Microsoft votes 'yes' on Xbox 360 120GB hard drive price cut
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted September 12th 2008 12:31AM
posted September 12th 2008 12:31AM
[Via Joystiq]
posted September 12th 2008 12:31AM
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Failure Rate = Irrelevant ?
So calling M$ for a coffin (Box), waiting for the courier to pick your dead console, waiting for a week or two hoping your dead console will get replaced by a brand new one and not just a refurbished unit, and finally hoping that it will not die again ??
Is that something people like ?
Yes, irrelevant. Failure rate now is becoming less relevent. The failure rate of the 360 was a huge screw up by Microsoft, but the failure rate is dropping, the newer consoles aren't having such a problem with this. And, when your console does fail, it doesn't quite catch on fire you idiot.
Wow, $149.99 for a 120GB hard drive? Geez, I can upgrade my PS3 hard drive to the same capacity for almost a third that price. Hooray for proprietary hard drive enclosures!
hey, Joshua Topolsky, stop with the election references already. do you honestly think we don't already get enough of that one EVERY other media outlet?
wtf are you talking about?
Nevermind... you're just commenting on the wrong article, fool.
"microsoft-votes-yes-on-xbox-360-120gb-hard-drive-price-cut"
i posted in the correct topic. this is the 2nd or 3rd topic post in a several hour period that attempts to have an "election theme". are you blind?
Ohhh... sorry, chum. At that point in the morning, I had no coffee and hadn't read through all the previous articles.
Still too expensive imo. I'd totally jump on the 120 GB if it was under $100. But I guess that would make their Elite model useless.
When will these people learn? 1 model with all the accessories = win win win.
I love my 360, and god knows i could use the space. However, i cant help but feel that this is still a little high. How much can i get a 60gb for?
I might need to pick this up, what with RockBand 2 coming along.
Price cut is definitely a handy plus.
I was thinking this too, but after doing the export for RB it's only 1.7 gigis, and I still have about 7 left on my machine...I think I can squeuk by long enough to hope for another price drop. THan again, I have no idea how much space the Fall update is going to eat. Plus, the ability to install things to disc...dammit, I'm going to need to do somethign to update...probably need to start looking at hard drive hack faqs...
If these HDDs are 2.5" 7200RPM HDDs then they're worth $150, considering the fact that they go for ~100-120 without an enclosure and such... If they're not 7200RPM then it's a ripoff.
The whole Xbox 360 scene is a money grabbing bull shit plan.
- You pay 199 + tax for a sub-par dumb'ed down system.
- You pay an additional 140-250 + tax for the 120GB drive, where ever you buy it, prices vary. Then when the drive dies, you can buy another proprietary, overpriced hard-drive - AGAIN.
- You pay an additional 50-80 + tax for freaking WiFi adapters that can dangle out of your systems USB ports (fun?)
- You pay an additional 60 a year for ONLINE ACCESS?! (to me the biggest bull shit ever, no matter how good it is..on top of that you need to pay for your ISP). Also from what I recall the baseline Xbox 360 doesn't come with wireless controllers, so add another 60 + tax to that and then another 10-unlimited + tax for all the batteries you'll have to buy if you don't splurge for fancy overpriced rechargeable batteries.
Who is Microsoft kidding, to me it's one of those things where you think "WOW WHAT A DEAL" you commit to it and get stuck in a vicious cycle throwing money out to functions that should exist OUT OF THE FUDGING BOX by today's standards. There hole methodology that the user can buy a baseline system and upgrade as needed is a joke. More like, buy a stripped down platform and throw extra cash to get some of the most basic features EXPECTED these days. My god-damn TV has Wi-Fi built-in it..
I bought a 360 and brought it back to the store 5 months ago because I wasn't gonna throw my money into a system that's already at it's peak and likely gonna be ditched soon. To get everything I wanted and NEEDED it would have cost over 600 bucks and that's without a effing game. Bought a PS3, got everything for 420 and took the rest of the money and bought games!
My opinion, the 360 is a rip off. I'll be glad when Microsoft drops it hard and fast and leaves all it's users in the dust and makes them buy some other rip off over-priced sub-feature system with it's over-priced add-ons and accessories. The 360 exclusives don't even make it worthwhile! Majority of all other platforms have alternatives to those exclusives, besides, Halo blows anyways (SUCK IT FANBOYS).
Oh, and don't give me none of that "Fanboy = Fail" BS, because everything I say is true (as far as the games go, that's my opinion)..
Nice rant champ. If you hate the Xbox that much I suggest you make a youtube vlog about it. Just because I'm not cool with paying $60,000 for a Lexus doesn't mean I'm gonna freak out on every car website I come across. Grow up.
@ burriot_avatar
I'm not flipping out. It's called voicing my opinion on the discussion. It's my right - if you use your little scroll wheel and scroll up you'll see others saying the prices are outrageous as well, so I added my thoughts to the whole damn perspective.. Thanks for wasting your time - D-bag.. Cough.
I guess writing is considered 'going ape-shit' these days. So why don't you learn English comprehension or GTFO. Because you're not contributing anything to the discussion besides taking shots at me for voicing my opinion - which is what a "Add your comments' for is for - again, d-bag.
Firstly, they'll call you a "fan boi" not a "fanboy."
Secondly, MS is kidding a ridiculous amount of people who continue to give them money each month to play games against other 12 year olds, and people who need to trick out their system (why do people "upgrade" a console?)
Thirdly, the only reason it is NOT a rip off is because I can download games for it.
Hacked consoles FTW!
Isn't it $50 for 13 months, not $60 for a year? That is, if you buy the card in a store/online.
@Ixon
You just said the Xbox is a rip off in your opinion. Then you said everything you said is true except about the games which is your opinion. So everything is NOT true since you said it's a rip off! Do you have a severe lack of short-term memory and forgot what you typed?
LOL @ Ixon:
If i am a fanboy im damned proud. Trust me my child, hard core gaming runs thru these veign's and my friends and i who own systems and have sold or just let the collect dust will BASH anything worth bashing.
As far as and i quote, "Bought a PS3, got everything for 420 and took the rest of the money and bought games!"What did you buy ? MGS4, 7 times? Keeping the other copies as collectors items?
Nice opinion on Halo which is fine, but other than that Ps3 is playing catch up... And has been since its late release...Fact not fiction my dear Watson.
Right now our Ps3's collect dust, also the Wii which is only utilized by the "kids".
"So no fanboy= FAIL" for you, cuz you failed before you posted. You are one of the nagging kids i mentioned in my post. Using up your local public library PC time to flame Xbox and express your financial woes.
Youve been suckin it...
: /
A few comments:
1- Price cuts on accessories is always good. Most accessories do not see price cuts, let alone cuts of any significance. I'm not talking about clearance deals either.
2- Regardless, MS accessories are both very rarely discounted and fairly overpriced. Going from 20gb to 60gb for $100 (as rumored) is a good step but that's still overpriced. This drive at $150 is very overpriced. IMO it shouldn't cost over $120.
3- Compare like drives please. Most of those uber cheap drives you're buying are OEM drives. If you waltzed into Best Buy, you'd pay alot more than $50 for 300gb. Retail 2.5" sata drives.
@Ixon
'don't give me none of that "Fanboy = Fail" BS'.. urm why shouldn't we? You Are being a fanboy and that's just pathetic. If you wanted a 120GB hard drive you'd buy the elite (which actually comes with a HDMI cable - OMG!), quite simple. People buy a 360 because they like games, it doesn't come with WiFi because it's prone to lag, yes not all of the consoles come with hard drives (this particular console is half the price of the ps3 and comes with free games, so I don't see a need to complain) but it prevents companies adding forced 5+GB game installations, which is because the oh so blessed blu-ray drive increases load times significantly - i'm not saying the extras wouldn't be nice but for a games console but they aren't necessary. Also If you Were stupid enough to buy the arcade when you needed a hard drive you'd get the 60G+ Ethernet Cable+ Live Membership $99 deal - so don't play dumb.
Saying things like 'Halo blows' is fine as an opinion but it is the most played game on xbox live so that would suggest many many people would disagree with you (I play Gears of War myself). Just because the ps3 is the only console in the red doesn't mean you should try to make out like the nearest competitor is the devil incarnate. Yabbering on about failure rate is just plain silly now, yeah it is a negative but it takes like 1-2 weeks to get sorted or a new one sent out, you get a three year warranty and the falcon chipsets along with being smaller and cheaper to produce also significantly reduce the chance of it happening.
It still costs too much!
MS needs to understand that people like me will never upgrade my HDD and just keep making MS eat the bandwidth costs of me having to re-download content.
I'll revisit this HDD during the holiday season once the New Xbox Experience it out and I can copy the disks to the HDD.
Then again, for x-mas, other people tend to pay to get stuffs for me.. =) Kinda works out cool that way.
Just checked Future Shop's website and they're selling it for 179 CDN but they're selling us the consoles at parity with the US price... WTF.
I have better things to get with my $150. Kinda makes the Arcade useless for gamers. Might as well buy the Elite and live with the hard drive you got
Microsoft are experts at ripping consumers off.
Do your research...the Arcade Xbox 360 CAN NOT use a HARD DRIVE. Period. There is no space to insert one. That's why the Arcade system is a joke. If you want a Xbox 360 (which is a great system), Just get the Pro System.
That's not true. It doesn't come with a hard drive but you can add one.
I own both a PS3 and a Xbox 360 (20GB Version), and there is a reason why I use the PS3 for my media. Simple because I refuse to spend that much money on something that should probably be half the price. With my PS3, I just bought a 120 GB hard drive for it, took it home and popped it in. Total cost: 59 bucks! Around 90 dollars cheaper! How is the Xbox price even remotely reasonable. As well, I have to have my router at my TV because I also refuse to spend 89 dollars for Wifi or have stupid cat 5 cables going everywhere. That is just insane. Simple everyday conveniences that the PS3 has would cost me 240 dollars! Do you know how many games that is? I am never going to spend any money on either as it is just plainly a cash grab. I love to play games on their system, but I will never give in to that kind of crap and will never buy any of these overpriced accessories, MS can go screw themselves.
Some points too:
Quote: "Compare like drives please." MS pay for OEM drives so comparing OEM drives is fair, even considering MS markup.
Why do people store media on a game console? I store my media in the place I create said media - my PC. Streaming from the PC to the 360 is lag free and oh so blessedly painless. Up until the recent announcement of copying games to your hard drive, the bigger drives seemed pretty pointless to me. Now, they only seem slightly pointless. I figure I will copy whatever game I am playing at the time to the 20gb HDD and other than that, I won't bother with it. The noise on mine isn't as horrible as people make it out to be (I barely noticed the 360's drive noise over the sound of the games), so for the most part, I will keep doing what I've been doing. The only other thing that draws me to the bigger drives is I want a few of the Xbox Originals like Psychonauts.
Yes, the drives are overpriced. So were memory cards, back in the day. Everyone sings the praises of Sony, but guess what, this is their fault. They showed with the PS1 that you could make a small fortune selling 8mb (were the PS1 cards even that big, or was that the PS2 cards?) flash drives for 30 bucks a pop. Who didn't have at least 2, possibly 3 PS1 memory cards? Compared to what Sony charged for their memory cards, the MS HDDs are a bargain. Times change, but one thing doesn't; console makers are always going to rape you for accessories (I'm looking at you, 50 dollar controllers).
I agree with a lot of the previous comments, it's still overpriced. Compared to internal and external HDDs on the market, $150 will fetch you WAY more than 120 GB. Does anyone know the RPM for the drive? If it's a 10,000 rpm like the raptor drives I can see why it's expensive, but it's probably not...
Price drop is nice, but it should have never been that high in the first place. It makes sense from a business point of view to not have "competitive" pricing compared to other HDDs for profits, but you shouldn't anally rape the customers. Why can't third parties make this? Oh yeah, because it cuts into profits. They make all the money off of games anyway... Granted, the Xbox HDD is a little bit more unique and different than the ones you see in the store for your computer. BUT COME ON!!
Ok...here is how I see it, if you are buying the arcade it means you don't need wireless controllers or HD. If you know up front you need that stuff, spend the extra cash ($100) get the 60gb version right away. Why waste money pointlessly later on?
Also the online XBOX live member ship can easily be had for around $30-40 if you keep your eyes open for online deals. If you use google checkout you can save another $10. I don't get why some people don't realize the beauty of dealcatcher and spoofee yet?
Honestly, who needs to keep music on the xbox hd. My friends plug in their ipod or zune directly or just a flash drive via usb otherwise stream wirelessly from your pc and I have yet to hear even 1 second of lag for music.
Yes the hard drive is expensive because the amount of people buying it is so small that there room for profit is less. They have to make there profit not based on quantity. The expectation must be that not many will be sold.
However we have several price cuts on the 360 in a short period of time. Maybe when the copy game to HD option comes out they will drop the price again. Let's stay positive and identify the facts and then begin our senseless ranting as fanboys!
The Arcade comes with wireless controllers. It has always come with wireless controllers. The Core is the only SKU that came with a wired controller and that was a crap deal from Day One. The Arcade is actually a good deal for people that just want to play games. Until GTA IV and it's big patch hit, I got by with just a memory card and no HDD at all.
LOL @ DrXym and others...
If you dont have a gold accnt by now which is 50 bucks for 12 fokin months...Get a 2nd job, or ask your parents to hold off on grocerys for the 15 household members for the week. I wish people would STFU about the gold accnt already...
So teeny bopper's & underpaid shlep's, do not respond to this...It costs more fer me to smoke in NYC.
Also its NOT mandatory to BUY the 120gig HDD. If your nitpicking about "bargains" you obviously dont need 120gig space which is normally needed for people who DL movies and files that need to be paid for.
Oh and, you WiFi nancy's, Hardwire connection over Wifi ANYDAY for online competing....
Play UNO on your Cell phone ...dewsh bags.
In most retail chains, I usually see XBox live at the price of 50 bucks for 13 months. If you order it off someplace like amazon and are able to skip out on tax, that is not a bad deal, at all.
Lame. Still way overpriced. I mean, come on, further up the Engadget homepage we have a 500GB hard drive for $220:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/12/western-digital-now-shipping-500gb-laptop-drive-220/
Let us put our own hard drive into it and quit your annoying Microsoft-only stuff.
As has been pointed out, time and again, Sony had to let you upgrade, because of their stupid installs. It really was their only option. In no way shape or form is a 360 HDD a required item beyond the basic 20gb. Apart from that, as I said earlier, it's an accessory and yes, they charge too much. Quit acting like MS is only the game company doing this, though. On the plus side, you cant pop out your HDD from your PS3 and take it to your buddies house to show off some cool saved moment for one of your games. I mean, yea, you CAN, but it's not exactly conveniant.
@ Bionic Radd = FAIL
Who the hell pops a hard-drive out to show a reply or data-save? Your foolish, it's called a thumb drive or external drive! My effing grandma owns four thumb drives and an external! Get with the bloody times, even the seniors are more with it then you..
@ pekosROB
You fail to understand English. Everything I said was true facts. Besides the game comments which were entirely my opinions. Maybe that will help your slow brain understand better!
@ Kneel B4 Zurg!
Shows how idiotic you are, stop playing your generic hand of disses cuz really you suck at it. I don't even like MGS! So screw buying any of them for any console or platform. Like I said in my post, if you look hard enough every other platform has it's alternatives to those crappy exclusives you Microsoft dick bacteria scream for. Besides, picking a console for games is completely the gamers preference and is irrelevant to the point of my post, Microsoft is a huge rip off for there hardware/accessories.
@JeffMangumJnr
Sure, you can buy the Elite just to get a standard-par platform compared to the competition. But then it isn't much of a price drop when it's $349.. Microsoft's whole ploy is to get one in every house. How do they plan to achieve that when you lock there users into vicious cycles to rather buy the higher end system upfront or pay triple and buy the sub-par system and upgrade it. With all your stupidity you should at least be able to figure out that the sub-par system is what all the parents will buy for they're children because it's cheaper and unknowingly will get bit on the ass as soon as the kid needs all those add-ons just to get running. Use your bloody head, how many electronic stupid people do you see go into the store and buy the cheaper alternative to save a few bucks and take no time to figure out the pros and cons? Hence why Microsoft is a rip off company that enjoys using shitty business practices. And they are marketing the 360 a a media platform now not a gaming platform.