27th March 2007, 8:56 PM
I've been reading on this since it was only a rumor. At the time I had no reason to think much of it, being completely unconfirmed. With this, now we know.
Anyway, they aren't raising the price of existing models, just this new one.
Still, this is clearly an unprecedented console move. I got used to the multiple kits of the 360 and PS3 when I remembered the NES did something similar with about 20 different models including, among other things, running pads, ROB, the Zapper, extra controllers, and all manner of games. Of course, the console itself didn't have any fundamental differences. Even the 360's previous two models were, aside from added items in the box like the hard drive, completely identical. It was the PS3 that actually started making noticable unadjustable differences between the models. MS seems to be following that with their change. To be honest, I wasn't aware there was something so fundamentally different about the all-output port on the 360 and the nature of HDMI that they couldn't just make a cable adapter sold seperatly combined with a firmware update on the 360 itself to support the correct protocols. That 120GB hard drive is certainly a major step up in the right direction.
At any rate, different models or whatnot, it is odd they changed the whole color scheme for this. More to the point, even if it is a new model with new features, yes, it is an increased price. People were expecting the price to drop, not this, even if it is a new model. What I would have expected was to drop the "core" outright and then lower the price of the premium, then the elite could be released at the premium's price. They would keep their price advantage that way. I mean, wasn't the new model of motherboard meant to lower production costs? Is an HDMI port really that expensive? Nah, it would be the hard disk, but certainly I expected the price of making that thing to drop pretty well by this point.
Anyway, they aren't raising the price of existing models, just this new one.
Still, this is clearly an unprecedented console move. I got used to the multiple kits of the 360 and PS3 when I remembered the NES did something similar with about 20 different models including, among other things, running pads, ROB, the Zapper, extra controllers, and all manner of games. Of course, the console itself didn't have any fundamental differences. Even the 360's previous two models were, aside from added items in the box like the hard drive, completely identical. It was the PS3 that actually started making noticable unadjustable differences between the models. MS seems to be following that with their change. To be honest, I wasn't aware there was something so fundamentally different about the all-output port on the 360 and the nature of HDMI that they couldn't just make a cable adapter sold seperatly combined with a firmware update on the 360 itself to support the correct protocols. That 120GB hard drive is certainly a major step up in the right direction.
At any rate, different models or whatnot, it is odd they changed the whole color scheme for this. More to the point, even if it is a new model with new features, yes, it is an increased price. People were expecting the price to drop, not this, even if it is a new model. What I would have expected was to drop the "core" outright and then lower the price of the premium, then the elite could be released at the premium's price. They would keep their price advantage that way. I mean, wasn't the new model of motherboard meant to lower production costs? Is an HDMI port really that expensive? Nah, it would be the hard disk, but certainly I expected the price of making that thing to drop pretty well by this point.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)