14 DAY TRIAL // Early this month, rumors of an Xbox 360 price cut have been circulating on the Internet more than ever. It's obvious really - I myself could say there's a price cut in order for the 360 just like that - as Sony has serious plans of cutting the price on their respective machine (the PS3) and so Microsoft has to answer promptly. Besides, it's about time they cut the machine's price anyway - it's been out there for quite some time. But today, we actually have confirmation that it's happening.
More than that, the price reduction applies to all existing Xbox 360 models, including the Elite: "In the wake of the Wal-Mart flyer and the Toys R Us flyer, now comes the Circuit City flyer sent to Joystiq showing that beginning Aug. 12 the Xbox 360 premium will be $350, the Elite will be $450 and the Core will have a $20 break and be $280," the respective gaming site posts.
But just so you don't get confused, here's the simpler formula:
Elite - $449.99 Premium - $349.99 Core - $279.99
When Sony first confirmed plans of reducing the price on their PS3 (which they actually didn't, but now a real price cut is indeed coming) everyone said Microsoft would better do something about it fast. Now we're witnessing the exact opposite of that situation, as it's Sony who'd better do something fast, given that Microsoft is now offering a next generation system for the price of $279.99 (Core SKU). Of course, there's the 20 gigs of hard drive space that are missing, but there are a lot of gamers that couldn't care less about that.
Say Sony's 20GB PS3 was still out there. What would you have done? You see, when Sony first announced a price cut for their system, they actually offered more HDD space for about the same price. Had the 20GB PS3 still been in production, it would have set you back about the same amount of money as the Core Xbox 360. It sounds like a better deal, I have to admit. Anyway, the ball is in Sony's court now. Let's see what they'll do with it.