Xbox360 Prices Revealed!!!!

ActionHank said:
Not every gamer needs a 20 gb hardrive.
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to play some games they will (there is at least one game right now that requires it...too lazy to dig up what one that is, though). And apparently you need it to use the backwards compatibility feature. I assume it would also be essential for getting online...but maybe not.

I agree that not everyone will need it...just saying it really is more important than a lot of people realize.
 
With the way consoles seem to be going, I doubt it will be long before every console needs a hard drive to play them. More and more, games seem to be depending on downloadable content.

One can only hope that this won't lead to console game makers adopting an MMORPG developer-type ethic (bah, we don't need the game to work yet, we'll just update it now and then afterwards).
 
Well Consoles are striving to have more and more capabilities like a PC has. So I wonder just how much longer do consoles have before they just decide to completly mimic a PC?
 
True. It probably only is a matter of time (which sucks). I kind of like the idea of having downloadable content and being able to play online if they are bonuses, not if that is what the game is designed around (because that way they won't finish the game and I really do prefer playing a friend sitting next to me than some 13 year old kid half a world away who never shuts up).

I hope that as long as the gaming industry continues to grow there will always be companies that make machines dedicated solely to gaming. Probably not. But I hope nonetheless.
 
I think I will only fully dedicate myself to console games only when people start making Mods for console games. I think stuff like that is what kept the PC gaming group alive all these years.
 
This is true. Most of the time I play any FPS or RTS games online it is some modified form of the original game...maybe just a player made map, maybe all new rules or weapon sets. But yeah, the mod community has done a lot for the PC gaming industry and probably would do the same for consoles.

Another good thing about online gaming with a console is that everyone is, essentially, on a level playing field. Someone may have a better internet connection than a few other players, but aside from that most people will suffer the same lag and generally have the same set up to work with.
 
I personally think the pricing here is a potentially fatal move for the Xbox 360. The only way to get the fully functional experience is to pay $400 for the "true" Xbox 360? What do they call the $300 version? The Xbox 180?

As far as why $400 is a dangerous price, consider this: the first PlayStation, at launch, was approximately $300. The Sega Saturn, which launched around the same time, was approx. $350.

I think we all know what happened to the Sega Saturn.

Also, in terms of consoles gaining more and more PC functionality, it is a valid hypothesis to say that's the reason why the console has risen so high into the stratosphere in terms of profitability. But a friend of mine hypothesized that with this trend, one of two paths could follow from this: either the console is phased out completely (the big console makers finally say "what the hell's the point of making a console like a PC when we can just make a PC?"), or at some point there will be a merging of the console and the PC.

I'd much prefer the latter path, because a full merging of the console and the PC can have some pretty exciting results. I can only imagine the number of students who would whoop and holler for joy when they can finally get a console they can write term papers on.
 
Pricing was not necessarily the reason the Saturn failed while the PS1 succeeded. One of the major reasons the Saturn died was because it was built to play the games that were most popular at the time it was being developed -- 2D fighters and sidescrollers. The Saturn was awesome at 2D graphics, actually better than the PS1 because of the memory configuration. However, the archetecture wasn't built to handle the kind of 3D gaming that the PS1 could. Shortly after both consoles debuted, 3D gaming became the big thing and the Saturn wasn't able to provde gamers with the types of games they wanted.

of course, there's a marketing issue too, which seems to have recurred for Sega later on.

As far as consoles turning into PC's, eventually that will probably happen, and it won't be limited to a console. It's likely that all home entertainment will eventually revolve around a box, so that one box could hav PC, game, TV, video, audio, and other functionality. The only real barrier I see to this is the state of console gaming with multiple companies producing competing consoles. While that competition exists, I expect consoles to stay fairly true to their roots, even though they will obviously gain PC-like functionality such as hard drive support. I don't expect to see a console that comes with a keyboard and mouse anytime soon.
 
Everyone does need the harddrive.

Um, if you don't get a harddrive you still need a memory card. 50 dollars for one.

You still are going to want to pick up the more expensive version of Live. 60 dollars for that.

So, right there, if you want to pick up bits and pieces, you are going to have to pay more then you would have for the system. I kind of think that is pretty crappy. The thing is, a lot of people's families are going to pick them up the cheaper version of the X-Box during Christmas because they don't know better. This is going to end up making them a ton of money.

Oh, and if you did want that harddrive on your X-Box 360, that is going to set you back 100 dollars just for that. I wouldn't really call that fair pricing. I am sure that I could go throug everything that they don't give you with the cheaper system, you know things that you are probably going to pick up anyway, and it is probably going to end up being something more then 400 dollars. Yeah, just crack down and buy the more expensive one anyway.

Or do what I am probably going to do and wait for the price to fall.
 
gillman said:
So, right there, if you want to pick up bits and pieces, you are going to have to pay more then you would have for the system. I kind of think that is pretty crappy. The thing is, a lot of people's families are going to pick them up the cheaper version of the X-Box during Christmas because they don't know better. This is going to end up making them a ton of money.
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Not really, since Microsoft said that only about 10% of systems will be the basic package,

Because I tend to have lots of PC hardware laying around, I could buy the basic system and add my own hard drive -- bigger than MS's. I'm wondering if that's the type of consumer they're targeting the basic package at, I'm not really sure.
 
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