NEWS - Saturday, May 28, 2005
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 around $300
In an interview with TheStreet.com, Microsoft Corporate Vice President J. Allard said that the Xbox 360 would retail in the neighborhood of $300, although the final decision had not yet been made. Microsoft’s current generation system, Xbox, launched for $299 in November of 2001. The system has went on to sell over 19 million units worldwide, keeping a distant second behind rival Sony’s Playstation 2. The company recently debuted the new Xbox 360 at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The new system will include a three-core processor by IBM, 512 MB of Ram, and a custom video card by ATI. Sony also debuted their next-generation system, the Playstation 3, and dazzled attendees with tech demos that instructed behavioral physics in artificial objects. Nintendo is planning to release their new system, code-named Revolution, in 2006. Next-generations consoles have not retailed for over the $299 mark since 1995, when Sony’s Playstation debuted. The $299 price tag is considered to be the highest consumers will pay for a new video game system. Consoles that have retailed beyond the $299 price tag have never achieved mass penetration into households. Microsoft is expected to take a loss on the Xbox 360 and recoup with software sales. With the inclusion of a custom processor, graphics card, and a 20GB hard drive, the Xbox 360 could still retail for as high as $349. The company has sunk over $2 billion to establish the Xbox brand in the video game market. Allard said that the company would make a final decision on the price of the new Xbox 360 in about two months. The Xbox 360 is expected to launch in November 2005.Source: http://news.punchjump.com/
