In the middle of the night, Microsoft confirmed the rumors were true and adjusted the price of its Xbox 360 lineup. The Pro unit is currently being phased out -- priced at $249 until stock runs dry -- while the Elite unit drops $100 to a more comforting $299 and in line with Sony's recent cuts.
Microsoft's director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Aaron Greenberg, claims the timing is completely coincidental.
"Typically these types of price changes are targeted to drive sales for the holiday season," said Greenberg to me over e-mail. "However it is difficult for our retail partners to make these types of changes in November or December so we try to work with them to make these types of adjustments before things get too hectic at retail."
Greenberg hasn't seen the redesigned PlayStation 3 in person yet, but after asking him what he thought about the machine, he pounced on the chance to zing the console.
"I guess as a gamer," he said, "I am glad I got an earlier PS3 console before they pulled a lot of the functionality like backwards compatibility out."
I would have asked Greenberg about the dropped support for Xbox Originals, but he was off to dinner.
The executive said he's actually not bothered by Sony's recent moves, though.
"At the end of the day lower priced hardware is good for everyone and good for the industry as a whole," he said.
I think we can all agree on that one.
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Redd75
Aaron Greenberg- "I am glad I got an earlier PS3 console before they pulled a lot of the functionality like backwards compatibility out."
Somebody help me out here, what other 'functionality' did Sony take out? Is there something I'm forgetting? How does one thing=a lot?
rbee90
hmmmm...can l33t360 say those words?...
vferg
Coincidental sure. But also a great plan to keep Sony at bay from people looking to buy a system thats cheaper than the other. A lot consumers love to buy the cheaper system and since they already all have Wii's, xbox is making it just that much harder to allow Sony any chance at pushing extra units due to pricing. Well played Microsoft...
themanisironman
ps3 and 360 elite now same price overall ps3 cheaper than 360 if you include those hiiden stuff like online play... but dont stop their 360 does only ethernet cables(purchase wireless separately) and ps3 is free for everything unless your trying to buy stuff off the store( you cant get marvel vs capcom 2 for free $15)
eldera1
Of course this price cut was timed. This does mean better competition and better quality games coming out soon. PS3 is definitely having a good year. Infamous was great, exclusive Joker content for Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2 will be out soon, and MAG appears to be pushing the limits of the online FPS genre. not to mention we have the DC Universe online coming next year along with God of War 3.
XanderZane
Anyone have links to the ads?
dantastic4
YEAH RIGHT!They also claim they came up with Avatars first before Nintendo on a console.Microsofts PR people should just do us all a favor and STHU!
x_nightwalker_x21
@Tadhg
"the lack of games the ps3 has.."
wow.. thats a typically comment i would hear.. two years ago! are you still living in 2007 or what? the ps3 has all the great multiplatform games, a ton of great PSN exclusives, not to mention blockbuster titles already out and released just this year I.e. infamous, killzone 2, soon to be uncharted 2. and last years little big planet, metal gear solid 4, and more. all are decidedly AAA exclsuives over several game critics. so where do you get off with the "ps3 has no games" comment?
what does the 360 have thats not two years or more old? oh yeah, gears of war 2 and fable 2 and... thats it.. here lets throw in halo 3, a whole whopping 3 good exclusives (if that, fable was a little dissapointing to me) in over two years when we get over 5 in one?
ohhhh yeah your comment is validified for sure isnt it?
infamouscole15
coinsidence??? BS!!!!
Ugotmefuctup
279.99 would've been the sweet spot for the Elite *ahem* new Pro. Why would anyone buy anything for the same price as something else that does more- and, ultimately, costs less???
*DISCLAIMER* THIS IS NOT A PRO-PS3 COMMENT. THIS IS A PRO-CONSUMER (value) COMMENT.
Oinkness
Hah yeah, how dare they offer Xbox Originals for sale on the xbox360 -- that's downright ridiculous!
jdawghatesyou
I know they announced a price drop but when is it in effect? I know at work when we adjusted the price of the PS3 they were gone (even 160's) with in 12 hours, and now we barely have any Slims left, but I'm pretty sure that some little kid pissed on the xbox's and thats all thats new over there haha.
EKG
Yeah.....Right.....it was just a "Coincidence" suuuuuuuure. No, the timing doesn't add up at all.
I like how he try's to nail the PS3 by saying they took the Backwards Compatibility out. What he should have said is
"Yeah, they have a Bluray Drive, and we don't. Oh, and they have removable Hard Drives, and then they can buy anyone they want, and we don't. They also don't have to pay to use the PSN, and we charge our gamer for that. The PS3 owners also don't have to buy Sony Specific Memory Cards, or Hard Drives, or Headsets, or anything like that. They can buy whatever brand they want, unlike us, who make our Customers buy OUR over Priced crap. They also have "Home", which we don't. Over 70 Awesome Exclusives that we don't. Oh, and they have a heck of a lot more Downloadable Classics, which we stopped giving our customers. Man, if we included a Bluray Drive, Removable HDD, gave our customers free access to Xbox Live, and let them buy any Headsets and HDD's that they wanted, we would be out of business."
Utmost_NutsZo
As for his reasoning - I don't buy it. This price cut was going to come after Sony announced their's - regardless of when that announcement happened.
Utmost_NutsZo
I happily own a PS3 and would happily own a 360 also if they just fix the hardware failures. Convincing someone to spend a $300 on anything is a lot easier when they aren't faced with the thing being away for repairs more than it's actually being played.
LinksSword
I don't think Greenberg should have to worry about saying he owns a PS3. There is nothing wrong with sizing up the competition.
As for Greenberg's "excuse".... well, I definitely believe it was being thought about for Holiday, but with Sony pushing the new cut, MS is just following suit.
Thinking sale for PS3 will be much higher than XBox, but still won't catch up to Wii : )
Tadhg
I don't really know why microsoft should be worried about the playstation 3. Overlooking the failure rate of the xbox 360 and the lack of games the playstation 3 has...
I would still pick the xbox 360 over the playstation 3. But the whole thing "not being timed" to playstation 3's slim price is still bull.
Im glad for the price cuts though, and I don't know which console I'd like to get now. I might sell my arcade for an Elite, or rebuy a PS3 since I don't have to bother with another ethernet cable :P
Ugotmefuctup
@ N8R
I would like think that he actually owns/plays a PS3 because he and MS have to know that it is a fine product while also being enlightend about their immediate competition. Even if he's lying, it's still a well-placed and timed politically-correct PR type of statement.
@ T_Bone
I somewhat agree. But, overall, I DO agree.
mybum
i think that lowering 360s price right before the holiday season starts would be make a better impact on the consumers for microsoft...
theres no way 360 can compete with the hype of ps3 slim when it comes out, so its better to save the price cut until people really starts shopping.
lucidity
I guess some ppl haven't seen Greenberg state on other sites that the hardware problems are now behind them.
Of course older console will still fail so it's not as if this disappears with Jasper and Valhalla.
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