Xbox 360 Elite on sale in Japan Oct. 11th for ¥47,800 ($390)
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jul 5th 2007 at 11:28AM }
While we were busy pondering these questions, Microsoft went and made plans to distribute the SKU in Japan. Set to launch on October 11th for ¥47,800 (about $390, much lower than the $480 US retail price), we're left thinking that the Elite will have an even harder time finding an audience in Japan than it has here. We'll see what happens to the charts this October, so place your bets now.
[Thanks, Scooby]
Gallery: Xbox 360 Elite
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dave @ Jul 5th 2007 11:35AM
How the fuck do they get it that cheap.
CowboyGA @ Jul 5th 2007 11:35AM
I consider this to be excellent pricing for Japan. MS has been fighting a losing battle over there with no hope in sight. At $390, it will be in line with more consumers while undercutting a rival.
My question is, what does the current model cost in the land of Godzilla and vomit-porn? I assume this is quite a discount.
t3h ub3r 1337 haxorz @ Jul 5th 2007 11:36AM
1st!!!! iPhone FTW!!!
shirokaze @ Jul 5th 2007 11:37AM
I can tell you exactly who is buying the Elites... current 360 owners who got the RRoD and cashed their warranties in for the upgrade...
I'm really hoping my Elite lasts longer than my original 360, though considering how hot it STILL gets.... I'm guessing Blue Dragon will kill it.
Jacob P. @ Jul 5th 2007 11:39AM
So just a question...does the Elite have a better cooling system and whatnot in it? I'm thinking about getting one, cause I've had my 360 since launch and I'm paranoid about it RRoDing on me...Anyone know if it crashes as much as the normal one?
synce @ Jul 5th 2007 11:40AM
It's not just the Xbox that's cheaper in Japan. The PS3 is also way cheaper there. Frankly I don't understand it since Japanese people, especially the nerds, spend crazy amounts of money on useless shit.
Jason @ Jul 5th 2007 11:41AM
Do anyone know if the 360 is region locked? Could I pick one up while in japan to save the 100 dorrar?
synce @ Jul 5th 2007 11:43AM
And regarding the red ring of death, it wouldn't kill you people to go out every once in a while. If your 360 messes up it's because you play it too much without taking a break. No ifs, ands, or buts. That's the reason. I don't blame you, there are plenty of good games, and Live makes them extra addicting, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be surprised when you ignore the manual that tells you not to play for prolonged periods of time without taking breaks, and your 360 breaks as a result. If PS3 had more good games, I'm sure it would have similar issues (mine has done little more than collect dust).
Foppe @ Jul 5th 2007 11:45AM
The system is region locked, but some games are regionfree.
Anyway, any news about some EUROPEAN release yet?
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 11:46AM
@Jacob P.
I'm not sure on the cooling unit used, but I think we have to wait till fall for the smaller chip to be put in the Elite.
Blue @ Jul 5th 2007 11:49AM
Synce:
An interesting point, but unfortunately somewhat incorrect. From personal experience, if you leave the PS3 on for weeks at a time, there are no problems. It's if you leave running Folding for weeks at a time, that it starts to bug out.
Link117 @ Jul 9th 2007 12:30AM
I work at Gamestop and I can confirm that the issue with the elite 360 is the latter. Since it launched here in the US my store has only had 6 systems that they were all from the first shipment! We haven't had anymore arrive since..........
My guess would be that MS wasn't sure how well it would do here.
Now onto the issue of the Japanese price! That is complete crap. I just bought a 360 for the first time a few weeks ago and now I here the elite is almost $100 cheaper in Japan.
Vidikron @ Jul 5th 2007 11:51AM
@5
Not really. It does have some extra epoxy to keep the board from warping and thus to keep the heatsink in place. It's a sort of half-assed fix. A proper fix would have been to replace the X clamps (why MS won't make that simple change is beyond normal human comprehension). That said, the Elites should be less prone to suffering the RRoD.
If your current 360 is working fine then I'd recommend you hold out till when the 65nm chips are put into production before making any sort of change.
Genius @ Jul 5th 2007 11:53AM
@8
Stop making excuses for a broken console, Jesus Christ you fanboys make me sick.
AG23 @ Jul 5th 2007 11:55AM
@Blue
I can't vouch for what occurred to you running Folding at Home, but I haven't heard anybody complain about the PS3 "bugging out" running FAH for weeks at a time. Some people have been running practically 24/7 since launch with no issues.
Matthew @ Jul 5th 2007 12:00PM
If Microsoft would sell the Elite for $390 in the U.S., and allow me to buy a 65nm model, they would have one more 360 customer. I think their current game line-up is great, with some real gems in the near future, but they still haven't sold me on the unit just yet.
vidGuy @ Jul 5th 2007 12:02PM
"If your 360 messes up it's because you play it too much without taking a break."
hmm, well some of them red ring after less than an hour of being on (my personal experience), so I don't know, maybe the 360 can't handle that? And for some reason I remember leaving all of my other consoles on over night for various things (to download; because I couldn't find a save point; because I was cheating an experience build) and nothing happened to those consoles.
I enjoy the 360, and after I opened up my console and made some quick fixes (including adding more heat paste) I'm running smooth now. But to say such hardware failures are the result of console "misuse" is sort of silly. It's not like the red ringing console were being played inside of a volcano or something.
Although playing on a HD projector system inside a volcano lair would be pretty cool...
Tom @ Jul 5th 2007 12:07PM
That's a really good price...but no one in Japan is going to care. It will not make a big difference in the weekly sales chart for the 360.
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 12:09PM
@synce
As much as I love my 360(s)I have to disagree. Playing games "too much" is no excuse for a system screwing up.
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 12:09PM
@synce
As much as I love my 360(s)I have to disagree. Playing games "too much" is no excuse for a system screwing up.
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 12:09PM
Sorry on the doubl post.
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 12:09PM
LOL. grammer too.
alu @ Jul 5th 2007 12:16PM
For people that don't understand the price difference and why this isn't any "cheaper".
This is a cut and paste from an informative post on this news item from Kotaku by user Bluerondo:
"The media should stop playing the exchange rate game. The Elite is only "cheaper" in Japan if you're paying in dollars. But guess what? Japanese people earn their money in Yen and buy their toys in Yen. The Japanese don't see 47,800 Yen as 389 dollars, they see it as 47,800 YEN.
You'll notice that the number 478 is awfully close to 479...which is the price of the Elite in America. Coincidence? No. It's the same damn price as far as the people in each country are concerned. 47,800 Yen to a Japanese gamer feels like $479 would to an American gamer. The only reason you think the Elite is "cheaper" in Japan is because you're converting the price to dollars--which you, as an American, earn. Japanese don't earn dollars. They earn Yen. The value of the Yen has fallen 20% against the dollar in the last three and a half years, which is the primary reason Nintendo posted its first ever quarterly loss a few years ago--it wasn't that Nintendo failed to turn a profit, but rather the dollar-denominated assets of their American subsidiary (NOA) fell in value against the Yen, the currency in which Nintendo's profits are calculated.
If Japan's central bank were to raise the interest rates tomorrow from the current near-Zero to something closer to the 5.25% rates in the U.S., the Yen would appreciate and the Elite would suddenly become MORE expensive in Japan--as far as Americans are concerned. But to the Japanese, it'd be the same price.
Basically, don't be jealous of the Japanese. Things are only "cheap" here because the Yen is a worthless shit currency right now. "
Davinche @ Jul 5th 2007 12:17PM
@synce
YOU are telling people that their console breaks down because they play it too much? and tell me how the hell would you know that exactly? Do you have a web cam in every bodies house checking to see whose 360's breaks and why?
And even if people DID play it more than what YOU consider to be a healthy amount does that make it okay?
LOL, I didn't know when I bough a console if it breaks down by itself it MY FAULT, or that if i use it "too much" then it's my fault. Who determines how long is too much I don't know, maybe you would like to tell me when I should turn of my 360 everyday since you are the authority on how long a console is to be played for.
You RROD apologists make me sick, I don't know why you would rather support a muti-billion dollar company then your fellow gamers, but just Like you I will make presumptions and say that every RROD apologist has made MS their father figure and don't want anyone to say something bad about their "dad"
ZippyDSMlee @ Jul 5th 2007 12:31PM
Ummm unlike the PS3 the 360 has a nice libary of games the only real issue with the 360 is that the hardware has a 30% fail rate,the elites are not built much better than the normal 360s in all the 65nm chips coming later this year will fix most if not all the problems with the 360 hardware.
Quack @ Jul 5th 2007 12:25PM
European release: 24 August (at least for the Netherlands)
Costs: € 549,00 ($ 750).
Much to high in my opinion.
I already let engadget know last monday, but they didn't post it.
Spitkicker @ Jul 5th 2007 12:25PM
@Davinche
I agree with you. I am no apologist, I think MS needs to come clean on this..it will help them in the long run far more then sweeping it under the rug will.
quazi @ Jul 5th 2007 12:28PM
@8
lol so i shouldnt be able to play my 360 when i want even though i bought to play it, because it might fail?! wtf kind of garbage is that.thats its main purpose to play games!
Shagittarius @ Jul 5th 2007 12:35PM
I am in your live cam watchin joo gamez.
Neebs @ Jul 5th 2007 12:37PM
@8. Bullshit. My friend, who is a casual gamer at any definition (he bought an Xbox 360 because it was going to have Ace Combat, Ghost Recon, Guitar Hero, a.k.a. what he had on his PS2), played his Xbox like two hours a day at the most, if he played it. He paintballs, has a job, has a life, etc. The longest time he played it was the day he bought it.
Within 2 weeks, it had killed his Call of Duty 2 disc, the only game he bought. Xboxes break BECAUSE THEY'RE BUILT POORLY. The bastards wouldn't even replace his COD2 disc for some dumbass reason. He used his Xbox Live Gold month trial, but now he's going to lose 2 weeks of it. They won't even give him that.
Oh, and I can HARDLY be called any sort of fanboy. I casually own a Wii, and I'm a PC gamer who paid his ass out to buy Vista and Halo 2.
Brad Lee @ Jul 5th 2007 12:41PM
Not to dogpile on synce or anything, but what he said simply isn't true. The RRoD seems to happen at random more than any specific reason.
I started up my 360 for the first time that day so I could try the Monster Madness demo with my brother and a friend. I updated the demo, played it for about 2 minutes, and the game crashed and when we rebooted the 360 the Red Rings were blinking.
The total time it was on could not have been for more than 5 minutes. This also kills the theory that it was heat, considering my 360 is in the basement and it's rather cool down there, and since it was only on for 5 minutes there's no chance it could have been from overheating.
It's random death. I think that's why MS is trying to keep this hush hush, because they probably don't even know what the fuck the problem is.
Dustin @ Jul 5th 2007 12:48PM
You say that the Elite is just as bad or unimproved but where are the post and pics of failing Elite's? It has to at least be improved some what. If you look at the Elites board and the other board there are some noticeable differences other than just the epoxy. My Elite is running strong, but for that matter so is my launch premium. I just wish MS would show some hard numbers instead of everyone relying on anecdotal evidence from the most unreliable source on planet earth, the internet.
Matthew @ Jul 5th 2007 1:07PM
Umm..Alu, you should be more careful with blindly giving out articles trying to explain this. That article makes some very bad points. There is certain hedging done for International companies to minimize the impact of currency movements on the bottom line, but other than minor currency speculation, most companies put out a price point in International Markets that they feel the market will accept.
The fact that the Yen has been weak for a quite a while the dollar has stabilized a bit lately and yet Microsoft is STILL charging significantly less than in the U.S. is really saying the Microsoft knows they need to sweeten the deal for Japanese gamers. They are taking on additional risk that if the Yen weakens further against the dollar, they will make even less money in that market.
Playing the exchange rate game *is* important. It gives us an idea as a consumer what a company is charging for similar products in other markets so we can make informed buying decisions. So...what we can take out of this is that Microsoft is willing to make less money, or even take a lead loss on their console in Japan to try and shore up their poor market share in the region.
So I will say it again...companies charge a price point in foreign markets based on what they feel the market can bear. And if you want a great example of that, just look at what all three of the big console makers charge our European(including U.K.), Australian, and Canadian brethren. If they're not getting shafted, I don't know who is.
GodisaMyth @ Jul 5th 2007 1:20PM
All of you RROD60 fanboys who continue to make up excuse after excuse even though it is common knowledge that the RROD60 has a failure rate that is simply unacceptable.
You guys remind me of battered wives and girlfriends.
I love my RROD60, ya I am on my 4th one and I had to wait a long time and pay for the repair....but it's got lots of good games. It is not Microsoft's fault, It's my fault. Even though it has proper ventilation and I rarely play it for over an hour at a time...it still is my fault because I turned it on, if I do not turn it on, it cannot give me the RROD so it IS my fault.
I love my husband/boyfriend. Ya I know he drinks too much and cheats on me and beats me, he even sent me to the hospital a few times...but he does not mean it, it's probably my fault anyway, and he always says he is sorry and buys me flowers, (sometimes I have a hard time smelling them because my nose is to swollen) and tells me how much he loves me. Then he drinks too much and beats me again...but I love him.
Get some help before Bill beats you so bad that you end up farting out of your face because it looks like ass after being beaten so often.
I am not making fun of battered wives...far from it, those who do it are scum.
I am making fun of all the excuses people give for Microsoft's piece of shit console.
GodisaMyth @ Jul 5th 2007 1:16PM
All of you RROD60 fanboys who continue to make up excuse after excuse even though it is common knowledge that the RROD60 has a failure rate that is simply unacceptable.
You guys remind me of battered wives and girlfriends.
I love my RROD60, ya I am on my 4th one and I had to wait a long time and pay for the repair....but it's got lots of good games. It is not Microsoft's fault, It's my fault. Even though it has proper ventilation and I rarely play it for over an hour at a time...it still is my fault because I turned it on, if I do not turn it on, it cannot give me the RROD so it IS my fault.
I love my husband/boyfriend. Ya I know he drinks too much and cheats on me and beats me, he even sent me to the hospital a few times...but he does not mean it, it's probably my fault anyway, and he always says he is sorry and buys me flowers, (sometimes I have a hard time smelling them because my nose is to swollen) and tells me how much he loves me. Then he drinks too much and beats me again...but I love him.
Get some help before Bill beats you so bad that you end up farting out of your face because it looks like ass after being beaten so often.
I am not making fun of battered wives...far from it, those who do it are scum.
I am making fun of all the excuses people give for Microsoft's piece of shit console.
GodisaMyth @ Jul 5th 2007 1:17PM
Stupid refresh button...sorry for the double.
horngreen @ Jul 5th 2007 1:51PM
#8
Stupid comment from a fanboy. I had mine on the dashboard while I was on the PC when I got the rings o death. I'm 41 with a wife, job and house payments so I hardly think my 360 was on on too long as I just don't have that much time. I guess since you claim "no if ands or buts" then you MUST be right. I guess the 3 people I know, all of whom have lost at least one 360 and one is on his 4th are just wrong? Please don't be such a fanboy it makes you sound like a PS3 owner.
GJM @ Jul 5th 2007 1:34PM
GodisaMyth,
You are pathetic beyond belief. I want to bash you over the head with my PS3. It will be the best use of it so far (besides maybe watching Pirates 2)
Vidikron @ Jul 5th 2007 1:40PM
@30
Which ones actually fail may be random to the end user, but what is causing the problem is very well known... although not publicly acknowledged by MS. Just do some Googling for Xbox and X-clamps.
John @ Jul 5th 2007 2:02PM
Godisamyth, please, could you post something different? I mean really, we've read your same unoriginal, lame comparison to battered wives on every article mentioning MS or Xbox 360. Get a life. Oh, and by the way, you know what all those women down at the shelter have in common? THEY JUST DON'T LISTEN!!!
C. Grant @ Jul 5th 2007 1:53PM
GodisaMyth: first warning.
Jackson Pritt @ Jul 5th 2007 2:04PM
I'm a Wii owner, but if the Elite dropped to $390 in the US I'd probably buy one.
Not definitely, but probably.
Does the thing upscale regular DVDs to 1080i?
If the Elite upscales DVDs to 1080i and allows me to play AVI files on my TV I would definitely buy one for $390.
Tom @ Jul 5th 2007 2:04PM
"I love my husband/boyfriend. Ya I know he drinks too much and cheats on me and beats me, he even sent me to the hospital a few times...but he does not mean it, it's probably my fault anyway"~GodisaMyth
Yes, yes it *IS* your fault: the way you keep yammering on and on, I'd be tempting to woop you about the face as well. Now stfu, bitch! Stop crying! I SAID STOP CRYING!!!
Thomas Henwood @ Jul 5th 2007 2:16PM
I can't believe that, in the UK the core system still costs more than that!
Chameleon @ Jul 5th 2007 2:20PM
"Get some help before Bill beats you so bad that you end up farting out of your face because it looks like ass after being beaten so often."
.......
GodisaMyth @ Jul 5th 2007 2:21PM
". GodisaMyth,
You are pathetic beyond belief. I want to bash you over the head with my PS3. It will be the best use of it so far (besides maybe watching Pirates 2)"
C. Grant,
Point taken.
I am curious though, why is my sarcasm (I admit most of it is bad) not allowed but threats of physical violence is?
Why are physical threats and colorful language directed at me Ok but my sarcastic comments are not?
Please let me know in an email...what is acceptable and what is not.
Thank you
GJM @ Jul 5th 2007 2:26PM
"why is my sarcasm (I admit most of it is bad) not allowed but threats of physical violence is?"
L O L
Mine was OBVIOUS sarcasm. Yes, I am virtually threatening to break something I paid $600 for over your head just because you come across like a mentally inept autistic kid in every comments section. Get over yourself.
John @ Jul 5th 2007 2:53PM
Maybe because it's the same tired lame trolling shit in every thread you moron.
JonnyBoy2U @ Jul 5th 2007 4:33PM
I bought a 360 Elite and I'm loving it. I've had no problems or issues with it and with the way its running I don't expect to have any in the future. In fact its my Wii I'm more worried about. The clicking sounds that it makes everytime I play a game are starting to both annoy me and terrify me at the same time.
This is definitely a good strategy for MS in Japan. But really what is Japan? Its just one nation. A small island at that. Yeah its the capital of gaming and all the major players are there but as long as MS still does great in America, Europe, and elsewhere I don't see why Japan is THAT important.
And oh yeah all you sony trolls really need to get a life. Yes the 360's break down. But so do Wiis and piece of shit 3's. So MS is not unique in the system breaking down category.
Sidepocket @ Jul 5th 2007 5:30PM
Wait, so Japan wants a smaller, lest pricey system that will not overheat and have constant good games that the Japanese like?
So they release an EXPENSIVE, BIG, NOT CUTE SYSTEM THAT OVERHEATS AND HAS ONE GOOD GAME EVERY 6 MONTHS-2 YEARS?
....
Good business move Microsoft.[/sarcasm]