Editor’s note: John Gaudiosi is a national journalist who has been covering the video game business for more than a decade. In addition to blogging for WRAL.com, he also writes about gaming for Wired Magazine, The Washington Post, Xbox.com and Yahoo! Games. He writes the “Gaming Guru” blog for WRAL.com.
CARY, N.C. – Just a month after Microsoft executive Peter Moore told me Microsoft was happy with the price points of Xbox 360, the company has reduced the price of all three versions of the console.
It’s worth noting that Moore jumped ship after E3 to head up EA Sports marketing. The Xbox 360 will sell for $350 – a $50 price cut – beginning Aug. 8. Microsoft chose the week before EA Sports’ Madden NFL 08 ships on Aug. 14 to lower its prices.
Microsoft also cut the price of its new Elite Xbox 360 with its 120GB harddrive to $450 (down $30) and the Core Xbox 360 with no hard drive now costs $280 (down from $300).
I personally don’t recommend the Core system because without a hard drive, you can’t download games, TV shows or movies via Xbox Live.
In honor of the upcoming Halo 3 launch, Microsoft is offering a Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 for $400. This console comes in an authentic Spartan green-and-gold finish and includes a matching Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 20GB hard drive, Xbox 360 Headset, an Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit. Microsoft has also shipped a limited edition Halo 3 Zune exclusively at EB Games.
With its stellar line-up of games that are out now and one of the strongest line-ups of games this fall, if you haven’t jumped on the Xbox 360 bandwagon yet, now’s the time. Some retailers, like Circuit City, will be offering free game bundles with this hardware. They’re tossing in Table Tennis, which is an awesome game, with the new lower-priced Xbox 360. So check out store ads this weekend to find the best bundles.
