Rumor: Ars Technica Mole foretells PS3 and 360 price drops in fall

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 26th 2009 at 2:15PM }

Yes, we know -- another console price drop story. Our contempt rivals your own, we assure you. However, this time around, the report comes from a source that's proven to be eerily accurate on hardware announcements in the past -- Ars Technica's unnamed "mole," a prophetic figure who managed to predict the capabilities of the PSP Go, the release of the red Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 bundle and, most notably, last fall's universal 360 price cut.

On the Sony front, the mole is claiming that the 80GB PS3 will become scarce over the next two months, being mostly replaced by the 160GB model. As the larger model continues to sell into the fall, Sony will supposedly simultaneously announce the oft-rumored PS3 Slim and the even more oft-rumored price cut. The mole was unable to discern the exact amount that would be shaved off the price of the console, but was confident it would provide Sony with a much-needed sales boost.

For Microsoft, the mole expects the Pro system to be ushered off store shelves with the help of a few attractive Pro bundles which will crop up over the next few months. The Pro will be replaced by the 120GB Elite, which will supposedly undergo a price cut in September, followed by the release of its own bundles in October. With downloadable titles becoming a focus for both companies, turning the spotlight on consoles with larger hard drives makes sense -- but only time will tell if the Ars mole's sterling predictive reputation will persevere.

Tags: ars-technica, console, elite, mole, price-cut, pro, ps3-slim, rumor

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jun 26th 2009 2:19PM

With all the stuff to download and install onto the Xbox 360, MS better introduce larger hard drive sizes and drastically decrease their prices as well. Who knows how much they rip off customers with their proprietary hard drives.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 26th 2009 2:23PM

well lets just say We can buy a 120GB HDD for under $40....lol

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jun 26th 2009 2:41PM

So can PC gamers, heck, we use 3.5" hard drives baby! : D

bioadam @ Jun 26th 2009 3:07PM

Who knows how many Xbox 360 customers still have the 20GB HD, or no HD, because of MS's outlandish add-on prices. Personal my 20GB drive and frugality have nixed digital downloads for my Xbox 360.

jarhead906 @ Jun 26th 2009 3:35PM

Aw that's cute Sprinks. I'm glad that announcing a fact about Microsoft's overpriced, standardized Xbox 360's make him a racist.

Oh, and that making a criticism about the 360 automatically makes him a Sony supporter/fanboy.

ssuk @ Jun 26th 2009 4:36PM

I would still have my 20GB HDD in my 360 if it weren't for a chance sale at HMV one day had the 120GB HDD for £30. Still FAR too expensive for my liking, however it's a hell of a lot better than the full £100 they were originally asking for it.

As for larger HDD capacities, It's my understanding that (i.e: this may have changed, so don't take my word for it) the 360 only accepts a certain type of Samsung HDD which only comes in capacities up to 120GB. So unless Microsoft give some slack and allow a new brand of HDD or just another series of Samsung drive, don't expect that 120GB to rise any time soon.

My only big problem with the 360, really, is that Microsoft's monopoly over peripherals is just really, REALLY bad for consumers. They're over priced and Microsoft basically forbids competition, which, let's face it; Microsoft only ever shines when there's competition (but even that's hit-and-miss). I mean, that WiFi adaptor for the 360? £60? Really? Not even WiFi routers are that expensive... My current Belkin router was half that. My cheap-ass option was to buy a crossover cable, run the 360 to my laptop, share the wired connection to my WiFi connection and connect to Xbox Live through that. Cost me £11. Quite a saving for very little inconvenience.

SaMav @ Jun 26th 2009 6:33PM

I thought 'TheLionOfAzzalle' was banned.
I witnessed it with my own eyes...

Vcize @ Jun 26th 2009 6:59PM

You can put that same $40 120gb hard drive in a 360 too.

All we need them to do is introduce larger capacity hard drives into the 360. Price doesn't matter because just like the 360 you can easily stick any old 2.5" hard drive in the 360. The only difference right now is that the 360 will only take up to a 120gb drive.

Neo Asuma @ Jun 26th 2009 7:44PM

@ Chris

Not to mention a 500 GB HD around $100.

Mike @ Aug 4th 2009 4:54PM

@vcize
You are wrong you can't stick "any" 2.5" 120Gb hard drive in the Xbox 360 to use. It has to be a certain hard-drive type and then you have to hook it up to a computer and format it correctly to work with an Xbox 360. It is ridiculous that Microsoft ever went with proprietary hard drives when they want to sell Games on Demand, movies, DLC, and everything else they have on the marketplace.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 26th 2009 2:21PM

Makes sense....MS doesnt NEED to drop the price but bundling some things will keep sales going

Sony DOES need a price drop and 80GB models being phased out makes sense but I still see an ASSLOAD of those in stores but not any 160GB models

Christian @ Jun 26th 2009 2:21PM

They should have brought it back again this year, too bad they screwed the show last year by dumbing it down and making a lot of it physical and not mental puzzle like challenges.

Chowder @ Jun 26th 2009 2:22PM

Microsoft, i want to see a teraflop SSD or hard drive. You guys need to get your act together.

adolson @ Jun 26th 2009 2:26PM

That doesn't even make sense... You want a storage device that can do floating point operations? What?

Christian @ Jun 26th 2009 2:27PM

Yeah, because a Teraflop SSD is rational.

How about we just get some reasonably priced 60 and 100 GB models. I wouldn't mind even paying 75-100 for a 100 GB HDD even if that's a ripoff in today's pricing, it would be far more accepted than the current pricing system.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Jun 26th 2009 2:28PM

Teraflop??um isnt that used to describe speed of Processors??

Old Professor Zertoss @ Jun 26th 2009 2:29PM

I once did a teraflop into the pool. It hurt like hell.

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jun 26th 2009 2:42PM

Putting a terabyte SSD into an Xbox 360 will make a PS3 look really really cheap. REALLY!

DangerMouse @ Jun 26th 2009 2:47PM

Isn't the 120GB HDD already expensive enough?

aristokrat @ Jun 26th 2009 2:59PM

Does that mean you think the PS3 slim is a new terraform factor?

cuteSAVAGE @ Jun 26th 2009 3:21PM

I'm hoping for 1.21 Gigawatts in the next model.

Cal @ Jun 26th 2009 11:56PM

I'm still using my 256 megapixel memory card...

Mychas @ Jun 27th 2009 9:13AM

TB SSD's are expensive as it is, BUT A PROPRIETARY MS ONE! HOLY SHIT!!!!

jbuers @ Jun 29th 2009 11:15AM

This thread contains 100% of your daily allowance of fail.

I wonder how much it would cost to put a Jigga-bot of mammary in my hueg xbox...

iSwarm @ Jun 26th 2009 2:30PM

I'd rather they keep the price the way it is but increase the drive size to at least 500GB or even a TB.

Moris @ Jun 26th 2009 3:41PM

Alot of consumers could care less for that amount of space, and even more are clueless to what a Gigabyte even is.

I've had people come to me asking where can they find good "hard-drives", I've shown them catalogs and sites (mainly newegg) and they looked at me with a confused face (they didnt know what they were looking at)... Turns out they were calling the Computer ("the tower") a Hard-Drive :P

My point is, once alot of the consumers see that the price is the same (even though there is added space), most won't care for it since it still costs so much, and will go with the cheaper alternative. So a cheaper price tag would catch more customers eyes, and in turn more sales (hopefully XD).

K1LLER HORNET @ Jun 26th 2009 5:35PM

how can Microsoft increase the storage capacity to 1TB when there are no 1TB 2.5" HDD's on the market???

the 500GB has only recently come out.

Fane @ Jun 26th 2009 7:37PM

I agree with Moris, but had to down-vote due to nonsensical grammar.

COULDN'T care less

mr_maroon @ Jun 26th 2009 2:31PM

The Mole - WHAT a show!

venk @ Jun 26th 2009 2:33PM

ma..ma...ma...mole!

kacex @ Jun 26th 2009 10:24PM

Nice to mole you... meet you. Nice to meet you, Mole.

Also... price cut fridays are back!! yeiiiiiiiiiiiiii

-Vexx- @ Jun 26th 2009 2:33PM

Why a 360 price drop?

Mr Khan @ Jun 26th 2009 3:15PM

Why not? The last price drop brought them well out of the danger zone that they were in this time last year, where PS3 was starting to catch up to them in terms of Worldwide sales. The last price drop made that a pipe dream. This one could put them in spitting distance of Wii, at least in America (especially if they dropped the arcade, and broadened the $50 to a $100 lead)

Dr. Stabbingworth @ Jun 26th 2009 3:34PM

To really put their foot down on Sony's neck, I guess. They probably make almost all of their money off things unrelated to console sales, so it would make sense to get more consoles out into the wild.

Hyams @ Jun 26th 2009 5:07PM

Well, it's not really a price drop. It's more akin to the HDD increases the PS3 gets every now and then. Offers better value to the customers, whilst keep the price the same.

Carlos @ Jun 26th 2009 2:35PM

Yet another rumor/prediction. There's so much rumors and stupid shit. Why can't Sony just drop the dam price already?...

Slust @ Jun 26th 2009 2:38PM

Because Sony (the business higher ups) establish goals for years and fiscal quarters, then go through with them.

As much as everyone wants Sony to be ran by some rich guy who surfs all day, reads the internet and is sympathetic to gamers, his kin, that is not how elite corporations do business.

Raftman @ Jun 26th 2009 2:35PM

Interesting. I work at a certain video game retailer (>_>;) and the 160GB model was discontinued in our computer the last time I checked. At least for the Uncharted bundle, so if they really are going to continue to sell that one it's either going to be on it's own or with a different game.

Luddiz-Boi @ Jun 26th 2009 2:35PM

If PS3 will have a price cut this fall, im soooo gonna get one!

Doubt it will happen, though...

roger @ Jun 26th 2009 2:48PM

I bought a PS3 a couple of months ago and haven't touched my 360 since. If they drop it 100 every true gamer should get one as the exclusives are overall are better, well once you forget turds like Lair, Heavenly Sword, and Haze. I just installed a 500GB HD in mine and ripping all my DVD's to store on it and it rocks.