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[sonycowboy]

http://www.xbox365.com/news.cgi?id=GGurPdLrGr08171253

As one of our staff explains, the whole two model idea might not be a bad idea afterall. When you begin to understand all of the ideals and planning that went into this decision, this could actually be a good thing, a very good thing.

Article by Epsilon-Zero[X365]

Alright I've seen a lot of xbox faithfulls suddenly turn around like they got sucker punched but I'm going to take a minute and explain some things from my MS sources.

Alright first thing first is that 85% of the Xbox360's Made will be the Premium Package that includes the HDD. The other 15% will be the core systems without the HDD.

Game developers are aware of this, with a 85% HDD attach rate from the start combined with MS's tools, makes it easy to enable disc caching and take advantage of it and also make tags to cache to RAM when the HDD is not present.

The HDD in the 360 is a 20Gb SATA 2.5" Laptop drive that weighs considerably less and is roughly 3x-5x faster than the HDD found in the original Xbox. This HDD is not a 20gb drive you can find for $15 at a flee market. It costs considerably more.

Developers are still writing games to cache to a HDD just like they always have on the Xbox. Those Xbox360's that do not have a HDD will experience 2x-3x more loading time. Also the absence of the ability to save music and save game data will be the only con of not having a HDD.

Those of you who think this idea will flop take a moment to consider that if Core Xbox360's are few in number and are not widely available like the Premium Xbox30 bundle is, which console do you think those mommys and dadys are going to buy? The one they can find almost anywhere as Christmas approaches fast or the one they dont see as often and offers less features?

When it comes to crunch time people are going to spend the extra $100 to guarantee that they will be able to give their son or daughter the gift they want.

All you hardcore faithful have not been forgotten. The HDD will still play a very important role in the Xbox360 just as it has with the original Xbox. Nothing has changed from the Developers stand point. And nothing has changed from the ammount of features available to the Hardcore gamer.

If anything has changed it's that we have a limited price choice and for some people that is what matters the most.

 

[Mejilan]

Holy shit. Enough.

 

[Mrbob]

Lol, I knew it.

Even higher than my 80/20 prediction.

MS doesn't even plan on selling many core packs. They just have them out there so they can say they have a 299 X360 package.

 

[sonycowboy]

Lol, I knew it.

Even higher than my 80/20 prediction.

MS doesn't even plan on selling many core packs. They just have them out there so they can say they have a 299 X360 package.

:lol

I must have missed that PR

 

[PhatSaqs]

Lol, I knew it.

Even higher than my 80/20 prediction.

MS doesn't even plan on selling many core packs. They just have them out there so they can say they have a 299 X360 package.

They should drop the controller in the "retard pack" and include the HDD.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I was away for an hour, have you flipped back Bob?

That whole explanation is funny. It can't be funny just to me.

 

[Laguna X]

Spin for teh win!

 

[Suikoguy]

Yeah, I wonder where that info came from

 

[PG2G]

I'm so tired of reading about this shit.

 

[Beowvlf]

:lol :lol :lol

What a naive site; MS will never, ever publically release the ratio of Core to Value Pack systems. Not to mention 85/15 in favor of the Value Pack is a complete Xbot wet dream, and is absurdly unrealistic.

Personally, I think it's pretty damn obvious that there will be more Core's than Value Packs, since doing so would be much smarter on MS' part. Worse for us, but since when has consumerism been about the consumer?

 

[Pimpbaa]

Mods must hate days like today.

 

[Drek]

Lol, I knew it.

Even higher than my 80/20 prediction.

MS doesn't even plan on selling many core packs. They just have them out there so they can say they have a 299 X360 package.

And in exchange they chop the balls off a viable hardware advantage devs could use by having HDDs standard.

That was really pulling at me with my current choice to go PS3 over X360 (that and Oblivion), but MS basically just gave that away to Sony free of charge.

I'm now eagerly awaiting Sony's price though. We heard "comprable to PS1 and PS2" then we heard "not all households will be able to afford one". Can't wait to see that price bomb drop. Anything more than $50 on either side of MS' price will open up a shit storm on GAF like nothing before.

 

[Mrbob]

I was away for an hour, have you flipped back Bob?

That whole explanation is funny. It can't be funny just to me.

I'm undecided at the moment!

The great thing about this article is the guy basically states MS is content with fleecing their userbase.

 

[sangreal]

Peter Moore is almost done with Microsoft. I wonder who his next target will be...

 

[PorkFryRice]

i'm confused on where this 80/20 is coming from. when was the xbox 360 released again?

 

[Suikoguy]

Peter Moore is almost done with Microsoft. I wonder who his next target will be...

:lol :lol :lol

Probably nintendo, he has been secretly working for Sony

 

[Mrbob]

80/20 is just my prediction.

 

[mj1108]

Peter Moore is almost done with Microsoft. I wonder who his next target will be...

We need a "Who's Next?" picture like the GBA one except with Peter Moore.

 

[PG2G]

I don't care how many of the Core ones are made, as long as there are enough Premium to go around.

 

[Laguna X]

We need a "Who's Next?" picture like the GBA one except with Peter Moore.

Better yet... somebody photoshop Moore's head on Goldberg's body.

 

[Mrbob]

I don't care how many of the Core ones are made, as long as there are enough Premium to go around.

Don't worry about that. Remember MS wants to make money this gen. The majority of X360 will be premium.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

:lol :lol :lol

What a naive site; MS will never, ever publically release the ratio of Core to Value Pack systems. Not to mention 85/15 in favor of the Value Pack is a complete Xbot wet dream, and is absurdly unrealistic.

Personally, I think it's pretty damn obvious that there will be more Core's than Value Packs, since doing so would be much smarter on MS' part. Worse for us, but since when has consumerism been about the consumer?

My suggestion last week to have 1 console box that can be bundled with a seperate HDD/value box would allow MS to only sell as many HDDs as they needed, but then they couldn't push $399 units when the handful of $299 units have sold out on launch day. Of course, that's the gamble that the holiday shopping parents will decide they need a $399 X360 instead of a cheap PS2 or Gamecube (both with cheap games and accessories). It will be interesting to see if, when confronted with the point-of-sale decision of $399 or bust, what the mass market will choose.

 

[IJoel]

I would like to see a website get an interview and truly rip on them for splitting the userbase. They can hide it all they can with their "giving users options" but in the end it's all about screwing them.

 

[KingJ2002]

There's no need for a core package.

it would be alot smarter if microsot released one system... the premium package... and as way to sell the system offer people a 2 year contract to their xbox live service in exchange to shaving off 100 dollars.

the core package is a rip off and half of the accessories are overpriced.

you really have to be stupid to buy the core package

 

[dorio]

They should drop the controller in the "retard pack" and include the HDD.

That's not a bad idea PhatSaqs.

 

[Laguna X]

I would like to see a website get an interview and truly rip on them for splitting the userbase. They can hide it all they can with their "giving users options" but in the end it's all about screwing them.

Gaming-Age should be that website. Have Paul Bryant do the interview.

 

[sonycowboy]

Don't worry about that. Remember MS wants to make money this gen. The majority of X360 will be premium.

The majority in 2005 will be the premium, true. But after that, it'll be whatever the consumer decides to buy. And $100 is a huge difference to consumers. There have been hundreds of studies done and when given a choice, overwhelmingly people choose the lower price. Even if it's not the best deal. That doesn't apply to the hardcore, but it will once 2006 get's going.

And it's why Microsoft decided to have the 2 skus in the first place. If they thought they could sell 85%+ of the premium for more than a month or two, they'd be absolutely fucking insane to have two skus. It shows that they recognized that the price DOES matter.

 

[Dave Long]

"Retard Pack" has got to stick. That's awesome.

 

[Wario64]

+1 retard pack

screw the haters. The lower number of core units will make it teh rare OMG

 

[Dr_Cogent]

They should have one model, at 350 or 375 with everything in the non Retard Pack

Today has been a very depressing and hilarious day all at the same time.

 

[Mrbob]

The majority in 2005 will be the premium, true. But after that, it'll be whatever the consumer decides to buy. And $100 is a huge difference to consumers. There have been hundreds of studies done and when given a choice, overwhelmingly people choose the lower price. Even if it's not the best deal. That doesn't apply to the hardcore, but it will once 2006 get's going.

And it's why Microsoft decided to have the 2 skus in the first place. If they thought they could sell 85%+ of the premium for more than a month or two, they'd be absolutely fucking insane to have two skus. It shows that they recognized that the price DOES matter.

I'm talking strictly 2005 right now.

I don't mind the 399 hardware price. It's the 99 dollar wireless adapter, 50 dollar wireless controls, and 40 dollar wired controllers, combined with 60 dollar games. Although on the IGN Boards they are saying 1st party games will be 50 and only a handful of X360 3rd party games will be 60.

 

[Ponn]

The HDD was a non-issue for the casual Xbox gamers this generation. The only thing they cared about was Halo and that "the multiplatform games look better on Xbox". Unless MS really decides to support the HDD, which is turning into an Add-On at this point being not required to support, I think it would be safe to speculate the majority of casual gamers will pick the regular pack to save some cash for games. Especially if games are going to be 60 bucks a pop. Hell I remember during the PS2 launch many people coming in and deciding not to get a freaking Memory card just so they could get one more game. If you give casual gamers an El Cheapo package option they will usually pick it regardless of common sense and smart shopping.

 

[Dave Long]

+1 retard pack

screw the haters. The lower number of core units will make it teh rare OMG

:lol