XBox 360 Price Announced: $299 Standard/ $399 Premium (2 Viewers)

[David Galindo]

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9018/M...box-360-Price/

Here it is in a nutshell:

Standard 360 Pack ($299)

Console w/ controller (NOT wireless)
Composite AV Cable
Faceplate

Ultimate Premium 360 Pack ($399)

Console w/ wireless controller
Faceplate
20 GB Detachable hardrive
XBL Headset
Bonus Media Player Remote
Silver XBL membership
Component HD Cable


Why on earth you'd go for the standard pack is beyond me... not a very good deal. It also makes me mad that developers have to plan ahead w/some consoles NOT having a HD, so it likely wont be used to its full potential in gaming.

$400 for the ultimate 360 experience... I dunno, Ill have to pass for now. What do you guys think?

 

[David Galindo]

Here are the accessories that can be separately purchased:

20 GB HD- $100
Wireless Controler- $50
64MB Travel Memory Unit- $45
Play n Charge Wireless Kit- $20
Rechargable Battery- $12
XBL Headset- $20
Universal Media Remote- $30
Wireless Network Adapter- $50
S-Video Cable- $30
VGA Cable- $40

 

[ChrisMatson]

The price seems more expensive than what the speculation had been. I am not sure I like the idea of a "standard" package although there are consumers out there that will be happy with it.

Does this open the door for a PS3 that sells for more than $399?

 

[David Galindo]

Could be. There were lots of rumors this morning about the price being fake, all 360s were shipping with HD, etc...but Microsoft just announced this themselves, so its official.

The XBL Silver membership does not let you play online, btw...just create a username and browse XBL Arcade. Gah.

Id be more than surprised if the PS3 sells for more than $500 now.

 

[Ken Chui]

MS' pricing of the premium 360 system at $399.99 makes it somewhat easier for Sony to set an equivalent, if not higher, price point for their console. I think a PS3 price point of $499 (or even as high as $549) isn't out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Ken Chui]

With MS asking $45 for a 64MB Travel Memory Unit (gamers will need something to save their stats), having a 20GB detachable HD for $55 more makes the premium system more cost-justifiable and appealing, especially when additional content for downloading through Live is made available (which you may end up paying for through microtransactions via the Live Marketplace).

 

[Chris Bardon]

I suppose it makes sense to offer multiple tiers (it worked with the NES, so why not), but by the time you buy a memory card, you're halfway to the "premium" system. If anything, this is a way to get around including both component and composite AV cables. Most of us had to buy the HD pack for the original Xbox separately, so this already saves us a little money.

I was hoping for a HD in every xbox though-would have meant that games could actually USE the HD for something other than saves.

Still haven't decided whether I'm in on this at launch or not. Really depends on the launch titles and the budget situation. Don't think I can really justify spending the probably $800 (once you add games + accessories) on a new console right away. Rather get the HDTV first!

 

[Doug Miller]

David -- I'm surprised you're balking at the price. Given all of the features and add-ons, my thought was more along the lines of "Is that all?" I paid $300 for my first PS2 and XBox too, so $400 for an HD quality game system with a load of interesting features sounds pretty good.

The funny/sad thing is I'm really not into gaming anymore (I've generally just been a sports guy anyway). With my daughter I don't have a lot of time. But the thought of what some of the sports games will be like, plus the "eye candy" to show off my set seems worth it.

Start up cost of $400 to you "hardcore gamers" seems low when you average time you likely spend playing video games. Break down hours per week, month, time onine, etc., and that $400 doesn't seem so big anymore. Don't look at the $400 as I have to work number of hours to pay for it, look at it as I'm paying a day to play it.

Doug

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Not to be a naysayer, but I personally could care less about media functionality, interchangeable faceplates, and a few more extraneous features. Granted, I think $400 is acceptable (I mean, come on, the original NES was $200 when it launched, so a $200 increase over 20 years isn't that bad), but only because it's not overly insane.

I have to say, though, that $400 for all the added stuff (wireless controller/headset) is kinda cool, but for the functionality of the unit (media stuff) I wish we could buy separately.

 

[Ken Chui]

If the HD Pack is the same as the 360's Component HD AV Cable, why is MS charging twice the price for the same product ($39.99 vs. $19.99)?

 

[Kami]

That means the big one is going to be at least $499 here in Canada. Ouch. But there are some nice accessories with it. If I remember right I had to pay 40 bucks for my xbox component cables alone. Though I think it would be more fairly priced if it came with 2 controllers.

But even at that price you can bet MS is still losing a ton of money on each console. The stuff in there ain't cheap.

 

[David Galindo]

Its not really the price Im mad about- its the fact that developers cannot utilize the HD like they could with the XBox. I cannot justify spending $400 when the HD may not be used at all.

I wish the standard pack never existed.

 

[BrionL]

Hey David,

If you check the fact sheet at Xbox.com you'll see that the hard drive can be used to save games not just media downloaded from Xbox Live.

Brion

 

[David Galindo]

Oh, thats good and all, but I meant that developers cant use it for games (such as storing some data on there for faster access or creating larger seamless worlds).

 

[Morgan Jolley]

A game can be well designed without the HDD. Many GameCube games have short, if not non-existant, loading times because of a combination of smart hardware design and good programming. The HDD did little more than save files and speed up load times.

I think MS is trying to recoop their losses on the X-Box by upping the 360's pricing setup. The X-Box was a steal for the power it had; now the 360, with $59.99 for games, should even things out a bit more.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I'm kinda bummin I have $418 credit so I was all set to get the system and two games, now I get the system and No games. Also I hope the Developers don't develop to the lowest common denominator and forget about the HD. It helps to cache levels and speedup load times.

 

[BrettGallman]

Well, I already put down the required $50 for my pre-order at my local game store last year, so I only have $350 more to pay. Considering the separate prices of all the accessories, the "premium pack" is really a heck of a deal. I paid over $500 for the original X-Box due to the fact that game stores forced bundles, and I should come out cheaper than that this time because all the accessories are already there.

 

[MichaelPR]

$200 to go to pay this bad boy off at EBgames. I actually think the price is very fair for what you get. Although alot of people seem to be extremely upset by all this. I mean in my mind I pay $100 for a ton of crap I was going to buy anyhow. now all I need is to pick three games that will be any good for this thing? Do you expect this stuff will be in short supply this holiday season?? I have a feeling that it won't be...but you never know.

 

[Scott_lb]

This might sound funny but the only price I am really against is the $19.99 they are charging for the faceplates. I'd like to get another one in place of the plain one that comes with the system and thought they would be priced more in the $9.99 range.

 

[Nathan A]

A great deal? $400 is 33% more than any previous console (save for the ridiculously priced 3DO that failed in large part due to its pricing, and I forget how much the NeoGeo was). That's a pretty big leap for a company whose system is far trailing Sony's. What if games were $67? 33% is a lot.

I'm sorry, but "all the stuff you get" should have been basically standard in the first place. The hard drive came standard on the XBox. And if you buy the standard edition then want to upgrade with the HD- $100 for 20GB? Ridiculous. I just bought a 160GB WD HD for $40. 8x the storage space for about a third the price. And as Ken put it, the 64MB storage is roughly half the price. So if you don't get the HD, you're forced to fork over $45+ tax for this. Also ridiculous.

Previous reports were that the 360 would have wireless controllers only. Heck, there aren't even controller sockets in the photos I've seen (mainly in EGM). Seems like they're going out of their way and changing it to make an extra buck (or keep from losing an extra buck...semantics...). And as a side note, reports are that this will be the only system without wi-fi standard. More money if we want that!

The Silver subscription should be free anyway (previous reports stated that it would be) since you don't get to play games online with it; seems like they changed their minds again here to make a buck.

The headset? Well, I guess it's kinda nice, but won't pretty much any headset work with it? Including the XBox one many of us already have? Why be forced to pay for something you may not really want?

And the "bonus" media player remote? Sounds like a remote for the DVD player functionality. This is also kind of nice, I guess, but how many of us are going to use the 360 as a DVD player? Why be forced to pay extra for this thing? I guess it'd be cool if the remote could turn on the system without having to walk to the console, and having a wireless controller means you could do everything from your couch without getting up (assuming both the controller and remote are within reach). But why can't the controller itself turn the system on? I don't see why the new button in the middle of the controller shouldn't work.

And as for the component cable, don't most of us who would use it already have one for the XBox? I don't see any reason (outside of greed) why this cable shouldn't work with the 360. I liked how the PS2 used the same cables as the PS1. Why be forced to pay extra for it?

I'm sorry, but it seems like the gaming enthusiast is getting a raw deal here. Not only do we have to pay $100 more than before (vs PS2 and XBox), but we're forced to live with the fact that developers might not use the HD much since not everyone will have it.

I'm certain that $399 will seem pretty steep to most parents, especially after games (you pretty much gotta buy at least 2 if you're giving it as a x-mas gift) and taxes. $550+? Yikes.

I think MS realizes that this is pretty steep; this is why they're offering the standard package. It's pretty much been proven that parents will spend $299 on a system.

So this way MS gets to have it both ways- get the gaming enthusiasts to pay extra, plus still be able to sell it to price conscious parents. Blah.

I was planning on getting it this winter at $300, but now I'll wait until it drops to that amount (or even less! $200!) I know (or at least assume that people are right when they claim) that MS will still be losing money on the system, and offering a more consumer friendly release would hurt them even more. But hasn't this been pretty much traditional in regards to consoles? Lose money on the hardware; make up for it (and then some/a lot/a ridiculous amount) on software/liscensing? I bought both the PS2 and GC at launch; I waited until XBox hit about $150. Guess I'll wait again.

Boo to you, MS.