Rumours build that Microsoft is to counter Sony’s PS3 price cut by scrapping the Pro model and cutting the Elite RRP
Just hours after MCV revealed that Sony has been clearing the channel in preparation for its PS3 price cut on Tuesday it now appears as if Microsoft could be preparing an Xbox 360 price cut to counter the move.
Kotaku has become the latest website to claim that Microsoft is to ditch its mid-range Xbox 360 Pro SKU and drop the price of its high-end Elite model to fill the vacant space. It claims that the drop will come into effect on August 30th – the same time that Sony will launch its lower-cost PS3.
The Xbox 360 Elite, which is the only SKU to come in black and includes a 120GB HDD, currently carries an RRP of £229.99. If the talk is true then this will drop to £169.99 to replace the outgoing Pro SKU, which includes a 60GB HDD.
This would represent a £60 decrease in the UK and would make Microsoft’s high-end model the cheapest next-gen console on the market.
It is presumed that the Arcade SKU, which doesn’t include an HDD or HDMI cable, will remain at its current RRP of £129.99.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35363/MS-t...60-Elite-by-60 ...

Hey Microsoft, this isn't 1965. Computers don't take up entire rooms anymore. And hard drives are cheap.

With the Elite looking to get a $100 price cut, you'll be able to purchase a 120GB Xbox 360 console for $299. Yet the retail price on the 360's 120GB drive is still more than half that ($160).

Even though most retailers shave the price down to about $135, the idea that we should be paying anything approaching a dollar per gig is ludicrous.

Both Sony and Nintendo—two companies not necessarily renown for open hardware platforms—have both addressed and solved the issue of rapidly dropping storage prices on their current consoles by handing the reins to their users. The Wii has always been equipped with an SD slot that now even accepts stock 32GB SDHC cards—normal, consumer-grade tech that you can price-compare anywhere. And the PS3 has supported users who wanted to install their own hard drives (or even Linux!) since day freaking one.

Yet Microsoft, who has put forth so much effort in securing deals like Netflix and offering us a New Xbox Experience, is stuck in a proprietary hard drive pricing pattern so old that it probably doesn't know women can vote, Man's walked on the moon or we have 0-calorie sweeteners.

I know what you're thinking: Microsoft charges a lot for their drive because it's some special, expensive to produce tech. It's not. Inside that plastic shell is a stock, boring-as-hell 2.5-inch laptop drive. And you can find such a drive with 500GB of storage for $90 right now.

Keep in mind that Microsoft is buying in bulk.

Oh, and then there's the point that Microsoft is really, really, really, really stupid for not just subsidizing hard drives to begin with. How many of us with 20GB HDDs have gone to download demos only to find our drives full? How many of us are daunted by DLC because we know an extra few maps will necessitate deleting content? And while I know Microsoft doesn't take the 360's video store seriously, how could they ever expect any of us to have the free space to download I Love You Man?

But everything I listed above—that's not the worst of it. It's one final kick in the nuts that Microsoft has sent to those of us willing to do some modding ourselves that rubs me the wrong way.

While I could just pop open my 360 hard drive case and toss in a new drive myself (of course, I get to feel like a criminal while doing so as the process requires a separate PC and various unauthorized firmware files), Microsoft has limited the 360 to only supporting hard drives in their designated 20GB, 60GB and 120GB sizes.

So in other words, even though I can technically go through the trouble of installing a sweet, 500GB of storage capable of holding my entire game collection, Microsoft has taken the time specifically to thwart me in that endeavor. Doing my own installation is no longer a treat, like sticking a turbocharger on an engine. Instead it becomes a home repair I do myself to save a few bucks, like negotiating a new drain line to my dishwasher.

I never thought I'd see a day when Microsoft was more willing to give away software than hardware. But in a great irony, their latest dashboard update is once again free. The dinky hard drive to store it on? That'll still cost ya...more than even a new copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

http://gizmodo.com/5335747/ridicu+pr...-and-microsoft ...

Is it bad that I hope only one of the rumors about iTunes 9's explosion of new features, like social networking integration, come true?

So here's what we've got, the bulk of it from Boy Genius:

• Blu-ray integration to go with Blu-ray support in upcoming Macs—iTunes 8.2 sorta kinda pointed to Blu-ray, if you recall
• Ability to re-arrange your iPhone/iPod touch apps in various ways (the one feature I actually want)
• Social networking integration: This seems like it'll start out slightly more involved than say, iPhoto's Facebook integration (though hopefully less crappy), but grow deeper as it hooks into a "Social" application Apple will release in the future that'll consolidate all of your social networking services into a single app. At launch, iTunes 9's social networking component—which'll tap Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm—will do stuff like broadcast the music you're listening to, share music with people in your networks (remote streaming?), and update all of your various statuses.
• Cocktail—Apple's plan to revive the album, with "a new type of interactive album material, including photos, lyric sheets and liner notes that allow users to click through to items that they find most interesting" according to the Financial Times.

Let's look at the odds. Blu-ray seems possible, though iffy, given what we saw in 8.2 earlier. Re-arranging your growing library of apps is a useful and logical addition. The Cocktail rumor comes from the respectable Financial Times, and is backed up by word the labels are working on their own competing digital album format after Apple rejected their original proposal.

The social networking components, like Last.fm integration, also make some sense: People are streaming more music than ever, slightly shifting away from downloads. So while Pocket Lint has torn apart supposedly leaked images of the Last.fm part, it still seems more than possible. Basic integration with Facebook and Twitter makes sense—iPhoto already taps into Facebook, for instance (though not very well, admittedly).

The Apple "Social" app, that will supposedly bring together all of your social networks in a single interface, we'll have to wait and see. It'd be new ground for Apple, for sure. Interestingly, Apple "resisted" integrating social networking with Facebook into the OS, though Apple poo-pooing something is by no means an indication they won't ever go there. Like Cocktail, actually.

But my god, what a fat ****ing monster iTunes has become. I hope Apple uses one of the new icons you guys cooked up for it.

http://gizmodo.com/5335754/itunes-9-...social-monster ...

According to CNET, Android multitouch is on the way and should arrive by the end of the year. You know, if you haven't hacked it.

Backing up for a second, It's easy to think that Android supports multitouch, since Android phones like the HTC Hero use special builds of the software that include the feature. But your average Android phone is stuck in the single-touch world, which is just sinful when compared to the multitouch iPhone or Pre.

CNET believes that upcoming Android variant "Eclair" will feature multitouch, and they believe Eclair will first make its arrival on a Motorola phone this holiday season.

Until then, just try to forget that Android lacks multitouch.

http://gizmodo.com/5335864/android-2...-with-motorola ...

Codemasters wasn't too impressed with that Project Natal-enabled Burnout demo, apparently, and thinks gamers won't trash their controllers and steering wheels for racing games when Natal is unleashed on the public. Speaking to Videogamer, Codemasters' Ralph Fulton -- who is currently hard at work on DiRT 2 -- said, "The complexity of control for a racing game, certainly for a core racing game like ours, requires a controller."

Fulton points to the need for feedback and precision, claiming that Project Natal just won't do either justice. That's not to say there isn't a place for Natal in racers, as Fulton thinks it could add some functionality on top of traditional controls, though he fails to provide us with any ideas of his own. Until we get our hands on the final product, we're just going to have to watch those chase scenes from Ronin over and over again with a pair of fuzzy dice strapped to our TV.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/11/co...ols-in-racers/ ...

Japanese phone strap retailer StrapyaNext just started accepting pre-orders for the most awesome cell phone accessories ever (next to the Hello Kitty/Space Invaders charm, of course). These tiny joysticks, in Ryu, Ken, Dhalsim, and Chun Li versions, play Street Fighter IV voice clips in response to the correct button command.

For example, if you input down, right, and punch on the Ryu Real Voice Action Cell Phone Strap, it will play "Hadouken!" The same movement on the Dhalsim charm will play "Yoga Fire!" And then you can tell the person you're talking to on the phone that you need to hang up because your close, personal friends Ryu and Dhalsim have arrived.

These straps, limited to 1,000 each, will also be sold at the Ikebukuro Tokyu Hands shop, and at the Tokyo Game Show, for ¥1,260 ($13)

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/12/st...h-our-buttons/ ...

Kotaku recently got their hands on a catalog from retail superstore Meijer's which is supposedly due to hit ... catalog stands(?) on August 30. The clipping of interest from this ad book is for a "new lower price" for the Xbox 360 Elite model -- it seems they're slicing $100 off the price of the system, bringing it down to the $299 price point shared by the Pro version.

This fits in nicely with the grand design foreseen by the Ars Technica mole back in June, which claimed Microsoft would completely replace the Pro model with the Elite sometime in September. However, we called nearly a dozen Meijer's locations to try and confirm the cut -- only one Media Center employee had heard about it, and explained that it would be a "week-long sale," and not a permanent price drop.

We're certain to find out more in the near future -- either on August 30, when the catalog (and Elite price) is supposed to drop, or perhaps next week during GamesCom, which some believe will provide a veritable cornucopia of startling announcements.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/12/ru...box-360-elite/ ...

Two anonymous retail spokespeople in the UK have reported that PlayStation 3 supplies from Sony have dried up, possibly in anticipation of this month's GamesCom and a future announcement therein. "Sourcing PS3 stock has been a challenge for the last two to three weeks," one source told MCV. Evidently, the retailers have been told that further shipments would not be coming until late August or early September.

We can only speculate about the reason -- you may expect the next shipment of PS3 systems to make it to retail to be Slim, or a cheaper model; however, given recent history, we're going to conjecture that Sony is planning to release a new model with a higher price, and doesn't want to waste any more time building the "cheap" systems.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/12/uk...ipment-cutoff/ ...

Sometimes, I wish my brain processed reality with this kind of incredible logic. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata says the fact that you think the Wii Vitality sensor is lame balls is actually a "good sign" for Nintendo:

"When we make some new announcement and if there is no positive initial reaction from the market, I try to think of it as a good sign because that can be interpreted as people reacting to something groundbreaking."

And let me tell you, the Virtual Boy was absolutely groundbreaking. I'm sure the Vitality Sensor will be at least that excellent.

http://gizmodo.com/5335202/iwata-its...-stuff-is-lame ...