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U.S. and EU price details for Xbox 360

Software giant Microsoft has revealed just how much money gamers will have to spend to get their hands on a new Xbox 360 console later this year. The console will be launched simultaneously in the U.S., Japan and Europe "in plenty of time for the Christmas market," according to European home and entertainment head Chris Lewis. In the U.S. it will cost $299 and €299 (£209 UK) in Europe. The price rises to $399(€399 £279 UK) if you want other accessories like wireless controllers, detachable hard drives and headsets also.

The price of the console in Japan was not revealed, nor were any details on the amount of units that will be initially available in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The Japanese price details will be revealed at the Tokyo games fair next month. No actual dates have been set for the console's launch either, although the belief is that it will be launched in November. A Christmas release of the console should spark many sales, months before Sony's PS3 is expected to be launched and Nintendo's Revolution console.



The first mover advantage is being played by Microsoft, which launched it's Xbox console over a year after Sony launched the PS2. This was a mistake that Microsoft was not willing to make again. Sony currently holds two-thirds of the games console market.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: James Delahunty @ 17 Aug 2005 22:14

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• 35 comments

• nonoitall

  I've got other places to spend $300 *cough*PS3*cough*! :D Pretty spendy for a console, but I guess all the next-gen ones will be.

  17.8.2005 22:26 #1

• Mik3h

  It's nice to see it isn't hugely over-priced. I am considering the premium version, not s osure though. What about everyone else? Premium version? Or just the core system?
  
  -Mike

  17.8.2005 22:52 #2

• jayquik03

  damn guys late again... Something else I already posted half a day ago just making it onto the site.... You guys need a new team on here.

  18.8.2005 00:06 #3

• borhan9

  Well I read the article and I find that it roughly what i expected bout $US300. But What does that mean for Australia... Like always with me i wait till it goes down in price then i will purchase it. I waited for the ps2 to go down and I bought it for less than $300Aus with a game and a controller and also the Remote control... So i rather wait and c what comes around the corner....

  18.8.2005 01:21 #4

• tEChniiQue

  XBOX 360. Most definitely getting it upon release. My plan was to wait until all the bugs were found and hopefully fixed before I made a purchase but hey, that's what a warranty is for, right? I truly believe there will be a milestone reached in console gaming this generation. Oh, as of now, just looking at a core system...
  

  
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  TEAM XECUTER http://www.teamxecuter.com TEAM AVALAUNCH http://www.teamavalaunch.com

  18.8.2005 03:04 #5

• CHADSR

  Hey nonoitall you might want to keep coughing there because ps3 will be approx. $500 and won't be out until late 2006 or early 2007

  18.8.2005 04:52 #6

• connolly

  This is not a bad price for a new console on release day.
  Any news on prices of games?

  18.8.2005 07:01 #7

• richks

  As I keep telling people elsewhere: I'm not interested in a new console, but I AM interested in some new games. I will get an XBox 360 when something decent comes out for it (Halo 3, or Perfect Dark Zero are the only ones I heared about that have me excited right now). I'll get the PS3 when a decent game comes out for that (if the current line up is anything to go by that'll probably be Grand Theft Auto: Whatever sometime around 2008).

  18.8.2005 08:23 #8

• Jasper44

  Here is a quote from IGN.com's article which explains things a little better:
  
  
  "The premium, or "Xbox 360" package ($399.99), is designed for the hardcore, HD-ready gamer, while the Xbox 360 Core System ($299.99) is your basic set-up.
  
  The premium package includes an Xbox 360, a detachable 20-GB hard-drive, a wireless controller, faceplate, headset, a component HD AV cable, an Ethernet cable, and for a limited time, a remote controller.
  
  The Core 360 System is stripped down in comparison. It includes an Xbox 360, one standard wired controller, a faceplate, and a standard AV cable. The $399 package is designed for the high-definition gaming era; the other is designed for a no-frills, current-gen set-up. Presumably both systems come with power cords, though Microsoft's press releases didn't actually include them.
  
  Taking into account that a memory card for $39.99 (€34.99/£22.99) is required for saving games, a headset for $19.99 (€19.99/£14.99) is necessary for Xbox Live play, a second controller sells for $39.99 (€34.99/£24.99), and a remote goes for $29.99 (€29.99/£19.99), totaling $130, the premium price appears the better deal. The above tally doesn't include a hard drive, which costs an additional $99 (totaling $229)."
  
  Hope that helps.

  18.8.2005 09:51 #9

• Jason8

  Well u guys get it easy. JESUS CHRIST
  All i have read today is " OMG its $300, id rather spend $300 on a cough/cold "
  Try living in Canada. Just for the 360 core $449.99cdn and for the premium pack its $549.99cdn. But I guess it works out when we get a game with the pack i guess. BUT I DONT KNOW WHATS UP J ALLARDS ASS. All i know is, there wont be too many canadians buying the 360, unless they've saved up money for about a year/year and a half, to get it.

  18.8.2005 10:20 #10

• jangalang

  Im gonna wait for the ps3. But I may wait to buy the ps3 if the debut games dont interest me. Either way ps3 may be more expensive than x360. I think itll probably be around $400. But the system is gonna blow x360 outta the water. All X360 has is halo. woopdeedoo.

  18.8.2005 10:59 #11

• chaos5258

  By the time the PS3 comes around the 360's price might have already dropped and I'm not made of money so I'm goin with the Xbox 360 but I heard that prices for games are going to be $60 thats $10 more than current new releases and if you by a lot of games that $10 adds up.

  18.8.2005 12:02 #12

• KingPep

  Why is Sony being very quite about the PS3, no in-game Footage of any titles yet...Strange.....
  as for "jangalang" what about the greatest Racer ever made so far Project Gotham Racing 3, have you seen the trailer for that, my Jaw hit the ground, & as for Killzone 2, i thought i was watching a Video in this game,but it turned out to be In-Game Footage, this will keep first person Shooters Happy until HALO 3 is out.........
  
  I have got a Feeling that this new XBOX 360 is going to win the Next Gen War.......And you know why.......
  Price for a start, that is very good Price for Launch
  Next..the look of the Console, i liked it the first time i saw it, on the Cover of a Mag..................
  Next Reason........XBOX Live with World Stats in every game............
  HD Quality on your HD TV ,oh and Surround Sound of Course through 5.1 or 7.1 Speakers.........
  The Games of Course......Imagine Medal of Honor or Call of Duty on This Console with Keyboard & Mouse!!!!
  
  i wouldn't ever go to work anymore LOL (;o)
  
  And as for S$ny , the price of PSP HandHeld Games are going to be £34.99 each here in England, a Bloody Rip off

  18.8.2005 14:17 #13

• chaos5258

  Yeah the Xbox 360 more than likely will win since it will be coming out at least six months or as much as two years ahead of anything else. Take a look at Quake 4 that game is gonna be intense.

  18.8.2005 15:45 #14

• chaos5258

  Yeah the Xbox 360 more than likely will win since it will be coming out at least six months or as much as two years ahead of anything else. Take a look at Quake 4 that game is gonna be intense.

  18.8.2005 15:45 #15

• chaos5258

  what da hell...why are their two copies

  18.8.2005 15:46 #16

• Xsilver

  USA Price $299 = £166
  UK Price £209
  
  When are they going to stop ripping us off? Every bloody time why? No wonder everyone chips them just trying to claw back the rip off price they make us pay.

  18.8.2005 15:48 #17

• BenB1987

  its usually beacuse of our u.k tax that we get charged more but i do think they add an extra bit on.

  18.8.2005 15:57 #18

• Braehole

  Have you guys looked at The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.It has won alot of awards from E3 for best RPG!It has trees that really grow and over 1000 NPC's that think for them selves!Check it out guys.I will be buying the 400.00 360 and just Oblivion.Games will be 60 bucks for all the next gen systems.

  18.8.2005 16:29 #19

• nonoitall

  Quote:Hey nonoitall you might want to keep coughing there because ps3 will be approx. $500 and won't be out until late 2006 or early 2007There is no confirmed price yet. While that price was the maximum estimated price, that was if the system was released earlier than their new estimated release date. It will very likely go down because they are waiting to release the system. With the PS3 as powerful as it will be, I don't mind waiting if it means components' prices also go down in the process. The Xbox 360 can be released now because the technology used to make it is already becoming mainstream, whereas the PS3 will have to wait for mainstream technology to catch up before it can be manufactured economically. Good news for Xbox 360 lovers and PS3 lovers alike, neither system will be released before it should.

  18.8.2005 20:01 #20

• CHADSR

  nonoitall,I can agree with youon that and only time will rell if the ps3 will be $500 or not because the prices for the components may go down which hopefully will make the price of the system cheaper.Also whats your opinion on the revolution?I will say that i will get all 3 systems.The ps3 is going to possibly have god of war 2 unless it comes out on the ps2 and i heard that when the ps3 launches it will have the next GTA available that very same day and that alone willsell a million ps3 off the bat and the revolution may have mario,metroid,super smash bros and zelda all on the same day which i think is highly unlikely to happen but if it did then everyone watch out for nintendo.

  18.8.2005 20:13 #21

• Jason8

  All i can say is...........
  Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution will probably be the 2 most wanted/sold systems in the next-gen world, just cause of the game previews ive seen for both of them. PS3 has got nuthin to preview yet because none of there games r worth while to show. Unless PS3 were to get some deals done with some of the game developers, (that make Xbox & XBox 360 games), then they got nuthin but speed for their system, AND SPEED DOESNT NECESSARILY WIN ALL THE TIME. ( Thats just my opinion.
  Any Q's or REMARKS!!!!)
  

  18.8.2005 23:05 #22

• nonoitall

  IMO, the Revolution will do better than most people think, too. It's a pretty good guess that it will be the cheapest of the three systems, but they are still adding a lot of new features to snag people. So long as I have a little extra saved up for when the PS3 does come out, I'll buy a Revolution too. I really like that they'll support the emulation of older Nintendo systems. As far as the PS3 having "nuthin to preview yet" - while they haven't done too many demos yet (it is a bit early considering the system may be over a year away) they did do a beautiful remake of the Final Fantasy VII opening, all in real-time graphics generated by the PS3. They have no official plans to remake the game, (we can always hope though) but they do have another Final Fantasy lined up for the PS3 from what I've heard.
  
  My guess is that all three systems will do pretty well. When the 360 and the PS3 come out they'll probably have tons of sales at first, but then will slow down when the hype dies down - at least until their prices drop. The Revolution will probably have less of a huge crowd lining up to buy it, but probably a steady, medium-small size, more consistant stream of customers. That's my guess anyway. Like you said, time will tell.

  18.8.2005 23:48 #23

• Jason8

  Thats all true in all, but ud think that sony would have a demo for PS3 at E3 2005 like 360 did, they even had places were we can look at, play and hold the system and controller. What did PS3 have besides clips/photographs of games. HUH?????
  If sony wants to succeed this generation in gaming, then they better get some good games produced instead of just GTA, Killzone and Final Fantasy.

  18.8.2005 23:54 #24

• solargame

  quote]Hey nonoitall you might want to keep coughing there because ps3 will be approx. $500 and won't be out until late 2006 or early 2007i think he WILL keep laughing becuase the PS3 will be better in gameplay, AND PERFORMANCE. screw halo, its probably gonna come out for PC anyway, like MOST good MICROSOFT games, most xbox users will probably shift over to the sony side, i ONLY have sony systems, and a nintendo, i am fully satisfied with my ps2, and maybe a PS#, but im all drianed on cash with the PSP,;( o well.

  19.8.2005 05:40 #25

• bk555

  NVIDIA CEO Confirms Pricey PS3?
  PlayStation 3 hinted at being priced towards "enthusiasts".
  by Chris Roper
  August 1, 2005 - Beyond3D today ran an interview with NVIDIA's Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jen-Hsun Huang, conducted at the company's Editor's Day this past June. The Editor's Day was held to give the press details and a close look at its then-forthcoming GeForce 7800 GTX graphics processor, but as Sony had just announced the PlayStation 3 a few weeks prior at E3 in Los Angeles, NVIDIA's head honcho was pegged with a few questions regarding the next-gen system that NVIDIA will be supplying the GPU for.
  
  
  
  A section of the interview seems to confirm the PlayStation 3's rumored hefty price tag:
  
  But [GeForce] 7800 [GTX] has now firmly exceeded the perceived $499 price barrier...
  
  I'm not even too sure there is a perceived barrier at $499. We need to price it at a level the enthusiasts will buy it at, that's the way that we think about pricing. We think about the pricing of this in the same way that Sony thinks about PlayStation 3's - its not about how much is costs, its about what is the price it needs to sell at, and we need to figure out how to make money underneath that.
  
  In late June, Sony's Ken Kutaragi strongly suggested that the system will carry a high price tag when he said, "Our goal for PlayStation 3 is for consumers to think to themselves, 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else."
  
  The curious part about this is that NVIDIA's Editor's Day was held before Kutaragi's comments were published, suggesting that Jen-Hsun Huang already knew that Sony was planning to release the console above the common $299 launch price for a new system, possibly far above it. At a minimum, it now sounds like Kutaragi isn't the only person directly involved with the PlayStation 3 to claim that it'll be expensive

  19.8.2005 08:25 #26

• Jason8

  Let me be the first to say that, its probably true. Sony will probably lose close to 1 billion dollars with their PS3. WHY?? cause i just tallied how much each part in the system was and it came to a balance of just over $855.00, then if PS3 sells for the same as Xbox 360 will ($299, or $399, or even $499) then they will lose out on at least $300 per system. & if they sell well in advance of 1 million PS3's at launch, then guess how much they've lost (try 300 mil.)
  and if they keep selling them after that, guess who might go bankrupt. OH WELL, SONY NEVER LEARNS DO THEY??

  19.8.2005 09:14 #27

• cbruce

  i heard that xbox is going to release halo3 the same time ps3 is released so they get more xbox360 sells! thats tight! and real smart!
  

  All The Newbies Out There:
  NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19.8.2005 10:05 #28

• OzMick

  Was going to wait until they managed to mod one before I considered buying one, but at that price, might be smart to get a first gen model before they get wise and re-release it...

  19.8.2005 15:34 #29

• neo1000

  I think i`ll wait till the ps3 arrives cause microsoft sure is gonna lower the price,and of course i`ll buy a revolution because nintendo is the best at making family and funnier games,if you like me have kids this is something very important to look at.

  19.8.2005 19:05 #30

• Askar

  It looks like 1st party games that are published by microsoft will only be $50, so it's may be that the other developers will follow suit to stay competitive. I at first hated the fact that the 360 won't have a standard hard drive, but I do think it will help them possible knock sony off their high horse this time around, so it may not be all bad. I will be getting the $400 version though.

  19.8.2005 19:54 #31

• nonoitall

  @Jason8, what I'm trying to say is that because they are delaying, they will most likely be able to sell the system without as much of a loss and at a lower price. Losing money on hardware is nothing new; game companies make it up with the games.

  19.8.2005 21:39 #32

• solargame

  exactly, and many people will buy 5 or 6 games AT LEAST while they own the system, that will make up for the loss.

  20.8.2005 06:14 #33

• Jason8

  Thats True.
  Heres a question for everyone to answer to if they want to :
  
  Now that the next-generation of gaming is out for the entire world to see and talk about, What is your favorite next-gen console and why do you think it will beat all the other consoles in the race?
  
  Answer freely if you'd like. Thank you for taking part in my question. Im just doing a survey for my video game store, on which system people like better. Thank you again.

  20.8.2005 17:40 #34

• duckNrun

  pretty good comments listed above about re: people's thoughts on the next gen systems.....
  
  

  21.8.2005 11:07 #35