Xbox 360 Gets Price Hike in the UK
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: xbox, 360, price | Themes: Digital Entertainment
As one falls, another one rises.
While most of us are enjoying a cheaper and more storage spacious Xbox 360 today, Microsoft will be increasing the price of the Xbox 360 Arcade unit in the United Kingdom.
Microsoft's new retail price for the hard drive-less Xbox 360 SKU will rise 30 GBP, going from 130 GBP to 160 GBP.
"We are making modest increases on the Xbox 360 Arcade console as you can see," Chris Lewis, European VP of the Microsoft's interactive entertainment business told MCV. "The reality now is partly to offset currency exchange rate fluctuations which have impacted us in local market conditions – particularly in the UK."
Interestingly, the price jump for the Arcade SKU suddenly makes the Elite SKU all the more attractive. Effective today, the Elite SKU dropped 30 GBP, which is now 199 GBP.
For 40 GBP more, wouldn't you like to gain the use of the full Xbox 360 experience with the hard drive?
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Blaaahhh Haaaa Haaaa, take that crapbox 360 fanboys, should have stuck with your PC. Now you can pay more for a 50+% failure rate.
Blaaahhh Haaaa Haaaa, take that crapbox 360 fanboys, should have stuck with your PC. Now you can pay more for a 50+% failure rate.
I think you're the one who is a fanboy.
Blaaahhh Haaaa Haaaa, take that crapbox 360 fanboys, should have stuck with your PC. Now you can pay more for a 50+% failure rate.
Try to be more mature with with your comments please.. Although it is interesting. After converting to USD, that price hike is the equivalent to raising the price from 212.57(130GBP) to 261.63(160GBP) which also means the 199 GBP for the Elite is like 325.40 for UK. Ouch. Glad I live in the USA
We always new microsoft loved us in the UK...
US - cut-price but no HDMI cable.
UK - 23% price hike, no difference in what you get.
About normal and what we've come to expect.
Oh, and btw, it's still cheaper than the PS3 and it's still cheaper than any even PC that's even remotely comparable in terms of gaming performance.
As for the reliability, I dont particularly care - it's the reason I get an all expenses paid, three year, no questions asked warranty.
This excuse "The reality now is partly to offset currency exchange rate fluctuations which have impacted us in local market conditions – particularly in the UK." is bullsh!t.
Oh, currency exchange rate fluctuations. Increase arcade. Reduce elite.
What the hell?
Anyone purchased arcade version is a fool.
"Buy 1 apple for $10, buy 10 apple for $15." Hm, I only need one apple although I have $20. I'll take 1 apple.
Oh, and btw, it's still cheaper than the PS3 and it's still cheaper than any even PC that's even remotely comparable in terms of gaming performance.As for the reliability, I dont particularly care - it's the reason I get an all expenses paid, three year, no questions asked warranty.
But most people already have a pc. And if you have a relatively new one, with at least something better than a pentium 4, you can get a really good videcard for about 140. Like a 4870. And you'd have much more power than the 360...
Sucks to not have a tanking economy I guess?
But most people already have a pc. And if you have a relatively new one, with at least something better than a pentium 4, you can get a really good videcard for about 140. Like a 4870. And you'd have much more power than the 360...
I'm not sure about that... the majority of those cheap PC's have horrible power supplies, if you bought a $150 GPU you're looking at a minimum 450 watt power supply.
Oh, and btw, it's still cheaper than the PS3 and it's still cheaper than any even PC that's even remotely comparable in terms of gaming performance.As for the reliability, I dont particularly care - it's the reason I get an all expenses paid, three year, no questions asked warranty.
this kid must be retarded...trying to compare a shitbox to the PC....
sad~
You don't need a 450 watt PSU to run a decent card. Although your right, most cheap PC's come with terrible PSU's
I ran an e2160 65nm @ 3.2 GHz (85% OC) and a OC'd 65 nm GTX 260 c192 and my max power load while doing folding@home on both the CPU and GPU was 380 watts. If one were to get a low consumption card like the 4770 they could most likely stick with whatever PSU they have atm
So in September 2008 the Arcade dropped to £130 in the UK and $199 in the US. Now the Arcade rises to £160 when the US one is still $199. In September 2008 the exchange rate was ~$1.83 to the £. Now its ~$1.63 to the £. Or in other words, £0.55 per $ in Sep '08 and now £0.61 per $. That's a ~11% increase in the value of the pound over the dollar. So how come the price goes up by 23%?
If what they say is true and they're putting their price up due to exchange rates then the new price should be ~£145 *not* £160. Someone's telling fibs here.
this kid must be retarded...trying to compare a shitbox to the PC....sad~
You're retarded - trying to compare the performance of a $199 PC to an xbox (which was my point), and im not a kid, im an orthopaedic surgeon. - my i7 with two radeon 4850's poo's on my xbox, but it cost more than 10 times as much.
MS is really just compensating for the money that the EU stole from them...now the people of UK pay for it...literaly.
It wouldn't have happened if the UK was in the Eurozone
If the argument about exchange rates was true, then any reasonable person would expect a price increase in both units. And if you were already planning to drop one, then one would expect it to drop less than planned. Do PR people listen to themselves before they spew answers that make them and the companies they work for sound foolish?
another good reason not to buy an xbox
People need to stop whining at MS and whine about their own governments. The currency thing makes no sense, but paying all the fines and extra taxes that the EU and UK impose on corporations does.
Hey. People in the UK. Are you pissed that Microsoft charges you more?
Good.
Tell the EU to stop stealing money from Microsoft and other American companies.
Umm.... yeah not sure I get this move myself. MS would really only do this price hike if they felt that the 360 was popular enough in the UK for them to get away with it. Still, it's kinda crappy for those buyers whom were thinking of getting one for their kid this holiday season.
True but the games are considerably more expensive for both the xbox and ps3. Plus games like cod4, if you want the map packs, thats another £8 for each map pack. I bought a ps3 quite a while ago now, and if I had the choice I dont think I'd bother again, nor would I buy an xbox for that matter. Seems consoles give the manufacturers a license to rip off gamers.
Any new games I buy will probably be for the PC.
This article is just a tad one sided, lets ignore the other missing half where the 360 elite dropped in price.
I would like to thank our friends in the UK for taking on the extra cost so we Americans can pay less. Your the best ally ever.
You don't need a 450 watt PSU to run a decent card. Although your right, most cheap PC's come with terrible PSU'sI ran an e2160 65nm @ 3.2 GHz (85% OC) and a OC'd 65 nm GTX 260 c192 and my max power load while doing folding@home on both the CPU and GPU was 380 watts. If one were to get a low consumption card like the 4770 they could most likely stick with whatever PSU they have atm
For video cards what matters most is the amps provided on the 12v rails, right? So even if your wattage is covered, you could still have problems with your card if the PSU is cheap and the 12v rails are weak. Of course different cards have different power reqs like you say, and a lot of mainstream cards will work with cheap PSUs.
This article is just a tad one sided, lets ignore the other missing half where the 360 elite dropped in price.
They didn't ignore it. "Interestingly, the price jump for the Arcade SKU suddenly makes the Elite SKU all the more attractive. Effective today, the Elite SKU dropped 30 GBP, which is now 199 GBP." Sounds like they covered that side just fine to me.
For video cards what matters most is the amps provided on the 12v rails, right? So even if your wattage is covered, you could still have problems with your card if the PSU is cheap and the 12v rails are weak. Of course different cards have different power reqs like you say, and a lot of mainstream cards will work with cheap PSUs.They didn't ignore it. "Interestingly, the price jump for the Arcade SKU suddenly makes the Elite SKU all the more attractive. Effective today, the Elite SKU dropped 30 GBP, which is now 199 GBP." Sounds like they covered that side just fine to me.
A Ati 4670 uses less than 50 watts so you definetly wont need more than 14 amps on the 12 volt rail, a cheap psu can handle that, and performance wise the 4670 can play most games at high framerate at resolutions above 1280x720. So it easily beats the Xbox and Ps3
That sucks for u guys on the other side of the pond. Glad MS is staying on top of things here in the US.
@shrex, I think Ati 4670 don't need additional power... or i must delusional when install one in my pc.
Its clever pricing and marketing.
Make the cheap more expensive, and the expensive cheaper. 40 pounds more for the "ELITE".
Its a small HDD for $65USD extra. Is that good value? No. Does M$ make more profit? Yes.
@shrex, I think Ati 4670 don't need additional power... or i must delusional when install one in my pc.
I never said it needs a additional power connector, what voltage rail do you think the pci-e slot and the motherboard use?
Thats ok.. the Australian dollar's going strong, and we still get ripped off. (atleast by Sony). I watched the Australian dollar go from 50USc to nearly $1US (before the GFC), and i didn't see anything drop in price...
The following is entirely my opinionated rant.
What's that I see, just around the corner? Christmas.
And Microsoft complaining about a fall in profits..given Microsoft's revenue. Yes, I smell something else and it's usually what bull's leaving behind a while after they've eaten.
So, good luck, those fine people in the UK who have created what is unquestionably a favourable market for Microsoft..the same people who stood by their console despite the overheating problem. The same people who buy legitimate versions of Microsoft operating systems.
And just to set the record straight. The UK has bore some of if not the, worst of the economic downturn. So go right ahead MS, kick them when they are down. Thank you very much and have a wonderful Holiday season this year. Looks like globalisation is great for lowering wages yet not so good for lowering retail prices, eh..either way M$ wins.