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Microsoft Drops Xbox 360 Pricing
Kawahee was one of several readers to tip news of a price cut for the Xbox 360. This comes after Sony dropped PS3 prices and unveiled the Slim model last week. The 360 Elite will now retail for $299, but will no longer ship with HD cables. The 360 Pro has been reduced to $249, but Microsoft is phasing it out. Analysts don't expect this new price point to be a huge boon for sales because the Elite doesn't match the PS3's hardware capabilities and is still more expensive than the Wii. Microsoft has "no plans" for a smaller version of the 360.
MS need to quit making gamers paid for Xbox Live; granted Sony PS3 network has its' issues but it is free to play. I never like the idea of paying full price for the game then have to pay a monthly/yearly fee to be able to play it online.
I think that they're going to stick with the Xbox 360 for a while longer.
First of all, they have previously stated that they wanted to be profitable this go around. Even though Windows and Word are still a large cash cow for Microsoft, they can't afford to continue to bleed money in other divisions. They probably would reach profitability on this current generation and have started making up for the losses of the original Xbox if they hadn't run into the red ring problems. That probably set them back a year or so at least.
They're also in no real danger of being one-upped by Sony either. The PS3 may have technical superiority, but it's not by a large enough margin to cause people to move away from the Xbox 360. Sony also has a lot of costs to recoup as well and it doesn't appear as though they're in a hurry to release a new console any time soon.
It also seems as though Nintendo has begun to hit market saturation with the Wii at its current price. The sales have been down over the last few months and there's still no word of a price cut. I'm expecting one around Christmas, but they may be running out of steam. If anyone needs to come out with a new piece of hardware it's Nintendo.
If they announce a new system in the near future, sales of their current generation will probably tank. At that point Sony will be able to catch them in sales and they'll end up as the also ran of the current generation. It's likely that they're discussing hardware options for a future console at this point and possibly sharing some of that information with third parties that they'd like to keep close. It's also unlikely that they'll rush in attempt to be the first out of the door as it cost them a lot this time around.
They're also between a rock and a hard place in terms of making a decision of whether they'll move heavily towards digital distribution. They probably don't want to put a Blu-ray drive in their next machine as it increases the cost and justifies Sony's position. A DVD drive likely won't cut it for the next generation of games and the hard drives being included in consoles aren't there in terms of size yet. They'll need at least 500 GB drives if they want to move towards digital distribution and given the drives consoles are currently shipping with it will probably be another 2 years before 500 GB drives come standard. I don't foresee Microsoft using a PPC chip in their next console either which will probably kill backwards compatibility or add to the cost of the machine if they decide to support it.
They likely have plans, but I don't expect them to make any moves until either Sony or Nintendo does something first. My bet is on Nintendo just because they're flush with cash and really lagging behind in terms of hardware, especially with both Sony and Microsoft releasing motion control features in the near future.
On a personal note, how about making your online architecture a little more friendly to MMO's? The PS3 has several in the pipeline, and you don't have any.
Wrong.
If they wait too long, Sony is going to start trouncing them with the stronger hardware of the PS3.
Sony has had over 3 years to "trounce" them. This hasn't happened yet. Why would the stronger hardware aspect of the PS3 all of the sudden start attracting gamers away from the 360?
Abaddon: An Xbox 360 Indie game
The most required price cuts are for the outrageously expensive wifi adapter and the absurdly overpriced 120 gb hard drive. I have an original xbox 360 with 20gb hard drive (only had 1 RROD, hoorray) and I can barely install 1 game, and forget about movie downloads or a couple of demos unless you uninstall that game. Right now in spain a 120gb harddrive + wifi adapter will actually cost you more than the full xbox 360 arcade pack. To all you PS3 fanbois, bless Sony for letting you put any hard drive you wish. Believe me, after years fighting with a ridiculous 20gb drive thats one hell of a feature (...insert envy emoticon here...) WTF Microsoft??!!!!
The PS3 no longer costs $200 more? It also plays Bluray movies? People already have 360s and it seems like an upgrade?