Rumors: Xbox 360 at E3 - new 60GB model, pricecut, both?
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jun 16th 2008 at 9:44AM }
TrustedReviews is following up on their earlier rumor of a new 60GB Xbox 360 model claiming that, after some evident equivocation, Microsoft is finally ready to announce it at E3 and release it as early as this August (pre-10th says their source). No information on how the larger hard drive would affect other SKUs – would the Arcade get a hard drive or would the Elite get bumped up? – but that's the way these things are.
Second rumor regards a possible pricedrop to be delivered at E3 this year. Following last week's NPD data showing a slight dip in monthly 360 sales, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich said, "With E3 around the corner, we can expect Microsoft to make some type of announcement regarding a hardware price cut, the introductory of a new hardware SKU with new features, or both." Both sounds best here. How about a new, cheaper 60GB model?
[Via Engadget]
Source – 60GB Xbox 360 To Launch At E3
Source – Microsoft to cut US Xbox 360 price at E3, says analyst
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ Jun 16th 2008 9:53AM
Not worried about the price drop, as I already have one. A bigger HDD would be nice, though, especially if it's reasonably priced. I'm having to bump stuff from my 20Gb just to download a video. I think the last time I looked it measured the remaining space in Kb. And the 120Gb is just extortionally priced.
Martez @ Jun 16th 2008 12:59PM
You think the 60gb won't be, either?
Roto13 @ Jun 16th 2008 1:47PM
Reasonably priced? Don't hold your breath.
FrankTheCrank @ Jun 16th 2008 2:32PM
60GB drive? LOL. I laugh at that.
They should start at 120GB and give you the option to go 160GB or 250GB.
C'mon, a 160GB SATA 2.5" drive can be had for $75.
Must be the plastic case around the 120GB drive that makes it so EXPENSIVE.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Jun 17th 2008 4:49AM
Consoles are not about razor-thin profit margins, like in the PC market.
Why hasn't Nintendo released a HD yet? At the price they feel would be reasonable, that would put a Wii + HD over the price of a 360. They don't want that kind of back lash. Plus, 20GB drives are getting hard to fine. Drives get bigger, but they don't go down in price. Memory cards do, which means more margin.
SimbaDogg @ Jun 17th 2008 3:06PM
bigger HD would be great...but will the 60 gb be a 60, or a 39 gb? just like how you get the 13 gb on the 20.
and for all those that wanna give me shit saying "hard disk drives never give you the advertised space on the box after formatting"...yes, this is true...and look on the HDD on your comp, you lose 7% not 35
RobLink (Return of the McElroy Defence Force) @ Jun 17th 2008 3:26PM
"Drives get bigger, but they don't go down in price"
I'd argue that. Only a couple years ago, a 250Gb would've run you at least £200. You can get that for well under £100 now, prolly £50 if you hunt for it. £200 can get you 2 Tb in the right places now.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 16th 2008 9:56AM
Price drop before the Jaspers would be NICE. 60GB hard drive I can give or take. I question the purpose if only the video marketplace uses it to decent effect.
Keeko_ca @ Jun 16th 2008 9:56AM
How about a new, cheaper 120GB hard drive!?
I want more DLC, but am running very low on space.
NATO_Duke @ Jun 16th 2008 10:14AM
Yeah, I too would want a price drop on the HD's more than anything. If you are going to trap us into using your drives only, don't price them so unrealistically.
As far as the arcade, I don’t see why people bitch about it. It’s an option for one w/out a HD if people want that. I don’t understand why people think its existence somehow makes the other versions prices so much higher. Did anyone see a report that said that? Or is this just some clever reverse math work plus a whole lot of assumptions.
FOXHOUND @ Jun 16th 2008 10:35AM
For this reason over many, I've held off on getting my(2nd)Xbox360. Granted, I'd actually be a lot more hyped to hear a GOW2 Xbox360 Elite bundle, but I doubt it'll happen. So I'll just case mod my own and reserve the game seperately in August; since Fidilous mentioned in a previous article about yet another revision on the horizon.
I really need to keep up with X360 news & X360Fanboy a little better. :\
j.howlett @ Jun 16th 2008 10:37AM
i doubt most people think its driving the price of the others up but that it holds the games back. the only reason i see for them to stick around is for those people who want a quick replacement for a broken unit.
NATO_Duke @ Jun 16th 2008 1:09PM
Yeah, I totally forgot about the idea of the arcade limiting XBL game sizes.
xFenixKnightx @ Jun 16th 2008 9:59AM
Gotta love that pic! Great news, I gots el cheapo friends waiting on a pricedrop. Hopefully Arcades will come with the 20gb HDD or they just do away with them all together.
aristokrat @ Jun 16th 2008 10:00AM
death to the arcade! Come on microsoft, pony up and give everyone a hard drive. They're not that expensive, regardless of what you say about the cost of microsoft certification.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Jun 17th 2008 4:53AM
Yeah, that's the ticket. Their own hardware is rubbish, and they have to certify hard drives?
shawn @ Jun 16th 2008 10:04AM
i agree price drop on the darn 120gb hard drive,we dont need another sku we just need that 120gb price drop i would love to upgrade my 20 to a 120 but not for the price there asking seeing i can get a 120gb hard drive for a pc for far less,i know comparing a pc hard drive to a xbox is silly but hey i tryed LOL
PojoMofo @ Jun 16th 2008 10:11AM
60GB??? Price-drop???? YES PLZ!!!!
Seriously, they should be charging about $50 for a 60GB HDD, and they would sell a kagillion of them.
felixlighter @ Jun 16th 2008 10:58AM
The MSRP of the 20GB HDD is still $99.99. $50 for a 60 GB Xbox 360 HDD is not going to happen. Don't ever expect a reasonably priced hard drive for the Xbox 360. It's more likely that the 60GB drive would simply replace the 20GB and would be included with the Premium model and sell for $99.99 on its own. The 20GB drive would simply be discontinued all together.
Producing 60GB drives instead of 20GB drives will probably not cost MS anymore than they are currently paying. In fact, it may actually cost MS more to continue using 20GB drive because hard drive manufacturers don't typically manufacture 20GB hard drives anymore. That's also a reason why the 20GB drive would not be added to the Arcade. If they were to add the hard drive to the Arcade unit, it would basically cost just as much as the Premium to manufacture but they would continue to sell it at the lower price, which makes no sense for MS.
PojoMofo @ Jun 16th 2008 11:12AM
Yeah, Felix that is why I say "should" $100 for 20GB HDD is even more ridiculous today than when they originally priced it.
I say 20GB HDD=RIP, 60GB=$49.99, 120GB=$99.99 and people would be somewhat happy with the not-as-overpriced-but-still-high prices
Vcize @ Jun 16th 2008 10:11AM
Why wouldn't they hold off on this until the holidays?
It looks like they're gonna drop the price now, and then Sony will drop theirs around the holidays when many more people are looking to buy a new console...
Sean @ Jun 16th 2008 1:01PM
Because you want to increase sales now?
Seriously, if your sales are looking flat and not really growing while competing in a market with two other really good competitors you want to keep up the pressure on those competitors. You want to make decisions that your competitors have to react to. You don’t want to play “me too” and be forced to make decisions you're not ready to take.
Of course a price drop, unless it's to $250.00 won't really stop the Wii. I don’t think anything will stop the hype wagon. It’s the must have item even if some people don't know why they are buying one. However, dropping the price of the 360 might force Sony to match and extend their money losing ways for another 6 months.
velocitySTRIKE @ Jun 16th 2008 10:12AM
There aren't enough 360 SKUs.
modified @ Jun 16th 2008 1:28PM
They just need to kill the Arcade version. That's the second biggest mistake they made with the 360. First being using cheap parts that result in RROD.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Jun 16th 2008 10:12AM
I doubt there would be any new model, but a price cut I could believe.
If there's a new model I will forever dub this "The Generation Of SKUs"
Nate @ Jun 16th 2008 10:53AM
it already is the generation of SKUs. Both the PS3 and 360 have 4-5 SKUs already. Compared to pretty much every other console which had at most one revision halfway through the lifetime to revamp a few things (DS lite, PSP slim, PS2 slim, etc).
I don't have a major problem with a bunch of SKUs as long as they're all fundamentally the same. This is where Microsoft and Sony both fail. The lack of hard drive in the Arcade and lack of backwards compatibility in the 40gig are fairly important missing features that the average joe is not going to know about until it's too late.
Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 16th 2008 11:00AM
Well technically speaking, an SKU is nothing more than a new UPC. So both Genesis and Super Nintendo had a huge variety of SKUs.
007craft @ Jun 16th 2008 10:20AM
there wont be a new model without droping an old one. If the 60gb is real, its replacing the 20gb, or its replacing the arcade and the 20gb becomes the new arcade. So there will still only be 3 skus.
nick @ Jun 16th 2008 10:28AM
A price drop is inevitable. Would have liked to have seen one earlier this year, but whatever...
As far as the Arcade, it should have come with a hard drive all along. I seriously hope Microsoft corrects that someday.
kataztrophy @ Jun 16th 2008 10:35AM
New model = no RRoD? if that's the case, I'll get a 360 as my first next gen system.
xFenixKnightx @ Jun 16th 2008 10:41AM
Would be nice if MS would announce this new sku along with a RRoD Proof tag on it. I think a lot of peeps would feel more secure in their purchase.
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ Jun 16th 2008 11:45AM
can we not get past this? 3 YEAR WARRANTY.
PeterF @ Jun 16th 2008 12:58PM
Doesn't matter if there is a 3 year warranty, it is a pain in the ASS to wait 3-4 weeks for it to be fixed!
Donald @ Jun 16th 2008 1:53PM
If you can't go without video games for a couple weeks then please, go outside and find a new hobby. It's sad.
And the 3 year warranty is great for me now as I don't care if I can't play for a while, I just fear what will happen in 10 years when my 360 inevitably red rings again and I have no warranty for it.
kataztrophy @ Jun 16th 2008 2:11PM
Pardon me for wanting to buy a reliable product. the warranty is nice, but fixing the well documented problem would be a much better deal
xFenixKnightx @ Jun 16th 2008 3:39PM
Peter F
It takes 1 to 2 weeks MAX. My friend sent his in on a Tuesday and got it back that next week on Thurday. Same deal with another buddy of mine.
Lekko @ Jun 16th 2008 7:53PM
I still play my N64/PS1/NES/Genesis. I was playing them last week for a bit of nostalgia.
On original hardware.
I will not be able to say that about the 360 ten years from now.
A three year warranty on something guaranteed to break is basically Micosoft telling you the new xbox will be out in 3 years, so buy that once your 360 catches fire. It will be sorta backwards compatible too.
Cal @ Jun 16th 2008 10:47AM
They need to drop the price of the 3 SKUs (although I'd rather they just killed the arcade), as well as giving the 120GB HDD a sensible price...
nathan @ Jun 16th 2008 11:11AM
I totally agree VelocityStrike. Microsoft is not pumping nearly enough SKUs into the system. Can't say this affects me one way or the other as I already have my 360 and am not hard up for space currently. A PS3 price drop would be very nice but highly unlikely given the recent MGS4 bundle. Too bad.
theturtle363 @ Jun 16th 2008 11:01AM
THE POWER IS MAXIMUM
samfish @ Jun 16th 2008 11:11AM
If there's a price drop with a 60gb HDD, even I might "jump in".
...but not until we know where the 4th game from Platinum is going.
charlie @ Jun 16th 2008 11:14AM
An Xbox 360 price drop is long overdue. I thought that when I bought my own about 9 months ago.
I mean come one, $350 for the 360 with 20GB hdd when the PS3 is $400 with 40GB, built in wifi, included rechargable battery and charge (USB) cable, and ability to play Blu-ray? The Xbox360 came out first and I thought that MSFT was committed to a price advantage to maintain market share. The PS3, for a very long time, has been a MUCH better deal hardware wise.
Which is why yesterday I took up wal-mart's offer of a $100 gift certificate with the purchase of any Blu-ray player (including PS3). Picked up the 40GB sku, and with the gift card bought component cables and Planet Earth and 300 on Blu-ray.
I think people underestimate how attractive the Blu-ray feature can be for people who have HDTVs, especially a relatively large one (maybe over 42"). On big HDTVs, DVDs simply look shitty compared to your HD digital cable feed and its really frustrating. I finally got fed up trying to watch Planet Earth on DVD on my family's 61" DLP and went and bought the PS3 lol.
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ Jun 16th 2008 12:00PM
i see where you're coming from about the ps3 being a better value, the specs and arguments have been time and time again on here. BUT, being an owner of both, i definitely gotta go with the 360 for gaming. just no comparison. if it gets blu ray, and stays competitively priced, it's gonna be hard to justify a ps3 purchase. exclusives are NOT a selling point for the ps3. but totally are for the 360. i love my ps3 and my 360, but i love them for completely separate reasons. for now.
FOXHOUND @ Jun 16th 2008 12:26PM
300 on BluRay took a big price drop in most in-store Wal*marts... you might want to check locally to see for yourself. I would've snagged the $15+ copy they had there if I didn't already get it from MovieStop a week prior with store credit. If anything, you might also want to look and see if they're running combination sales on DualShock3 controllers too.
charlie @ Jun 16th 2008 12:30PM
Oh yeah especially for online multiplatform games I'll definitely always go with the X360 version, XBL is in every way a superior online service.
However, I'll also definitely enjoy some PS3 exclusives like MGS4, God of War III, and the Resistence series, and in the end for $400 its as cheap as the cheapest Blu-ray players and better than most of those cheapest ones too (some of them can only output 720p, and almost all of them are much slower at loading than the PS3). After you've spent a lot of money on an HDTV it kind of doesn't make sense not to have a Blu-ray player. It would be like buying the new iPhone and not paying the $10/month for 3G internet access, or buying a new car and not spending the money on... gas or something.
BIGGEN (LIVE-PSN: BIGGEN1103) @ Jun 16th 2008 1:01PM
oh, i agree. i don't understand the people that go and buy this expensive ass tv and don't have anything running on it. and it's not the money for most. it's either due to no knowledge of what is actually "HDTV" or they just don't care. they just want to be able to say, "yeah, i have an HD set." but are missing out on the whole point. but yeah, blu ray player-ps3 all the way.
verymetal @ Jun 16th 2008 12:20PM
I dont know for sure about this, but I read somewhere that Microsoft takes a loss on every 360 sold. Why would they drop the price on it if this were true? Also, I dont own one and see no desire to purchase one even after a price drop. PS3/Wii is where its at. MGS4 is the most amazing game ever, and I got to have the Wii for the party games. Hey, if a must have game comes out of any system I am on it. I just dont see justification in purchasing the Bill Gates Blunder.
PeterF @ Jun 16th 2008 1:01PM
they used to take a loss, that is long over
browntown @ Jun 16th 2008 1:03PM
I agree with u, there aren't that many non hardcore games on it. I plan on buying one, but they greedy, they need a nice big price drop.
John Mactavish @ Jun 16th 2008 12:30PM
Everyone has an xbox 360, how could the NPD sales get any higher? as you can see in software sales 800,000+ sales for gta 4...i can understand portables with high npd sales - one portable for each child but a console? not many households have more than one xbox 360 or even more than one hdtv