August 17, 2005 - Today at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, Microsoft unveiled the price of their upcoming next-generation system.
The new 'box will come in two flavors, a core and a fully-loaded model, and will carry two separate price points.
The Xbox 360 core system -- priced at $299.99 in the United States, ?299.99 in Europe and £209.99 in the U.K. -- will come with the console, a wired controller, faceplate, standard audio-visual cable and an Xbox Live Silver membership. An Xbox Live Silver membership allows you to create a user id, download game content, access the Xbox 360 marketplace and gives Live users the ability to chat with friends. It does not, however, allow users to play games online. To do this, Silver members must upgrade to a Gold membership.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/642/642656p1.html
man ms messed up big time