Microsoft drops price on Xbox 360 line -- we're stunned

Ohhh big surprise, Microsoft just announced a price drop on the 360 lineup. Retailers will knock $50 off the Premium systems (bringing it to $350), $30 off the Elite (down to $450), and $20 off the Core (bringing it to $280). Expect it to take effect this Wednesday, the 8th. Buy, buy, buy, people. Oh, let's briefly review how many of Microsoft's retail partners had a difficult time keeping Redmond's big secret.

Read - GameStop can't hold it in
Read - Circuit City, loose lips sink console price drops
Read - Best Buy thinks the Core system won't be around much longer
Read - Toys R Us won't keep a secret
Read - Wal-Mart's a blabbermouth
Read - The Hollywood Reporter even heard about this thing
Read - Oh, here's the official release

[Barry @ Aug 7th 2007 12:22AM]

Are all the Xbox 360s still defective, or is it just most of them now?

[kingofwale @ Aug 7th 2007 12:24AM]

if Microsoft decides to come out with a 'RRoD'-free xbox, wouldn't you expect them to advertise it greatly? ;)

[chadow @ Aug 7th 2007 12:29AM]

I don't know anyone that has bought one recently that has had any problems. I would venture to say the overheating issue was with the earlier products. Reading your post it kinda seems like you're a 360 thread troll that doesn't really want to hear a reply, but I thought I would give you one anyway.

[alex @ Aug 9th 2007 8:43AM]

Nobody caught this?
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20070801/137224/

As of May this year, repaired Xbox's were not coming with the new heatsinks. Whether new machines are or no is also not clear. Until we get some confirmation of properly designed units with heat management in mind, buying a 360 is like playing a game a roulette. You just might win, but you also just might lose.

[LJKelley @ Aug 7th 2007 10:52AM]

Some 360s are now comming with new heatsinks that should improve their quality. Lastly 360s that are being manfactured at this time come with a new 65nm chip design. So you would have to get a console manafactured July or later.

But regardless you have a 3 year warranty against the RROD.

Though truth be known, I bought my 360 for $349.99 in November 2006 at a Black Friday special at Target...

[sycks @ Aug 7th 2007 11:16AM]

Man I know its impossible to read every article but at least read the important parts. The Falcon motherboards (65mm) will NOT be out until Fall of this year.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/microsofts-falcon-to-dive-bomb-sony-276304.php

Dean Takahashi:

"Microsoft is in the process of qualifying the new Falcon chips and motherboard this summer. I expect it will launch Xbox 360s with the new Falcon innards this fall."

Mind you that this is just chip production, which still has to be built, packaged, ship to the US, then placed on shelves once the current ones are depleted.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/01/65nm-360-chips-in-production-last-two-quarters-45nm-on-the-w/

[predator.z6 @ Aug 7th 2007 7:47PM]

@ LJKelley, I bought my premium for $199 at that BF Micro Center fiasco...still is a great deal!!!

[BrandonLive @ Aug 7th 2007 2:41PM]

The console doesn't have a problem with overheating, and never did. The RRoD isn't caused by overheating.

[Jagannath A @ Aug 7th 2007 12:23AM]

not everyone is an engadget reader :P

[coffeepot64 @ Aug 7th 2007 3:35AM]

No way!!!

[C. Taylor @ Aug 7th 2007 12:24AM]

The 360 Elite was $480, now cut $30 to $450. It was never $500.

[Nic @ Aug 7th 2007 12:25AM]

Bringing it to 280$? sweet fucking deal.

[James Hoak @ Aug 7th 2007 2:25AM]

I don't think $280 for the Core is that good of a deal. By the time you get a memory card to save games (you need some memory device to do this), you might as well spend the few extra bucks and get the Premium.

If you don't have enough cash to upgrade to the Premium from the Core, you probably shouldn't buy the system at all.

[StrangeBum @ Aug 7th 2007 2:36PM]

@ James Hoak

Yeah, you are probable right. But I've been wanting to pick up a new 360 for awhile and since I have a Premium currently, I would probably just buy a Core model and cross over my hard-drive to the new system. And then I already have a memory card that I can use for saves on my old system.

Either way though, Xbox-360 Price drops FTW!

[WTangoFoxtrot @ Aug 7th 2007 12:25AM]

@2
the new 360s coming out should have the extra cooling thats been showing up all over the place. wont say they aint defective, just less defective....

[Helios @ Aug 7th 2007 12:31AM]

Buying 360 elite with Gears of War , Dead Rising , Darkness , Viva Pinata and Crackdown.

all the game i can get for $20 expect for Darkness.

[sr @ Aug 7th 2007 12:34AM]

When is it that the Premium will acquire the Elite features? They've talked about that.

[Steve @ Aug 7th 2007 12:38AM]

This sucks, hopefully used core will be $199 because ps3 rules and I just wanna play like 2 games on this thing.

[humpty @ Aug 7th 2007 12:44AM]

People would be stupid to buy the Halo edition; for $50 more you get 120gb HDD, HDMI cable, and dont have to put up with that hideous colour scheme.

[Andir3.0 @ Aug 7th 2007 7:14AM]

"People would be stupid to buy the Halo..."

You should have stopped there.

[Almadi @ Aug 7th 2007 12:46AM]

Although a $50 cut is much better then $40. A $40 would have sounded cooler.

"Buy a XBOX 360 for 360"

Sold my 360, I'd buy another only when there is a SIZE reduction as well as a price reduction.

[anthony2 @ Aug 7th 2007 1:02AM]

dont hold your breath on the size reduced 360, these current 360 cant even properly cool themselves

[AndrewNeo @ Aug 7th 2007 1:19AM]

It would have been listed at $359.99 anyway, which isn't really quite as cool.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 1:21AM]

They can cool themselves properly when not in the oven, smartass.

[chad @ Aug 7th 2007 1:47AM]

what are you talking about deputy dufus on all things MS aka bill gives me a boner. The publicity of these underlying heat PROBLEMS is so bad now (every day you hear more of it; the resentment grows on shoddy design), the 60GB PS3 for 500 is picking up more hype EVEN with NO GAMES REALLY WORTH PLAYING. Just wait until that changes. Oh wait, you already know that. That's when you're going to throw in the towel and be a PS fanboi eh?!

SEE:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/japan-explains/why-xbox-360s-heat-up-and-crap-out-286202.php

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 1:50AM]

Chad, long time no see.

I won't bother with your post, because you're obviously here to cause problems (nothing new).

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 2:08AM]

Oh, and just for the Hell of it, I checked out that link.

Well, that just sets it in cement. Its up to the consumer to take care of it and prevent it from over heating. I have, and so has my friend, especially after hearing about this over heating bullshit. Well, if you take care of your console, it doesn't- get this- over heat. *Gasp* Who would have thought keeping it in an open place or just a place with decent ventilation, that it would over heat. Oh, and its not abnormal for the GPU in my PC to hit 70 degrees Celsius. Thats the chip itself, not the heatsink or whatever (doesn't have one). People make these temperatures out to be worse than they actually are... Hell, the fucking cut off point of my GPU is 145 degrees Celsius. Not to mention the time it took for the GPU in the 360 to heat up is odd. After even just a few minutes in say, Doom 3, Quake 4, F.E.A.R. or the like, my GPU is up to 65-70 degrees. A fan cooled chip, and I have tons of fans in my case and the side of the case is even off 90 percent of the time.

Those temperatures aren't as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

[chad @ Aug 7th 2007 2:29AM]

80 to 100 degrees celsius in the xbox gpu after 15 minutes and having to do preventative maintenance is simply bad design I'm afraid Zeus. Sure, the threshold on my 6800 is high too, but it never gets that hot, and I don't get RRoD... But hey maybe me, the majority of consumers, and microsoft (for extending their warranty for 3 years) are all wrong. :-)

But I know what system I'll be buying when the kick butt games come out. I may even by an Xbox at that point... but not without the 65nm fav and all problems in design addressed. :)

[alexhrose71 @ Aug 7th 2007 9:00AM]

Zeus,

Its not the actual temperature that is the problem, its the quality of the motherboard and solder. The motherboard in the 360 has been found to warp at these temperatures which is pretty odd, the warping then creates minute cracks in the solder connecting the GPU to the rest of the system. The GPU then sporadically fails causing the 3RLOD.

The solder is weaker than in other electronics as they are using a lead free solder which is apparently more brittle and forms cracks far easier than traditional solder. Apparently this was mandated by 2006 EU environmental laws to reduce toxidity in electronics.

I'd imagine the PS3 also has this solder but isn't suffering the same fate because their motherboard is of a higher quality.

All said and done, the new units do have a new heatsink, the 65nm was shown to be in production a couple of months back by engadget, so if you buy a 360 now its going to have one if not both of those solutions.

I have no idea why the refurb center was still sending out refurbs without the new heatsink. A poster on IGN yesterday actually just received this 360 back without the heatsink. Someone needs to get fired at the repair center, simple as that.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 6:38PM]

Alexhrose, that may be the case, but the temperature is easy to control, so its not entirely MS's fault.

As for you Chad, the majority of Xbox owners are having no problems whatsoever- even by that bloated failure rate.

[Andres @ Aug 7th 2007 12:53AM]

Hey guys lets try to beat Sony's price cut of 100 bucks, but that 100 bucks will be separated between 3 models. 50, 30 and 20 bucks. Take that SONY!

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 1:22AM]

The 360s are a lot more worth the money, so they don't need any price cuts to stop the PS3 into the ground, thank you very much.

[chad @ Aug 7th 2007 1:48AM]

Again, what planet are you living on that feeds you this nonsensical dribble? You can say what you want until you're blue in the face, but it doesn't make it any more true. Sorry :(

[chad @ Aug 7th 2007 1:49AM]

btw, that's directed toward zeuzee ;-)

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 1:51AM]

Again, Chad.

Very mature with your posts. Grow up.

Say hi to that "hot Asian wife" of yours for me.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 7th 2007 1:52AM]

Oh, and just in case you didn't know, the game line up of the 360's rapes the PS3's and the system itself is more powerful in most practical cases.

Don't bother arguing with it, because no matter what you say, you're wrong.

[chad @ Aug 7th 2007 2:24AM]

of course the games are better...duhhhhh... that's what a year advantage gives you, at the detriment of hardware design as all can bear witness to know (what did ballmer say, extra 1 billion in service now?).

But more powerful it certainly is not. what you're seeing now is a bunch of devs still trying to wrap their heads around the ps3 while developing from the ground up for the xbox and porting to the ps3. that will of course change as engineers/developers get more accustomed to the ps3 design and with exclusive titles silly bee.

[nyuhsuk @ Aug 7th 2007 6:17AM]

~WHOA WHOA WHOA~

Let's get back on track here.

Link to pics of the 'hot Asian wife' please for all the yellow fever boys in here... :Op

[Steven @ Aug 7th 2007 8:17AM]

i would have replied to zeus or chad but there was no reply button.... @zeus & chad: THEY CALL IT EMAIL, IT'S FOR PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE.

[DD @ Aug 7th 2007 12:53AM]

Don't leave out the actual news:

"Plus, the Halo 3 Special Edition Console price has been announced as $399.99"

via Major Nelson.

[alexhrose71 @ Aug 7th 2007 9:03AM]

Thats actually a very good deal if you can stand the color - its got HDMI unlike the premium and for the original premium price.

Also if its a limited production run these things will have a high resale value in a few years.

[Ken @ Aug 7th 2007 1:14AM]

I got burned the first time around by a defective 360, so a price cut isn't going to do it. Still waiting for a real redesign...

[Ray-- @ Aug 7th 2007 10:10AM]

the new design has been in production since May... the new elites are supposed to be on the shelf in august and the new premiums probably in sept (since the current stock is much bigger)... If you wait until Oct to buy you probably have a great chance of getting the newer model.

[Mischa Lockton @ Aug 7th 2007 1:20AM]

"We're not going to do this- until we do that is"

[Kenny @ Aug 7th 2007 1:23AM]

of course, I just bought one Friday night :(

[hn333 @ Aug 7th 2007 1:25AM]

I would buy one, if it wasn't crap.
Im saving up for a PS3

[Rice Treats @ Aug 7th 2007 1:46AM]

I won't be buying one until MS fixes all the problems. There's nothing really good to play on the 360 anyway.

So I'll just wait. I'll stick to playing my PS2. (Living in the last gen, because the next gen sucks ass. Except for the Wii)

[Alexander Pittman @ Aug 7th 2007 2:29AM]

Can there be anymore a$$ backwards statements made in that post?

[alexhrose71 @ Aug 7th 2007 9:07AM]

Nothing good to play ? WTF ? Poor taste FTL...

How about just -trying- a few of these ...

Gears of War
Lost Planet
Crackdown
Saints Row

and coming in the next two months...

Bioshock
Ace Combat 6 (16 player dogfights!)
VF5 (with online multiplayer!)
Blue Dragon
MOH Airborne

And before xmas :

Mass Effect
Eternal Sonata (best looking JRPG ever IMO)
Assassins Creed
COD4
Halo 3

There are tons of great games on the 360, thats the only thing most don't argue with.

[Eric Leung @ Aug 8th 2007 2:37AM]

Let's not forget rainbow six vegas