Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Arcade, goodbye Xbox 360 Core

Oh our god you guys, Microsoft totally just blew our minds and officially announced this new version the Xbox called the Xbox 360 Arcade. It's like the Core, right? Except now it comes bundled with five arcade style games (Pac-Man, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, and Uno), a wireless controller, HDMI, and a 256MB memory card for $280. (But like the Core, there's still no hard drive.) We so had no clue this was coming, Microsoft just completely, totally blindsided us. Damn you, Redmond, for being so very clever.

Gallery: Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Arcade, goodbye Xbox 360 Core

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[Johnathon Zirkle @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:40AM]

Will it play Doom?

[mfed3 @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:56AM]

yep, doom is $10 on xbla

[David W. @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:41AM]

so...are they the real games or demos?

[Namarrgon @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:58AM]

Real, full versions, NOT demos.

http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/10/22/officially-announcing-the-xbox-360-arcade-finally.aspx

[azayzel @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:31AM]

Demo or not, the games packed with this version totally suck monkey balls! Who actually still plays Pacman in this day and age? That game and the others belong back in the retro scene from 25 years ago. Three of the games belong in the PDA market, not sure how they were ever pitched to M$ and picked up, we've been playing them for $10 on PDA's for the past 5 years. The only decently fun game is UNO, and that's only because of multi-player.

As to not being backward compatible, that's the same underhanded trick $ony pulled with their latest PS3 40GB model. What scammers! Hmm, pay $50 less and you'll need to buy a PS2 or original XBox if you want to play the hundreds of titles that are already available (not to mention lose the rack space for the extra system). They're being nothing but money whores.

[Namarrgon @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:54AM]

They're cheap extras, bundled at the minimum price point. If you want better games, you can buy them.

And unlike the 40GB PS3, if you want B/C later on, you can add a hard drive and get it. Choice, you know?

[gadgetdevil @ Oct 28th 2007 4:49PM]

Choice? Because not everyone has a hard drive, developers can't make games that use a hard drive.

The same thing happens with the DVD, if they put in HD-DVD into every console from the start, then they could make games that could go up to 30GB. But the 360 was rushed to the market before that could happen.

[mattweiler @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:43AM]

OMG...
I hate to say it but this may really hurt Sony...
well, except that it doesn't come with HD-DVD.

I guess you have to add another ~ $150 if you wanna watch HD with it...lol

Does anyone know if this new version allows you to add a hard drive yourself?

[James @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:46AM]

Yes it will be just like the core, except with the wireless controller and the 256 stick, it will be upgradeable to both hard drives

[jroc @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:48AM]

Yeah you can add a Hard drive, they are pricy but you would save money in the end by purchasing one separate.

[crank @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:55AM]

plus another 120 bucks for 120 gb hdd. so whats that like 550 to even come close to ps3. 150 bucks less for a 40 ps3, i recently figured out which system i'm wasting my money on. just cant beat the storage space on the blu-ray disc and it's built right in, dont need to make room for a big ugly add-on unit for hddvd.

[USGS @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:29AM]

learn to add, and it's actually 180 on amazon

180 + 270 = 450 which is less than a 80GB PS3, or you could get 29 GB drive for $90 for $360(cheaper than a 40GB PS3) and still have money left over to pay for XBL.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-20GB-Hard-Drive/dp/B000B6ML32
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-120GB-Hard-Drive/dp/B000OYKQBU/

[mattweiler @ Oct 23rd 2007 8:45AM]

lol...
if you're paying $120 for a 120GB hard drive then you're getting raped...
unless the 360 requires 2.5" drives
lmao

[Silverfrog @ Oct 23rd 2007 9:18AM]

Um yeah if you get a hard drive and an arcade, it still ends up being the same price as an elite, so why not get an elite? And, I hate to point this out, but even though it's still $50 cheaper than an 80 GB PS3, the PS3 has Blu-Ray for games and the Xbox has DVD. So, that extra $50 is WELL worth it IMO.

[tga @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:48AM]

Hi,

There's no backwards compatibility on this...

Check out the comparison chart at the bottom of this page:

http://www.xbox.com:80/en-US/hardware/compare101.htm

[BEN! @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:57AM]

I think you need a hard drive for backwards compatibility

[Reginald @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:58AM]

It can be. You just need a hard drive to play original XBox games (though I'm not sure why they didn't mention that).

[Chrysaor @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:59AM]

You need hard drive to get backwards compatibility.

[tga @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:45AM]

Thanks for clarification guys. I didn't know this before... It's not stated on their comparison page...

[Zelatio @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:49AM]

"Oh our god you guys,..."

Is it just me or does this not make sense to anyone else? I think I get the point, but I still think it's really goofy.

[Reader @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:10AM]

Same, I had to read it a few times.

[Scott @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:15AM]

Yes, it's supposed to be "Oh, my God". Move along, nothing to see here...

[Anon E. Muss @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:00AM]

Alternatively, if you notice the words 'we' and 'us', you might infer that this article is written by a spokesperson (one), from a group (many).
Logically, they would refer to their God as 'our'.

[Alexander @ Oct 23rd 2007 10:18AM]

I do believe that they were trying to make fun of Futurama and Bender's quote:

"Oh... Your... God!" -- Bender J. Rodriguez

[MasterCKO @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:55PM]

I think that it's a case of the jounalistic 'we' taken to a ridiculous extreme.

engadget, I love you, but you guys are trying too hard.

[Andir3.0 @ Oct 23rd 2007 5:47PM]

Unless of course "our" refers to the Engadget community... in which case it would be wrong unless your one of those crazies that thinks there is a God even if you know there couldn't be.

[Anon E. Muss @ Oct 25th 2007 3:00AM]

Perhaps enclosing portions of the articles in 'sarcasm' tags would've made it less confusing?

[Tanner @ Nov 29th 2007 11:56AM]

Um.............your god is not mine!

[trancer @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:59AM]

cool box!

[mfed3 @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:59AM]

obv, backwards compatibility requires a hard drive cuz the old xbox 1 had one in all systems. its not the same as the 40 gig ps3 which cannot do backwards compatibility no matter what

[rickane58 @ Oct 23rd 2007 8:20AM]

actually, the reason the 360 requires a hard drive for B/C is to store emulation software, although for the life of me I can't figure out why, I'mpretty sure it wasn't bigger than a cupola MB's ( although, since the original memory cards where small, this might be a legacy system to cater to that front).

[Mike Botros @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:56PM]

Actually it's for both, the emulation software, and because xbox games assume a hard drive cause there was one in the xbox. And i'm sure you can get used 20GB hard drives off ebay from the people that upgraded to the 120GB hard drive (which I may be doing soon).

[Anders @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:01AM]

If they had Lumines, Geometry Wars, Hexic and Puzzle Quest, I'd totally hit that.

[shawn.zenz @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:21AM]

...you'd never call her back

[mfed3 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:00AM]

look at the wii and ask why is it selling so well when its the goofiest thing ever? cuz its targeted towards the same people. casual gamers.

[mfed3 @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:00AM]

hooray reply system

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:10AM]

Because it has WiiSports bundled.

And because WiiSports was caught up by mainstream media and every mom knows that Wii is WiiSports and WiiSports is great.

Or did I miss PacMan on Colbert Report? ^_^

[Kush Mangal @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:11AM]

I gotta say this is a good move. The core felt like it stopped selling, and now this new bundle is a competitive move towards the cost of the Wii and of course the new 40 GB playstation 3.

[Murc @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:23AM]

I agree with you.

some places stopped selling the core do to low Core sales...but this should revive the low end 360 pack.

with the PS3's new lower cost bundle, and now the 360....you would think nintendo would stop being money whores are lower the Wii at least 50 bucks.

[Maci @ Oct 27th 2007 3:35AM]

They're selling their consoles as it is? Stop payin and they'll start lowering.

[Shibathedog @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:29AM]

The core was kind of a waste, it was TOO low end, This is much better. (I don't know why I'm acting like I just heard about this)

[The Golden Wombat @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:42AM]

Because it's new and exciting information?

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:23AM]

Because it includes games. IMHO.

If you were ever shopping with your own money and wanted to buy something relatively expensive, I'm sure you had the thrill: you fork big buck and buy something just to find that it is pretty useless unless you fork off more bucks.

Price of new game is $60. Arcade costs about 5 games; Premium - 6 games; Elite - 8 games.

That's pretty big investment to make on a whim.

[Quentin @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:46AM]

I still think they should've added a hard drive of some sorts to Arcade. If they want to push the marketplace for "family friendly" content, you're not helping much when you force them to buy a $100 add on in order to see it.

[Namarrgon @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:55AM]

Then it'd be a Premium pack, just like the one they already have. Your point is?

[fobunited @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:50AM]

I think Engadget is totally biased towards Apple and against Microsoft.

Read the language of this blog post compared to blog posts of Apple's official release statement about a product that we already knew about and there is a HUGE difference in sarcasm level and tone of voice.

[adam fuller @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:57AM]

Absolutely true - I notice this every time they write an MS related article. What ever happened to journalistic integrity? Check out xbox360fanboy.com for a non bias article.

(That last part was a joke).

[crank @ Oct 23rd 2007 1:59AM]

after buying my ps2 i played my ps1 games maybe 5 times, it's not a big deal besides there arent to many people without a ps2 already. and you could probably buy one in a pawn shop for cheap if your that despirate

[Reader @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:47AM]

Glad this article is about play stations...

[David W. @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:20AM]

@ crank regarding your earlier reply

emphasis on wasting...there's no games for the ps3...meanwhile I'm broke and sad that there are so many games coming out that I can't get for the 360 :(

TF is amazing...I guess you'll get that on the ps3 as well...but it's sooooooo much fun