Leaks Reveal New Xbox 360 Package

Gamasutra reports on hints from around the internet adding up to a new sku for the Xbox 360. The new box, the 'Xbox 360 Arcade' pack, is essentially a core pack with an emphasis on Xbox Live Arcade titles, for a low price. "Now, a new listing on Amazon, and a separate page at on Toys "R" Us' retail site that has been consequently removed, indicate an October 25th release date and $279.99 price point. The package shot shown at Toys "R" Us prominently features the five-game Xbox Live Arcade pack-in, with icons for Pac-Man and UNO lending more credence to the Ars Technica rumors. Microsoft has yet to confirm any details of the new model, nor has the company officially declared that the Core model - which originally was marketed with no hard drive, external storage, or HDMI output at the same $279.99 price - has been discontinued."

Amazon link is dead

[Seakip18]

Amazon has already pulled the link in TFA. Would it make any sense to release it now anyways? I thought 65nm was just around the bend, making this system to be on the shelves for only a few months.

Re:Amazon link is dead

[Applekid]

I thought 65nm was just around the bend, making this system to be on the shelves for only a few months.

As I understand it 65nm process 360's are already out in the wild [kotaku.com]. Just look for manufacture date after August 24, '07.

This was broken over a month ago

[jonnythan]

Kotaku broke this story way back on August 20.

There will be 1 new SKUs with 3 new packages:

XBox Arcade ("Go play!"), no HD, 256MB memory card, wireless controller, and 5 arcade games
XBox Pro ("Go Pro!"), former premium (20GB HD, 30-day Live Gold trial, headset)
XBox Elite (Go Big!"), with 120GB HD and HDMI cable in black.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/new-360-core-coming-to-us-this-holiday-291506.php [kotaku.com]

whooptie ding

[jollyreaper]

What I want to know is when they're going to start marketing the standard 360's with new "we actually built it right this time" solder technology. The 360 has a better selection than the Wii and PS3 at this point but shit, you have to have a functional unit in order to play.

(for those who might not have heard, the massive 360 failure rates have been attributed to crappy solder on the mainboard that fails under high heat levels.)

Re:512MB

[drcagn]

You can copy games to the SD card but you can't run the games from the SD card. You also cannot copy the games to a different Wii and run them.

Re:That's 3 SKUs

[jonnythan]

Yes, but two are unchanged: Elite and Pro/Premium. Hence, one NEW SKU.

Well, the Pro might have its own new SKU, but I could see it keeping the Premium SKU since it's essentially the same thing.

Re:512MB

[ElleyKitten]

You aren't able to copy downloadable games to an SD card on the Wii? It seems like they'd tie it to the consoles serial number of something in order to prevent people from downloading games and shuttling them around between Wiis.

No. If you run out of space you're supposed to delete games you don't play much and redownload them when you want to play them again (your Wii account saves them all for redownloading). I'm not sure if that's better or worse than buying extra memory cards and shuffling them around, but since I own all the old systems I don't really care much about the Virtual Console. Maybe once they start releasing Japan-only or new games to the VC I'll care.

Re:512MB

[Anonymous Coward]

They already have released the JPN exclusive N64 game Sin and Punishment by Treasure

Re:Climb on board!

[JebusIsLord]

Oh get bent. Why do people keep saying this? I have a 2 year old 360 that works great with every game and peripheral ever released. Yeah, i'm missing the HDMI output, but the component looks perfectly fine at 1080p, so who cares? I knew it was missing when I bought it.

If i'd gone with the Core at the time, I could have added a HD later. If I want to upgrade to the 120GB drive, I can do that at any time. Internal process changes are irrelevant to everyone except us nerds.

The PS2 changed processes, changed drives, added progressive output, and probably made a thousand other changes over its lifetime. If you can find a 1st gen PS2 that still actually works (mine doesn't) it'll play the same games as one I bought yesterday.

Re:SKU?

[necro2607]

Well, actually, most people working in retail stores tend to pronounce it as "skoo" or "skew", so it's only one syllable.

Either way I still agree with what you're saying!

Re:This was broken over a month ago

[MojoStan]

XBox Arcade ("Go play!"), no HD, 256MB memory card, wireless controller, and 5 arcade games
XBox Pro ("Go Pro!"), former premium (20GB HD, 30-day Live Gold trial, headset)
XBox Elite (Go Big!"), with 120GB HD and HDMI cable in black.

The latest "leaks" (from TFA [gamasutra.com], the Ars blog entry [arstechnica.com], and an Ars update [arstechnica.com]) reveal some significant additions:

• You mentioned XBox Arcade ($280) getting 5 arcade games, but you didn't mention that the Pro ($350) and Elite ($450) are getting bundled with Forza 2 (normally $60 retail) and Marvel Ultimate Alliance ($26).
• You mentioned the Elite having an HDMI port, but the new Pro and Arcade (Core) packages will also be getting HDMI ports.

Personally, I would have preferred a bigger price drop over the Forza/Marvel bundle, but those games aren't worthless.