Microsoft Are great thats why i brought a xbox360 get rid of that heap of junk you call ps3 and get yourselves a xbox360 if you want to play Next Gen High Definition Graphics only capable through xbox360.

One has to ask:Was Bill Gates departure from the struggling software company a ''time to get the f*** out before the sh** hits the fan!!!!" move?

http://www.alleyinsider.com...

Thanks Google,for your continued support of the Playstation brand.

We all know the arcade is there to lure people in and think the price is low - you compare the PS3 and 360 - which should I get? They both have a LOT of the same titles (music games, sports games, big 3rd party hits are ALL multiplat) so you go by price. WOW! The 360 is so much cheaper than the PS3! Look at that, £129.99! I'm off to buy a 360.

In the shop...
"Actually, you're better off getting the elite version of the console if you want to be able to download stuff, play online with certain games, and download movies."
Oh OK I'll take one of those then.
"And you'll probably need a wireless adapter, an extra controller and a year's live subscription as well."
Oh right OK
"Don't forget your rechargable battery packs!"
Sure
"Don't forget, if ever your 360 scratches your disks up we can always fix them up for you for a low, low price!"
Excellent, thanks.
"Remember you can always send your 360 back to MS if it red-rings on you - don't worry you'll probably be one of the 2-in-3 people it doesn't happen to! (If you're lucky)"
How much was the PS3 again?

Only there to show that the 360 is cheap, most people would go buy the premium package.

"To me this is nothing more than a cheap shot for market share by Microsoft."

Nooooooooo... say it isn't so. /sarc

That's all that matters to Microsoft (and to be fair 99.999% of companies). Marketshare.

Yeah, it's misleading... but Microsoft (and Sony at the beginning of the gen) has been misleading about what they are selling, IMO. Again, that's just my opinion.

I noticed this a few weeks ago, it is rather misleading, displaying features and a SKU that aren't even compatible. Although it does inform you that you'll need a HDD, all be it in fine print.

"Yes they did mention in the commercial that a hard drive is required.."

Then why is he complaining about?
People just like to hate.

M$ is the king of milking consumers.

This just feels like a "I need to bash something for traffic" article. Its not news...its not even worth the time I took to write this.

I propose their next failure be named "Yunebox"

kinda like PlayStation 3 Kiosks that play a ad over and over that say "backwards Compatible"............no t unless you have the old 60 or 80 its not....only things really in stores in 80gb for 399...no backwards compatible.......kinda misleading huh.......dont believe me go to any gamestop and other places...

I own a ps3...im just stating ITS A CORPORATION what CORPORATION doesn't mislead at some times...about $$$$$

This is how they plan to get new comers to purchase their console, things like this. They also plan on a lot of people purchasing the Arcade version at its newer price with the hopes that they don't know they'll need additional things to bump it up to speed. Everyone commended MS for getting such a cheap version of the system out there...but any serious gamer, new or old, that is trying to make a move into the "next gen" of gaming is going to be taken advantage of if they don't understand what the system has, or more importantly, doesn't have. At a gamestore I work at a mother purchased the Arcade version for her son, only to call back later in the shift inquiring about things that would have to bought later. She seemed surprised her son didn't know this, I kinda felt bad. I mean, it's like you think you're getting into the next gen movement only to find you've bought a stripped down version of a console that can't really do a whole lot except play the games...I know that's the main point but in the bigger picture it's a little ridiculous.

FBI...your so lame...im sure your typing on windows so Microsoft cant be that bad. grow up dude.

kinda like PlayStation 3 Kiosks that play a ad over and over that say "backwards Compatible"............no t unless you have the old 60 or 80 its not....only things really in stores in 80gb for 399...no backwards compatible.......kinda misleading huh.......dont believe me go to any gamestop and other places...

FBI i bet you have super bad dandruff because you sit on this site 24/7 being a retard troll

Since when has Microsoft EVER been honest about their products?

Heck, they still think that the RRoD "isn't that big of a problem" and that "it is completely fixed". They also say that Vista is bug-free and slowdown-free (while working on Windows 7). Heck, they even say that the Zune will demolish the iPod.

The four pillars of failure

I think xbox 360 haters are reading too hard... this is like saying;
Why does Sony say on the PS3 retail box that it's 1080P when it does not come with HDMI cable... Or why does Sony does not print on the BOX, "YOU MAY NEED TO REPLACE YOUR HARD DRIVE SOON BECAUSE MOST GAMES REQUIRE MANDATORY INSTALLS"...

Actually do you need a manual to understand that for DOWNLOADING movies and demos you NEED a HARD DRIVE? Jesus... you people think people are that stupid and you are gifted because you know.. that to download movies you need internet and a hard drive?

The adverts which state you can download Movies have a text on the bottom saying HARD DRIVE REQUIRED.

After seeing *insert car* get 37mpg on the road lol. And at the bottom in small print it says highway miles.

Hmmmm, I wonder what Nintendo would charge for a $20 gb hard drive? Nintendo rips people off worse then anybody,, why doesn't anyone talk about Nintendos cheap @ss.

That's business. Bad business but it happens all the time. PS3 commercials advertising games not yet released pissed me off too. I'm a proud owner of both systems so relax fanboys.

This is just standard marketing, show all the features of high end item but give a price "Starting From" for a basic. This tactic has been successfully employed by car manufactures for years.

Honda even went as far with the new Civic (UK) to actually produce a gimmed out version called the "S" model just so they could advertise a very low "Starting From" price.

However.. there is always a however !!!

When you buy a new car costing thousands you spend a lot more time investigating all the options, you don't just walk into a dealer and say I want that car and drive off with it, which you would do with a £120 item.

Many parents, grand parents will be buying this for their kids for Christmas because little Jimmy / Jayney has been asking for one. They are not educated in the multi SKU's they are going to see a £120.00 version, think its a bargin and buy it. Christmas day comes and little Jimmy / Jayney are going to be over the moon... until they realise they can't do everything they wanted and they are going to have spend extra Christmas cash on upgrading their 360 instead of buy a copy of "insert game" they want.

I personally believe this could backfire on MS in the trust department, I also see allot of these being returned after Christmas..

We'll have to wait and see..

sony touting 4-D, every game 1080p and 120 FPS games hogwash.

hey its all marketing and worked quite well looking at the numbers.

...This is why Microsoft grabs people like this. Consumers need to read the fine print before they buy *anything*. That's why you do research before you buy anything these days.

Fact: The ad states from £129.99
all companies do this, this isn't news.
Oh yeh, thanks for blatently ignoring my e-mail Loot Ninja..
Your loss.

That's the way corporations market their products. When is the last time you saw a basic model on tv for any product? Everyone puts the top of the line model then at the end you see these fine prints you can barely read on the screen. Marketing is basically stretching the truth to sell things but not enough where it is totally false.

Like I always said,

Don't get fooled by that $199 price tag.

Actually ive had a 20gig since launch in November 05 and still have 3gig spare so saying it won't last long obviously means you think it works like the ps3 one.
Belive me ive never needed to buy a new drive and ive got tons of stuff on it and enough room to download a movie.

first off i think this article is the very misleading. and the artor is clearly looking for hit.
1)first off you have to be a noob to think you don't need a HDD to store movies,demo,DLC. so why is he making a issue about no HDD now. since the 360 had a version without a HDD sinced it launch. late to the party. i think so
2)second thing is. you are renting a movie. not buying one. so depending on the how long they allow you to keep the movie before it's kicked off your HDD. and the 360 has a chip to upconvert movies to a HD setting. so one there no need to think you will run out of space anytime soon. unless you are DL which only stay on your HDD for (i could be wrong) 8 days.

lol look at all the sony fanboys. >.> they can't get enough of this. insulting the 360 is more fun then playing a ps3
*ive changed my mind about getting the sytem untill KZ2 comes out, maybe by then a price drop will happen*
-nai-

It takes some people time to realize value.
And yet still i'll never own one of their products.

They tell you that downloading videos requires a Hard Drive... which implys that the hard drive is sold separately for at least one version of the console (they wouldn't need to say it otherwise) then they say STARTING at 129GBP (or w/e it is in your neck of the woods) which also implys multiple SKU's and that being the cheapest one, so if you can add two and two togeher you should be smart enough to figure out that you're not going to be downloading movies to the cheapest 360.

if you bought the arcade version of your crapbox 360 because its cheap, then say goodbye to all downloadable contents like music, hd movies, dlc games or even patches to your broken games...

Lastnight i was in a store, and they had an advertisement for the Arcade model... one of it's selling bullets was "256MB" ..... that's all it said.. does anyone know what this refers to? i was like wtf after my girl friend seemed to think that was a good selling feature. lol..

EDIT: Ahhhhh. i looked it up and realized it was for a memory card it looks like. (sorry i know next to nothing about the 360 lineup). Still odd not to mention that in the advertisement though.

Automobile manufacturers have been doing this for DECADES....and yet because this concerns Microsoft, it's suddenly a scandal. It's called SLICK ADVERTISING people...grow the fvck up, or GTFO.

This is google:
http://moneycentral.msn.com...
Their Market Cap is strong, but according to Annual Reports, it still never reaches MS's Market Cap High.
Infact the closest they have gotten all year is HALF. Half is great, though. Also, please remember that MS share count is over 8 billion, in comparison to Googles which is around 314 million. This is why it is more expensive to buy Googles Stock--because there is less of it. Fewer Investors, represent a weaker financial back bone.
Like I have said before. If you weren't in high school(unless you've quit already), you'd understand how these things work.

AS FAR AS THE ARTICLE GOES:
MS's tech support that has been outsourced to Manila for the 360----is outrageous. First of all, I cant understand what these foreign son-b*tches are sayin'. And I have a RECORDING on my phone of a stupid Asian Beeyotch telling me I can watch BLURAY movies(DISCS, NOT STREAMING TORRENTS) natively on my 360. I can also apparently play Wii games as well as PS3 games. And NO, she wasn't kidding. Is MS misleading in their practices? Probably. But atleast when they promise something, they deliver.

Microsoft is the Billy Mitchell of the gaming world.

I've seen the ad on TV here a lot and every tijme I see it I do think it's misleading but to be "fair" if you can apply that phrase to this situation, MS aren't the only company that will advertise something and leave out a crucial piece of information so they shouldn't really be criticised more than any other company because so many are guilty of the same.

However that being said the ad still gets to me. Yes it tells you that you need a hard drive and that text is clearly visible but it throws a version of the console that in the condition in which it is sold is completely incompatible with the service it is advertised alongside.

It's basically false advertising and could result in people being mis-sold a product as they can't do what they were told it could do in the ad without spending even more money and that's just the hard drive, the ad also leaves out the fact that you need to pay for a LIVe Gold membership. I'd be pretty pissed at going and buying a 360, guy in store asks which model you want and you say oh the £129.99 one please then find out you can't do what you want to do with it.

Verdict would have to be yes, it's pretty damn misleading but like I said earlier, MS (as much as I detest their business practices) don't deserve to be criticised any more than thousands of other companies out there.

If they mentioned that a hard drive is required for movies, then whats your problem? How can the ad be "misleading" if the gave all the information? Take a nap droids, you're getting cranky, here suck on this binky.

The only thing the ad doesn't tell you is that the 129.99 price tag doesn't include a hdd. Yes that is misleading. I believe that you also have a gold subscription to use the Netflix feature as well, but I could be wrong about that I don't use Netflix.

Any smart consumer should ask questions about the product they buy when they are spending that much money, especially when they are given multiple SKUs to choose from. If you don't use thought to make a good decision upon purchase, then you deserve what you get. I don't like MS ad or their nickel and dime policy, but stupid people should not be considered victims for being stupid.

Dump this dam sku and or put a 20GB on it. Seriously?!

Apocalypse.. If you had half a mind, you would know that SONY bragged about the PS3 to phenomenal levels before it was out. It was also supposed to have 7 USB drives and support 7 controllers (which is just plain stupid in my opinion).

WTF? confusing? it said you need an hdd for movies. you sony fanatics need to chill abot this whole hdd thing. if you know you're going to go on live you need an hdd and that makes the core the wrong choice for youthats why you have 2 other choices that include the hdd.

you do not need a hdd to play games plain and simple. the wii is killing it with no hdd. im surprised you dont hear ppl complaining about the ps3 not including hdmi cables, thats the heart of the ps3 you get hd 1080 nothing if yu dont buy hdmi cable and the sh!tis that sony pushes hd the frikin most

Clearly they are getting there marketing strategies from car companies.
Car companies will always show the highest-end model on the commercial but then follow up with things like "ONLY $129 A MONTH LEASE WITH $2599 DOWN PAYMENT" which then, if you read the fine print, that price only reflects the BASE model of that particular vehicle.
Microsoft is doing the same EXACT thing, showing you the higher-end upgrades like the hard drive, and ability to download movies/stream/watch, whichever and then the pricing for the BASE model of the system is shown.
It's nothing new really, and businesses will always lead you in with the smaller price tag, then show you more options for the obvious up-sell which 98% of people would opt for because its almost necessary.

Buy a Mercades with sh*tty tires and bad brakes, thats your Arcade model folks.

To everyone playing the fan-boy card, note the author is a 360 owner, and only a 360 owner.
There is no Netflix offer outside the US, can't really stream movies then can you? Especially since this ad is in GBP (that's the UK if you don't know)
Aside from Hard Drive Required the ad does not state anywhere that the model offered does not have a Hard Drive. I do believe most car ads will show a price for "equipped as displayed" or tells you in the fine print that the price displayed is not for the model displayed. The ad here doesn't do any of that.
It's the holiday season, of course its slick marketing, its targeting uncles, aunts, girl/boyfriends, and many clueless others that don't know the difference between a Wii, PS3, and a hole in the ground. (well maybe they know the hole in the ground). Is it fair to consumers? How much would it suck if you wanted a PS3 and instead you got an Xbox Arcade or a Wii? Yeah, you're going to crap in a box next holiday for the person that gave you that.

i agree the arcade unit .. was just a terrible move..

this is the same tactic that every company on the planet does. Every buisness does this. They will show you the uber ipod and in the pic with the cheaper ones price and you get a nano. Or in a car add you see the high end car with thelow end price. Its jus ta stupid marketing tactic.Nothing to see here keep moving

You have to read the fine print no matter what you buy. I don't agree with "any" company doing this but look at commercials on tv and 90% have misleading adds. My advice would be to pull your head out.

xbox 360it self is miss leading. Wireless internet (need to purchase Wireless adapter), PLAY ONLINE WITH OTHERS (need to purchase subscription fee), HD MOVIES (can only have it for 24 hours). The system its self is a mother load of misleadingness. RROD and all.

I thought the new arcades came with the bigger card to handle the NXBE? If so...wtf...stop complianing if you want the cheap-o version!

every car commercialy you see shows a car thousands of dollars more than the base model...you don't see people screaming at toyota for misleading them...you should research every purchase you make. THINK before you give your hard earned money to ANY company.

The arcade 360 is actually great for hardcore gamers...it gives people a cheap console to buy multiple copies of to set up awesome basement parties.

How is it misleading if they say you need a hard drive? Did they show a 360 with a hard drive attached and the 129.99 GBP price? Because that would most certainly be misleading.

why? did i scare you?

Are you kidding me? This is dealing with the basic fundamentals and concepts of marketing. And I am not saying Marketing 101 at your community college, I am talking basic common sense here. If you read this and have written some angry comment blasting MS for using this basic marketing concept you....well, you are either a completely hypocritical PS3 fanboy or just flatout shortbus stupid.

First for the Sony Fanboys from the box of a launch 20gb PS3- "Built-in Blu-Ray Disk Drive for True High Definition(1080p) Gaming and Movies Right Out of the Box"

Oh really? Right out of the box huh? Well...that is if you have a 1080p HDTV, some them 1080p True High Definition Games, oh and you will also need one of them HDMI cables. Yep, right out of the box alright. There wasn't a single PS3 at launch that could get you HD gaming/movies in even the basic form(1080i/720p), because they didn't even include a damn component cord, let alone a f****** HDMI cable. But, don't sweat it, you can get a HDMI cable for $100 made specifically for the PS3. I am not even going to mention those umm 1080p games.

That is just one example of Sony using similar tactics, and I can provide many more if need be. Point being these sort of marketing practices are used by EVERYONE from Airlines to Religious groups. Think about it, if you took every potentially misleading element out of marketing you would have a blank TV screen and a monotone voice, reading word for word exactly what it is you are advertising. I really can't believe I have to explain this, this is pretty sad people don't understand this.

On a seperate note for those criticizing the Arcade/Core sku I want you to think about something- Without the Arcade sku there couldn't be ads for $199 Xbox 360. Criticize all you want. And to a certain extent, I agree, the Arcade sku really is the bad way to go if you are going to purchase a 360. However, as a marketing strategy the Arcade/Core sku is genius for the exact reasons we are seeing now.
- Xbox 360 starting at $199 gets people "in the door".
- Once "inside" questions are asked
- Opt for the Pro/Elite, because it is the better deal
- Buyer goes home happy with a great product, and "proud" because they "negotiated" a bargain by asking questions and going with the best deal in the long run(even less buyer's remorse)
- Stores might not sell the Arcade sku, but it gets people "in the door". Genius, it really is. Think about it, look at the price point where most consoles are sold, $199. Watch what happens in the next few months-All thanks to that crappy Arcade sku...lol

Actually, the economy is bad globally precisely because of american consumerism and the stupid policies that reinforced it. This is easily proven and has long been predicted by real economists (not the ones paid off by "think tanks" and political parties).

The problem is not that Americans spend money, it's that they spend it stupidly and greedily. This is why Americans are losing their homes (they bought stupid home loans), their cars (they bought more than they could afford), and their jobs (based on a 15,000 point dow that was atleast 33% bad loan funded bubble.

hi

it's filled with moronic ps3 fanboys. Why don't you all die off already like the rats you are?

This topic has the question AND answer in one statement!

Microsoft Bends the facts and also pays people to post articles bashing competitors products... NO WAY!

....(sarcasm)....

and this is why I stopped supporting them.

deleted.

Microsoft sucks,360 sucks, Zune Sucks, Windows sucks, Vista sucks, Hotmail sucks, the xbox 1 sucks, Bill gates sucks, xbox live sucks. Internet Explorer 5 sucks, Excel 98 sucks, WordPad sucks, Word sucks, MsPaint sucks, Calculator sucks, Microsoft Works sucks, Outlook sucks, PowerPoint sucks, Windows Movie Maker sucks, Windows Media Player sucks, Halo sucks.

Only now people notice.

in 2 to 3 years your 360 will have the RROD

no need for hard drive to play hd movie, but then that should fit into a tversity add

theres a fable 2 add that mentions play together now with an xbox 360 for 199.99

thats a lie!!! u obviously need to buy the member ship and u need the hard drive

everytime i sell a 360 i tell people to not fall for it and get the pro cuz they're gonna buy the hard drive soon anyway'z

the 199 price tag is to make cheap its go oooooooooh 200$ system, thenwen its open its like wait huh no hard drive??? i cant play gta for soul calibur or play my old xbox games? wtf?

complaining about a commercial. this person says "Yes they did mention in the commercial that a hard drive is required but that doesn't say much to me when you advertise the version without a hard drive." I think it makes it pretty clear unless your a moron. I guess now that the newer 360s dont rrod as much, this desperate ps3 fanboy needs to attack an ad. Microsoft wasn't advertising movie downloads, they were trying to sell xboxes.

Do you people really think its news when a moron gets confused. Im pretty sure that this person knows that you need a hd to download movies already, but just wanted to complain about xbox and microsoft.

People complain about the hd price all the time, but not the price of elite. Compared to the elite the arcade and a 120gb hd cost less than the elite. THe elite is black, but the other way you get 120gb hd and memory card for less.

I think online play should be free and microsoft could offer other things with a gold membership. They would loose people cause some just want online play, but could offer great online gaming for free and get new customers. Chances are those people will buy stuff from the store. I figured it would be free by now considering how much stuff they sell through live compared to when it started. But for LIVE you can geet 13 months for 38$ at alot of places.

That's called "advertising". It's done all the time. Have you ever seen a car commercial that shows all the extra features like OnStar, sun roofs, and dvd players, then at the end they always show the base price large and the price of the car that was actually in the commercial is in fine print.

The Xbox commercial could be seen as deceptive, but so are many, many other commercials that air.

Not sure if anyone is even reading this anymore but I'd like to chime in with something.

I said previously that the ad was indeed misleading and why I thought that.

However just over the weekend there I saw the ad again and this time it did mention not only that a HDD was needed but it also gave the price of the Pro and then at the end of the ad it did it's usual "console from £129.99" statement.

I dunno if they got complaints ir whatever but if the ad has been changed to that one every tiem it goes out then there really is nothing wrong with this ad anymore.