Not a chance that it will release next year when the Xbox 360 is still priced at $300.

Everything points to a November 2013 release.

They would never drop price so much when they've only had two $50 drops in six years. It defies all logic. If their plan was to release Nextbox in 2012 we would have seen a price drop for the X360 down to $250 by now.

I agree about second place but it is clear now that Microsoft betrayed us. We're destined to always be in third place.

360 is not $300. Its $200 with a $100 HDD.

Plus, the price has been dropped... every store has had a continuous Gift Card ($50 at first now $100) offer tied to their 360 (as well as PS3) sales since November started. This trend will continue through the rest of the holiday time frame as its a better benefit for each retailer to keep the price high and offer a gift card that then must be redeemed in their store. It also probably costs MS less as they don't have to reduce the price they sale it to retailer for very much to make them want to do these types of promotions.

Then in Feb or Mar, MS can drop the price across the board by $50 and still continue to make a heap on the every unit sold to continue to pay for the R&D and the eventual ramp up of physical stock later in the year.

Then in November when the neXtBox launches they can keep 360 price at that $150 price to keep higher margins coming in to cover the small loss no the new system, however it will be reduced to one sku that includes a 250GB HDD and current Kinect (as new neXtBox will have new Kinect)... effectively cutting the high end price down while remaining profitable and offering a lowend last-gen product for less than 1/2 the price of their new console.

I think its brilliant and has a very good chance of happening and being very successful.

Meanwhile there will be $99 Wii bundles, a $299 WiiU, and probably a $199 PS3 to compete with.... 2012 will surely be the end of the world.

The price of the DS never saw a significant decrease and Nintendo still launched the 3DS ...

There is a mindset in business which suggests that you should never reduce the price of your product to preserve its value; and this philosophy would recommend selling your new system at the same price as your existing system to ensure that people see value in buying your new system.  While I doubt anyone is that dogmatic about it, there is no reason to believe that the XBox 360's price has to drop to a certain level before MS releases their next system.

Well I hope you are wrong because I want the Xbox 3 to be as strong as possible. And in your sig it says 2013.

Yes, but there is also a thing called market segments (or something). Old console sells for cheap to lazy casual gamer who doesn't want to spend too much money but wants a big library of games to choose from. He is the $200 customer.

Meanwhile the traditional gamer wants the best console tech available. He is the $400 cistomer.

And this way you can have two consoles on the market and overlapping sales through generations.

My sig says I said they would all be out BY 2013... that doesn't preclude 360 from launching 2012 as I've also always said there was a 50/50 shot it would go 2012 or 2013. My only certainties were that WiiU would be in 2012 (i was right) and PS4 would be in (2013... so far looking good). neXtBox was the only one I wasn't sure on due to how early the 360 came out yet how popular it still remains with a good high margin price point.

Launching in 2012 or 2013 won't make any significant difference on potential raw power of the system at the most reasonable $300-$400 price point with small loss. However, the only thing no one should expect is for WiiU to be that far below in specs than either of the others. Nintendo knows this is why they didn't reach 50%+ market share as they couldn't capture the 3rd party support they needed to continue where their 1st party products left them. (not like 45% marketshare is anything to be ashamed of...)

However, launching on 2012 allows them to stop any momentum Nintendo would have gained by being first to the market, similar to the jump 360 had which allowed it to finish above the PS3 overall... especially in US. If WiiU launches by itself, clearly demonstrates its better than current gen and provides its 1st party titles along with AAA 3rd party content (things missed on 3DS launch)... it would have gone through the roof that first year.

If this all proves true... I see Nintendo and MS vying for first next gen with PS4 making up the rear end with a difference not quite as bad as Wii is to PS360 now.

wow the delusion in this thread is incredible. What 1st party software could microsoft hope to bring out next year for a new console. Halo 4 releasing christmas 2012 is very likely but on the 360.

Microsoft already has a SKU on the market to appeal to them ... It is currently $199 and often comes bundled with games; and it has been seen on sale for $150 or less. Realistically, Microsoft wont get much additional benefit by waiting for their expensive sku to fall to "casual" prices.