Xbox 360 - What You Get For Your Money

1up.com has a news post throwing together information from various sources, and revealing some release details about the Xbox 360. Scans of marketing flyers finally make clear the differences in the two skus. From the article: "There's ... a handy chart comparing the Core system to the standard system. The accessories are perhaps the most interesting, with specs and suggested retail prices listed. The wired controller is compatible with Windows XP, and the hard drive comes with some pre-loaded data, including an HD puzzle game. Of course, everything in the brochure is subject to change without notice, so check back for more confirmation as we get closer to the launch date." More commentary is available from Chris Morris's always excellent Game Over column. A transcript of the J. Allard chat is available at Major-Nelson.com.

Re:Gabe tells the truth about Xbox 360 pricing:

[ben0207]

Actually that was Tycho. Gabe doesn't talk so much.

Anyways, regardless of the US pricing (I don't live there), the UK pricing is shockingly cheap. £210 for the Core System, and the proper bells-and-whistles one for £280. Just to compare, the basic Xbox package was £300 without anything bundled, same with the PS2 (the GCN was £150, IIRC - not that it helped sales at all)

I predict very good sales for this - at least as far as the UK is concerned.

500+ dollars?

[Anonymous Coward]

So to get a new xbox with wireless controllers and that plays old games is going to cost over 500 dollars? Over 600 dollars by the time a game or two is added in!

WTF is MS smoking? There are a couple of games that looked interesting, but I am sure as hell not going to blow that much cash unless the games look phenomenal - and so far the 360 stuff looks somewhere between crap and meh. Even the latest PGR3 news is talking about the game having frame rate problems. And that was supposed to be the big release title.

This pricing broadside by MS has made the PS3 seem like something attractive now. Even if it means no more Halo.

Business-related FYI

[BlackCobra43]

The XBOX360 will only be assigned two different SKUs by retailers, as SKUs are NOT assigned by the manufacturer. The manufacturer assigns the product an EAN.

In fact, the XBOX360 will probably have hundreds of SKUs if you consider the number of retailers that will carry it...

Why even look at the lower model.

[tprime]

Yes, the lower model is a colossal mistake, talk about segmenting your user population. The only mitigating factor is that I can't figure out why ANYONE would buy the cheap version for $100 less. Wireless controller is $10 more, Component HDAV cable is $40 more, headset $20 more, Hard drive $100 more = $170 diff + no premium (good) games and no xbox1 games.