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Xbox 360: Pricing Announced; Blogger Pissed Off
Posted on August 17th, 2005 8 commentsBy now, you’ve all heard the news. Xbox 360 pricing has been announced, and… oh, look! The 20Gb HDD is going to cost $100 more dollars.
Microsoft today officially announced two price SKUs for the North American and European markets, with a premium SKU selling for $399.99 in the North American market… while the Xbox 360 Core System will MSRP for $299.99 in the U.S.
What the hell is Microsoft doing? Oh yeah, being themselves.
Peter Moore, one of MS’s VP’s answered some questions for IGN. I’m going to respond to some of his comments… because… well… they royally piss me off.
Some gamers want simply to play a game and have none of the, in their estimation, some of the frills of the gaming experience, and price becomes paramount for them. At the same time, we believe it’s important to offer them the ability to set up and upgrade.
Yeah, geez, I know when I play a game, I don’t want any frills, like not having to buy a stack of memory cards, or have universal HDD support in every single game I stick in the machine. At the same time, I also enjoy the prospect of having to upgrade my console. That way, it’s more like the PC gaming experience where you have to spend $2000 every couple years to be able to play the latest games.
We have no plans to have Halo or Halo 2 loaded on the hard drive right now. For us, I believe, we need to focus on high definition experiences. Halo 2 is arguably close to high definition. Halo was built in standard definition, as you know, but the idea of putting stuff on the hard drive is to have an instant, out-of-the-box experience in high definition.
Phew! Wouldn’t want that extra $100 to bring in anything of real VALUE besides a peripheral that won’t be universally supported by game developers. Luckily, there will be some Hi-Def videos on there for all those clowns that buy UMD movies.
The quality of the current generation of peripherals for us has been like, if you will, the Wild West. It has not been, I believe, that of a quality or consistent experience. So we are trying to get a better grip on that, quite frankly.
Okay, for a second there, I was worried that third-parties would be selling cheaper versions of controllers, headsets, and the like. Guess I won’t have to worry about that. Thanks to Microsoft, I’m sure they’ll all be as expensive as the first-party peripherals.
I hate you, Peter Moore. I hate you J Allard with your hip hop period-less first initial and your crappy marketing wardrobe. I hate you, Microsoft, for being just like Sony.
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So, Nintendo, when’s that Revolution coming out?
BTW, I can’t wait to buy the cheap system, and then for $100, mod it, and give it a 250 GB HDD. After all, MS wants me, TEH GAMER, to be at the center of the Xbox 360 “experience”.
Shut up, J Allard.
8 responses to “Xbox 360: Pricing Announced; Blogger Pissed Off”
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Hmm it’s surprising that MS didn’t include the HD in the cheapo pack, I would have expected that they would put a smaller HD in, and have the option of buying a bigger HD later. This would price segment the market but wouldn’t cause any issues with lack of developer support for HDs.
Still, I doubt there will be much of a problem with developer support as there is, IMHO the amount of ppl with HDs in nextgen machines will enough to warrant the effort needed to support in HDs in most titles.
And also the PS3, if released at the 400-450 price point will still be more expensive than the 360. -
If that’s what the 360 will cost, I don’t even want to know how much the PS3 will be.
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Hey, remember when you called me uninformed and directed me to Wikipedia when I suggested that the Xbox 360 price wasn’t set in stone after you said “Microsoft is going to win this one out of the gate?”
That was awesome.
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Finster August 18th, 2005 at 08:26
Holy crap, you want a medal or a chest to pin it on?
You were still wrong. You won’t be right until the PS3 comes out at the same price point as the Xbox 360. The whole point of my post was that Sony was making a big mistake by making their console more expensive. Add to that, the FACT that everyone and their dog knew that there would be an Xbox 360 at $299. Oh, and BTW, in case you forgot to read the news, THEY WERE RIGHT. Thanks for playing, though.
And the multiple version thing that had been floated so many years ago was pretty much common knowledge. It’s just that everyone forgot about it, including you I guess. It should’ve been obvious that I was posting my opinion that MS will win. I still hold to that opinion. Doesn’t mean I like their pricing decisions. So, as far as I’m concerned you’re still uninformed, so I’m confused by your smug attitude.
Oh, wait… aren’t you Canadian? Well, that explains it then.
So, have a cookie. Do they call them cookies in Canada?
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So, let me get this straight:
You think I’m uninformed because I forgot about the “multiple version thing.”
Riiiiight. Okay, how about you re-read the message I sent you. You pompously declared that the Xbox was going to win this right out of the gate, based on price. I replied saying “The price isn’t official yet” and you called me “uninformed.”
Now you’re saying I’m “still wrong” because the PS3 price hasn’t been announced yet. What the hell does that have to do with anything? Do you realize how retarded your logic is?
What exactly am I wrong about? Being informed of rumours?
Why do you presume that I had no idea about this pricing scheme? What orifice did you pull that out of? Also, what does that have to do with anything?
Don’t you realize that you’re now saying the same thing I was earlier (hold out and wait for the price?) Isn’t that a huge admission of your hyprocrisy?
My original point is very simple, and I’m sorry that simplicity equals smugness to you: Making crass judgment calls about things that haven’t been announced is stupid.
Also, calling people who don’t accept rumours as absolute truth uninformed is stupid.
And finally, if the pricing scheme managed to anger you, when you originally announced that Microsoft was going to dominate based on their price point, you were obviously wrong about it. If the rumours were right all along, as you claim, why would it anger you? Weren’t you informed?
Oh yeah, you were being stupid!
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Yes, I am pompous. Anyone who writes a blog is pompous. It’s our nature. Now, get over it.
And I never said anything like “Hold out and wait for the price.”
*rereads my own post*
Nope, nothing there even remotely like that.
You also make several logical jumps in your response here that simply are not based on anything other than your over-developed need to be told you are right.
Well, it ain’t happening.
You are entitled to your opinion that my posts make “crass judgment calls” about things that haven’t been announced. See pompous comment above. But I still maintain that I will be right. And you know what, saying I’m wrong before the actual sales numbers are in is also stupid.
So, back up off it, man.
(Actually, I am secretly pleased that my posts and comments have incensed you so. I feel like I’m doing my job, then.)
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For the PS3 thing:
You said “You won’t be right until the PS3 comes out at the same price point as the Xbox 360.” I translated that to be “Hold out for the price to see if you’re right.” Sorry that you seemed to interpret that as making shit up.
About my “logic jumps”:
Thanks for not pointing them out. I’ll take them on faith.
About my saying “you’re wrong before the actual sales numbers”:
Now THAT’s making shit up. When did I ever say anything about you being wrong about the Xbox winning in the marketplace? All I said was something like “Whoa buddy, there isn’t even a price yet.” Thanks for trying though.
(And about “doing your job:” If I were doing your performance review, I’d say you exceeded expectations for being an illogical nitwit with asshole tendencies!)
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I really don’t care to get into a name-calling fight with you.
The logical jumps were referring to statements like “Don’t you realize that you’re now saying the same thing I was earlier (hold out and wait for the price?) Isn’t that a huge admission of your hyprocrisy?”
Your whole premise was, “You think this, therefore you are stupid.” In fact, all you did was call everything I said, stupid. Well, why the hell are you reading and posting here so regularly?
I’m not going to argue with someone who refuses to try and understand what I’m actually saying. When you grow up a little bit, you can come back and post with the big boys, again. When you’re ready to post something constructive, let me know by email, and I will un-ban you.
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Factory August 18th, 2005 at 01:34