Proof: $199 360 Arcade and a price cut on Sept 7th

by Dustin Burg { Aug 3rd 2008 at 6:00PM }

Adding proof to Ars Technia's report that sometime this September Microsoft will be price cutting all Xbox 360 SKUs, the VGChartz.com crew posted their own insider price cut evidence. VGChartz.com was sent the image above which was taken from a retailer's computer data base showing that, come this September 7th, a $199 Xbox 360 Arcade price point will be in full effect. Delicious!

So, more proof that the first week of September we'll be treated to $199 Arcades, $299 Pros and $399 Elites or just a mean hoax? We say there's a good price cutting chance, but we'll have to practice our patience skills for one more month.

[Thanks, Andrew Laychak]

Tags: arcade, price-cut, price-drop, rumor, xbox-360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ChuckJ @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:11PM

And let me guess, the overpriced hard drives will still remain the same ridiculously high price?

Kait @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:35PM

Wow. Could get a refurb/used HD and be set to go for like 250.

ConfederateRokr @ Aug 3rd 2008 10:46PM

weird, my Best Buy had an add for the 199$ ones today, wonder if it was a mistake.

Chronicus Pr1me @ Aug 4th 2008 1:39PM

Wow, I wish I was near where ever you are! I've been wanting to buy one this whole week so I'll have something to do before school starts, but I might as well wait now. The screenshot looks pretty real.

Aaron @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:49PM

Uhh over here in Canada an Xbox arcade already costs 199, pros, 299, etc., so does that mean we will get even MORE price drops? That would be awesome :P

Justin @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:57PM

Well if its a hoax. It's an expensive hoax, because thats a screen running on a mainframe computer. Which I highly doubt your average person has, unless that person happens to own a major corporation.

I know Kohl's uses mainframe applications like that for a lot of their stuff. I don't know if Kohl's sells Xbox 360's

djSyndrome @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:54PM

Expensive hoax? Anyone can mock up a mainframe screen in a terminal window.

Baligouxji @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:29PM

I'm pretty sure they confirmed, or at least rumored a price cut for hard drives a while ago, including a sort of xbox live bundle for the 60 gig.

Any way, this is great news! 199$ for the arcade sounds like a pretty good price. Remember that analyst stating the 360 needed a real price drop? Well here it is.

ChuckJ @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:34PM

I dont know how they can justify the prices of the Hard drives. I seen their supposed price cuts for the hard drives and it is a joke. If they want people to really download all the movies and crap, then they better make these hard drives a lot more reasonable, because right now it is a straight up rip off.

todd @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:48PM

Now if they would release IPTV for it then I could get a second for the other tube.

Magic Whiskey @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:50PM

I love the new pricing if this is to be 100% locked and confirmed, BUT I still advocate the entire scrapping of the Arcade SKU. Who is buying these things? It only hampers development teams for allowing larger games to cache to the HD.

Kevin Gass @ Aug 3rd 2008 9:39PM

I got one because of the disk tray cover. Solid White>White with Chrome Tray

LilTmac2003 @ Aug 4th 2008 12:29AM

Actually, I think the $199 Arcade 360 as one of it's main advantages this holiday season.

With the Wii still facing shortages, what console are people going to buy? A $399 80GB PS3? If they would spend that much money, than why not get an ELITE that's also $399, 120GB HDD, HDMI Cable, HD Cable, Ethernet Cable, etc.

It's the cheapest priced system out there, that's what people want.

Jonah Falcon @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:51PM

Who cares? Will there be a HARD DRIVE price drop, so I can get the 120gig for my 360?

Om @ Aug 3rd 2008 9:27PM

I don't think the Arcade SKU should ever get scrapped. Speaking as an early adopting gamer and media center fan that bought premium 360 and have recently taken the 120gb plunge (sure it was expensive but if you look around you can find some pretty good deals), the prospect of this low price SKU becoming a cheap ass media center extender as well as a gaming machine to boot for the parents or kids bedroom makes this a possitively droolworthy option for people like me. Just lock and load the old 20gb drive (that's currently a paperweight) onto the newly bought Arcade system and your ready to rock. Sure I would love too go and buy an Elite but that's just a little hard justifying spending that much and that would still result in me having a spare 20gb drive.

Om

Om @ Aug 3rd 2008 9:41PM

DesertPyrate @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:49PM

Well lets see 200.00 360 or impossible to find Wii? Well As a Wii owner, 20 gig 360 owner and 40 gig PS3 owner like one of the gents said a HDD drop on the 120gb drive would be nice, at least the PS3 lets me buy a drive from New Egg.

lotta Arcades getting bought this holiday season

mhb772 @ Aug 3rd 2008 10:30PM

i want that 120 gb hd to go down in price! i can't wait to install me some games on my pro.

Levon @ Aug 4th 2008 12:20AM

If this is true, I'm all over the new 60GB. my HDMI-less 20GB needs a bigger HDD and I would like to have my DVD's upscaled with HDMI even though my tv does a decent job on some movies. Plus, the new jasper mobo will be out, what a steal. i paid $350 for my pro when it was $400 and thought that was a steal. I'll be buying a 60GB this fall if this is true...

joey @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:52PM

wait, if the arcade is $199 and the elite is $399.
and the 120 gb hard drive is $179.

Someone at MS can't do math.

ryan @ Aug 4th 2008 2:08AM

that's still $20 less than an elite. the elite also has an hdmi port which the arcade doesn't have (i don't believe.)

it's mostly for people that don't want to spend all that money to play 360 games.

so i think someone at microsoft has done their math correctly.

joey @ Aug 4th 2008 10:49AM

You completely missed my point.

Let's exam the current price.
Arcade + 120gb hdd, $279 + $179 = $458
Elite = $449

My point is that after the price drop the Elite is now a big rip-off.

The arcade does have HDMI by the way, and a 512 mb memory unit which retails for $50.

Sebquattro @ Aug 4th 2008 12:04PM

@ ryan: Arcade DOES have an HDMI port, I have one sat in front of me.

diginic @ Aug 4th 2008 12:46AM

Something doesn't seem right here.

There would be no advantage to getting the new 60GB unit, as one could easily add the hard drive later and still be paying a total of $300 (60GB hard drive will be $99, correct?). Plus, you would also have an additional 256mb card.

And, if you added a 120GB drive, this brings your total to $350. That's much cheaper than the Elite.

I realize you get the "black" and HDMI, but seriously...these rumors are certainly not inline with their current pricing hierarchy.

Doug @ Aug 4th 2008 2:21AM

In addition to having no hard drive, the Arcade also doesn't come with an HD (component) cable, or a headset. It only comes with the composite cable, unlike the Pro and Elite, which include component and/or HDMI cables respective. So buying the Arcade and planning to upgrade to the 60GB by buying a drive will still put you without HD video or a way to chat online. Not that either is terribly expensive, but it does add up.

I say "go pro."