Technology | Reuters.co.ca — I have a sneaking suspician that Steve “Price it high” Ballmer has something to do with this. It should be $249..and not a dollar higher.
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said its new Xbox 360 would sell for as much as $399 in the United States, the most expensive mainstream video game console launch yet.
The move raises the financial stakes in Microsoft’s war with Sony Corp., which plans next year to launch its own new console, the PlayStation 3.
The two companies already dominate the $25 billion video game hardware and software market and are expected to try to make their consoles hubs of digital home entertainment.
The $399 Xbox 360 bundle includes a wireless controller, a headset and a detachable hard drive that lets the console play games made for the original Xbox and play particularly sophisticated games, such as some role-playing titles.
Microsoft also will offer a $299 Xbox 360 “Core System,” which includes a wired controller, but analysts expect early buyers to choose the pricier model.
That’s not that that expensive. People will pay it, and then complain about the price of gas, which is still less expensive that bottled water. That is the American way.
I don’t really know what they mean by “the most expensive mainstream video game console launch yet” though. The Saturn, 3D0, and Neo Geo were all $400+ at launch (well over ten years of inflation ago even), and while those certainly weren’t very popular, you don’t know, really, if a console is “mainstream” until after the public has had a chance to shop for it for a year.
“this is the board that replaces all of the car keys and cotrolls everything ; Air condioton (accurding to desired cabin temp),Heater (accurding to desired cabin temp),lights ,Fueses , starting The Engine from remote (even you can start the engine and turn on the Heater/Cooler before you enter the car WOW !),Siren Alarm ,Door Lock ,Snow roof ? fast/slow/repetitive delays/ ,…”
Relay Driver Board : http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/1/web/697000-697999/697807_17.jpg
It even has a snow roof!
Maybe GM will start offering optional snow roofs next year.
The 75 Camaro has a 7Segment Display Board Driver.
Middle Big 7Segments :
Speed KM/H in 3 color :
0-100 KM/H Green
100-140 KM/H Orange
140-? KM/H Red
Maybe GM can do this and you can get Homeland Security updates via your digital dash with a 7 segment display or something. If Microsoft was building a car this could be the concept car.
John, you know as well as anyone that the first Xbox lost Microsoft at least a billion dollars. You also know that Microsoft’s primary goal with the 360 is profitability. That cannot be accomplished by losing money on every console.
It’s also why they’re going to nickle and dime users on EVERYTHING. Games are going to cost more. Microsoft is going to even charge peripheral makers for the right to access the 360. In other words, if you think the console costs too much, you’re not even close.
It’s no secret that console manufacturers lose money on the hardware and hope to make up the difference through licensing fees on their software. Perhaps the only company that was ever good at making a profit off their systems was Nintendo.
I distinctly remember a source(though I can’t remember exactly which publication I read it in) reporting that the Xbox 360 would cost $375 per unit to produce. Initially they were supposedly going to sell the units for $299 – which at a loss is par for the course with any new video game hardware. Perhaps with this new price point of $399, Microsoft is attempting to succeed where almost everyone else has failed and they are aiming to profit from their new system right off the bat? Remember, Microsoft sucked it up when the Xbox launched and they lost a lot of $$$ on their hardware sales and marketing expenses in an attempt to catch Sony. Perhaps because they think the earlier launch of their system gives them a big edge they’ve gotten cocky and they’re planning on doing what almost nobody else has been able to do. Or perhaps if they don’t start making some substantial profit and gain ground in the next-gen wars, someone is going to be circling help wanted ads in the paper.
Microsoft said they plan on shipping out more of the “premium” units at $399 and would also provide a smaller shipment of $299 units to retailers.
Other systems to ever launch at $399 or above – Sega Saturn, NEO GEO AES. Hmm, what ever happened to…
Someone will buy at that price, Microsoft will make a profit and then be able to undercut the PS3 when it comes out
Waaaay too overpriced. The one and only console I’ve ever owned is an Atari 2600 and I don’t see anything in the XBox 360 that makes me want to spend that amount of money on another console.
Too much. I won’t buy it. For that much, I could get a larger harddrive for my computer, put money down for another computer… it’s too overpriced for me atleast, I don’t see the benefit in an overglorified computer that offers solely entertainment.
I say $195 and not a dollar more, psychological barrier with at the $200 mark, let alone near $300. And the ’99’ is bad marketing too, with high gas prices, people are more hip to that ’99’ scam, so you need to thrust it down a few dollars more. The high-end $399 model will sell to the modders and the video game freaks like water, but anything above $200 will not get the casual gamers, or the Mom and Dad’s thinking about the system for Christmas. They have created a rich boy toy, justifying it, in that Sony is likely to do the same. The low price of old consoles will suppress it even further. I think eventually the price will come down, as this is a multi-generational long-term thing. And I don’t think they will be that unhappy with people going legacy. But make no mistake, they are taking the usual Microsoft Soviet Style 5 year plan route here.
Granted it’s a great system, and even now it’s the ulitmate modding and emulator box, and XBMC is already a near work of art. Which puts them in a bind, crack down too hard on modders, and they will lose the platform war. Too open, and the game publishers get cheated, which is why Xbox Live is really the central point of this all. But then the major thrust per online play, drowns out their own Media Center functionality, and indeed the mainstream audiences to whom it’s targeted knows little of such. When you consider what you are getting, 3 IBM Power PCs toked up, actually the price is good, but not in perception. To the masses it’s just another video game system, only the hardcore and the geeks think in terms of raw specs, and that’s been the marketing thrust so far, minus that MTV trainwreck, which was targeted to model-like pretty people with less than 2 minute attention spans. But I think the geek market is their strategy, market to the Xbox Live crowd, others later. I (personally) feel that’s backwards, the hardcore user base will take care of itself, best bet is too hook the mainstream to move it beyond just a video game system, but something I have no doubt they will fail to do. Just like all the Microsoft Home and all the Interactive TV rot, all Redmond Geek Reality Distortion Zones, burning billions in fuel trying to catch up to Sony, a company which MAKES money in this space. In a ironic way, you can call the ‘Xbox Project’ a Microsoft Employee Perk, entertainment for the troops. And an ego-trip to prove they can outdo Sony in their own backyard, just deposit billions upon billions here. Shareholders get shafted, to feed geek egos, and that’s the bottom line.
Good, I say. I don’t want consoles to become the standard for gaming entertainment so I’m glad to see lame console users get squeezed for using these compromised systems. Unfortunately, there are too many financially irresponsible and self-indulgent people who will simply pay the asking price while constantly whining about how expensive it is and then worry later about how they’re going to pay off their credit cards with that new console in addition to the new PC purchase/upgrades. Microsoft knows this and will enjoy expanding their ability to rape customers with the new versions of the consoles as they have done with Windows for years. People just can’t resist good marketing and they’ll respond like Pavlov’s dog.
Instead of a one system package approach, Microsoft offers one bloated “Premium” package at $399 and one crippled “Core” package for only one hundred dollars less. Microsoft made it clear what the system was going to be in their official PR from E3. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/e32005/20050516-pressbriefing-news.htm
Microsoft emphasized more of the “Always on/Community/Micro-transactions/Entertainment and Media convergence and it’s one system that can do it, attract a larger audience, and lead the Next-Gen market share. The XBOX team lost focus about the games because they don’t have any killer apps for this aggressive launch date. They were more concerned about the suppliments and not the heart of the system, games.
Now, Microsoft announces a two tier system approach to the market. After touting all the wonders those extras were to provide and lure a larger audience to their side, they release a slighty lower cost “Crippled” version of the system. They claim the crippled, or “Core” version provides the customer with the best solution and best “Options”. Why bless their little consumer caring heart.
They release a crippled system which out of the box negates those wonderful extras that they have spent so much time to promote. Are the management dullards from the Vista group floating over to help out the XBOX group?
From what I see, those who see this flaw and are vocal about it, are smaller than the loyalists in the forums. Those who are vocal caused enough of a row that now J. Allard, VP of the XBOX group, will have an emergency online Q&A about what has been spoken in the forums. I’m sure he will spend his time put a spin on the situation and sway some of those unhappy back to his side. It won’t be enough.
When the rumors of a second system without a HDD were flying around, fans of the 360 clearly stated they did not like this approach. They wanted a system that was made up of the system, one wireless controller, and the 20GB HDD. This is the standard system approach that is listed in the E305 PR link above. Just one standard. Just one system package that included those items. They were ready to accept a price of three-hundred and fifty for it.
Microsoft has now created a bigger hassle than then needed to. Two sku’s could mean greater confusion in the market. Then the marketing has more work to educate the public on the differences between a overstuffed package and a slightly lower cost “Crippled” package. Yeah! this won’t confuse those non-gaming casual people you are trying to lure into your camp. And those you do understand, should question what kind of scam is MS trying to pull this time. Sounds like a winning business plan to me!
The XBOX team has really tried hard to be the market leader, but contiune to trip themselves up with their own mistakes. It is a shame too, because those past flubs completely overshadowed the good they were trying to create. Time will tell if this gamble pays big in the end. What a kick to the gut it would be if the late to the party PS3 shows up with a little higher price and still dominates the video game market.
First, to Pimp Daddy who has not had a console system since the Atari 2600 — Dude, you rock!
Second, on this issue, let them price this even higher. Then, they can just mail the market share to Sony and it will be one less thing that MS has their tentacles in.
Actually, I think this is a smart move. There are gamers that will buy two $600 video cards to run in an SLI motherboard — just for bragging rights. It makes sense for Microsoft to target that portion of the market place for at least the first six months. This will allow MS to recover a substantial portion of their development cost before they must lower its price to compete against the PS3.
They might be expecting bugs, and a higher price gives them lower replacement costs. Have they really figured out the concept of electronics as an appliance and not a computer ?
Leave it to Microsoft to use the sneaky business plan of “upgrades to normal level” to ruin the major benefit of using a console which is not having to make a version or quality decision. In addition, this tactic convolutes the argument of too expensive and are able to create a market for a lower income class . No “standard” is sacred to their inexhaustive desire to drain the unknowing consumer of their pocket burning cash. The “you can always ‘upgrade’ later” is a winning marketing method for selling standard features at a higher price at a later date.
Personally I think it ‘s way to expensive. People who can afford it will deffinatly still buy it, but there are many people like myself (broke college students) who will want this but don’t have the money to buy. I also know that my parents wouldn’t spend this much on a christmas gift for me, so I won’t be getting an xbox 360 anytime soon. Just have to stick with my original Xbox and I think a lot of people are going to have to do the same thing until the 360 drops in price.
I think that the price of games is what’s going to put off a lot of people from buying the xbox 360. I don’t know about you guys who live in the U.S but here in Switzerland games for the current consoles are already expensive at 99 francs. But i was shocked to find out that now the price has gone higher up and is now at 109 francs. Most people in Switzerland will tell you that 109 francs is way too much money to be paying for a game no matter how great it is. I read an article on bbc.co.uk/news that said the high price of games was because of high production costs but to the casual gamer it is still too much money. I’m sure that if they actually lowered the prices of the games more people will want to get an xbox 360 and they’ll actually still manage to cover production costs and probarbly make a profit.
The fact is that xbox 360 games are now available in the US for $39.99 or $29.99. In the UK the standard retail price is £49.99, which is disgusting. That means US gamers are paying half as much as we are in the UK. A friend got hold of a 360, and it is sitting at my house. We have a game he got off someone else, but have no plans to buy anymore, as quite frankly the prices are just stupid.