Rumor: Meijer's catalog lists $100 price cut for Xbox 360 Elite
Kotaku recently got their hands on a catalog from retail superstore Meijer's which is supposedly due to hit ... catalog stands(?) on August 30. The clipping of interest from this ad book is for a "new lower price" for the Xbox 360 Elite model -- it seems they're slicing $100 off the price of the system, bringing it down to the $299 price point shared by the Pro version.
This fits in nicely with the grand design foreseen by the Ars Technica mole back in June, which claimed Microsoft would completely replace the Pro model with the Elite sometime in September. However, we called nearly a dozen Meijer's locations to try and confirm the cut -- only one Media Center employee had heard about it, and explained that it would be a "week-long sale," and not a permanent price drop.
We're certain to find out more in the near future -- either on August 30, when the catalog (and Elite price) is supposed to drop, or perhaps next week during GamesCom, which some believe will provide a veritable cornucopia of startling announcements.
This fits in nicely with the grand design foreseen by the Ars Technica mole back in June, which claimed Microsoft would completely replace the Pro model with the Elite sometime in September. However, we called nearly a dozen Meijer's locations to try and confirm the cut -- only one Media Center employee had heard about it, and explained that it would be a "week-long sale," and not a permanent price drop.
We're certain to find out more in the near future -- either on August 30, when the catalog (and Elite price) is supposed to drop, or perhaps next week during GamesCom, which some believe will provide a veritable cornucopia of startling announcements.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Tiptup300 @ Aug 12th 2009 10:49AM
I wish they would make like a stereo type version of the 360. Make it identical to the 360 but put it in a receiver-style stack form factor.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:17AM
...Why?
Axiom @ Aug 12th 2009 11:32AM
I was at Vintage Stock in Blue Springs,MO just yesterday and the manger was telling me that they where dropping the elite by one hundred. I was asking how much cash I would get out of a 20gb Xbox.
butaneko @ Aug 12th 2009 11:36AM
I've had similar thoughts in the past. It would be nice to have a neat stack of consoles and not have to have satellite units around your TV.
Then again my receiver/stereo stack isn't what it used to be since I don't have a CD or tape player and my PS3 replaced my DVD player.
Tiptup300 @ Aug 12th 2009 1:45PM
This isn't related, but I believe it very strongly. If you cannot afford $50 dollars a year. You probably can't afford internet and you probably have a lot of other very serious problems with your spending habits.
Paul @ Aug 12th 2009 2:58PM
they need to make the arcade version $150 and throw in 6 months of XBL when MW2 comes out.
them jawns would sell like hotcakes
WINterfang @ Aug 12th 2009 10:51AM
Man that's cool, I hope the new Elites (pro replacements) come in White and Black.
MarkHawk @ Aug 12th 2009 11:01AM
Same here. I'm also hoping that the arcade will ship with some sort of hard drive in the future. Even if it's 20.
WINterfang @ Aug 12th 2009 11:11AM
Heh with the Size cut of the new Hard Drive installs 20 gigs can last a while.
Ron @ Aug 12th 2009 11:18AM
It's it get rid of Zephyr and older gen Elite overstock before pushing out the new Jasper (or the new revision) chipset. Almost every retailer still carries the older gen Elites...having the new and the old Elite selling for the same price would keep the old stock around for far longer than they want.
Vcize @ Aug 12th 2009 11:46AM
It's only comparable on any of the other consoles if you don't play with friends, be it real life friends or online friends.
If you do, then the advantages of XBL outweigh the extremely minimal $30/yr cost 10 times over.
I WISH Sony would start charging for the PSN if it meant they got it up to snuff with XBL. Cross-game voice messages and invites, party system, etc. Basically, don't make me have to use means OUTSIDE their network to set up a game with 8 of my friends. Kind of makes that network useless.
Basically, I'd rather pay a negligible fee for something that fits my needs then have something that gives me a headache for free.
Ravnos @ Aug 12th 2009 1:49PM
The smaller hard drive installs are still basically useless for 20GB drive owners if you plan on installing more than one game to your drive, which you might if you're working through multiple games at a given time. I haven't installed any DVD games to my 20GB hard drive and I'm down to 5GB left, which isn't enough for a lot of the games I'd actually want to install. That's just Live Arcade, DLC, and save games taking up that space. It would be nice if they'd drop the price on the 120GB, I'd go crazy buying Arcade games and DLC. Instead MS wants to fuck me in the ass. No dice.
sting @ Aug 12th 2009 1:54PM
I want a glossy 360. Like the sweet Japan Wii.
~~
http://tiny.cc/yzUel
m3nphls @ Aug 12th 2009 10:52AM
I'd get one if only live was free....and if it had a quiet dvd drive
Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 12th 2009 10:56AM
Why do people complain about $50/yr for XBL? Is it because they're stupid or don't have a job or both? Explain.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 10:58AM
Free? Like some sort of free network that people play on? Play______ Network?
A quiet DVD drive is out of the question. The ability to stabilize the amount of data being fed into the machine would require some sort of ray that emits a blue laser. A blu-ray.
Wait a minute... PlayStation Network... Blu-ray...
Aww, Sony, you knew all along. You cheeky monkeys.
tmacairjordan87 @ Aug 12th 2009 10:59AM
It's because everyone else is doing it for free with comparable quality.
Well....except the Wii. At least it's still free though :\
Hyams @ Aug 12th 2009 11:01AM
Well, if you're like me and only play online every now and then, you'd be rather hesitant to pay a yearly fee for online play.
Midniteclubber @ Aug 12th 2009 11:03AM
Free on PS3 vs $50 on X-BOX... self explanitory don't you think?
MowDownJoe @ Aug 12th 2009 11:03AM
@Captain Planet: Umm... have you been paying attention to the news about the economy?
FNG @ Aug 12th 2009 11:03AM
step 1: buy a 360
step 2: install game to hard drive
step 3: no longer hear loud dvd drive
step 4: eat burrito
step 5: shat out eaten burrito
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:05AM
They complain because there is no logical reason to pay that much money for something that is free on all other platforms. That, and the fact that it doesn't even work all the time. The only reason people defend this ass-backwards concept is because they have grown to accept it. It's the same thing Microsoft has been pulling with Windows for years.
*Why should I pay so much for broken software?*
*YOU MUST BE POOR IF YOU HATE WINDOWS!*
If you're like me you already pay the ISP as well as the power company. The idea of having an additional bill just to play online is kinda messed up.
m3nphls @ Aug 12th 2009 11:06AM
Pretty simple, I'm not a hardcore online gamer, so I play online from time to time. Spending $50 (or sometimes less due to offers) per year on something I won't be using as much seems not worth it for me, oh and I read somewhere that you needed gold membership to download demos as well....then that's another point.
WINterfang @ Aug 12th 2009 11:07AM
You must be poor to hate windows? nobody says that...are you making things up?
MaxPower @ Aug 12th 2009 11:07AM
...and if it distributed cold beer
WINterfang @ Aug 12th 2009 11:08AM
You can download demos and buy arcade games with a Silver account.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:10AM
@WINterfang
No, actually, I'm not making things up. People have said that for years to those who prefer Linux over Windows.
But thanks for contributing to my comment with blatant accusations ;) Always good to have a fan.
devwild @ Aug 12th 2009 11:12AM
I sure do get sick of people saying live is $50. If you are paying $50, a) you don't care about paying $50, which is fine if that's fine with you, or b) you're living under a rock, cause live cards are almost always on sale somewhere for $30-$35, especially around christmas time. They also stack on to your existing months, so you can buy and redeem them any time.
WINterfang @ Aug 12th 2009 11:12AM
Well never in my life have I heard that saying, since when Windows was a rich man thing? all the cheap computers had windows.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:15AM
The cost of purchasing a retail copy of Windows has always been a complete mindfuck, that's why they keep throwing around the fact that Windows 7 will be something like $90.
Shaun @ Aug 12th 2009 11:21AM
I'd rather pay for something that is fun and works well than pay nothing for the crippled piece of crap Sony has.
CannabisPrime @ Aug 12th 2009 11:26AM
Cause no one has ever said the only reason people don't like the PS3 is because they're too poor to have one, right?
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:32AM
@Shaun
Not sure what you mean by "crippled piece of crap"? Pretty much every experience I've had on my PS3 has been completely flawless, unfortunately I can't say the same about my Xbox360. Hell, even Fat Princess ran fine for me from day one.
Battlefield 1943 calls. It's sorry for having such a fail launch on the Xbox360.
Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:36AM
Oh my lord you guys are fucking hilarious...
All I've hear so far are typical fanboy rants about Microsoft's Xbox Live offerings.
"It's because everyone else is doing it for free with comparable quality."
"Free on PS3 vs $50 on X-BOX... self explanitory don't you think?"
"Umm... have you been paying attention to the news about the economy?"
"They complain because there is no logical reason to pay that much money for something that is free on all other platforms."
"Well, if you're like me and only play online every now and then, you'd be rather hesitant to pay a yearly fee for online play."
If you think PSN is better than XBL, you need to come up with something better than "it's free, that's why".
And we don't need to hear from you Taco, your fanboy bias immediately disqualifies your opinion on the matter.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:39AM
My fanboy bias says Splosion Man is fucking awesome. Especially the ending. Oh, and Little King's Story is a pretty rad game considering it's on the Wii.
As for my defense on PSN?
I don't have one.
If you don't like it, DON'T FUCKING USE IT!
Since when did console wars become network wars? No one gives a shit if you use PSN/XBL/WiiThingy. As long as you enjoy it that's all that matters.
Huey2k2 @ Aug 12th 2009 11:40AM
As someone who owns a 360 with live and a PS3 with a PSN account I can honestly say this.
The PSN is definitely not as good as live. It's OK don't get me wrong, but live is just a lot more streamlined and fast, sure you can do a lot of the things you can do on live on the PSN, but they are slower and require a lot more steps to do.... and usually you can't do them from inside of a game.
So if you don't like spending less money than the price of a game once a year for the best online service available then sure don't... but please stop trying to suggest you can get the exact same experience anywhere else for free, because you can't. The PSN is good, but not live good.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:41AM
My fanboy bias says Splosion Man is fucking awesome. Especially the
ending. Oh, and Little King's Story is a pretty rad game considering
it's on the Wii.
As for my defense on PSN?
I don't have one.
If you don't like it, DON'T FUCKING USE IT!
Since when did console wars become network wars? No one gives a shit
if you use PSN/XBL/WiiThingy. As long as you enjoy it that's all that
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:43AM
Stupid reply fail. My bad. Vote down one of them if you want, or both, I've honestly stopped caring. There is no getting through to you people.
Play what you want. That's all I can say. If you're willing to pay for it, awesome. If not, awesome. If you want Splosion Man, awesome. If you want Fat Princess, awesome.
Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 12th 2009 11:48AM
Your last reply should have been your first (and only) one Taco. Thank you for yielding, there was no light at the end of the tunnel [hole] you dug yourself into.
Vcize @ Aug 12th 2009 11:52AM
real life friends or online friends.
If you do, then the advantages of XBL outweigh the extremely minimal $30/yr cost 10 times over.
I WISH Sony would start charging for the PSN if it meant they got it up to snuff with XBL. Cross-game voice messages and invites, party system, etc. Basically, don't make me have to use means OUTSIDE their network to set up a game with 8 of my friends. Kind of makes that network useless.
Basically, I'd rather pay a negligible fee for something that fits my needs then have something that gives me a headache for free.
Snowblind @ Aug 12th 2009 11:52AM
If you've used both, the difference is very noticable..
Also, now that they're adding things like the tenure and free dashboard games like 1vs100 and Joyride, there's a lot more incentive to being a Gold member.
And again, PSN may be free, but it's only got where it is by copying XBL. Imagine what the PS3's online service would be like if it weren't for the 360's. Most likely, it'd be no better than what the PS2 had to offer.
MowDownJoe @ Aug 12th 2009 12:09PM
HEY! How'd I get lumped into the fanboy rants? I'm just saying, alot of people nowadays can't get jobs. And if you need to tighten your belt, the first thing you're going to cut are any non-essential services that you have to pay for on a regular basis.
paperless @ Aug 12th 2009 12:08PM
There's no reason why Xbox Live should be paid. I don't bother paying €30 for 13 months of live (eBay, not even official price) gold BUT microsoft limits it to save money even though WE PAY.
They even have the courage to rip us off on like every single extra item like gamerpics, themes, whatever.
Why is Xbox Live so much better than the PSN, seriously? I JUST WANNA PLAY ONLINE AND I CAN DO IT FOR FREE ON THE PSN, end of discussion -> Xbox Live is overpriced.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Aug 12th 2009 12:11PM
This argument will never end.
Some people prefer PSN because it's free and works, usually.
Some people prefer XBL because it's high quality and works, usually.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Aug 12th 2009 12:18PM
Complain because it SHOULD BE FREE!!! DUH Has nothing to do with NOT having money. Hell I could have EASILY got a Pro Model and paid for live for 2 years instead of getting the Elitie.....but fuck that
If People just stopped paying for Gold on 360 like they did on PC then they would HAVE to make it free.....but you people dont get that....
Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 12th 2009 12:20PM
@ paperless
Why don't you get a free Gold trial and experience the service yourself. I can sit here and bullet point feature after countless feature at you, but you really need to experience the service first hand to really appreciate it.
Captain Planet (now accepting new Planeteer recruits and official sponsor of the Cody is a Douche contest) @ Aug 12th 2009 12:29PM
Again, more of the same "it should be free because ...blah blah it just should."
I haven't heard anything from the opposing side about the quality of service which is what you should be looking at from the start.
Jack_Jackington @ Aug 12th 2009 12:30PM
Captain Planet, I complain because of rent and bills. With school and work and puppy and girlfriend taking up most of my valuable video game time, it's hard to justify paying any amount of money to play online. But that's just me
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Aug 12th 2009 12:32PM
Quality?? so you are saying I should have to PAY to PLAY online EVEN THO most times you are simply connecting to another persons 360?? as opposed to paying nothing and most times being on ACTUAL SERVERS in a CENTRAL location??
If anything they should let you pay online from free and CHARGE YOU for extras like Crossgame chat, access to 1v100, Netflix, etc.....
Killjebus...PSN Killjebus @ Aug 12th 2009 12:36PM
Aggie,
You cannot use logic with people who defends MS making them pay for something that should be free.
The sad thing is, MS diehards should be ROOTING for Sony and PSN to completely catch up with live (I believe they are very close) that way, MS might be (now stay with me MS fanboys) FORCED to offer Live Gold for FREE. See that word FREE?
I will never understand the mindset of defending a mega corporation for being bent over the chair and happily taking MS's business in the backdoor.
Yes its ONLY $50 or $30....but wouldn't free be better?
Remember kiddies, competition is good for us.
If MS was the only HD offering in town, I can only shudder with fear on the terrible prices, micro-transaction fees, and prices that MS would charge.