New Aussie prices:

1. Xbox 360 Pro will drop from $649 to $579,
2. "core" system drops from $499 to $399

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/...4-15306,00.html

MICROSOFT is set to drop the price on its Xbox 360 games console in Australia in an effort to give the games machine a better shot at the Christmas market.

The fully-featured Xbox 360 Pro will drop from $649 to $579, while the stripped down "core" system drops from $499 to $399 - putting it on-par with Nintendo's $399 Wii.

The Xbox 360 price cuts follow similar moves made by Microsoft in the US last week.

The cuts make Sony's $999 PlayStation 3 the most expensive console in the Australian market by an even greater margin.

Xbox regional director David McLean said the price of the Xbox 360 had been the same for 17 months, claiming this was the longest any console had been on the Australian market without a price drop.

The new prices had been made possible by reductions in manufacturing costs, he said. Nevertheless, there would be no price cut for the HD-DVD player accessory for the Xbox 360, he said.

Around the world, Microsoft and rival Sony have been battling the huge popularity of Nintendo's Wii, which has combined an intuitive controller, unconventional games and a low price to win over consumers, despite having far more modest technical specifications than its competitors.

"I think it's fair to say that the whole industry has been surprised by the popularity of the Wii," Mr McLean said

Nevertheless, in total revenue terms, the Xbox 360 was "well ahead" of the Wii and PlayStation 3, he said.

Mr McLean said Microsoft had seen no slow-down in sales as a result of reports of the Xbox 360 suffering overheating problems.

Microsoft announced last month it would incur costs of $US1.15 billion in the June quarter to fix what it called an "unacceptable" number of faulty Xbox 360 units.

"The way we've communicated it has given customers surety about what we have done," he said.

This post has been edited by g5sim: Aug 15 2007, 07:46 AM

why is it that u need to create a new thread for every piece of news. Never learn eh?

Australia has their own region coded consoles?

PAL MACHINES FTW

Microsoft slashes Xbox's NZ pricetag
Stuff.co.nz | Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your SayRelated Links
. Subscribe to Archivestuff
. Have your say

Advertisement
AdvertisementMicrosoft has slashed the price of its Xbox 360 games console in New Zealand by $100, as the company steps up its battle with the Nintendo Wii and seeks to expand beyond hardcore gamers.


The Xbox 360 Pro system has had its price cut from $720 to $650, while the trimmed-down Core version - which lacks a hard drive and wireless controllers - now sells for $100 less at $450, less than the Wii.

Microsoft's Xbox director for Australia and New Zealand, David McLean, said after leaving the console's price static for 17 months it was time for Microsoft to become more aggressive in its pricing strategy and expand the Xbox 360's appeal.

"Since launch we've always had a fairly deliberate strategy to secure the hardcore gamers first ... but now that we've done that job it's time to expand the market," McLean said in an interview.

But Microsoft isn't just attacking Nintendo on the price front. Later this year it plans to release a number of titles that allow for more social gaming experiences, a market the Wii and its intuitive motion-sensitive controllers has taken by storm.

Those titles include Guitar Hero III: Rock Legends, Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution Universe.

"We are starting to see some of those real social gaming experiences and with the console at the right price point it should enable us to be somewhat more competitive," McLean said.

At the same time Microsoft will continue to cater to hardcore gamers with the release of Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Call of Duty 4.

Halo 3, scheduled to debut worldwide on September 25, is shaping up to be one of the biggest game launches of the year. Analysts at Goldman-Sachs project the title will give Microsoft's loss-making gaming division its first profitable quarter.

Daniel Morse, games analyst at market watcher GfK, said he expected today's price cut and the impending release of Halo 3 would be a significant incentive for people to buy the Xbox 360 in the lead up to Christmas.

"You get a true next-generation device for the same price as the Wii and on top of that you can play Halo," Morse said.

But he insisted the Xbox 360 and Wii were "two very different products", and he did not expect Microsoft's move would spark a price war with Nintendo.

Yesterday, before Microsoft made the official price cut announcement, a Nintendo Australia spokesman said there were no plans to adjust the price of the Wii as Nintendo was "still selling multitudes around the world" at the current price.

Sony has adopted a markedly different strategy with the Playstation 3, maintaining its $A999 price and pitching it as an all-in-one home entertainment solution as opposed to a core gaming machine. In fact, the PS3 is sold in general consumer electronics stores which don't stock any games.

Today's Xbox 360 price cut will come as a surprise to some industry watchers because just last month Microsoft announced it expected to spend more than $US1 billion ($NZ1.37 billion) to repair widespread hardware problems facing the console.

But while McLean gave few details on the extent of the hardware problems in Australia, he said the price drop had long been factored into Microsoft's budgets.

"It's really a case of economies of scale allowing us to drop the price now as we improve the manufacturing process and make some savings there, and it's just the right thing to pass it on to the customer," he said.

The Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3 debuted in New Zealand in March last year, December last year and March this year, respectively.

Over their respective lives the consoles have sold 195,056, 138,192 and 66,503 units, according to GfK.

This year, the Nintendo DS handheld and the Sony Playstation 2 remain the top-selling games consoles so far, followed by the Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PSP.

Morse said the Xbox 360 had done "very well given what its price point was", and added the DS and Playstation 2's sales dominance was largely due to their low $199 price tags.

With SMH

err...replying to the title.....
Singapore already join the price cut la..

and what redbull said is true...

about what?

thanks for the info...

btw, how much xbox 360 selling in south africa?

also how much wireless controller in Brazil ?

oh ya.. is xbox 360 elite out in Zimbabwe ?

arhhh buy 360 la.. if u think 360 cheap now..

This kinda news, try to post in Xbox talk la...

@g5sim, if u were to post the news of an official Xbox launch in Malaysia, then it would be great

uncle bill will call my handphone a day or two before he launches xbox 360 in Malaysia. will keep you posted