually fairly cheap compared to the previous generation. Hell, lets go back to 1991 when the SNES was released at $200. Today, that would be the equivilent to about $290! The XBox is actually releasing at a reasonable price, I say. (Although I'm still going to wait out for the revolution, which will probably come into the market even cheaper and have that 1991 SNES quality build right into it)
$60 is expensive for games, but does no one remember the old snes days when games like final fantasy 3 (6 in reality) were ~$70. I personally think the right price for a game is between $20-$30. Therefore I usually buy my games used off ebay or something.
Maybe they should leak the console as well... Dont forget you need to buy the HD drive when that comes out, because im sure all the games at that point will be on the HD media, thus rendering your current 360 box useless. So that just hiked your cost to at least $400. Plus your second, third and fourth controller. Now we are looking at $475ish+. Then the live kit, because im sure the old one wont be compatible. So we are over $500 now. Dont forget your monthly fees and the good old $60 games. Enjoy the holidays...
The price of the console is fine, exceptional even considering what you get. That's to be expected since they routinely sell these machines at a loss to get them in the hands of the game buying public.
$60 a pop for the games is insane though. I was raised on video games and I love video games but I'll be damned if I'm ever going to give anyone $60 for a game.
I still think the "optimum price" for a new game should be around $39. Anything more than that turns the game into an instant "I'll look at it again when it gets marked down, or I'll buy it used later on"
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
For those who are interested in getting a 360, XBox360Preorders.com lets you sign up and get e-mail alerts for each new retailer that has the system for preorders
Did the people who submitted it even RTFA?
I quote:
Unconfirmed reports stemming from Walmart employees have today suggested a North American retail price for the Xbox 360 and its launch titles, allegedly set to arrive in shop stores on November 4th.
Now, let me repeat that with some selective highlighting:
Unconfirmed reports stemming from Walmart employees have today suggested a North American retail price for the Xbox 360 and its launch titles, allegedly set to arrive in shop stores on November 4th.
In other words, this doesn't mean jack shit. Why the hell is this news?
Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
I don't know about anybody else, but there really isn't anything coming out that is going to compel me to shell out $300 for the next generation of consoles when there's a whole boatload of great games I still haven't played for my current console (PS2). And to add to it, most of greatest hits games are only $20, about 1/3 of the new titles coming out. If anything, I may get an X-Box to play some exclusives that never made it to the PS2, but by the time I do that, I expect I'll be able to pick one up for $99, which is what I paid for my Dreamcast. Am I the only one who likes to stay a generation behind and benefit from the price drops?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
$59.99?
;)
Damn. If single games get any worse, subscription MMO's might actually become cheaper overall!
(Yes, I know Guild Wars has no fee. I play it with religious fervor)
Perfecting Discordia
www.stevenvansickle.com
Beat a game a week... 60 bucks a week! I would buy twice as many games if they were all $39. Because $60 a shot stinks.
ps2 and xbox both launched at 300$...
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This is standard. The PS2 was this price when it was released. PS2 games were about the same amount as well. Prices have gone down over a few years, yet I don't expect new generations of consoles to be cheaper than the PS2 was at launch.
As an aside, I remember because I camped out in front of a Walmart with a few friends at the PS2 launch. We brought a couch, TV, DVD Player, and the first PlayStation. We then unplugged a soda machine and hooked everything up and sat back and played video games all night. It was pretty cool bringing some fun to the fellow gamers around us while we waited 11 hours to purchase a PS2.
In the end though, I think they were pissed because my friends and I grabbed 3 of the 5 available PlayStations.
Oh yeah, go Nintendo! =p
Note: I hate Windows, and I dislike Microsoft's business practices, but they've always been able to come through in the hardware and gaming departments.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
Did they say they were trying to stop piracy? I can't imagine all the little gamer kiddies are going to be mowing yards to get $60 for each game... They'll either download it off Bittorrent/newsgroups or rent and rip the game.
Is it just me, or has something drastically changed here at Slashdot? I'm seeing almost no 4/5-moderated comments on any Slashdot stories for the past few days...
Microsoft employees have leaked the salary of Wal-Mart-employees's next months salary. ...ziltch.
Out of a principal's... what? His ass?
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Get your XBox for nothin',
Get your chicks for free!
is that it'll all be in the $10 bargain bin in a year or two. Just wait.
I have a PS2 and about a dozen games, which is good enough for me... whenever I have any time to play them.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
I think it is too, which is why I let all the kids buy their $60 and I scoop them up for $20 used a few months later. But hey, if someone will pay it, they can charge it.
I rather wait a couple more months and get the PS3. Just in terms of graphics the PS3 will be far superior since it comes with the new NVIDIA RSX graphics chip. If you've seen some of the demos(yes, they ARE running on the actual PS3 development kits) you know what I mean.
what you just mentioned about the gamecube is exactly why I like it. If you have people over what better to play than super smash bros melee or similar nintendo games. they build in an optional automatic handicap as opposed to halo where it is obvious that the people who play it constantly destroy everybody. a little off topic but I just had to comment on the gamecube remark. in general I like where Nintendo is taking gaming.
But isn't there some sort of sticking point price for games? It seemed like it was $49.99, throw down a hundred and you get two, ya know? But $60? That seems way out of the realm. But thats just me.
Either Microsoft doesn't realize that people will always spend within their means (ie if you have $500 in disposable income a year to spend on games, youre going to spend it if they are $50 or $60) or Microsoft is throwing in the towel and fixing a high price for games because they figure that gamers just won't buy a high number of their games and that there just won't be a large number of games to buy (which was a critique of the original Xbox, not enough games).
Well, for those who can't wait, they'll have to shell out some money for Christmas. However, I prefer to wait until HD-DVD is available before I consider purchasing. By then I figure more games will be available too.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
$300 for a console? $60 per game? See, this is why I love my PC gaming. The games are more often than not less than $50 for a PC that I already own. Even then, most new games can often be found on-line for less than that. But $60 for a game and $300 for a console?? Puh-lease. I'll never pay it.
;)
Hey, cool! The newest NVidia card is going for about $500 and the collector's edition of game ABC is only $70, but it comes with a cool T-shirt of only mediocre quality! Oh, hell, I have to get those!! Where's my credit card?
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Bingo. I typically buy 2 or 3 games a year at full price; only things I've been really looking forward to. Everything else, I wait for the price to hit $30 or less. I'm patient, and it keeps my bank account a little happier than it would otherwise be.
I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
Can someone give me a quick explanation why I should buy a system with almost zero exclusive titles, pay 60$ for a game which will come out on PC 6 months later.
Usually the "exclusive" games like Halo et. will look better on the PC and have more bang for the buck. Gimme a break.
Blockbuster has to be loving this news. Microsoft is pricing a new console fairly cheap compared to most new offerings but then they plan to charge so much for games that only the most hardcore gamers will actually buy a copy of the games. There's going to be a renting bonanza for this new system until game prices come down.
Who here bought HL2 or Doom3?
:O Imagine that $60 for a game. what a ripoff..
How much did you pay..
Call my cynical, call me utopianist (just don't call me late for dinner) but this Christmas for me isn't going to be about getting or giving an XBOX 360, or XBOX360 games. There are better things to do with money than throw it at another console. I don't know about other slashdotters but I'm not going to be budgeting for XBOX 360. There's still plenty of PS2 games to get through, and why should I shell out bucks for what MS says is the Next Big Thing?
Don't buy or ask for an XBOX 360 just because it's new and shiny and has OMZod forty beelyun polys!!!11!ichi! or such. Sure it may be good hardware... but do you really need it now? the moment, the instant it's released?
Wait a few months. You'll not be hurting anyone by holding off on buying an XBOX 360 until, say, March or April. If you even end up wanting one at all.
"I am an Adept of Tantric VAX."
I would gladly pay 60 dollars for a MMORPG if I didn't have to pay monthly fees.
Is it just me, or do you hate it when people say "Is it just me..."?
First off, I'm JEWISH you insensitive clod!
...maybe it's the fact that I'm 38 and have things to do, and don't give two shits about games any more that makes me just not care of about this... Or maybe, just maybe it's not worth caring about at all.
Second, I already have a Sega Genesis, SNES, and PS1 with all the goodies - and I don't have time to play any of them. Why praytell would I want to spend even more $$$ on something that I probably won't have time to play?
Third, $60 for a game... yeah right. Given that I don't even play the damn things but maybe once or twice a year - I have a problem with $60. The games I tend to purchase are usually from the $5 or $10 (or even less) bin at whatever store I happen to walk into... I could care less if the game is "old" - if I haven't played it, then it's new to me... and at $5/$10 it's a safe bet in case it sucks...
Fourth: What's wrong with the old Xbox? Are they all set to explode on Dec 24, 2005 requiring that one purchase the new 360 box?
Consider this: What if NO ONE bought the new box and games?
There is no one more knowledgeable about the industry then Walmart employees. Just go to any Walmart video game counter and experience the vast wealth of knowledge they possess.
By purchasing an HDDVD equipped XBox, you're effectively lengthening the format war with BluRay by giving HDDVD proponents a larger number to point to when discussing the size of the HDDVD user base.
getting my kids used games for their N64. There's no way I'm going to spend that kind of money on them (5 & 7) when they can destroy a disc so easily.
Besides, the type of games I'd want them to play are much more available for the N64 (Mario Party, SM64, etc).
When the Revolution comes out, I'll think about getting that, if I don't get some emulators running on my MythTV box by then.
is whether I should buy my HD-TV before or after my XBox 360. I think the later, as I'd like to see if there is a true improvement in image quality.
Also, I may just wait until Elderscrolls: Oblivion comes out before I buy. I can't name another title I'm interested in.
"Do you understand that buying this, as well as lots of overpriced games, is entirely optional?"
So's Movies, Music, Software and Books. Yet we have illegal P2P, and Binary Usenet.
The price of the Xbox 360 and one game at launch comes out to $360. Coincidence?
These prices are very very standard. The PS2 when it came out cost 300, and so did the X-BOX. Games costing 59.99 - yea those prices have been that high since Bonk hit the market many years ago. Those prices are also, generally, for the FIRST run of games (to help recoup some serious costs), they also tend to be for the more popular games. The "weaker" games tend to be cheaper. Once a game has been on the market for a month or so, the price drops a lot and you can find them cheaper at various online vendors.
I hope the next Playstation is this cheap if not cheaper.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Don't forget that Best Buy is going to take advantage of the demand by bundling the console with two games. That's what they did for PS2, Xbox, Nintendo DS, and the PSP.
The Big Yuan - tracking mainland China
The best alternatives are:
- online "Netflix-like" rental services like Gamefly
- free online game trading sites, like TGN
I've used TGN for about 3 years, have never been ripped off, and have been able to enjoy dozens of games and DVDs just for the cost of shipping.This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Games now are 49.99, but I don't pay it, and never have. I havent payed more than 40 bucks for a game, because I don't shop at wal-mart.
IIRC, the original xbox was 299 at launch.. Or was it 249?
Its got a G5 which we all know is the best processor evar, and they made mac's worth 3x the price of a comparable PC, so surely this is a bargain, no?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
We have a leak in aisle 6 - send Microsoft cleanup crew immediately. Repleat, we have a leak in aisle 6.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Just wondering... as yet, has the M$ gaming division made a profit?
Say hello to my little sig.
I'll buy when Halo 3 is out.
bah.
Honestly, I've seen this coming for a long time. I'm not going to complain.
in Europe, if i want a current generation game i pay 59E (~71$) already for the new ones. if you're lucky you can find them for somewhere between 55E or so, but most major outlets have the new ones all priced at 59E. that, and i believe the average european income, after taxes, is much lower than in the US. the xbox1 retailed here originally for 400E, during the weak Euro. even after the euro got stronger, it still stayed more expensive than in the US. so much so that you could import one, pay the extra import taxes, and still get it cheaper than the MSRP in Europe.
we had the same difference some time ago with DVDs and there were all kinds of excuses as to why the prices were so high. now, though, they're down to 5-15E and being gobbled up left and right.
"In other words, this doesn't mean jack shit. Why the hell is this news?"
Since when has newsworthiness stopped something from getting posted to slashdot?
This just maybe my frist console i will be buying since the NES! What i just got a new well paying job what can i say
Not to buy it.
/dTd
The moderation system seems to be broken (only 20 people have mod points? WTF?) and every poll lately has been locked. I guess no more Slashdot for me.
strike (removing his willingness to moderate and meta-moderate)
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
I paid $55 for Super Mario Bros. 3 when it came out.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
I hate to be the resident finance geek around here, but I'm actually a little surprised at the price--I thought it would be much higher. I remember when the PS2 and Xbox initially came out, they were amazingly hard to find, and to make matters worse, it seemed that everyone wanted one. I remember someone telling me the exact number that were shipped to the US (for the PS2) and thinking it was extremely low. The point is, unless Microsoft can bring huge supply initially to the US, I would have expected them to price it higher in order to curb demand. If it were say $499 initially, a lot of people would want it but know that they couldn't get one at that price. That way, the early adopters could get their Xbox 360 and there wouldn't be a supply problem. Then, as Microsoft caught up and brought more supply, a price drop could bring in more people and so on. I just hope this price point doesn't entice more demand than supply. A shortage is never good for the consumers.
Finance tutorials and more! Understandfinance
...because Wal-Mart never prices anything ending in a '9'.
I had heard that as an urban legend, but apparently it's true.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Probably not. Big-name games have retailed at $49.99 MSRP for a while now, probably the last couple of hardware generations at least. 8 years of inflation compounded at 3% comes to $63.
So $59.99 is probably reasonable for a price bump. I'm surprised we didn't see one at $54.99, but they probably had problems with the psychological $50 barrier.
Two words: mod chip.
I've had such a good experience with my modded PS2 (plays "backed up" PS1 games, PS2 games, and DVD's), that I don't anticipate buying another console *without* one. Sure, either having it done to an existing box or buying one with the chip in it is about $100 more, but it's *sooo* worth it!
I don't respond to AC's.
think of the children.
that much TV and video games will rot their brains.
send them outside to play or something. get rid of all the consoles and enjoy the real world.
$299 for Playstation
$399 for Sega Saturn
Unless you're complaining about game prices, you're kinda clueless complaining about "more expensive consoles."
I wonder how much dough Microsoft and Sony are gonna be losing per console with such pricetags?
I am really interested in Psychonauts, how much better is it on the XBox than the PS2? Is it anything that affects gameplay much, or is it just graphical elements? I have only a PS2 and every now and then mull over getting a used XBox after the 360 is released and people start dumping the old ones, but I still am not sure I'd be interested in enough games to maek even a used one worthwhile.
Thanks!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Try not playing your video games for 4 hour stretches...go live life, and use the video game for fun, not a substitute for social interaction. Then it will last longer.
Or you could you know...just not buy it when it comes out...
I'm getting pretty sick of these companies jacking up the price a ridiculous amount (10 bucks!) just because its new. So I wait for it to come down to an acceptable level to buy it, and I suggest you do the same. By purchasing it when its brand new, you are sending them the message that it is acceptable to jack the prices up that much. Purchasing it later at the lowered price sends them the message in the only way they'll understand...the bottom line.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Yep, and us in rip-off-britain will have it even worse. As most of us know, $1 tends to equal £1 when it comes to anything pricing anything tech related. Effectively bringing the cost of the console to $533 and each game to $105!
They did that magic currency conversion last time with the launch of the Xbox so I expect they'll do it again.
Comparable computer cost: $800 to $1000
Comparable video-card cost: $200 to $400
That puts the average computer in the $1000-$1500 range. Now take into consideration that the average PC title sells between $40 and $60 (usually $60 for newer titles). Are you still complaining?
For PC users, we're paying upwards of $1,500 to play games (and other things). For XBox 360 users who are paying upwards of $300 to play games (and other things), that's a hefty savings for a comparable experience.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
My guess (and I think a good one) is that MS will release the 360HD at exactly the same time as the PS3 launch.
So you can expect to be buying a second console in just under a year.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
See by my reckoning that means us brits *should* be paying around £170 and about £34 for games.
I'd be amazed if its not £300 and £60 for us though.
lousy sodding rip-off Britian
Has anyone heard anything about the number of units that will be ready by the launch date? Are we going to have to deal with fist fights in Toys-R-Us again?
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
If you prefer content, then it would seem wise to wait for the system that lets you play all possible content instead of one that plays only half the games on the system in a year.
Sure a lot of games that use the extra space will be drek, but there will be some that are not. Why buy a console twice, I say.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No No No it's true! Everyone knows that Walmart employees are the most amazing and smart people on the planet, and the site reporting this price is none other than www.totalvideogames.com which is the 1337 1337 1337 CNN of video game sites! Plus they also know the true spelling of Wallmart with the double ELL! Everybody gets it wrong with just one ELL and if that doesn't mean they're in the know, I don't know what does!
And then on the side there was this basketball game and I made a basket on my first try because my 1337 skills extend to the basketball court and I won a free XBOX 360 so haha, you suckahs! I get mine free!
I grew up feeding quarters into pinball and video games. I only resist buying a console so I don't have the excuse. Personally, I will wait for a linux solution to adapting game console games to a PC.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Right after I heard about the product announcement a couple of months ago, I went to the local game chain retailer and asked if they were taking pre-orders, but they said no. They said there'd be some advertising when they were.
I went back last week, and their pre-orders are *gone*. All of them. It's impossible to pre-order a launch day XBox through EB or Gamestop, from what I've been told. I'll either have to hold my nose and support Wal-Mart, or hold my nose and wait in line outside a Best Buy all night like I did for a PS2.
And the problem with waiting in line outside a Best Buy all night for a videogame machine, is the kind of people who wait in line outside a Best Buy all night for a videogame machine. I can't stand my own kind.
A little more co-ordination on the pre-order availability would have been awesome, guys.
Anyone know of a brick & mortar retailer where launch day pre-orders are still available?
(No, I'm not interested in replies saying "Just wait," "LOL PS3," "Sean Burke lawsuit o gnos!" or other such purchase discouragement. The launch day purchase decision has been made, I'm just looking now for the least painful way to get my grubby little hands on one on launch day.)
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
the xbox 720 (whatever the next one is) will be $300 and the games will be $89?
ouch.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Indeed.
Back in the day, many high-profile SNES carts that used tons of ROM chips were in the USD$60-$80 range.
For example:
- Chrono Trigger retailed for USD$79.99.
- Street Fighter II Turbo retailed for USD$69.99.
And you know what? Those two games alone sold heavily. Something tells me high-profile Xbox360 games will too.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
The thing is, Nintendo is no longer a replacement for the XBox and expecially the PS2. The PS2 (and to a lesser extent, the XBox) are more focused on games for older teens and adults. I, being 32, have no interest at all in Nintendo because the vast majority of their games are the silly Japanese "twitch" games, or other such games with themes more suited for 10 year olds. Video games have progessed a long way in the past 20 years, and I enjoy the production value (movie-like) of modern games (Silent Hill). I enjoy a good story (Deus Ex). I enjoy good actors (Grand Theft Auto Vice City). Nintendo, no matter how cheap it is, just doesn't provide very many games I'd be interested in playing.
I don't respond to AC's.
Don't forget that you will need to upgrade later to get the HD drive and higher def games.
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Game publishers need to cut prices and make it up in volume.
If a game is going to cost $60, it had better get 9/10 or 10/10 reviews from nearly everywhere, and be hailed as the next best thing. If it is even SHY of that, 8/10 or an average 3/5 game, then I can think they can kiss any sales goodbye.
I have a feeling this next generation will be dubbed generation rental.
It never has, but even the lamest stuff on /. is usually better than "this guy I know at Wal-Mart says xbox 360 will cost $300."
Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
people are willing to shell out $300+ for a console and games for christmas. No wonder, toy stores like fao schwarz and kb-toys went under... it's kind of sad, oh well.
Some people believe 1-1=3 and for the sake of being politically correct, we should respect their differences
Xbox 360: $300 Game for XBox 360: $60 Getting to see some immature idiot moon you via the new feature in xbox live: Priceless
I'm surprised that you scoff at the punk kids on Xbox Live. You sound just like one of them.
Expensive if your a sheeple that has to buy one, nobody is holding a gun to your head that you have to buy it.
It's going to cost $300 for the console, $60 for the games, and at least $10 / month for the Live360! access fee.
You'll be lucky if that's not $10 per month per game.
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
Who paid $199 for an NES? That was the mega-package with the robot that Nintendo put together to sneak their game console into stores that remembered The Great Video Game Crash of 1983. I bet most people bought the cheaper bundle; I know my NES console cost $80.
I'm only basing that on the reviews (the game looks great on the X-Box, but personally the funky style would seem easy to port to *my* eyes), but apparently it was developed on the X-Box and ported to PS2... because of that it is a hair slower and has slighly lower quality textures. Nothing that would prevent enjoying the game and surely not a reason to get an X-Box unless you get a great deal.
I'm not so sure how many will dump their X-Boxes anyway, with the 360 not having 100% backwards compatibility. I'm not throwing my Steel Batallion games away just because the 360 won't support them or the controller... nor will I be getting a 360 at launch for that matter.
Sig under construction since 1998.
I only rent games so I'm more than happy to see the game prices rise as the console prices remain loss leaders. But I doubt Gamefly is quite so pleased. I wonder if a next gen price jump is in the cards for them.
Out of the principle that games consoles shouldn't be released less than 5 or so years apart. A new PS comes out about every six years. This is mostly true for the other systems too. Except Microsoft, who as usual are trying to push everyone into upgrading before the xbox is even four years old!
Microsoft's Home Entertainment Division runs at a loss...a HUGE fricken loss...and have for years. They have never made a penny on Xbox, and they likely won't on Xbox360 either...especially at the US $299 price point, although that is a great price for early adopters of the 360.
So, numbers...in 2004 the Microsoft Entertainment Division lost $1.2 BILLION. As of July 2005, they have lost $391 MILLION this year so far. I can try to get losses since the launch of Xbox...but I think you get the point.
As of June 2005, the total units sold of the top 3 game consoles worldwide were:
Also...the grand majority of Microsoft worldwide sales of Xbox are in the U.S. (like ~14.5 million units). The worldwide interest in Xbox360 is very very small too. Microsoft is stroking themselves in claiming they'll get > 50% marketshare for next-gen consoles. It just simply is not realistic after looking at the history of consoles.
So, is this pipe-dream of capturing the market worth the massive losses they are taking for it? Personally I think that most people should wait on their purchases. See what the price point of all three offerings are later in 2006...then buy. I'm betting on the PS3.
I predict that $60/game is not going to last long at all, if it even makes an appearance. Now I know that MS and Sony are going to be losing more money up front than ever before selling the console hardware initially. And I also know, or at least have heard, that development costs for the next-gen games are higher than before. So I know the economics of getting that money back and profit on the game sales. But the key that breaks the deal is the consumer. I don't believe that the consumer thinks that any mass market game is worth $60 new right now or in the next generation. Even hardcore gamers will balk at this. I certainly haven't seen anything coming on the new consoles that makes me think, yeah that's worth $60.
There have been games that had high prices in the past, but generally these were aimed at niche markets and/or had some special hardware (recall Steel Battalion, or FFXI PS2 version). Needless to say, these games did not sell a million copies. Given EA's recent licensing binge, I would guess that the only games that will be able to get away with the inflated prices will be sports exclusives, like the Madden series. But for everyone else, forget it. There isn't even a hint of a killer app/game on the next generation consoles that will justify the higher price in the mind of the consumer.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
they're likely to move to HD-DVD later. So anyone buying when it first comes out may want to take into account what upgrade costs may be. Realistically, assume another $50-100 at least, especially if it requires an authorized center to install.
As others have pointed out, the Atari 2600 (inflation adjusted) cost far more back in the early 80s than the upcoming Xbox 360 will at the end of this year.
Similarly, people are complaining about the price increase per title. Xbox360 titles will MSRP at $59.99 whereas the original Xbox titles MSRP at $49.99.
Yet, back in 1982, my copy of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 retailed at Toys "R" Us for $49.99. According to the Inflation Calculator (www.westegg.com/inflation), the 1982 dollars for that title today would equal $101.41, which is definitely much more than $59.99.
Granted, people will argue over playability. Pac-Man on the 2600 did suck, but I do recall getting lots of gameplay out of that money. I hope the playability factor will be much more with the Xbox360's titles although I'm not holding my breath.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Really, though, that a game is now $60 (and that's a primo game - expect many to go for far less - half the new games out this month for Xbox are going for less than $50) is hardly keeping with inflation. I remember many first rate NES games going for $50 back in the 1980s!!!
The real question isn't how much an XBOX 360 costs, so much as how an XBOX 360 mod chip will cost.
This is a Microsoft product, no one on Slashdot is going to actually pay money for it (or at least admit to it). We'll eBay someones box, figure out how to hack it (ostensibly to put Linux or BSD on it) and then get games on the black market. On second thought, some people may buy the XBox 360 thinking MS is losing a load on the HW.
It remains to be seen how much this will cost on this new generation of console. Certainly PS2/XBox are more expensive to hack than the PS1.
That's only if you want the HD-DVD to watch movies. There's no way games are going to come out on HD-DVD, since they'd be restricting the people that could possibly buy them. I suppose there's a chance they could release in both formats, one with a little extra FMV or bonus movies or something, but that's all the gaming benefit you may get from the new drive.
It's justification for upgrading for only a small portion of people. The rest of us will wait until one of the next gen optical formats becomes standard, then buy a regular player.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Everybody duck! ::WHOOSH::
Haven't played it on XBox, but I own it for PS2. It becomes painfully obvious that the game was ported from a more powerful machine because at certain points the frame rates are terrible. Aside from that and the bad camera, it's still a very worthwhile game.
It's not even just lack of news. It's old lack of news.
This is a Microsoft product, no one on Slashdot is going to actually pay money for it
That's because most slashdotters' parents are going to buy it for them ;)
but the PS3 or Nintendo's box will have cheaper and more fun games, so it doesn't matter anyway.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The PSX (before it was the PSOne) was when games got to the $40 range. I remember owning my N64 and getting kinda upset at a PSX game like MGS being $40 while I had to pay $50+ for mine.
I'm not all that happy with more expensive games, but people are kinda overreacting like games have never been this expensive before.
Not gonna affect me anyway. I'm a cheapskate. I don't buy new consoles 'til they're at most $200, and I buy used or discounted games as much as possible.
In 1977, an Apple II was $1300 (with 4K of RAM). Using the inflation calculator linked below, that's $4218.48 today
In 1981, an IBM PC was $1565. That's $3501.82 today.
In 1984, the original 128K Mac was $2499, or $4625.58 today.
From those prices, it looks like desktop PC prices have come down a lot more than game consoles, which is funny because they have basically the same technology inside.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Picking nits here, but let's say you bought three top titles @ $50 each. One you play obsessively, but barely get started on the other two before getting sick of them (FFX, I'm looking in your direction).
You'll probably get down to $1/hr on the big one, but might not break $20/hr on the other two. Overall, you're still looking at less than $3/hr (not factoring in console price), which is still better than most other options.
Of course, my current obsessions (Katamari and NCAA Hoops 2k5, both $20 new) are probably sitting around $0.25/hr right now, and still going strong. Gotta love that.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
XBox has only A slight edge?
Obviously you don't have an HDTV or Surround Sound, as XBox's OBVIOUS edge over other game consoles is Dolby Digital 5.1 and 480p on most titles.
I don't have a 5.1 HDTV setup.
And I don't want "games" who's main selling point is that they have 5.1 sound and 480p display.
I want games I can play for fun, not for showing off, thank you very much.
You can't take the sky from me...
Wal-Mart employees have leaked the price of Microsoft's next-generation console. Now just how many Wal-Mart employee paychecks would it take to buy an XBox 360...?
So enlighten us - what spooky awsome video action were you using in 1977 that made Combat look so lame?
Here's the history lesson: The idea that you could actually interact with images on a television screen was pretty damned novel back then. Stuff moved around, you shot at it, it went boom.
Which, in the final analysis, describes most of today's popular video games as well. The images and explosions are just prettier now. But it all still boils down to "Push button, go boom", doesn't it?
I pre-ordered the original xbox from toy's r about three months before launch. At the time, the pre-order retailers were bundling the console with 3 games, extra controller, and carrying case. There were no other options on getting the xbox at launch, you couldn't just by the console and the one game (Halo). Of course, at launch time, other retailers (Target) had the console available seperatly. Take home lesson for me, don't pick up bundles, just wait until launch.
Well if the system runs for 300 and lil Joe Whiner tells mom he wants Santa to get him one two weeks before christmas...I guess I can sell mine on ebay for close to $500 I love whiney lil rich kids
Screw this.
Playing console games is most fun when done with friends, and not just bleeding edge gamer friends (i.e. not just males). I find it is MUCH more fun to play old NES games where the terrible controls discount skill and add a random element to who wins whatever. FYI: girls like to play Dr Mario and Paperboy WAY more than GTA.
sig
Got two theories:
1) The code for handing out moderation broke.
2) People wasted all their points in the ask MS thread, and the code isn't setup to issue points expect at a fixed rate.
Whatever the case seems to be returning to normal now.
If the game is good, it will eventually be part of the "Platinum series" and will be priced lower (today it's $20, I'd imagine next gen will be $30). This does mean you'll have to wait awhile after the game is out, but it also means you don't need to pay $60 for good games either.
I understand the idea of inflation. The problem i have is that inflation is usually specific to one certain item and not compared to another at the same time. This is why i dont think you could compare an atari to an xbox as the technology in both are different. If you had the technology to develop an atari in the early days like an xbox now then fair comment.
I remember the guy across the hall from me in college having a NeoGeo (the console alone was close to a grand). His games were in the hundreds of dollars a piece. His games were truly cutting edge at the time. The 360 will be (or had better be at least) cutting edge for it's time.
FUCK WALMART.
Meh.
At least mine was cheap to hack:
Take one game, that I really wanted and bought secondhand for $20, insert memory stick with fake savegame on it - voilà!
Didn't open it once to install Linux and XBMC.
One 40'' Plasma TV $3000
One Xbox-360 $300
One ergonomic game joystick, $150
Spending kids education fund in a week, priceless !
There are something money cannot buy, for everything else there is mastercard.
No matter what you say, $50 dollars was always a lot for your average game. Now I know how much snes and n64 cartridges used to cost and I know all about inflation and the increased production costs of next-gen titles and you know what? I still don't care. I gots bills to pay.
I am simply not buying $60 games. Me and a few others are going to start renting our games now and the game companies will lose our business. I'll be back when you find a way to cut the middlemen from the picture and start offering decently priced games again.
The CPI is virtually useless. It significantly overstates inflation.
How so? It's just an aggregate of the measured increases of retail prices. This is often affected by swings in things like gasoline prices or food supply issues. If you want more accuracy, you can track specific areas and/or products or product categories.
If, like most people, you're referring to cost-of-living, you're correct. The CPI wasn't intended to measure cost of living. However, there is a related index (the "chained" CPI) which eliminates the "substitution bias" that makes the CPI higher than a true COL index, if there were such a thing. This C-CPI more accurately reflects COL though.
See the CPI FAQ for more information.
Disclaimer: IANAE (I am not an economist).
bp
All of those factors are part of the fun. It's fun to hear monsters walking around you. It's fun to see them with lifelike graphics. Yes, if good game design is sacrificed because of these things you have a point. Otherwise, I'll take the platform that allows game developers to give me the best experience possible.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
Compare the production cost of a game that came out at the start of the last console cycle to the costs of making a game for the 360 or PS3. Then ask yourself how they would ever make any money at $10-12. Millions of people buy DVDs and the occasional game will sell over a million. BY far most sell maybe a few hundred thousand for a hit and less than 100,000 for a flop. Take out everyone's cut and look how much is left for the dev.
Another sign of /. wierdness... today's Poll ("favorite tool of destruction") was created as an archive, so no comments can be posted.
/. bigwigs have gone up to their cabins in the U.P. for August, and have left the running of /. to some interns. This is why you should never, never, never give interns Administrator privledges, even temporarily.
Personally, I think that Hemos, CmdrTaco and all the other
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
How come they're all locked up all of a sudden?
Or wait a few months and get an Xbox 360. Which should be cheaper by then.
I just REALLY don't understand the whole "have to have it NOW" mentality. Camping out in line for a movie on opening night? Staying up until midnight to buy a game? Paying premium prices for the latest-and-greatest video card? I just really think that people who do this are complete suckers. Why are you so easily manipulated? Why do you let marketers suck you in? Have you ever asked yourself and really thought about why you do this? I have yet to hear a good explaination of these things. Perhaps if something is a limited edition and they might run out, it might be worth it. But do you think they are going to run out of Xbox 360s? Are they going to go away? As long as people continue to perpetuate this, companies will take advantage of it. Please don't feed the hype.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Those $10-12 DVDs also had theatrical releases to recoup most of their costs. In addition, in the case of game sales, stores keep about 50% of the purchase price. If you can buy a game in the store for $30, or buy it direct from the publisher/developer for $20, the publisher/developer gets 33% more money if you buy it direct from them, even though they price it 33% less.
Adjusted for inflation, $50/game is cheaper than Atari 2600 games were. Someone earlier did the math, a $25 Atari 2600 game in 1980 dollars, adjusted for inflation, would cost $64.50 in 2005 dollars.
Games are getting more expensive to make. The games that don't sell well need to be offset by the mega-hits. Game development costs have gone way up as gamers demand more and more from their games. A triple-A title costs 10x more to develop now than it did 5 years ago, but it is only selling 3-4x as much as triple-A titles did 5 years ago. Do the math.
Yet at the same time people are clamoring for cheaper games, they demand variety, fewer sequels and knock offs. What they are too thick skulled to understand, those sequels and knockoffs are what are selling well enough to pay for the losses endured by the 'experimental' games that gamers are demanding yet not buying enough of to offset development costs.
One publisher tried to make a triple-A title and sell it cheap - the 2K sports series - at $20. It was made at a loss, with the sole intention of driving sales away from the competition, and then after 2 iterations on the title and building a large fanbase, jacking the price up to $50. They do this in the hopes they have hooked enough people who, when given the choice of spending $50 on the sequel to a game they've bought for two years and like, or $50 on the competition they used to buy but stopped because a similiar quality game was cheaper, that they will decide to spend their $50 on the formerly-cheap title. Such good intentions they have, yes...
In short: Games are far more expensive to make, stores get a 50% cut of the sale, games are NOT making it up in volume, 80% of games are made at a loss, 'experimental' and 'creative' games tend to fall into the 80% category, so the price is going to go up, and you are whining because you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
Well, that is what is costs to live in your socialist, multicultural utopia.
But on the up side you are morally superiour to everyone else.
I'm guessing the target audience is the same kids whos parents are buying them $35,000 SUVs to take to college when they're freshmen. Not that I'm jealous...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It's the online features that may make this the last generation I own. When Origin first announced UO, thought that this take gaming to the next level. It didn't. Playing games with a bunch of people you don't know stinks.
Warcraft, Starcraft, Doom, Warlords....These games were fun because you got a bunch of people together that you knew, and that you liked to play games with.
Now with MS talking about selling partial games and Nickle & Diming us for the rest, (Oh, they will call them add ons, or special features) I just may be out. I hope the idea fails. I WANT to buy new systems and games, but the heyday of gaming may just be over.
A few months before Sony's ready to release the PS3, they'll set the price at 499.99 for WalMart. Then, WM employees leak the price to every scoop blog and its brother, infurating everyone and leading to claims such as "Sony is greedy" or "I'll be poor" or "I'd never buy a PS3 anyway". A few months pass, as people speculate what the box will have as well as slowly rationalize that price to match the features. Eventually, Sony makes the official release at the asking price of just $349.99! Holy crap, that's a $150 savings! All that and it's barely more expensive than the XBox 360! Where's my wallet?
Has anyone noticed that we are receiving this news from someone who apparently cannot spell the name of the largest retailer in the world properly?
The value of reviews is that they let you ignore the truly crappy games, IMHO. I've bought several highly rated games, and, after playing them for a while, decided they didn't suit my tastes. FFX, and NBA Street Vol. 2, for example.
Could've rented first, of course. Shoulda but dinna. I'm far enough behind the curve that I generally only buy used games anyway, so it doesn't REALLY matter.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
If 'unconfirmed reports from Walmart employees' say the price is $300, that means nothing.
If Walmart or any other retailer put the pre-order price at $300, that means nothing.
When MS announce the RRP, then you have a piece of news.
Games.Slashdot.org will remain a completely worthless fucking joke as long as Zonk continues to blindly run every submission he is sent.
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
Anyone care to wager on how long it takes the modding community to work out how to hack the XBox 360? I'd put $20 on under three months.
-- What is this Earth thing you call "slow"?
Have you and three friends buy the four games together. Each one takes a game home and beats it then you pass it on to the next. Now you paid $15 for a game. I know this is "file sharing" or "pirating" and the big bad men will come and eat you for doing it. So in order to stop you from illegally sharing your games they will install copy prevention on humans now. You are not allowed to talk to anyone unless you are a Trusted Soul(TM). Then using DRM you may interact with other people.
"One thing is for sure: It's time to start gearing up for an expensive Christmas."
Or not.
$60 a pop for the games is insane though. I was raised on video games and I love video games but I'll be damned if I'm ever going to give anyone $60 for a game. Chances are that you've spent that much money already. Games like "Earthworm Jim" for the Sega Genesis cost $60 at release, which in today's money is about $75. That maens that games are actually cheaper now.
My comment was NOT "Offtopic"...
It should have been easy to understand what I implied... that I did not need to get an Xbox 360 because I already have a PS2, that I hardly have time to play with as it is.
Whomever modded my comment down... that was not very nice... or necessary.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
So what you are saying is that if the 360 comes out with an HD-DVD drive later on, it will not be possible to make games that use it.
Oh wait! Why sure it will be possible to make games with it, because why would Microsoft lock that out? But it would be moot because they would forbid game companies from making games using the format.
Unitl the first company that wants to port some PS3 mega-hit that uses most of the Blu-Ray space comes along.
Do you honestly think the stand that no games will be released on HD-DVD would stand up to the pressure of publishers with a really hot game? Frankly even without the whole porting issue I think publishers would exert a LOT of pressure on Microsoft to be able to include as much content as possible in a game, which makes it easier on them as they have less work to compress things. What about companies like EA that produce titles for multiple systems? They are going to fight tooth and nail to make development costs lower by making games that use a similar amount of storage for each system. A Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc could sure hold a lot of Madden quotes...
Whatever Microsoft says now about future games never shipping on HD-DVD is just a thinly veiled attempt to stem lost sales to an acceptable level.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Actually that's not file sharing or pirating. Those terms refer to making illegal copies. What you're referring to is actually both legal and moral.
Why do my serious comments get modded "funny"?
It's justification for upgrading for only a small portion of people. The rest of us will wait until one of the next gen optical formats becomes standard, then buy a regular player.
I think that's ignoring the very real boost the PS2 gave the DVD format. It was growing before then, sure, but not as fast - DVD's really took off along with the consoles that played them (XBox and PS2).
My first DVD player was a PS2 - and my first HD player will be a PS3. Personally the fact that millions of people will have one player instead of another pretty much decides the fate of the war before it begins.
I actually think Microsoft is also holding out to see which wins, and may even ship a Blu-Ray player instead of HD-DVD if victory looks obvious. But whatever they ship I think it's pretty clear games will use that format, despite what Microsoft might say - otherwise how will PS3 ports be practical? It won't be all games but it will be some, and yess it will fragment the market.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Once it's inevitably hacked and running linux...
That price is a bit off...
At the time there was 2 NES packages you could buy.
The Big one with R.O.B., the light gun, Duck hunt, and Gyromite which was $150.
The other just included Super Mario Bros and was only $80.
I know this because I bought my NES when they first came out.
I didn't find the robot or light gun to be worth the extra money considering that there wasn't squat for games at launch that supported either of them.
Plus, as I tried to explain to my father, it was cheaper to buy the $80 version and then get the other accessories separately.
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
As lemmings off the cliff, the users follow along by the play book created by their cult leader, Master Gates.
They pay $60 per game. Pay $6 per month for online access and become part of the residual income to keep Gates the billionaire he is.
Seriously folks, educate yourselves about the industry. I let my nephew play my xboxes online against hundreds of others on Halo2 and I have never touched Xbox live. It _is_ completely legal and moral to play on free servers.
Why pay, when others give it away for free? (isn't that how IE killed Netscape market space?)
It's unfair to single out MS on this front- considering the PS3 will launch at 300+ with no harddrive, and the games will cost the same as 360. The development cycle is longer than ever- just take the Elder Scroll series as one example- and that obviously takes money. I'm suprised games didn't hit 60 earlier- I remember paying 70 for double dragon on the NES back in the day. In short, I don't think this is an unreasonable price hike at all- and even if it is, ALL the console manufactures are adhering to it- not just MS.
My good looks paid for that pool, and my talent filled it with water.
I want to make myself a cluster of cheap Linux computers. The hardware in these is fairly decent, no? Are they rack mountable?
Meh.
I originally picked up an XBox because I got tired of constantly upgrading my PC to play the latest games - It was a no-brainer at the time ($200 for the XBox with controller + games or $300 for a respectable video card). This continues to be the case, IMHO.
In my case, the $300 is worth it for a dedicated console - just plug it in and it works. No tweaking required. I get enough hardware optimization and troubleshooting in at work, I don't want to futz with it at home.
As for the $60 per game problem, GameFly and such are great alternatives... I'll probably never buy another game (though the next Morrowind is a contender)
The Rev's probably the way I'll go, anyway, for my kids -- if we get anything at all. (Which is an open question. Their birthday's Friday, and darned if they aren't at a loss to ask for anything this year. Two 11-year-olds, and they can't think of anything to put on their lists. It's a parenting dilemma how to deal with this.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
$300 for a console is hardly that bad! The Sega Saturn came out at $400 ($498 adjusted for inflation), the PSX came out at $300 ($373 adjusted for inflation). The NES came out at $200 ($354 adjusted for inflation), while the SNES came out at $200 too ($282 adjusted for inflation).
$60 for a game ain't too bad either. Anybody remember paying $60 for SNES games back in the day? That's $85 in today's money! Games have been stuck at $50 for a decade. During that whole time, the cost of making a game has gone way up. Even still, moving up to $60 doesn't even cover inflation somce then!
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
It doesn't really matter if you'll pay or not, what matters is that the majority of people will pay. I know everybody loves to live in this Slashdot fantasy world, but considering how long games have been at $50, and our current rate of inflation, they *should* be selling for something like $65 by now... the price has been going down every year because of inflation.
Your post kind of points out exactly why they've been at $50 for so long... there's a psychological thing there, I think.
But seriously: Don't be the old man sitting on the side of the road shouting out, "in my day we paid a nickel for a hamburger and we got a free milkshake in a golden collector's cup!" Seriously. Meditate on the fact that, as time passes, prices will change.
Comment of the year
I'm Buddhist, you insensitive clod!
you can buy a brand new surfboard. :)
Off topic, I know, but you folks should have a look outside occasionally. Sometimes it's nice out here.
you all realize that this is still rumour, right? I mean, the price for the console is most likely true, but until MS confirms it, I wouldn't get too bent out of shape over the game prices...
I remember everyone declaring that n64 games would be 70 bucks a pop, and I never paid over 50 for a single game...
Damn...That was exactly what i was thinking..I love how everyone bitches bitches bitches about how much things cost. Maybe they could do something about it.. like work harder...get that promotion and then the $60 will feel like $40...
First of all, we don't pay $60 per game, and we don't pay $6 per month for online access. Right now we pay $50 per game and $50 per year (~$4 per month) for online access. It's not a big difference, but it adds up. And it shows that you're exaggerating the price for some reason.
Your nephew plays online against hundreds of others on Halo 2? 381,267 played Halo 2 on Live within the last 24 hours. You can't realistically compare those numbers. GameSpy Tunnel, XBConnect, or XLink (my box is modded--I've tried them all) simply don't provide the same experience that Live does, neither in volume of players or quality of gaming sessions.
Just the same, ~$4 per month is only a 1/3 of the amount people pay for WoW, so which makes more sense? With Live, I can play many, many more games for my money. Compared in that regard, it's a pretty good deal--which is why Microsoft has over 1,000,000 subscribers.
Why pay, when others give it away for free?
That's only a good argument when the free alternative provides the same features and experience, or close to.
Either Microsoft doesn't realize that people will always spend within their means (ie if you have $500 in disposable income a year to spend on games, youre going to spend it if they are $50 or $60)
It's been five years since the last round of console releases, where games standardized at $50.
Assuming 4% inflation over five years, compounding, that works out to a just over 21.5% increase.
$50 + 21.5% = $60.8
Working for a games developer, even in the dotbomb era, my salary has always averaged at least that 4% increase. So, arguably, game dev staffing costs have gone up by an average of at least 20% (or $10/title) in the last five years.
If that's the increase in game developer costs per employee and if inflation and consumer salaries have also all raised by about that amount, why wouldn't they increase prices?
I know it's tempting to feel insulted if we get anything less than a 5% payrise while equally insulted if any product (that still has to offer pay raises to its staff) increases by anything at all, but inflation does happen and this isn't outpacing it - it just hurts because it comes all at once.
To put it in more ridiculous terms:
The first game I bought, Elite, cost me GBP 14.99 ~ $20 US.
The first game my father bought, though not a computer game, likely cost in about a ha'penny ~1 US cent.
My grandfather, a Yorkshireman (which seems fitting given a certain Monty Python sketch going through my head right now) will likely tell you something like, "Games?! When I were a lad, we'd be lucky to have two sticks we found in t' street. But, being all, we were happy."
So, which is the correct price for a game? $60, $50, $40, $25, $20, $0.01, free? Or all of the above given where inflation is in the era you're playing?
Maybe some people will watch a DVD 10 times, but I do not.
Actually, it's rawther common, especially for "some people" who are still single-digit years old. How many times will a young child watch a particular animated DVD?
The exception to this (that I overlooked again) would be parlour-type video games, where multiple people play on one screen. These are less and less common, however.
Less and less common on PC, PS2, and Xbox. GameCube, on the other hand, has excellent party games such as Mario Party series and Super Smash Bros. Melee. It also has plenty of split-screen games such as WarioWare and F-Zero GX.
The fact that 381,267 people played Halo2 doesn't impact the game play when you are in games of no more than 8 to 16 players at a time. Kai allows online play of most major platforms and works fairly well (response time is good, audio comes through fine, etc). I don't have XBL, so I wasn't real sure about the monthly fees. At any rate, the difference is only negligible. In fact, I don't play many games at all and yet have more consoles than most: 4 Atari 2600 2 SNES 9 Xboxes 22 PS2 5 PSOne (and legend) 2 N64 1 sega genesis and thousands of PC games (all legit). I work in the industry, so I don't usually deal with the retail figures. Thanks for clearing that up.
It's not just the 5 USD per month for the Xbox Live service. It's also a difference of 30 USD per month between dial-up Internet access and broadband Internet access for those people who are otherwise happy with dial-up, along with the cost of moving house if you can't get decent (e.g. not satellite) broadband where you live. A lot of online PS2 games that aren't ping-sensitive are perfectly happy with dial-up, while Xbox Live needs broadband.
Right now we pay $50 per game and $50 per year (~$4 per month) for online access.
Since when do you get broadband for $4 per month? Unlike Xbox Live games, a lot of PS2 games are happy with dial-up, and so are a lot of moms who only check their e-mail and do some occasional web surfing.
but you do know that the phrase "backed up" games equates to "pirated software" and that we all know that, don't you?
True, but you typically can't run homebrew games on a console without the same mod that allows for play of backups.
I want games I can play and not be distracted by the skipping of low framerates, or exceedingly long load times. That's why I choose GameCube or Xbox over PS2.
Carve each toy out of real hickory wood...
no TV needed...
Go to a thift store and buy like an NES or SNES. Get some games. Real cheap. If you spent $300 on that alone, you can still have hours of fun. You don't need 3D effects to have fun. Does anyone think the way I do, or am I just "old" when it comes to this?
Maybe they could do something about it.. like work harder...get that promotion
Can you tell me how I'd go about doing that? I've been a volunteer at the local VA hospital for almost the past six months. No matter how much harder I work, volunteering isn't going to help pay for anything. The local paper's help wanted section (and CareerBuilder.com which just mirrors the local paper's help wanted section) is full of mostly ads that require "2 yrs exp". Heck, even with my bachelor's degree in computer science, whenever I try to apply for even a minimum wage job at a home improvement store, all I get is "Sorry, we went with another candidate". What next step should I take?
Besides, even in a less-tight job market, not everybody can get a promotion; otherwise, we'd have too many proverbial chiefs and not enough braves.
Am I the only one that finds this whole thread a little disturbing? If you seriously must buy a video game system when it first comes out, you are going to get burnt by the price. This is the same way a carnival charges $4.00 for a 12oz pop. If you are so desparate that you can't find alternatives, you deserve to pay that price. ...the most depressing thing is that if you are so into video games that you have to have the latest thing because you are tired with the current pool of options, then you seriously need to turn off the TV.
You can buy a Gamecube,and a foot-tall tack of great games for the price of just the new consoles.
Get a life people, get out of the house and gain some depth to your life. Get a real job and a girlfriend and your favorite games will be great for much, much longer.
$300 per console?
$60 per game?
Wow! Each purchase should come with a free tube of K-Y Jelly.
Proverbs 21:19
This price seems actually quite cheap to me.
I live in Europe, where $300 works out as 243 Euros, and up until about one and a half years ago, thats what you spent on a Playstation 2 or XBOX.
Playstation 2 had a starting price of around 400 Euros, so around $500.
And Microsoft were even so insolent to want a whopping 479 Euros when they released their console in march 2002. That works out as 590 Dollars.
No wonder they lay on the shelves like blocks of concrete.
You can usually get games for 50 Euros, but some XBOX games cost 70 Euros when the system first came out.
I think the CPU alone costs some $300 to $400.
If it costs about $300 and will support Linux just like the original XBOX, it will be a hit.
Just imagine: a sleek, stylish, small and ultra-powerful PC cheaper than Windows+Office with an free opensource OS. Mmmm, yummi!
If it does support Linux, people will buy it and because it's so cheap for its power (and costs less to the customer than to Microsoft) this is going to completely ruin Microsoft's gaming department.
...when the mod hacks make this possible. The interesting question is what has Ms done to try to stop this from happening...
| Assert your right to clean your teeth with a garden hoe and other non-standard uses for things you've bought and paid for! |
$25?
I paid $32 for Defender at Lowes Hardware in the early 80's. That was two weeks allowance. $25 would have left me enough for a two liter of Mountain Dew and a bag of doritos.
They will force bundles on us. Toys R Us, EBGames, GameStop, etc. will all be bundling the new systems with tons of stuff, and that will be the only way you can buy one. Hell, you can't buy a used PS2 online from EBGames now without buying a bundle.
Thats around 570 Australian dollars for us. And we won't get it for around a year and a half.
He was specifically referring to Xbox Live when he said online access, so I just followed suit. Yes, our broadband bill is more expensive than dial-up. Sorry for making that clearer.
With regard to the broadband issue though, by requiring broadband, Live is able to integrate voice chat into every game without lag. Yes, it's a pain for dial-up users. Until recently we didn't have broadband in my area. Now that I've got it, though, I'm grateful for the experience I have.
Maybe Live should have a dial-up service also? Arcade games and the like wouldn't require much more. Granted, it's impossible due to the Xbox hardware, but I'm just saying.. That would be one possible alternative. Now that I've played it this way, though, there's no way I'd want dial-up users lagging up my games.
I think another problem is that people forget the other things that Live offers besides just playing games. The simple fact that most of my games now are Live Aware is a big deal. I can be playing Chaos Theory, my buddy can send me an invite to Halo, and I still receive it. It's a great feature, among many others.
Good job mods.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Just look at the movie theaters. Ticket sales are nose-diving, because people can't see the point in spending $10 a ticket (or $40 for the whole family) for the average (i.e. mediocre) Hollywood movie when they can just buy a DVD for $10-$15.
Better F/X mean more money to produce. If you value plot and character development and not F/X, stick to older games. If you value both, you'll just have to pay the extra. The fact that a movie isn't any more "fun" doesn't change the fact that it cost orders of magnitude more money to produce, unfortunately.
So, maybe the answer is to have the movie studios to step in and take over game development. Oh! wait a sec....
If you're into RPGs, I found Jade Empire to be quite good. The battle tactics do tend to get a bit boring after awhile, but it does have quite a good story.
I will buy an XBox 360.... as soon as Halo 3 is availible.
Since I bought the XBox I have bought 4 games, two being Halo CE and Halo 2.
And Live beats PS2 online hands down.
I paid $20/month here where I live for dial-up just a few months ago and have moved up to 768 broadband for only $10 more a month. I could have even stayed at 256 broadband and paid less than I did for dial-up.
I don't know how many people have played xbox live on slashdot. But what I do know is that there's a definite advantage to using it over PS2 online. Having the ability to invite friends across games to play a different one is nice, as well as being able to recognize friends in all games cause they have the same name.
These are just a few of the reasons why I will continue to pay the extra fee to play tons of games on xbox live versus free shoddy ps3 online versus high monthly fees for one game on PC. To me, it's the logical thing to do if you really want the best experience for your dollat.
what?
No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the 360 will not come out with an HD-DVD drive later on.
Now I understand your point, that certainly is a radical stance...
I think however the inclusion of either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is a certainty, as it will just nintendofy the XBox to not keep up with the PS3.
I think the 360 HD will probably in fact arrive at the same time as the PS3 to take some wind out of thier sales.
From interviews with both Gates and Balmer, it sure sounds pretty certain the XBox 360 will see an HD media drive of some sort.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I think that will be out for the PC/Mac eventually, thus no need for an XBox to play that. Not as sure about Psychonaunts.
I did really like KOTOR (which I also waited for a PC version (Ok, Mac version) to play.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It just means more money will go to the modchip makers. And considering the popularity of the console, it'll probably have a modchip within a month. (unless ofcourse they use some sort of palladium which will make life hard).
^_^
They jack up the prices more and more after every generation, and instead of people saying "Fuck you! Drop the price or I'm not buying shit!" They just frown and fork over the cash. Am I the only one wondering WHY instead of planning for a more expensive christmas?! This just shows companies like microsoft and sony that they can keep doing this and everyone will bend right the fuck over for them.
I wonder how much of the $300/$60 is based on actual cost to Microsoft, and how much is based on perceived cost? That is, is it marked up because it actually costs more or because they think a product that costs more will seem fancier to their buyers? Just looking at those prices, I think "wow, that's kind of absurd" but I also think "well, it's not that much more expensive than the old one, the games are only $10 more, after all...maybe more goes into each game these days". Kind of like Apple's hardware, y'know? Expensive, but there's always a little voice of hope sitting on your shoulder and going "well, maybe it's worth it". $300 for a system is definitely a lot, and even though you could build the best supercomputer in the world by beowulfing a relatively small number of these together, it's not like games that use all of its processing and rendering abilities will come out anytime soon, right? It's probably good to wait, until the system is cheaper and games use more of its potential.
The Bill Gates quotes are a bit more ambiguous as you'd expect from someone whose had so long to develop a diplomatic voice as Bill, they just detail a partnership with Toshiba. I found this Balmer interview at Engadget a lot more revealing as to probable direction - an excerpt:
Look, for us to say we're going to go through a whole generation without an HD capacity drive--I think that would be naive to assume that we'll be sitting here at the end of the Xbox 360 generation and no such device will have shipped. On the other hand, we haven't announced anything, Sony's announced something, and who knows? You know, they could have announced support for Beta instead of VHS. We're trying to watch and really be agile on our feet, relative to the issues between HD DVD and Blu-ray.
I tried to include a little context at the end that backpedals a little - but just after that in a followup question he again says:
I just think it's just wrong-minded to think that somehow we'd go a whole generation without this. We're not going to be sitting here five years saying, "Oh jeez, we don't have HD DVD-type storage."
Now that quotes says to me that Microsoft realizes damn well the shortfall they will face against the PS3 in pure storage space for games, which is just another factor leading me to believe we will see 360 games for that format. There's simply no way big publishers can resist all that juicy space, and in turn no way Microsoft can resist big publishers to that degree. They are still very dependent on them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
$300 for a computer with dual PowerPC processors sounds cheap to me! I just hope the thing gets hacked and can run Linux.
Here in Australia we pay $99 for the same games.
The reason for the $60 price point for games is very simple. Microsoft wants all AAA titles for the console when it's released and shortly thereafter. Making all games $60 means that publishers aren't very likely to crap out expansion packs and cheap sequels.
If all the games are original titles or big budget, it will bring up the perception that the Xbox 360 has higher quality games, etc.
I, being 32, have no interest at all in Nintendo
Ah, that's why. You're just too old for Nintendo. I'm only 31 and I enjoy playing on my Gamecube. With more fun games than I have time to play. I will probably buy a game or two for Christmas instead of a new console.
I don't need a signature.
Hey, I resemble that remark! Ouch! The pain! [pantomimes abdominal injury, stumbles in circles]
Oh wait, after a year, I should be used to it.
$60 a pop for the games is insane though. I was raised on video games and I love video games but I'll be damned if I'm ever going to give anyone $60 for a game.
Buy Half Life 2 and finish it, then tell me your $60 wasn't well spent.(The cheapest is 50 thru steam btw, and in hong kong it's $35 boxed)
Come on man, they work hard on games. When the new Sam and Max come out I am buying that for sure.
I love the fact that when I play Halo 2 I am matched with people of roughly my skill level. Going back to all of the PC FPS games that don't do this is extremely frustrating (for both the extreme newbies and annoying pros, not to mention the unbalanced teams), and it sounds like the non-Xbox Live ways to play Halo 2 online would be the same way.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
Well, really waiting for a Mac version but it's probably only a year or so off now - might as well wait, and no need for a used XBox. Thanks for the tip.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I loathe MS personally. Yet I have no problem buying an XBox for precisely the reason you stated. They lose money on each one. I also make it a point to buy used games whenever possible for it, so they don't get a cut of that either. :)
Disclaimer: Yes, I did buy Halo 2 on launch. Walked into Target and simply picked up an LE, and they gave me a free book to boot, with NO preorder.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
Almost forgot - you can get help from the list of people on the Xbox-Linux project.
The Xbox Linux project maintains a database of people that can prepare your Xbox for Linux, for free, either doing the Software or the Hardware method.
The rules as well as the list of people can be found here.
Just a typo in my above post, I meant version 1.6 of course. And as I said they were new boxes manufactured in 2005 that ought to have been clue enough. It's not likely that they would produce v1.4's in 2005. And, no, it wasn't refurbished either.
If you took the time to think, the original Xbox released at a price tag of $299. The games are $10 more, due to the complexity of the hardware. Xbox is also taking a $75 dive on each box... I wouldnt b**** too much about the price...
yeah but its australian dollars which is probally just worth less monoploy money when compared to the worlds main currencys.
I too purchased Halo2 for full price. I kind of regret doing that though. My friends really wanted to play multiplayer...so I bought in. It was fun a few times, but overall the game is lackluster. I'm kind of surprised that there is such a flurry of people who worship Halo2 multiplayer. But oh well. :-)
We'll see how the Xbox360 release goes, as they have a lot of hurdles to jump over to have market success with that system. That, of course, doesn't mean they will make any money.
I was thinking about selling my Xbox actually. I've noticed that the kinds of games that I enjoy the most are always available on the PS2, and rarely on the Xbox. *sigh* Perhaps I just needed to make a more informed choice in the first place.