Rumor: Xbox 360 Price Drop Coming Very Soon; New Pricing Makes Little To No Sense

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360,

Three different images have made their way onto the Internet promoting an Xbox 360 price drop, showcasing sales circulars from Circuit City, Walmart, and Toys ‘R Us. The Core system drops $20 to $279.99, the Premium drops $50 to $349.99, and the Elite drops $30 to $449.99. Cheaper prices are nice, sure, but as one NeoGAF poster pointed out, the differential between the Core and Premium systems’ prices seem, well, stupid.

When asked what about this makes the Core system (which has long been referred to as the ‘tard pack) even more ‘tarded, Sho_Nuff82 responded, “Core + 512MB memory card = $330, which is now $20 less than a Premium, that’s what.” And he has a point.

With the Wii set in stone for the time being at $249.99, it would have made sense to drop the Core system’s price down to match that. It would have made for all the more compelling of a reason to pick up a Core for the average consumer. What we have instead appears to really be a ‘tard pack.

The only sense that can be made of this is that another price drop is coming later this year, perhaps in November so as to create some buzz before the holiday shopping season.

Gallery: Rumor: Xbox 360 Price Drop Coming Very Soon; New Pricing Makes Little To No Sense

PlayStation 3 $100 Price Drop Confirmed, Sorta

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors,

As was first reported by Cheap Ass Gamer, it looks like the PlayStation 3 will be seeing a $100 price drop to $499.99 beginning July 12. Initially, it looked like this might simply be a promotion for the week of the 15th, but GameDaily BIZ has confirmed this with a merchandising manager at one of the world’s biggest retailers who wished to remain anonymous.

While the price drop is scheduled across retail to take place on July 12 (which is a Thursday), the first wave of ads won’t be seen until July 15. SCEA declined to comment when contacted, but this was bound to happen at one point or another – and with the PS3 losing more and more ground to both the Xbox 360 and Wii each month, something needed to be done.

Assuming this pans out, this puts quite a bit of pressure on Microsoft; the Xbox 360 Elite is still $479.99 and lacks many of the features the PS3 has, such as a Blu-ray player (the Elite doesn’t even have an HD-DVD player) and built-in Wi-Fi.

Well, I’m certainly glad I haven’t plopped down the $600 just yet. And only about five hours ago I was contemplating gathering the cash to pick one up. This price drop leads me to wonder, though – will the 20GB SKU see a return, meaning that there would be a $399.99 PS3? Or will Sony launch a new SKU with a larger hard drive? We’ll know next week when Sony holds its press conference at E3.

Read More | GameDaily BIZ

Gallery: PlayStation 3 $100 Price Drop Confirmed, Sorta

Circuit City: “Get Paper Mario Today or Get $20”

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Nintendo, Release Dates, Wii,

I’ll be very interested to see if Circuit City actually plans on honoring this bargain (and will probably make the trip to my local Circuit City myself!). In their weekly circular, they note the release date (today) of Super Paper Mario with the accompanying text:

guaranteed (3) in store 2pm or get a $20 gift card**

Where, with a little additional sleuthing we see that (3) means “Offer valid this week only for select video game New Releases on the advertised release day from 2pm until close of business. In-store only” and ** means “Gift card good for future purchases only. Terms and conditions are applied to gift cards”

Doesn’t sound like a bait and switch to us! So if we’ve got this right, as soon as Circuit City sells out of Super Paper Mario today, anyone who expresses interest in the title can get $20 toward a future purchase? Not bad… not bad at all. Hopefully this title will sell as well as its expected to and we’ll all be $20 richer at the end of the day. If not, I at least plan on picking up a copy… I imagine it’ll be a win-win situation for a lot of other Wii owners out there.

Read More | Circuit City Weekly Ad via Joystiq.com

Gallery: Circuit City: “Get Paper Mario Today or Get $20”

Let the Xbox 360 Pre-Orders Begin!

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Hot Deals, Internet, Mods/Hacks, Release Dates, Xbox 360,

Well THAT didn’t take long. Just days ago , we reported on M$‘s new SKU, the Xbox 360, which will feature a slick black exterior, 120GB HDD, and HDMI ports. And now, 6 days later, Circuit City is ready to take your money. We won’t be seeing the 360 elite in consumers’ hands for at least the next 4 weeks, but already you can head over to Circuit City’s store and hand over $479.99 to guarantee yourself one of the updated boxes.

So what do you say, gamers? For the 360 owners out there, is it worth the upgrade? Or will you just be picking up a 120 GB drive seperately? And for all of you out there that haven’t already decided to get a 360, does this change your mind at all? Personally, I’m not looking forward to this bundle so much as I am the emminent price drop that we’ll probably see in the “Premium” bundle.

Read More | CircuitCity.com

Gallery: Let the Xbox 360 Pre-Orders Begin!

Rayman Raving Rabbids & Red Steel for $29.99

Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Ubisoft, Wii,

Spoofee.com is reporting on some good deals for the Nintendo Wii. According to their site, Circuit City is currently offering in-store pricing of $29.99 for Ubisoft’s premier Wii efforts, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and Red Steel. While people who love Red Steel are few and far between, Rayman is a pretty nice collection of fun mini-games that’s a decent deal at $30. Of course, with WarioWare: Smooth Moves releasing an a matter of days, Rayman may pale in comparison.

Read More | Circuit City.com Raving Rabbids Listing

Read More | Circuit City.com Red Steel Listing

Read More | Spoofee.com

Gallery: Rayman Raving Rabbids & Red Steel for $29.99