PriceCuts
Latest
Samsung's BD-P1400 Blu-ray player dips to $270
Whoa, Nelly! Just three days after we saw Samsung's BD-P1400 crack the $300 barrier, the unit is now down below $270 at Amazon. More specifically, it can be had right now for $269.98, which certainly brings it a lot closer to the price range currently dominated by HD DVD. The only question now is: how much lower will it go (and when)?[Thanks, Adam]
Japan to get the 360 price cut we all knew was coming
With all of the 360 SKUs available, it can be a little confusing trying to keep track of them all. One helpful thing to keep in mind though: The cheapest of the models can now be found in Japan, as the Core there will be cut on Nov. 1 to around $243. Furthering hopes of the 360 topping its 6,161 sales last week, the standard model has gotten a similar treatment.Forget about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Microsoft is slashing prices on them. You want three chairs for $20? Done. You want four for $25? You got it. You want to pay 34,800 yen ($304) for your standard Xbox 360? Then it's yours! ... What's that Japanese consumer? ... You just want some chairs. ... Oh, OK, sure. No problem. Chairs it is.
Could the Wii get a price drop this holiday?
Probably not. Even though the PS3 is cheaper and the Xbox 360 dropped its price a little while ago, the odds of the Wii dropping its price are pretty slim. Still, that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning out its usual volume of "you know what."So, let's hear your opinions on this whole price cut thing. Are you of the mind that Nintendo needs to do this so that it can better compete this holiday season? Do you think the Wii's $249.99 price tag doesn't need to be lowered? Price cuts are eventual, but do you think this holiday is the right time for it or perhaps a later date is more appropriate?
PS3 price-cut coming October 12th?
Well folks, it looks like the funky, PS3 price-drop happenings you've been hearing about lately may very well be dropping all over the place. Apparently, hot on the heels of a new filing with the FCC, and various rumors concerning an approaching $399 console, Sony (which has heretofore denied the chatter) has announced a "Big Bang" press conference to take place on October 12th, where many believe they will intro a new, lower priced 40GB console. With nothing big slated for the holiday season yet, and Xbox 360 price-cuts and bundles being bandied about, it makes sense that Sony would come out swinging before holiday shoppers hit the stores. It's truly a good time to be a buyer.Read -- PlayStation 3 getting holiday makeover: $399 PS3 rumor has legsRead -- Rumor: Sony has 'big bang' announcement Oct. 12
Intel adds chips, cuts prices, kills lines
Making room for all that new speed can be difficult... just ask Intel. The chipmaker has been doing some reshuffling as of late, leaving some space in its lineup for the new Penryn CPUs we're all foaming at the mouth over. First off, Intel has added the mobile-based Core 2 Extreme X7900, plus the desktop-destined, 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo T7800 and 2GHz T7250. The company has also announced its first Core 2 Solo processors, the 1.2GHz U2200 and the 1.06GHz U2100, as well as a few new Celeron M chips, in the form of the 2GHz 550 and the 1.72GHz 530. Other odds and ends showed up, like the new ULV Celeron M 523, and the dual core, 2GHz Pentium E2180. The company also cut prices on a number of existing processors by up to 40-percent, which will either make you really happy, or really sad (depending on whether or not you bought anything). Additionally, Intel announced end-of-life news for a whole batch of CPUs, including all of the Core Solo and Duo chips, with ordering availability expected to end sometime around the 31st of December. Hit the links for all the detailed nastiness.[Thanks, Jorge]Read -- Intel chops mobile CPU prices, intros Core 2 Solo lineRead -- Intel cans first-gen Core chips
Xbox 360 gets European price drop on August 24
UK gamers who waited to buy their 360 until BioShock was released will find a nice surprise for them when they go to the register: A £20 price cut on the Core and a £30 cut on the 20 GB 360. That brings the prices to £249.99 (around $497) for the 20 GB system and £179.99 ($358) for the Core, which is, interestingly, the exact same cost as the Wii. It was also announced that when the Elite is released there this week, it will retail for £299.99 ($596).Shizzle Games of Belgium is not only showing new prices for other parts of Europe (€449/€349/€279) but also new names for the SKUs, redubbing the Core model "Arcade" and the middle one the "Pro". That new "Arcade" SKU will also come with five XBLA games which should just about fill the 256 MB memory card it comes packed with. It's also sporting an HDMI port. Though we haven't heard of a similar rebranding of the Core here in the U.S. it does make us wonder if we should be interpreting Core systems being discontinued in a whole new way.Read -- Official: Xbox 360 gets UK price dropRead -- Nu ook officieel: Microsoft verlaagt prijs Xbox 360
Competitors pricing not caving to iPhone emergence
Considering that Verizon went way out of its way to get noticed on iDay, it follows logic to think that it, along with a handful of other rivals, would at least consider slashing prices temporarily in order to redirect attention from the oft-hyped iPhone. Interestingly, none of that actually proved true, as Verizon went so far as to raise the prices of a number of handsets, while neither T-Mobile nor Sprint introduced any huge discounts in order to garner attention. Reportedly, AT&T was the carrier that implemented the most price cuts, as the Pearl, KRZR, and N75 all saw lower prices surrounding the iPhone launch. Of course, it could be that competing carriers simply succumbed to the fact that those eying an iPhone weren't likely to be tempted by anything else, and for all intensive purposes, they'd be absolutely correct.
Nintendo's competitors cut prices, but Wii stays same great price
Following news that Sony would be cutting the price of its PS3 console, rumors are floating about that Microsoft could be set to do the same with their Xbox 360 console. What does this have to do with us Wii-loving folk out there? Nothing, as Nintendo doesn't seem to think that Sony's price drop, or even a Microsoft one, is going to affect their great grip on the market right now.George Harrison, senior vice president of communications for Nintendo of America, says that a "$100 price drop won't make a difference." Harrison goes on to wonder "Can Sony afford a $200 price drop? I don't think so." We're inclined to agree, since apparently the only reason to own one is for a 3+ year-old game, anyway.[Via Codename Revolution]
Sony's 80GB PS3 to include SIXAXIS with rumble?
It's all coming so fast. No sooner does Sony fess up to August price cuts than we start hearing tell of a response from the 360 camp, and now it sounds like Sony has even more goodies for the PS3 faithful. First off is a Circuit City memo that got forwarded to us showing those price cuts indeed happening today. It'll get advertised next week, but if those shelf jockeys are doing their jobs, you should supposedly be able to walk into a Circuit City right this minute and walk out with a brand new 60GB PS3 for $499. To add further drama to the situation, people are taking clues from the 80GB PS3 box as proof of the inclusion of a "Rumblaxis" (fancy new word courtesy of PS3 Fanboy) controller being included with the new system that's set to launch in August. People are conjecturing the red light on the Home button is a clue to such rumble functionality, and eagle-eyed readers have also noted that the "Contents" section of the box has more text describing the SIXAXIS item than can be found on the 60GB box. To be honest, we're not spotting the difference, but feel free to make up your own mind with the links provided below. Check out the Circuit City memo after the break.[Thanks, Vagrant Pistol]Read - Red light Rumblaxis theory [Via PS3 Fanboy]Read - Contents flap Rumblaxis theory [Thanks, Jeremy]Read - Original box photos
SanDisk unveils 8GB, expandable Sansa e280
SanDisk is making its latest push against Apple's venerable iPod nano, and unlike the sour grapes iDon't campaign, this one has definite potential to knock a few precious percentage points off of Cupertino's still-overwhelming market share. Besides officially unveiling the 8GB Sansa e280 that we'd seen coming for awhile, the Milipitas-based company also announced price drops on the entire e200 lineup of players, bringing the 6GB e270 down to $220, the 4GB e260 to $180, and the 2GB e250 to just $140. As with other members of the Sansa family, the e280 also includes a microSD slot for jacking total memory up 10GB -- meaning that even if Apple can get an 8GB nano out the door by the holiday season, SanDisk will still hold the title of "most capacious flash-based DAP." The other value-added features that have helped SanDisk quickly acquire its number two position in the marketplace are also still present: you're getting video playback capability (using a proprietary converter, granted), an FM tuner with "on-the-fly" recording, a user-replaceable 20-hour lithium ion battery, embedded voice recorder, and support for MP3, WMA, and PlaysForSure tracks. All this functionality will set you back just $250, so unless you've already got thousands of FairPlay songs sitting on your hard drive (and don't feel like stripping the DRM), the Sansa e280 looks like an awfully strong contender from where we're standing.
PSP to see $50 price cut, sez analyst
With Nintendo's DS and DS Lite clearly showing the most momentum in the portable gaming space (who knew that a dedicated product could trump one with more bells and whistles?), word on the the street is that Sony is expected to drop the PSP's retail price down to $150. American Technology Research's P.J. McNealy feels that a slew of popular games such as Brain Age and New Super Mario Brothers have given the DS a much-needed boost in popularity, while the multimedia-centric PSP hasn't had a real hit since the last Grand Theft Auto title. Combined with the fact that the UMD is all but dead, McNealy believes that Sony's gotta do something to reinvigorate interest in its portable device, and a price cut seems like the best way to woo potential DS purchasers away. At $150, the newly-priced PSP wouldn't be that much more expensive than Nintendo's offering, and the company's recent push to offer movies on MemorySticks might be just the differentiating factor that would convince consumers to choose feature sets over games. Still, with its innovative input system and non-traditional titles, the DS would seem to appeal to a larger potential audience than the PSP, so even a price drop might not be enough to turn things around for Sony.[Thanks, Scott]
Xbox exec sez "surprises" in store for Q4
For the purposes of this post, we've going to ignore Microsoft exec Richard Teversham's recent dismissals of the Wii as a glorified GameCube and the PS3 as overpriced, and instead concentrate on his area of expertise: future plans for the Xbox 360. In an interview with entertainment site MCV, Teversham revealed that Redmond has "a number of surprises up our sleeve" in regards to the Xbox division's Q4 strategies, and that they involve "having a variety of pricing on games [and] a variety of pricing on console offers." Since the marketing manager reiterated previous denials of an impending 360 price cut, we have to wonder what exactly he was referring to by that statement on console pricing. The one possibility that springs immediately to mind? Why, bundled HD DVD drives, of course. If Redmond is in fact able to offer 360 bundles with HD optical drives at the same or slightly higher prices than current packages go for, it would certainly take some of the focus off Nintendo and Sony during their respective console launches. On the other hand, he could simply mean that the current bundles will receive an extra game or accessory or something -- which, combined with his slams on the competition, wouldn't really make for an effective marketing strategy at all.[Via Joystiq]
Microsoft planning Xbox 360 price cuts?
As the PlayStation 3 launch approaches, rumors of an Xbox 360 price cut are once again making the rounds -- but as usual, Team Microsoft is telling us not to get our hopes up. DigiTimes recently reported that a source at an unnamed Taiwanese OEM manufacturer is claiming Redmond has successfully negotiated lower production cost of between 15% and 20% on the 360, thanks to a combination of ramped-up production volume, falling component costs, and decreasing defect rates. While it's likely that Microsoft is aggressively seeking a lower per-unit cost on the consoles -- after all, it's supposedly losing over $100 on each box -- it's completely unclear as the whether these savings will be passed along to the consumer or kept in-house in an attempt to shore up losses on the hardware side of the equation. Since the PS3 will already be pricier than the 360 at launch, it seems that Microsoft certainly doesn't need to implement price cuts to stay competitive -- making the denials all that more plausible -- but then again, announcing price changes too early might hurt short-term sales, making the denials somewhat suspect. In the end, it seems like this could go either way, so if you're looking to save a few bucks, there's still only one surefire way to do so.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
