Xbox360 Price confirmed

[Hacp]

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000550054771

Xbox 360 weighs in at $299 to $399

Exactly as we thought they would, Microsoft?s announced the official base price for the Xbox 360 at $299, with a $399 version available (no surprise there either). The $299 version will come bare with a wired controller, while the $399 version will have a 20GB drive, wireless controller, headset, and remote. We?re still on the fence about forking the product to make it more affordable, but hey, not our company!

 

[KeepItRed]

I'm buying one.

 

[batmanuel]

If Sony can sell their PS3 with WiFi, hard drive and wireless controllers standard for $399, then we might just have ourselves a horse race after all. If figured that a fully loaded 360 for $299 was a bit optimistic.

 

[subzero813]

is there any way i can buy it, then raid it for the video card and put it into my PC

 

[BenSkywalker]

Sony's console isn't supposed to ship with a HD although it IS shipping with Blu-Ray. If MS had included a HD-DVD player for the $399 tag I think it would have been a solid buy- given their launch lineup and the $299 version being worthless it's looking like I'll only end up picking up one XB360 at launch.

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
Sony's console isn't supposed to ship with a HD although it IS shipping with Blu-Ray. If MS had included a HD-DVD player for the $399 tag I think it would have been a solid buy- given their launch lineup and the $299 version being worthless it's looking like I'll only end up picking up one XB360 at launch.

I'm actually glad they didn't put HD-DVD in... as I'd rather HD-DVD just die out before gaining any more steam.. Blu-Ray is the superior standard in every way except extreme short term costs (medium and long term costs Blu-Ray wins) but people are blinded by hatred towards Sony or draw too many references to the past to accept this superior format.

It sucks that the Xbox360 will only ship with DVD, I'd much rather it ship with Blu-Ray as well... but like thats ever going to happen...

 

[Unkno]

repost...there has been like 2 or 3 threads already in the Software forum

 

[johnnqq]

what is the point of a hard drive??

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: johnnqq
what is the point of a hard drive??

Hard drives are much faster than any optical disc at this point.

Loading your game data off a hard drive would be much faster than a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc.

That and the fact you can store pretty much anything on it that the console is capable of handling.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Continuity28

Originally posted by: johnnqq
what is the point of a hard drive??

Hard drives are much faster than any optical disc at this point.

Loading your game data off a hard drive would be much faster than a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc.

That and the fact you can store pretty much anything on it that the console is capable of handling.

Also you could probably download game content thru an online service and store it on the hard drive as well as game patches. If they were to have an MMORPG that would probably need a HD to store game content and updates on.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: Unkno
repost...there has been like 2 or 3 threads already in the Software forum

Wrong! I posted this at 8:40 AM. I think they are the reposters at the software forum....

 

[xboxlive]

LOL, $400. Think ill stick with the one I paid around $200 or less for that has a hard drive in it already.

 

[fstime]

$400 is nothing imo. After $500-550, then I believe it's to much.

 

[xboxlive]

Its nothing if you can spare $400 to replace a working-just-fine xbox that you already own, lol. I dont have that kind of spare money lying around.

 

[Nek802]

I can wait... about how many months after the launch would they lower prices you think?

 

[Josh7289]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: Continuity28

Originally posted by: johnnqq
what is the point of a hard drive??

Hard drives are much faster than any optical disc at this point.

Loading your game data off a hard drive would be much faster than a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc.

That and the fact you can store pretty much anything on it that the console is capable of handling.

Also you could probably download game content thru an online service and store it on the hard drive as well as game patches. If they were to have an MMORPG that would probably need a HD to store game content and updates on.

That MMORPG is Final Fantasy XI.

 

[Josh7289]

Originally posted by: Nek802
I can wait... about how many months after the launch would they lower prices you think?

Probably about a year, and the price would drop by $50 AT THE MOST, and that's a generous number.

 

[Xephian]

I'm buying too.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I guess it depends. It isn't just the HDD you're getting, you're also getting the wireless controller instead of the wired (ofwhich I'd bet the wireless costs more), you're getting a remote (for movies and what not most likely), Xbox live (how many months could make or break the deal, a year would be pretty good), and then the HDD.

However I'm sure the cheap edition will be hacked in no time to all you to put in whatever harddrive you want, certainly more than 20GB.

This does raise the question as to how they're going to handle memory cards. The XBox1's HDD pretty much eliminated any need for memory cards reducing any sales on such an item. That'll be a hidden cost unless they include one with the $299 version. Something Sony was good at was forcing their PS2 users to spend on many extras such as the 4 port adapter, memory cards, the modem/lan upgrade, HDD...

 

[Porter21]

Originally posted by: KeepItRed
I'm buying one.

ME TOO

 

[slash196]

I've yet to see a single must-have XBox 360 game. All the shots I've seen so far are singularly unimpressive. If I'm dropping 400 bones on a console, it'll have a Sony logo on it. At least I can count on plenty of solid titles from 3rd parties.

 

[MBrown]

I like my PC...

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: MBrown
I like my PC...

Me too... And my Xbox. And I'll like my Xbox 360, as well.

 

[gac009]

Ill make my decison about what system has the best titles when the PS3 comes out, untill then Im not worried about it.

 

[BenSkywalker]

what is the point of a hard drive??

Backwards compatability for one. No HD, no XBox1 titles will work.

Ripping music- custom soundtracks, particularly for driving games, is one of the reasons I tend to enjoy XB racing games more then their PS2 equals.

Downloadable game content- something MS is really going to be pushing with XB360- not available without a HD.

Save games- no memory card worries is a big plus.

IF all XB360s came with a HD there would also be performance advantages as developers could build their games with the intention of using the HD to cache data from the optical drive- not likely to happen without all of them packing the HD.

Blu-Ray is the superior standard in every way except extreme short term costs (medium and long term costs Blu-Ray wins) but people are blinded by hatred towards Sony or draw too many references to the past to accept this superior format.

Without XB360 support HD-DVD is dead in the water- but that doesn't change the fact that the XB360 lacks any high definition playback for FMV clips and can't play high definition movies. This is one of the big reasons why I don't see the PS3@$400 as a bad deal at all while the XB360 certainly seems that way. Clearly Blu-Ray is the superior technology, and without MS truly backing HD-DVD it looks like we can count on Sony's standard winning out.