Xbox 360 Price Drop: July 6th?

The new rumor, based on a K-Mart sales sheet, is stating we’re going to see an Xbox 360 Premium price drop this summer (July 6th, 2008). The new price is said to be USD $299, down USD $50 from the last price drop on the 360 hardware.

The sales sheet only shows the 20GB Premium product, but this is probably going to hit all units to keep pricing competitive. This wouldn’t be the first time a price drop has been slipped from a sales sheet for a current generation console and we’re sure Microsoft will deny it this time as well.

This brings the console closer to a Wii price tag, making it much more desirable by the average gamer; will Wii respond with a price drop? More than likely the answer would be “no” due to their inability to keep up with demand. The dry channels for Wii consoles makes the product highly desired but also impossible to promote and market further than saying “we have Wii in stock” because demand is just so high.

Sony will have to watch out, their PS3 product is catching up in terms of hype and demand but a drop in 360 price will yet again put them behind the 8-ball in terms of competitive pricing.

Will you consider a 360 for $299?

(Thanks, 1up)

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Nobody is perfect. When it comes to creating an epic story arc, awesome pre-rendered movies and a fully fleshed campaign Blizzard has done well. Now, Blizzard speaks of Starcraft 2 and the world shuts their mouth and listens to each and every word. What’s the word?

A Trilogy.

We’re not talking about the Lord of The Rings style trilogy, but three games with full stories which all end with the gamer being satisfied at the closure, not cliffhangers.

The three standalone games will be (says GameStooge):

  • Terrans – Wings of Liberty
  • Zerg – Heart of the Swarm
  • Protoss – Legacy of the Void

Gamers are probably thinking, “so, I can play multiplayer with only one race?” No! The campaign is split into three separete games, not the races and multiplayer features. Although, each title is sure to introduce something new to the game engine, Blizzard has said:

“Nothing changes for multiplayer or skirmish mode. All three races are fully implemented from the get go. Each campaign will feel like an epic story – not a cliffhanger into the next one. They will each have separate arcs that have a clear start, middle, end – and you will feel like you’ve really finished *something* at the end of each game. More content than we’d previously planned – many more Movies, Missions, etc.” (games.on.net)

From our perspective, it seems Blizzard is itching to release the multiplayer system to the world sooner than later, considering some countries use Starcraft as a professional league, but they don’t want to rush out fast to market campaigns just to satisfy this multiplayer desire.

Instead, they’re going to take their time, in usual Blizzard style, by releasing the game as they finish it… per races story. This should give us a less watered down storyline or having one or two races with a piss poor storyline while another has a kick ass storyline because it was done first.

End result? Multiplayer gamers will be happy in the end while those that play Starcraft for the story will need to wait for each game to be completed. We know Blizzards release schedule is “when it’s ready” so we can only imagine how long it will take to reach that third game in the trilogy.

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Gamertag has posted what they claim is a flyer sent to developers advertising the “Project Cafe” (the alleged placeholder name for the next-gen Nintendo console) SDK, with some interesting claims:

Project Café is simply the most developed friendly SDK the industry has ever seen. Deliver unparalleled next generation performance at current generation cos…it doesn’t get any easier than this.

Easy portability from PC, Xbox 360.

Anytime live update past release.

Integrated M-Live framework.

Let us know if you think this is real, and if so, what you think about the console.

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The same company that brought us the NES Advantage has proven the Wii control scheme isn’t as bad as critics speculated. The beauty of adding the “waggle” technology is limiting your button count to a reasonable level without overwhelming gamers.

We’re seeing casual gaming on the rise both in the press and in the public. Yet, each “next generation” console brings new features and functionality to the consoles, games and accessories. Since NES birthed the SNES we’ve seen button count increase on controllers.

Nintendo has usually been conservative on buttons, trying to work “shape” over sheer volume of buttons, barring the C button count on the N64 controller. Nintendo controllers change shape with each generation and they’ve evolved, not innovated, their way around with the Wii control scheme. Each function of the controller exists, on its own, in other products but nobody has built a fully functional controller in such a way for a game console until now.

Sony took pieces of this concept in their PS3 controller and its ability to detect “tilt.” Xbox 360 stuck with the beefy controller with lots of buttons and analog sticks. Not just a D-Pad but two analog sticks and a ton of buttons to press, some pressure sensitive as well. What of our next-generation console? Maybe a few new buttons?

Or, maybe a few new motions? Wii evolved the control scheme and Sony validated their decision, what’s next? Are the controllers just too damn complicated in today’s world? Or, perhaps limiting the buttons brings in more gamers, like Grandma and Grandpa, to play your console as well.

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