Official MS E3 press conference thread

[eastmen]

I wonder how the sony price drop has affected ms's plans .

On monday we saw

xbox 360 PS3
$279
$300
$350 $400
$450 $500

Now the ps3 is at $400 with no news of what a $500 verison will have (or if there is one)

So now for $50 more than the 60 gig xbox 360 you get a 80 gig ps3 and for $50 less than the 120 elite you get a 80 gig ps3.

i'm guessing they will drop the 60 gig to $300 in november ? the elite for $379 ? and the arade will have to drop to around $230 i'd say.

What do you guys think

 

[AlphaWolf]

I wonder how the sony price drop has affected ms's plans .

On monday we saw

xbox 360 PS3
$279
$300
$350 $400
$450 $500

Now the ps3 is at $400 with no news of what a $500 verison will have (or if there is one)

So now for $50 more than the 60 gig xbox 360 you get a 80 gig ps3 and for $50 less than the 120 elite you get a 80 gig ps3.

i'm guessing they will drop the 60 gig to $300 in november ? the elite for $379 ? and the arade will have to drop to around $230 i'd say.

What do you guys think

Sony price drop? It was $400 10 months ago. They put a bigger HDD in it.

 

[Carl B]

What price drop? PS3 is still $400 for the base version, like it was before. 20GB more than the Pro at $349 for $50 more, just as the 40GB console that preceded it was $50 more for a 20GB spread.

 

[obonicus]

What price drop? PS3 is still $400 for the base version, like it was before. 20GB more than the Pro at $349 for $50 more, just as the 40GB console that preceded it was $50 more for a 20GB spread.

Question is: will Sony discontinue the 'real' 80gigger, and now work with only one SKU? That could be perceived as a price-drop for the 80G, and would probably be marketed as one.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

To be fair, MS was following up on their conference from last year...That tactic gets you pumped for the next 6 months as you think 'wow, this will be a great year again!'

Sony's continuing tactic year after year tends to show more CG movies from games coming out in the distant future, or get shown year after year.

And I just wrote a similar observation in the Sony thread. I think people's fears/hopes from E3 '07 that MS wouldn't have any marketable degree of exclusive products have been removed.

The fact that MS is still being bashed (by the same people, I might add.. cough.. cough) for not showing future projects is interesting. They'll show them at E3 09 and demonstrate how strong their 09 lineup is. Just like they demonstrated in 07 that they had the strongest line-up, and they've now done it again in 08.

The line-up that MS continues to come to battle with year in and year out is quite frankly amazing. The 360 really is well on its way to becoming the PS2. The library of titles available for the 360 when it hits $199-$149 is going to rival that of the PS2.

 

[eastmen]

um the 80 gig unit was $500 now its $400 .

Thats a price drop to me . Esp if there is no $500 ps3 anymore .

Still though an 80 gig ps3 looks alot more attractive next to a 60 gig $350 360 than the 40 gig did . Now the ps3 may cost more but it has a larger hardrive and bluray. the 360 now has a smaller hard drive . Most people may never need that stuff , but they will still keep it in mind when they go to buy

 

[liolio]

I wonder how the sony price drop has affected ms's plans .

On monday we saw

xbox 360 PS3
$279
$300
$350 $400
$450 $500

Now the ps3 is at $400 with no news of what a $500 verison will have (or if there is one)

So now for $50 more than the 60 gig xbox 360 you get a 80 gig ps3 and for $50 less than the 120 elite you get a 80 gig ps3.

i'm guessing they will drop the 60 gig to $300 in november ? the elite for $379 ? and the arade will have to drop to around $230 i'd say.

What do you guys think

For my point of view it's no question that MS will face the holidays with the "same" prices as in Europe, no matter what the euro /dollars currencies are.

 

[AlphaWolf]

um the 80 gig unit was $500 now its $400 .

Thats a price drop to me . Esp if there is no $500 ps3 anymore .

Still though an 80 gig ps3 looks alot more attractive next to a 60 gig $350 360 than the 40 gig did . Now the ps3 may cost more but it has a larger hardrive and bluray. the 360 now has a smaller hard drive . Most people may never need that stuff , but they will still keep it in mind when they go to buy

That's pretty creative math you've got going on there. I guess the 360 Elite is the real bargain because it has 120GB?

The new 80GB != the old 80GB.

 

[Carl B]

um the 80 gig unit was $500 now its $400 .

Thats a price drop to me . Esp if there is no $500 ps3 anymore.

There's no $500 PS3 now either; what there is, is a special edition bundle which includes Metal Gear Solid 4 and a B/C capable console.

When that bundle is no more, the 80GB SKU will become the sole SKU, just as the 40GB SKU that preceded it was the sole SKU for some time.

Microsoft may or may not cut their price later this year, but Sony I can tell you cannot be considered to have done so with this. A 40GB channel clearing effort may take place prior to introduction however, similar to the 20GB Pro effort, that sees the 40GB unit drop $50 or something - that would be a legitimate price drop. This as it stands is just a feature upgrade.

 

[eastmen]

That's pretty creative math you've got going on there. I guess the 360 is the real bargain because it has 120GB?

The new 80GB != the old 80GB.

Hey , i'm just telling you how it goes . When people go into a store they first look at price and then features. most features are based on numbers and they have been programed that more is better .

The majority of gamers wont know whats exclusive to what , they will just see some numbers and one of those numbers they will remember from pc purchases and more hardrive space is allways better .

 

[AlphaWolf]

Hey , i'm just telling you how it goes . When people go into a store they first look at price and then features. most features are based on numbers and they have been programed that more is better .

The majority of gamers wont know whats exclusive to what , they will just see some numbers and one of those numbers they will remember from pc purchases and more hardrive space is allways better .

If they first look at price, they will see that it has not changed. If they compare features they will notice that it lacks some of the features of the old 80GB SKU (BC + game bundle).

There's a number of things you can call the new SKU, price drop isn't really one of them.

 

[obonicus]

The line-up that MS continues to come to battle with year in and year out is quite frankly amazing. The 360 really is well on its way to becoming the PS2. The library of titles available for the 360 when it hits $199-$149 is going to rival that of the PS2.

Why exactly do you say this? Most games coming to the 360 are multiplatform, barring first-party ones and a slew of RPGs. What other big exclusives are coming (full exclusive, not timed)? There's the new Splinter Cell, if it ever comes out, left4dead is a maybe on PS3, anything else? If the 360 maintained the sort of library variety it had early on in its cycle I'd give you this, but both platforms are sort of tapering off into the same sort of offerings.

 

[PARANOiA]

And I just wrote a similar observation in the Sony thread. I think people's fears/hopes from E3 '07 that MS wouldn't have any marketable degree of exclusive products have been removed.

The fact that MS is still being bashed (by the same people, I might add.. cough.. cough) for not showing future projects is interesting. They'll show them at E3 09 and demonstrate how strong their 09 lineup is. Just like they demonstrated in 07 that they had the strongest line-up, and they've now done it again in 08.

The line-up that MS continues to come to battle with year in and year out is quite frankly amazing. The 360 really is well on its way to becoming the PS2. The library of titles available for the 360 when it hits $199-$149 is going to rival that of the PS2.

I don't know about the PS2 comment (that seems to be the Wii) but it is amusing to see people saying "so MS have nothing for 2009? ha ha!" in the same way after E3 07 they said "so MS have nothing for 2008? ha ha!". They seem to have picked a positive balance between short-to-mid term hype (say, 80%) with the rest being longer-term, say Q2 '09+.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I don't know about the PS2 comment (that seems to be the Wii) but it is amusing to see people saying "so MS have nothing for 2009? ha ha!" in the same way after E3 07 they said "so MS have nothing for 2008? ha ha!". They seem to have picked a positive balance between short-to-mid term hype (say, 80%) with the rest being longer-term, say Q2 '09+.

You can't can claim the Wii is the ps2 for this generation. It's never going to be the development platform of choice. Where are the racing games, shooters and sports games? There won't be anything like the PS2 in this generation, which is a good thing.

MS has definitely done a good job with is game releases. They keep them fairly quiet until they are almost ready, and they keep coming with more every year.

 

[dobwal]

Hey , i'm just telling you how it goes . When people go into a store they first look at price and then features. most features are based on numbers and they have been programed that more is better .

The majority of gamers wont know whats exclusive to what , they will just see some numbers and one of those numbers they will remember from pc purchases and more hardrive space is allways better .

They're shopping for consoles not digital cameras. Most buyers know the minute they decide to buy a console what brand it will be and thats way before they hit the inside of a store.

Price and features tend to trump brand when shopping for general electronics like a flat screen TV, video camera or BluRay standalone players. However, people don't go to Best Buy looking for a game console they go looking to for a PS3, 360 or a Wii.

Features are usually only considerations in sku choice like "whats the difference between a $500 and a $400 dollar PS3" not "I want this $400 PS3 because it comes with 20 gigs more HDD space than a $350 360".

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I don't know about the PS2 comment (that seems to be the Wii)

Can't be the the Wii. They're getting very little cross-platform titles, they have very few games in multiple genres. In terms of getting all ports and all genres as well as leading in exclusives (timed or otherwise), it's the 360.

I wasn't referring to user base (although I think that will be the obvious result), I was referring to width and depth of the library.

but it is amusing to see people saying "so MS have nothing for 2009? ha ha!" in the same way after E3 07 they said "so MS have nothing for 2008? ha ha!". They seem to have picked a positive balance between short-to-mid term hype (say, 80%) with the rest being longer-term, say Q2 '09+.

Indeed. They're doing an excellent job of not promising what can't be delivered.

 

[obonicus]

Can't be the the Wii. They're getting very little cross-platform titles, they have very few games in multiple genres. In terms of getting all ports and all genres as well as leading in exclusives (timed or otherwise), it's the 360.

I wasn't referring to user base (although I think that will be the obvious result), I was referring to width and depth of the library.

That's a fairly broad definition of the 'new PS2'; as was said last week, none of the consoles is really poised to be the next PS2. Wii lacks developer support, the others lack the overwhelming marketshare and mindshare. As far as I understand it, part of the reason the PS2 did so well with games was because it had such an incredible userbase, not the other way around (though it certainly helped inflate sales). And if there's anything this gen has taught us, it's that software doesn't move hardware nearly as well as you'd think it would (not over prolonged periods, anyway). Halo 3 didn't, GTA4 didn't and MGS4 probably won't.

As I said elsewhere, all of this won't really make a real dent in sales, other than maybe Japan. 360 will likely keep its lead over the PS3 in the US, as they'll continue to sell neck to neck (we'll continue to gloat over 1% leads from console to the next, though). Europe will probably continue its slow trend towards the PS3, despite no one really understanding why (ask 10 gamers and get 11 different answers, including half a dozen 'I live in Europe and no one I know owns a PS3' anecdotes) and Japan will continue to ignore home consoles that aren't Nintendo's. Japan's the only real wildcard, and even then not much of one.

 

[AlNom]

So I think its safe to say that something regarding Halo 3 is about to change.

:| This just in....

 

[Barbarian]

Wow. New Dashboard is pretty damn impressive and informative. I wasn't expecting anything quite like that. It looks pretty clean.

I was blown away as well. Finally MS have taken the 360 interface to the level of MCE/Vista media center experience.
I can't wait for the Netflix channel as well. Honestly this is finally a good reason for me to keep an annual Gold Live membership.
Did they mention any ship date? Fall update as in September or later?

 

[AlNom]

Fall update as in September or later?

If it means anything, the Fall 2007 update was in December. I guess it depends on what you want to consider to be Autumn. (It either begins on Sept 1, ending on Nov 30, or it begins on Sept 22, ending on Dec 20). They haven't announced a specific date, but it's usually not until it's a few weeks away from release.