Tokarev Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Xbox 360 - price cut, HD-DVD drive at E3? Rumours are flying around the net about what Microsoft will announce at its E3 press conference in just a couple of weeks time. Pre-E3 rumours are always overblown, but it will be interesting to see what turns out to be true. First up: The 360 will get a price cut come October, just before the PlayStation 3 hits the shelves. The Premium system, currently at $399, will get a $100 price drop down to $299. The Core system, which comes in at $299, will get $80 knocked off the price and will then be at $219. Compared to the anticipated retail price of the PS3, which is around $499, these look like pretty good prices. Second: A HD-DVD add-on drive for the system will be announced at E3 and will cost $100. This was announced back at CES, but has been a long time coming. With the first stand-alone players hitting the shelves this week, the 360 version doesn't seem far off. Third: Halo 3 will arrive in March, with footage to be shown at the show. Gears of War to arrive in October. Fourth: A virtual console that will allow you to place old-skool Sega games to arrive soon. There's a few more items on the list that are posted over at Beyond3D. If some of the worth while games that I see come along for the 360 and if true that I could play some older Sega games, I could end up with a 360 next year and there is another reason for waiting next year aswell... Xbox 360 gets a CPU improvement The Xbox 360 is going to get something of an upgrade, as the triple-core processor that powers it gets a die shrink thanks to its manufacturer, Chartered Semiconductor, who make the chips for IBM and Microsoft out of Singapore. At the heart of the 360 is an IBM PowerPC processor, similar to that used in Apple's G5 machines. It has not one, not two, but three cores - making it a fairly complicated beast. Complication means difficulty of manufacture, and currently the CPU costs Microsoft a fair chunk of the overall cost of each individual 360. Currently, the chip is made on a 90nm process. However, IBM has announced that it is rolling out 65nm processes early next year which will enable it to make the 360 processor smaller and more efficient, meaning it should produce less heat. The smaller chip also means more chips per wafer, making each one cheaper. This should, in turn, allow the 360 to use its (very loud) internal fans a little less, making for a more peaceful living room. The Xbox 360 is expected to be in the spotlight at E3, as a HD-DVD add-on is announced and gameplay footage of Halo 3 shown. We reported last week that the 360 is to get a price cut in November to make the Sony PS3 appear overly-expensive - it seems that the price reduction from the CPU process will help Microsoft to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTV2 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 i thought they'd cut the price when the PS3 comes out...blu-ray still is better then HD-DVD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Fourth: A virtual console that will allow you to place old-skool Sega games to arrive soon. I for one hope Nintendo signed an exclusivity contract with Sega for their games since Sega + Nintendo is a BIG selling point for Nintendo. Plus these rumours don't sound right... isn't Bungie working on a different game at the moment? That one that has Master Chief in it but isn't Halo 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toms Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 The price cut is pretty much a foregone conclusion... thats why you gotta be daft to early adopt these systems. I'd be a little surprised if nintendo didn't make their deal with sega exclusive... if only to prevent another console stealing some of it's thunder. But i guess anything is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TegSkywalker Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I never buy a system on launch but I usually wait at least 6 months for them to iron out the hardware and software issues and possibly drop the price. I bought the 360 this past March and I feel like I should have waited because the current games are very average and Microsoft is working on both a price drop and hardware revision. GRR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjølen Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Plus these rumours don't sound right... isn't Bungie working on a different game at the moment? That one that has Master Chief in it but isn't Halo 3. You mean "Forerunner"? Bungie dennounced that rumour as an April Fool's joke, but their true intentions are yet to be known. And Halo 3 in March? Hopefully they did not mean March 2007. That will make one very unhappy K-jo. And, I do not wish to wait for the 65nm processors, even though the lower power consumption and fan noise is tempting. Perhaps they'll allow me to trade in mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Now I'll be will be getting a 360, but the thing is, if you get the HD-DVD drive, which costs a $100, you'll still be paying the original price of the 360. Choices are going to have to be made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Unless you have an HDTV, what's the point of getting the hd drive? And if you have the money for an HDTV, and are already gonna get a HD drive, then I don't think it matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toms Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 The PS2 and XBOX were pretty poor dvd players in truth... not even up to the quality of my cheap £29 dvd player... so i'm not convinced exactly how much it will be worth getting HD-DVD/Blueray for them if HD/Blueray players drop in price at the same rate as DVD players did. (XBOX with XBMC is a frickin' awesome media player though, and i'll be hanging onto mine for years unless they manage a 360MC in the future). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWally Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 The PS2 and XBOX were pretty poor dvd players in truth I agree, once I tried watching a DvD on my friend's PS2 and the image seemed low quality and kind of "shakey" not to mention I didn't like the control scheme on the controller at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BongoBob Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 The PS2 and XBOX were pretty poor dvd players in truth... not even up to the quality of my cheap £29 dvd player... so i'm not convinced exactly how much it will be worth getting HD-DVD/Blueray for them if HD/Blueray players drop in price at the same rate as DVD players did. (XBOX with XBMC is a frickin' awesome media player though, and i'll be hanging onto mine for years unless they manage a 360MC in the future). I think that within the next year or so they'll have something. Microsoft did a pretty damn good job with the 360's security, but nothings unhackable, all it takes is time Also, Toms, look out for the "blade" media center skin for XBMC. It mimics the 360's interface, but with all the features of XBMC I never said it was a good dvd player, but it does work. And that's what matters to me. Than again, I don't watch dvds none too much, so it doesn't affect me as much as those that watch dvds alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Well I guess the pricecut makes sense because the HD-DVD drive will make up for the lost price of the console, but I don't like the Virtual Console idea, clearly a rip-off of the Revolution. Or that's how I see it anyways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 I guess we'll wait and see what happens... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.