XBox 360 Price cuts down to £199
But Xbox 360 Arcade price rises by £30, what gives?
From tomorrow, the price of the Xbox 360 Elite will drop by £30 to £199, Microsoft has officially revealed. In a move obviously designed to head off Sony’s cheaper PS3 Slim – set at £250 when it launches on Tuesday – the Redmond giant has improved the value of the console, though the question is whether it has gone far enough?
Well, here’s what you’ll get for your 200 bones: the matt black, Elite console with a 120GB HDD, plus one wireless controller and a headset, but it looks like the HDMI cable will be left out from now on. Sony’s PS3 Slim also packs a 120GB and a wireless controller, but no headset and no HDMI cable.
The key differences between the two – apart from the exclusive games and content – are the PS3’s Blu-ray player and the fact that you don’t have to pay to play online, which currently costs Xbox 360 owners £39.99 per year.
So despite tomorrow’s Xbox 360 Elite price cut, Sony’s long struggle with its controversial PS3 pricing looks almost at an end with the two rival consoles now more closely matched than ever before.
What about those exclusives then? Sony’s upcoming line-up looks impressive indeed, with the likes of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, MAG and Heavy Rain capturing significant attention. Microsoft’s selection is arguably less eye-catching, but there’s the upcoming GTA IV DLC, The Ballad of Gay Tony, to consider, as well as Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3 Recon, Left 4 Dead 2 and more.
But Microsoft is also laying on the hype surrounding Project Natal as a further selling point and is pointing out that all these consoles will work with the motion sensing technology, whenever it eventually launches. And you’ll get the new Sky Player, LastFM, Twitter and Facebook integration, along with Xbox’s own movie rental service. PS3’s movie download service is still in the pipeline.
“We have a goal over the next 18 months to deliver value with amazing content and rich interactive experiences in the living room,” explained Neil Thompson, Senior Regional Director, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft UK and Ireland.
At the same time as Xbox 360 Elite gets its new low price, the Xbox 360 Pro will be getting the chop. That leaves one other Xbox 360 SKU to consider, the Arcade. Bizarrely, the Xbox 360 Arcade will see a price rise of £30, taking it to £159. It’s currently a mystery as to why Microsoft is pushing prices up, but it is still cheaper than the Nintendo Wii, at least. Microsoft also hasn’t clarified whether there will be any changes to the Arcade package to compensate – a small hard drive could certainly make all the difference.
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