Xbox 360 Price Hike Imminent

@steve32

I didn't see any real mention of any fanboyism before you brought it up, and how can you expect one of the 3 main consoles to be mentioned in comments without any comparison to the other two? This is a story about price, and that will inevitably influence people thinking about purchasing this console. I myself am stuck deciding whether to buy the 360 or Ps3, for the reasons I listed above and price. Currently I'm just a pc gamer (very sad at how consoles have become the platform of choice to develop for) but I've played all 3 and if you like and want to play games like Assassin's Creed, you won't even contemplate the Wii. The choice becomes a little harder between 360 and ps3. Hope that helps a buyer out there.

ps. Wii is great for games you may *shock* actually have to go outdoors for! Latch onto that "fanboi's" :D

@darkspark88 - It was comments like:

"£160 for the cheapest SKU paired with a £40 gold subscription raises the cost to £200 to play an xbox360 online. Now being in direct competition with each other I cannot read news like this and ignore Sony's value for money when you purchase a PS3 for £300 with no online subscription needed."

The old moan about XBL costing money. The counter argument is that you pay what you get for. (Though the value for money bit was funny....£300 being better value than £200, but whatever.)


"Plus include the extra £30 or so for the wireless feature (which should have been included as standard) and the price of the 360 compared to the ps3 really does look uncompetitive."

The old moan about lack of wireless in the Xbox. Personally, I am glad it is that way round. I have PS3 and 360, both are wired, so it annoys me that I have to pay for something in the PS3 I don't use! It is the old counter argument that with the 360 you get choice and pay for what you want/need. But it is an old tired argument which has been done so many times.

I used the term "Fanboy" because they only ever quote one side of the debate (i.e. the side for the console that they prefer). They can only see fault with anything else. So the price of the Arcade has gone up - so what - the rest of the debate about "which console is best" remains unchanged and doesn't need restating again and again.


It is an interesting debate about how much "price" actually does influence people when buying a console. If you knew nothing else about a console then everyone would have bought an Arcade as it was noticeably cheaper than anything else. But it clearly isn't as simple as that. Brand/Marketing/Hype is a major factor. I think the PS3, certainly in its early days, relied heavily on its brand to sell. Another factor is the diversity of what each console can do (bluray, wii controller, online, etc,etc..) I suspect that in the end most people find the money for the console that they want - price is more about justifying it to yourself that you have got value for money ;-)

Interesting/strange move from MS considering they make a loss on each machine sold anyway and I agree with a comment earlier that if they made the bloody things properly in the first place then it wouldnt be that much of a problem.

Anyway, I thought I'd wade in on the "fanboy" issue. I own all three machines (I'm a geek for gaming) and in terms of what I play most I have to say the 360 wins hands down. The gaming exclusives are just, in my opinion, superior on the 360 (I thought Resistance 2 was generic shooter boredom, Killzone 2 faired a little better though). I use my PS3 primarily as a bluray player and the wii as a fitness machine these days - once the novelty wore off it just got a bit dull though the girlfriend still loves to play it.

In short, not one machine wins hands down, each has their pros and cons and the sooner folk realise that the better (particularly those who frequent IGN's forums)!

@Hugo
I and many others would agree with your last paragraph. IMO...how ironic, for MS to give with one hand, and take with the other. Is this how MS 'balance' their books, by taking the mickey out of consumers? :(
Furthermore, if/when the Premium console is phased out, it won't leave any middle ground for consumers to make a choice - it would be just Arcade or Elite versions - considering most consumers are already hard done by the recession/depression - not happy - already had my 4th xbox go 3RROD :( - guess i should've saved up a bit earlier for the Arcade version...