Another Xbox 360 price cut around the corner?
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 5th 2008 11:57AM
posted Mar 5th 2008 11:57AM
From the sound of things Microsoft is busy hunkering down in anticipation of a strong PS3 resurgence, what with the victory of Blu-ray, introduction of DualShock3, and release of MGS4 -- and not just to accommodate Canada. Rumor has it that the Xbox will see another healthy price cut in Europe later this month (March 14th, to be "exact"), lopping off some €50 (~$75), which would put the Arcade in striking distance of the all-selling Wii, possibly making it cheaper in some regions. Nothing solid to go by just yet though, but if you were thinking of buying, be aware.[Thanks, UnicomClay and Steve, via Joystiq]
It's about time, the only reason they haven't yet is because the PS3 is so expensive.
damn you M$...I just bought one yesterday...
30 day price guarantee FTW.
Dammit... just bought the Elite 2 weeks ago... Running out of time to price match...
You can price match within 30 days... 2 weeks ago = 14 days and March 14 is 9 days away..
14+9 = 23 < 30 so you're good to go.
that is assuming you bought it from FS or BB in North America
It doesn't matter how much they low the price, it's still a piece of junk that breaks down all the time. It's almost a guarantee that it's going to break so why even bother.
The library of games and the fact that Xbox Live destroys the Wii and PS3 in terms of online offerings?
I hope you realize you'll be flamed by the faithful Xbox followers. However, I do agree with you on the failure issues. That alone has kept me away from getting one.
Had mine for two years. It's been sat on top of my video all that time with little ventilation space and not a single failure. Guess it's not guaranteed to break then is it?
I'm not an Xbox fanatic and I'll take issue with that. It's been great for keeping my husband amused.
The new systems with the new chipsets don't have any problems overheating. I've had my system for over 2 years with no problems.
Because $8 a month is worth gamerscore and gamercard?
Your not going to be just flamed by Xbox fanboys. I have a PS3, but no way would I give up my 360, failure prone as it is. The online system just blows away the PS3, I've been trying to get into Warhawk and it's just a pile of frustration online. It's got a warranty, I just don't worry about it.
I work in a room full of 360s and I have never saw a rod. By the way we (and most of the game industry) build games using 360 and later ported to PS3. Major reason multi platform games perform better on 360 than PS3.
Ben... $8/month? You're getting ripped off!
It's only $50 (~$4.20/month) if you get your gold membership through the xbox itself, and if you look around, you can buy a 12+1 month XBox Live Gold membership card for closer to $35 (~$2.70/month).
my power button fails (i have to turn on + off with controllers / remote) and I get random disc unreadable errors when the drive just spins down. Happens on several different clean discs which run fine for other people.
as soon as the price comes down ill buy a new arcade and keep the hard drive etc i already have
woot, if this is the case....then i'll go ahead and finish my collection of all 3 consoles =P
The failure issues don't outweigh the awesomeness of the console, IMHO.
Awesome gaming experience > failure rate.
MEH! Wanna get me amp’ed about Xbox 360? Print clearly on the box which SKUs have new hardware that doesn’t suffer from all the past (and present) woes! I can afford to be playing Russian roulette with my hard earned cash. The economy is rough enough!!
@Frankenstein Black, if u want a falcon (only have 10% if not less failure rate)u should go here http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3152&p=3 that's how u can identify a falcon.
Onto other news MS definitely is in trouble they better do something to lower or at least combat the sucess the ps3 will see in the near future.
can't
You don't have any financial risk, just time, 3 year warranty. By the the 360 will be cheap.
Time for me is money ;^)...
Thats the original xbox's uk release date! Happy birthday!
Boostjunkie, how do you figure that the PS3 is so expensive?? You get Blu-ray, Built-in Wireless, and a 40 gig HD for $399. The Xbox Core system is 349.00 and you still have to dish out the funds wireless.
I didn't say the PS3 was expensive for what you get, it's an amazing price, I just got a 40gb for $299 after Sony Card rebate. But the truth is, the fact that the PS3 is $399 is what has kept the 360 at $349. In many consumers eyes, not us, it just seems cheaper. The 360 could be $299 or $249 for sure by now if the PS3 hadn't released at $500+. I think how M$ has Sony is their system is so much cheaper to product, if the PS3 drops in price, M$ can just drop that much more.
If you are going to make an argument, at least make sure th argument has correct info. the premium is $349 the core it $299. Check it out.
http://www.walmart.com/search/browse-ng.do?ic=24_0&ref=125866.183467+500524.4293873225&fromPageCatId=482412&catNavId=482412
I would think the drop in price is a response to the weakening dollar, just like when they dropped the price of the Xbox in Canada.
doesn't make sense. Either they would increase the price to make up for the lost profit, or leave it alone. I doubt they would drop it because they are making less.
I'm guessin' that roughly translates to £30, for all my fellow countrymen, making the Arcade £169... £10 cheaper than the Wii?
If it gets cheaper than the Wii, expect a big price drop from Nintendo. I reckon they could sell it at about £120 if they wanted.
Fire sale!!!!!!!!!!111
What's a firesale 111?
The main feature ppl care about is GAMES.Not BR or wifi the ps3 is priced fairly,but it's still too EXPENSIVE for the average consumer.The ps3 at $600 is honestly fair depending on the features u want,but all MOST ppl buy video games for is to PLAY GAMES.That's why he's saying it's too expensive.He only wants to play games so I think it's fair for him to say.The ps3 should be much cheaper still regardless of it's feature MOST ppl won't even consider buying a ps3 until it's AT LEAST $249.Which is fare.The ps2 was a cheap dvd player,but ppl didn't care bout that until it was $199.That's how ppl are bout game systems they should be cheap regardless of features.That's one of the reasons Wii sell like hotcakes.
No, the MAIN feature many people care about is Blu-Ray. That's the sole reason I bought a PS3. Ask at avsforum.com and you'll find hundreds of people just like me. I recently talked to the rep at a local A/V specialty shop, and he said that many people who come in looking for 7.1 receivers and home theater projectors are commecting them to PS3s. I'd love to know the split between game and movie usage, but it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of PS3 were used primarily as Blu-Ray players!
You are right that the PS3 is too expensive for gamers, but it's a bargain for people who drop $1K on a receiver and $3K on a tv or projector.
I know I'm getting a PS3 for BluRay primarily later this year now that the format is over. This doesn't mean I won't play games on it... but unlike the Xbox 360 that I bought solely for games, the PS3 will actually have more than one use. This does not mean I would recommend either console over the other to everybody. It all depends on what you're looking for. If people had the money I'd recommend them to do what I do and get all three and just have fun without risking fanboisim that usually just deter from fun.
@Evan,
You mean... members that are at an a/v form care aboue Blu-Ray? Let me go get you the Duh Stick! How about the average person? I don't have an HDTV and evne if I did, playing blu-ray movies doesn't get me all that excited. What people want is not going to be calculated what the nerds want on an A/V form.
I want great games from a GAME CONSOLE. Sony just hasn't sold me on that yet. Nintendo's Wii is FUN to play, but I'm worried about the single player value. The Xbox 360 has a great LIVE system set up and quality titles like Call of Duty and Halo. For the price, PS3 could do a whole lot better :( Maybe with more titles coming out I'll consider, but I can go ahead and clearly declare Nintendo the winnre of this console generation.
im definitely selling my 360 when 2010 is near!!!
i hope the next one will be backwards compatible so i can play my old games!
Sweet, the Online Heater just got cheaper.
You shouldn't be so hard on your mother like that.
Well, I'm sure her cremation was hot.
MS better do a price drop here in the States as well to win the impending GTA IV war.
Buy GTA IV get a 360 free? :P
@raheem
id do that just to play anything over lan, that would be SWEET
I think they need to stop dropping the price on the console, and start dropping the price on accessories. There's NO GOOD REASON why the hard drive, WiFi, and controllers should be 50% more than non-Microsoft proprietary versions of the same devices.
"which would put the Arcade in striking distance of the all-selling Wii, possibly making it cheaper in some regions"
Actually, here in Euroland the 360 arcade is already within striking distance of the Wii. Usually only about €10 away. I'm pretty sure I can already find it cheaper new than I can a Wii... so a €50 cut would be pretty darn sweet for MS. Then I might soon consider getting an arcade to replace my original 360 premium and get HDMI.
Hopefully it could also push Sony to finally lower their prices on the PS3 that border on insane in Scandinavia (approximately €480/$730 for the 40GB base package without games). That the rest of europe pay €400, that equals about $600 isn't too nice either...
Never mind a pricecut, they should sort out the hardware so there isn't so many RRODs.
They should create an Xbox 360 Lan Party addition where its cheap, no hard drive or DVD drive or internet access and will run off a shared copy of the software.
No need to copy disks so no need to boot leg extra copies and all party units need to be locally set up.
That is a sweet idea. I would definitly buy one for every TV in my house, especially if they are all WMC capable.
That is a sweet idea. I would definitly buy one for every TV in my house, especially if they are all WMC capable.
@Timmy
DUDE -- that's why these companies need to read these sites. That is a fantastic idea! I'd totally have one for every TV in my house also...
Here is my vision on how this would work for me.
I have a full xbox360 where all my files are stored and the unit that would act as a server.
I would then buy LanParty unit(s)which could be dramaticly for friends to use when they come over or that i could take with me to my friends houses and i would bring a lanparty USB flash drive for storing my game play files for save points and such.
I could see how Microsoft could sell these for 150.00 or so where its cheap enough where someone could buy a few for personal set up around their house or as a unit you can take to parties and would not have to worry about damage because its basically a CPU and a graphics card with USB support.
They could double, if not more, their sales by doing this.
"No, the MAIN feature many people care about is Blu-Ray. That's the sole reason I bought a PS3"
Shhhhhhhhhhhh! The Sony fan-boys don't like to admit that the only thing the PS3 is good for is playing Blu-ray. Keep it on the DL. LMAO.
Seriously though... PS3 is on an upswing finally. That's undeniable, even though it took them a year. (meanwhile, over in Nintendo-land... a year later and I still can't find a wii).
I'll buy a PS3 later when it comes down in price... but really, just for the Blu-ray player. Unless MS comes out with a blu-ray add-on, then I have zero reasons to buy a PS3.
I'm a 360 fan, but I can also admit: $349 for a 20GB 360 is not comparable when you look at the $399 40GB PS3. Either MS is over-charging, or Sony is losing a TON of money on that console.
@Bioware - I agree a hundred %. I just bought a PS3 last week for the sole purpose of the bluray. it is the best option considering you can upgrade to the latest firmware to get 1.1 and 2.0. Just need DTS Master Audio and it is the perfect bluray player. I may get a game for it one day. The 360 will take care of most of the gaming because of live.
Absolutely, for some reason, I just can't picture playing GTA on an Xbox 360 - the PS3 controller just is more comfortable.
You're probably just used to sitting on it since the PSX.
Thats enough time to get comfortable to anything.
I'm just the opposite. If I get a ps3 (which I probably will now, though just because of the blu-ray player) I wouldn't be able to play any games on it unless I pull a benheck and stick the internals of the controller into a 360 shell. To me the playstation controllers have always been unbearably uncomfortable after a short amount of time.
To each his own, though.
If they make the 360 less expensive than the wii it'll help their console a lot. I personally think the 360 is the best of the three choices for real gaming and it's appeal will only grow the more it distances it's price from the ps3's.
I do like my wii too, but it's library is littered with too many shit games, and the ps3 is nice for blu-ray but it needs attractive exclusives before it's appealing to me.
The Wii and the Xbox 360 Arcade both sell for € 249 in Germany already.
I'd love to see a price drop in the Premium SKU though. €299 is a reasonable price for the device.
this would be great if it was in the US as well. im looking in to buying a console (currently have none) and cant decide if i want a 360 or PS3. if the 360 price drops, looks like ill be getting that :). if not, then PS3 here i come!
great to see price cuts in Canada and across the pond in Europe, but what about in the US?
Well, one of the main reasons for these price cuts seem to be the low value of the dollar. Europe has been forced to pay over 50% more than the americans due to lack of adaptation the state of the dollar. Today a canadian dollar is more or less on par with the US dollar and the Euro is worth a dollar and a half, so the old price lineup of 399 canadian, 349 us and 349 euro for the 20GB model would be horribly unfair where the canadians pay 15% more than the US and the Euros 50% more.
So while a price cut in the US would be nice, they would have to cut Canada and Europe even more to make it fair.
That being said, it looks like Australia pay approximately US$540 for the same machine... even if that's with 2 games included for the time being they definitely need a price cut.