Rumour: Microsoft Considering New Xbox 360 SKU

'We do not comment on rumours or speculation'

And the wall of MS came tumbling down.

A Blu Ray based 360 would just fragment the market even more than it already is for 360.

Careful MS, don't push that button til the 720 hits.

Or alternatively, perhaps Toshiba might yet secretly be working with either MS or Nintendo on their next systems. Considering that need for fast access drives, there's no reason why Toshiba couldn't return in their favour, to thwart and subvert Sony, in a trojan horse way, Sony have exploited for ages.

Now there's something to think about.

wha?

piss on the "confused marketplace".

This is not the sound of (whichever biblical chappie)'s horn.

Hes only marched around the walls once (Blu Ray), gotta get around there twice more before its bebop time.

I mean big deal, another hdd size...its not as though they deleted features from it or anything...

Its dead easy to figure out. no hdd, 20, 60, 120. simple as that. no, 20 with this, 60 without that, 120 with a side order of this other. Hell they'll prolly drop the 20, or the "arcade" SKU eventually anyway.

And putting a Blu Ray in a 360 doesn't hurt MS nearly as bad as if Blu Ray had failed for Sony...their fate isn't nearly as intertwined.

So anyway, if I was MS, I'd quote Mark Twain.

Well you do have with or without HDMI on two of those HDD size classifications, not to mention chip set, motherboard and other hardware iterations. It wasn't that long ago that Internet fora were willed with "how to spot a 360 that won't RROD" posts exhorting us to inspect the boxes very closely.

Face it, the 360 market is easily as confused as the PS3's.

The HDMI thing isn't really an SKU feature. It's a 'feature' because some people like us want it, however as far as Microsoft and their SKUs are concerned, it's only a matter of chipset evolution - to my knowledge all newly manufactured 360s have HDMI, it's only old stock that doesn't have it (at least, I think that's the case with the 'Arcade')

With MS increasing their push with the movie marketplace (and also IPTV) it would seem logical to drop the 20GB model and replace it with the 60GB - in terms of usefulness it provides a great boost, while at the same time will have very little effect on manufacture cost (in the shops the difference is only a few pounds, so I'm sure it will be smaller if buying in bulk).

*shrug*

I don't find it so. MS' products gain in capabilities, capacities, and reliability, which makes sense even to the average consumer, don't you think? Deleting features on later models seems more counterintuitive to me.

While I was no fan of it. Deleting features people do not want in order to bring the unit to a price point they DO want is not counterintuitive. it is good business sense, and good marketing.

We can all think, and say what we like. But I'm sure that the sales figures since the price cut/feature deletion prove Sony right, and render our conjecture as merely that.

If it sets two otherwise similar models apart then it causes a new SKU. The with and without HDMI versions of the Premium are not the same SKU.

However, if we're not considering old models then we really only have a couple of PS3 SKUs to worry about. You're really just looking at the 40GB model and the 80GB or 60GB model that was available in your country before the 40GB came out. And it's getting more difficult to get hold of those older models.

You still have Arcade, Premium, Elite and possibly Halo models of the 360 being actively marketed. Amazon.com has all four available to buy new, but only the 40GB PS3 is available new - I'm excluding bundles here.

meh, either BC is a feature people want, and my point stands...or it is PROVEN that no one gives a rats ass about BC, which is something I've said loudly and often.

I can live with either.

I just don't find it that baffling...cheap bastards get the Arcade, if you want the best get the Elite, everyone else queue up for the bloody Premium...new ones got the HDMI and better cooling, old ones are covered by the RRoD extended warranty...

well thank the gods i got the 60GB at launch so even tho it sucks, I still have BC for some of my PS2 games, I don't mind them taking it out I just wish they hadn't stopped updating it