back to article MS cuts Xbox 360 prices Down Under

Microsoft has today slashed the price of the Xbox 360 in Australia, bringing the basic Core model down to the same price as Nintendo's globally popular Wii console. It's now priced at AUD399.95, 20 per cent less than the AUD499.95 Microsoft was previously charging for it. The standard Xbox 360 has also had AUD100 knocked off …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now they need to add the motion sensor controllers

    Keep in mind the PS2 is *HALF* the price of the Wii. It's not enough to match the Wii on price, you have to match it on fun too. Something sadly lacking on the XBox360.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Totally agree with 1st post...

    I've got a Wii, there is no way that I would buy any other current console, even at the same price, they just aren't as fun to use. The Xbox and PS3 (even the PS2) are mainly targetted at gamerz, not people who like to play games every so-often.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Am i missing something...

    I own a ps3 and a 360. I played the wii for the first time last weekend and i really do not see the attraction. All that standing and moving about is crap. The graphics were laughable, no effort put into that console at all. I really fail to see what the fuss is about. Even the GUI to start a game in the first place is awkward and bloated. I was a hugh fan of the n64 and the game cube was always under rated but whats the wii all about. Its just not fun. (unless your mayby 8 years old).

  4. Mark

    Re: Now they need to add the motion sensor controllers

    So, to have fun on a game console you must have 'motion sensor controllers'?

    I'm having plenty of fun on my Xbox 360 without a gimicky controller thank you very much!

    This is just the right time for a price cut. The Xbox 360 has some cracking games coming out on it over the next few months and to further distance itself from it's real competition (the PS3) at this stage is exactly what MS needed to do. Plus it might encourage Sony to price drop the PS3 to a reasonable price so everyone wins!

  5. Stephen

    @Anonymous poster

    Please define 'fun'? Personally I find the Wii to be no more than a gimick, I find my 360 far more 'fun' than my housemates Wii. Yes, the Wii has the novelty factor but is that enough? History tells us no, so we will have to wait and see.

    Besides, the PS3 proves that adding motion sensors to a gamepad brings no real value at all...I would rather have my pad 'rumble' rather than knowing that I have just thrown it out of the window...

  6. Chris Morrison

    Agree with first post

    Having played all three of the latest consoles I have to say the Wii is by far the best. I have a PC if i want to play some serious games (where i'm going to need bout a thousand keys) and after trying the three consoles went for a Wii because it is so much more fun to play, games are different from the usual PC/Xbox/PS dirge and the console has got lots of possibilities for new innovation in the future.

    If the Xbox had been half the price of the Wii I would still have bought the Wii. It's all about the interaction with the console. I would say the controls make the Wii games feel much more real than the more realistic graphics on the other consoles.

    Chris

  7. Julian Cook

    The WII is just a passing fad

    There is far too much hype around the wii to be healthy, and of all the consoles out in the last ten years will have the shortest life span. The wii is only any good for social gaming, after all who wants to be prancing around the front room playing games late into the night. Game consoles live and die by the quality of the games not by the controller. As of yet I have yet to see a must have game on the wii or for that matter the PS3. The wii will last another year or so and then will just die a death

  8. Andrew Barratt

    Horses for courses

    The 360 and the Wii appeal to different sections of the market. Its not about gimicks. The wii is selling incredibly well, people who haven't had console before are buying it. Then people who don't want to splash on a PS3 are buying as a complement to another console. I know several people myself included that have a 360, and then bought a Wii. Its just something different. Sometimes I feel like some hardcore highdef gaming, sometimes I feel like wave my arms round like an idiot and pretending to play tennis.

    A bit of variety is good.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    360 vs Wii

    It's simple. The Wii is the more 'social' console for people to play with friends and family, and the 360/PS2/PS3, despite having multiple controllers, is a more solo experience.

    Also, the Wii involves people who are together joining in to have fun on a console, the 360/PS3 involve someone joining an online community to have fun with their console.

    The pathway of thinking is just a different way around is all....

    Wii = People -> Console -> Fun

    360/PS3 = Console -> People -> Fun

    The attraction of the Wii is based in that it is simple and involves activities that everyone in a room, a family or friends, can get involved in without having to watch a gamer beat everyone.

    The attraction of the 360/PS3 is all about the greatest solo-experience per console. I know you can have multiple players on a 360, but it just doesn't have the same group-friendliness that a Wii does.

    I like both of them, by the way.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Things that make you go Wiiiiii

    "I own a ps3 and a 360. I played the wii for the first time last weekend and i really do not see the attraction. All that standing and moving about is crap."

    I guess you play on your own? Try it with friends, you'll feel less stupid swinging the racket/bat/puck/bowling bowl/broomstick, (whatever the virtual thing is in the game you're playing). If you feel embarrased while playing, try not to be so shy.

    "Please define 'fun'? "

    An action that causes endorphins in the brain to be released causing a pleasure sensations.

    Xbox 360's problem is that it's an incremental upgrade rather than radically new. It's like upgrading from the old model Mondeo to the new model Mondeo, or Halo 2 to Halo 3. You pay for the whole thing but the brain stimulation only comes from the minor increment it offers over the previous one.

    "Yes, the Wii has the novelty factor but is that enough? History tells us no, so we will have to wait and see."

    It has the major market share soon too despite XBox360's one year lead. Imagine all those Sports sims in Wii versions, WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE SPORT.

    And imagine all those action games, WHERE YOU ACTUALLY DO THE ACTION.

    And imagine all those shooting games, WERE YOU ACTUALLY POINT THE GUN.

    So Wii is likely to win this round quite comfortably.

  11. Alan Donaly

    grape paperclip string

    The wii is for those who are not terribly bright

    it's like a cat toy for people bright lights and

    motion and yes I find that amusing finally a

    game for those who can't read or think.

  12. Jacob

    fun

    hmm I agree with the first poster. the Wii is just more original and especially if you like to play with friends it is a top console. Easily accessible and always good for a laugh. Nothing against the other consoles but the PS3 is just too expensive for a console and both it and the XBOX are only interesting if you are in to serious gaming which isn't half as much fun as a a group of friends/or the family in a room together trying to get to grips with Wii tennis or something like that.

    although stephen has a point but then again the PS3 just added the motion sensors on without actually building its console around it , unlike the Wii which is designed with the intention of using the motion sensors for the way it works.

    I think that if Nintendo make sure that they keep expanding their game selection and bring out more fun games they are bound to keep the machine popular and more then just a novelty.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Down Under Pricing

    Just for the record - the price cut has been announced in New Zealand as well as Australia.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wii VS 360

    "360/PS3 = Console -> People -> Fun"

    The best selling and most anticipated games on 360 (notably Halo3) are very social - they're weighted to online play. 360 is an online console, most major titles are increasingly focussed on this.

    We have a Wii and a 360 - Wii is for the kids, cutesy, fun games you can get into quickly - 360 mostly is for grown ups and has very few of such games outside of Live Arcade. Looking at titles I guess the same is true of PS3 although without the established and huge community of XBL

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