$300 Xbox 360 by Thanksgiving

Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Quoted post: Report: ~$300 Xbox 360 by Thanksgiving
J Allard tells TheStreet.com that Microsoft's next-gen console "will be in the neighborhood" of $299; Canadian paper confirms November ship-date target.

The dwindling fog around Microsoft's launch plans for the Xbox 360 dissipated further yesterday when the likely price of the Xbox 360 was revealed. Speaking to the financial news site TheStreet.com, Microsoft corporate vice president and chief XNA architect J Allard was asked if the Xbox 360 would launch with the same $299 price tag as the original. "It's going to be in the neighborhood [of $300]," he said, apparently dispelling fears of a $399 or even $499 machine, although $350 could still be possible. However, Allard also stressed that any final decision on the 360's price was "about two months away."

Meanwhile, further north, the Canadian daily The Globe and Mail ran an article profiling Cimtek, a small company specializing in quality assurance testing at a Chinese electronics plants. Burlington, Ontario-based Cimtek recently landed a monster contract to help oversee production of the Xbox 360 in Guangdong Province, in the south of China.

Speaking to the The Globe and Mail, Cimtek vice president of operations Craig Thornton outlined the Xbox 360 manufacturing plan, saying that the console would be in " preliminary build stage until July," after which the console will enter the product-validation phase before "hitting full-scale production in September."

Then Thornton let slip the Xbox 360's target ship date, saying of Microsoft, "They have a huge mandate for getting [the Xbox] out for Thanksgiving this year." His comments appear to confirm the November launch date accidentally posted on MTV prior to the May 12 Xbox 360 unveiling on the network. It also further cements speculation that the console would hit the market in mid-November, around the anniversary of the release of the first Xbox in 2001.

Whatever its exact price or lauch date may be, the Xbox 360 will definitely arrive before the end of 2005 worldwide. "We will be launching the next generation of Xbox in North America and Europe and Japan this holiday season," chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach told GameSpot earlier this year.

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 05/27/05 09:07 AM PST
Posted by Axis

Hotness. I'm definitely going to buy one at launch now.

Posted by Fate

It'll go down.

Posted by boomstick

That's actually quite a relief after some of the price predictions I'd been hearing.

Posted by Speedfreak

Great.

Posted by Arczu

What? NOT $400? Wow. it's gonna be something.

This is a big twist to what I was thinking it would go for. I mean... yipe.

Posted by kinco

Does anyone know if the regular XBOX gamer tags will carry over to the 360?

Posted by Random

This news is rather good. I bought my Xbox/PS2 when they were both $300 each. So it's not really that bad. Infact for both the consoles to have huge upgrades like they are... They'd almost have to be losing or not gaining much money. Now I will have to pick up one during it's Launch.

Posted by Axis

I went to Gamestop today and already put 50$ down on it. :)

Posted by Random

Nice! I have a friend who has $200 on it already. He works and spends all of his money on games.. and Gets kicked out of apartments haha :-P I'll probably put money down on it but I have bills to pay first. I can't wait though it'll be sweet. oblivions gonna rock!

Posted by Axis

Yeah, that's one game that I'm excited about. Morrowind became one of my favorite games on Xbox after I played it for awhile. I may go back later today and put down 10 dollars on Perfect Dark Zero or Oblivion when I get paid.

Posted by Random

Yeah those are two great games but I also look forward to Kameo, Ninja Gaiden, and Gears of War. Those games also grab my attention!

Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Quoted post: Does anyone know if the regular XBOX gamer tags will carry over to the 360?


Subscriptions carry over, so I'm sure gamer tags carry over also.
Posted by I feel Yellow?

it shud really by 360$ then it would match the name :P

Posted by Axis

Well, I went back to Gamestop and pre-ordered Perfect Dark Zero, thank ***, now I don't have to worry about looking everywhere for them.

NOTE: I'm not sure if this is the case at all Gamestop's, but apparently the guy was telling me that supplies are going to be really limited. So if you can go out and pre-order it now, then you better do so, because they aren't going to be many copies for public buy when they come out.

Posted by Hannibal King

I hope i dont have to buy the it then buy Halo 3 too!