Games added to US cut-price 360 bundles Comments by Games Industry.biz

err, the choice of games could be better!

OMG, lest nayl in SonYs coffen!

They'll be giving them away with a box of cornflakes soon.

I think it has been confirmed for Europe as well. Your sister site in PT anounced it a couple of days ago.

Rubbish game with all due respect. Game station is doing better deals.

They could have at least pushed more interesting IPs like Viva Pinata.

I guess it's a case of all or nothing...

err, the choice of games could be better!

For us, sure. But Microsoft wants more families to choose 360 instead of Wii, and both Lego Indy and Kung Fu Panda are good games based on very popular properties. Both games are also much, much better than the usual movie tie-in crap. For what Microsoft is trying to do, I'd say these are perfect choices.

Obviously trying to catch the younger market with these sorts of games. They would have been better to do a mixture of bundles though; some come with Viva Pinata and Forza 2, some with Halo 3 and PGR 4, some with these two games, etc.

What Dan said!

Out of those games, only Kung Fu Panda is a little duff. I say the americans have got a very good deal. And the other thing to note is that these are kids games. If I was 14 or younger and got those games free with my console, I'd be well chuffed. If I was a parent looking to buy a console for my kids, the fact that I am buying the cheapest console with two free games of characters I actually recognise, I wouldn't even look at anything else. Not even the Wii, which I probably couldn't find.

VEry smart, very aggressive and its probably going to pay off handsomely.

Edit: Dan beat me to it. Damn you, Dan :)

Hey, Lego Indy is great!

/sulks

Fingers crossed for a Fallout 3 / Fable 2 bundle this Christmas : )

Or failing that a Bioshock / Mass Effect / Halo 3 / Gears of War one come the New Year.

Might this just cost them too much money? I mean, they were already selling consoles at a loss and then they cut prices to get ahead of Sony and now they're bundling a pair of games with them? Is it even going to help sales any more than the price cut already would have? I don't know if this will pay off for them.

The 20Gb model is currently being cleared at $199 with a game at certain stores.

oooh, free games might make me want one.

No earlier than 2010 for X720 and even then when its next to PS3 which would be able to take 'true HD home media centre' when both 'next gen' consoles struggles to get 1080p?

Who knows, but more important is that we are able to enjoy gaming now and let tomorrow looks after itself!

not stunning but for free with the console won't hurt at all.

No doubt some really good value retailer bundles will be added to these.

"everyone knows the ps3 is better alround built and better spec "

ermm.. no perhaps you've missed 13 rounds of comparisons?

"replace next year" no chance. try 2011 probably.

but carry on regardless hey.

I'm not sure it would have that big an impact over here, especially when you consider that most retailers chuck 1 or 2 games in for free with each of the 360 skus anyway.
In my store you can have either Fifa 2009, Tiger Woods 09 or Star Wars for free, or 2 older games, like Gears Of War, for nowt....
And no I'm not advertising :)

A bit off topic but,

I saw a Fallout 3 advert on a taxi in London today, was quite surprised to see such mainstream advertising and this early on.

Xmas in upon us for sure.

I love the way an article about a 360 bundle turns into a discussion about the PS3's build quality? I don't understand how some people's brains work sometimes.

Stop being so damn insecure! I notice these days the SDF is out in force more than ever - defending LBP, trashing the 360 for every price cut/good sales month, etc., etc. Someone's getting nervous! :P

Families tend to like cheap toys around Christmas, you see.

@ mem:

USE SOME FECKING PUNCTUATION!

"For us, sure. But Microsoft wants more families to choose 360 instead of Wii, and both Lego Indy and Kung Fu Panda are good games based on very popular properties. Both games are also much, much better than the usual movie tie-in crap. For what Microsoft is trying to do, I'd say these are perfect choices."

I think Dan hit the nail on the head there.

With the push to the family market I'd say we're on track for a new console announcement sometime in 2009. \o/

Kungfu Panda isn't bad. It's a simple brawler that is perfect for little kids. Although the QTEs were off putting, my little boy has to ask me to do them as he didn't get it.

My girlfriend liked Kung Fu Panda, but my god that's one of the few games where I can actually see what tearing means. Darren would have a heart attack!

microsft tired of making profit then?? pity te games are shite, should have bundled it with some of their platinium/whatever range

@evilfoxhound

With all due respect, Sony would exchange its "adult" look with a "cheap toy" one in no time, if it would net them Wii-or-DS-like sales instead of those of the PS3 or the PSP (to a lesser extend, but still)...

MS have probably discovered that the value of their huge stacks of dollars is dwindling away rapidly, with devaluation, inflation and credit crunch resession and all that. Better, then, to spew out millions of subsidised xboxes and thereby generate future revenue. They're still loosing loads on each console sold, but hopefully each new console owner will buy a few games during it's lifetime. One of the very few investments that make much sense, the way market trends are developing.

So, perhaps this is very smart, to pour money into giving away xboxes almost free. Unless the game market starts dwindling too. But I've heard somewhere that "cheap luxuries" like games actually do better in resession type scenarios. Choose between a trip to disney land and Kung Fu Panda the game, and the game comes out as the cheaper investment.

They could pay people to take Xboxes home, and I still would not want one until they fix the noise.

Erm... where did people get the figures from saying MS were taking losses on hardware before the pricecut I find that hard to beleive, Ive still yet to see how much the 360 costs for Falcon, let alone Jasper, really provide your source or stop making shit up people. Its Sony who are still taking the most losses by far as far as I know and they were the ones who spent the most coming into this generation... I saw a little FUD about them spending what theyd made from PS1-PS2 but really after the shite spouted every time MS has to take a loss its not nearly enough, I could start threads on the PS3 forum and hijack PS3 article threads but then Im not that petty. ;)

@ Olemak

"They could pay people to take Xboxes home, and I still would not want one until they fix the noise. "

Somehow, I get the impression that they could make it so quiet a mouse's fart would drown it out, bundle a Blu-Ray drive and wifi into it, make it cure cancer in fluffy bunnies and cost a fiver and you *still* wouldn't be interested in it. Just a feeling I have....

On-topic:

This is not a bad deal. If Microsoft start bundling games in with consoles by default, then retailers who bundle games will add even more games - it happened when I got my first 360, when I got a Premium with the PGR3/controller pack *and* Viva Pinata for the price of a Premium on it's own. GAME used Microsoft's own bundles and added to them.

And as has been said before, these packages are obviously aimed at pulling in the parents/kids - which is traditionally the hardest fought-over market segment at Christmas. Older, more hardcore gamers will still buy whatever console they want to buy, for the reasons they want to buy it - if they get a free game that they don't want and that they'll never, ever play, they're not going to say "Huh. Not gonna buy *that* console then." They'll just flog it on and buy something they do want with the proceeds.

@evilfoxhound
"They are just making the 360 look like a cheap toy next to the more "adult" looking PS3 (To the general public). "

Not quite. They're not trying to make it look like a "cheap toy" next to the PS3 no company dealing in electronics really wants their product to be thought of as "cheap". They're trying to make it look like fun, affordable family entertainment next to the Wii and PS3.

@JonFE
"@evilfoxhound

With all due respect, Sony would exchange its "adult" look with a "cheap toy" one in no time, if it would net them Wii-or-DS-like sales instead of those of the PS3 or the PSP (to a lesser extend, but still)..."

Yeah, I'll be interested in seeing how long it takes for them to try to "dress-up" the PS3 differently once LBP is released. "PS3: it's fun for mom and pop and all the little ones!" I'd imagine their family-friendly push will begin before Christmas, it'll be more muted as the console does cost a lot more than either 360 or Wii.

@calgon
sorry i have no source, but i'm very shure i read somewhere (where they could know) that from the Falcon version they where selling without a loss on hardware. and that was 4 monts ago.
so i think there not losing much now. (oppinion)

greetz

It makes me laugh when people complain about the noise the 360 makes. For starters do you not realise that the human brain will filter out a constant background noise after a few minutes of exposure to it?

Furthermore you do realise that TV's come with this wonderful thing called volume control now which allows you to make the sounds emitting from it louder as an extra measure to drown out the (IMO insignificant) noise.

I don't understand why people complain about it, I've had my xbox360 from launch and I've never had a problem with the noise it makes

"Might this just cost them too much money? I mean, they were already selling consoles at a loss and then they cut prices to get ahead of Sony and now they're bundling a pair of games with them? Is it even going to help sales any more than the price cut already would have? I don't know if this will pay off for them. "

Highly diminishing revenue on the horizon soon for all gaming companies so shifting units over the next few months extremely important for the horrors of next year ...

Hmm