MS reveals multiple 360 bundles Comments by Tom Bramwell

The Play.com bundle for 270 is seriously tempting.

Why did they have to reduce the price the moment I have money in my wallet for a change? Fiends!

I think I'll wait until the Xbox 360 has some decent games.

"I think I'll wait until the Xbox 360 has some decent games."

Does your time machine go backwards then?

I have Oblivion on PC already. Not all of us want to play shooters or driving games. Where's the originality?

I'm waiting for decent games too. Not saying there isn't any just very few that interest me. Looking at GOW just makes me think "meh".

@Penguinzoot

lol - cant believe no-one else noticed that one! I was just trying to work out what 300 bob was in real money when I saw your post!

If only it was that price... :)

Well , in all honesty Microsoft really didn't have much choice but to respond either with a price cut or an attractive bundle . Since the Wii and PS3 launced they didn't have much sales .

The Beauty of Competition

Well , in all honesty Microsoft really didn't have much choice but to respond either with a price cut or an attractive bundle . Since the Wii and PS3 launced they didn't have much sales.

But Ps3 hasn't launched here, and wii is a very different kind of console.

old skool: MS just reported their best ever weekend for sales. That is, in North America actually ON the same weekend as the PS3 and Wii were released. What gave you the impression their sales dropped?

Psychotext , what weekend are you talking about ?

This weekend just gone. The launch weekend of the PS3 and Wii in America. A lot of stores were offering cheaper bundled 360s to those that couldn't get a PS3 / Wii and I'm guessing it worked out.

But Ps3 hasn't launched here, and wii is a very different kind of console.

The PS3 and the Wii might not be here but they are all competing currently(emphasis on currently) for the same market, the hardcore .If they drop the price in US/Japan they might as well drop it in the EU . Besides sales have really flatlined for the 360 and with competion there's a real danger of it declining .The consoles hardware sales for November would be pretty revealing .

/I really don't like that word , hardcore , I think

old skool: yeah..., right..., MS had the best week sales ever, 90k in Japan, 75k in europe, just counting the PES bundle...
GoW was/is the 3rd fastest-selling console game of 2006, it topped UK chart. It sold more than NFS in all consoles together (2nd on the list).

OMG! XBox 360 is price crash freefall!!!!!!

Just like the first one!

(and yes, I'm joking!)

Well Psychotext if that was true then how can you explain the increased sales of the PS2 and PSP the week the PS3 launched?

From IGN:"and that PS2 and PSP sales increased that week for Sony's top five retailers (a 29% increase for PSP and a 24% increase for PS2)."

Strange

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/747/747178p1...

miiiguel , no offense but could you please provide a link ?

The PS3 and Wii just launched this weekend in the US, for christ's sake. To say that 360 sales have been hurt at this point is just absurd. I mean, come on...

Why drop the price then ?

The noise issue relating to MS game consoles is relevant because no one ever complained about those issues until the 360. It began with the Xbox 1, which has a fairly noisey DVD drive compared to PS2 and Dreamcast. The later 2 consoles make noise too, obviously, but have much more understated (you could even call them pleasant) moaning and whizzing noises while the Xbox 1 really got the turbine cranking. So far, Nintendo wins the prize for quietest consoles. In light of that statement, I don't feel that everyone concerned about console generated noise should buy Ninty; but it isn't wrong to expect next gen hardware to leave behind the annoyances of their predecessors.

I've always been critical of the way MS launched 360. I think they should have included an HD media format and waited until Spring or Summer of 06 to launch. MS has showed a terrible lack of confidence in their consoles first by letting the ball drop on Xbox 1 support (do they still make games worth noting for it? compare that to PS2) and then cutting corners on the 360 because they felt they had to put as much lead time as possible before PS3. MS hugely underestimated the initial demand for 360s. There must be some of you out there who were disappointed in not being able to get a premium package and had to settle for no hard drive no wireless controller package. Remember that bullcrap? Now we're talking about die shrink, power brick, media drive revisions?! Let's get this straight guys, if you're not going to buy 360 now just wait for Xbox 460 because that's really what you are waiting for.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3154...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162138.htm...

old skool: Think about it... ALL consoles sold more. Obviously people were out shopping for this stuff so it got bought one way or another. Oh, and it's not a price drop. The consoles have been selling this cheap with a game for ages now. If you haven't seen it you just haven't been looking.

You will still see a price drop, but it wont be cos they're desperate, it'll be to highlight how ludicrous Sony's price is. (Usual disclaimer, buying all next gen consoles when price is right).

"Looking at GOW just makes me think "meh"."

Maybe you should play games instead of just looking at them. Gears is a truely great game, and is the the first since RE4 to have that "X" factor for me. It plays unlike anything you've played before, it certainly isn't a FPS.

miiiguel , those links tell me nothing about hardware sales . Look people I'm not critisizing the precious 360 or Microsoft for that matter . I'm just stating the reasons I think they had to offer bundles. Microsoft probably shifted more 360's this month than previous months because of Gears of War , but that really wasn't my argument . Before and after Gears of War launced was there a PS3 and Wii on the market ? No there wasn't . Now there's competition .

Still not going to get a 360

LOL

yeah... whatever...
I really get a kick out of playing PES with UK m8's on Live, can't wait to get home.

@old skool.

MS are in the business of selling their own stuff rather than their competitors. They've held Gears of War back until the PS3 / Wii launched. And will probably hold out with Halo 3 until the PS3 starts to hit the market with decent numbers. Marketing of product works to everyone's advantage in the industry (unless it's Driver3). When the Sony & Nintendo launches are bringing people into stores, why not have an attractive alternative to try and tempt customers away? There's no particular price crash - PGR3 & extra controller & premium edition pack has been available for a while. They've branded a GOW bundle and there will be a Halo3 bundle. Extra customers in stores means extra sales, many of which Microsoft will hope to capture as a result of price / availablility. It's just being packaged accordingly.

Kinda off topic, but can anyone tell me how to defeat General RAAM on GoW.

Kinda off topic, but can anyone tell me how to defeat General RAAM on GoW.


Hit him with the torque bow while the kryll are flying around him, then when you have a clear shot, shoot him in the face hard with the lancer. Repeat until done.

At least, thats what worked for me. Eventually. After about 50 attempts :-)

RAAM?

Just shoot the bastard with the torque bow, and then use all your grenades on him...
Don't think, just hit him witth everything you have.

Worked for me on Hardcore level, after tens of restarts trying to properly shoot him in the face...

People always point to robust PS2 sales, but they don't ask, how many of those are new? If you have 100 million widgets sold over 5 years of any electronic device and it's average life expectancy is 2 1/2 years, then you'd have about 50 million, that would need replacement.

That's a big number all by itself. You could have 1 in 10 PS2 owners picking up a $99 replacement PS2 for their dead one and still sell 10 million PS2's per year.

Worldwide the 360 is selling roughly the same units per month, but given it's 4 times the price, it's selling 4 times the dollar volume. Additionally, nearly 100% of the 360 buyers are new buyers. Probably far less than 50% of the PS2 buyers are new. Most are replacing dead units long ago out of warranty.

The devil is always in the details.

The PS2 is not selling as well as you think. It's dirt cheap and still has some decent games Bully, FF XII, being released. Most PS2 buyers are existing PS2 buyers, who are replacing dead units.

all good ! and isn't it nice that MOST of this thread is nice and cilvilised ! See we don't have to bitch...........

If Capcom were to promise total cross platform status for all their AAA titles I'd defo snap up the GoW bundle this Xmas.

Hit him with the torque bow while the kryll are flying around him, then when you have a clear shot, shoot him in the face hard with the lancer. Repeat until done.

Played on hardcore and tried this a good few times but in the end it was torque bow and Longshot that did it for me on the first attempt.

@Drumbaby
Dead rising and Lost Planet are 360 exclusives. Resi5 is confirmed, what more do you want? DMC? Unless MS pulls out a really big wallet it is unlikely to appear on 360 whilst Onimusha has been milked to death and is not worth wanting.

Emilia'sHorse: There's been quite a lot of talk lately of MS buying Capcom outright.

300 bob for 360, 30 days' Live, and Gears, CoD3 or Smackdown.

A Bob is a Shilling and there's 20 Shillings to the Pound, so you are saying that the 360 is £15? I want one.

@Psychotext
"There's been quite a lot of talk lately of MS buying Capcom outright."

Now that would be a good move... much better than the decision to purchase Rare.

I did hear rumour of the Capcom buyout but dared not believe it.
I remember much chatter when Xbox first launced that MS were eyeing up Namco. Capcom would be a far better buy but I dread to imagine the price.

@ JackB

How many 360 sales are down to people replacing their dead 360 then?

I've had a PS2 for years, played it regularly and never had a single problem.

It just annoys me when people state that the PS2's sales are due to people replacing faulty PS2's. How can you say that without proof to back it up?

You do have proof don't you?

The PS3 will toast the 360 i'll pick up a 360 around the uk PS3 launch, the 360 will be £150 with 4 games then me thinks.

The link to the Eurogamer review made me chuckle.

"Maybe you should play games instead of just looking at them. Gears is a truely great game, and is the the first since RE4 to have that "X" factor for me. It plays unlike anything you've played before, it certainly isn't a FPS."

Hey I could say that to people about loads of games I like but no one ever buys, I've read enough reviews and the negative points put me off. It might be a good game buts its not a system seller for me.

Oh and I thought RE4 was a little overrated myself. I'm weird like that