http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/07/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

The expected shortages could prove beneficial to entrepreneurs and select retailers. Officially, there are two price points for the Xbox 360: $299 and $399 (one bare bones and one tricked out). And while you might be able to buy just the machine if you're willing to camp out at your local Wal-Mart (Research) or Best Buy (Research) the night before they go on sale, many retailers are only selling their allotted units in outrageously expensive bundles.

GameStop (Research), for example, offers five different pre-order packages for would-be owners of the machine, ranging in price from $700 to $4,500. That $4,500 bundle, for those of you gasping for air, includes (among other things) 20 games, three extra wireless controllers and a 42-inch plasma TV.

It's eBay (Research) where I suspect the real fortunes will be made, though. Already, those lucky enough to receive early accessories for the system have been making tidy profits from selling that merchandise to enthusiasts. The faceplate given out at the E3 press conference, for example, has fetched as much as $306.99 – more than the basic version of the machine itself.

I remember when the PS2 came out. I had listed an auction on ebay two days prior to the system coming out. The auction was scheduled to end the day after the PS2 release. Well, I spent the night outside of Best Buy and was 5th in line. Luckily for me Best Buy had 10 units. I paid $300.00 for the system and my ebay auction ended at $1160.00. I was happy with the turnout. $860.00 profit for one nights work was worth it to me.

Alwind.

Amazing!

4,500 -- inlcudes a plasma? :lol:

Maybe they should rephrase that; buy the TV and get an xBox360!

the 4.5k package is the 2k package with a plasma tv tthat resales for 2.5k...

lol

Being the only system scheduled to be here before Christmas I think it's really going to be the gift to give this year. I hope they've made a ton of these to ship.

Well, at least around here, Pre-Orders for the two base systems are long gone. Even online you can't get them. Ritz Camera was offering them last week, but as of today I couldn't find them anymore. I'm so glad I got my pre-order in back in September.

Isn't it going to be a trimmed down version at first and then the beefed up version later? I remember reading about that once.

oh and lets not forget about the new Blu-Ray DVDs. If Sony wins the war this time, Blu-ray DVDs aren't be playable in the xBox. HD DVDs won't even be playable. xBox is coming with a cheep DVD player.

Both versions will be released at the same time. The Basic model doesn't have a HD or Wireless controllers. The "upgraded" version does, plus a few other extra's. They are priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

I think MS was smart to not decided on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray this early. It would have been folly. Besides, there is nothing to stop MS from releasing another version once a standard has been declared. But, considering that It's doubtful HD-DVD or Blu-Ray will be the mainstream consumer player for years yet, I'm not sure it's even needed until the next generation of Consoles.

Well, it wasn't due to the compititon of standards though. It's due to costs issues. Basically the xBox is going to rely on it's HD-DVD DVD data by doing a copy/caching of the data from a networked PC.

There was recently an artical on /. about how Gate was in a litteral yelling match with the COE of Sony because the Blu-Ray medium would *not* allow the copy/caching mechenism that's going to be in xBox. And it would appear that Sony's gonna win this round of mediums.

Blu-Ray has significant advantages over HD-DVD. And the only reason MS backed HD-DVD is due to the cache mechenism within the xBox. Let me see if I can find that artical.

Edit, here is it: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005106_9074_tc024.htm
Very interesting read, I'd suggest reading completely through it. I'm actually pushing for Sony this round. Blu-Ray is going to support anti-ripping abilities (which yes, I know sucks) but will start off holding 50g of data (where HD-DVD caps at 45g) capping over 100g! It's predicted Sony will intentionally take a cut of the profits in efforts or push out this standard. VHS vs BetaMax is now being reversed.

Ha, after reading this artical, I'm a bit doubtful for Blu-Ray now. Expecially the part where it says: (Advanced Access Content System (AACS)) technology would require that disc players maintain permanent connections to content providers via the Internet

http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/08/10/blu/index.html

Well, it wasn't due to the compititon of standards though. It's due to costs issues. Basically the xBox is going to rely on it's HD-DVD DVD data by doing a copy/caching of the data from a networked PC.
I don't follow this. As far as I know, there is no requirement for using a network with the 360.


There was recently an artical on /. about how Gate was in a litteral yelling match with the COE of Sony because the Blu-Ray medium would *not* allow the copy/caching mechenism that's going to be in xBox. And it would appear that Sony's gonna win this round of mediums.

well, First off, /. is a wee bit bias against MS. It's hard to get a non-Anti-MS post from that site. But The Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD debate is far from over yet.


Blu-Ray has significant advantages over HD-DVD. And the only reason MS backed HD-DVD is due to the cache mechenism within the xBox. Let me see if I can find that artical.

Edit, here is it: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005106_9074_tc024.htm
Very interesting read, I'd suggest reading completely through it. I'm actually pushing for Sony this round. Blu-Ray is going to support anti-ripping abilities (which yes, I know sucks) but will start off holding 50g of data (where HD-DVD caps at 45g) capping over 100g! It's predicted Sony will intentionally take a cut of the profits in efforts or push out this standard. VHS vs BetaMax is now being reversed.

While there are definately some advantages BR has over HDDVD, namely on the capacity, There are many disadvantages in going Blu Ray. Namely cost. To both the Consumer and the Industry.

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/next-gen-dvd.ars

One of the major concerns MS has is with the cost associated with producing Blu-Ray DVD Media.

Both sides have some heavy weights behind them. Hell, both sides even share some of the same supporters. In the end, economics may play the primary roll the decision.

I agree with you that Blu-Ray is a superior technology. But, As VHS vs Beta (and even vs SuperVHS) proved, Better technology doesn't always win.

But, ultimately, I still don't think the next gen DVD format will prove to be much of a factor in this generation of consoles. The HDTV install base is still relatively small and consoles really don't need 30 to 50 GB of media for a game. 8GB thanks to Dual Layer DVD is more than enough.

In about 5 years, Next Gen DVD may start coming into it's own, so, it will be the Next generation of consoles that will need to deal with it. Until then, Blu-Ray or HDDVD in a console is nothing but marketing.