The latest info is suggesting that MS will price the 20 gig premium at $299.99 starting in next Sunday's ads. But, the lack of information regarding a price change on the Arcade and Elite is a bit alarming. Not a single peep about the Elite or Arcade moving lower in price.

The consensus is that MS is pulling a Sony, and just clearing stock of the 20 gig unit, for the arrival of the 60 gig unit, and that the 60 gig will have the normal $349.99 price, and therefore, basically no price drop whatsover.

Just a clearing of stock of a discontinued model.

What say you?

When are the good chipsets coming? Then I'll buy another. I think we would have heard rumblings of drops for the other skus by now.

My guess is a clearing of stock before the 60 gig version and jasper revision hit shelves in the coming months. I'd assume they produce far more pro's than other versions and they need to be moved asap.

I think its a terrible mistake to not have a true price drop. Sure its going to be great for the people who get a 20G for only $300. But then they are right back in the same boat with a $350 unit as their "main" SKU. I do not see too many people who were not buying a 20G at $350 running out and buying a $60G unit for $350.

Actually I think the best unit to drop the price on is the Arcade. It really needs to get to $200 so start by getting it to $250 ASAP.

Yeah a Core Xbox360 system with a memory card could easily be sold at $200.00.
That would give them a huge boost.

Also, I wonder what will happen with the official hard drive pricing if this is true...

a "Live Starter Pack" for Arcade owners, which consists of a 60GB HDD, 3 Months of Live, a Headset, and an ethernet cable, all for $99.99 (http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/07/08/rumor-leaked-ms-email-confirms-60gb-sku-more/)

If they sell the 20g at $299 then who will buy the Arcade at $279 ... nobody . It will probably take a few months to sell out of the Pro's so maybe their plan is to saturate the market with Pro's and hold back production of the Arcade ? I think they will be announcing something at e3 regarding price drops across the board , a price drop is due from MS and Sony .

-- Jason

If they sell the 20g at $299 then who will buy the Arcade at $279 ... nobody . It will probably take a few months to sell out of the Pro's so maybe their plan is to saturate the market with Pro's and hold back production of the Arcade ? I think they will be announcing something at e3 regarding price drops across the board , a price drop is due from MS and Sony .

-- Jason

I dont think a price drop is due from Sony. They've been selling their system at a huge loss as it is to push Blu-Ray, and I know a lot of people who have been buying the system at $399 now that some good games are/have come out. Ive got 3 buddy's who all owned 360's recently bought PS3's now that MGS4 is out and some new games are on the horizon. The content has been the biggest issue.

The 360 on the other hand, I think is definitely due for a price drop if it wants to keep gathering more market share. There have been enough huge releases that most people who wanted one have gotten one. Until price comes down, I can't see them gaining much more market share.

I see logic for both sides of the price drop debate for Sony but if they want to hang in there with MS then they have to do something before Xmas 08 IMO . Not everyone is buying PS3's just because it has blu ray (well ok most are) , some are actually wanting to play games on the thing :eek: . I know several people that could care less about the blu ray feature for now , they are hardcore gamers that will snap up a PS3 in a second once the price hits $300 .

-- Jason

I think its a terrible mistake to not have a true price drop.

Yes. Unless they REALLY don't care about installed base. It'd be a significant shift in strategies - they launched early to be "#1" of course, but if they don't actually drop the price for real they are handing this generation back to Nintendo.

Agreed, Davio. Most of the customers that will have high attach rates have already bought into this gen. I mean, after GOW, Halo 3, COD 4, & GTA4 is there any serious gamer still on the fence?

I say no, not at this point. The people buying from here on out are unlikely to be people that will buy alot of titles.

I mean, after GOW, Halo 3, COD 4, & GTA4 is there any serious gamer still on the fence?

I say no, not at this point. The people buying from here on out are unlikely to be people that will buy alot of titles.

Excellent point. We've really moved into a new market at this point. There is nothing "hard core" coming thats going to sway the "hard core" gamers that did not bite with those titles. The next gen of this gen is "cheap gamers" and they are not going to be buying titles in the quanitity the others have.

Um guys ... not all hardcore gamers have money to burn ;) .

I know this is AVS but that is kind of an elitist logic that any hardcore gamer would have already bought a PS3 , I know several people that game daily that have not purchased a PS3 yet .

-- Jason

Um guys ... not all hardcore gamers have money to burn ;) .

I know this is AVS but that is kind of an elitist logic that any hardcore gamer would have already bought a PS3 , I know several people that game daily that have not purchased a PS3 yet .

-- Jason
That may be more about not having TIME to burn! I have not bought a game in months, and still have not finished all the games I have (or collected some of the achievements I want).

360 to date has sold about 20 or 21 Million units. Wii has sold about 25.

PS2 has sold, to date, roughly 125 million units and is continuing to sell 10+ million a year. A vast majority of those systems were sold at <$200, I think Sony is happy to take those extra sales even with less money per system.

In any case, there is a LOT of room to grow here. Halo 3, CoD4, GTA4, etc. all sell to a specific audience that, yes, has already probably picked up a 360. That audience is a small fraction of gamers and not even close to every hardcore gamer. For example as an RPG system the PS3 and 360 are both quite pathetic. There are a lot of genres that need to be filled in and the price needs to go down.

To attract new people to buy the 360 they need to drop the price by a lot. Arcade $199, Pro $249 but Microsoft is not smart enough to see that and that's why they will end up 3rd again for this hardware generation.

I see logic for both sides of the price drop debate for Sony but if they want to hang in there with MS then they have to do something before Xmas 08 IMO . Not everyone is buying PS3's just because it has blu ray (well ok most are) , some are actually wanting to play games on the thing :eek: . I know several people that could care less about the blu ray feature for now , they are hardcore gamers that will snap up a PS3 in a second once the price hits $300 .

-- Jason

I agree....gamers want to play games!!! I think the recent release of MGS4 along with some great titles coming in the future will cause a lot of people to buy into the PS3, even at $399. Blu-Ray is definitely not bringing new folks to the gaming market. There was an excellent article in this months Home Theater magazine about the state of Blu-Ray and how its getting near a tipping point. Average Joe just isnt buying into it yet for a variety of reasons (I still think the price of the disks is just ridiculous, I havent bought one in months for specifically the price...no more war has meant no more discounts). Anyways, games are where its at.

I think a $50-$100 price cut alongside the release of Gears of War 2 would be gold for MS.

Now that I think of it, Im really curious to see what kind of effect Halo Wars has on the system. The biggest franchise for MS that now ties together a completely different genre. I know personally I hate RPG's but just because its in the Halo world Im tempted to try it.

@ Jason -

I guess we're speaking past each other with our definition of what constitutes a hardcore gamer. In my mind, it's someone who both buys and plays a lot of different games, not necessarily someone who games with great frequency.

Someone who plays COD4 exclusively, but plays it alot, might be considered a hardcore gamer (hi FIVE ONE SIX !!! :p) but they aren't a good customer and aren't the type of customer Sony and M$ are after.

So my response would be, the "hardcore" gamers that you reference who can't afford a $300+ console probably can't afford more than a couple of titles a year either. I'd lump Frank's "cheap" gamers together with your "hardcore w/o means" gamers for s/w sales forecasting purposes.

Now that I think of it, Im really curious to see what kind of effect Halo Wars has on the system. The biggest franchise for MS that now ties together a completely different genre. I know personally I hate RPG's but just because its in the Halo world Im tempted to try it.

Pretty sure Halo Wars is an RTS, but I agree with your basic sentiment, they're clearly hoping to jumpstart rts on the console by slapping the coveted Halo name on it.

The other thing that isn't being mentioned is this: there is absolutely zero discussion of lowering the MSRP $60 price on new s/w titles.

The other thing that isn't being mentioned is this: there is absolutely zero discussion of lowering the MSRP $60 price on new s/w titles.

Yea, that's not gonna happen. For one thing, that price is not unheard of in gaming history (prices for PSX/PS2 were really low, I remember scraping together $70+ for certain SNES and many N64 carts), and for another people are going to want to buy games for their new console.

But if they're having trouble affording a $300 console, just how many $60 titles are they going to buy a year?

Methinks not very many. More likely, they buy cheaper, used titles which does nothing for Sony or Microsoft.

Um guys ... not all hardcore gamers have money to burn ;) .

I know this is AVS but that is kind of an elitist logic that any hardcore gamer would have already bought a PS3 , I know several people that game daily that have not purchased a PS3 yet .

-- Jason

I agree. Almost all my gaming friends have 360's because they launched first and for Halo, but only one of them has a PS3, which he bought for MGS4.

But if they're having trouble affording a $300 console, just how many $60 titles are they going to buy a year?

Methinks not very many. More likely, they buy cheaper, used titles which does nothing for Sony or Microsoft.

Well, they aren't going to buy the $300 console in the first place. $200 console is another story.

@ Jason -

I guess we're speaking past each other with our definition of what constitutes a hardcore gamer. In my mind, it's someone who both buys and plays a lot of different games, not necessarily someone who games with great frequency.

Someone who plays COD4 exclusively, but plays it alot, might be considered a hardcore gamer (hi FIVE ONE SIX !!! :p) but they aren't a good customer and aren't the type of customer Sony and M$ are after.

So my response would be, the "hardcore" gamers that you reference who can't afford a $300+ console probably can't afford more than a couple of titles a year either. I'd lump Frank's "cheap" gamers together with your "hardcore w/o means" gamers for s/w sales forecasting purposes.

Not really , you are overlooking a common aspect of gaming ... impulse buying . While some might not be able to buy a PS3 @ $400 at any given moment they do have enough dough to grab a $50-$60 game fairly often (probably at least once a month) . Some people just have a hard time saving money but that does not mean they are not hardcore gamers ;) . I am hardcore by your absolute definition but those same friends of mine that are waiting for a PS3 price drop buy more 360 games than I do . I hardly think MS or Sony don't care about gamers that only buy a handful of games per year as they are more than likely the majority .

I do agree that there can be different definitions of 'hardcore' however ;) .

-- Jason

Yes. Unless they REALLY don't care about installed base. It'd be a significant shift in strategies - they launched early to be "#1" of course, but if they don't actually drop the price for real they are handing this generation back to Nintendo.

handing it back? nintendo has it already.

maybe handing it to sony......

Not really , you are overlooking a common aspect of gaming ... impulse buying . While some might not be able to buy a PS3 @ $400 at any given moment they do have enough dough to grab a $50-$60 game fairly often (probably at least once a month) . Some people just have a hard time saving money but that does not mean they are not hardcore gamers ;) . I am hardcore by your absolute definition but those same friends of mine that are waiting for a PS3 price drop buy more 360 games than I do . I hardly think MS or Sony don't care about gamers that only buy a handful of games per year as they are more than likely the majority .

I do agree that there can be different definitions of 'hardcore' however ;) .

-- Jason

I'm still not with you, Pimp. My hypothesis is there are very few gamers that will have high attach rates (my definition of "hardcore") that have yet to buy either a PS3 or a 360 (no, I don't consider the Wii next-gen).

I'm not talking about people that have already made the jump into next-gen and have yet to purchase the other console, because there will be very few people that own both a 360 and PS3 at this point.

I'm talking about the people sitting out there with 180's and PS2's still on the sidelines. I just don't believe that when and if these individuals purchase a 360 or PS3 that they will buy very many software titles, not at $60 a pop.

But to your impulse buy argument, if you've got upwards of $720/yr to spend on titles alone ($60 x 12), not counting any dlc or accessories, then I have a hard time accepting you don't have the money for either a PS3 or a 360. I mean, you can finance it interest-free @ BB or CC anywhere from 6-18 months depending on the current promo if you had to. And if you're "hardcore" wouldn't you do that?

That being said, it's interesting that 3 of the top 10 best selling s/w titles of last year were PS2 games, so maybe I'm wrong:

Best Selling Software of 2007 (NPD data)
1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) -- 4.82 million
2. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) -- 4.12 million
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) -- 3.04 million
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PlayStation 2) -- 2.72 million
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) -- 2.52 million
6. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo DS) -- 2.48 million
7. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 2) -- 1.90 million
8. Guitar Hero 2 (PlayStation 2) -- 1.89 million
9. Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360) -- 1.87 million
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) -- 1.82 million

Interesting though how the 360 totals out of this top 10 list (9.73M) dwarf the PS2 (6.51M) given the relative install bases.

Ah , yeah we are both talking about different groups of prospective buyers ;) .

-- Jason

Well it's not a rumor it's official, i've seen the ad. 20gig will be 299 starting sunday.

Well it's not a rumor it's official, i've seen the ad. 20gig will be 299 starting sunday.

Yeah, that part is official. The rumor is the fact that it appears the other two skus aren't going to have their price adjusted as well. That's the bigger news. It would seem to suggest the 20 gig is merely being discontinued, and that the $50 price break is simply a move to try to clear stock of the 20 gig unit.

I still find it somewhat hard to swallow that Microsoft will start selling the 20 gig for $299.99, and then in late July when supposedly the 60 gig units first start arriving, those are going to be $349.99, and then once all the 20 gigs are gone, the 60 gigger will be $349.99 and there is essentially no change, just a feature improvement (from 20 to 60 gig).

Although they aren't "technically" raising the price of the 60 gig (you can't raise the price of something that never existed prior), to the average Joe, they are going to be thinking, "Wait a minute.... I thought the new price was $299.99. Why is this $349.99 now?"

something isn't right about this whole thing

but if the premium is coming down to 299 then the arcade would almost have to hit 199

something isn't right about this whole thing

but if the premium is coming down to 299 then the arcade would almost have to hit 199

You would like to think that, but MS normally shaves the price evenly across all skus. So that would take the Arcade to $229.99, which is actually a pretty nice price point for it. 20 bucks less than the Wii, and 10 times the power. Of course, pricing it a mere 30 bucks above the magical $199 price point (where 80 percent of a generations hardware is sold normally), seems a bit shortsighted.

Not to get off topic but, what is the dif between the arcade and the elite?

Not to get off topic but, what is the dif between the arcade and the elite?

Arcade has no hard-drive, and has a small collection of live arcade games with it,hence the 'arcade' name.I believe it also has a small memory card.The elite is black(both console and controller), has a 120 HDD and HMDI port.Not too sure if the arcade version has HDMI or not....

Arcade has no hard-drive, and has a small collection of live arcade games with it,hence the 'arcade' name.I believe it also has a small memory card.The elite is black(both console and controller), has a 120 HDD and HMDI port.Not too sure if the arcade version has HDMI or not....

Just to clarify a bit further, all of the current 360 SKUs have an HDMI port; however only the Elite includes an HDMI cable in the box as well as a dongle for audio output via stereo RCA jacks or digital audio via a TOSLINK port. The Elite also includes an ethernet cable and black headset. Lastly, the Elite uses a 175 watt power supply whereas all the Arcade (and Pro) boxes that I've seen use a 200 or 203 watt power supply.

You would like to think that, but MS normally shaves the price evenly across all skus. So that would take the Arcade to $229.99, which is actually a pretty nice price point for it. 20 bucks less than the Wii, and 10 times the power. Of course, pricing it a mere 30 bucks above the magical $199 price point (where 80 percent of a generations hardware is sold normally), seems a bit shortsighted.

I'm another person who feels that MS needs to price the Arcade version at $199.99. And if a 60 gig model replaces the 20 gig model, keep that at $299.99. That would give the Xbox 360 the jump it needs to capture second place this gen. Sadly, for MS, it looks like the Wii will win this round. They need to do something to prevent the PS3 from overtaking them. 40 gig PS3 with BD player for $400 or 60 gig 360 for $350? Now that Blu-Ray has won over HD DVD, more people will choose to pay the little extra.

For example as an RPG system the PS3 and 360 are both quite pathetic. There are a lot of genres that need to be filled in and the price needs to go down.

Already out:

Oblivion (+ Shivering isles expansion)
Two Worlds
Blue Dragon
Eternal Sonata
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Enchanted Arms

And coming this year:

Too Human
Fallout 3
Tales of Vesperia
The Last Remnant
Two Worlds 2
Infinite Undiscovery
Zoids Assault

I can't think of a system with that many RPG's in so short a time. The PS1 and PS2 pumped them out in the later years but that list is in the first three of the 360's life span.

Just to clarify a bit further, all of the current 360 SKUs have an HDMI port; however only the Elite includes an HDMI cable in the box as well as a dongle for audio output via stereo RCA jacks or digital audio via a TOSLINK port. The Elite also includes an ethernet cable and black headset. Lastly, the Elite uses a 175 watt power supply whereas all the Arcade (and Pro) boxes that I've seen use a 200 or 203 watt power supply.

wrong. all the boxes use the 175watt power supply (unless you find an older one, but even the first elites had 203w, so your point is moot)... there is ZERO difference in hardware between sku's(aside from color), only the included storage/games/accessories/peripherals/cables

They don't need a price drop on the Elite, it's the top SKU, and not dropping the Arcade price would be a strategy to get people to grab up the Pro's.

At this point I doubt MS cares if it's top hardware seller, since we all know that means jack **** anymore. Nintendo sells almost nothing in terms of software unless it's a Nintendo game, and Sony seems completely delusional in thinking the PS3 will last until 2016(10 year plan they have). There's only a couple of years left in the 360, so I can't imagine they're too worried.

Sony has never said the PS3 will be their only console hardware for 10 years. They will introduce a PS4 well before 2016 but the PS3 will remain on sale with games for that long. Considering the PS2 is on its 8th year, is still selling well, and is still getting lots of games (more than the PSP to be honest), I do not see how Sony expecting to get 10 years out of the PS3 is unrealistic.

Sony has never said the PS3 will be their only console hardware for 10 years. They will introduce a PS4 well before 2016 but the PS3 will remain on sale with games for that long. Considering the PS2 is on its 8th year, is still selling well, and is still getting lots of games (more than the PSP to be honest), I do not see how Sony expecting to get 10 years out of the PS3 is unrealistic.

I see it be harder than it was for the first two simply because of the price point it started. Big difference claiming 10 years starting at 599 to drop below 200 vs 299 and 399 with the previous two. I am not saying it is not possible just that it will be based on pricing and how well it sells. The previous two sold like hotcakes after it dropped below 200.

i cant wait price match with amazon for pro

Yes. Unless they REALLY don't care about installed base. It'd be a significant shift in strategies - they launched early to be "#1" of course, but if they don't actually drop the price for real they are handing this generation back to Nintendo.

Since the 360 continues to sell, Microsoft doesn't really have a reason to drop the price. M$ wont drop the price on the 360 if Nintendo or Sony are selling well, they'll drop the price on the 360 when their projected sales numbers fall below a certain threshold.

Microsoft knows Sony's PS3 will eventually outsell it in terms of units sold....its a BD player, for one, and its going to be on the market alot longer than the 360 will. So for Microsoft, they dont SEEM to be as concerned with total units sold.

They know that they reached 10 million, and 10 million is enough of a draw for ANY developer to work on their system and make a fortune on a game. Thats all that really matters.

Microsoft seems to want to pick up a core audience slowly but surely....get a few million fans with xbox, get 10 or 20 million more with 360...then get a few more with their next system, and so on.

Frank: yea, that list sucks. For one thing, Two Worlds is on there. On both of them. If that isn't grasping for straws, what is?

Now, the western RPGs are pretty good (Oblivion and Mass Effect), but the Japanese RPGs are pretty weak. The only ones I would say are okay are the Mistwalker titles, but even then... that list isn't impressing anyone.

The PS2 had some of the following in its first 3 years: Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (hey, you mentioned Too Human), Final Fantasy X (and X-2), Dark Cloud (and its sequel), Kingdom Hearts, Suikoden III, Grandia II, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Xenosaga, Disgaea, and so forth. It's really not close.

Alot of people seem to think the Xbox 360 only has a few years left. I'm not sure what people are basing this theory on. Maybe they are basing it on the fact that Microsoft euthanized the original Xbox after only 4 years on the market. But I don't think the comparison is valid. Microsoft killed the Xbox 1, execution style, because they wanted a clean break from the original Xbox, for the arrival of the Xbox 360. They wanted an early start on the next generation, and they didn't want to have to promote two formats. Even at the very end of the original Xbox, they were losing money on each unit sold. It didn't make much sense to keep it alive.

With the Xbox 360, it's a totally different scenario. The 360 was designed so that it would continue to get cheaper and cheaper to produce, unlike the original tank. Microsoft has a long term philosophy with the 360. There is no need for them to send the 360 to an early death this time around. The technological power of the unit hasn't even been fully tapped yet. Look at games like Gears of War 2 and Alan Wake and Resident Evil 5. Developers are just starting to get to grips with the ins and outs of the system. I can easily see the Xbox 360 on retail shelves in 2011. I also see them launching a replacement system in November 2011, but they aren't going to euthanize the 360 for the arrival of their next system. They will likely do what Sony did with the PS1 when the PS2 arrived. Market them to seperate segments, and let them co-exist, at least until the 720 can have a more mass market price.

The Xbox 720 could launch November 2010, but even if it does, the Xbox 360 will still be Microsoft's bread and butter for the 2010 holiday season. The 720 would simply be something for the hardcore graphic whores to latch onto, at a high initial price. Let the graphics whores be beta testers for the 720, while they ease the 360 into retirement.

Best Buy did reduce 20Gb to 299, when will amazon do that?

Best Buy did reduce 20Gb to 299, when will amazon do that?

link?

link?

The sunday ads for Bestbuy etc on 07/13 show the price drop on the pro...

The sunday ads for Bestbuy etc on 07/13 show the price drop on the pro...

yes!CC too, with $30 card

The sunday ads for Bestbuy etc on 07/13 show the price drop on the pro...

sweet. Thanks for the heads up. Will be getting one for my buddy (new groom). Madden season will be sick this year

According to some media people at Best Buy the 120 gig elite is being discontinued. It's a end of life SKU. Maybe MS will be keeping the 20 gig pro's and the new 60 gig SKU will replace the elites or the elites will just come with a smaller HDD. Just a thought.

yep, and there it is, right in today's best buy circular: 20 gig harddrive 360 $299. My friend just got married, been waiting for this. I'm going to get the popcap arcade game with Zuma and Bejeweled and make it clear that this is for THEM, but clearly it's just for him.

I just bought a brand new ELITE for $199.00 !!!!111!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!11111111
plus I was given a mail-in-rebate for for $49.99






J/K....


After seeing that the 360 pro went down for 50.00 bucks I think I may purchase another 360. But yet, something tells me to wait for E3 this week to see what MS might say (hint hint)

DAN

After seeing that the 360 pro went down for 50.00 bucks I think I may purchase another 360. But yet, something tells me to wait for E3 this week to see what MS might say (hint hint)

DAN

Well they just said. No other price drops and a $349 60GB.

http://kotaku.com/5024633/microsoft-announce-60gb-360-confirm-20gb-price+cut

Amazon has the elite for $399.99. No idea how long the sale is.

Any hardware/software changes in new 60GB with new SKU

According to Kotaku... Microsoft confirms no price reduction in arcade or elite units.



Personally, I think this move is absolutely asinine. Ok, so the strategy all along, is just to simply clear out all remaining stock of the 20 gig units, and introduce a 60 gig unit in the place of the 20 gig unit? No price drop whatsover. Beyond lame. All MS is doing here, is adding value to their $349.99 sku. Nothing more, nothing less. They are going from 20 gigs of storage space to 60 gigs. The question is, does this really do anything whatsover to help their lackluster monthly NPD sales figures? Absolutely not. Who really cares about an extra 40 gigs of storage anyways? The only people that really care, are people who already own a 360, and have completely filled up their 20 giggers with demos and other nonsense. Sure, as a 20 gig owner myself, I'd rather have a 60 gig HDD, but it's in no way whatsover any kind of motavational factor for me to go out and buy one. I'd swap my 20 gig for a 60 gig, sure, if it was free to do so. You think the average Joe consumer gives a rats azz about an extra 40 gigs of HDD space? They don't know what the original 20 gigs was for in the first place, much less what they can do with an extra 40.

It's pretty unbelievable that the 360 has been available almost 3 years, and the only price drop has been a mild $50 drop prior to Madden 08 and Halo 3. Big freaking deal.:mad:




UPDATE: Wait a minute.... I just realized what MS is doing. Duh, can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. In either mid or late August, maybe even early September, MS will drop the price of the new 60 gig sku to $299.99, and the Arcade and Elites will also get appropriate price adjustments accordingly. The reason they can't do that now, is cause everyone would just wait for the 60 gigs to arrive, and buy those for $299.99. They have to completely sell thru all remainging 20 gig units, and then once they have done that, then they will announce a new price drop, and it will be for all the Sku's, Arcade, 60 gigger and Elite. Makes perfect sense. I guess it just sucks in the short term.

According to Kotaku... Microsoft confirms no price reduction in arcade or elite units.



Personally, I think this move is absolutely asinine. Ok, so the strategy all along, is just to simply clear out all remaining stock of the 20 gig units, and introduce a 60 gig unit in the place of the 20 gig unit? No price drop whatsover. Beyond lame. All MS is doing here, is adding value to their $349.99 sku. Nothing more, nothing less. They are going from 20 gigs of storage space to 60 gigs. The question is, does this really do anything whatsover to help their lackluster monthly NPD sales figures? Absolutely not. Who really cares about an extra 40 gigs of storage anyways? The only people that really care, are people who already own a 360, and have completely filled up their 20 giggers with demos and other nonsense. Sure, as a 20 gig owner myself, I'd rather have a 60 gig HDD, but it's in no way whatsover any kind of motavational factor for me to go out and buy one. I'd swap my 20 gig for a 60 gig, sure, if it was free to do so. You think the average Joe consumer gives a rats azz about an extra 40 gigs of HDD space? They don't know what the original 20 gigs was for in the first place, much less what they can do with an extra 40.

It's pretty unbelievable that the 360 has been available almost 3 years, and the only price drop has been a mild $50 drop prior to Madden 08 and Halo 3. Big freaking deal.:mad:




UPDATE: Wait a minute.... I just realized what MS is doing. Duh, can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. In either mid or late August, maybe even early September, MS will drop the price of the new 60 gig sku to $299.99, and the Arcade and Elites will also get appropriate price adjustments accordingly. The reason they can't do that now, is cause everyone would just wait for the 60 gigs to arrive, and buy those for $299.99. They have to completely sell thru all remainging 20 gig units, and then once they have done that, then they will announce a new price drop, and it will be for all the Sku's, Arcade, 60 gigger and Elite. Makes perfect sense. I guess it just sucks in the short term.

:D

Amazon has the elite for $399.99. No idea how long the sale is.

It's $424.99 right now. Still a decent deal with free shipping & no tax if you are in the market.

UPDATE: Wait a minute.... I just realized what MS is doing. Duh, can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. In either mid or late August, maybe even early September, MS will drop the price of the new 60 gig sku to $299.99, and the Arcade and Elites will also get appropriate price adjustments accordingly. The reason they can't do that now, is cause everyone would just wait for the 60 gigs to arrive, and buy those for $299.99. They have to completely sell thru all remainging 20 gig units, and then once they have done that, then they will announce a new price drop, and it will be for all the Sku's, Arcade, 60 gigger and Elite. Makes perfect sense. I guess it just sucks in the short term.

Or, if you're into conspiracy theories, maybe they're just waiting for Sony and Nintendo to hold their E3 press conferences... :D

I've said before that MS and Sony seem to be opearating under a state of Detente, keeping the pricing status quo as long as they can, to maximize profitability (MS) and minimize losses (Sony). Neither is going to move until the other does or until sales stall badly enough to force their hand.

Finally, for all the talk of no 360 price cut in the US, it is worth considering that the US dollar has dropped significantly in the last three years, eating up a significant portion of MS's manufacturing savings and complicating the price-cut curve for Sony and Nintendo. All three consoles *are* imported hardware, after all. Price cutting is easy in a strong-dollar era; less so in inflationary times.

Welcome to life in 1978.;)

Here's my theory. M$ dumps the 20g units for $299 and starts selling the 60g units at $349. At E3, they will concentrate on the great upcoming titles and not comment on pricing other than the $299 20g and tout that they have a 60g coming. Then come holiday shopping season they announce some new SKU pricing with the Pro likely going to the $299 price point.

Doing this allows them to dump the 20g models now and make an extra $50 on the 60g models as some people will obviously rush out to buy them. Then they can still have a price drop for the holiday when it matters the most.

Just my theory.

I picked up a 20GB as the family's 3rd 360. For $275 (target) it seemed like a good deal.

It's $424.99 right now. Still a decent deal with free shipping & no tax if you are in the market.

Still $399.99 when I pull it up.

Still $399.99 when I pull it up.

+1 The price is hidden but it pops up at $399.
"Xbox 360 Elite System Console Includes 120GB Hard Drive"
Distinct from:
"Xbox 360 Elite Bundle" which shows up as $449.
Gotta love Amazon's pricing schemes...:rolleyes:

It's $424.99 right now. Still a decent deal with free shipping & no tax if you are in the market.
gone down again! I am confused between 20GB for $279 vs ELITE for $379 from amazon, both gold box deals? please advise?:confused:

gone down again! I am confused between 20GB for $279 vs ELITE for $379 from amazon, both gold box deals? please advise?:confused:

That's easy!
1- Do you intend to buy much in the way of video content?
2- Do you prefer black over white?
3- Do you need the Dongle for optical-out audio in parallel to the HDMI port.

If you say yes to all three, its Elite for you.
If you say not to all three its the 20Gb.

Mix-n-match? you're on your own...;)

I picked up a 20GB as the family's 3rd 360. For $275 (target) it seemed like a good deal.

Ditto that.. got mine yesterday. May 10 mfg date was the latest they had.

That's easy!
1- Do you intend to buy much in the way of video content?
2- Do you prefer black over white?
3- Do you need the Dongle for optical-out audio in parallel to the HDMI port.

If you say yes to all three, its Elite for you.
If you say not to all three its the 20Gb.

Mix-n-match? you're on your own...;)

I guess no to all 3!I use ps3 for media server with upgraded hd to 160gb

Still $399.99 when I pull it up.

It's like the stock market with Amazon.

I put the Elite in my wish list on Sunday when it was $399.99. This morning (Monday) I checked the wish list and it had popped up to $424.99.

Then, when rdank just posted that, I checked it again and it indeed back to $399.99. ...at least at the moment I type this.

With the announcement of all the Rock Band DLC coming in the next couple months, including all the songs for RB1 to be available in RB2... I see a need for a bigger hard drive. I think I'll grab one. :D

It's like the stock market with Amazon.

I put the Elite in my wish list on Sunday when it was $399.99. This morning (Monday) I checked the wish list and it had popped up to $424.99.

Then, when rdank just posted that, I checked it again and it indeed back to $399.99. ...at least at the moment I type this.

...AND its back up to 424.99 this morning... which will probably drop to $399.99 sometime in the afternoon. :rolleyes:

I guess Amazon has a reason for raising and lowering the price during the day, but I can't figure it. :confused:

I guess Amazon has a reason for raising and lowering the price during the day, but I can't figure it. :confused:

In one of their backrooms there is a spider monkey laughing his head off at us... ;)