360 Arcade, Elite, Premium, and Pro discontinued on Amazon (New SKU at GDC?!)

[nintenho]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Cons..._2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1203121066&sr=8-2

that's a link to the premium SKU but they all say the same thing; discontinued by manufacturer: yes. I guess they're going to announce something big for GDC. I thought the recent 360 shortages were because they were getting rid of old 360's to make room for the newer, more reliable one (there was a rumor about a new 65nm GPU?) but apparently they're also going to change up the actual bundles themselves a lot. sounds very exciting.

edit: could a mod put 360 in the title? it sounds weird.

 

[mrcorbo]

/raises eyebrow

Interesting. Nice find.

 

[AlNom]

Want (or similar): single SKU with HDD and huge price drop on existing hard drives.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I posted it in one of the other 360 threads also (65nm unified cpu/gpu).

Perhaps just new bundles or perhaps new bundles to coincide with something else such as a price drop. I'd be surprised if its a major redesign.

Want (or similar): single SKU with HDD and huge price drop on existing hard drives.

It's really too late for them to get rid of the Arcade. They've sold too many of them by now to drop the requirement that games run without the drive.

I could see adding value to the elite or even pushing a larger drive into the pro, but I don't see how dropping the arcade SKU would really gain them anything.

 

[nintenho]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Wire...00B6MLV4/ref=pd_ts_vg_10?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

wifi adapter also discontinued. I guess there'll be a new 360 with built in wifi, but wouldn't it be logical to still sell this for those who don't have 360's with built in wifi?

 

[AlphaWolf]

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Wire...00B6MLV4/ref=pd_ts_vg_10?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

wifi adapter also discontinued. I guess there'll be a new 360 with built in wifi, but wouldn't it be logical to still sell this for those who don't have 360's with built in wifi?

It could just be a revamp to a wireless N capable one or something.

 

[AlNom]

It's really too late for them to get rid of the Arcade. They've sold too many of them by now to drop the requirement that games run without the drive.

I could see adding value to the elite or even pushing a larger drive into the pro, but I don't see how dropping the arcade SKU would really gain them anything.

Yeah, it just a silly fantasy of mine (the single SKU part).

I agree though, I could see them get rid of the 20GB. They should drop the price of the 20GB HDDs, let those Arcade/Core owners soak up the existing stock; these people probably don't care about downloading a lot of things anyway. MS ought to push the larger hard drives so that people can start filling them up with XBL marketplace movies/series, so... perhaps 120GB in the Pro. We'll probably see an underwhelming price drop should that happen (as we seem to be used to ).

 

[Squilliam]

Say, are there any blu ray units that are also 12x DVD drives? I was wondering if they would include it in the elite model to go toe to toe with the PS3?

Elite+Pro+Arcade are back.

It shouldn't be too hard to include wireless across the board, especially if they count on extra live gold and movie rental subscriptions to pay for it.

Arcade=20gb H.D.D+wireless
Pro = 120gb H.D.D+Wireless
Elite = 120-200gb +Blu Ray+Wireless

All have a redisigned chassi for heat and noise?

Thats my interpretation of what might happen.

 

[PARANOiA]

Just when you thought this gen had enough SKU's... bam, they're changed again. This gen wins the "most consumer confusion" award.

 

[nintenho]

Just when you thought this gen had enough SKU's... bam, they're changed again. This gen wins the "most consumer confusion" award.

well in all fairness it seems like they're going to try and cut some of them out soon.

 

[Rangers]

I dunno about a new sku..some places have gotten new stock of premiums in the last few days..I'm skeptical.

Also as for amazon discontinued, it's been noted for example the 60GB PS3 is NOT listed as discontinued at amazon..so it probably doesn't mean a whole lot.

There is very likely at least one sku with built in wi-fi coming this year, yes. That was a surfer girl rumor and she's usually right. It could just be slipstreamed like HDMI though. My guess would be to Elite, to differentiate it.

If there is a new sku at GDC it would be the best job MS has done of keeping a secret like, ever.

 

[sionyboy]

If there is a new sku at GDC it would be the best job MS has done of keeping a secret like, ever.

Mattrick is running a tight ship, there are warnings of mandatory leg-breakings all around he Ents & Devices Division now.


I think MS have a lot riding on GDC this year and they are doing everything they possibly can to ensure whatever they announce will be a big surprise (well....maybe not Gears 2, everyone expects that, but its proved a good diversion)

 

[D3B]

The Elite being not so elite one would hope right

 

[Rockster]

It was heavily rumored prior to CES that a Toshiba branded XBox 360 would be revealed with integrated HD-DVD, wifi, etc. when Warner & Fox were planning going exclusively HD-DVD. We know Fox contacted Sony and a last minute deal was made to flip exclusivity. All the Toshiba CES announcements were scrapped but I wonder if this isn't the same unit with the HD-DVD drive pulled.

 

[expletive]

All the Toshiba CES announcements were scrapped but I wonder if this isn't the same unit with the HD-DVD drive pulled.

Or replaced with a Blu Ray drive...

Timing seems about right, just out of the reach for holiday returns...

 

[Scott_Arm]

Friend of mine has a free trip to GDC for work. So jealous right now. I hope there's a price drop and some interesting new units. I'm really into the idea of picking up a 360. I've gone too long without playing a real NHL game.

 

[-tkf-]

Isn´t GDC supposed to start today?

 

[Martin Eddy]

Feb 18-22

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I posted it in one of the other 360 threads also (65nm unified cpu/gpu).

Perhaps just new bundles or perhaps new bundles to coincide with something else such as a price drop. I'd be surprised if its a major redesign.



It's really too late for them to get rid of the Arcade. They've sold too many of them by now to drop the requirement that games run without the drive.

I could see adding value to the elite or even pushing a larger drive into the pro, but I don't see how dropping the arcade SKU would really gain them anything.

I don't agree. There are probably no more than 4 million X360s out there without hard drives. The final userbase is going to be in the 40+ million range. They can probably afford to relax that restriction as long as they reduce the HD pricing into the $60 range or so.

I would love to see the SKUs change to:

20GB HD - $249
120GB HD - $299
200GB HD w/Blu-Ray - $399

 

[silhouette]

I don't agree. There are probably no more than 4 million X360s out there without hard drives. The final userbase is going to be in the 40+ million range. They can probably afford to relax that restriction as long as they reduce the HD pricing into the $60 range or so.

I would love to see the SKUs change to:

20GB HD - $249
120GB HD - $299
200GB HD w/Blu-Ray - $399

There is always be an arcade version. In this generation, this is the only thing that MS can make a price difference with a 360 model at the end (i.e. even if the cost of PS3 and 360 is exactly the same, Sony always has to put a hard-drive inside..Even if it is small, it will cost something.. Ms will avoid that cost in arcade SKU).

However, MS can relax the restrictions on hard-disk use. They have already done so in last year GDC.