The grounds that im tired of hearing certain people boast? ^^

Lets see...

The way I see it - It looks probably they are going to release the Xmote and do a Blu Ray drive in at least one of their SKUs whilst at the same time they're doing a refresh of their system.

We've heard rumours of : Blu ray, Xmote, Jasper is confirmed in production with a different motherboard design.

So im assuming that the Blu ray and Xmote rumours are true and with the motherboard redesign im pretty much going to assume that they're adding wireless as its long overdue! Furthermore the size of the Pro models HDD is too small so im assuming that they're going to increase it. This all makes sense, if you can think clearly you'd see it as quite obvious changes.

So I predict that the Xbox360 Elite - Stay at $450 with 120gb HDD and add Blu Ray

Xbox360 Pro - Increase HDD size  60 GB is perfect and lower price to $300

Xbox360 Arcade - Xmote and lower price to $250 - this differentiates the different SKUS and gives them a reason to exist. No wireless though! No need they can use the chips from returned Xbox360's in this SKU, keeps the price low and the profit higher. They want to compete with the Wii with this one.

For all media centre systems wireless is obviously well overdue. I expect them to go straight to N spec to give better performance than the PS3 and Wii over wireless. This is important obviously for a media centre or multiplayer type console which the Pro and Elite certainly are!

The reasons for the prices - The Xbox360 Elite helps increase the value of the console, a too low a price makes the system seem cheap compared to the PS3 and by adding it to the lineup it helps seperate the Blu ray from the gaming system in the minds of the consumers. With the PS3 they have to get the blu ray but if it seems that they're paying extra for it, then they'll likely give more thought to it. Like whether or not they want blu ray!

 Consumers often weigh the features of a console - HDD size, wireless, Blu ray, media card readers, Backwards compatibility etc so an update to the features of a console at little cost, but increases the value significantly to certain consumers is invaluable. The Xmote is valuable because people know what a Wii is and certain people value the controls quite highly, Blu Ray is another such case... but more importantly by forcing consumers to put a value on it, it increases the value of the other SKUs. With a lower price people would assume that the PS3 is much more powerful. However with Blu ray in the Elite SKU it increases the value of the Pro SKU that doesnt have blu ray! Its called ironically a Halo effect in marketing.

They may as well do the changes now rather than later, seeing as they're doing the chip revision.

And the software side, they have a really good lineup, quite diverse so they can promise variety and quality to anybody that chooses their system. They have a tonne of games coming out, I think they are starting to see MMORPGs coming to the system also. Theres an obvious strength in RPGs this year, action games with Ninja Gaiden and Too Human and multiplayer games with Left 4 dead - I'd bite off my right arm if multiplayer sucks on this game... Its Valve! They also have Epic making Gears 2 - Another landmark multiplayer producer. I would say they have online play wrapped up for shooters in 2008. They actually have strategy games, and with the Xmote you could possibly actually play them. They have this genre exclusive to the Xbox360 probably for the forseeable future. Fun non hardcore games are coming out, but it wouldnt hurt to have a few more mass market games here.

Just quick and dirty they have an opportunity to both increase competitiveness against the PS3 and Wii and start turning the Xbox360 into the best allround system on the market. Thats if they pull off with the Xmote.

Edit: A lot of people have suggested that the 360 is in dire need of a price cut, I would say its in dire need of an update to the SKUs which increase their individual value to consumers! A price cut also helps too.

New games that come out can cause an initial spike in sales, but they also cause the system to increase in value as the number of quality games available increases. For instance MGS4 will cause a spike on the system but it also will cause anyone who compares the games between the consoles to place a higher value on the content on that system. So the increase in sales is actually sustained somewhat.

 for once i actually completely agree with starcraft here, this year will be 360's peak year.  Historically this year in a consoles life is its peak year, and 360 console sales are up from last year despite the gap increasing between 360 and PS3.  Rather than only looking at how 360 can outsell PS3, why don't you just look at how 360 can sustain sales and profits.  I think releasing it in 09 is the right move.  Either way, I don't think it's ready to be released this year. 

Whilst I respect history, I don't think you can count on the same rules applying for this generation.

Actually ironically I heard a few rumours a while ago about the Xbox360 being used as a cable box. Cable/TV companies are concerned about losing their market share to gaming, so this makes perfect sense for retaining their key 21-45 age bracket. The cost of the console is meaningless in this example because its rented so people just pay their $20 a month for a gaming box with live and think nothing of it.

 Well microsoft could bleed money to try to keep up with Sony, though I doubt just about nothing they could do would result in them having a bigger market share at the end of the generation.

But they don't have to.  They have to turn a profit (which they have just as good a chance of doing as Sony do) and they have to stay close enough to Sony by the end of the generation that the PS3 gets no exclusive's it wouldn't otherise have gotten.  Even as it stands its doubtful that Sony could ever attain such a lead, but with a strong 2008 and a decent 2009, Microsoft puts it beyond question. 

With a good 2009 and on-going support, the Xbox 360 could sell 45 million (or even 50 million) consoles. 

 Exactly, they could keep closer if they did bleed money but it's just not worth it.  PS3 probably won't outsell 360 til late 09 or so, and by that time 360 will have already secured multiplatform status at least on most games.  

Rather than spending lots of money and playing catch up they can do things right from the beginning, it's much cheaper and more effective.  Just ask Nintendo, they haven't had to be aggressive at all. Nintendo could just cruise this whole gen and end up in 1st place with insane amounts of profit.  They would probably end up in first without even having a price cut or new model the entire generation.

Soon it is going toi be the battle of the slims lol. who will get there first Sony who are well known for SHRINKING their products or Microsoft i dont no, ut whoever it is will probably take Japan, with a few good JRPG release along side it

I think the Japanese people have a natural distrust for consoles that are wider than their penis is long. Its probably why the Wii is such a huge hit there.

 In that case then they should all blow up the ds slims lol. u funny no hell i have got to add you lol

Back on topic  

So does anyone think that the slim 360 will get good sales in japan or is it just too late