Is Microsoft about to kill the Xbox 360 Core?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted July 30th 2007 5:34PM
posted July 30th 2007 5:34PM
posted July 30th 2007 5:34PM
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Don't you have to make it past the MPC Cone first or something?
Maybe two years of scamming kids into thinking they can have a 360 for 299 was enough.
That looks pretty familiar as being a print out from Best Buy's RSS stock system... But it doesn't look quite right. They could have just updated it since my time there, though.
OS X, FTW!
I want some of whatever it is you're smoking...
Thats Best Buy's Retek Store System (RSS). Its what keeps track of their inventory (SKUs) and cost of units. Instock and outdate of products as well. This looks like cellphone pic of a printout from that screen. Some of the information can be very true, but there were many times that they up the date or push it back. So take it with grain of salt. Also, the out of stock date varies from store to store or market to market of Best Buy. One store 25 miles away from another can continue to sell a product while the other store will no longer continue to get it. It all depends on if the store is Planogrammed (places to stock the unit) for the particular product to be carried.
Or maybe Best Buy aren't stocking them anymore due to a lack of demand?
Or better yet, maybe Best Buy is going out of business :P
Haha, not familiar with them myself because I'm from the UK... But maybe?
Here in the US Best Buy is one of, if not, the largest electronics retail stores in the USA.
I doubt it's going out of business.
Here in the US Best Buy is one of, if not, the largest electronics retail stores in the USA.
I doubt it's going out of business.
Using the same logic Xbots applied to the PS3 price drop, the Xbox 360 is actually getting a price raise. It used to cost $299, and now it costs $349. But of course, that won't catch on, since bashing Xbox isn't the current fad.
Hello, I am bitter about video games on the Internet.
You're right, that is what Peter Moore stated with his "price of entry" argument. Now the 360's "price of entry" will be 349$. I don't think MS considered the core an actual 360 anyways, so they see this as a price drop.
***If*** Microsoft lowers the price of the core, and ***if*** they do not make any more, and ***if*** they introduce a replacement for it, and ***if*** the replacement uses the same price as the old, then yes, any criticism they get is justified. But ***if*** they reduce the prices across the board, then where is the problem.
There are a lot of ***if***s in that above, just speculation. We know exactly what sony is doing, they told us all that there was a price decrease but that was only temporary. We do not know what is going to happen with the 80GB model. Will they eventually drop the price? Of course they will, but we do not know if it is the week after 60GB models are sold out, a month later, or a year later. The issue people had, and not just "XBots" as you claim (BTW, you would be taken at least part seriously if you did not name call) but many other people, is how Sony handled it. They announced they were dropping the price and issuing a new edition (after criticizing Microsoft for having more than one SKU, btw). Then there was a week of one Sony exec saying that they were not making any more 60GB machines, one saying he didn't know (how does an exec not know an important decision like that?), and another saying no comment. If they would have just said at the beginning "we are dropping the 60GB price to clear them out, and the 80GB will take the 60's place and pricepoint" then there would not have been any problems. Instead, it was treated like Sony was doing it out of the goodness of their hearts to advance humanity, and that is what many PS3 fans pushed also. Instead, it was a temporary price decrease - not an increase, but a temporary sale.
OMG my wish have come true.
I wrote a comment a few days ago touching this matter. Like I said the 360 Core is a very bad value and doesn't offer the full Xbox 360 experience. Further more very few people even buys them, and those that do regret it at a later stage.
Actually, the core system isn't that bad of a value if you want a system with 120GB but have an older TV that doesn't have HDMI. It's cheaper to buy the core system and get the 120GB HDD than to get the premium system and buy the 120GB HDD. Sure, you don't get a wireless controller, but most likely you'll buy at least one more controller which you'll probably buy wireless. Then you just make your buddy use the wired one, and you don't worry that you got stuck with one wired controller.
The core was always a good value for homes that want more than one 360. Not that uncommon for us rich types :P
Also before the warranty extension alot of people used the core as a cheap replacement for dead out of warranty 360s, slapping their existing HDD on to the core unit.
Finally, just because the core is discontinued in the US doesn't mean its no longer on sale elsewhere. IMO it makes perfect sense for developing markets like China, India, Mexico etc. where MS is the first console manufacturer to actuall go in and have an official presence and infrastructure (including local nodes for the live network).
The core was always a good value for homes that want more than one 360. Not that uncommon for us rich types :P
Also before the warranty extension alot of people used the core as a cheap replacement for dead out of warranty 360s, slapping their existing HDD on to the core unit.
Finally, just because the core is discontinued in the US doesn't mean its no longer on sale elsewhere. IMO it makes perfect sense for developing markets like China, India, Mexico etc. where MS is the first console manufacturer to actually go in and have an official presence and infrastructure (including local nodes for the live network).
I'm not a huge fan of the core, but it does have its place. Right now it is the only Media Center Extender capable of streaming Cable Card recorded shows and is the only one that works with Vista. Until more stand alone version 2 extenders come out I think they should stick with the core. $249 (if they drop the price of the core) is a lot better than $349 if you are an extender fan.
Oops, I meant cheapest Media Center Extender, not the only one.
I am a Media Extender fan. I think it is one of the 360's greatest strengths that M$ never seems to actively promote. Hey PS3 guys does the PS3 have the equivalent of the media extender? Just a question. Not meant to be flamebait.
Yes the PS3 has a sort of media extender functionality. A patch some time ago introduced the DLNA standard to the PS3 which allows it to read shared libraries from programs such as Windows Media Player 11. It seems to be a little buggy at the moment as my entire library of songs won't load and it gives me "a network error has occured". The Xbox's integration with an actual media center pc is currently way better and I tend to use that when I need to easily get my music to the big speakers :)
this is what ms need to do in the uk, kill of the core system as that was a waste of everyones time and money, make the premium package £200, and sell the elite package at either £279 or £300. And then the system will sell.
Until then i think they have got the pricing wrong.
People dont get your hopes up. I work at Best Buy and RSS was showing that the Nintendo Wii was also discontinued.
i agree. i work for best buy also and can confirm his comment about the wii.
the general consensus in my store is that both are system errors. regardless i personally would love to see them axe the core.
A BestBuy employee could tell me the sky is blue and I would go outside to check.
That is the funniest post I have seen in a long time
All we need to really think about is the release of Starcraft 2 late next year. Until then nothing matters, Nothing I tell you.
Exactly. Everything else is a distraction.
LMAO, I'm amused that you think a Blizzard game is going to ship on time. I mean, seriously, I Think Starcraft 2 is gonna ship in Holiday 2009.
This doesn't make any sense. Why eliminate the Core when they're finally about to match the Wii's price? They could throw in a 64mb memory card and a copy of Viva Pinata and they've got the Wii's $249 feature-set matched.
I was a gamestop this afternoon and the manager there said that they were dropping the Core unit all together. He did not mention that they were going to drop the price of the core to get rid of stock. So it might be that that sku is going to remain the same $ until sold out. He did however say thaty the price of the premium was going to get the $50 drop and that they had word of a new SKU to take aver the $399 price tag. So we might get the premium 20gig with an hdmi port.
The new unit replacing the premium will essentially be a white version of the Halo 3 limited edition - i.e. an Elite MOBO with a premium HDD size, but in standard premium casing.
The existing premium will likely be discontinued.
That's fascinating, though it would make them more robust, I fully and truly believe Microsoft is gearing up to do a few things, first, drop the core, second, drop the price of it's current stock of X360s, clear them out, and at the same price(Which they can now afford), market an improved model, just in time for Halo 3, just in time for the Holidays.
If I wanted to be generous, despite knowing ol'Microsoft probably won't be, I'd say they're also going to offer some kind of program for current owners wanting one of these new, improved ones.
As far as I am concerned in my area, the core unit is already dead. I havent seen it in my local Walmart, Sears, and various other stores in my location. Quite frankly, it was a failed undertaking (not like the 20Gb PS3). I would prefer to have the preminium version for 299 myself but that's just me.
Well, as long as Sony doesn't pull something like this, I'm happy.