Whaddayaknow, Microsoft Has A Price Drop Too

Scarcely a week after Sony's new, smaller PS3 and accompanying price drop hit the scene, Xbox spokesguy Major Nelson has the word that Microsoft is ready to play ball with its own drop to $299 for the Xbox 360 Elite. Please, try to contain your surprise. 
 

Scarcely a week after Sony's new, smaller PS3 and accompanying price drop hit the scene, Xbox spokesguy Major Nelson has the word that Microsoft is ready to play ball with its own drop to $299 for the Xbox 360 Elite. Please, try to contain your surprise. 
 

Well good news for anyone looking to buy a 360.  
 
As you said, not much of a surprise. 

I might buy another 360.  Got a dead 360 and BC PS3.

Seems nice but it would be best if they replaced the arcade with the pro too. Now if you get a fully upgraded arcade it costs more thant he elite

Yep. Gonna get a cheap 360 HDD out of all this, and maybe a PS3 later this year. Depends on what games actually drop this fall.
 
I still wish they'd chosen to drop the arcade. Dependency on HDD could mean large games that don't need to be built around the idea of disc swapping.

Irritatingly enough, the price of the arcade has gone up in europe. I was gonna buy one due my current 360 having tanked and gone out of warranty. 
 
Arse.

A 60GB at the same price as the Wii and the PSP Go, now thats a fucking deal right there.

One thing to mention, The new Elite will not come with HD cables. Just composite.

Here is my big question.  Windows 7 is due in October, what if it were to flop just like Vista?  Will Microsoft continue to do price drops on their xbox 360s?

Nope, I'm never buying a console until they have keyboard and mouse support and allow mods for games.

Well now I can say pretty confidently that I will get a ps3 at some point, before I wasn't so certain

Well, Brad, you bring up an interesting question:  which will reign supreme?  I think that the redesigning of the PS3, as well as what feels like a whole new launch for their product, is a great motivator for those who haven't gotten one.  The $299 price tag is proper and feels right, the product looks smoother, Sony proves time and time again that they are the forerunners for mixing together gaming and media capabilities, and obviously the price tag makes the conversion to Blu-ray a bit more sensical now.  HOWEVER, the PS3 doesn't support backward-compatibility...which is a MAJOR issue to me.  Part of the reason you dropped for a PS2 was to play your PS1 games still.  It was a HUGE selling point.  Meanwhile, I would want to play my PS2 games on my PS3.  This will be a drawback. 
 
Nonetheless, the 360 features limited BC and no Blu-ray player.  However, they have Xbox Live, which is the real selling point.  Sony's online "infrastructure" (read: lack thereof) just can't hold up to Xbox Live, and it's what has made the 360 a forerunner over Sony's console.  People want to play online, and Microsoft knows how to do that well.  While it does cost to get Xbox Live Gold, it's a cheap asking price ($50 for 13 months), and all the features it offers is IMMENSE!  Plus, how many times have we honestly ever had Xbox Live just flat-out go dead?  We have one friend's list for everything, we have Netflix parties, we have Facebook and Twitter on the way, we have Gamerscore, we have integrated voice chat for all games...I mean, it's a great package. 
 
Firmware 3.0 for the PS3 is really going to be the make-or-break for Sony at the moment.  They've brought the console down, and it feels like they are finally LAUNCHING the console with this 3.0 update.  However, is it too late in the game?  Well, Sony did say that they've got a box that could last them 10 years easily...and I'm starting to believe it. 
 
All three consoles handle their own specific strengths incredibly well:  Sony and media, Microsoft and online, Wii and motion controls.  Therefore, with the newfound price points for two of the three consoles, as well as three years since the consoles hit the market...there's honestly no reason to not have all three at this point!

*cries*... I'm gonna finally have to buy a 360 sometime in the future...

Can I unleash my surprise now Brad? Also this should make for an interesting holiday season....if you forget the Wii raping solely cus of  Wii Sports Resorts

meh, i already have one collecting dust.

Just fyi, but for those in the UK, while the elite has dropped in price, the arcade version has actually increased in price.  Yeah, seriously.

meh

I don't understand why the elite was $400 in the first place heh, but good news for people wanting to get a 360.

I remember when I payed $420 (tax included) for a 20GB X360 Pro.... 
 
FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Good move for Microsoft. Now the 360 Arcade desperately needs the 20gb hard drive. Developers get screwed when people cant download their XboxLive Arcade games and other updates. Plus it would make things eventually faster for everyone since dev's could then take more advantage of hard drive caching.

PS3 Slim just arrived today (thanks amazon). My first PS3, however I think the 360 will still be my primary platform. 

How many gigs is the HD on the Elite? My 20GB one is getting pretty full.

*gasp*

Pretty amazing that the Arcade system still exists.

" A 60GB at the same price as the Wii and the PSP Go, now thats a fucking deal right there. "

" How many gigs is the HD on the Elite? My 20GB one is getting pretty full. "

To bad I already have one....PS3 Slim here I come! It is a good value tho.

Does this mean the standalone 120gb hard drive also gets a price drop?

in norway you can barely get an arcade for $299 :|

Sony: Aww, come on!

 
The Pro I just got was from Dell and was a bit less than even the new listed price. About the best deal I could find on one that wasn't used.

Man I hope Nintendo follows suit and lowers the price of their console to $299...oh wait...never mind

I don't like the way they are going. 
If you ask me, they should just have one 360, with an HDD and in white. 
 
I really don't get why they still keep the Arcade one alive, please explain it to me :F

I feel a trade in coming on...

microsoft is a bunch of scumbags

Giantbomb dudes, may want to take note that the Arcade console in the UK is actually going to be going UP in price.

"microsoft is a bunch of scumbags "

I havent gotten either a ps3 or 360 so im missing out BADLY.... But i might get one now :O
Hope i get lucky
But now that their the same price....DAMIT now i have to make a choice...

I'm so cheap with game consoles, the PS3 was the only one I made an exception for. 
 
I didn't buy a PS2 until they were $80.
I didn't buy a Gamecube until they were $100
I didn't buy an xbox until it was about $119 or something like that
 
I made the jump and bought a PS3 at $400, and until the 360 drops to around $150 (and comes with a hard drive), I'm
just going to keep waiting. Not a whole lot of exclusives I want to play.

Since I already own a 360 I wont be buying another. But the PS3 looks more and more tempting. I'm not convinced I would play it a whole lot though.

The new price dropped elite doesn't come with any HD cables of any kind. I think this should be pointed out, and also the fact it is an extremely lame move by MS.

" I don't understand why the elite was $400 in the first place..."

What good timing. I'm actually planning on buying a 360 sometime soon.

Gotta say if I was in the market for a system (I own both of em) I would have to go PS3 at this point with blu ray and free internet would win me over 

Has the Wii's price ever dropped? Or has it just not been something I've payed enough attention too to notice?