$279 Xbox 360 Arcade Is Official

[Psykoboy2]

In the "You-guys-sure-like-to-take-your-time" department, Microsoft today officially confirmed the existence and price of the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU.

From Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6181267.html):

Microsoft president of entertainment and devices division Robbie Bach said the new configuration was intended to take on Nintendo's popular $249 Wii, which comes with the Wii Sports minigame compilation.

The Financial Times and Microsoft were mum on when the Arcade will arrive at retail. However, the article did confirm that Microsoft's low-end SKU would maintain its $279 price point, include a wireless controller, and pack in at least three Xbox Live Arcade games: Pac-Man, Uno, and Luxor 2. (Leaked pictures of the boxes show the Pac-Man game included is actually Pac-Man Championship Edition.) Though no other games were mentioned in the FT article, numerous online reports say the game will come with five games in total, including Boom-Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy.

[tenchiker]

They are confirmed as full games. Holy fuck I can't believe people are still perpetuating that rumor. If I could afford it I would go buy one Just to post pics in each thread.

[total]

They are confirmed as full games. Holy fuck I can't believe people are still perpetuating that rumor. If I could afford it I would go buy one Just to post pics in each thread.

Ha, you and I are in the same boat. There are actually 5 full games on the disc.

[Wraith]

Sony and Microsoft step up fight with Wii

By Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: October 18 2007 08:01 | Last updated: October 18 2007 08:01

Sony announced a $399 PlayStation 3 for the US on Wednesday while Microsoft confirmed that it would launch a new $279 version of its Xbox 360.

The moves increased price competition with the Nintendo Wii in time for the crucial holiday season sales period.

The Wii remains the cheapest of the next-generation consoles at $250.

But Microsoft signalled that its Xbox 360 Arcade would be challenging the Wii for the new audience that Nintendo was bringing to gaming.

“Arcade becomes [for us] the ability to bring in a new set of audiences. They’re probably a little bit more casually focused, they’re looking for a new family experience or they’re more price focused,” Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, told the Financial Times.

The $279 Arcade will include a wireless controller and casual games including Pac-Man, Uno and Luxor 2.

Its launch has been widely rumoured but Mr Bach’s comments were the first official confirmation.

While Microsoft may hope to steal sales from the Wii with the Arcade, its Premium $349 Xbox 360 faces pressure from the $399 PS3, which has a bigger, 40-gigabyte hard drive, built-in wi-fi and a Blu-ray drive.

“I think Microsoft almost has to cut the price of the Premium or bundle it with some games,” said Michael Pachter, analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.

He said the only surprise in Sony’s announcement was the inclusion of the Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray disc in the package.

“It wasn’t clear that people even knew it played movies and in high-def, I can see a Best Buy clerk selling an HDTV and mentioning the PS3.”

The $399 PS3, available on November 2, costs $100 less than Sony’s cheapest stand-alone Blu-ray player.

Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said: “If consumers buy it as a Blu-ray player, they will find other uses for it; this is a great multimedia machine.”

He announced that Sony was also cutting the price of its premium 80Gb PS3 by $100 to $499.

Mr Tretton said while 20Gb and 60Gb versions of the PS3 had been phased out, there would be ample supplies of the 40Gb and 80Gb consoles for the holidays. The US news follows price cuts and the announcement of 40Gb models in Europe and Japan this month. PS3 sales have been weak in the US to date – 1.75m units had been sold to the end of August, compared to 4m Wiis and 6.3m Xbox 360s, according to the NPD research firm.FT.com (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33469880-7d03-11dc-aee2-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=true.html?nclick_check=1)t oo short

[Itchyeyes]

The article doesn't seem to mention that those games are demos (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37859) and not the full arcade experience.
That's because they're not demos. How many times do we have to cover this?

[LongStepMantis]

Guy 1: Demos!
Guy 2: Full!
Guy 1: Demos!
Guy 2: Full!
*War*

[Skampy]

A new 360? what a surprise.

[karak]

I expect to be blasted at work concerning this. Its gonna be a busy night.

[Psykoboy2]

I'm gonna change that last little bit up there.

[Khash]

So what exactly is an Xbox 360 Arcade?

[Philonious]

I'm fairly certain that some other site reported opening the box and not being able to play the full versions of the game. (Probably because you need to input a code or something). I imagine that all of these are going to ship with the 65nm chipset?

[Xenkylm]

Any word on whether the Xbox 360 Arcade will have the new chipset (i.e. if I get this one, would I have to worry 'bout 'dem red rings?)

[Digital Outlaw]

When will it be released?

[karak]

I was SOOOO hoping for this to drop to 199 for the win

[Xenkylm]

Sigh... double post.

[Johan]

Actual FULL Arcade games bundled?

Well...they're not as retarded as I thought they were.

(an opinion garnered from my experiences with MS customer service and their onerous DRM licensing when your 360 DIES. Which it WILL).

[Mal.Reynolds]

Na im good

[shnastybiznastic]

This is interesting from a business perspective, because if the premium 360 represents the optimal platform, and the new, lower priced model is bought by customers in the premium market segment, then it represents extra income to Microsoft in the form of add-on hard drives.

[Twigz'N'Berries]

I was SOOOO hoping for this to drop to 199 for the win
No kidding...if they did this, they would fly off the shelves.

[Vandenh]

Despite what a lot of hardcore people like us are saying, this Arcade SKU is a great idea from a commercial angle.

[Heretic Machine]

Despite what a lot of hardcore people like us are saying, this Arcade SKU is a great idea from a commercial angle.

Well, the SKUs are already split, have been from the beginning. This puts Microsoft in a great position to take on the Wii, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some great numbers out of them this holiday season.

[Roc Ingersol]

The arcade's a great idea - it's just still too expensive.
It's still only a hair cheaper than the PS2 was at launch. And the people who buy the Wii and would buy the Arcade bundle did not buy the PS2 for $300. And yeah-yeah, it's a touch more than the Wii - but it doesn't have the waggle or the sales momentum either.

It needs to be 225ish at the most to engage the Wii or PS2 audience. I was hoping the PS3 price drop would knock some sense into Microsoft. But I guess they want to try and squeeze blood out of a stone for one more holiday so they can get their all-important quarterly profit. /sigh

nothing like sabotaging long-term viability for short-term goals.

[51|RandoM]

So what exactly is an Xbox 360 Arcade?

'tard pack, Mark II.

good marketing for MS to be able to talk about their lowest pricepoint but not a purchase that makes sense to the typical consumer, imho.

If you're just going to play those types of games you don't need a 360 to do it, nor do you need to spend that much money.

If Microsoft's pricing on their harddrives was reasonable I could see this making sense as an option for those wanting to build up to a full 360 but not lay out all of the cash up front.