Xbox 360 Pro and Elite price cuts confirmed in Target ad for next week
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Aug 25th 2009 2:26AM
posted Aug 25th 2009 2:26AM
[Thanks, Tyce]
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Didn't see that one coming...
Sony is in a bit of a pickle with the PS3. Microsoft and Nintendo have room to lower their price and still make a profit on the systems. Sony loses money on each PS3, even the slim ones, making it more difficult to drop the price.
The PS# will always be the most expensive console this generation, and NOBODY will launch a console at $600 again.
Sony isn't in a jam at all if you ask me. First of all, while Sony probably doesn't have room to lower the price, they are probably not losing money on the console anymore judging by recent reports that the PS3's production costs are down 70% from launch.
$300 is a sweet spot for this console and by the time the PS3 is due for another price drop, the manufacturing costs will have dropped as well.
Actually, I'd claim the opposite. Sony HAS been in a pickle with the PS3 with it being the most expensive console until now, but now it's the same price as the 360 elite, and MS had to lower their price to match it.
Personally, I still see the 360 as better since it has more exclusive games I'm interested in and a much better online experiance (despite the cost)
But now that price isn't that much of an issue for the PS3 I think the system can flourish more than it could before.
@JayVe...
no one has done a tear down (isuppli) on the ps3slim and u know that they're still losing money? remember how they said they had lowered the cost to mftr about 70%...well read this and do the math: "Back in 2006 Sony PlayStation 3 20GB and PlayStation 3 60GB video game consoles cost $805.85 and $840.35 to manufacture, respectively."
Even taking the higher cost of the 20GB console, us till end up w/ a price of about ~$250 bucks. Last i remember 300>250.
@Caramelzappa. Are you sure the 360 has more exclusives, for atlest the last year Sony has been pumping out quite alot more exlusives than MS. So the PS3 might have caught up with 360 atleast when it comes to the amout of exclusives.
Time to dump MSFT. Margin pressure is mounting!
Sony aren't in a pickle at all, they aren't losing money on the hardware
either. Whilst Microsoft have been busy selling RROD consoles for the
last 4.5 years, Sony have been doing major cost savings to the PS3. The
Slim teardown is $200, so once you add retailers and distributors cuts in
there, they still make a reasonable amount of cash. (but as always, it's
the software that makes money, and Sony and 3rd party publishers are doing
very nicely on that front too, with Ubisoft, EA, Konami and Capcom all
making more from the PS3 than they do from Xbox.
As for pricing, who in their right mind would buy a RROD-box for $299, or
$250 when you can get a PS3 SLim for $299? The slims got so much more to
offer (Blu-Ray, Wifi), and the very first time you sign up to Xbox Live,
it's already costing you more than the infinitely better PS3....
As it standards, Microsoft are the ones in a jam, there has been no
engineering work done on the Xbox, it costs the same to make as it's
always done. They USED to make money on the Elite and lose money on the
Arcade, however since the last round of price cuts, they are losing money
on both.
@JayVe
Sony is in a pickle?
Not only have they dropped production costs on the fat PS3 70% (who knows how much more now with the slimmer version) they are now setting the pricing standard in the industry, as if they are the market leaders...
Microsoft has followed immediately, Sony has not done anything as substantial in the past.
With IBM involved with GeoFoundries +others trying to have 25NM processor architecture in a couple of years (and confirmed 32nm mid next year) PS3 prices can really start to drop in the near future if they start to implement the available technology (perhaps if this price drop is adequate for most consumers and Sony sees huge profits coming in then its quite likely the Cell will go from 65 to 32nm)...
Microsoft is in the pickle, trying to keep there console alive by bringing out reports on 'Natal' 2 years early. We all know that with one more PS3 price drop it will be the end for the 360, which does not have much room for price drops in the future (not that they have made a substantial impact anyway)
@Mr Ed
heh, hivemind friend.
@ Daki
I didn't mean to say the 360 has more exclusives per se. More /= better. The PS3 only has a few titles that interest me. (KZ2, Resistance 2, MGS4) The 360 on the other hand has a great deal of games I really like. (Gears, Halo, Shadow Complex, Pacman CE, Banjo Kazooie arcade, geometry wars I, and II, Rez HD, Splosion man, V8 arcade, I could go on)
And most multiplatform games would have a vastly better experience on the 360 because of xbox live.
I really like the PS3, and I'm probably going to pick one up pretty soon, but right now I don't see it offering nearly as many fantastic games as the 360. Hopefully now that it's price-competetive developers will invest more into it and we'll see better games for the PS3. So far though, I am yet to be captivated by a PS3-only title.
@ CaramelZappa,
Please. Those exclusives don't hold a candle to PS3's exclusives. Once you got past Halo and Gears of War, you dropped down way too far to compare.
@ Caramel: XBox Live presents a better experience because the games are more populated. Games are more populated because more people own the system. More people own the system because it was priced better. Now that the PS3 offers more for the same price, the install base will go up, games will populate more, and unless you only use Live to talk to your friends, PSN will catch up to Live because of this logic. And it's free. So as long as I'm right, and I think my reasoning here is fairly solid, PSN will eventually be the better deal.
Personally, I already like it better. Despite the fact that there are less peoole to play with online, I don't have to worry about finding deals for and paying for Gold refills. I can see, however, why others would prefer to pay for the benefits of Live.
To everyone who said that PS3 is not profitable for Sony... here are today's headlines.
PS3 Slim hardware still losing money
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/sony-still-losing-money-of-ps3-slim-hardware/#comments
Nintendo and Microsoft have both been profitable with their home consoles. Sony is trying to catch up lost ground. Microsoft and Nintendo can always lower the price of their systems, to keep them the least expensive to consumers. Sony does not have that luxury.
In order for the PS3 to surpass the Wii in worldwide sales, Sony would not only have to quadruple the PS3's sales, Nintendo would have to stop making and selling the Wii. Just check out the sales trends for the past year for a little bit of a wake-up call.
http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&start=39677&end=40041&weekly=1
what i don't get is why is the 120GB console $300 when the 120GB hdd alone is $120. seems like they are losing a lot of money, or everything is still overpriced
@Caramelzappa
Did... did... you just list... Pacman... as a reason to buy a 360?
Pickles?! I LOVE pickles! Kosher dills all the way!
This fall will be interesting, but checking out the sales trends for the past year, I can safely say that the horses aren't going to change position any time soon.
Competition FTW.
Yes. No matter which console one choses (PS3 FTW!!!) the consumer wins! They have two fine consoles to pick from, and it's all a matter of personal taste.
exactly, fanboys are idiots.
however, microsoft and nintendo definitely have the upper hand here while sony is lagging way behind and constantly playing catch up when it comes to hardware.
in software, nobody touches microsoft.
MS strikes back... again ;-)
no one cares if you pass or not.
You see, I'm looking at a console currently, and the PS3 Slim's bluray player gives it a huge advantage. What can the 360 do that the PS3 cant now?
Netflix streaming is a big thing to a lot of people. Not to mention XBOX live gaming with their friends.
I've got a PS3 (have had one for a while), so I'm just sayin. The 360 and PS3 bring different pluses and minuses to the table for the same price.
Has better third-party support, Netflix streaming, Media Center Extender. I'd so those are pretty big deals. Also last.fm, if you use the service.
I mean 'say' instead of 'so'. Also forgot to mention taht it will eventually have last.fm.
I can get Netflix streaming from my TivoHD and installing PS3 Media Server on my PC is a better media center solution than MCE (wider file and codec support). And with the PS3's internet browsing capabilities, I can also watch streaming internet video from sites like Youtube, and with a little PC trickery, Hulu.
Pretty much just netflix , this wouldnt apply to you if you live in a country without netflix anyway.
if you like multiplayer stuff, i would get whatever system most of your friends own, unless you really want the blu-ray.
also, my guess is that the new Elite 360's will have be the newest Jasper revision (previously only found in Arcades). the Jaspers are much more reliable than previous versions.
You can do the convoluted streaming with the 360 as well to get various other video sites.
But the fact that Netflix is officially supported and has full HD without any need to re-encode or anything is pretty sweet. If you're already a Netflix member it's icing on top, and if you're not it's a pretty compelling reason to join Netflix. $8.99 a month gets you unlimited streaming access and it beats the heck out of pay per view.
BTW I don't personally stream netflix over the 360 but it's certainly a compelling reason and it tempts me.
With a 54% failure/red ring of death rate and no Blu-ray I think I'll pass.
Arent you original, like we havent heard that before. Since the introduction of Jasper over 5 months ago hardware reliability has become a thing of the past...and i still get a 3 year red ring warranty.
...and if the box said in big shiny letters "Hey this is a jasper unit!" instead of trying to slip me an error prone old model which I can't know until I buy the system, I would totally buy one.
@justin
there's a way to tell whether or not you're getting a jasper. look it up. engadget even had a post about it. you can tell jaspers from the others by the power supply numbers, which you can see without opening the box.
I work at target and we get the next week ads in a good week before the next sunday. It'll be interesting to see both the 360 and the ps3 price points against each other in the same ad. The Price Cut label means that it will be a permanent and also occur on that sunday. (unless fine print is involved or something)
Imo Microsoft is missing the opportunity. They should remove the Arcade, price the Pro at $199, and price the Elite (without stripping it) + wifi adapter at $299. The $199 Pro will give Nintendo Wii a run for its money, and the Elite can compete a bit better with the PS3 slim. I bet at MS, there's a bean counter that made this stupid decision of discontinuing the Pro and stripping the Elite. We might see a turning point for Sony, unless MS has something up their sleeve (and the $299 stripped Elite is just a move to clear inventory).
I seriously think this 299 Elite will only run for a year because I still have this gut feeling that a built in natal will come in to play next year with more gigs of space. Speaking of GIGS of space, theyre still selling 20 GIGS for 99.99 LOL
pika2000, you raise a good point about WiFi. Some gamers (*cough*, me) homes that span distances greater than cardboard boxes, and require WiFi to get onto the internet (I'm on WiFi now), and play games (my PS3 and my brother's 360). If Microsoft would get their heads out of their asses and add a wireless card that probably costs $20 to manufacture and implement, they would see more gamers. But then again, they are probably making a staggering amount of cash with their abg (a band? god, they need N) attachment.
Still, and I've been saying this forever, it it a great console.
Well f*ck, so much for selling my old Premium unit on ebay. I'd be lucky to get 50 bucks for it now, and it's in mint condition with original packaging.
Oh well. My bad for not selling it in July, before all the price drop rumors started.
The craziest part about this is that the 360 is now the same price as the wii. I can't believe the wii has sold so well that nintendo hasn't had to drip the price... Maybe this holiday season is the first they'll have to... Oh well... Time will tell...
The Wii continues to do well because it is not aimed an engadget readers and hardcore gamers. It is a toy for children and for casual gamers. And it is the ONLY system of the current generation with a wide variety of games aimed at and appropriate for pre-teens. Why is that so hard to understand?
OMG I Love you Engadget! You even get a FREE CONTROLLER!!!
How anyone can think this is still a better or equal deal to the PS3 is beyond me. The PS3 offers so much more right out of the box, it's not even funny.
The 360 doesn't even have a High-Definition movie player included in the system. For Christ's sake, you get one of the best, if not the best Blu Ray Player(s) on the market, AND a reliable next-generation gaming console with an excellent software library to boot.
Every console has its benefits, but to think that this nullfies the value that the PS3 offers is ridiculous.
no one cares about blu-ray. maybe u forgot that the movies are 30 dollars. What a waste of POOP if you ask me when u can get just stream movies off NetFlix. ANd IMo, consumers are still satisfied with DVD quality.
you can also get bluray from netflix. or anything from netflix. i haven't bought a movie in three movies.
Any gamer is going to buy game consoles for the games. A lot of people like the exclusives that the 360 has over the PS3 exclusives, and a lot of people prefer xbox live over the PSN. Yes, the PS3 has better specs and more features blah blah blah, but in the end you buy the console to play games.
So yea, the PS3 is an attractive piece of hardware at a very attractive price point, but until Sony gets the software up to speed with microsoft, a lot of gamers will still buy 360's.
lol jekoln, has it really been that long?
"So yea, the PS3 is an attractive piece of hardware at a very attractive price point, but until Sony gets the software up to speed with microsoft, a lot of gamers will still buy 360's."
Ah, still living in the past where people still think the PS3 has no games? Your argument is invalidated right here and now.
it's been three long movies since i movied a movie
@ant
I care about Blu-ray. After watching 1080p HD video on my HDTV, it's hard to go back to SD content. And if you think all Blu-ray movies are $30, you haven't shopped around.
Also, are you one of those consumers that "are still satisfied with DVD quality"? If so, do you own a Xbox360 and have it connected to a HDTV? If you do, I implore you to change your video settings to 480p standard-def and see if you are satisfied with "DVD quality".
where the hell is the wii price drop?! they shouldn't have been able to sell the wii for $250 with a straight face in over a year.
Great price! I think people continue to take chances on the xbox despite it's failure rate because of the online experience. Sure you may get more out the box with the PS3 - but most people dont play stuff "right out the box" -- more important is the online experience, I think.
With netflix, last.fm, and rumors of twitter -- I cant imagine a better online experience on a gaming console. The blu-ray is cool, but even my roommate who was bragging about the ps3 couldn't find anyone of his friends to play against online, so he made up a stupid excuse, sold his ps3, and caved in to buy an xbox. Even though I sound like an MS fanboy, when you take a step back, and compare the games, online experience, and price... The Xbox is still a pretty sweet deal. The failure rate sucks, and even I'm currently dealing with an e73 issue, but after getting it fixed for 30 bucks on craigslist -- i haven't had a problem anymore. sucks it happened, but I'm not surprised. I expected it.
For those who read the specs, and mostly go lone wolf online, I would say the ps3 would be great.
Dont care much for blu-ray. Not shelling out 30 bucks for movies I've seen in the theaters.
Don't forget Facebook is also coming to 360 so this social networking site will probably help boost the sales. I like how u mentioned Blu-RAY movies costs 30 dollars. A price of a greatest hits or platinum hits. More replay value if you ask me. NetFLIX stream FTW>
Seems like facebook is coming to the PS3 as well, but olnly in Rumorsville for the moment though.
Okay, so first we have an argument that Blu-Ray is worthless, expensive, and isn't needed in a gaming console; and then I see you talking about how Facebook (of all stupid things) is a valid selling point for the 360.
I'm confused...
i think what he's trying to say Aaron, is that people find the online experience/services associate with the xbox as a valid reason to purchase the console.
i'm not saying that, that's a good thing. but it is the case i feel. cause it sure isn't for the hardware. lol.
with that said, most gaming now has some involvement with the online community of xbl or psnet - you're either playing against folks online, joining a part of friends, downloading content for/from game, or sharing stats with people... to me, if 99% of your seat time is spent with online gaming, people will find value in a satisfying online experience from sign in to sign out. and in the end, it's what people want. more than any single game, or whatever -- it's the fact that when you turn on your console, you've got options and things to do, and stuff to enjoy right off the bat. friends to chat to. parties to join. movies to watch. etc...
i think psnet has these features, but sometimes it's hard to compete when everyone you know has xbox live. this is just from my perspective, but i don't have any friends that have ps3s. so even if i'm concerned with the rrod, dont care much netflix, etc... but I do want to play COD with my buddies, then there's only one clear choice -- Xbox.
i dont think i would have as much fun with a gaming console if i couldnt play along with friends online, talk trash to them, socialize, etc... then download the halo screenshot of me hitting em with the shotgun, then twitter it to everyone. lol
i've owned both for a long time (old 360 rrod, sold the new one got ps3 now just bought GOY elite at walmart for 300 bucks)
I have to say I don't know why everyone bickers about the PSnetwork....
The store is MUCH better than xbox live, ps home; i don't use it but some people do, and the online gaming aspect: its much smoother (imho) than live. mainly because psn has centralized servers and don't rely 100% on p2p connections.
honestly, xbox fanboys, have you used PSN? you'd be surprised...
as for other features, blu-ray IS a big deal. when ps2 and xbox came out, all the fanboys were telling gamecube fanboys that DVD was the shit. now 360 fanboys are telling ps3 fanboys it isn't needed. if you watch an hd film and then go back to dvd, you'll be so disappointed. and honestly, bluray is the future of disc based media, why wouldn't you want it in your machine? you know the 720, or 3 or whatever is going to have bdrom because i will have to and then you will sing its praises. and if you can't find a movie for less than 30 bucks, well....stop going to fye. even CVS sells blurays for less than retail.
in the end it comes down to preference. I'm glad that all of you guys aren't on PSN, it keeps the servers clean and lag free. but you're going to play what you want to. to me, i'd rather have a more polished store than a million social features because honestly i go online to play not to make new friends, that's what real life is for. i'd rather be able to stream divx out of the box than have my windows media player (which...is a joke) sync with my 360. and of course i'd rather use a 500gb hard drive to store all my crap (music, movies, downloaded games, game saves and files) than pay a company a 100% markup for the same thing.
so choose your own gaming. i like the ps3, but i'm not going to hate on you for playing 360, a lot of my friends do.
Honestly, the wii has been overpriced since day 1, as fun as it is.
But I'm still more interested in an HD capable wii than a cheaper one. I'd easily pay $250 for a wii that would render my games in 1080p or even 720p. Not necessarily better graphics, just rendered in a decent resolution.
supposed to be a reply to jekoln
Sony aren't in a pickle at all, they aren't losing money on the hardware either. Whilst Microsoft have been busy selling RROD consoles for the last 4.5 years, Sony have been doing major cost savings to the PS3. The Slim teardown is $200, so once you add retailers and distributors cuts in there, they still make a reasonable amount of cash. (but as always, it's the software that makes money, and Sony and 3rd party publishers are doing very nicely on that front too, with Ubisoft, EA, Konami and Capcom all making more from the PS3 than they do from Xbox.
As for pricing, who in their right mind would buy a RROD-box for $299, or $250 when you can get a PS3 SLim for $299? The slims got so much more to offer (Blu-Ray, Wifi), and the very first time you sign up to Xbox Live, it's already costing you more than the infinitely better PS3....
As it standards, Microsoft are the ones in a jam, there has been no engineering work done on the Xbox, it costs the same to make as it's always done. They USED to make money on the Elite and lose money on the Arcade, however since the last round of price cuts, they are losing money on both.
ytre
do you realize that the ps3 defect rate is over 10%? the slim may solve sonys problem tho
the new xbox 360's with the jasper units are more reliable than the ps3's.
"the new xbox 360's with the jasper units are more reliable than the ps3's."
Sarcasm, or joke, I can't really tell... though, your user name gives it away a bit.
Live has better service, blu-ray movies are pointless and 30 dollars, so you are pretty much also wasting money on something you can stream off netflix.
first off, your writing is horrendous. "As it standards...?" You are an idiot.
second, a newer engadget article has confirmed, straight from Sony's mouth, that they are losing money on PS3 hardware. So there you are just flat out wrong. I'm not sure about the 360, and i don't feel like looking it up right now.
third, microsoft soldier had a couple of things right. the PS3 failure rate is around 10-11%, which is still not good. also the new Jasper revision, which has been in Arcades for a while now and will almost certainly be included in the new Elites, IS much more reliable than previous versions. how much more, and how it compares to the PS3 failure rate has yet to be determined.
and if you think it costs MS the same to build a 360 now as it did 4 years ago, you are an idiot (though i think we already determined that).
although i will say that i think Sony is in a great position now.
idiot fanboy.
i agree with almost everyone above, i'm surprised there hasn't been a ton of flaming in here haha. Anyway, i have owned a 360 for about 2 years now and haven't had a problem yet (knock on wood), but as much as i play games on it, i use it almost twice as much just to stream netflix and using it as a media center extender, which is awesome. I haven't had cable for months and am completely satisfied watching the ever increasing instant library on netflix, which a tthis point lst year was literally 1/8th the size it is now. I'll admit, if I find a first gen ps3 on ebay or something for a sweet price from someone getting a slim, i'll probably buy it, but i think even if i was just getting a system today, i would still get a 360 considering the netflix, media center extender, and all the game add ons you can get with the 360 (even tho the ps3 has a lot of add ons and arcade games, the 360 still takes the cake in my book). My old roommate let me borrow his ps3 for about 2 months b/c he never used it, which lead me to use it almost exclusively for blu ray with netflix, and i have to admit, there wasn't that much of a difference between blu ray and dvd, espeically to justify the price of a blu ray player or get a ps3 for that reason exclusively. If i can find a cheap one, i'll probably get a ps3 for games like killzone, god of war, and resistence, but other than that, its still not worth $300 after buying my 360.
acniehaus04,
First Off i own both systems,xbox 360 Pro and ps3 60gig model upgraded to 320 gb.
I think you are a unaware 360 user. Blu-ray far surpasses Dvds in Video Quality,what in the world are you smoking? lol
Also you can stream Netflix on ps3 using playon(thats what i do),look it up.
And as for the games your interested in, there are more great games on the ps3 than the 3 you listed, theres Infamous,Metal gear solid 4, the October release of Uncharted 2,Gran turismo 5 etc... Go to gametrailers.com to see HD videos of these titles ESPECIALLY Uncharted 2 which was named e3 game of the show.
it's once again sony vs. microsoft. and yet again it will come down once again to blu-ray, netflix, rrod, halo, xbox live, and the ps3 network.
pros for ps3 slim: great price, blu-ray, no hardware issues
cons for ps3: decent online experience, lack of ps3 network users (in my case at least)
pros for xbox360: great price, online experience worth paying for, stream hd movies from netflix, exclusive titles
cons for xbox 360: super-high failure rate, no blu-ray
add to this if you'd like. in the end, you will be paying more for the xbox -- but you're getting you're getting a lot out of it. i'd rather shell out 50 bucks for a yearly subscription to xbox live gold and play against friends, have netflix streaming, twitter, facebook, and the rest of the goods... rather than buying a ps3 and being all lonely as all my other friends who aren't cheap pay about 5 dollars a month for a yearly subscription to xbox live and go at it.
in the end, to each his own. for those that value the home theater experience and would rather add a legitimate piece to their home theater the ps3 is the way to go with the blu-ray. for those who don't give a hell about a blu-ray, and would rather stream movies online and now have the ability to add to their queue without heading to their computers --- then xbox is the way to go.
with all the chit-chat out there about the rrod and failure rates, the fact that people still buy xbox's regardless of probably one of the highest failure rates i have seen in consumer electronics (still blows my mind lol - i swear microsoft should get sued or something, it's ridiculous) -- that must say something about the services they are offering that go along with the hardware. even more incredible is that it isnt free. and people are still signing up. why? because it's a pretty good value.
if you buy 2 blu-ray movies for the ps3 that's already more than the price of a yearly sub to XBL. those two movies, after being watched once, will then collect dust as an addition to an alphabetically arranged dvd collection that is used to show off to others how many movies you have, and make your home theater look more credible. lol.
would rather pwn n00bs in halo3.
you forget that new 360s (jasper) have a very good failure rate (guessing around 5%). and that xbl is free (silver).
still, they are both good deals. get what you want and be happy
I personally work at Target and I haven't looked at the ad for next week yet
What I don't get, it why aren't they bumping up the size of those drives? Hard drives are amazingly cheap these days, there is no reason to limit them to 60GB or 120GB.
elite version includes 2 controllers too? someone know if it is jasper version?
thanks in advance
Thing about PS3 is that to me it's more than just a gaming system. It's so multimedia oriented. Not that 360 isn't but with ps3's bluray player makes it more multimedia than a gaming machines. I have both and honestly i play them about the same amount.
sony is losing money now on their consoles, but lets not forget that sony said they are looking at longevity. ps2 is now ten years strong and still going, so the ps3 will be around for about 8 years before we officially hear about a ps4. the 360 is a good console, but has that red ring of death problem microsoft need to fix. also microsoft will introduce a new system soon (maybe in 3 more years) that may or may not include blueray and it might be more expensive than $300.
but in the end it all comes down to one thing. the consumer, and how we spend our money. but its beneficial to us right now because we have 3 choices of consoles in the same price range. so this will be an interesting holiday season.
Nice price... but does it still break if you look at it wrong?
My boyfriend has his 360 connected to an HDTV and I can tell the HUGE difference between his setup and my 360 to an old 19" box. Granted, I've only seen LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 -> HDTV and it was beautiful, but as of now, the BF and I love our RE5 co-op and we're happy with the resolution we get on his tv and 360.
If the PS3 has games that have the co-op games we're looking for and has Netflix that we both use our 360's for, then, I would buy a PS3. This price drop has us interested in getting a PS3, but we're still not sure about it. So, comment away and let me know what games I should buy when I get a PS3.
Thanks!
Pac-Man CE is not regular Pac-Man, it is one of the best games on the Xbox 360 and it is an exclusive.
Xbox 360 Elite has always been the same price or more than the PS3, so I don't see what's changed. I think that MS should have upgraded the HDD size on the Elite, but that's about it. Dumb move for Sony/MS to not include HDMI cables as people are lazy and uninformed about cables and will just use whatever is included in the box. Consumers have been opting for the Arcade version over the Elite for a while now so they needed to drop the price. It will be interesting if this shifts the balance of what people buy now, or if they will still primarily just buy whatever is the cheapest.
Rather than a price cut, MS should invest more money into R&D, to the make the 360 more reliable. The Jasper's a step in the right direction, but it's way to early to speculate on it's reliability, much less call the quality control issues "closed".
All this debate about which console is better seems really pointless. The better system is the one that I, as an individual, prefer. Is Blu-ray a great function of the PS3? Of course - it's brilliant... but I don't know that it hands-down makes it a better system. I can buy a 360 and still buy a Blu-ray player. Since it's not exclusive to the PS3, then it really can't be used as a definitive argument (IMO.)
Same goes for 360... maybe it has "better" exclusive titles, but if those particular titles aren't of interest to me, then that argument is moot (to me.)
All I'm saying is, people arguing about such a subjective topic seems silly. Buy the console that you want. If you want a Blu-ray and slightly higher specs go with PS3. If you want a stellar online experience and more head-to-head/co-op options, get yourself a 360.
Hell, at the current price points, get yourself both.
yeah its confirmed got the walmart ad in my hands gonna be an interesting Christmas oh yeah walmart got a 32in element brand TV for 348...
Blu-Ray is OK. If you want HD, great. A majority of people out there DON'T have a HDTV, so Blu-Ray is worthless. So are HD games for that matter. I'm sure the percentage of people that have a HDTV HERE is high, but that's not the case in the real world. I have Hundreds of DVD's, I have quite a few HD DVD's and my Blu-Ray collection is slowly growing. I watch though my nice 50" 1080P Plasma, and my Onkyo 806 Receiver Bitstreaming my Audio. While HD DVD and Blu-Ray look GREAT and sound Great, I still don't mind watching a DVD, or streaming Netflix Movies, the HD versions are much better, but I don't mind the little better then VHS quality SD movies. Not EVERYTHING needs to be in HD with the BEST sound. I can watch some old Classics, or even some newer stuff on Neflix that I'm NEVER going to buy on DVD let alone Blu-Ray, but to see it because it's CHEAP. For under $10 a month, I still get my 1 Blu-Ray out at a time and all the streaming movies I could ever watch and the list is growing. Add in Media Center recording up to 2 HD programs at once though my HD Homerun, and using PlayOn, and it's Plug-In's, I can watch all the Youtube, Hulu, CBS, SyFy, ESPN, and many, many others and the list is growing, ALL streamed onto my 360 except for the built in Netflix which is much better then using Play-On that I use for the other things.
I do all that MORE then I play games. Facebook, Twitter, and Last.FM that will be coming to the 360 built in later this year doesn't really interest me other then maybe Last.FM, but it will for a lot of others. The things the CONSOLE can do THESE days over just the last Generation is Amazing. I can only Imagine what the NEXT Generation will bring. It's not like they can just Stop doing everything they're doing now and start over again. They'll have to expand on top of it even more. Otherwise you might as well wait around and keep using your current console.
Nintendo sales are slowing,and with a PS3 and 360 price drop for what I think are better consoles then the Wii unless your 12 years old and younger or 70 and over. The Wii really isn't as cheap and you think. Just add a Second complete controller is what, $70!! The online is really POOR. No HD of any sort which I guess really doesn't matter for those Age groups anyway. Drop your Cable or Satellite and you can just Pickup HD channels OTA with a Antenna, and get everything else just about with just a Internet connection, so I guess keeping you cable for just that is something. You can watch your Favorite Showtime and HBO series with a DVD Box set that's out pretty quick and no having to wait a week if you want to see the next show.
Could it be Microsoft has a new xbox that why the had the price cut?
@JBDragon
"Nintendo sales are slowing,and with a PS3 and 360 price drop for what I think are better consoles then the Wii unless your 12 years old and younger or 70 and over. The Wii really isn't as cheap and you think. Just add a Second complete controller is what, $70!! The online is really POOR. No HD of any sort which I guess really doesn't matter for those Age groups anyway. Drop your Cable or Satellite and you can just Pickup HD channels OTA with a Antenna, and get everything else just about with just a Internet connection, so I guess keeping you cable for just that is something. You can watch your Favorite Showtime and HBO series with a DVD Box set that's out pretty quick and no having to wait a week if you want to see the next show."
Ok buddy this is sad you are attacking a system that is actually selling. Fine if you like your Xbox experience, but people like you are the reason why wii owners don't do the Wii360(remember that word kids). Also I’m not 12 or 70 and I love my Wii. The Wii lets me play without too many commitments or having to be tied down for huge amount of hours when I have a lot of responsibilities and things to do outside of the gaming world.
The Wii mote costing you 70 well how much it cost an wireless 360? I tell you &64.99 with charger mic sold Sep so no cheap in any gaming system. You kill your own argument . You said not everybody has a HDTV and the wii not having no HD what so ever. Ever been to the Nintendo World store in NYC?..No? Yes?..well if you do go and see all the Wii's are using HD sets and the composite cable . The Wii has something and that it works well regardless of what TV you play it in. 250 is cheap, If not just ask yourself why did MS drop the price to the same of a Wii? Because the ones with the most purchasing power when it comes to games are Parents follow by teens and adults; and we all know how much buying power Parents have in this economy.