Xbox 360 price drop gets more ammo from leaked Toys R Us ad

Hot on the heels of the dubious Wal-mart advertisement, comes the above Toys R Us circular pic, which should add some juice to the price cut rumors. The boys at CheapAssGamer (who snagged the original ad) have gotten their hands on more evidence that the $50 Xbox 360 price cut is indeed coming. Of course, this could be Photoshopped too, but who's really going to all the trouble of doctoring two separate ads to depict this price drop?

[Via Joystiq]

[steve Johnson @ Jul 29th 2007 7:41PM]

Lets see...

Newly-priced 360: $350.00

WiFi adapter: $100

XBox Live: $50 per year

Total: $500

OR, you could get a PS3 for the same price, without the Red Rings of Death. Oh...and the online play is free too.

Typical Dell-esque bait and switch. Nothing to see here folks...move along.

[Griff @ Jul 29th 2007 7:52PM]

And I would want to game over wifi because?

[Das @ Jul 29th 2007 8:02PM]

Let's see...

Newly priced PS3: $500

New Car(to drive to the store to buy it): $15,000

New house(to play it in): $200,000

Total: $215,500 (not even counting electricity and internet bills)

OR, you could just go to Vegas and blow it on coke and hookers

[garver @ Jul 29th 2007 8:07PM]

Leaving your PS3 on for Folding @ Home because there are now games--Priceless.

[Michael Francis @ Jul 29th 2007 8:12PM]

You good sir, are a dumb ass.
The best reason for Microsoft to cut prices is
BECAUSE they are coming out with a **t load of new games soon.
it makes the system just that much more accessible for the people that just want to play halo.

And besides, why is wii doing so well? Its an impulsive buy because its soo cheap.
Think before you make stupid comments

[Davey Jones @ Jul 29th 2007 8:38PM]

Actually buddy, XBL is pretty fun and interactive, anybody who has used it would definetly say it is worth the measly $50 for which you get 13 months of service for.

WiFi adapter $100?? Woah you are getting ripped off or what? I bought mine 2 years ago and I paid $49.99 ($35 USD?) Canadian Dollars and it works perfectly - Wireless G.

PS3 has "free" online because they haven't established a decent online network and don't contribute to online gaming, leaving developers to do that for themselves.

Id rather get a not-so-faulty Xbox 360, with Microsoft's 3 year warranty, XBL and decent games to play.

[metal @ Jul 29th 2007 8:49PM]

This argument is by far the oldest and most tired argument in the 'next gen' console argument. Stop insulting our intelligence like we havent already heard it and already decided its a total load.

[Jonathan @ Jul 29th 2007 11:44PM]

1.You don't NEED the wifi to play online. Secondly, if you want wifi, there are $30 linksys adapters for $30-$40 available.

2.Playstation online gaming isn't a community like live. LIVE = friends lists, gamer scores, voice mails, voice chats, and much more. It's better.

3.Lost Odyssey. Halo 3. Mass Effect. Bio Shock. Blacksite. GTA 4(extra content). And tons more.

I think I'll take the 360, thanks.

[chris @ Jul 30th 2007 12:23AM]

but playstation does in fact have voice chat, voice mail, text messages and friend lists and you dont pay for it

[James @ Jul 30th 2007 3:08AM]

Who buys the wifi?? Is an ethernet cable so expensive?? Just run from your router to the 360, under the carpet or around the wall, etc. WIFI= unnecassary

[FrankTheCrank @ Jul 30th 2007 9:43AM]

"New house(to play it in): $200,000"

Holy crap, where do you live? $200,000 won't buy you a fahking shack around in my town or the suburbs around it. You want something decent, it's at least $350,000.

[phrank @ Jul 30th 2007 4:49PM]

Steve, you are a dork man. There is no purpose for the wifi for most people. Because of that, it isn't worth building that functionality in the cost.

Second, XBL is awesome. It is definitely worth $50 a year. You can't (and won't be able to either) compare Sony's afterthought of an online service to XBL.

[kingofwale @ Jul 29th 2007 7:41PM]

ToyRus has had Price-Break on xbox at the beginning of the year. (also a 50 dollars cut), but we all know how that turned out. ;)

I wouldn't read too much into it.

Also, there's NO REASON for Microsoft to cut its price, at least not on the eve of its most anticipated game of 360's lifecycle. I forsee a price cut in Nov. (after Halo and GTA release)

[ddaw735 @ Jul 29th 2007 10:50PM]

Wtf dell hass no retail stores. Stores sell dells but dell doesent just have a store like apple or sony. So they cant bait and switch.
Think before you say stuff.

[bneals @ Jul 29th 2007 8:36PM]

I already own a 360, so I am not dying for a price cut. That said, I was hoping for a much better price cut because I truly believe that a $199 to $250 console price would move a ton of 360's this holiday season. I want that to happen as a 360 owner because a larger base range means that more studios will develop for my console because we will own a larger market share. I was really hoping that MS would understand that importance of this holiday season and drive a stake through Sony's heart with a crushing price cut. Now, for the first time in a long time, I am believe that Sony will actually move more conoles than MS at the five year point. $50 was not enough and it won't make a huge difference. $350 is still too much money for most families to spend on a console.

Sony will never crush the 360, as it will always be expensive. That said, MS has clearly missed a huge opportunity to crush Sony. I know that this type of cut would hurt MS in the short run, but owning a larger percentage of the market would have made up the difference in due time.

[Davey Jones @ Jul 30th 2007 1:46AM]

@ AlexP

Are you proud to list your opinions on how 54 MBPS is crap and your computer is great? They have a word for it - Arrogance.

First off Wireless G @ 54 MBPS works flawlessly if you know how to set it up and don't buy those special prices refurbished routers.

As for your superior Wireless N computer, umm.. guess what? 90% of internet servers cannot output data fast enough for it to be usefull, so unless you are trying to get a signal from 1/2 mile away (from the other side of your mansion), it is not worth the money.

If its such an inconvenience for you to pay a few more bills, then just get a really long cable, I promise you it will be very cheap and most effective, with the best wireless protection known to date: Rubber Wiring.

I too live in Canada, and I don't know what part you live in, but here Wii and 360 games are of equal price and PS3's are the most expensive.

Also, I don't know if you tried to put down the 360 controller's design, I think you don't even understand what you meant when you wrote that, but it is very comfortable and its triggers are excellent for pressure sensitivity.

Whatever makes you sleep at night thou, be sure that more Wii/360 owners are sleeping happliy, while PS3 owners are just..well.. (*yawn*)sleeping.

[Mike @ Jul 29th 2007 8:40PM]

It really pathetic how PS3 fanboys have to keep trying to compare packages that include all the crap that they are forced to buy with the PS3.

I don't use wifi, i have a wired router which i prefer to use thankyou & if you begin to list all the PS3 titles that don't support online play were the 360 version does you'll realize that free online = crap service.

On top of that the 360 has the games, many more exclusives and third party games oh and a nice 3 year warranty.

If you've got a PS3 and you're happy with it then stop trying to justify the price because you've starting to sound like you're having some regrets.

[steve Johnson @ Jul 29th 2007 8:58PM]

Dear XBots.

Don't be mad at others that your pathetic crash-prone beige box with the toaster-over power brick is a rip off. Nobody forced you to buy it.

WiFi not necessary? Guess it depends on your needs. 'Course, WiFi is the future standard for networking, wether you troglodytes like it or not. Personally, I have it because A. I'm not some college kid with a milk crate for a coffee table that has his ethernet taped to the wall and B. I own a house where my office's ethernet feed is far from my entertainment center.

Obviously, Sony wasn't the only one who thought WiFi is important since the Wii and DS both have it too.

So wake up and smell the coffee kiddies. The whole point of my post was to point out what you really get when you pay for M$ bullshit, and more importantly, what you DON'T get. I won't even mention the $180 HD-DVD player.

Like I said...bait and switch. But hey.....you kids get Halo 2.5. Errr....I mean Halo 3.

Yawn.

[metal @ Jul 29th 2007 9:11PM]

oh yeah lets just forget about the fact that wired connections are just more reliable that wireless.

Also that halo 2.5 argument? pure genius! I have never heard of it applied to the wii before the wii took off and out sold ( and continues to outsell ) both other next gen consoles combined.

If someone wants to buy the wii, 360, or ps3 I dont care. Whatever floats your boat. Just dont try to feed me a bunch of BS arguments about why your precious console is so superior.

The best part of these arguments is they almost always come from some guy who bought one console and never bought the other.

or for that matter probably never even touched the other console.

[AlexP @ Jul 29th 2007 9:52PM]

My house is wired, but I don't have enough cable to reach my consoles, so Wi-Fi is a must, and not that crap 54MBPS Wireless G, 108MBPS Wireless G... That retails for 90CAD, and if I want better for my laptop which is capable of receiving wireless N, I have to fork out about another 60 to get a Draft N router that's worth paying for, and the wireless N would feature speed much better than my wired connection currently features (routers are capable and so are network cards but our cables are aged).

Barely any of the 360's exclusives interest me as the system's focus seems to mainly be on First Person Shooters, and I'm very picky of mine, plus most are multi-platformers.

My PC is capable of playing current-generation games nicely.

I've always despised the Xbox controllers for their sheer awkwardness and their somewhat steep 'learning curve' while the Gamecube's and dualshock were the best, in my opinion.

The thing is, the 360 advertises itself as something it probably wouldn't be without Xbox Live, and not everyone is willing to fork out money for a service that comes free on the other systems - whether it sucks or not that really depends on your connection and ability to appreciate free stuff, and if you want to match the PS3's media functionalities you'd have to invent a Bluetooth adapter for it and buy an HD-DVD add-on, but if you know what the deal is with the HD war you probably wouldn't fork any money on HD-DVD anyway since there's no way the format is going to make a combat despite it's most appealing price point.

The reliability issue is also a great turnoff - I mean, sure, Massivesoft (thank God for C&C :V) has extended its warranty, but the thing is, I don't want to have to go through the RROD and the warranty process, I don't want to let my console go for 3 weeks or whatever time it takes for it to get repaired.

Another turnoff is the price of the games, which, in my opinion, isn't justified, you're paying a $10 price premium in Canada versus Wii games for software that is basically engraved in the same hardware (note: the Wii is DVD-9 capable, perhaps the 360 is DVD-10 but that's beside the point)).

Having a system that outputs in analog (exception: Elite) is also a problem to me, since it advertises itself as being an HD machine, but we all know that the best HD is digital/numeric HD.

Fact is, the Playstation 3 remains the greatest bang for the buck as of today, nevermind Sony's PR bullshit.

And even if the Core system steps into Wii territory, it's in no way as attractive as the Wii is, despite the fact that it can't achieve the 360's level of graphics (remember: analog SDTV are still ruling houses and the Wii's graphic capabilities are perfectly acceptable to most people including myself, and you're probably never going to get the level of detail and eye-candy you would on a fairly equipped PC anyway with either one of these consoles).

(I've never had a console break on me except an old NES).

Without Xbox Live the 360 couldn't possibly advertise itself as being a plug-in play media center (by the way, is IPTV that popular? It's probably the next big flop along with HD-DVD IMO (the only thing that attracts you towards HD-DVD is its price point - but if you're willing to fork money on a format that's probably going to die within a year or two, get your player at Costco, that way you'll be able to get your money back).

I'm not sure whether that was well constructed or not, but you pretty much get my point of view.

[metal @ Jul 29th 2007 11:11PM]

Alex

you have a couple of logical fallacies but at least you got your point across without sounding like a total fanboy.

Anyways, yes the majority of 360 games that people rave about these days are some variety of shooter. Honestly none of my friends that own 360s talk about any other variety of game. That argument I can respect.

One of the things about your post that just doesnt hold water is that you go out and say the 360 only outputting in analogy is unacceptable, then you go on to say how the wii is better than the core because most of the households still used SDTV. You cant say that the wii outputting in SD is okay but then knock the 360 for doing exactly that.

Also you go on to say that the ps3 is the best bang for the buck but then you complain that 360 games cost $10 more than wii games. I dont know about canada, but in the states 360 games are identical in price to the ps3 games. Doesnt the price of ps3 games also make it a turnoff as well?

From most of your post it sounds like you should be saying the wii is the best bang for the buck, not the wii.

Oh yeah, about the controllers, remember that the original xbox did come out with s controllers to address peoples complaints about the original controller, so if enough people have issue with the current controller, it wouldnt be unprecedented for ms to release a modded 360 controller.

[John @ Jul 30th 2007 12:55AM]

@ Alex P...

Well, if your argument was well-constructed and therefore well-defended, maybe your opinion would be respected enough to not be ranked so poorly.

Btw, I don't own a 360, Wii, or PS3. Currently using a PC, a PS2, and a DS.

[Revrant2394 @ Jul 30th 2007 1:11AM]

Alex: XBots, what a pathetic insult, I find it wholly too ironic that the people who purchased the Microsoft console(the minority) are referred to as automatons by the people who bought the *majority* console.

Also, for someone screeching fanboyism, you certainly have enough to go around, people don't Negative your comment from being "fanboys", they negative it because your opinions are obnoxious, ill-informed, and bias.

You've taken some hardcore minority opinions here, you're bashing the Xbox 360 controller, which is beloved for it's ergonomic features(Might I point out we're still using the inner-palm-hurting model from back in 2000 on Sony's side), bashing HD-DVD despite it's lack of what will no doubt be an infuriating mechanism in BD+, and then blatantly groping Sony despite the immense price point and lack of games, which you the ironically point at the Xbox. Then, along with now officially screwing the US over with PAL PS3s, Sony is once again being a hypocrite after mocking the X360 for it's lack of backwards compatibility, so it is NOT a better bang for the buck.

Then to cap it all off you screech XBot, what did you think was going to happen? Cherries and sunshine? You know what, go to the Devil May Cry 4 boards and cry about it's foretold lack of quality by being ported to the "XBot 1.5, we don't need it here.

[Robert Sabagh @ Jul 31st 2007 2:41PM]

Heres how I got the fight scored:

On the eve of having the largest game rollout ever until 2008 about to start and having a price cut as well means GAME OVER for the competition. Not a fanboy but a business man. I really feel like Microsoft lined this up perfectly with the timing and this will be the main blow that helped make the knockout happen when it is all said and done and we are all looking back at this 6 years from now. Holla!

[misterhearn @ Jul 29th 2007 8:56PM]

Steve,
Dont riff that fanboy yap here,

if the 360 cost 700.00 it still be a better buy than the P$3 at this moment...

lets break down the real facts

cheaper price, better game selection, three year warranty for that red light special people been complaining about. Not to mention my controller does old tricks like vibrate, and although you have to pay for XBL its worth it, Playstation network is like the tap water of online gaming, its free but terrible, oh and btw, its free but you have to buy content for your avatar? Not to mention there are optional upgrades for the 360, HD DVD add on (not forcing a format on you, (see Sony's Blu Ray drive inside the P$3) and gaming wireless if you want to, not to mention you have to practically dismantle your controller to add a new battery

mind you this is all before the price cut, if the 50.00 cut comes Sony is sunk but look on the bright side blu ray is doing ok, hopefully Sony wont drop the ball there, but hey enjoy your blu ray player that happens to play video games.

Lets see Sony has dropped two SKUs within its first year of release not to mention cut the price, and you call M$ cutting a price after almost two years "bait and switch"? ROTFL, what planet do you live on?

[kingofwale @ Jul 29th 2007 9:02PM]

>three year warranty for that red light special people been complaining about

yeah, because people with a broken xbox will stop complaining.

somehow a console that DOESN'T break will always be better than a refurbished one you get back for the new one you bought.

[chadow @ Jul 29th 2007 9:43PM]

@ kingofwhatever

You are talking about something you know nothing about, and for people...that aren't YOU.

I had a red light 360. It was fixed faster than any product I have ever had to send in, get an RMA for, or get in home service for. I'm not sure if its because I'm not a little zit faced little kid with nothing better to do than play games, but living without my 360 for those 2 weeks was hardly something to upset me. It now works flawless and it WAS the exact "new one" that I had bought not a refurbished one.

I'll tell you right now, I wouldn't even trade a refurbished 360 for a new PS3. Halo 3, Bioshock, and Left4Dead are three (exclusive 360/PC) reasons alone. Live Marketplace and Media Center are 2 more.

[kingofwale @ Jul 29th 2007 9:59PM]

>chadow

You obviously don't seem to get it.

When given a choice, what would you rather have?

A console that doesn't break? or a console that does regardless how fast it gets fixed?

Now, before your fanboy-ism started kicking in. When have I ever mentioned PS3 or any other console? And no, I don't think the lack of zits on your face has anything to do with anything. The fact you find it relevant to 'brag' about it is entirely up to you

[Zeus the God @ Jul 30th 2007 6:42AM]

Sorry, but a majority, even with this fake over rated failure rate, of Xbox 360 consoles don't break. Even launch consoles. My mid-night LAUNCH console has yet to have a single hiccup, even after being abused by siblings and bounced around in a camper when going on vacation.

I find that most people who's consoles break are the people who don't take care of it (I've been lucky in this case). If you take care of your console and give it breathing room (a.k.a. not keeping it in a confined or enclosed space) then it will work just fine.

Even if my Xbox broke occasionally, I would rather have it, because of the online gaming (played games on PSN and it doesn't even compare), the controller (so much better than the tired PlayStation controller), and the shear amount of exclusive and third party games. Seriously, have you seen the release line up? The PS3 is as good as dead until they release some games.

[linkman2004 @ Jul 29th 2007 8:59PM]

I think this is all one big hoax. Why would the Toys R Us price have 99 cents tacked on, where as the Wal Mart price is a whole number ammount?

[Zeus the God @ Jul 30th 2007 6:43AM]

2 different companies.

[Jason Lynx @ Jul 30th 2007 4:07PM]

Could these be comps... or versions for the retailer's marketing team to review before they go to print?

Then... errors could be present.

[JasonLynx @ Jul 30th 2007 3:43PM]

Could these be comps.... or versions for the retailer's marketing team to review before they are sent to print?

Then... there could still be errors.

[Andy @ Jul 29th 2007 9:12PM]

400-350 isn't even worth doing. they should throw in a good free game with the console at full price. or maybe another controller.

[Tony @ Jul 29th 2007 9:51PM]

I'm guessing that since it's been out nearly 2 years, it officially costs they $50 less to make one now then it did then. That's all.

Get over it everyone, and for those that don't have one yet, get one cuz this is a great price for the Premium if it's true!

[richard @ Jul 30th 2007 5:51PM]

" and if you want to match the PS3's media functionalities "

The big thing that the PS3 is missing is the media extender capabilities of the 360. The 360 is the only device in our lounge room (besides LCD TV and AV Amplifier). It operates as our set top box for digital TV, scheduld recordings and video playback as well as music and pictures. Sure the PS3 can do music and pictues, but not live TV and scheduling.

A PS3 would just be another box in the lounge room.... it couldn't be the only box like the 360 is.

[Revrant2394 @ Jul 29th 2007 11:02PM]

I agree, this is such an ancient argument, I mean, Christ, I pay 70 dollars for Comsuck and their outages, a MONTH, what's fifty dollars a YEAR for all the online gaming and demos and what not that I can handle? With Halo 3 coming out, among others in the future, it's not a bad deal.

[F. @ Jul 29th 2007 11:09PM]

I don't think I have to *convince* myself that it is ok. I am already pretty sure it is. Same goes for sitting on my ass reading books, or sitting on my ass listening to music.

Hey, what about... sitting on your ass trolling away and convincing yourself that the word masturbatory is spelled with an E? Now, that's mature, man.

[AlexP @ Jul 29th 2007 11:14PM]

I'd love to know how most of you came up with the idea that Sony's online play was horrible when most of not all of you don't even own a PS3.

Everyone has a different online experience, it depends on the hardware/method you use to go online.

I think the Wii's going to be the worse (although the DS' was fairly good, so I'll have to wait for an online Wii game to come out to judge it) because the system is only capable of doing 802.11b, which is fairly slow.

[Mike @ Jul 29th 2007 11:46PM]

Dell has a retail kiosk in my mall.

Not saying they bait and switch, but they could if they wanted.

[Jonathan @ Jul 29th 2007 11:54PM]

Because of the facts. And the Ps3 fanboys are the ones saying it's awful to pay $50 for XBL without obviously trying it ever.

Xbox Live is a community. You have friends lists. You have a gamerscore. You have a reputation. You can have voice chats, you can send voice messages, text messages, pictures, etc to your friends. You can see what your friends are playing. They can send you an invite to join their game in two clicks, and you can join in one click. You have the same name for every game, so you have an identity.

Then there's the marketplace.

Ps3 is not as structured, and does not compare to Xbox's offering online. It just doesn't, and you don't need to have hours of hands on time with PS3's online service to realize this. It's just facts.

[linkman2004 @ Jul 30th 2007 1:15AM]

At least get your facts straight if you're going to say the Wii will have the worst online system. It fully 802.11b AND g. The DS, on the other hand, only supports b.

[Señor Swanky @ Jul 29th 2007 11:39PM]

Hold on, I have to bust a nut replying...

[Alex Kamensky @ Jul 30th 2007 1:08AM]

I'm hoping the Elite gets a price cut too. I have a PS3, and if I were to get a 360, it would have to be the Elite because I want to take advantage of the HDMI at 1080 on my Sony 46" XBR2.

[Cal @ Jul 30th 2007 1:24AM]

I got a ps3 recently and it's no contest between playstation network and xbox live, sony developers have to do all the work at getting online functionality going and not everyone is as good as Insomniac. There's potential for psn to force microsoft to cut the price of live, but that's still going to be a way off.

The Wii may only have 802.11b, but that's still faster than any internet connection you're likely to have so from a gaming standpoint it doesn't matter that it can't go as fast as the other systems. Unlike the PS3 or 360, you're not going to be streaming video over your network which would be where a faster wireless implementation would matter.

Back on the topic of price cuts, I think microsoft is overdue for one even if 50 bucks is kind of small, and it only means worse things for sony if they keep the 80 gig version at 599 when the 60 gigs run out.

[Kevin @ Jul 30th 2007 4:13AM]

@ Steve Johnson

-I would expect a great person such as yourself, who has enough money and responsibility to own a house, be mature enough to respect people's opinions and not call them names; I was sadly mistaken.

@ PS3 Fans

If you PS3 fans think your system is far superior than the Xbox 360 then okay, I respect that, but keep it to yourself. This page talks about the Xbox 360 PRICE CUTS; WHAT IN HELL caused you PS3 people to talk about Wi-Fi and PS3 Online Gaming? I don't go into the PS3 PRICE CUT section to bash it and you shouldn't either.

This is the a place where Xbox 360 fans and people whom are planning to buy one SHARE their THOUGHTS and OPINIONS. Save your idiotic criticisms for Gamespot.com forums.

Back on topic:

I think that Xbox 360 price cut is great! I'm more hoping now that the Xbox 360 Elite would have a price cut also. I have a Black Samsung 40" LCD so the Elite would be a perfect fit. I'm just a college student so $50 dollars is a lot for me. With $50 dollars I could buy a game or buy like 4 boxes of green tea haha.

I come here to Engadget.com to read about intelligent people talking about their point of views and not PS3 Fanboy bashing.

[kcarr @ Jul 30th 2007 7:35AM]

Kevin your are so right

i not just saying that b/c my name is Kevin also but u make a really good point

[bneals @ Jul 30th 2007 7:13AM]

Is it me, but I have never met or heard of a 360 owner who bitched about paying for XBL memberships? I am not saying that I enjoy paying $50 a year for this feature, but I have never bitched about it.

There is an old saying - you get what you pay for. I don't own a PS3, but everything I have read points to the idea that Sony has an inferior network. I have heard that the downloads take longer, there are less demos online, and some games get dropped. Again, I don't own a PS3, so I apologize in advance if I am wrong about any of the PSN info.

[Matthew @ Jul 30th 2007 1:21PM]

Give it some time. PS3 hasn't been out for a year yet. They're launching PS3 home soon which will be amazing. If you're not sure what it is, check it out here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/playstation-home-revealed/. PS3 has just begun where 360 is closer to its peak. This is due the the extra year the 360 has been out. And no one will know which system will be superior unless you name is Marty McFly so chill out and just have fun gaming until then. The HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray will have a big impact on which system gets more exclusives. Developers will want to develop for the system with more owners.

Peace love and gaming.

[Mike @ Jul 30th 2007 10:09AM]

Virtua Fighter 5 is only playable online for the 360
Virtua Tennis 360 only
Tony Hawk 360 only
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/18/no-skating-online-for-ps3s-tony-hawk/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19965
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/07/06/360-virtua-fighter-5-has-online-play/

If the PS3's half baked free online network is good enough for you i'm happy for ya, but don't try convincing anybody that it is anywhere near as good as Live!