The Franchise

Your calculations don't include the Hard Drive (which would surely cost more than $9)

joshd2012

The original Xbox has a hard drive. This is comparing what you got at launch for the Xbox to what you get at launch with a Xbox360. You actually got the better deal with the original Xbox.

Adam Tyner

Sure, but that makes sense. The original Xbox wasn't in a position to cost that much. In order to gain any traction, they had to take a heavy loss-leader approach. That's not really the case now.

DJ_Longfellow

Yeah, you forgot the $100 Hd and the $10 extra for WIRELESS controller.

Josh H

I think it's still the case. Consoles have always been heavy loss leaders. MS is banking that things have changed and people are willing to pay more.

We'll see. I hope not as I'll never pay more than $200 for a console and would just stay fuck gaming if all consoles start being $400 or more.

joshd2012

And you forgot that in 2001 when the Xbox launched, the hard drive was included in the machine and there was no such thing as a wireless controller.

This is a strict comparision of what you could get when the first Xbox launch and matching that up as best as possible to what you can get with the 360 launch. As you can see (well, at least Adam sees), the better deal at the time was the original Xbox. As Adam pointed out, it is probably because Microsoft doesn't have the same goals.

sdcrym

josh, you can also consider that Live wasn't introduced until a year(?) after the xbox launched, so that $29 could be earning interest for a year before you had to pay it out.

More seriously though, when Live first came out, I believe you paid $50 for 1 year of service and got the headset free. With the 360, the headset is included, but you still have to shell out $50 or so for a year of service. Since the end result for the launch of both consoles is the same ($50 for Live service, free headset), you can eliminate the $29 listed under the launch cost of the original xbox for an even greater value.

DJ_Longfellow

XBOX and XBOX360 are completely different though. You are paying for better technology and better hardware.

Josh H

This is a pointless argument.

The X-box 360 is too damn expensive. Nothing else need be said.

Noonan

I'm not saying that any of you are included in this, but I don't know how people can complain so much about this new system being $399 saying that they would never pay that much, but will then go out and shell more than that for ONLY a video card for their computer...

Sure, I wish it was a bit less expensive, but for what you're getting it's really not a bad price. I'm sure they're still losing money on them, even at that cost.

Save Ferris

Im happy to pay $400 for my 360. Gaming on a PC is just as much if not more of a ripoff and the online experience is worse. Thats key for me. the 360 looks like it has a great plan for better online gaming. I have a HDTV also and will use it. If I was married and had a tight budget Id be concerned but im a geek who collects toys. Price is irrelevant.

DJ_Longfellow

Yeah, $400 is not terribly bad...a bit expensive, but when the last one retailed at $300, you can understand. I still think $60 for games is a bit expensive. I can see on PS3 when they use Blu-Ray....I guess I'm just used to the generic $50 tag on games

Josh H

True, it's not a bad price compared to PC gaming, but as the long time members know here, that doesn't apply to me as I loathe PC gaming.

Michael Corvin

Only slightly flawed.

Xbox $299
-DVD Remote (OPTIONAL - useless accessory) - $30
-HD Cables $30
- Headset (Free with Live subscription) - $30

$330 and I got a hard drive included in that price.

lotsofdvds

The price isn't absurd. More than I hoped it would be? Sure. But it's not outlandish. Early adopters always pay more.

Josh H

Well, absurd is subjective. I've never paid, and will never pay, more than $200 for a console, thus it's twice my limit and as such it's absurd to me.

PixyJunket

Well, thankfully the launch "lineup" doesn't have anything remotely interesting to me so I'm safe from the price. I kind of have my fingers crossed that Blue Dragon comes out once I can get the system at a more reasonable price.

Noonan

I'll admit that if it wasn't for Oblivion I would question if I should get one at launch. But I have to have that game. I would pay $400 just for that one game...yeah, I'm crazy. Since I'll be getting the 360 at launch, I'll probably hold off from getting a PS3 till a new FF is released on it.

hippochris

Buying 3 additional controllers doesn't seem like an option for me. My friends will have to bring their own. If they don't, I'll charge them by the hour to use one. This 360 is paying for itself already!

sdcrym

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. $400 is steep, but I make my last $326.62 car payment in December. I'm looking forward to PGR3, which I know I'll get $60 worth of playtime out of by the time I get all platinums. Also looking forward to the media center extender capabilities, as I would be able to get windows MCE on my computer upstairs and have tivo functionality in my living room. That's probably the make or break thing for me, how polished the media center is. I miss my Dish PVR.

lotsofdvds

So the rumored $299 price would have been absurd to you too. You knew you wouldn't be getting one at launch, no matter what.

darkside

Well that is slightly flawed logic. The next new console is always the best technology and hardware when its released. I don't think Xbox720 or whatever it will be called in 4-5 years should launch at $499 because its better technology than the 360.

I will totally agree that the price is not insane or out of the question. However to drop $500+ (which is what I would have to spend minimum on hardware) I have to really be in love with the software lineup. Not just one game or two games. There has to be a lot of games that are must buys for me during that first year. Thankfully for my budget there are not. Also considering my experience with all three consoles this generation and seeing how much time each one spent collecting dust during slow periods I may finally break the habit of jumping on console launches. I ended up selling my last Xbox because even though I loved the console there were just not enough games I wanted on it. I'm definitely planning on a 360 at some point for sports games if nothing else (hopefully those Japanese exclusives will be excellent) but I think I will have to put it off for a price drop.

That $60 for games is not sitting too well with me either. That was one of the reasons I didn't like the N64 and only bought 20 or so games for it the whole time I had it. For $60 a game had better be an A+ title.

Josh H

Not absurd, as that was expected. I was hoping for $299 at launch and a drop to $199 a year or so later like with the X-box and PS2 this gen.

Now it looks like I won't get one period as it will be close to the X-box 720 or whatever before we see a $200 price drop to get it into my price range.

I'm more just worried about seeing the bar raised on console prices in general. I wouldn't have bought a 360 at launch if it had been $99 as they haven't showed any launch games that interest me and the X-box has by far been my least played console this gen.

I just hope it doesn't sell well an encourage Sony and/or Nintendo to launch at absurd prices.

Chris_D

Hey Josh, if you're actually trying to argue here the Premium package is a reasonable deal when you compare it to Xbox1 then yeah I think your spot on. My problem is not with the 399 price, which while at the upper end of expectations, still presents a reasonable deal for what you get out of the box.

My problem is with the butchered basic edition which confuses customers, turns the HDD into a non standard addon, and really doesn't bring any actual value to the table just because its missing so much functionality from what you'd expect from an xbox (no limited backwards compatibility, no custom soundtracks, no downloads, limited live support, etc.). Also I have a problem with what seems like significant price gouging on certain essential accessories (a 2nd wireless controller anyone?).

So while 399 is a bit out of my price range right now, I wouldn't be feeling ripped off if I outlayed that kind of money for the premium pack. However 299 for the butchered edition is a complete rip off, no doubt.

Chris_D

I think there will still be a market for "B grade" games priced at $20-40, kind of like this gen. Also I was reading an article in Edge about the 360 Xbox Arcade where 360 owners will be able to purchase shooters and other arcade style games, for amounts more in line with $10 than $60. It seems that this will be one of MS strategies for providing an outlet for smaller indie style developers. In the article they interview a team of 2 developers who created a shooter for the original xbox arcade, and are working on a sequel for 360.

I think Nintendo is tackling the issue of larger development costs in their own way and will probably be successful but I haven't seen anything from Sony on this. I suppose the best strategy for smaller developers might be to keep making ps2 games for the time being because at least you can play them on the ps3.