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Retailers price Xbox 360 Elite News
Xbox 360 News by Robert Purchese
European retailers HMV, Play and GAME have all agreed on a price for the Xbox 360 Elite.
They say that it will cost GBP 329.99 when it's released on the 24th August. But when we spoke to Microsoft this morning, all we got was the "nothing to announce at this point" line.
When pushed about where those retailers could have received their information, the platform holder replied by suggesting the European presence of those retailers could have meant a leak from somewhere in a different region.
It follows news from E3 where Microsoft told us the price relationship between the different SKUs would be similar to that in the US. Over there the Elite retails for USD 479, and the Premium sells for USD 399 - roughly 83 per cent of the price. Stay with us on this one, maths will prevail.
In the UK the Premium pack retails at GBP 279, meaning the Elite would theoretically cost around GBP 336 here. That's bloody close.
The Xbox 360 Elite features a 120GB hard disk, HDMI video output and a unique black casing and peripherals that set it apart from the 360 Premium and Core packs.
A solid announcement on the price is expected in the weeks leading up to its launch on 24th August.
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keyboardmonkey
18/07/07 @ 09:09
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It's good to see that there is no such thing as price fixing anymore :P
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I'm not interested in the Elite 360 at all - I hate the black look and don't fancy having to rebuy all my white accessories, like the Wi-Fi adaptor and Plug and Charge Kit, again just so everything matches.
However, I am interested in buying the larger capacity 120 GB hard drive, which sells for $180 in the US. Does anyone know when it's released in the UK and how much it'll cost here? |
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viper_h - "^ but it's black!! can't have that!
tool." Why? I don't want black for the reasons I stated, that I have to rebuy the accessories again in black unless I want that unique "zebra" look. If I could have bought the PS3 in white or silver then I would have - it doesn't show up the dust as much for starters! Why did you think I didn't want black... because I'm racist?!? LOL You spanner! ;) |
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@DanMW - The 20 GB HDD is vastly overpriced, in my opinion it should be no more than £30 or £40 but then the memory units would look overexpensive too. I bought a 160 GB HDD for my PS3 for just £70 so it just shows how inflated Microsoft's prices really are. Sure the Xbox 360 HDD comes in its own little shell but inside is a bog standard 2.5" SATA drive or so I understand. I don't think the 120 GB HDD should be more than £80 myself but I reckon it'll be £129 something like that. It might have been better if Microsoft had offered a range of sizes including 40GB, 80 GB and 120 GB and priced them accordingly. As it is they had an HDD that is far too small and one that is far too big for most people and don't offer anything in the middle! LOL
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Inquisitor
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18/07/07 @ 09:44
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Yea, the 360 premium is regualrly being sold at £230ish so the elite is effectively £100 more than the premium. Madness.
It also makes the new ps3 packages look like pretty good value for money, 2 games and 2 controllers for just £400 compared to the elites £330 for nothing extra. |
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Too expensive. No 65Nm. No real need for a 120Gb HDD until they roll out the new download service either. The more I think about it, the more I think MS are determined to piss away they're lead here - it doesn't look like a bargain compared to the PS3 - sure there are many many more compelling reasons to buy the 360 with the games catalogue as opposed to the PS3, but the 360 just looks expensive at that price. Wake up and smell the bloody coffee Redmond.
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most recently on 18/07/07 @ 11:02
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So, you've not heard of Home?
"The two are not comparable". So I can play games online, create a friends list and send them messages with my PS3, but this is IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM comparable to LIVE? If I was paying for it, I dare say you might be comparing it to LIVE, but I'm not allowed to when the opposite is true?
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most recently on 18/07/07 @ 11:23
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@Overlush
You just described microsoft messenger mate. Live consists of such added value as achievements. The ability to voice chat while playing a totally different games to your friends. Inviting people to play games while actually playing a game etc. etc. Even Sony admit they have a looonnnggggg way to go to match live so you need to stop attempting to say otherwise. At least agree what line to put forward with Sony before you open your mouth as you seem to have some intimate knowledge of their online plans that they haven't shared with the rest of us.
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most recently on 18/07/07 @ 11:40
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"So NOW can we stop bitching about Sony being rip-off merchants? I mean, with the Elite you're STILL missing HD movie playback and WiFi AND you've got to pay for LIVE. "
Can I rip out all that shit from a PS3 and get it for £199 though? No? I _have_ to pay £425, even if I just want to play Heavenly Sword? Then it's too expensive. Case closed. |
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The_Aardvark
18/07/07 @ 11:09
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Market segmentation anyone? As deals on the premium bring it within financial reach of the casual gamer, MS are looking to the elite to take maximum advantage of the limited number of consumers who want a higher quality product at a higher cost.
The elite is not intended to replace to premium as the mass-market choice, it's there for the small number of consumers who are prepared to pay extra. Supermarkets do this all the time. They'll compete to see who can sell tins of tomato soup for the lowest price but constantly introduce more expensive fresh soups to get maximum advantage from those customers who want to spend more for a higher quality product. Think of this as your Taste The Difference Xbox. |
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The real difference with Live and sonys online service is that microsoft run all the servers, so as long as the live service exsists, every game will always be playable online. Since sony don't do that, developers/publishers have to pay themselves for their own servers, so you can bet that a lot of games will have their online playing scrapped after a year - especially sport games with their new version released every year.
I don't like the fact you have to pay for live either, but you can't say you don't get anything for that money. |
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"Think of this as your Taste The Difference Xbox."
Problem is though they didn't really put enough into it. In an ideal world it would be 65nm with wifi built in (and all the reliability problems ironed out) and Live would now be free as it would be financed by the TV on demand and other stuff. Hehe who am I kidding? |
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Mentalist(air)
18/07/07 @ 11:21
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I used to have a charcoal-grey debug kit on my desk at work, and I reckon the dark look just doesn't suit the shape of the 360.
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To be honest, I don't see the problem with the price.
360 premium is officially £279.99. The fact that you can find it cheaper elsewhere is irrelevent, because HMV, Play and GAME all sell the 360 premium for £279.99, and therefore this is the price we should be comparing. Hence to recap, HMV, Play and GAME will sell 360 Elite for £329.99, which is just £50 more than their price for the 360 premium. That's £50 for 100GB extra HDD space and HDMI. That's a good deal imo. |
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The Elite is a total con-job. Buy a tin a black Vinyl-Cote, do a DIY HDD replacement and realise the HDMI output is barely any different from the existing one in terms of visual quality and be happy with your premium.
Also, a machine that already suffers from overheating, and they make it BLACK? Good thinking. And, still no WiFi, so that'll set you back an extra £60, and the cable to transfer HDD data isn't bundled. This is vying with the Core for suckiest SKU. |
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reality_cheque
18/07/07 @ 11:35
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I wonder what model the Halo3 SKU is based on. I think it looks quite nice in green.
Not gonna buy one though, already got 2 in the house so I guess I'm on the list of people just wanting the 120GB drive. |
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Carpathian
18/07/07 @ 12:41
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Can't see the point in anybody even thinking of grabbing an Elite yet. Considering the internal build hasn't been altered to fix the existing normal 360 issues I'd have thought that any early adopters are leaving themselves wide open to joining the club. I've read machine reviews where RRoD occurred and others where they took apart units and found the exact same inherent faults there.
I say that with no glee, either - just rather a large dose of puzzlement that MS would risk the name of the new version by having it tarred with the same brush. Anybody got any other angle of why the Elite, as it stands, is really viable to consider? |
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afghan_jones
18/07/07 @ 13:12
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its a rip off and the black looks shite compared to the sexy ice white, especially on the paddles.
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Edwannawonga
18/07/07 @ 13:15
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"Also, a machine that already suffers from overheating, and they make it BLACK? Good thinking."
Sorry Hughes, don't mean to be a snobby know-it-all but black actually radiates heat a lot more efficiently. Back to topic; not enough changes to hardware to warrant a purchase I'm afraid. Like what Lambtron was saying about in-built Wifi and increased reliability, it'd be worth it only it's just a pipe dream. |
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The Elite 360 is just Microsoft's way of making more money out of existing hardware, in the same way that Sony did with the PSone and redesigned PS2, although it's obviously nowhere near as sexy/appealing and is likely just as unreliable as the current models if the US reports are anything to go by!
The only useful feature it offers over the existing models is a larger HDD but you'll soon be able to buy that separately anyway. HDMI is nice but that should have been included with the machine from the off and only gives a marginal improvement in image quality anyway. In a lot of ways, the Elite is the machine the original premium 360 should have been in the first place (with improved reliability obviously!). The measly 20 GB HDD was a huge mistake for a console that offers lots of downloadable content, particularly as only 11 GB was actually available for use. Microsoft should have considered the 40 GB HDD as the minimum size, I mean the original Xbox had an 8 GB HDD so the 20 GB one wasn't that much of an improvement really. |
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Trendyninja
18/07/07 @ 13:58
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There is so much more that MS could have done for the Elite which REALLY would have warranted the name "Elite".
Why no wireless built into it? Why not have the HD DVD built into it? Why not wait until the new 65nm chipset was ready to roll? I mean really when you look at what your getting it just looks so pathetic. Especially when the visual difference with HDMI is hardly noticeable. Well not after the numerous comparison screenshots I have seen anyway. If ever the was a wasted opportunity this was surley it? |
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