GameStop prepping for a Microsoft announcement on August 8th?

We're not sure what it's going to take for Microsoft to admit to itself that the cat's out of the bag on this one, but that Xbox 360 price drop "rumor" just got a bit more ammo in the form of a leaked GameStop memo sent out on Tuesday. Apparently the stores are supposed to get some Microsoft signage on August 8th, and if for some reason they get it before that they're not supposed to put it up until the 8th because it's super pinky swear top secret. A trustworthy source has further confirmed with us that a 360 price drop is in the cards, and that prices will match up with that Circuit City catalog from the other day: $450 for the Elite, $350 for the Premium and $280 for the Core. In even better news, we've also gotten further confirmation that the Premium will be adding HDMI out sometime soon, which we wouldn't mind in the slightest.

[Brent Coco @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:12PM]

Haha.. super pinky swear. The premium is getting HDMI soon? Why do they even HAVE the Elite?? I just want a innard design before I buy. A 1/3rd of all 360s being faulty just isn't nice.

[steve @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:16PM]

if it wasn't for the fact that Microsoft pays to fix it, I'd be a little peeved as well. But, since they've already replaced 2 of mine at no cost to me, I just look at um saying "Ha Ha", in that Simpson voice.

[steve @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:13PM]

or, it could be something that everyone DOESN'T already know. Here's to looking forward to an actual surprise. Now, I wonder what it could be...

[JackBlack @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:13PM]

Fanboi silence

And nobody ever hears from the Sony executives again......

[Ellianth @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:14PM]

Umm.. i don't know how to break this to you guys but this memo is sooooooo obviously fake.

Real leaked products and memos are always extremely blurry. Notice how this isn't blurry? Next you'll be telling me that you saw pictures of it in flyers and stuff.

[SimbaDogg @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:24PM]

i didn't know we had a forensics expert here...

[steve Johnson @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:15PM]

Cheaper crap is still crap.

[Zeus the God @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:46PM]

Then Sony might as well give up...

[Storm @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:36PM]

I agree! All hail Nintendo!



(I'm not pro/con any console, I just figured it was funny for someone to diss Sony :D)

[Tim @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:23PM]

both Xbox360 and PS3 have been out for months, yet microsoft and sony keep teasing us with rumors and speculation.

i miss the days when i'd buy a genesis or a playstation and i knew they weren't planning on upgrading it constantly.

[travistaylor @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:23PM]

Well, I highly doubt that Microsoft would advertise a price-drop four days before it happened. After all, wouldn't they want suckers to buy the system for the higher price?

If this memo is legit (which I see no reason why Joystiq would post this if was not received from trusted source), then MS must be giving details on new innards of the 360. I highly doubt they would advertise price drop days before it hits.

[sean @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:32PM]

Are announcements normally made on Tuesdays?

[superaktieboy @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:38PM]

no offence to anyone but what is the point of a 360 if all games are coming out for the pc to, it maybe only for vista but sooner or later there is someone gonna be making a crack or something to make it work on XP (like they did with Halo 2)!!
so why you shouldn't buy a 360:
You save the price of the system it self.
you get less noise when playing the games
only price you pay is for the games, which you can also download for FREE!!

greetzz

[LJKelley @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:46PM]

Idiot... the 360 costs less than a comparably equipped PC. Sometimes I like to be lazy in front of the couch and game. (I guess I could hook up a PC, but most PC games are designed around a Keaboard & Mouse not a controller) Games generally cost around the same, and piracy is wrong.

On another note... I do hope the news is good. I will def pick up another 360 if it has 65nm, HDMI, and is $349!

[steve @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:51PM]

when was the last time a gaming computer sold for less than 349.99? well, maby it would be able to play doom.....

[travistaylor @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:52PM]

Well, Halo 3 and GTA4 are both on the 360, but not the PC. Therefore, I don't see your point. I'd much rather have a 360 than a comparably equipped PC.

[roc ingersol @ Aug 2nd 2007 12:58PM]

the 360 SKUs -should- be at 200/300/400.

But no, all signs are pointing towards Microsoft killing the Core and having a Sony-style 'no real change' 300/400 price point by next spring.

so damn stupid.
and so bad for gamers.

It's the 360's third holiday season and you still can't get in the door for $250. disgusting.

[Brendan @ Aug 3rd 2007 9:26AM]

I wouldn't mind paying less for a premium..... if they cut the original "Premium" price to $300... that's GOOD.

[Binkocd @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:01AM]

The Elite was supposed to be the "new" premium. They were going to do what Sony did with the elimination of an SKU before Sony did. Why are people complaining about what Sony does when Microshaft is doing the same thing? Only they are doing it worse, I mean at least all of the PS3's haven't been returned due to a "ring of death" type issue.

[sr @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:19PM]

Alright cool. I will get the Premium for 350 when it has HDMI. I don't really care for 120GB but that would be nice.

[MacGuru @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:10PM]

Anybody wonder why the elite does have HDMI and no DVD-HD player? Must be that Microsoft, UNLIKE SONY, does not believe in its own HD- disk players. Can't really blame them, Blu Ray will be the winner. Now it Microsoft would have a $49 Blu-Ray external drive to go with the Elite, that would put it at the same price level as the PS3.

[uagent @ Aug 2nd 2007 3:29PM]

@MacGuru:
I don't know, could it be that they already incurred a lot of development cost putting the new features in the elite, and with the licensing costs of manufacturing an HD-DVD unit, they figured they'd like to get *some* return on their money? Sony owns all the patents for the blu-ray system, so there's no licensing cost involved in putting a blu-ray drive in any of their hardware. It's not a sign of confidence that they put blu-ray in the PS3, it's a way of bringing you on board with their format. Microsoft really doesn't care either way, since they don't particularly stand to win or lose anything from either format winning out, so from their point of view, if you want HD-DVD, you can pony up for it, if not, don't.

[SimbaDogg @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:32PM]

@uagent
yeah...its a trojan horse, but there's no doubt that in coming years developers are going to need more than the 8 gigs of space on a dvd disc. hd gaming and larger environments may almost require it. check out the article about PGR
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/10580.cfm

[michael @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:37PM]

@MacGuru:

I don't know how many times I've had to mention this.

1. HD-DVD vs. BluRay is still fighting. There's still a format war. You might think that whatever side you're on will suceed, but until it ends, you can't proclaim something will win.

2. Microsoft made a smarter choice by not weighing you down with the addition of an expensive format player that might not succeed. They offered this as an add-on - which is pretty good. You can get an Xbox 360 without one, or an Xbox 360 with one. That way, if you don't care about HD-DVD, or not get, it's not a burden.

3. The fact that Xbox Live Marketplace has movies you can download in HD, is showing that physical disc formats mean little on the 360.

So a nice HD-DVD add-on is actually a pretty good thing. And the fact that HD-DVD is generally cheaper, and offers interactive features, and a very nice picture, who would argue?

[Doug @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:03PM]

simbadogg, there have been plenty of postings all over the internet stating that PGR4 is NOT having trouble fitting on a DVD. Somebody made up that statement and every Sony fanboy is quoting it without checking the source. It isn't true.

[uagent @ Aug 6th 2007 1:45PM]

@simbadogg
I agree they're going to need more than DVD's 8GB, though the question at that point becomes which is cheaper: license drive tech and new production equipment, or make the games mutli-disc. The cheaper option for the time being will probably be to make the games multi-disc, considering the same thing was done back in the CD age. We had games and programs coming on 5-6 CD's before they started pushing the DVD versions. So most likely, MS would rather wait it out to see who wins the format war, then release a new console with the HD built in.
In the interest of disclosure, I am not a fanboy of any of the next-gen consoles, I too am in a wait it out mode, since I only really want to get a cheap 360 for dead rising, and the PS3 peeved me off w/ the lack of backward compat (I had a GC and would've liked to have picked up the great PS2 games last gen), and the Wii, well depending on how good Mario Galaxy, Brawl and Metroid Prime 3 are, that may just be the way I go....

[Shmoe @ Aug 2nd 2007 1:46PM]

What the machine really needs and was really an oversight is gigabit ethernet for all the streaming and downloading they expect this thing to do not only from Live but from upcoming home servers too. Sure you may not notice a speed drop with just with one Xbox connected on a home network, but with two Xboxes, a computer or two and a media center extender, gigbit ethernet should have been in there from day one. Instead people have to wait for MS to realize that thier console isn't as future proof as they claimed.

[MacGuru @ Aug 2nd 2007 2:11PM]

Amen to that :)

[fmathews25 @ Aug 2nd 2007 4:05PM]

What Microsoft should have done with the Elite was add in an HD DVD burner drive, and then offer downloadable burnable content. This way you could purchase a game and/movie and be able to burn it. No more going to the store, going to iTunes, etc.

[w00fd06 @ Aug 2nd 2007 9:29PM]

That's the reason why the 360 has a fairly large hard drive, so you wouldn't have the pain of having discs for everything.

[Karan @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:27AM]

What, you're not holding out for the Uber 360?

[Dave @ Aug 2nd 2007 6:08PM]

Perhaps Microsoft are abandoning console gaming and concentrating on software, as a result of shareholder pressure. All current stock in stores will be sold off for $50.

Perhaps it's another PacMan announcement.

[Meltz; @ Aug 2nd 2007 11:12PM]

HEEEEY!! It's not 8/8 yet!

[d4rkp7inc3 @ Aug 3rd 2007 6:44PM]

price drop ..PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!