The fact is, having a choice is good.
None of you, if I'm mistaken, were in line for 14hrs to get a X360. I was. What did I see? Moms & Dads standing in line, waiting to buy cores, NOT premiums. By the time the Prems were sold out, there were maybe 3 cores left. Quite possibly one of the quirkiest things I've seen, but @ launch, it was more like 25% sales for Core vs. Premium without the whole forced choice of core, after prems were sold out.
People always malign the Core, and say it needs to die - it doesn't. It's merely a choice, because you can still play 99.5% of hard-copy games with a basic memory card. Lets think: $330 vs. $400. Some people might choose the former, which is why there's STILL a 10% attach rate for cores.
Yes, customers get screwed on a core because the HDD is the extra $100, and with a prem, your getting a few extra tidbits (like wireless controller and headset), but again, in some people's minds, it's a better choice.
What happens if MS drops the core to $199 and throws in a 64mb or 512mb card. Is it useless then? When MS launched the core in Japan, sales had a noticable upswing, and haven't been the same since. It provides basic gamers that might want a X360 for 3-5 games, a worthwhile, easier investment. It's not for the 90% of us, and thats why the 10% pick it up.
Every game requres a memory card to function properly. Even back to the PS1 days, it's been like that!
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
