Can we Expect a XBOX 360 Slim at all?
With the announcement of the PS3 Slim by Sony at GamesCom last week, there have now been rumors of a XBOX 360 Slim in the works from Microsoft to counter the PS3 Slim. The PS3 Slim is going to be released before September 1st at a new price of $299 and with the announcement of the XBOX 360 Pro being dropped and the XBOX 360 Elite replacing the Pro at the same $299 price point, Microsoft and Sony will finally be going head to head at the same price point. Could this mean that Microsoft might follow Sony’s footsteps and release a slim console of their own?
Microsoft may tell people that they are confident with the way sales are going and they are confident that the PS3 will not overtake the XBOX 360 in sales this holiday season, but there is reason for disbelief. This holiday season can mean announcing a new XBOX 360 Slim soon to counter the PS3 Slim, if sales dip and if the PS3 has higher sales. If they don’t that may be another story, but it can still happen.
If Microsoft were to release an XBOX 360 Slim, they can market it as a new reliable console that is more reliable than the previous versions of the console. A console redesign could be a good marketing move to get rid of the stigma of 360′s continuous breaking down. They can use the knowledge that they have now on heat design and with that they can redesign the XBOX 360 so that it has less faliure rates than before. That would mean less to no RRoD’s, E74 Errors, or other issues.
There is something stopping Microsoft from redesigning a slimmer console. A problem that they face would be that they can’t redesign a slimmer console until they get to the point where they can get the CPU and GPU in the same package. Sony shrinking the cell processor down to 45nm and other components allowed them to build a slimmer version of the console, but Microsoft still has a Falcon 65Â nm chipset in their consoles.
This holiday season will be a turning point for better or for worse for Microsoft. Do you think that there will be a slimmer XBOX 360 in the works?
