Microsoft cuts European price of Xbox 360
Microsoft Corp cut the prices of its Xbox 360 video game console in Europe by up to 28 percent on Monday to try to spur sales in a key battleground in the fast-growing industry. The 80-euro decrease results in cuts of 18 percent to 28 percent across the three Xbox 360 models, bringing the cheapest Arcade version to 200 euros ($307) and the high-end Elite to 370 euros ($568). Prices reductions in Britain range from 20 pounds to 50 pounds. “Xbox 360 is now mass market in Europe,” Chris Lewis, vice president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business in Europe, said in a statement.
The reductions come as Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 appears set to capitalize on the company’s recent victory in the high-definition DVD battle and on a slew of highly anticipated new games hitting the market this year. This was the second price cut for the Xbox in Europe in less than a year. Last August, Microsoft shaved 7 percent off the euro price of its low-end model and 13 percent off the main Premium model. The PlayStation brand has long dominated the European console market, although the PS3 has struggled to win fans due to its high price and lack of must-have games.
Source: Reuters
Comments(42)
Very nice !
FF3 b4 out now!
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.0b4/whatsnew/
well , am happy with my JAP 360 I bought 2 years ago for 220 $
then I bought a component cable and a 64 mb memory unit and it does the same job of an 550 $ elite console !
It’s still a lot of money
WOW the 360 Elite is only $450 in the US
They always seem to do this right after I’ve gone out and bought one at full price. I hope the PS3 gets cheaper soon.
I bought a PS3 for £350..ghey.
Am I missing something? HD DVD won? I thought Blue Ray won the format war over HD-DVD. Can anyone explain which war Sony HD DVD won? It make sense they are discounting the Xbox because HD-DVD LOST the format war, just like all HD-DVD players are reduced to clear. I was hoping Xbox 360 will be a Blue Ray player next version. Maybe someone can shed some light on this report.
next step: lowering game prices. £40 is a crime.
Tigger: Blu-ray won and xbox doesn’t have an inbuilt hd-dvd player, you needed to buy it separately.
Oops, MY mistake. Sony, not Microsoft. Moderator: Please delete my first comment. Here’s to the next Xbox 360 Blue Ray!
~!!!!!!!!!!
XBOX360 AND PS3 = CRAP!!!
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 ROCKS!!!!
NVIDIA IS THE BEST F*** THE REST!!!
@13: ..Riiiight.. *Stares*
Still, I agree with Tony. They always do this. D: Bought mine at full price, too.
What about the “middle” console? the proffetional one or whatever its called, the one with HD-output and Harddrive on 20gb?
Thats the one i wanna get.
Don’t think i’d still get one though. Mainly because I don’t have enough time for a games console – it’d simply be a waste of money for me. I spend enough of my free time on the PC
@13 Childish comment, what are you 13? ignorant kid…
Pity its still a piece of crap. The only place anyone buys it is in the UK and USA, and for Jan + Feb the PS3 has finally outsold it there in those areas now too. Its dead in Japan, and its liked like a turd in s swimming pool here in Europe.
ive bought a ps3 with 79$ special offer
Does this mean the PS3 will be dropping to a nice, almost affordable $299? I guess when you consider that it has a built in Blu-Ray player, the $399 price isn’t so bad, but I would surely pick one up this summer for $299. Too many good PS exclusives on the horizon (MGS4, FF13, et al).
must have games….erm Haze and MGS 4 are must have games this year for any PS3 owner…cant wait
I personally have nothing against any of the consoles, there are both up sides and down sides to them all.
Take the Wii, Many exclusive titles but not all are as good, Best played with a group of people, Cheap, Good Excercise, nice motion controls, Virtual Console, Loads of Accessories available, Takes up little space downloadable software, good support for previous GC games and controllers.
However, Lack of online support for most games, few great game titles, Not the most powerful Graphic, No HD support, small Hard drive.
The Xbox 360
Good online support Loads to download, Not very expensive, Easy to use interface
great Exclusive Game titles, Very good controllers / wireless, Full HD support, Powerful Graphic engine, Customizable, Microsoft 3 year extended warranty, Online support for most games.
But Technical issues with Ring of death, overheating, Games Getting ruined, Freezes once in a while, Some Expensive services, It says 20gb Hard drive but its more like 12.
PS3
Don’t own one, only know from what i tried at a friends house.
Very powerful Graphic engine, Good interface and software, Large Hard drive capacity, Blue Ray support!, Good online support and downloads, a few good Exclusive titles.
But, Lack of vibrating controls until recently, (personal, not good controllers) Not as many or as good Exclusive game titles as 360, also where i live games are a bit more expensive, High priced console, still after price drop, Full HD support.
Just some of my thought. PC can’t be matched in versatility and customization, as well as Horsepowers but consoles are still fun, Great for Co-op games, and best played on HD TV’s 40 or more inches.
sorry i listed Full HD support for ps3 as negative, my mistake.
The 360 is a good console, but it just won’t have a long lifespan, Microsoft will come up with a more powerful console in the next 2 years, whereas the PS3, like the PS2 and PS1 will have a lifespan of at least 5-6 years. It just makes sense to get a PS3 as there will be continued support for a long time.
the ps 3 does need a longer lifespan than the rest because it takes a looooong time for developers to complete their games (and actually releasing them with minimal bugs) while figuring out the cell manual book, before u fanboys start bashing me, do some research first :p
Well im not sure how accurate Microsoft’s Goals or announcements are, but they aim to break the 5 year mark, and longer, but its doubtful any of our current consoles without Falcon chip will last that long, The PS2 Console lasted a whopping 7 years, and thats very good,
which is compared to the life span of the super Nintendo which also lasted 7 years, I agree Sony does a good job with Console life span, but if the 360 last for 5 years or so, id say that pretty good, considering the longest a console has lasted is 7-8 years, Nintendo’s consoles usually last 5-6 years too.
PS3 rox, i sold my xbox360 cause that thing kept overheating
@ 26 – Agreed 100%
Well even though my Xbox bricked on Sunday (after 1 year 4 months) and has just been collected for repair, it’s still my choice for the games. It’s only really the reliability that’s the issue for me with the 360.
Bet they STILL haven’t fixed the cooling issue due to tinfoil heat sink wannabes. The most common failure for XBox and it never gets addressed.
actually there is a new motherboard and heatsink in the 170 watt machines to stop them overheating also blueray addon rumoured to be in the works
I will buy one this friday, is the fair price.
And the games are AWESOME, don’t want to buy a new Graphic card for 1 year at the same price.
It’s definately worth picking one up at this price. I’ve owned the core since launch and just upgraded to the Elite. The PS3 can’t touch the 360 in terms of games an online. Who needs BluRay? Just grab all the 720p rips from RSLOG!
The newly released 360’s should have the Heat problem fixed, if not Microsoft will lose money again, and we all know thats the only thing on their minds, so i doubt the can “afford” to ignore the problem.
I still think the price is too high considering the fact the machines still have hardware issues. They may have reduced the damage with the new heatsinks but they still overheat eventually.
I’ve had 6 360’s up until now, absolute joke. Glad I bought a PS3 in the end. Good to see Sony soon to be back on top!
Jackie Gleason supports the PS3!
Almost 599 for a piece of faulty hardware with monthly fees for online gaming? Pass
why not its getting replaced in another year or so…
The “monthly fee” is not that bad,
56 Euro for 1 year where i live. Still bit annoying to pay to play, but M$ charges for everything, so what ya gonna do.
Morfar, get a PS3? ;P
Just kidding, i do prefer PS3 hardware but it is indeed lacking games.
(PS3 haters could stop reading here due to a slight fanboyism)
However i have no doubts the PS3 will go the same way as PS2 wich is still kicking (they’re even gonna release a new version this year), when develeopers will get their head around the cell processor we’ll see some crazy results not possible on the 360, but that’s gonna be a while, probably at the end of its lifetime.
Another thing that i’d like to see is if they would enable the proper use of its hardware, we’d probably see alot of emulation in Linux, making both Linux and the PS3 popularity go through the roof, just look at XBOX, i have no doubt the console sale were boosted a f*ckload due to its customizability even if it weren’t intentional.
So yeah, i’d never buy a 360 if i wanted to invest for the future, maybe if i got an Elite to make sure it lasts, i wouldn’t wanna sit there with a dead console no matter how many great games it might have, the 33% falure rates on the standard consoles puts me off quite a bit, sure.. you’ll get a new one on warranty but what about after it runs out, it’s very likely it will break down sooner or later with that kinda hardware.
But getting an Elite would put me at the same pricerange as the PS3… so yeah..
Besides, i’m a sucker for japanese innovativity seen in games like Shadow of the Colossus or Okami, 360 sales is going very bad over there so PS3 would most likely get those titles.
Please don’t take me as a too big fanboy, while i might be one i try to have an open mind, i’m just expressing my opinion based on facts i’ve read over the last few years.
indeed
The only reason i got the 360 in the first place was to get Dead rising, which turned out to be only Good, but not lasting, but many good games came out eventually so, by then i had no idea about the failure rates, that happened later, But if GTA IV would have been an PS3 only title id probably buy a PS3, thats the reason i bought a PS2, to get the GTA titles