Xbox 360 pricing official

[racquetman]

Microsoft is officially announcing the xbox 360 prices today.

Core system is $299. $399 gets you a 20 gb hard drive ($100 add on if bought later).

Read more here:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/Xbox360pricingdetails.php

[Edit: Added pricing info to a page on the site and changed URL. - Admin]

[WndrBr3d]

Here are details on the two packages' contents:

http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/Xbox360pricingdetails.php

[Edit: Edited URL - this info is now on the site. - Admin]

[Spiffyfast]

OMG I'm so gonna get the $399 360 will all of the extra stuff, dont know if I'll like a wireless controller though, thats gotta suck some batteries

[Tsunamii]

It will take alot of batteries. Its worth buying the Rechargeable Battery Pack for the 12 bucks. Here are some more prices..

• Faceplate ($19.99, 19.99 Euros, 14.99 GBP)
• Hard Drive (20 GB) ($99.99, 99.99 Euros, 69.99 GBP)
• Memory Unit (64 MB) ($39.99, 34.99 Euros, 22.99 GBP)
• Wireless Networking Adapter ($99.99, 79.99 Euros, 59.99 GBP)
• Wireless Controller ($49.99, 44.99 Euros, 32.99 GBP)
• Play and Charge Kit ($19.99, 19.99 Euros, 14.99 GBP)
• Rechargeable Battery Pack ($11.99, 14.99 Euros, 9.99 GBP)
• Controller ($39.99, 34.99 Euros, 24.99 GBP)
• Headset ($19.99, 19.99 Euros, 14.99 GBP)
• Universal Media Remote ($29.99, 29.99 Euros, 19.99 GBP)
• Component HD AV Cable ($39.99, 29.99 Euros, 19.99 GBP)
• S-Video AV Cable (US) ($29.99)
• SCART AV Cable (Europe) (24.99 Euros, 17.99 GBP)
• VGA HD AV Cable ($39.99, 29.99 Euros, 19.99 GBP

[Spiffyfast]

That just makes me even more excited about it, I thought it was going to be more expensive than that.

[Tsunamii]

I thought it would be more $$ also. I love the remote :) Ill have to reprogram my Philips remote for that section :)))

[Spiffyfast]

Oh, didnt even think about that. I have a learning remote with my 1015tx....hmm

[WndrBr3d]

ugh.. $50 ea. for wireless remotes.

it's going to cost me $200 to get my xbox setup for some good 4-player games. weak.

i hope 3rd party are cheaper.

[Spiffyfast]

they arent any more expensive than whats out there now for good wireless controllers

[Tsunamii]

There was talk that Microsoft has put on firmware that will not allow 3rd party devices. Only those "Certified" by Microsoft will work.
Hey you can always take your remote from home go to the store and have it learn the code :)

Hummm I found it, it was on engadget.

"This ain’t no wishy-washy Made For iPod program here—Microsoft’s officially playing some classic monopolistic moves with the way companies can make devices for the Xbox 360. You guessed it, only authorized peripherals (i.e. devices made by companies who are giving MS a cut of the scratch) deemed as such by a security mechanism they’ve engineered into the 360 will be able to connect to, control, or be used by the console. Yes, yes, we know many companies have tried to make sure they get a cut of device sales from third party manufacturers, but to the best of our knowledge never before have any actually attempted to prevent reverse engineering of any kind or lock said third parties out—so the $64,000 question is whether or not Microsoft will actually enforce this and try to use the DMCA to overturn the kind of fair reverse engineering that was most popularly noted after AMD’s 1975 Intel 8080 clone. We know what we think, but what do you think?"

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000417054017/

[Spiffyfast]

Well it sucks for consumers b/c we'll have to pay a little more, but it makes perfect sense for microsoft, why would they want ppl getting in on their investment if they dont get a cut of the sales.

[Tsunamii]

Absolutly.. its all about $$ at the end of the day but that is what Buisness is about. Its just like the wireless adapter that is more of an antenna then an adapter but why pack it in with the 360 if you can sell it 4 more. I remember when systems came with 2 controlers and at least 1 game but they didnt have anything like the systems that are comming out now :) HD games rock...

[racquetman]

No doubt Microsoft is losing money on the system itself, so they need to make it up somewhere.

[Spiffyfast]

Absolutly.. its all about $$ at the end of the day but that is what Buisness is about. Its just like the wireless adapter that is more of an antenna then an adapter but why pack it in with the 360 if you can sell it 4 more. I remember when systems came with 2 controlers and at least 1 game but they didnt have anything like the systems that are comming out now :) HD games rock...

I wouldnt doubt they will end up coming in packages like that, but for starters I'm going to have to buy the $399 system and Halo3, plus I love the fact that they all come with some sort of xbox live, even if you dont want to play online games, I wonder if they will have a web browser you can d/l and buy a wireless keyboard/mouse.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I guess I'll wait until the prices come down to something reasonable. $300 for a toy is a lot of money. And it doesn't even come with a harddrive at that point!

And am I still right in assuming none of my current games will play on it? I thought I heard it wasn't backward compatible.

I didn't see it say it came "bundled" with any games either.

So then, not only am I looking at $300 for the Xbox 360, but then probably $50 per game so I can just play the thing.

So then at that point, I'm free to choose between this or the new Playstation. If Xbox can't show me any loyalty, why should I show them any?

:mad:

[racquetman]

I guess I'll wait until the prices come down to something reasonable. $300 for a toy is a lot of money. And it doesn't even come with a harddrive at that point!

And am I still right in assuming none of my current games will play on it? I thought I heard it wasn't backward compatible.

I didn't see it say it came "bundled" with any games either.

So then, not only am I looking at $300 for the Xbox 360, but then probably $50 per game so I can just play the thing.

So then at that point, I'm free to choose between this or the new Playstation. If Xbox can't show me any loyalty, why should I show them any?

:mad:

You'll need the hard drive to play xbox (current) games.

That's according to this USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2005-08-17-xbox-360-prices_x.htm

[Tsunamii]

$300 for a nextgen system isnt a bad price, IMHO. Most of the systems in the past have been around the same. PS3 sounds like it is going to have some sticker shock with it well beyond the $300.
360 is said to be supporting some games for backwards compat. No list of games that will be has been released, that I know of.
Ill also get the 399 system. I interested to see how they deal with existing Xboxlive paying members and how they port them to there new system. It sounds like there will be a free tier and a pay tier, I am guessing that if you are paying and want to keep it you get ported to that tier. Halo3 is going to be sick... Gaming isnt cheap but there are worse things I could be spending my money on...

[Shadow_Ferret]

You'll need the hard drive to play xbox (current) games.
Oh, geez! $400 is waaaaay out of my price range. That's why I still don't have my HT system! ;)

[racquetman]

Oh, geez! $400 is waaaaay out of my price range. That's why I still don't have my HT system! ;)

Guess you're stuck watching Brewers' games for entertainment. Poor guy :D .

[j_garcia]

I have 2.4Gig wireless controllers for my PS2 and they don't eat batteries at all. They have lasted a surprisingly long time. 100s of hours of play. I don't think wireless is a problem at all, and once you've started using them, you won't want to go back.

I'll probably go with the all inclusive version too.

[Spiffyfast]

I have wireless for my xbox when I have friends over to play halo 2, 4 controllers all with cords gets to be a hassle but they'll burn through batteries in a few hours, maybe I shoul have bought the nicer logitech ones. I dont use wireless b/c I dont want to worry about the delays doesnt happen ofter, but it does happe, i have the cool one with the fans built in so your hands stay nice and non sweaty.

[Sheep]

Maybe its a sign that the xbox is inferior?.. :p

That's pretty cheap for a lastest and greatest...(well not greatest :p ) console.
Even though the PS3 is a grand.. its continuos computing power is double the xbox's, so it is valid.

You know how the saying goes, you want the best, you gotta pay.

sheep

[Spiffyfast]

Maybe its a sign that the xbox is inferior?.. :p

That's pretty cheap for a lastest and greatest...(well not greatest :p ) console.
Even though the PS3 is a grand.. its continuos computing power is double the xbox's, so it is valid.

You know how the saying goes, you want the best, you gotta pay.

sheep

That pricing has nothing to do with whether its inferior or not, Its a price that microsoft knows will sell a lot of consoles to the average consumer, which will in turn sell a lot more games, accessories, xbox live subscriptions, and etc. I bet they loose money on ever console sold, but they will more than make up for it selling everything else that goes along with it. That is why Microsoft has bought some of the game developing companies and is why they set it up to only use microsoft certified accessories and add ons (we'll see how long that lasts b/f a way is found around it). The point is the money isnt made on selling the consoles, its made on the 100's or 1000's ppl spend on everything else for it. For example, I have one xbox $150, at one time I had over 50 games for it, now which do you think made them more money? Microsoft can afford to lose money selling the 360 for that price, I have a feeling sony can't afford selling at a loss.

[Tsunamii]

Maybe its a sign that the xbox is inferior?.. :p

That's pretty cheap for a lastest and greatest...(well not greatest :p ) console.
Even though the PS3 is a grand.. its continuos computing power is double the xbox's, so it is valid.

You know how the saying goes, you want the best, you gotta pay.

sheep
The current Xbox nets Microsoft a loss for every box sold. I think its like $80 or somthing. The next gen will also be sold at a loss. The value is seen in selling software and not the hardware. They are also selling lower to make it hard for cash strapped Sony to keep up. Oh the "cash strapped sony" comment is from a few reads over the last week not my quote id have to dig up what finincial house said it.
The cell processor looks very cool but still not proven in the market. Lets see where the chips fall. I want them both :)
On the Wireless controlers I never had a problem with them but the batterires are an issue. The recharge pack is a must for me. Ive been using the wireless IR to RF controler I first saw on here and have most of my equipment away so more wireless is better for me on this next box.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Even though the PS3 is a grand..
Not sure where you get your grand figure, the price is supposedly competitive to Xbox 360 (and they'd be crazy not to be) and they'll be losing money on their hardware, too.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/28/news_6128295.html

[Rob Babcock]

I think the games will cost more like $60 apeice- pretty steep, IMO. Is that price really $300 without a hardrive? :eek: Man, that blows bigtime. After having a regular 'box I don't think I'll be very interested in having a machine with no HD...and $400 is a lot of change for a game console.

Hmmm...I was pretty stoked to get one, but now I'm not so sure. We'll see once I get to see one.

[Clint DeBoer]

Not sure where you get your grand figure, the price is supposedly competitive to Xbox 360I don't believe it's a grand, but the "expensive" rumor started somewhere around here:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/615/615745p1.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20050725230636.html

[Tsunamii]

On who has a "faster" machine etc here is a post that is interesting from inquierer.net

""SO IBM hypersters are claiming their cell chip can do two teraflops per second. what about the lastest power5??? Go to IBM.com and find out here.
There you can see the latest and fastest power5 dual core processors can do 56.78 Gigaflop/sec in an eight way configuration. That's 16 Power5 cores combined, and the total is only 56.78 gigaflops for 16 lowly Power5 cores, or, about three gigaflops/per core. which makes sense, a float point operation takes more than one clock to finish, and each power5 core has probably two or more FP units...

So, there is no magic, you can't possibly do more than one instruction in one clock in one unit. You can do multiple if you have multiple units. To have 1000gigaflops, you will need 500 units each operate at two gigaflops.

A teraflop means 1000 gigaflops, so IBM is claiming that one PS3 is 2000% faster than an eight way power5 server selling at half a million bucks??"

Many people like to throw around things like PS3 is 2x more powerfull then X360 or the reverse X360 with the architecture will keep up with PS3 and not have to use the raw processing power that the PS3 architure will require. There are alot of geek facts in the background that make these statments very hard to qualify. Both systems are going to rock we do know that. The current Xbox is more powerfull then the PS2 there is not much argument about that, though the graphics are better on Xbox the games that are out for the systems are still the selling points for most, so who has the more "powerfull" system will, IMHO, not be a selling factor to most as it is assumed on message boards.

Sorry about the spelling... working on another project right now....

[Spiffyfast]

I dont really care which one is the more powerful, I like the xbox and the games that come with it, thats why I'll get a 360 and the $399 combo with all the accessories, looks like a great deal for anyone who plans on playing a decent amount of online games. I can't wait to play games in true HD, not that they dont look great at the 480p now that most of the games come in, but 1080i with full 5.1 sound should be amazing.

[Tsunamii]

Spiffyfast I totaly agree. I cant wait to see what Ghost Recon looks like :)

[Spiffyfast]

Spiffyfast I totaly agree. I cant wait to see what Ghost Recon looks like :)

I think Ghost Recon was one of the ones they had on that special on MTV showing how cool things looked, it was almost like watching a CGI movie, I can't wait for the thing to come out, its gonna be so fun

[Zer0beaT]

I wonder if they will have a web browser you can d/l and buy a wireless keyboard/mouse.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/8862/Xbox-360-QWERTY-Keyboard-Revealed/

Looks like there will be a keyboard at some point (probably when FFXI is released which apparently won't support voice chat, thus it needs a keyboard of some sort since it's an online MMORPG) according to these photos from some game conference few months ago. Other pictures of accessories etc. here too.

[Rob Babcock]

More bad news- the "core system", at a whopping $300, doesn't look like it will even include a memory card, nor a second controller. So you can't even save your friggin' game unless you pop for a $40 memory card. :mad: Buying the training-wheels version and adding the HD will be a screwjob of epic proportions, too.

I was pretty stoked, but it's looking like the nex gen machines will simply be more expensive and less useful. The original Xbox has a HD and can be used as a mini media server already. My main concern is that since the HD will be optional, not all manufactures of games will choose to support it, as MS is not requiring that they do so.

[WndrBr3d]

More bad news- the "core system", at a whopping $300, doesn't look like it will even include a memory card

We actually discuessed that here (http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10585&page=14&pp=10) (bottom of the page), and M-Systems announced that the Xbox360 (Xbox2 at the time) was going to have internal compact flash insted of a hard drive. So expect probably 256 -> 512mb internal CF storage.

[Jedi2016]

Which still hasn't been confirmed, you know. You keep bringing it up, but I've yet to see it mentioned in any of the official specifications for the Xbox360. If you have something more concrete than a news posting from a year ago, I'd like to see it.

[Tsunamii]

"at a whopping $300" what are you talking about? The last generation system was the same price, that can hardly be considered "whopping". There are PC video cards that go for more then $300 and most of the good ones are. Keeping with the same price structure of the last generation system, IMHO, would be considered not only reasonable but out right great. When you add up the costs of the extras the $400 system has it is a no brainier to get that one.
I have also not seen any talk of an internal CF drive since that article. I think there were allot of options being explored at that time and not all of them made it to the final cut, you would think it would be on the Official specs.
I found an interesting comparison of the PS3 and Xbox360 that some might find interesting (link below)

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1985-x-x-x?tag=boxcar_all_features_image

[Clint DeBoer]

For what this thing will supposedly do it can hardly be considered expensive in my option. It IS a luxury item - but it it priced very aggressively considering there will be additional price reductions once early adopters buy in.

[krzywica]

If you guys don't remember the ps2 was $400 on the release day. I still remember how awesome Metal Gear Solid 2 looked.

Here is a link for the ps3 and 360 game trailers.

http://www.e3insider.com/newsroomArticle.aspx?articleID=VDCG2C3D6G

http://www.e3insider.com/newsroomArticle.aspx?articleID=B8AAIBRB1V

[Tsunamii]

If you guys don't remember the ps2 was $400 on the release day. I still remember how awesome Metal Gear Solid 2 looked.

Here is a link for the ps3 and 360 game trailers.

http://www.e3insider.com/newsroomArticle.aspx?articleID=VDCG2C3D6G

http://www.e3insider.com/newsroomArticle.aspx?articleID=B8AAIBRB1V

In Japan it launched the PS2 launced at $368 but in the US it launced at $300 (299), not $400. This read talkst about the price of PS2 at launch and "Putting Xbox 360's Price in Context"

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/643/643170p1.html