Elite : £279.99

Premium : £229.99

Core : £169.99

But then if you price the console too cheap it can also look very bad, I think Microsoft's pricing is perfect the way it is however the CORE should come down in price that will definently attract the casual gamers out there so they can just grab a memory card and away they go.

If they can have a drop of almost 100 on the Elite by the year's end, I will GLADLY purchase a 360 =D!

is M$ did pretty good holding off from a price drop for almost 2 years unlike the PofS3 that had to have a fire sale just 8 months out of the gate. It goes to show who's got game this gen. I really didn't see a price drop coming until Nov. but if they do $50 now and $50 then, that's a good move on there part.

FYI: For those going to pick up a 360 once there is a price drop, I suggest Costco or Costco.com since they offer a lifetime warranty on most stuff and the 360 is covered at no extra cost.

they should have cut it 50 last year until it drops buy a hundred are they include halo with that deal count me out

I think $50 is a good start but I feel that the market needs probably a $100 price cut for the 360 to be the king of the holiday season, it arguably has the best lineup of any system these holidays and combined with a good advertising offensive and a more substantial price cut, this might turn out to be a very good season for Microsoft but they should be cutting by $100 for maximum effect and plus the fact that it still has the launch price after an amazingly long time (at least in the console world). I understand MS is trying very hard to get profitable by next financial year and that may be the reason behind only doing $50 but I dont think they are going to make a sustainable profit anyway until they cut the price to under $200 without making a loss on the console which is when mass market adoption would probably occur (as we are seeing with the wii).

Still not buying until they make live for free. I don't want to be milked $50 every year essentially making the 360 cost $550 after 4 years of live.

I agree a $100 pricecut would be nice, but they really don't have a reason to cut it that much. The hardware is still selling very well compared to PS3, even after their, uh ... "pricecut" - with the 65nm chipset (probable implementation in September) & the serious cost reduction that it brings, a $50 now & another $50 after the 65nm chips are in production makes good business sense.

M$ doesn't need a pricecut to compete with PS3 this holiday season at all. I think they've got their eyes set on Nintendo's aforementioned sweet spot in the hopes of somewhat closing ground on their installment base.

XBL will likely never be free, there is no online service that remotely competes with it for a whopping $2.50 a month. Frankly, I've said this a thousand times B4, the Xbox360 is positioned to really hurt it's competition this Fall & Christmas simply because of the software lineup hitting in the next 4 1/2 months. Combine that wih a probable pricecut & the 65nm chips, & it will be a very interesting holiday indeed.

EDIT: Another similar subject, I am sick of all the "Microsoft is Bleeding Cash" comments & articles on this website. The gaming division is well above projected budget even with the warranty extension. Read their P&L reports. Sony's Gaming Division, on the other hand, has been in serious financial difficulty since B4 2006 - And hardware & software sales are still abysmal for PS3. An unbiased mod like DarthBillboy should seek out some PS3 P&L numbers - Sony's Gaming Division is most definately "bleeding cash".

I think most of us knew some sort of price cut would come sooner or later. This doesnt surprise me.

I see this price drop being very similar to Sony's fire sale.
MS is just trying to get rid of the problem ridden hardware.

I love the 360 and have had and returned 2 myself to BestBuy. Thank god for extended warranties. NEITHER of the units I returned had the red ring of death. They just froze. Even sitting by themselves with nothing around them on my living room floor.

I for one am waiting... 3 year warranty or not!

Hurry up MS!