Xbox 360: Looks like $50 off
Update 1: The price cuts on these units are as follows, according to retail ads being prepared for publication.
Xbox 360 Elite: $449 ($30 cut)
Xbox Pro $349 ($50 cut)
Core $279 ($20 cut)
Update 2: Microsoft is cutting the price of the HD DVD drive to $179, the company said Thursday. A promotion similar to the recent Blu-Ray campaign gives buyers five free HD DVDs.
The “rumor” that Microsoft plans a price cut for the Xbox $360 is back — this time with a hard date and a dollar amount. The $50 cut will come Aug. 8, a week before EA’s super-popular “Madden 2008″ streets, the Hollywood Reporter said.
Microsoft issued the standard “no comment” that adds up to a non-denial Tuesday, saying: “We have no announcements to make on pricing at this time.”
It was unclear if all three Xbox 360 machines would be affected.
The Elite model, which favors movie downloaders with its HDMI output and 120GB hard drive, debuted in late April. The console goes for $479. A price reduction on that unit would give fence-sitting high-def TV owners another good reason to upgrade their Xboxes to 1080p. Almost all decent HD TV sets come 1080p-ready these days. (The Elite does not play HD DVDs without the HD DVD add-on drive, however.)
The Pro model Xbox 360, by far the most popular, goes for $399 (a price point that with or without the $50 doesn’t add up for HD DVD consumers seeking a bargain — the shaky outboard HD player goes for $199 $179). Almost all analysts consider the Pro 360 unit overpriced.
However it shakes out, the $50 Xbox cut will bring new customers into the Marketplace LIVE tent, with its quickly growing menu of downloadable movies and TV shows. Warner Home Video’s “300″ and Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s “Heroes: Season 1″ will be available as a high-definition download via the Marketplace.
Sony recently dropped the price of its 60GB PlayStation 3 from $599 to $499. That unit plays Blu-Ray discs.
All in the game: downloads via Xbox 360
The best player for movie downloads on the market: the Xbox 360
From setup to signup, to selecting a title and starting the show with a press of the remote’s play button, the Xbox 360 is simple. It is as easy to use as the on-demand and pay-per-view services familiar to most watchers of cable or satellite TV. … But at $400 for the model that includes a hard disk, which is needed to download movies, the Xbox is a big investment. If you aren’t a gamer, it is hard to justify spending that amount just to watch a few movies.
Writer Joe Hutsko notes that Xbox Live has 165 titles available for “rental.” A Microsoft spokesman vows there would be at least a title every day added to the service. The Xbox 360 elite, due this winter with its 120-gig hard drive, will make more video-related activities possible.
The story is pretty basic but a decent roundup of movie download options. It goes through the alternatives — the usual suspects such as MovieLink, CinemaNow, Vongo, the Unbox and the only Mac-friendly system, Apple TV.
There are scores of alternatives, but at this stage the movie selection is a factor for each one. Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman, said: “Whether it’s Netflix or Apple or Amazon or Wal-Mart.com, we’re all facing the same constraint: title availability.”
Not mentioned is the other advantage to the Xbox 360: its ability to play HD DVD movies. The format is on the run from Blu-ray, but this should be handy for a couple of more years anyway. The add-on HD DVD player