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greenmedic88 on 24 April 2010
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ironman said:
johnappseed84 said:
dunno001 said:
johnappseed84 said:

So, do you think we will see a price cut for 360 in the near future to make it's price seem more reasonable when you realize you're not getting quite a lot out of the box in comparison to the other consoles? I could see myself not feeling bad about buying a 360 at $200.00 with a 60 gig harddrive, the three year extended warranty, and the ability to get a year of xbla gold and $50.00 worth of gamer points for the price of a PS3.

I've bolded the big difference and problem with your reasoning. That $300 would get you lots (or at least a few) downloadable games and a year of online play with them. Or that $300 gets you a PS3... with online, sure, but nothing to play on it. You're going to need to spend more money to get a game, whether it be $50 for again, more DLable games, or $60 for a new retail release. Of course, this same could be spent to further grow your 360 library, too... so it really comes down to which system just has more that you want, looking at games and features.

Oh yeah, original topic. I'd say around Natal's release. The lower price will help clear out the older non-Natal units, allowing Microsoft to have Natal bundled with most systems for the holidays.

My reasoning on this is that you get a blu-ray player with your purchase of a PS3 for $300.00 and you don't get a blu-ray player with an Elite for $300.00. Therefore being able to have a 360 with a 60 gb harddrive, a free year of Live, and $50.00 of downloadable games for $300.00 would be equivalent to what the PS3 gives you for $300.00.

The bluray player on the PS3 is clumsy to use, as a result, many people would rather purchase a stand alone unit, and with stand alone prices under $100 in some cases, it's a more viable option. The PS3 no longer has a great edge in that aspect (not that it did in the first place since bluray has yet to hit a large enough market share to be able to affect that PS3 selling point anyway) And secondly, the price of Live is not something the average consumer thinks about when purchasing the 360. Also, you failed to factor in the games, or the amount of people with 360s (more people with 360s means more of a chance that you will be playing with friends). I really don't think the PS3 has an edge, or more value to the majority (meaning more than 50% of consumers looking to purchase an HD console) of consumers. A price drop? No. Major bundling to keep things flowing, yes! PS3 catching up or surpassing the 360...it would be hard pressed unless something phenomenal happens. Sony has played it's trump card, the slim, all it has left is GT5 and and wiimote + knockoff...those are not going to move near the number of consoles Halo Reach and Natal will. Plus there are rumors about a 360 slim, which if true, will take a pretty large bite out of any ground the PS3 has made thus far.  

Major bundlings don't change the bottom line price; they add to it. Even if they are a better value (ie. a FFXIII bundle with a $60 game, a $40 controller and a 250GB HDD vs. a 120GB HDD) MS still prices them $100 more than a base 120GB SKU.

For many mass market consumers, the entry price is the first thing they look at once they've made the decision to buy a specific platform (ie. I'll buy it when it's under $200, $149, or whatever). 

By the same token, a $299 250GB Elite with Natal bundled is still... a $299 Xbox. Unless MS chooses to adopt a strategy where they start losing money on each bundle sold in an attempt to regain market share, that potentially game changing $149 Arcade/Natal bundle probably isn't happening.

As for consumers not buying a PS3 because "The bluray player on the PS3 is clumsy to use," that's ridiculous. A $20 remote makes it as easy to use as any BD player on the market, without even limiting comparisons to entry level $99 players.

If a consumer just wants a BD player and wants it as cheap as possible, the PS3 stopped being the best option since last year, and that has had no effect on sales based on Q4 2009 to present numbers. 

Games on both platforms are a wash. Neither has an edge anymore and consumer choice, if it has to be one or the other, will be largely dependent upon personal preferences for the exclusives each platform has.

And the PS3 slim wasn't a game changer because it came in a cheaper housing; it was a game changer because the entry price went from $399 to $299.

Anyone expecting to see the same effect if/when MS changes the housing to a cheaper method of construction is presumably expecting to see a $100 price drop coinciding with an "xbox 360 slim."