X-Box $499.99, and I thought the PS2 was bad...

[NOX]

X-Box $499.99 at Game Stop

 

[IBhacknU]

Pricing is estimated and will be adjusted if necessary after
offical pricing announcements.

 

[ForeverSilky]

Ugh... there was already a post about this in the general hardware forum. This is not the official price and we won't know it until MS makes and announcement. And this comes with 3 games too. Gamestop was taking early orders for PS2 at $400 for just the console.

 

[kami]

Yeah it's most likely inflated, they have NO clue what it will cost so they are probably playing it safe. It is going to be powerful though, so who knows...but I have a hard time believing they would go much higher than $300...maybe $400 at the most. Or else it just wouldn't sell.

 

[NOX]

* DirectX API game development tools.

* Intel Pentium III 733MHz processor technology with Streaming SIMD Extensions.

* 300MHz custom-designed X-Chip, developed by Microsoft and nVidia.

* 64 MB of RAM (unified memory architecture).

* Custom 3-D audio processor.

* 8GB hard drive.

* 5X DVD drive with movie playback.

* Four game controller ports.

* Expansion port.

* Proprietary A/V connector.

* 10/100 MBps Ethernet.

* Broadband enabled.

* Modem enabled (optional).

* 6.4GB/sec Memory Bandwidth.

* 150 million micropolygons/particles per second.

* 150 million transformed and lit polygons per second.

* 100 million polygons per second sustained performance (shading, texturing).

* 4 simultaneous textures.

* Compressed textures available at 6:1 compression.

* Full-scene anti-aliasing.

* DVD movie playback.

* 1920x1080 maximum resolution.

* HDTV support.

* 256 Audio channels.

* 3D Audio support.

* Midi/DLS2 support.

Come to think of it, that's not a bad price for all this stuff.

<< Well, PS2 bundles w/ games cost around the same price. So how is this any worse? >>

I may be wrong but can't you buy a PS2 for $299?

 

[ForeverSilky]

I think MS stated that the X-box will cost no more than the PS2 when it launches. The X-box will no doubt have the most features, let's hope the games are good too.

 

[NOX]

I wonder if Halo will be one of them?

 

[urbantechie]

Well there be a actual PIII 700e Slot-1 in there? (or 370, whatever )?

Or some soldered on chip?

 

[SSP]

I keep hearing about that game. Anyone have screenshots/previews of this game? (I'm talking about Halo).

 

[NOX]

SSP:

Halo

I also suggest that if you have a high bandwidth modem try downloading the Movie from E3, it?s 150MB?s (ouch), but it?s worth the look. You can download from FilePlanet.

aRyll:

Oh?ok?I thought MSRP on the PS2 was $299, but I guess the limited supply is factoring in here.

 

[Spoooon]

I think Babbages will let you pre-order an X-Box. The price they gave was 299.

 

[Josh]

Hehe, the price will change. They are just taking pre-orders now so that same thing doesn't happen with the PS2 rush

 

[SSP]

Downloading the E3 now. Thanks fo the info.

 

[NOX]

SSP,

Try looking at the top of this page as well. More information and links to other Halo related sites.

 

[IBhacknU]

where's the BIG Halo file?

all I can find is 26.6 MB

 

[NOX]

Right here buddy, 158MB, woohoo!

 

Is it just me or does Halo look like crap?

 

[sd]

Sorry, but can't see spendin that cash on a gaming console. I'd rather dump that money in my system, which I can do a lot more than just play games. Just my $.02

 

[Sephiroth_IX]

Yeah, and GAMECUBE has a $499 bundle also. The system wont be over $200, and with three games it's $500? They have no freaking idea what is going to happen, don't take things out of context.

 

[SSP]

dwell, it looks pretty good (watch the 158Mb Video). But still, there is something's not right (like the character movement). The trees doesn't look as good as the trees in some PS2 games like GT3. I think the x-box version should be much better (that was the PC version right?).

 

[NOX]

Don?t judge the graphics of the actual game by that movie (MPEG). It should look much better in the actual game.

 

[jhu]

isn't the x-box essentially a pc? can i load linux on it?

 

[dcdomain]

While talking about prices, I heard Sony was taking a hit on every PS2 they sold. Is that true? I think $300 for a mass produced gaming system is still expensive. And for them to say that they are actually losing money on each one, that's nuts. Trying to make money off the game licenses, but I heard the PS2 was very hard to program for... what are they thinking?

 

[skywhr]

150mb, Im glad I got to see it live then E3 was ok this year. Makes me wanna buy stuff though

 

They can give it up right now if they are going to charge $500 for the XBox. Can we say 3DO? Let's hope it's really only $300, which is still high IMHO. The sweet spot is $150, or free.

No matter what they are going to lose a lot of money on these things:

A) I wager that some slashdotter will figure out how to get Linux to run on the XBox days after the release. There goes hundreds of thousands of units that will never see any game sales.

B) Someone will crack the DVD format and pirate the games like mad. DVD RAM drives will be almost common this time next year.

I figure it is going to cost between $400 - 500 to produce a unit. If they sell at $300 they are looking at a $100 - 200 loss per unit sold. They stand to lose a lot of money on this effort if things do not work out. $500,000,000 allocated to marketing alone.

I just cannot get excited about the Xbox. There is just something &quot;wrong&quot; about Microsoft orchestrating all the details.