Microsoft Lowers Price of Xbox 360 by $50

[Jimmy 2004]

Microsoft Corp. today kicked off the greatest holiday lineup in video game history by announcing it will reduce the estimated retail price (ERP) of Xbox 360 by $50 (U.S.) beginning Aug. 8. Soon to follow, Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) will release its blockbuster video game title "Madden NFL 08" on Aug. 14. "Madden NFL Football," one of the most important mass-appeal franchises in video games, was the top-selling game of 2006 and is the top-selling franchise of the past 10 years. Only Xbox 360 offers a console for all interests and budgets.

"The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360," said Mitch Koch, corporate vice president, Global Retail Sales and Marketing Group, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "On the eve of the best holiday games lineup ever and the launch of 'Madden NFL 08,' there has never been a better time to jump into Xbox 360."

Xbox 360 will enhance the value of its entire family of consoles beginning on Aug. 8. At a new ERP of $349.99 (U.S.), Xbox 360 offers an unsurpassed experience right out of the box with a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller, Xbox 360 headset, and more. For those looking for the ultimate value and the freedom to customize their console as they see fit, Xbox 360 Core System now has an ERP of $279.99 (U.S.). Xbox 360 Core System provides everything needed to start gaming while giving consumers the ability to add new features and accessories they want. Dressed in black and equipped with a 120GB hard drive, Xbox 360 Elite will be priced at an ERP of $449.99 (U.S.) for those who want the premium games and entertainment experience. In anticipation of this year's largest blockbuster game launch, the Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition Console will hit store shelves in September with an ERP of $399.99 (U.S.). Featuring an authentic Spartan green-and-gold finish, this console will include a matching Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 20GB hard drive, Xbox 360 Headset, an Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit, and more.

In addition to being a great value, Xbox 360 is the only console on which consumers will be able to play all of this year's biggest titles: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" (RedOctane/Activision), "Halo 3" (Bungie Studios), "Madden NFL 08" (EA) and "Rock Band" (MTV Games). Xbox 360 is also home to the most exclusive games, such as "BioShock" (2K Games), "Lost Odyssey" (Mistwalker and Feel Plus), "Blue Dragon" (Mistwalker and Artoon Co. Ltd.), "Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action," (Screenlife), "Project Gotham Racing 4" (Bizarre Creations Ltd.), "Mass Effect" (BioWare Corp.), "Naruto: Rise of a Ninja" (Ubisoft), and "Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation" (NAMCO BANDAI Games). With a record-setting attach rate of 6.1 games per console sold (NPD, Life-to-date, June 2007), a new price and the greatest holiday games lineup ever, Xbox 360 has proved itself as the home of the best games and entertainment at the best value.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Tuk]

Xbox 360 for 350$ for the 'Halo 3' season. Seems like they could have hightened the price to 450$ and still sold Halo 3 Xbox 360 packs for 550$ quite well.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Perhaps, but its a smart move by them. With the recent news about Sonys PS3 numbers after the price drop, this puts MS in a better position. Think about it, the biggest PS3 complaint was the cost. They lower it by $100 at least, and sales shoot through the roof. Now they have a huge increase in numbers. Not to be outdone, MS offers a console they should have from the start (Elite) with everything the PS3 currently offers and for a bit higher price (granted portable 120GB HDDs must be freaking expensive). Now, they lower the prices $50 (elite) $50 (premium) and $20?? (Core) Its smart business if you ask me.

 

[kwchang007]

Let the console price wars begin.

 

[newtekie1]

Does this price cut mean they have removed the "randomly stop working forever" feature? I really liked that feature, and I just can't bring myself to buy one without it.

 

[russianboy]

very good, it is cheap, and has lots of titles.

kudos to them.

 

[HaZe303]

Im really getting tired of this Pro-US attitude that both Sony and MS have??!! And im tired of being treated like a "second class citizen" by MS/Sony just because I live in wonderful EU!!? Is just because we have it better than Americans (dont have to worry to get shot), could that be the reason why we get the ass-raping by Sony/MS??? Whatever the reason may be, im growing tired of it!

 

[KennyT772]

Its all the shit sony and ms have been through thanks to wonderful EU economic laws...

the companies could charge you double if they saw fit and they would do it if people still paid it.

 

[kwchang007]

Im really getting tired of this Pro-US attitude that both Sony and MS have??!! And im tired of being treated like a "second class citizen" by MS/Sony just because I live in wonderful EU!!? Is just because we have it better than Americans (dont have to worry to get shot), could that be the reason why we get the ass-raping by Sony/MS??? Whatever the reason may be, im growing tired of it!

Well you know, getting sued, having to do currency exchanges every time a European buys one. EU laws that charge money for it to be imported, US and Japanese laws that charge money when techonlogy is exported. Most of all I think it's because you guys are united and such and have all sorts of laws that must be met and different standards (PAL vs NTSC).

 

[WarEagleAU]

agreed. dont complain about us, complain about the companies.

 

[driver66]

Im really getting tired of this Pro-US attitude that both Sony and MS have??!! And im tired of being treated like a "second class citizen" by MS/Sony just because I live in wonderful EU!!? Is just because we have it better than Americans (dont have to worry to get shot), could that be the reason why we get the ass-raping by Sony/MS??? Whatever the reason may be, im growing tired of it!

What?? eehh?? :shadedshu Makes no sense to be posting stuff like that.

E-mail the companies!!

 

[newtekie1]

Im really getting tired of this Pro-US attitude that both Sony and MS have??!! And im tired of being treated like a "second class citizen" by MS/Sony just because I live in wonderful EU!!? Is just because we have it better than Americans (dont have to worry to get shot), could that be the reason why we get the ass-raping by Sony/MS??? Whatever the reason may be, im growing tired of it!

Talk to your local governments and ask them why they joined this wonderful EU without informing it's citizens of the downsides. Ask them why you were not informed about how foriegn products would increase in price because of the EU's extreme tariff's and taxes on imports. Ask them why you were not informed that businesses would raise prices in the EU because of the extreme rules the EU will put in place against those businesses(rules that go as far as telling companies what they can and can not name their products).

Better than Americans? Are you saying there are no bad neighborhoods in the EU? I've been there, that is not the case at all. There certainly are places where I was afraid for my life and plenty of places where I heard gunfire.

Don't judge an entire country based entirely on what you see in the bad areas, because if we did that you wonderful EU would look just as shitty as you make America out to be.

 

[HaZe303]

I dont like EU anymore than other europeans do. With EU=Europe, thats what i meant. And sure it could be the laws/rules EU have put up that screws us. But that´s not us customers fault, its the politians, and if MS/Sony wanted to they could lower our prices as well. This is more of some kind of theory that we Europeans are willing to wait longer and pay more for our "technology stuff". Which by the way isnt true, we just dont have a choise when we almost all the time get everything last, or almost last. Aussies gets everyting last, but not long after EU. Thats what is bugging me, Sony even admitted that this was exactly the reason why we got screwed with the 6months later release date for PS3.

 

[newtekie1]

Again, you get everything last because of the laws the companies have to jump through to get foriegn product sold in the EU/Europe. It isn't he companies faults that the government requires that all foriegn electronics and software be approved before it can be sold, and it isn't the companies fault that they are charged huge tariffs on their products.

Don't complain about paying more either, the average wage minimum wage in Europe is about double the minimum wage in America. So we pay less for products, but we make less too. And how exactly can the companies make the prices lower if they wanted to? They are already losing money on the consoles, why should they take an even bigger hit and absorb the extra taxes/tariffs just because European governments feel the need to ass rape any foriegn business that tries to sell product in their counties?

 

[russianboy]

the EU ass raped me

 

[HaZe303]

Again, you get everything last because of the laws the companies have to jump through to get foriegn product sold in the EU/Europe. It isn't he companies faults that the government requires that all foriegn electronics and software be approved before it can be sold, and it isn't the companies fault that they are charged huge tariffs on their products.

Don't complain about paying more either, the average wage minimum wage in Europe is about double the minimum wage in America. So we pay less for products, but we make less too. And how exactly can the companies make the prices lower if they wanted to? They are already losing money on the consoles, why should they take an even bigger hit and absorb the extra taxes/tariffs just because European governments feel the need to ass rape any foriegn business that tries to sell product in their counties?

Not true...

You are so wrong...

You pay more for rent/morgage for youre living, thats why you earn more than us, and as a bonus youre products are much cheaper than ours. But we earn much less, because we our living(rent/food) is pretty cheap. But as a minus we have less money and our products cost more. So if you are a working class person as I am, you have much less money over after all the bills than a working class person in the U.S. But we dont need as much money either to live, but all technology and cars and everything so called extra non vital things are much more expensive here.

Ps. Sweden has one of the worlds highes taxes also, but atleast we get free health care... and all children under 18 get free dental care. But for a grown up paying 33% taxes when earning under 20.000kr(ca 2200$) and if you earn more than 20.000kr taxes could go up high as 40-50% depending on how much you earn. So the more you earn the more you pay taxes...

 

[kwchang007]

Not true...

You are so wrong...

You pay more for rent/morgage for youre living, thats why you earn more than us, and as a bonus youre products are much cheaper than ours. But we earn much less, because we our living(rent/food) is pretty cheap. But as a minus we have less money and our products cost more. So if you are a working class person as I am, you have much less money over after all the bills than a working class person in the U.S. But we dont need as much money either to live, but all technology and cars and everything so called extra non vital things are much more expensive here.

Ps. Sweden has one of the worlds highes taxes also, but atleast we get free health care... and all children under 18 get free dental care. But for a grown up paying 33% taxes when earning under 20.000kr(ca 2200$) and if you earn more than 20.000kr taxes could go up high as 40-50% depending on how much you earn. So the more you earn the more you pay taxes...

No way all of Europe the price for rent/home's are cheaper. My cousin lives in France and they bought a house at 300,000 euros I believe? Very little land, two full baths (well the toilet and showers are in different rooms) and not that much space. In the US a similar house would cost....ehh probably $300,000-350,000. Also, you guys pay much more for food (even McDonalds, you pay 7 euros for a number one, we pay around $6). Gas is more expensive, taxes are alot in Europe, but you guys get health care.

You say making over 20,000 kr=40-50% tax. A middle class worker after taxes, and insurance generally loses 40-50% of their pay. We get taxed quite a few times, we have a property tax, state tax, federal tax, and I think we also have county taxes. Alot of things in Europe are expensive btw, come and visit America, if only for the cheap food

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

Its all the shit sony and ms have been through thanks to wonderful EU economic laws...

the companies could charge you double if they saw fit and they would do it if people still paid it.

Remember when consoles were $200?

Oh wait, they already do charge double.

and idiots pay it.

 

[JC316]

Hmm, aparently, the online stores didn't get this memo. They are still priced at 299 and 399.

 

[SlipSlice]

Prolly because they haven't updated them, walmart online store on the game section in the front has the price drop down, but if u go to hardware to view the systems, they havent' dropped the prices on there yet.

So i think its just a matter of the webmasters not updating there sites fast enough.

 

[JC316]

Prolly because they haven't updated them, walmart online store on the game section in the front has the price drop down, but if u go to hardware to view the systems, they havent' dropped the prices on there yet.

So i think its just a matter of the webmasters not updating there sites fast enough.

Yeah, I think so. Best Buy has the correct price now.

 

[HaZe303]

No way all of Europe the price for rent/home's are cheaper. My cousin lives in France and they bought a house at 300,000 euros I believe? Very little land, two full baths (well the toilet and showers are in different rooms) and not that much space. In the US a similar house would cost....ehh probably $300,000-350,000. Also, you guys pay much more for food (even McDonalds, you pay 7 euros for a number one, we pay around $6). Gas is more expensive, taxes are alot in Europe, but you guys get health care.

You say making over 20,000 kr=40-50% tax. A middle class worker after taxes, and insurance generally loses 40-50% of their pay. We get taxed quite a few times, we have a property tax, state tax, federal tax, and I think we also have county taxes. Alot of things in Europe are expensive btw, come and visit America, if only for the cheap food

Im not talking about France, im talking about Sweden. You seem to think EU=Europe is one country, Europe isnt as U.S. EU is lots of different countries, and even if we have the same EU laws, every country has its own laws, own prices, own taxes. So im not talking about EU as a whole, coz its not 1 country. Sweden is still one of the few countries that dont have Euro inplemented yet. And no we dont pay 7 euros for a meal, our big mac meal costs like 45kr which is exactly 6dollars(and thats with the big coke )...

And one thing more: We have property(house) tax, car tax, wealth tax, we pay taxes on everything you can think off, everything that has a price and everything that is worth something has its own tax...

Our VAT is 25%...

Conlusion is this: We have less money and we pay more...

Sorry for all this Off topic stuff....

 

[hacker111]

Little bit more and I will buy...