With the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit set to swing into action in Los Angeles today, American software heavyweight Microsoft Corp. has stepped forward to officially confirm one of the more prominent pre-event rumours while announcing the arrival of a beefed-up version of its Xbox 360 videogames console.
Microsoft hacks $50 from its 20GB Xbox 360 and reveals new 60GB model. Image: Japan/Flickr.
More pointedly, Redmond-based Microsoft has indeed followed through on recent industry rumours suggesting that it would hack a solid $50 USD off the price of its 20GB Premium (or Pro) Xbox 360 console immediately before or during the E3 summit.
So, for as long as stocks last, videogame fans across North America can now get their hands on the 20GB Xbox 360 for just $299 USD, moving the Xbox 360 a clear $100 USD further from the cheapest model of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which presently retails for $399 USD.
It remains to be seen whether Sony quickly moves to reduce that gap and keep its console competitively priced.
However, the news that is more likely to have arrived as somewhat of a stick in Sony’s eye, is that Microsoft has announced the imminent arrival of an upgraded 60GB Xbox 360. Due to hit stores in early August, the 60GB offering will triple the current 20GB limit of the Premium model, but at that model’s old price point of $349 USD.
“We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we’re giving it to them at no extra charge,” enthused Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. “No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you’ll have three times the storage to manage all that great content.”
It is now widely thought that once 20GB stocks have been exhausted, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 portfolio will consist of the new 60GB console, sandwiched between the $279 USD Xbox 360 Arcade, which comes with a 256MB memory unit and five Xbox Live Arcade titles, and the $449 USD Xbox 360 Elite, which offers considerable storage via its 120GB HDD.
With E3 looming, other industry rumours and sources of intense fan-based speculation that could well be officially confirmed over the next few days include the possibility of Microsoft unveiling a new motion-sensitive games controller (codenamed: Newton) to rival Nintendo’s Wii Remote and Sony’s SIXAXIS control pad.
There are also whispers of developer Bungie whipping the covers off a brand new Halo title (this time without the eponymous Master Chief), while Nintendo might be on the cusp of revealing a third-generation version of its wildly popular DS handheld along with a whole host of new software designed to utilise the Wii Fit Balance Board. Sony fans, meanwhile, are hopeful regarding an official release confirmation for the long-awaited PlayStation Home virtual world experience for the PlayStation 3.
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