Cheap PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 for the Holidays
Oct 18th, 2007 by Rob
It seems that both Sony and Microsoft are trying to take a piece of the “casual gaming” pie from Nintendo, by positioning themselves as close as they can to the Wii’s $250 price tag. The Wii’s accessibility and low-price have propelled it to the top of the sales charts thus far.
In response, Sony has announced a new 40GB PlayStation 3, to be available November 2nd for $399. To cut costs they’ve dropped their backwards compatibility chip, known as the Emotion Engine, but have left in the Blue-Ray player. The high-end 80GB PS3 will also be getting a price reduction, dropping to $499. While these prices are still well above the Wii’s, the sticker-shock is tempered by the fact that the PlayStation 3 is the only console with a built-in next-generation DVD player.
The most exciting news is coming from Redmond. Microsoft hasn’t officially announced their strategy, but a mysterious new XBox 360 “Arcade” has been spotted in stores, for only $279 (that’s not even $30 more than the Wii). Strangely, Microsoft has yet to issue a press release, but this bold move puts the XBox 360 squarely in the Wii’s price range. This will really mark the first time the Wii has had a serious competitor in its class. While, the base unit doesn’t ship with a hard drive or HDMI cable, those can be purchased later, allowing you to effectively upgrade your ultra-cheap XBox 360 Arcade to full-on Elite status. I can almost hear Steve Ballmer in his office right now, and he’s shouting “Eat that, Nintendo.”
Sony and Microsoft have made their opening moves for the holiday season, it will be interesting to see if either them can knock Nintendo from its perch.
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[...] ZNU wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn response, Sony has announced a new 40GB PlayStation 3, to be available November 2nd for $399. To cut costs they’ve dropped their backwards compatibility chip, known as the Emotion Engine, but have left in the Blue-Ray player. … [...]
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptIt seems that both Sony and Microsoft are trying to take a piece of the casual gaming pie from Nintendo, by positioning themselves as close as they can to the Wii s $250 price tag. The Wii… is coming from Redmond. Microsoft hasn t officially announced their strategy, but a mysterious new…). Strangely, Microsoft has yet to issue a press release, but this bold move puts the XBox 360 squarely…. Sony and Microsoft have made their opening moves for the holiday season, it will be interesting to see [...]
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptIt seems that both Sony and Microsoft are trying to take a piece of the casual gaming pie from Nintendo, by positioning themselves as close as they can to the Wii s $250 price tag. The Wii… is coming from Redmond. Microsoft hasn t officially announced their strategy, but a mysterious new…). Strangely, Microsoft has yet to issue a press release, but this bold move puts the XBox 360 squarely…. Sony and Microsoft have made their opening moves for the holiday season, it will be interesting to see [...]