Analyst Predicts Slim Xbox 360 to Bundle Natal
A new Xbox 360 with a whole new way to play? That's the way Pachter sees it.
Earlier this year, we saw leaked pictures of what might (or might not) be a redesigned Xbox 360 motherboard that could pave the way for a slimmer Microsoft console.
Newer, slimmer hardware seems to have worked for Sony, as the PS3 sales since its slimmer and equally hefty price cut seems to have stimulated sales well worldwide. Now Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who loves to talk about games, is expecting Microsoft to release new hardware that'll bundle together with Project Natal later this year.
"At a minimum, we anticipate the introduction of a more feature-packed Xbox 360 as the standard SKU in late 2010 (likely with a 250GB hard drive) at the same $299 price point," he said in a research note. "It is far more likely that we will see a slim version of the Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and with Project Natal bundled into the box while maintaining the $299 price point."
It all may be educated guessing at this point, but it makes far more sense for Microsoft to bundle in $100 hardware at no added cost rather than drop the current $299 SKU to $199.
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Does that mean that Natal is not coming out??
Now I'm just wondering if it will RROD at the same rate...
"At a minimum, we anticipate the introduction of a more feature-packed Xbox 360 "
one can wish. MS wouldn't give up the opportunity to charge $90 for wifi adapters.
Now I'm just wondering if it will RROD at the same rate...
Less space = less cooling. It will certainly RROD again.... unless it is made with a 28nm process.
Yay, no basis for a prediction!
Actually It WILL RROD less often. Probably statistically almost never. The problem was a bad cooling heatsink connection that didnt make good connection causing the system to go into a protection mode. The new slimmer system will be less complicated because they are putting both the cpu and gpu into one die with a less complicated and better seeting cooling system, AND it will run cooler as i'm pretty sure that it will be a smaller process
atleast they didn't give the whole bundle a brand new name... like Nintendo did...
I don't trust in that Natal thing. It looks like a nice idea but people are used to using tools with their hands and not waving like Jedi knights or Wizzards
with natal if your 360 red rings then natal will display a red ring too. so when your xbox fails with natal you get the RROD in stereo
rrod is really an issue of motherboards before jasper.
but I can still say my gf will want the updated xbox, just like she wanted the wii and macbook
you guys realize the 'slim 360' was a hoax right?
the 'leaked' motherboard pics (that you have in this article) are of the HDdvd player addon for the 360.
hopefully it come out on june ~ my xbox almost done ~
The best thing MS can do with the slim or any future Xbox360 upgrade is get a decent HSF to install as standard. No poing having a decent gaming platform if the RROD still pops up from time to time.
welshmousepk, i don't think they would have a heatsink that big for a dvd player. The hoax was the picture claiming to be the external casing which was actually the HD DVD player. You're getting them confused
I think it makes a certain kind of sense to bundle natal with an Xbox slim IF microsoft wants it to become the new standard in game controllers. IF natal works as well as expected microsoft could potentially monopolize that aspect of of the game industry. That's a lot of IF's though.
could this be bundled with the slim because they needed to do some hardware tweaks for better performance? Just wondering if natal will still be a standard excessory or only for xbox slim?
I do not keep up on console news very much so don't be a hater
And just in time for Christmas. I'll be spending my money on an FPGA Amiga for retro gaming, however.
It's fake. There's no ram modules and not nearly enough traces running to and from the main cpu/gpu socket.
It's fake. There's no ram modules and not nearly enough traces running to and from the main cpu/gpu socket.
you know there's such thing as an underside to the PCB and multilayer PCB's
Natal does look interesting but i dont see how it will perform with precision pointing like other precision input devices like the wii mote
i heard this news about a year ago from microsoft themselves they also leaked a possible redesign of xbox. i can't believe people don't remember the news
*Gasp*, will they really use a Heatsink and a **FAN** on the CPU? Wow, apparently they realized something like "oh crap, passively cooling a hot triple-core chip might not be the best of ideas."
Still won't buy it, but I am dying to see it.
Hang on, could you repeat that last line again?
Actually, a cheaper xbox would be more likely to wet my appetite