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Xbox 360 - What You Get For Your Money

Posted by Zonk on from the you-can't-always-get-what-you-want dept.

1up.com has a news post throwing together information from various sources, and revealing some release details about the Xbox 360. Scans of marketing flyers finally make clear the differences in the two skus. From the article: "There's ... a handy chart comparing the Core system to the standard system. The accessories are perhaps the most interesting, with specs and suggested retail prices listed. The wired controller is compatible with Windows XP, and the hard drive comes with some pre-loaded data, including an HD puzzle game. Of course, everything in the brochure is subject to change without notice, so check back for more confirmation as we get closer to the launch date." More commentary is available from Chris Morris's always excellent Game Over column. A transcript of the J. Allard chat is available at Major-Nelson.com.

20 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. HD puzzle game? by Exitar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you mean hard disk defragmentation?

    1. Re:HD puzzle game? by game+kid · · Score: 5, Funny

      It'll be manual. You play the role of the processor determining what fragments go which places. Plug in extra controllers (or connect to XBox Live) for extra co-op threads. Overwrite an existing file and it's Game Over. Score is based on time spent; reading from a system or DRM-protected file causes a system crash and penalizes you with at least 3 seconds.

      I'd love to see that implemented, actually.

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      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  2. the hard drive by fixmyship · · Score: 5, Informative
    Seems like you have to get the hard drive to play "top-selling" original xbox titles.

    "Xbox 360 Hard Drive (20 gb) ... * Store multiple game saves and play top-selling original Xbox games. ... Why Buy: Expand your Xbox 360 content with downloadable content, rip music and play an array of original Xbox games."
    1. Re:the hard drive by Seumas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And at something like $100 for a 20gb drive... WHAT A DEAL!

      I mean, that's only $5/gb compared to those expensive deals you get on hard drives today that are about 44cents/gb!

    2. Re:the hard drive by Fred+Or+Alive · · Score: 4, Informative

      Probably not suprising for Xbox games, even if it's just a strait emulator running the games (ie: no game specific patches / executables), Xbox 1 games assume that they will have a hard disk, and they use it for caches etc.

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  3. I love the way... by Retroneous · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...that 1up always makes out that it is the first with everything. One question...why bother getting scans of the brochure, when they could just refer to Microsoft's official press release that stated all of these facts last week?

    What next? "RIDGE RACER TYPE 4 COMING TO PSONE!"

    --
    My Mind Is Rewired. Is Yours?
    1. Re:I love the way... by badasscat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      One question...why bother getting scans of the brochure, when they could just refer to Microsoft's official press release that stated all of these facts last week?

      I love it - last week we had people saying "why is this news? We all knew about this months ago!" and now we have people saying "why is this news? MS just released this info last week!"

      Ok, I guess since all of you guys know the future two to three years in advance, the whole rest of the web may as well just close up shop. You could open up a nice business in fortune-telling if your predictions are so freakin' accurate.

      Did you bother reading the brochure? MS said nothing last week, for example, about pricing on memory units, separate hard drives, faceplates, etc. This is the first confirmation we have that the hard drive will be required for backward compatibility. It's the first mention of what cables come with each system (important, because component cables are a $40 accessory, and only the $400 system comes with them). It's the first mention that the $400 system is in fact cosmetically different - it has "premium chrome" accents, whereas the $300 system is just white. (To me, the cheap system looks better, honestly. Painting a piece of plastic with chrome paint doesn't look classy to me, it looks tacky.)

      If you knew all these facts last week, why didn't you speak up and tell us all about them?

      Some of us also just find these brochures interesting and in some cases amusing, especially for the language they use. I like how, according to MS, having the "best experience" with the Xbox 360 requires the possession of "multiple faceplates." You'll only have a "good experience" otherwise - you've been warned!

  4. Gabe tells the truth about Xbox 360 pricing: by astroblaster · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I'm not trying to push you into the high cost option ... I'm saying the lower cost option doesn't exist." Link

    1. Re:Gabe tells the truth about Xbox 360 pricing: by ben0207 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually that was Tycho. Gabe doesn't talk so much.

      Anyways, regardless of the US pricing (I don't live there), the UK pricing is shockingly cheap. £210 for the Core System, and the proper bells-and-whistles one for £280. Just to compare, the basic Xbox package was £300 without anything bundled, same with the PS2 (the GCN was £150, IIRC - not that it helped sales at all)

      I predict very good sales for this - at least as far as the UK is concerned.

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      cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
  5. Re:I wonder.... by fwitness · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Does anyone have the slightest clue what you are talking about? Please someone drop me a line if you do.

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    -- I have fans? Wow.
  6. I'll wait by Dr.Opveter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Value for money?
    I'll probably pick up a Xbox or Playstation 2 this year. Hopefully the second hand market will get flooded with consoles from avid gamers trying to get the latest stuff.

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    Sample this!
  7. 500+ dollars? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So to get a new xbox with wireless controllers and that plays old games is going to cost over 500 dollars? Over 600 dollars by the time a game or two is added in!

    WTF is MS smoking? There are a couple of games that looked interesting, but I am sure as hell not going to blow that much cash unless the games look phenomenal - and so far the 360 stuff looks somewhere between crap and meh. Even the latest PGR3 news is talking about the game having frame rate problems. And that was supposed to be the big release title.

    This pricing broadside by MS has made the PS3 seem like something attractive now. Even if it means no more Halo.

  8. Business-related FYI by BlackCobra43 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The XBOX360 will only be assigned two different SKUs by retailers, as SKUs are NOT assigned by the manufacturer. The manufacturer assigns the product an EAN.

    In fact, the XBOX360 will probably have hundreds of SKUs if you consider the number of retailers that will carry it...

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    I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
  9. "Backwards Compatibility"? Yeah, right. by WebGangsta · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The brochures all confirm that a hard-drive is needed for backwards compatibility
    Unless I've missed something (which is certainly quite possible), there has been no talk of how to move your saved games/preferences/etc from the old Xbox to the X360. Sure, the X360 will have a drive so the old games will run, but unless you can move all the info over from one machine to the other, who is going to bother?

    Oh, that's right -- "Backwards Compatibility" is only for NEW purchases of Xbox games so they'll play on the X360 , not for Xbox owners who are upgrading their systems and want to continue raising havoc in [insert favorite havoc-raising game title here].

    Where does that leave the PS3? Well, it's already been covered that the PS3 is moving away from the traditional PS1/PS2 memory cards in favor of supporting many other memory card formats... but it is certainly possible for a manufacturer to come out with an adapter that could be used to load/copy data from the old memory card to a PS3-supported card. (maybe a copy "service" would be more cost-beneficial than a one-time-use peripheral. Even so...)

  10. What You Get For Your Money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dreamcast 2.

    But without backward compatibility. (Yes without Xbox 1 compatibility either.)

    That's it.

  11. I think most people are missing the real battle... by Turken · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here we go with everyone complaining about the base price of the console, but we should really be all up in arms about the accessory prices.

    One look at the brochure, and all I can say is HO...LY...CR...AP that stuff is expensive!!! $40 for a memory card?!? $40 for a WIRED controller?!?
    $30-40 for an AV cable ?!? I can't think of any console in recent memory that cost THAT much for BASIC accessories, let alone the specialty ones.

    And combine this with the news from a few weeks ago that says that 3rd part manufacturs will have to pay up to MS or their hardware won't work with the system, so there goes any chance of cheaper options for cables and such.

    Folks, we are getting ripped off here, regardless of which package we buy!

  12. Why even look at the lower model. by tprime · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, the lower model is a colossal mistake, talk about segmenting your user population. The only mitigating factor is that I can't figure out why ANYONE would buy the cheap version for $100 less. Wireless controller is $10 more, Component HDAV cable is $40 more, headset $20 more, Hard drive $100 more = $170 diff + no premium (good) games and no xbox1 games.

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    http://www.tomandemily.com
  13. Re:Look Again, it's More Expensive by Radius9 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The XBox Live Silver setup, which is basically the same as the current XBox live is free.

  14. Re:I think most people are missing the real battle by funny-jack · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Folks, we are getting ripped off here, regardless of which package we buy!

    You're only getting ripped off if you, you know, actually buy one. Nobody's forcing you to do so.

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    You probably shouldn't click this.
  15. Re:No way. You're insane if you believe that! by cornface · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why yes, yes I do. It's the Seagate LD25, 2.5" appliance oriented drive.

    Article saying which drive is used.

    PDF spec sheet from Seagate.

    I haven't been able to dig up any pricing info on the drives themselves. They come in 20/30/40gb capacities.