Microsoft Dropping a 360 Model?

[X_Racer1]

According to a leaked shot of the new 360 Arcade as shown by Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/05/leaked-back-of-box-chart-shows-xbox-line-winnowing-down-to-arcad/) apparently so. The Pro model is shown in the shot to be the model that could be dropped leading to further speculation of Microsoft dropping the price of the current Elite to the price of the Pro to possibly further combat any price cut Sony might be announcing. What's you take, is this going to happen or is it like all the talk around the slim PS3 currently.

[Dustin S.]

Like everything MS does, they have to counter anything Sony does to make their products "look good."

The thing i dont get is why are they dropping the Pro and not the Arcade? Would make more sense being games need hard drive support 90 percent of the time and your tricking consumers into thinking "oh cheap xbox. crap i need a hard drive!?!?!?!" Not only that but having a hard drive in ALL consoles would allow more leg room for developers. Instead they rather go the tricking route and rip off their buyers by offering a overpriced hard drive periphal.

I think MS is just sitting on the trigger. Sony announces the slim and price cut on the 18, BAM MS is trigger happy and price cut and anti Playstation advertising for the holiday season. I heard its also happening to clear room for the Natal SKU so they are not really introducing anything new, just a price cut.

[X_Racer1]

Well that's seems to have been Microsoft's policy the entire time, charge for wireless Internet, charge for Live, hard drives, proprietary headsets, wireless controllers and their batteries and plenty of people fall for it, where Nintendo and Sony at least give you the whole package necessary to start gaming without requiring upgrades almost immediately, I did hear about them making way for Project Natal by dropping this console model as well but we will have to see, but it does bring up a good point, without full hard drive support, developers are left with on the hook, deal with the issue, or possibly alienate consumers who refuse to pay for a hard drive, but then again developers have got the shaft on more than a few things with the 360, DVD space restrictions, hard drive restrictions and hardware which is starting to see it's limits reached. At this point, Microsoft should really consider dropping the Arcade, drop the Pro to Arcade pricing, Elite to Pro pricing and then any Natal console could take over the Eilte's pricing point, therefore eliminating one headache for developers although now eliminating one headache isn't going to keep developers from reconsidering making the 360 their first choice of platform, EA has already changed their minds and even with Activsion's recent "talk" they might come around soon too.

[Sauberbmw]

Well no matter what M$ does, their system will only be second best. the 360 will still only push .9 teraflops while the PS3 pushes 2. the 360 is "dead and gone" and microsoft should start putting more emphasis on their next system that will combat the PS3 not only in price, but also in performance.

The problem with the PS3 is that it is a home entertainment system and is not a pure gaming machine which Sony is going to focus on in the near future. so the 360 which is a gaming machine competing with the PS3 which is a entertainment system makes no sense to me whatsoever. its like Microsoft competing with intel to build processors!!

all and all, i think Microsoft should stop making 10 versions of the same thing and focus on the next system to combat the PS3. include standard items that the PS3 came with. also the next xbox should be pushing at least 2.3 or more teraflops but have the user friendly programming that the ps3 suffered. then and only then can M$ compete with Sony