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Microsoft said it is cutting the price of its 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 video game consoles and rolling out a model with three times the memory space to take its place.
The U.S. technology giant's announcement comes two days before the official start of a major Electronic Entertainment Expo at which video game console makers will be striving to portray their hardware as superior.
Microsoft said it will trim $50 from Xbox 360 models with 20 gigabytes in the United States or Canada, cutting prices to $299.
An upgraded Xbox 360 Pro model with 60 gigabytes of memory will hit markets in those same two countries in August with $349 price tags, according to the Redmond, Washington-based firm.
The reasoning for the boost in memory capacity is people's interest in storing digital photos, video, music and other data on gaming consoles which are essentially entertainment computers connected to television sets.
"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,' said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management Albert Penello.
Sony maintains it has no intention of cutting prices on PlayStation 3 models, which sell in the United States for $400 or $500 depending on memory capacity.
Nintendo will be defending Wii's crown as the world's most popular video game console, which is priced at $250 and is snatched from shelves as soon as it arrives in stores.
The big three console makers along with video game software makers large and small will be showing off their newest creations at the Expo in Los Angeles during the coming week.
© AFP
8 Comments
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thepro
And nobody in Japan cared
delitachan
Yeah every game store I went to had puny shelves with Xbox stuff.
kokuryu
I was wondering how the XBox fared in Japan... I guess not too well. I like it - it's great developing games for it. That's the only reason I have for owning it anyways - only a handful of games that I like on it.
PrinceskaNo1
Nobody in Japan cared? I love MsXbox and I am going to have one!
skipthesong
can anyone tell me if I should buy a PS3 or an XBox? If I get an XBox, can I also play US games? I am tired of these Japanese ones. I need the setsumeisho in English!
HonestDictator
I'm saving up some $$ for both. I have some old xbox games that I refuse to let go (Panzer Dragoon and Jet Set Radio Future anyone?). Well, when the time comes.
nisegaijin
it's not memory. It's hard drive space. Get you facts straight, JT
DoctorTofu
skipthesong - I believe all PS3 games (to date) are region-free, but many X360 ones aren't. You can usually work around it by buying an Asian (as in sold in Hong Kong) version online (Google PlayAsia) - most of the time they'll be left in the original English version, but they'll run on Japanese Xboxes and the only difference is that the title on the box might be in Chinese - the manuals (at least for all the games I got and I have most big titles) are bilingual English and Chinese.