Analysts expecting a Xbox 360 price cut

If that is the way that it happens then I will definitely be buying a 2nd 360 for my other TV most likely an Elite :)

I wish microsoft would discontinue the core make the elite and the premium system both $100 cheeper! $379 elites and $299 Premiums, $49.99 for 20GB HDD, $119.99 for 120GB HDD, HD DVD drive $99.99 with a free movie rebate coupon!

Also Xbox Live for 2 months free with an elite purchase!

With that I think xbox 360's will be flying off the shelves!

Here's what I think MS should do, (not what I think they ARE going to do):

Core: discontinued
Premium: $299
Elite: $399

Wireless networking adapter: $50
HD-DVD Drive: $150

This way a fully packed 360 will = $600, same price as a high end PS3 with an extra 40 GB, but you'll have the option of forgoing the extras.

I just bought an elite a couple of weeks ago, but oh well, it's all good :)

Oh yeah, check out the X3F love from the AP!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070706/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_xbox360_problems;_ylt=Aofx_G9gn34IORdEyGOrWgYjtBAF

@3 - I was thinking the same thing. The core should just go.

Andrew is right on the money...Microsoft needs to drop the prices even more than what Sony did to get more press. "Microsoft drops 360 price by $200"...how damn good does that sound and how many people after reading that will find the nearest tech store and buy a 360?

I like that scheme #3, but it probably makes too much sense to do :p

I personally think that if there is one, it'll be during the holidays since MS knows they *will* get a surge of 360s bought with Halo 3's release. Then during the holidays, a price drop will be news and worth it for some people.

Hmm I kind of doubt we'll see a price drop this year. They got some heavy hitters that will move consoles at the current price.

@3: There's no way Microsoft would let the oh-so-attractive $250 price point get away from them, and I don't blame them for it. When a parent goes to the store and sees it's right there with the Wii's price point, it's going to make for more of a potential buy.

It wouldn't make sense to remove the core system completely when they can sell it for much cheaper and increase sales quite a bit.

While they're at it, how about HDMI in all models, including white ones?

A mere $50 price cut for the Premium is weak. It has been out for two years already. Needs a full $100 price cut. Maybe drop the Core down to $250 or so and add in a memory card.

Yep, I agree with #3. I will be surprised if there is no price drop from MS this week. I can't imagine they would let Sony get all the limelight attention this price decrease is getting.

Most of us have Xbox 360's, however I will definitely advertise if this happens to all my friends/family who haven't yet bought the Xbox360. More people to play Halo 3 with!

Sales may not have met their mark but they are still going strong. MS would look too much like they are panicing if they drop the price right away. They will probably wait to see how this spurs sony's sales before having their own price drop.

I dont know, price dropping can be a tricky thing. MS is in a good position that is for sure. They have the #1 selling console in the world in terms of next gen, it has been out almost 2 years, and the prime compeditor A) already cancelled 1 version of thier machine(PS3 20 gig) heh, ANd is the first to go for a price drop. That is never never good. anyways, MS can now respond by dropping price, but how much? Too much looks weak, or desperate. Not enough some people get pissed. I guess its best to be conservative and drop it alittle however, It would be a balls out move not to do anything to the price of the 360 and continue to kick the shit outa the ps3, Oh yeah and cancel the core system for developers sake.

I just picked up the Elite last Wednesday and selling my premium. If this turns out to be true I'll be taking my receipt back to the store I bought it from and getting a refund for the difference :)

First off, Sony's price drop isn't going to change the fortunes much. The general reaction is "about time", not "HOLY SHIT WHAT A DEAL". It's not exciting new, it's expected news giving their poor market position.

Second, MS doesn't need to drop the price more than $50. They could have done it 7 months ago but they knew they didn't have to. Why drop the price when you're still beating Sony? They could sit there making extra money waiting for Sony to move first and then respond accordingly. Microsoft calculated this move months in advance and Sony walked right into it.

Everyone knows Sony's move was desperation and Microsoft's was simply something that was coming anyway.

@18

On the button man.

@18

I agree, Microsoft should keep bringing in the money until Sony pulls their act together, if they ever do, and decides their prices
are ridiculous.

damn MS is going for the kill

I think MS should do some kind of drop soon (at E3). I mean I don't think everyone's gonna go out and buy a PS3 now it's dropped by $100, but I think MS would sell a boatload of 360s with a price equivalent to the Wii or less (for the core version). Plus, it'd just make the PS3 look worthless at the same time.

Got the core and premium price points right...

The elite is still selling really well so I am semi-surprised about the price changing.

http://xbox.joystiq.com/2007/07/06/ms-fails-to-meet-12-million-mark/#c5817499

you guys are morons who think that microsoft doesent need to cut their price. 360 should of already had a price cut months and months ago. They only remained uncut because the system could still sell compared to sony. They waited and it paid off. A MS price cut is VITAL. They need to drop within the week or they will hurt big time. If they wait for holiday or after season to drop price, they are gonna get screwed cause by then, blu-ray will be EVEN cheaper (alot cheaper actually) and sony is likely to cut an ADDITIONAL $50 of their console. 2 price cuts from 1 console in less then a year before MS could drop theirs once in 2 years is not right at wall.

On a side not, Premium and elite systems are all 0 on order in the futureshop and bestbuy stores. Now being sold out is one thing, but to have zero on order leads me to belive the next batch will have the 65nm chips, thus the delay. Hopefully these new chips will come, along with a console price drop, and by august I will be a happy gamer.

There's no question that the 360 is due for a price cut. MS has been waiting to see how their box would fare in the console wars, and now that the Wii has proved threatening, now that Sony has slashed the PS3 price point, they're going to respond. (I'm always baffled by posters here who seem to support MS profit over better pricing for consumers.) MS will have to respond to Sony, but I'm dubious about an across-the-board price cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep the Elite at $479 but add the HD-DVD drive. Those drives were, after all, designed to fit the footprint of the DVD drive inside the 360.

P.S. Didn't know that about the lack of 360s on order. That bodes well for those of us who have been waiting for a cooler box.

@24

Sounds to me like ur saying if MS dosnt follow suit with a price drop like sony, then ms is making a fatal mistake and has doomed the 360. Thats a pretty moronic statemnet. All the sudden, if MS dosnt copycat what sony is doing, ur saying ps3 will suddenly win the console war? Think about what Ur posting man seriously. U mention how ms waitred and it paid off, what if they wanna wait longer? U saying thats gonna affect sales of halo 3? MS is king of the mountain man, and in september the MS 360 is gonna showcase the greatest gameing launch in the history of gamming. WIth or without a pricecut. U gotta ask urself, Is the 360 worth 399.99? The answer for almost every1 is an very easy yes. The only people that want it to be cheaper are gonna be the ones that dont have it,or want a second 1. A price drop just isnt needed at this time. And it dosnt matter what the ps3 dose anymore. Unless they start giving them away, MS has little to worry about and isnt gonna drop the price of thier system just because sony has 2.

If this does happen, which I'm pretty sure it will, I'll end up buying an Elite once my current box dies, which I'm sure will happen. And if it doesn't happen within the next year, I'll donate my box to a buddy of mine and I'll buy the elite for the bigger HDD and HDMI. :3

agreed with #18, plus they want to still be gaining some money on each sale of a 360 vs. loosing more money (like sony) so they won't do a price drop until the 65nm's are close to being shipped out in full swing since they're cheaper to make. $5 says when they do that too there'll be a PR move saying something like, cheaper and now more reliable, lol.

CCC wrote, "if MS dosnt follow suit with a price drop like sony, then ms is making a fatal mistake and has doomed the 360. Thats a pretty moronic statemnet."

Yeah, it really is. Good thing, then, that I didn't say anything like that. MS is in a strong position right now, but it's not impervious. The 360 has to last longer than the first Xbox, so MS must be thinking about the long-term implications of a Sony price cut. Will it spell death to the 360? Of course not. Could it make for some confused parents come Christmastime if MS doesn't lower their price point? No doubt about it. But again, here we go with the weird rah-rah go Microsoft song and dance. Listen, man. I like the Xbox a lot. I like MS's approach, and I think they've done a nice job with the concept and software behind the system. But don't kid yourself: the 360 hardware rollout has been a major botch. The processor runs too hot for the case, the power brick is 1/3 the size of the box, and the console sounds like it has a couple of helicopter blades rigged up inside of it. In other words, the system has issues--issues that were in large part avoidable (the delayed rollout of the 65 nm chip is especially galling). So they tripled the already-increased warantee to the tune of a billion dollars. You think shareholders are happy about that?

this is what should happen take the elite to 449 throwin a hd-dvd player free lower the premium to 349 free hddvd player take the core to 249 throwin 20 gb harddrive. make hddvd player 99.99 and 120 gb drive 99.99

The people that bought the Wii are likely to regret that they even bought one because the games are just poor d. As for the people that bought the PS3 during the past few days, they should be crying right now. In the end, the Xbox 360 leads the race as it's been since it's clever launch as the first next-gen console. Even after the price cuts that has happened and that has yet to happen, I still see the race as: Microsoft > Sony > Nintendo

I have to disagree with #3 because Microsoft has to not only compete with Sony, but also the Wii. So, the Core has at least one more holiday before it disappears from shelves.

Also, we won't see a price drop in the Wifi adapter any time soon. Microsoft made the foolish decision to support 802.11A, which uses a different frequency than B, G and draft-N, so it costs more. I'm guessing that when N is a solidified standard, Microsoft will drop A support and issue a new, cheaper adapter. Then, and only then will you see the $50 price point. As for wifi adapters included in the box, don't bet on it because Microsoft needs all the money it can get from component sales. After all, non-gaming techies are starting to complain about Xbox's loses, and one writer at BreakingViews this morning suggested Microsoft spinoff the business. Short sighted if you ask me.

Sorry, to be negative but I'm here to just to state facts...

The fact is...M$ CANNOT afford a price cut due to their "BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT"!

Anyway, sorry to ruin it for you future or current Xbots but there is NO CHANCE IN HELL that there will be a price cut this year. Good Luck with your Red Ring 360s!

@24

I have been trying to get a 360 for the past week (yes, I am slow to get onboard the 360 bandwagon) and found the same thing with my local Los Angeles Best Buy and Target stores being unable to order more. I sent 360fanboy.com a "tip" about it on Saturday, but they never responded or posted anything about it. Seems inevitable to me that they must be clearing the shelves for a lower priced and updated (65nm?) xbox to hit shelves this week after tomorrows conference. Here's to hoping!

Interesting that I was going to get a premium 360 this afternoon (before reading about price cut rumors) and BestBuy had NONE!!! I checked their online availability of local stores in my area and could not find any with a premium or core console. I did see 4 elites at bestbuy when i was there but they were a little out of my range.

It wouldn't make sense to remove the core system completely when they can sell it for much cheaper and increase sales quite a bit.

Posted at 2:30PM on Jul 9th 2007 by Anthony

I completely agree with you. Discontinuing the 20GB PS3 was a big mistake. A PS3 with blu ray for $399 would have made me think about getting a PS3. Instead I have made my decision Im going 360. I'll see if MS drops the price this week. If not I'm still in.
I'll skip the first year of the PS3. When they go down to $299-$350 I'll buy one.

$499 is still to much for a PS3.

If MS does drop the price by $100 the game will be over. I'm hoping they do.

MSG4 may not be PS3 exclusive.
Konami Does not believe the $100 Price cut for PS3 may help. This may be just another nail in the PS3 Coffin. Sony is facing an economic issues from there developers. It just does not make sense to make a game exclusive for the PS3 with it's installed base. As a developer it's like committing suicide.

Konami sees little PS3 price cut impact
Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:17AM EDT

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp.'s (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) $100 price cut for the PlayStation 3 is not enough to turn the fortunes of the game console, which has suffered a slow start, an executive of game software maker Konami Corp. (9766.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said.

Sony cut the PS3 price to $500 in the United States on Monday, in a bid to ignite demand. But it still costs twice that of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) Wii console, whose $250 price and motion-sensing controller have made it a best-seller despite its lack of cutting-edge graphics.

"I wonder if Sony can win back user support by the price cut of just $100," Kazumi Kitaue, the head of Konami's North American and European operations, told Reuters in an interview ahead of this week's E3 video game industry trade show.

"I don't expect a substantial impact ... With $500, you can buy a personal computer."

Sony has packed its cutting-edge technology including a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player and high-performance chips in the PS3. The advanced functions enable life-like graphics, but have driven up production costs.

Its high price and a lack of attractive software have been cited as major reasons for the PS3's plight.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0924355620070710

Kitaue said Konami may need to expand the target hardware for its blockbuster fighting game Metal Gear Solid, which has so far been developed for Sony's PlayStation machines, to other consoles in the future to recoup development costs.

Kitaue said Konami may need to expand the target hardware for its blockbuster fighting game Metal Gear Solid, which has so far been developed for Sony's PlayStation machines, to other consoles in the future to recoup development costs.

In other words to turn a profit.
They must be looking at the Wi and 360 and are kicking the hell out of themselves.