Xbox 360 price drop revealed in Wal-mart brochure?

Sure, this one would be a breeze to Photoshop, but the fact that a Circuit City brochure so recently and successfully predicted a PS3 price drop gives us cause to hope. The teensy picture above purports to depict a new Wal-mart ad with that oft-rumored new $349 price point for the Xbox 360 Premium. The EXIF data checks out, so if it is a prank at least they took the time to do it right. No better way to figure out the legitimacy of this one than to wait it out -- and start betting on sales boost figures if Microsoft does indeed cut the price.

[Thanks, Brad]

[chadow @ Jul 28th 2007 1:45PM]

I'll wait and see. If this drops, I would assume the Elite would drop a bit as well. A black elite would look so much nicer in my living room, and since I cant see buying either HD format yet I would welcome the added storage space for HD movies from the marketplace.

[Rob @ Jul 28th 2007 1:47PM]

Damn i bought my elite from circuit city 2 weeks ago. ihope they do some thing like BB does if the price drops!

[humpty @ Jul 28th 2007 1:49PM]

So, what happens when the Halo edition comes out? Are retailers gonna stock all 4 SKUs:

Core
Premium
Elite
Halo Edition

And, they cant drop the price of the Premium without price drops across the line.

[DAZA @ Jul 29th 2007 4:11AM]

I don't think they will have all 4 SKUs. From what I understand, the Halo Edition is a limited one, and the Core may be phased out (it's already not being sold in Australia if that's any indication). They may keep 3, but they may also drop Core and run with Premium and Elite.

At any rate, still not as confusing as Sony's lineup. The 80GB in North America was vehemently denied before it was announced. Then the price drop was vehemently denied before it was announced. They should just say 'no comment' rather than going out of their way to deny things, only to announce them a day or two later.

[alexhrose71 @ Jul 30th 2007 9:58AM]

They are going to keep the core to compete price wise with the Wii. The Halo console will probably only be available in limited quantities for this holiday season alongside Halo 3. I assume all consoles are going to see a $50 drop, makes sense.

$249 core, $349 premium, $399 Halo edition, $429 Elite

[killerpanda611 @ Jul 28th 2007 1:53PM]

it's actually a 50 dollar price increase to the core model.

[mike @ Jul 28th 2007 1:57PM]

lol yeah right. And you can see in the picture its not a core. (chrome tray)

[Peter Carey @ Jul 28th 2007 2:36PM]

But where's the HDD??? I think killerpanda611 is right about this one. =]

[Brian @ Jul 28th 2007 11:07PM]

There's no wire on the remote, and that one is the clearest one to see.

[Fatima @ Jul 28th 2007 2:29PM]

meh, PS3 has blu-ray, enough said.

[theguyabovemeisstupid @ Jul 28th 2007 2:31PM]

yeah you're right, that is enough said. Blu-ray does suck

[chadow @ Jul 28th 2007 2:40PM]

Doesn't really HAVE bluray, it pretty much IS bluray. And unless they find a way to upgrade it, its not even to bluray 1.1 standard (I haven't read that it even CAN be upgraded). Not sure how much I care about that, but I have been bit by the "early adopter" bite before and don't really care to again. I think I will wait a bit before I buy any HD player.

[Revrant2394 @ Jul 28th 2007 3:40PM]

You're absolutely right! I mean why the hell would I want BD+? It does suck. =)

[HD-DVD is 15GB of Horse Shit and Cat Urine @ Jul 28th 2007 11:19PM]

Yeah these guys are totally right, blu-ray does suck considering BJ's Wholesale, Target, AND Blockbuster have DROPPED HD-DVD and gone Blu-ray exclusive...

[redxblade717 @ Jul 29th 2007 1:22AM]

Actually Target isnt bluray exclusive checkout 1up.com or even the target website

[Chimuel @ Jul 28th 2007 2:49PM]

PS3 is better IMO, and this is coming from a 360 Elite, Wii and PS3 owner.

[m0bus @ Jul 28th 2007 4:43PM]

I suppose you like it because it has way more games? Or maybe because it has exclusive titles like GTA4? Or maybe you like it because of its backwards compatibility being perfectly operable?

[Rees Clissold @ Jul 28th 2007 3:04PM]

Better at what? Being a doorstop?

[Sy @ Jul 28th 2007 3:09PM]

Better at what? Being a doorstop?

No, yours and millions of RRoDed Xbox 360s are more suited being doorstops. You asked for it.

[Jonathan @ Jul 28th 2007 3:38PM]

Um, have you seen Xbox's holiday lineup?

Sorry, but it has the best lineup.

Lost Odyssey
Stuntman
Black Site
Halo 3
Mass Effect
Bio Shock
Blue Dragon
Army of Two

I could go on and on, but my wallet hurts everytime I think about it.

[chadow @ Jul 28th 2007 5:21PM]

The only broke Xbox 360's are the ones that are owned by morons....being that MS fixes them for free. I look at my own red ring of death experience as a hiccup that happened a long time ago and hasn't had any problem since. Its really a non issue, in my opinion. What I have now is a great gaming system with a shit-ton of great games and many more right around the corner.

Hardly a "doorstop"

[Mike @ Jul 28th 2007 10:39PM]

@Johnathan:

Wow, including Stuntman in your list and using non-exlusives like Army of Two (also on PS3)?

The PS3's exclusives:
Heavenly Sword
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
LittleBigPlanet
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Pain
Lair
Gran Turismo 5
WarHawk
Metal Gear Solid 4

[Chimuel @ Jul 28th 2007 11:22PM]

@Mike

Thank you!

[Zeus the God @ Jul 29th 2007 4:46AM]

Hey, Sy, at least they didn't buy a doorstop.

My Xbox is far from one, and unless I get the RROD, then it won't be. At least it has some use out of the box, unlike our little friend, the PS3.

As you guessed, I am one with a launch console that hasn't ever had the red rings or any hiccups at all. On my original Xbox 360, and will stay like that until the next Xbox is released (not just a different SKU).

[Siva @ Jul 28th 2007 3:08PM]

I agree. The PS3 is one slick machine. Has performed flawlessly for me. I use it now to play CDs, DVDs, and BDs. And games!

[Revrant2394 @ Jul 28th 2007 3:41PM]

And games, he says.

[Zeus the God @ Jul 29th 2007 5:00AM]

Plays games once it gets some! Oh, but I'm just joking. I'll be buying a PS3 sometime if they get a cheaper SKU out and once some of the better games are released.

[Jay @ Jul 28th 2007 3:10PM]

Hopefully a 349 Premium will result in something in the area of a 399 Elite. As a Wii owner, I'm not getting a 360 or PS3 until the following conditions are met.

PS3-
PERMANENT (as in not clearence sale) price drop
MGS4

360-
No more Red Rings
Price Drop on Elite
A good game to look forward to that's NOT Halo (this due to the fact that I utterly hate Halo)

[David Wixom @ Jul 28th 2007 3:46PM]

There's a tons of good games coming out for the 360...

Bioshock
Mass Effect
and many more

[Deluxe @ Jul 28th 2007 11:05PM]

Lol, a TON of games!! And he lists... two?

[Taylor @ Jul 29th 2007 2:10AM]

To add to the list...

Gears of War,
Forza Motorsports 2,
Crackdown

[Don Wilson @ Jul 28th 2007 3:24PM]

Wii's only $249!!

[Steve @ Jul 28th 2007 8:23PM]

and what a great deal it is for the fun factor in comparison.




______________
http://www.HowToGetFreeWiiPoints.com

[Jeremy @ Jul 28th 2007 3:30PM]

So what, I can get a carton of eggs for $0.82



(Might as well get more off topic since 4-5 comments in this already became how Blu-Ray is awesome/awful. Blu-Ray and 360 price drop... don't really see the relevance)

[Taylor @ Jul 29th 2007 2:13AM]

Hah, awesome.
That reminds me of some rant i saw about gas prices not being as bad as we think because other liquids, like milk, are already like $4 a gallon, so gas is a relatively cheap liquid in comparison... Which is rediculous because aside from being the same class of matter, they have pretty much nothing in common... It's like saying gold is cheap because diamonds are more expensive, or, well, anything else dumb and crazy.
So i agree, why should we care how much these things are when a carton of eggs is so much cheaper!
-Taylor

[Cal @ Jul 28th 2007 3:40PM]

What do you mean the exif data checks out? You think the only reason for something to go through photoshop is for retouching/faking something? what about a crop or resize? and exif data is editable anyway so it doesn't mean a thing.

[DAZA @ Jul 29th 2007 9:05AM]

I always thought that bringing up EXIF when talking about a pictures legitimacy is pretty dumb. It's about the equivalent of an ID3 tag on an MP3 - very easy to edit. And especially when people say 'oh, it has Adobe® Photoshop™ in the EXIF, it must be fake'. You can do a lot more in Adobe® Photoshop than just create fake images.

[Xeggreo @ Jul 28th 2007 3:42PM]

It's fake, look at all the other prices, they all have some amount of cents after the price, the 360 just says $349. They always add .99 at the end of prices.

[Paul @ Jul 28th 2007 3:51PM]

good call man i think you are right..........although i would hope for a price drop eventually. a few of my friends are on the fringe about getting a 360 and this would put them over the top to get one......i hope......

[cameron @ Jul 29th 2007 1:54PM]

wow. i was just about to put that. i can't believe nobody else caught that. its the first thing i saw.

[brad @ Jul 28th 2007 5:47PM]

I am the master, enjoy my pics!

[Davey Jones @ Jul 28th 2007 6:23PM]

Are you serrious dude? That's your comeback?

Have you ever wondered why CD Tracks take up 40 MB on the CD and when you rip it to Mp3 its about 4 MB?

This is just a different "codec" being used to format the same data. It explains why there are so many multiplatform games which are all basically ports of eachother. And people still say they look better on the 360.

Also, I doubt that the evergrowing list of multiplatform games are just old HD versions since they usually are released for PS3 aswell.

Besides, last time I checked PS3 was losing game developers' intrest for exclusive titles and thats why they only have about 8 so far. The list of those "anticipated" PS3 hits remains a list, with limitied (in any) release info.

http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/06/17/console-exclusive-games-list-for-xbox-360-ps3-and-wii-as-of-june-2007.htm

Blu-Ray is not bad for a 10 year old format, especially since we have such high capacity disks available nowadays, but the PS3 still sucks for games and online.

[ssuk @ Jul 28th 2007 6:50PM]

I love how these people are obviously bating the Xbox 360 fanboys and are laughing their asses off at how big-a-swipe you're taking at these obvious trolls. Guys, lighten up, trolls, gtfo and go back to gaiaonline.

The price drop sounds good, but I sure hope this will expand over to Europe, which I think it will... They haven't priced the 360 Elite over here yet and this price drop seems to be going ahead before August 24th... Which is fantastic for Bioshock, gets released the same day as the Elite comes out. $$$ in Insomiac's pocket~.

[Unboring @ Jul 28th 2007 8:11PM]

Im sorry, but you cannot state that somehow no matter what, you are able to take 50Gb of data and squeeze it through the magic of "codecs" into 9Gb, ive heard this before and it is bs. Even with that logic then can you not use the same magic "codecs" to bring more data to Bluray? no matter what bluray has the potential to increase game size 5 fold. And new "next next gen" games are using increasing amounts of data, like id's new game engine they demod at E3, so called "texture engine" is using high res texture files on all surfaces, in there initial demo they showed a motorstorm type racing game in photorealistic graphics, in an interview saying that this game would occupy "25-35Gb" aside from more capacity Bluray has a transfer rate of 54mps while dvd is 11mps, this is another huge difference for load times and the amount of data in a 30 second load is dramatically different. Im not biased, Im just giving you the numbers. Bluray is a huge asset to PS3's hardware, and unlike 360's hddvd drive, it can actually be used for games.

[mike @ Jul 28th 2007 8:58PM]

there is 0 potential for blu ray to offer bigger game because the same game can be made on the 360 with multiple discs if they wanted. THATS RIGHT!!!!! the technology does exsist to create multi-disc game. And before you make a negative comment about mult-disk, try to remember those final fantasy games on the playstation that spanned like 4 Cds.

blu ray is region coded, less use of better codecs like vc1 compared to hd-dvd, no mandatory eathernet port for firmware updates like hd-dvd, costs more, and their intereactive feature is not even complete yet, so certain features of future dics wont even work in your ps3/ current stand alone blu ray player. Blu-ray is also flooded with more drm thenn hd-dvd. blu-ray is the studio choice. But your a consme. And hd-dvd is the consumers choice.

[Deluxe @ Jul 28th 2007 11:08PM]

Mike, So if multi-disc is the answer, why aren't we all using 7,000 5 1/4" dics to play the latest and greatest? You fail.

[PseudoKnight @ Jul 29th 2007 6:32AM]

Your math is wrong. The PS3 is a 2x Blu-ray drive at a speed of 72Mbits/s constant. The 360 is a 12x DVD drive at a speed 66Mbit/s - 132Mbit/s. So, most of the time the 360 drive is faster. There's also the chance that due to the larger capacity of blu-ray media that developers will utilize it (outside of fmv) and thusly increase load times even more.

[coffeepot64 @ Jul 28th 2007 9:36PM]

Walmart or Circuit City? If we can't even count on the store to be correct how can we count on the price point to be accurate?

[C4 @ Jul 28th 2007 10:41PM]

my 360 is a beast! its not given me one probeeelem, none, zip, its nice, i had a ps3 but the drive kept on killing my disk's, no matter what way i put it in, and the games are ok but just pathetic and the price just about enough to give you a hard gut felling you just made a big mistake. so i went with M$ and im happy i like the XBL thing they got going on, NOw just if they can port a windows vista over to 360 or sumthin that be awesome.

to bungie.net BRING BACK HALO 2 CLAN MATCHES BAcK!!!

[cerberus414 @ Jul 28th 2007 11:01PM]

The ad is fake for several reasons.
1.)This isn't a Wal Mart magazine, it's from Circuit City
2.)Notice how everything has CENTS after the dollar value such as the Wii priced at 249.99. The Xbox 360 is just $349.
3. Why is the picture so tiny?