Xbox 360 Cutting Price Cutting…Huh?

For those that ran out to pickup a 20GB Xbox 360 for the low low price of $299… sit down. This may hurt a bit. Their is a new rumor stating the Xbox 360 is undergoing another price cut, for all consoles in their full array of consoles.

Let’s just get this over with quick:

  • Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
  • Pro (60GB) to $299
  • Elite (120GB) to $399

This is a highly competitive price cut making the Xbox 360 much more desirable, a price closer (and in some case beating) the Nintendo Wii. Imagine, a graphically powerful console for a price near that of the “last generation” graphics of the Wii.

Of course, those purchasing a Wii aren’t buying it because you’re saving money on a next-generation console. In the end, if this price cut is real, we’re seeing the next-generation console market really dropping to some realistic figures.

Bad for Sony, considering they’re still trying to make money on their expensive box. No doubt Sony’s in this for the 10-year plan but if they can’t keep competitive with Microsoft people may ignore you for the next 10-years because it’s too costly.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Will Xbox Live Survive 2008 Holiday Stress?Will Xbox Live Survive 2008 Holiday Stress?

This year many gamers will open new consoles for the holidays and many of those same gamers are going bring their console “live” on Xbox Live the same day. Traditionally we’ve found Xbox Live falls under the weight of the holiday rush much like Apple’s iTunes. Will we repeat history again?

Although a fully loaded Xbox Live service is money in the bank, how much money will Microsoft lose when gamers login for the first time to a service in a state of destruction? People say first impressions are extremely important, but Microsoft makes a poor first impression every holiday. Xbox Live’s Jerry Johnson told Eurogamer:

“I can tell you that when Robbie Bach is on the phone on Christmas Day calling people asking what the hell is going on, and that’s coming down from Steve Ballmer… that’s the kind of attention it got last holiday.

Many things have changed since then, and we realised [sic] the kind of growth trajectory we were on and had to prepare for it.” (Kotaku)

It’s obvious the top executives at Microsoft want to give customers a great first impression and, after a few repeated holiday down times, this year is the chance to change it all. By now, Microsoft should be fully aware of the holiday flash crowd and have a system ready to cover the load.

Plenty of gamers login because their console automatically signs in on startup, but a handful of those gameres will be shopping for Xbox Live Arcade games to see what Microsoft is now offering them and their new console. Many XBLA games the current 360 crowd is bored of will be fresh and new to holiday adopters so it’s very important to keep the system online.

Much like Amazon, sales will decrease when the service is busy or under heavy load. Hopefully Microsoft is ready to make a great first impression to new buyers and give them the option to buy high valued (high markup) electronic downloads.

Episode 455: It’s Been a Fun Ten YearsEpisode 455: It’s Been a Fun Ten Years

Back in 2007, Derrick and Jennifer Schommer, along with Don Dunn started the Gaming Podcast, with their unique sense of humor and take on the biz of video games (as well as starting a popular World of Warcraft guild.) The trio would move on, with Derrick starting his Everyday Drinkers podcast and Common Man Cocktails site. Jonah Falcon took over, and merged it with the Videogame Roundtable. In that time, we’ve had hosts including Jordan Lund, Paul S. Nowak, Dan Quick, Scott Dirk and most lately, the inestimable T.J. Denzer. We’ve also had guest hosts including Hilary Goldstein and the late Andrew Yoon.

This episode celebrates the past 10 years, including an intro by Dan Quick and Paul S. Nowak joining this week’s episode, to discuss this news:

  • ‘Father of Pac-Man‘ Masaya Nakamura dies at 91
  • Nintendo is gearing up for more mobile games, plans 2-3 per year
  • $500 million awarded to ZeniMax in lawsuit over the Oculus Rift
  • Asheron’s Call comes to a quiet end after 17 years

Let us know how long you’ve followed the podcast for!

Episode 584: More #MeTooEpisode 584: More #MeToo

Depressingly, sexual harassment in a development studio is once again the lead news item this week, and from a studio most gamers would never think it could happen. That, and major seismic shifting in the power structure of the digital storefront landscape.

The news includes:

  • Multiple employees resign over Skullgirls studio head’s behavior
  • Microsoft sides with Epic in legal battle with Apple
  • Another intimidating obelisk has been found in Microsoft Flight Simulator

Let us know what you think.