xbox 360 confirmed pricing

[Inane_Dork]

Anyway we'll see what happens. I'm hoping they reveal the price at TGS, but they may wait until that February PS event next year.

Come to think of it, MS's 2 SKU decision kind of puts Sony in a bind. Does Sony follow suit or offer 1 SKU in between? Either way could be good or bad.

If the 2 SKU works for MS and Sony has 1 SKU, they might lose some casual gamers.
If the 2 SKU works for MS and Sony copies, they will be seen as having greater value.
If the 2 SKU does not work for MS and Sony has 1 SKU, they can really make out.
If the 2 SKU does not work for MS and Sony copies, they will have to change ASAP which might be a mess.

Not sure if this has been posted already, but read this. It's from the founder of Bethesda Softworks (The guys working on Obvilion)

WOW!!! Talk about pissed.

And here's some background on the guy: http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0508/18/0tech-284443.htm

Not stunning, to say the least.

 

[jvd]

THe premium price may not drop for a very long time .


right now

300$ core , 400$ premium

next year

250$ core , 350$ hdd / wireless bundle/high def bundle (hardrive , wireless controller , component cables , good deal over core) 450$ premium (40gig hdd only avalible through this package for limited time , second wireless controller head set and another add in)

So i think on a whole the packages are a good idea . However not with out a hardrive in all of them

 

[Powderkeg]

I bet by next year, MS drops the Premium bundle, and only sells the core SKU.

Once the hardcore crowd is taken care of, and the casual gamer takes over, I would be very surprised if MS still offered the Premium bundle. I rather suspect they will drop it in order to increase profits through peripheral sales.

 

[MasaC]

No kiding, but then neither does anyone else, so suggesting that Sony can simply choose to launch at $299 is just absurd.

The thought that Sony can launch at $299 is absurd but MS launching a core xbox 360 without a HDD at $299 isn't?

What does the PS3 have that the core 360 haven't? A BD-rom and built-in Wi-Fi. There's also some additional ports but the cost addition from a manufacturing viewpoint is marginal at best.

How much more expensive is it to manufacture a BD-rom compared to a DVD-rom? How much does it cost to produce the built-in Wi-Fi? Remember that Sony managed to include built-in Wi-Fi to the PSP without going overboard with the pricing.

 

[Dave Baumann]

It think you can add a bigger CPU die on to that.

 

[PG2G]

And more expensive memory.

 

[MasaC]

It think you can add a bigger CPU die on to that.

True, but will those things add up to an additional $100-$200 as people are speculating the launch price to be in the $400-$500 range?

 

[Powderkeg]

The thought that Sony can launch at $299 is absurd but MS launching a core xbox 360 without a HDD at $299 isn't?

What does the PS3 have that the core 360 haven't? A BD-rom and built-in Wi-Fi. There's also some additional ports but the cost addition from a manufacturing viewpoint is marginal at best.

How much more expensive is it to manufacture a BD-rom compared to a DVD-rom? How much does it cost to produce the built-in Wi-Fi? Remember that Sony managed to include built-in Wi-Fi to the PSP without going overboard with the pricing.

BD-rom requires 2 sets of tracks, and both a red and blue laser. Basically, it has all of the parts of a standard DVD drive, plus all of the parts for a complete bluray drive. Also keep in mind that the blue laser costs more to produce than a red laser, and that tolerences for Bluray is must tighter than red laser drives, so even tiny mistakes can mean a scrapped drive.

Wi-Fi costs are small. So is Bluetooth, multiple ethernet ports, multiple USB ports, and standard wireless controllers, but it all adds up.

And don't forget the XDR memory, which costs more than GDDR-3. And Cell, which likely costs more than the 360 CPU to manufacture, at least at the start.

Ever heard the expression "nickle and dimed to death?"

 

[pc999]

It think you can add a bigger CPU die on to that.

Inst the xenon hotter too, thus liquido coled and worst yelds?

 

[Acert93]

It think you can add a bigger CPU die on to that.

So we have

-Bigger die (50% more transistors if 250M and 165M numbers are correct)
-More expensive optical drive (cutting edge BR vs. commodity DVD)
-WiFi
-More ports, Bluetooth support, 2x HDMI, media slots, etc
-XDR memory (which will have additional Rambus licensing "premium" fees)

Something else: We often forget how much accessories contribute to console sales. If Sony allows game saves to SD, Compact Flash, etc... mediums they will lose a ton of potential revenue (money not earned is money lost). If Sony makes $5 on a memory card, and 40M people bought 1 Sony branded memory card, that is $200M. That is a lot of money... a couple years worth of advertising.

All these things add up in the long run.

EDIT: added XDR

 

[Powderkeg]

Inst the xenon hotter too, thus liquido coled and worst yelds?

Not that I am aware of. The liquid cooling is in response to the noise created by the original Xbox. The 360 is supposed to be quiet, with minimal fan noise. After all, they didn't go with some super overclockers high dollar liquid cooling system, they used almost the exact same cheap as dirt ones found in $400 Dell workstations.

 

[MasaC]

BD-rom requires 2 sets of tracks, and both a red and blue laser. Basically, it has all of the parts of a standard DVD drive, plus all of the parts for a complete bluray drive.

Sony has developed a single optical head for Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD. You can read about it here:

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200405/04-026E/

Wi-Fi costs are small. So is Bluetooth, multiple ethernet ports, multiple USB ports, and standard wireless controllers, but it all adds up.

And don't forget the XDR memory, which costs more than GDDR-3. And Cell, which likely costs more than the 360 CPU to manufacture, at least at the start.

Ever heard the expression "nickle and dimed to death?"

No doubt Sony will initially sell the PS3 at a loss. The PS3-project is a long term commitment and so is the cell-project. The question is how much of a loss are they capable of and willing to take?

I'm sure not even Sony themselves are 100% clear on that one at the moment. I'll bet they will be closely monitoring how both the xbox 360 variants are selling at $299 and $399 respectively to decide at which point they should enter with the PS3.

 

[jvd]

Don't forget pcb costs .

Having more ports , more busses are going to increase the layers and thus the cost of pcb .



Also the gpu is in one part vs two parts for the xenon which will decrease yields compared to the xenon


I think with all acert mentioned and powerkeg and the others have mentioned its easy to see that there can be a 50-100$ more price premium .


Lets not forget that anyalsts were right about two skus and the pricing of the xbox 360 so it may very well be that sans hardrive the xbox 360 costs them 375$ to make and the ps3 costs them 494$ to make

 

[mckmas8808]

jvd analysts also said that the PS3 will sell for $400. So what's the point. Analysts also said that the PSP would cost more than 3 to 4 hundred dollars.

 

[jvd]

jvd analysts also said that the PS3 will sell for $400. So what's the point. Analysts also said that the PSP would cost more than 3 to 4 hundred dollars.

they seem to get right sometimes so why not with the ps3 cost .They were right about other predictions of the time (xbox cost , 2 skus )

 

[Titanio]

they seem to get right sometimes so why not with the ps3 cost .They were right about other predictions of the time (xbox cost , 2 skus )

Yeah, they were right about that about a week or 2 before it was announced, and after "discussions" with Microsoft management I don't think they're as clued in about things to be announced quite a bit later.. alot of the PS3 price estimates are based off analyst's own cost estimates (and we've seen how useless they can be).

That said, I'd be happy if they were right about a $400 PS3 at this stage.

 

[Acert93]

That said, I'd be happy if they were right about a $400 PS3 at this stage.

BR, larger CPU die, XDR, WiFi, ton of ports and possible less memory card sales...

Yeah, $400 would be doing good IMO. $350 just does not seem possible based on the extra parts.

On the other hand: Lucky Sony! MS is doing their market analysis for them!!

Seriously, MS is testing the $400 point. If MS does really well there Sony can go $400 or even $450. If MS bombs, they know to go $350.

They also have set the expectation high: $400 is a "reasonable" cost now. Sony just needs to espouse, "We have better games/brand name, you get HD movie playback (even if you do not have an HDMI HDTV it is still there even if you cannot use it! Future proofing), and WiFi with your PSP!"

This is like an elongated chess match...

Sony's killer check mate: PS3 @ $299!

 

[jvd]

Sony can pull a crazy move that i was thinking about for awhile

350$ ps3 core with no movie playback and u have to buy an over priced remote to use the movie playback .

Then sell a 100$ more package with playback .

 

[mckmas8808]

Sony can pull a crazy move that i was thinking about for awhile

350$ ps3 core with no movie playback and u have to buy an over priced remote to use the movie playback .

Then sell a 100$ more package with playback .

NOPE!!!! NO NO NO. As you can see people are not liking the two sku thing. Sony only needs one sku.

 

[jvd]

NOPE!!!! NO NO NO. As you can see people are not liking the two sku thing. Sony only needs one sku.

People don't care about the two skus . They care about no standard hdd .

Sony has already done two skus . IN japan there are two skus for the psp . The bare bones system and the memory card + case + ehad phones bundle .

So its not unlikely that they will have two bundles