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Retail Ads Hint At $50 360 Price Cut
Following closely on the heels of Sony's $100 cut in price for the PlayStation 3, retail ads seem to indicate an upcoming $50 price drop for the Xbox 360. Gamespot investigates the rumour: "It's clear that a number of retailers are expecting an Xbox 360 price cut next week, so much so that they're willing to buy print advertising for it. If that's the case, Microsoft almost certainly told them to expect a price cut, and when it would be fine to start promoting it. When Microsoft actually decides to announce it remains to be seen, although sources close to the software giant are grousing through back channels that the discounting's cover has already been blown." This comes right on time for the annual release of Madden, Bioshock, and Blue Dragon.
I'd pay $50 more if it meant I didn't have to send my console back for repair every four months. The RRoD rate for 360s is ridiculous.
Exactly when Duke nukem forever is released.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Who thought "$50,360 price cut? I didn't think it was that expensive"?
Two separate stores, so it looks legit, but the price drop is only on the Premium, not the Elite.
So it'll drop from $400 to 350? I can't believe they aren't taking the opportunity to sell it for $360.
"XBox 360 - for $360"
niiiiiiceee....
Wouldn't the "works" technically be the elite instead of the premium?
Not that I mean to criticize the purchase, the wording just struck me as odd. I know there's not much difference between the two models so I guess technically they are close...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I know I know I know, "The 360 self destructs! The numbers don't lie!"
True, but I think people exaggerate them a bit...I myself own 4 different 360's, and know of no less than 30 people that own at least one...out of everyone I know that has had one, only two people have gotten the ring (one of which is me)
My one RRoD came after I cracked the case open on one of them to clean out the dust...unbeknown to me at the time, I had accidently loosened two of the CPU heatsink screws a half-turn, and within 2 hours I had the rings...the other 3 that I own have never had an issue. THe only friend I know that has had an RRoD had one on a launch unit.
I'm not saying it's not a real problem. I'm saying people have exaggerated it a bit. (yes, I am aware that my 30 friends hardly constitute the entirety of the market, but those friends know people and those people know people and so on)
Basically, what I am getting at is don't balk at buying a 360 simply because of all the red ring talk...I own all three next gen systems and my 360 by FAR gets the most play time out of the three (not to mention IMO the 360 has the largest lineup of exciting games on the horizon)
Living With a Nerd
Nobody with more than half a brain thinks the price of the PS3 is going to go back up to $599. Pretty much everybody accepts that they will start selling it for $499 but without the freebies after the 60GB models are sold out. (Which is almost everywhere now, though I personally have yet to see an 80GB model for sale in the US)
$50 represents a 2nd game for you. Return that console and pick up a reduced one in a week: they don't announce price drops until very close to when it happens. Unless your time in waiting in line to return it is worth more than $50, of course.
More Twoson than Cupertino
I would argue that they're doing it too soon. As of right now, there's absolutely no economic benefit to dropping the price. The PS3 (even with its pseudo-"price cut") is dead in the water as far as competition goes, and unless they can drop $200 the 360 will not be able to compete with the Wii on price. The holiday line-up is going to be killer (GTA4, Halo 3, Mass Effect, etc) and will entice enough people to buy without also dropping the price. As far as I know, the 65nm manufacturing process isn't yet in place, so they can't take advantage of new economies of scale in order to afford this price cut. The $1billion warranty write-off hurt the 360's potentional profitability, and lowering the price limits even further what the 360 could eventually make back (supposedly the 360 would become profitable on the 65nm manufacturing process, though I don't know if the gain is enough to offset the $50 price drop).
I would suggest that Microsoft hold their ground. The upcoming games and lack of competition (the Wii is complementary to the 360, thus the Wii60) will drive more sales of 360s than any price cut would do. I'd like to see how profitable the 360 could be if it were allowed to stay at its current price while growing cheaper to build via changes like the 65nm process. Have a price drop contingency, but don't roll it out unless real problems crop up such as key games slipping, or increased competition from Sony (ha!).
Price drop, that's nice, but it's not why I'm waiting. What I want to know is, how do I know for sure whether the units shipping (and the one in the store I'm getting) has the new 65nm chip? Less power consumption means less heat and less Red Rings. I know whatever I get will be warranteed anyway, but I don't feel like sending mine back.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Now I can get a second 360 and let the kids take over the first one. All I have to do is to verify somehow that I will get one of the 65nm designs. My wife forced me into doing this when she got suckered into pre-ordering Halo 3. For some reason, she ordered two copies...
Nobody with half a brain? This IS Sony we're talking about...
PS: The 80 gig version was announced for an August release.
Anything else? I'm really bored at work, I would love to respond to more of these....
Living With a Nerd
You realize that it is in their interest to sell them at as low a price as they can as the attach rate + XBL transactions are where they will make their money. There are some sensitive curves involved here and MS has the market research; we do not.
How do you figure? Because I was rebutting a system that I love?
Had you used the Wii or the PS3 in the same shill-like fasion, I would have defended both of those equally as well.
I'm a gamer. I enjoy any system that lets me play games. Being "brand loyal" as a gamer is completely stupid and pointless...You miss out on all kinds of games if you limit yourself to one brand.
It's especially depressing when you see people get payed to drill one console while applauding another. If consoles could shit, it would still stink regardless of what the name on the front says. ALL consoles have their drawbacks, just like all consoles have their advantages and high points.
Living With a Nerd
and by "rebutting a system I love" i meant "rebutting what you said about a system I love"
Must be all that toner dust floating around in my office...
Living With a Nerd
How much does it cost to become an authorized developer of commercial Xbox 360 games? The devkit alone probably doesn't cost 50 kUSD, but the required business overhead to qualify for an official console devkit (forming an S-corp or LLC, leasing office space, etc) is expensive even if you have already developed titles for Windows DirectX.
> I would love to respond to more of these
Honestly, why even bother? These aren't people out to be convinced, and the screaming matches just dumbs down the forum even more.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
I enjoy defending any gaming system because they all can be defended...like I said, they all have their positives and negatives. As a person whose life centers around gaming, it is disturbing to even consider someone would be a brand whore as a gamer (well, I mean it does in general, but ESPECIALLY with gaming, a culture that needs as much cohesion as possible)
More than any other reason though, it's because I'm bored at work and it amuses me:-)
Living With a Nerd
I'm not a 360 owner, but doesn't it seem like theres a flaw in saying that its okay your 360 broke, because you had a replacement plan? A defect is still a defect, I think.
Not especially. Look at the ESRB ratings on the boxes in the Wii section and in the Xbox 360 section. How many Xbox 360 games are rated E, other than sport sims and Piñata Crossing ? On the other hand, isn't the $280 Xbox 360 Core going to be in stock much more often than the $250 Wii?
In this instance, it broke due to my own stupidity (not tightening the heatsink back down again) Still, defects are to be expected...happens with everything. I'm not saying that they should be happening on a mass scale, but in my own personal experience with the 360, I haven't had any issues and as such I don't care. Good example is sushi. I love sushi. I have also never gotten sick from eating sushi. I would imagine people that get sick from it the first time just plain don't like it. At this point, if I got sick from sushi, I'll still eat it and love it
Living With a Nerd
I completely dissagree, as do most people around here. It's completely unecconomical for them to sell the 80GB version at $500. I saw this comming even before they announced the drop. It's basically a repeat of what happened at launch: as a publicity stunt, drop the price of one unit, but then sell 20x more of the expensive model. That way, you can CLAIM that the price is $500, but in actuality, 95% of the population is forced into paying $600.
Honestly, I don't think anyone with half a brain thinks that the price will change to $500 after the 60GB versions are gone. Sony has given us NO reason to assume this will happen, and the ecconomics just don't add up, either. They're already losing almost $200 on each model, why would they stand to lose even more?
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
I honestly don't expect it to be $499, but then again it's hard to predict console prices these days.
.1m per 3-4 months) it will take the PS3 another 16-21 years to catch the 360. At the same time, the Wii sold 3.892m consoles during the same period (2.467m more than the 360 per 3-4 months). Within 1-2 months there will be more Wiis sold worldwide than 360s.
I'm not sure it matters either. Anywhere between $499-$599 dollars is still too much. So long as the bar for entry remains that high the PS3 will remain where it is. Even when the exclusive titles hit, it's going to be hard to keep momentum rolling at that price point.
As it stands, the PS3 is gaining slightly on the 360 (according to vgcharts.org). From approximately April to present, the PS3 sold 1.261m consoles vs 1.183m for the 360. At that rate (approx.
Obviously this doesn't account for spikes from AAA titles or the machinations of any of the three companies. That said, Microsoft and Sony both need to set plans in motion, or concede this console generation to Nintendo. Unless Halo 3/GoW3/Other-AAA-Title are feats worthy of angelic praise they aren't going to turn around a 3 to 1 ratio of console sales, and I don't think praying the Wii will become the 'gimmick' many people claim it to be is a viable corporate strategy.
This generation can still go many different ways, but nothing will change without action.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
I believe you're confused with nexgenwars.com, which extrapolates based on previous trends and tends to have varying levels of accuracy in its numbers. Otherwise I'm not sure where you're coming from.
Additionally, if you could link sources/articles relating to you statement that the 360 is dead in two regions it would be appreciated. I'm aware that it is doing very poorly in Japan, but haven't seen sales numbers for elsewhere that indicate a pronouncement of "dead".
As for the "waggle", we will have to see. Using your assumption that it is purely hype, it is entirely possible that Nintendo can stretch it for another decade or so (see: pokemon) to great success.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
In Europe the 360 Premium was 300€ for a few weeks around the PS3 launch. Of course that meant you didn't get the extra controller and two games that most stores give you for free with one but since those games are usually launch games that are probably dirt cheap in the barghain bins and not everyone wants those games anyway that might still be a deal.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
/me hands you some reading glasses...
It says "more than half a brain". People with only half a brain are expected to think whatever nonsense they'd like.
Thanks for the glasses. I'm getting old I guess....
Stuff like "We will be the market leader by selling a $600 console?" for example?