Kinect to be Priced at $150?
Even though Microsoft has not confirmed the pricing of Kinect, the Microsoft Store currently has a page up that shows that Kinect will be priced at $150.
Other retailers, such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon, have as well shown the $150 pricing, but could not be confirmed from Microsoft. Now with Microsoft’s own store putting up the $150 price tag on Kinect it, does it mean its official?
Let’s just hope that when it launches there are better game titles to play than the ones demoed because they were not compelling at all. Do you think that you will buy it at this price? Let us know in the comments.
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?
2,500,000,000 Achievements Unlocked On The XBOX 360
OXM has reported that XBOX 360 games have have unlocked a grand total of two and a half billion Achievements, earning 52 billion Gamerscore in the process.
This data has been released by XBOX boss Aaron Greenberg and this is a big accomplishment for Microsoft. Although this may seem like a big number it can be even bigger. There is no way to calculate the achievements from those that have never connected to XBOX Live. So, the average works out at 150 Gamerscore for every Xbox gamer.
These are impressive stats and a congradulations are in order for Microsoft.
XBOX 360 Elite Might be Canned
Recently there are rumors, from FUDZilla,that Microsoft might kill off it’s high-end Xbox 360 model, the Elite, which might happen sometime during the second quarter of this year.
When Microsoft does stop production of the Elite, they will stop fulfilling orders from retailers. From that, when the inventory is depleted, the Elite system will move to more of a limited edition role that will be available only at select retailers, and likely only in select countries like North America and Europe. You can still pick up Elite consoles that will be available in those areas if you fork out more for a Limited Edition console, and that should be more like the recent Resident Evil 5 Red Elite Limited Edition console.
Why would Microsoft just kill of their high end console though? There can be a variety of reasons. One can be that since the economy is bad enough as it is, people are not buying them as they used to, with the tight credit and cash crunch. Retailers do not want to stock high-priced Elite systems, which tend to sit on the shelves longer than the Arcade and Pro systems. Another reason could be that with the ability to release a limited edition console (in place of the Elite) and only be sold in select stores and areas, they can get more money for selling something that is limited in quantity.
While the entire thing is still in the planning process anything can happen. This idea/rumor might fall through and never happen, or it can happen and we might have to pay a little extra to find the high end model of the XBOX 360. This is all speculation and only time will tell. What is your insight on what will happen?
XBOX 360 ‘Ring of death’ is Solved
Xbox designers say they have resolved the ‘red ring of death’ that resulted in many ruined consoles. After the XBOX 360 being released in the market for 3 years and 2 months, Aaron Greenberg has announced that finally there is a fix for the issue that caused failures for XBOX 360’s.
After extended the RROD warranty, numerous revisions of the hardware and software, things are finally looking up. Aaron Greenberg has told Edge Online, that with better technology and with the way that they handle repairs there will be fewer RROD’s or even none at all. This can mean good news for all new buyers because they can finally get the XBOX 360 they wanted without worrying if it will RROD. Even previous buyers may rejoice because they can finally get Microsoft to repair their console (if it RROD’s) and not have to worry about getting the same problem again.