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XBox (Games)

Leaks Reveal New Xbox 360 Package 84

Posted by Zonk from the family-friendly-xboxen dept.
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."
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Leaks Reveal New Xbox 360 Package More

Leaks Reveal New Xbox 360 Package

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  • If this is branded as the "xbox arcade", the lack of hard drive might make getting XBLA games a tad hard. Maybe the games are bundled on a disc. TFA and TFA links do not elucidate.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by *weasel ( 174362 )
      The included games are on a disc.
      And most Live Arcade titles are ~50MB - so you can get a decent number on a memory card.

      Though Microsoft definitely should have bundled this thing with a 4GB flash drive.
      That'd be what? $30 for them? It's easily covered under the money they've made on keeping the 360 overpriced.
      • Being able to use even an xbox sanctioned 2-8 gig flash drive would be awesome. I'd be less paranoid about my Oblivion saves disappearing if my hard drive dies - but there's no way in hell I'm shelling out for a 256 MEG memory card.
    • The 'package' comes with a 256MB flash card. Whoop-di-do. You can hold four or five normal sized arcade games or perhaps one larger game. And it seems to be pre-loaded. Another poster mentions that they come on disk, but I didn't catch that in TFA. Either way, it's just the core system with a memory card and some relatively worthless games packaged in, "Boom-Boom Rocket, Pac-Man, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, and Luxor 2." Again, this according to TFA, which is leaked info. So it could be anything.

      Still isn't

    • http://www.newoxxo.com/html/games/games_01.html/ [newoxxo.com] Maybe you can see more here
  • >>256MB Memory Card
    >>5 XBOX Live Arcade Games

    This feels like a lame attempt to try and steal some of the Wii's thunder.
    Microsoft should know better than to release another SKU without a hard drive.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by MBraynard ( 653724 )
      And how large is Wii's HD?

      I wonder where they will put the games since they have upped the max size of games to 150mb. The games they are releasing with it may be smaller. I wonder what happens if you erase the card?

      • The Wii has 512MB of internal flash storage. One interesting difference between the two is that you are allowed to install downloadable games on the removable storage on an Xbox, however, you can not do this on the Wii.
        • 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.

          • Re:512MB (Score:5, Informative)

            by drcagn ( 715012 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @02:19PM (#20841805) Homepage
            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: (Score:2, Informative)

            by ElleyKitten ( 715519 )

            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: (Score:1, Informative)

              by Anonymous Coward
              They already have released the JPN exclusive N64 game Sin and Punishment by Treasure
              • Actually, counting the N64 Sin and Punishment there are now three previously Japanese only games for the US Virtual Console. The other two are the Famicom (NES) Super Mario Bros. 2 (which was brought here as the lost levels for the SNES) and Battle Lode Runner for the PC Engine (TurboGrafx16).

                I hope this trend continues as I'd really like to see the Mother games as well as old Fire Emblem and Famicom Wars here. Hey, we might even be able to get the PC Engine CD version of Akumajo Dracula X Chi no Rondo if

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by k_187 ( 61692 )
              FYI, they just released 2 japan-only games on the VC this week. Sin and Punishment for the N64 and Super Mario Bros. 2 - The Lost Levels for the NES. Well the lost levels has been released over here, but not the NES version.

  • Amazon link is dead (Score:2, Informative)

    by Seakip18 ( 1106315 )
    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.
  • Didn't they do this last year?

  • Microsoft has to focus... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by doyoulikeworms ( 1094003 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @01:48PM (#20841337)
    This'll be probably modded as a flame, but MS seriously needs to focus. What's with all the damn SKU's for their products? Between the absurd number of Office and Vista variants, and now with potentially four versions of the XBox 360, is their strategy to confuse the money out of the pockets of consumers?
  • If the arcade replaces to core it makes a bit more sense. The core with no memory was a ridiculous package. "Yay I get to play games but can't save..." At least with the arcade you could save some games and play arcade games out of the box.

    It still seems like a silly package without a drive, but it is all relative in a gaming world where Microsoft sells (or was selling) the ridiculous core (crippled) package along side an insane number of SKUs, Sony asking a huge amount of money for a system with only a
    • Listen MS, just tell your managers to get a clue.

      Change your software to let anyone use an external HD/Usb Flash as the Xboxs main HD to allow downloads/saves etc... full access as per
      internal HD.

      You know its easy, stop trying to make money of a stupid HD addon pack, make money of GOOD GAMES.

      Oh, get some new managers, not in suits.

      The Wii lets their customers use an external SD card for all downloads etc.... are you listening MS????

  • This was broken over a month ago (Score:5, Informative)

    by jonnythan ( 79727 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @01:58PM (#20841509)
    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]

      • Re:That's 3 SKUs (Score:4, Informative)

        by jonnythan ( 79727 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @02:23PM (#20841859)
        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.
        • Thank god for someone-else who understands that SKU is not a synonym for package or model.
          The often incorrect use (abuse) of "SKU" on Slashdot has been grating on me for a while now.

    • Re:This was broken over a month ago (Score:4, Informative)

      by MojoStan ( 776183 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @06:17PM (#20844905)

      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.

  • whooptie ding (Score:2, Informative)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 )
    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.)
    • http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/10/01/ms_ships_65nm_xbox/ [reghardware.co.uk]

      They've been selling red ring free consoles for a fair while now. I'd imagine that the announcement of putting aside $1 billion to solve the warranty issue was around the time they were sure the issue was resolved and that that was the maximum they'd need to pay out should all existing consoles fail under the new 3 year warranty.

      There's certainly far less red ring reports nowadays so it would seem their fix has been fairly successful thus far unless

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jollyreaper ( 513215 )
        I did some poking around online. The Halo-branded consoles were supposed to have the Falcon improvements (Falcon being the code name for the less broken design) but some people are still reporting red rings of death.

        When comparing the three consoles, the 360 has the biggest library with the highest ratings but damned if the hardware doesn't give one pause for concern. I honestly haven't looked into it much until recently. I'd passed on the original Xbox out of anti-microsoft sentiment. The PS3 this generati
        • Wasn't me who modded you a troll, but I was going to point out its phrasing like this "the massive 360 failure rates" that will get you modded as such. Just like in journalism the way you phrase things really implies your leanings, so just something to think about if you were interested in being less biased in your posts.

          Btw, would you consider yourself a sell-out if you bought/used a Microsoft product?

          • Wasn't me who modded you a troll, but I was going to point out its phrasing like this "the massive 360 failure rates" that will get you modded as such. Just like in journalism the way you phrase things really implies your leanings, so just something to think about if you were interested in being less biased in your posts.

            Well, what other term would you use for it? 33% failure rate? $1 billion just for warranty fixes? That's enormous. I was pricing one up and did some research to see what I'd be paying. For $350 plus $99 for wireless card plus $50/year for xbox live plus $60 for a new game, that's a lot of money to be tied up in a system that has a one in three chance of going tits up.

            Btw, would you consider yourself a sell-out if you bought/used a Microsoft product?

            I did for Xbox 1. Knowing that Microsoft is still taking a big loss on each console makes it a little less painful. I'm genuinely interested

    • (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.)
      For want of a nail, the shoe was lost...

  • Competition (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by imstanny ( 722685 )
    Maybe XBOX360 can give a Wii a run for its money on more than just price competition. They should port this to the 360: http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=srch1&Ntt=novint&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=novint&Ntk=All&product_code=347104 [compusa.com]

  • bleh (Score:3, Interesting)

    by angst911 ( 414454 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @02:25PM (#20841889) Homepage
    How about an XBOX 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive instead?
    • Better yet, a 360 with integrated wireless. It's probably the only electric powered device released in the last 5 years that doesn't have wifi standard.

    • I agreee with the parent. I really thought the elite was gonna have the HD-DVD drive it in when it was a rumor. When MS dropped HD-DVD for the 360 launch, everyone expected one to come out with it built in at some later point. If they aren't including it with this revision, then I don't expect to see the drive built in until next fall. That way they can play up the new revision for Christmas 2008. You would think that would be to late in the life of the 360 (the 4th Christmas for the console). As Sony has s

  • Microsoft needs to stop dicking around. Ditch the no-drive model. Drop the premium/pro down to $300. Drop the elite down to $400. If they were selling the premium/pro version at $300, they would sell like gangbusters.

  • I'm buying one. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Krodren ( 928196 )
    Don't know about the rest of you, but this is the first 360 that I'll buy. It now has a wireless controller (over the core). I bet it will have the HDMI port. I'm guessing it will have the new internal heat fixes. It should have the 3 year coverage.

    My friends have all had 360s for a while, and I've been tempted. This pushes me over the edge since I can grab one of their replaced 20GB drives to add on to this one. It also has the save card that none of my friends have sprung for, so I can copy off save
    • I like my 360 don't get me wrong, but I'd really recommend you go with a model with a hard drive. I guess if you don't have a high speed internet connection wherever your 360 is going to be, it probably isn't a big deal. But otherwise I think you're going to be disappointed when you can't download all the free demos and trials. Whatever works though, just my 2cents.

    • If you really want to play, it's best to bite the bullet and buy the elite off the bat. If you do wish to upgrade the hard drive (likely if you have good internet speed, there's lots to download out on the marketplace), it is much more expensive to buy the 120 Gig seperate.

      I filled my 20 gigs quick. Each demo is ~1 gig. High def game trailers and TV shows add up very quick. On top of that, Halo 3 now lets you save all the game replays you want to your hard drive.

      I bought mine when it first came out

  • SKU? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mollymoo ( 202721 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @04:06PM (#20843409) Journal
    What is it with calling products SKUs? It has more syllables and is less descriptive than the options already in common usage (product, model, package, version...). Even TFA calls it a new model, not a new SKU. As far as I can see "SKU" has zero advantage over the other options for anyone who isn't deeply involved in stock-keeping. It's a cumbersome catch-all technical term which has no relevance to normal people. The fact that it's a new model is the real news here; a new SKU might just mean a different game bundle or different packaging.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by necro2607 ( 771790 )
      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: (Score:1)

      by Imagix ( 695350 )
      You realize it's pronounced "skew", right?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by joe 155 ( 937621 )
      I agree completely. It's taken me ages to figure out what the hell it actually is. Why not use product?
      • The compelling reason to use 'SKU'(skew) for video game consoles instead of 'product' is there has been a pervasive need to bundle to maintain price points early in a machine's cycle. When we say "Microsoft's new console" it may be clear enough we're talking about the XBox360. If I ask the cashier at Gamestop for and XBox360, we're clear on what the product is, but since they package it several different ways I'm sure I would be asked which 'bundle' or 'package' I wanted. It used to be that sometimes the

        • It was curiosity and rhetoric in equal measure; thanks for the insight.

          Erm, hang on. You weren't asking a rhetorical question, were you?

    • It has more syllables and is less descriptive than the options already in common usage (product, model, package, version...)

      "Less descriptive"?? Hardly. [slashdot.org]

    • I'll shed some light on why you see the term SKU thrown around so frequently on gaming websites. There's a group of people out there who like video games more than the common man does. They spend their time arguing about the relative merits of each video game system, they write blogs about video games, they listen to podcasts about video games, they scheme about how to get to trade shows. To these video game superfans, the closer they can get to "the industry," the better they feel. They aren't content with
  • Enough with the pretentious "price point."

  • So, why skimp on the HDD? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Ka D'Argo ( 857749 ) on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @05:01PM (#20844099) Homepage
    Maybe the console geeks can explain this one (I haven't really been into consoles since the N64/PS1 days). Most stuff on consoles these days, requires a HDD. Not a huge one but at least something, as a starting off point. For various online content downloads, certain titles that need to install stuff for faster loading etc right?

    So, why is MS releasing SKU's that are HDD deprived? HDD's are insanely cheap these days. You can pick up what, a nice 80GB HDD from Seagate or Maxtor for $40-50 USD these days. Yet the price point on the SKU's seems to not really match that of the pricing of HDD's, as they tend to scale way higher for much less HDD space. If HDD's are cheap, why not put in a high capacity drive for the same price or less? It's plausible, there are devices on the market to be used, hell I'm sure they could get a bulk deal from a manufacturer quite easily.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Aladrin ( 926209 )
      To answer your question, it is because people want it. MS is not forcing anyone to buy the basic 360. In fact, most don't, from what I can tell. It's there simply to give people another choice. It's simple market forces at work, and MS is using them as always.

      Sony's no different... They're doing exactly the same thing, with quite a bit more confusion.
  • Seriously, screw the tardbox bundles. Get to the real news: What's the official word on the 65nm, already?!
  • 65nm yet?

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