Sony's 80GB PS3 is $300 starting tomorrow and its similarly priced 120GB PS3 Slim is just a few weeks away, so how does a 25% price cut stack against the competition? Have a look at my chart below and see for yourself, and just remember, everyone has different wants and needs. Some people don't care about Wi-Fi and work around it with an Ethernet cable. Others think $50 a year for the "privilege" of playing online multiplayer is exorbitant. Don't assume those bottom line prices are necessarily your bottom line. Use the chart as a build-it-yourself tool.
Points of clarification:
1. I've baselined with the 120GB hard drive this time around (see last time) since in my view it's become the minimum standard for juggling downloadable movies, games, music files, etc. (In fact for me, 120GB is almost too small.) That said, you can certainly build out an Xbox 360 Arcade with the $50 cheaper 60GB hard drive if you like, or stick with the Xbox 360 Pro's default 60GB.
2. The Xbox 360 Arcade comes with 5 arcade games and a 256MB memory unit, if that's of interest. The Xbox 360 Pro and Elite models have at various points sold with promotional games, but aren't currently. (Rumor is, Microsoft plans to phase out the Pro entirely and drop the price of the Elite to $300.)
3. All accessory prices taken from Gamestop, accessed 8/18/09. You can certainly find better deals if you shop around. As always, I picked a popular retailer to level set.
4. Remember that the above chart doesn't gauge the "soft" value of features like Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Home or any of the many intrinsic (by design) or gratis services included with either system.
5. Update: Engadget reports the PS3 Slim's hard drive bay is swappable. I've adjusted the chart accordingly.
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I was really surprised to log on today and see no MS announcements. If they don't cut the price to at least make the Elite match PS3's new pricing, 360 will lose massively this holiday.
Unlike the Wii, the 360 has nothing to differentiate itself from the PS3 to the average user.
EDIT: Since many people don't read past the OP.... Please go here for common response / answer
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?id=2504452
I don't want to reply individually so....
1. I DID NOT WRITE THE ARTICLE, SO DON'T CALL ME OUT ON IT SPECIFICALLY. However, I did think its overall logic stands true.
2. HDMI cord no longer in elite and you can get them <$40. True, but since none of the skus gives you this cord anymore, it can simply be removed from all. Basically not changing the concept that the PS3 is a cheaper system with more features.
3. XLB > PSN for the $50. That's subjective. Some will like one over the other for many different reasons. The base fact is they are more similar than they are different, so paying $50 for one is the biggest difference.
4. Do not need 120gb hdd in 360. That's your opinion. PS3 slim has 120gb and the point of the chart is to make the two models as similar as possible. Therefore, for the purposes of that chart you would require the 120gb hdd on the 360.
Basically the point is, when you put the two at the same position, the PS3 is cheaper and has more features (bluray). However, I would still buy the 360 Arcade w/ the 60gb starter kit for $280 total and pay for Live. Why? I don't care about bluray and everyone I know has a 360. Therefore my online experience would be far better. On top of that, the game selection is nearly identical.
I just think that from a pound for pound situation the 360 requires a price cut as people go out to buy one of them and does a comparison of feature sets vs price.
