Xbox 360 Elite, Pro price cuts finally official

As predicted, Microsoft officially announced what has been rumored for months: the price of an Xbox 360 Elite console will drop by $100, to a $299.99 estimated retail price in the United States. The Xbox 360 Pro will now be priced at $249.99 (ERP), reflecting a price reduction of $50, while supplies last - because there are no future plans to continue with this model going forward. Finally the Arcade SKU will be priced at $199.99 (ERP). Microsoft also emphasized that the “Xbox 360 you buy today” will work with Project Natal, its controller-free gaming solution..

“With the holiday season right around the corner, it’s already time to start looking for entertainment and gifts that everyone will enjoy,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Corp. “If you’re looking for deep experiences that don’t require deep pockets, now is the time to purchase an Xbox 360. We’ve got the best games, a vast library of TV shows and movies, new music experiences, more ways to connect friends and family, and so much more on the horizon including ‘Project Natal’ — no controller required.”

Of course Shane Kim might have wanted to say something like “Hey Sony, is that my finger in your eye?” or “the PS3 Slim and price cut won’t save you” because this move is obviously an attempt to dampen any momentum Sony might have gotten with cutting the price of the PS3 and the Slim SKU.

Microsoft to make Xbox 360 retail announcement tomorrow?

According to MCVUK, Microsoft is set to make an official announcement on discontinuing the mid-range Pro Xbox 360 line, and price cuts for the Elite and Pro systems. Of course, with all the gossip, speculation and evidence in the form of Target, Wal-Mart and other flyers dating a sale on August 30, Does Microsoft really have a choice? I mean, sure the company could just be quiet but it would look even sillier than it does now.
This is officially the second worst kept secret of 2009 - right behind the PSP Go.

These product adjustments come ahead of the official launch of Sony’s PS3 Slim console on Tuesday, September 2 – a move that, Microsoft hopes, will take away any momentum Sony could have gained by cutting the price of its PS3 and revealing a new slimmer SKU.

EEDAR analyst predicts Xbox 360 Elite price cut very soon

According to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich Microsoft may be cutting the price of the Xbox 360 Elite very soon - within a week in fact.

“We expect Microsoft to make an official announcement, in the next week, regarding the elimination of the Xbox 360 Pro SKU and the reduction in the Elite SKU pricing to $299,” Divnich said in a recent investor alert. “We do not know the full extent of the upcoming Xbox 360 promotion. There is a possibility that one of the systems could have a larger hard-drive at the $299 price. EEDAR, however, does not believe any disparity in hard-drive size will make a noticeable difference in how consumers value each product.”

Further details on this are not available, but there have been several unconfirmed reports that Microsoft was preparing to do this. We’ll let you know more about this as it develops. The $299 price-point puts the fancy Elite unit right in the price range of the freshly announced PS3 Slim and the older fatter models.

Xbox 360 Game of the Year Bundle Detailed

If you don’t already own an Xbox 360 chances are you could also use Fable II and Halo 3, right? I mean why not? A new bundle, available beginning in May, will give you the chance to get those two games, along with an Xbox 360 elite for $399 USD. The bundle comes with the games, the system, one controller, a wired headset, an HDMI cable, 120 GB of hard drive space and a free Netflix trial.

Not too shabby. Look for the Xbox 360 Game of the Year Bundle next month - but only for a limited time. There’s no mention of an Xbox Live gold membership trial, but one would assume there is at least a month’s worth of that in the package.