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Gadgets Cheap XBOX 360 Bundles Coming Soon
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - August 5, 2006 5:03 AM

39 comment(s) - last by xbdestroya.. on Aug 7 at 6:15 PM

XBOX 360 Premium console with Project Gotham 3, three months Xbox Live Gold and 1250 market place points

Future Shop, a Canadian retailer has listed an XBOX 360 bundle with an Xbox 360 Premium console, Project Gotham 3, three months of XBOX Live Gold membership and 1250 market place points. The bundle is listed at $499.99 CND which is the same price as a standard XBOX 360 Premium bundle. Future Shop's website states the bundle will be available beginning August 9th, 2006, the last day of Microsoft’s XBOX Live Arcade Wednesdays. As Future Shop is a Canadian only retailer its unsure if US retailers will receive a similar bundle to entice new XBOX 360 customers.

Microsoft has claimed there are surprises in store for Q4'06, but hopefully a new bundle is not the extent of them. With the XBOX 360 bundle Microsoft continues to stick with it’s no price drop strategy for the XBOX 360, though customers are getting more for their money. Later in the year, Microsoft is also expected to announce an HD-DVD drive, which also might fit into the company's Q4'06 "surprises."

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what?

By feelingshorter on 8/5/2006 8:26:29 AM , Rating: 3

I dont have a 360, what are market place points? Does it like let you buy mini arcade games or something?

RE: what?

By Nightmare225 on 8/5/2006 8:38:21 AM , Rating: 2

Yes, and it lets you download mods, content updates, etc.

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RE: what?

By underline21 on 8/5/2006 8:47:53 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Yes, and it lets you download mods, content updates, etc.

Mods? No, Not yet (if ever) anyway...

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RE: what?

By BladeVenom on 8/5/2006 9:28:09 AM , Rating: 2

There was the horse armor mod you could buy for oblivion.

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RE: what?

By Vertigo101 on 8/5/2006 9:38:27 AM , Rating: 2

That's more of what Oblivion players would consider a plug-in.
The Horse Armor was the biggest scam of all time, BTW. There's been much better DLC for Oblvion since then, but not much of it was worth paying for.

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RE: what?

By Anh Huynh on 8/5/2006 10:57:56 AM , Rating: 1

There are game packs you can download for PGR3 that adds cars, different race modes, etc...

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RE: what?

By CKDragon on 8/5/2006 10:27:42 AM , Rating: 2

Yes, and what is the actual value of 1250 of these marketplace points?

100 points = 1 dollar, maybe?

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RE: what?

By chrisg22 on 8/5/2006 12:48:28 PM , Rating: 2

i think 1 point is in the area of around .012 cents.

So around $15.

I bought 2000 points for like $25 through the marketplace.

I can't remember the prices for sure and I don't feel like turning on my 360 to look.

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why canadian retailers?

By poohbear on 8/5/06, Rating: 0

RE: why canadian retailers?

By ksherman on 8/5/2006 10:00:35 AM , Rating: 2

There are come Canadians on these forums... perhaps that was just sarcasm. if not......

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By GreenEnvt on 8/5/2006 10:00:50 AM , Rating: 2

Oh yea, good old Cdn tire :)
Just don't buy any electronics there, tv's, stereo's, etc.. horribly overpriced.

Oh, and don't let their "mechanics" anywhere near your car.

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By jimmy43 on 8/5/2006 1:15:29 PM , Rating: 2

Yup there are lots of Canadians on the forums. Most of the news announced here in Canada is most likely going to follow in the states anyhow. The same is not always true in reverse though ;(

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By jimmy43 on 8/5/2006 1:19:26 PM , Rating: 2

Oops forgot to add, that is not much of a deal though. A game someone may or may not want and a free trial essentially. If they want to compete with the PS3 and Wii, taking even $50 off the retail price would help them sell alot more units. I liked the Nintendo bundles back then where you could pick one of several games to bundle, or even bundle an extra controller.

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By Josh7289 on 8/5/2006 1:26:00 PM , Rating: 3

As long as people don't care about exclusives, then I could see many people buying the 360 just because it's already $200 cheaper than the PS3. I kind of like that MS is not dropping the price, because it creates a cool pricing structure:

$200 - Wii (assumed and speculated)
$300 - Retard 360
$400 - Non-retard 360
$500 - Retard PS3
$600 - Non-retard PS3

Sorry if I offended anyone by using "retard", but really, if you're spending that much money on a console, why not go for the best version of your console of choice?

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By jimmy43 on 8/5/2006 1:44:23 PM , Rating: 3

It is retarded I agree. With the 360 you will eventually get those items ANYWAYS so you're just wasting money in the end. With the PS3 your literally buying a handicapped version which is non-upgradable.

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RE: why canadian retailers?

By xbdestroya on 8/7/2006 6:15:39 PM , Rating: 1

The $500 PS3 gives you everything the premium 360 gives you and more, so 'retarded' is a relative term. Afterall, if you're willing to settle for 'just' a couple of options more than the 360 can give you, isn't the less expensive PS3 a-ok? ;)

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Ahhh...

By Josh7289 on 8/5/2006 11:46:51 AM , Rating: 2

So Microsoft's PS3-killing deal has finally been announced. I wouldn't expect any more surprises besides this. In any case, I'm surprised how accurate predictions have been, as people have guessed this exact bundle, or something very similar, would be released. Out of curiosity, how many dollars is 1250 points worth, and what can one buy with that much? Also, didn't the Premium bundle already include three months of Xbox Live Gold?

Regardless, I am no more interested in buying a 360 than before, as I'll have my Wii and PC to play games on.

RE: Ahhh...

By otispunkmeyer on 8/5/2006 12:48:01 PM , Rating: 2

no it was only 30days of gold subscription

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RE: Ahhh...

By Josh7289 on 8/5/2006 1:22:46 PM , Rating: 2

So $400 Premium 360 + $65 worth of free stuff, assuming you would have bought all three normally ($30 for PGR3, $20 for Gold three month card, and $15 for 1250 points).

Still, what can I play on the system that I can't already play on my PC? Oh yeah, some racing games and fighting games. Big deal, as I don't really like either of those genres.

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RE: Ahhh...

By LtFarva on 8/7/2006 7:59:10 AM , Rating: 2

Exactly.
There are some great looking 360 only games coming out in the future, so maybe I'll think about picking one up then. By that time there should be a price drop.

Still, can someone explain why a 360 wi-fi adapter is 99.99?

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RE: Ahhh...

By chrisg22 on 8/5/2006 12:49:21 PM , Rating: 2

1250 points is around $15 like I said above.

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Yeah, CDN dollar

By Larrymon2000 on 8/5/2006 8:53:49 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah, people seem to forget that the canadian dollar may approach the US one in the near future.

RE: Yeah, CDN dollar

By nerdye on 8/6/2006 12:26:29 AM , Rating: 2

That is true that american people currently don't think too much about the worth of the american dollar becuause they are accustomed to having it be very strong. As the canadian dollar approaches the worth of the american dollar we sit and watch the pound and the euro surpass the american dollar in value. It seems even the stubborn and powerful econony of the usa can't not be greatly affected by spending 1,000,000,000's on unecessary war. An average american citizen (like myself) that is not educated in economics can see easily understandable results in the value of our currency. I wish not to start a political war but rather to observe the current state of our economy.

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RE: Yeah, CDN dollar

By Josh7289 on 8/6/2006 11:22:49 AM , Rating: 2

I know, just compare the dollar to the yen. Only a year ago, a standard 6800 yen game (standard like our $50 games) was about $65 using those exchange rates. Nowadays, the yen is weakening, but 6800 yen is still about $60, again compared to our $50 standard price on games.

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what??!?!

By grimdeath on 8/6/2006 6:51:47 AM , Rating: 1

$500 for a disposable gaming machine is cheap?!?!?

RE: what??!?!

By Josh7289 on 8/6/2006 11:20:31 AM , Rating: 2

I'm not sure what "disposable gaming machine" means, but I presume you missed the little "CND"?

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RE: what??!?!

By theprodigalrebel on 8/6/2006 12:45:39 PM , Rating: 3

Everything in life is disposable.
Cheap/Expensive is all about what priority you attach to a certain commodity.

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points?

By inflames22 on 8/6/2006 7:51:59 PM , Rating: 2

does it cost points to update games like getting the current rosters for nhl 07 and other sports games? if so, tht just doesnt seem right, if you buy a game you should be entitled to all patches essential to gameplay such as current rosters.

RE: points?

By Shoal07 on 8/7/2006 10:33:20 AM , Rating: 2

That's why PC users use PCs, among other things, but the lack of a monthly subscription and extra fees for patchs and DLC makes me wonder why people like consoles so much. Even the "exclusive" games eventually make it to the PC within a year 95% of the time. Once they've made the console $$ it's time to port it over.

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RE: points?

By epsilonparadox on 8/7/2006 12:06:02 PM , Rating: 2

It doesn't cost anything to update rosters in any sports games. What costs points are the arcade games, some of the themes for the interface, picture packs, and other addons like map packs and new levels.

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...

By Sparky Anderson on 8/5/2006 11:12:04 AM , Rating: 3

FutureShop is owned by Best Buy. Maybe US Best buy stores will have it?

RE: ...

By Le Québécois on 8/5/2006 3:25:16 PM , Rating: 2

Exactly what I would have said if you didn't.

Where I live (Montreal) There's always a BestBuy less than a km away from almost each FutureShop and they almost have exactly the same deal on everything they sell.

Was told by BestBuy that that way they get a bigger market share. Where you had 5 stores before and 1 FS among them (1/5 ratio) now you have 6 stores with 1 FS and 1 BB (ratio now gets down to 2/6-->(1/3)) since most of the peoples out there don't know that Futureshop and BestBuy IS the same thing. And it seems to pay for them since at first it was only 1 FS/BB combo and now they are doing it everywhere you have a FutureShop.

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Futureshop is BestBuy

By Jep4444 on 8/5/2006 1:08:06 PM , Rating: 2

The store known as Futureshop in Canada is owned by BestBuy and is virtually identical in the way they operate so I would not be surprised to see similar bundles at BestBuy(both in Canada and the US)

RE: Futureshop is BestBuy

By Josh7289 on 8/5/2006 1:18:45 PM , Rating: 2

I wouldn't be surprised to see these bundles at all stores, replacing the standard Premium bundle. Futureshop probably just jumped the gun a little here before MS' official announcement.

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US Dollar is sliding?

By Dfere on 8/7/2006 11:29:29 AM , Rating: 2

(To the poster above who stated the us dollar is sliding and everyone elses currency is getting stronger?) Really? I think that is news. The relationship is cyclic, for sure.

The Euro started at $2US to $1E or so (If I remember correctly). Therefore, if the Euro is not 2x the US right now (or more, and I think it is not), The Euro has slid since inception.

You cannot simply say just because the multiplier is 1X or more or greater, one currency is "Strong" and the other is "Weak". The changes are referenced as "stronger" or weaker with respect to another currency, but are always referenced as to a time frame in which the change occurs. You drop this and simply state the US dollar is sliding. I think your analysis is a biased anti- american rant.

it would be interesting to see rate changes since right before the Euro was introduced, and China unpegged its currency. Anyone got facts?

RE: US Dollar is sliding?

By phantomzer0 on 8/7/2006 2:41:23 PM , Rating: 2

Just an FYI - I was at my local Circuit City and they are offering this exact same deal. It's not advertised anywhere in the store, except for behind the customer service desk. It wasn't even really anything special. Looked like someone whipped it up in MS Word and stuck in in a sign holder.

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Sounds Good

By CrystalBay on 8/5/2006 5:43:46 AM , Rating: 2

Thanks Anh!

360 Bundle in Canada

By Biggie on 8/5/2006 4:06:33 PM , Rating: 2

This could just be a Canadian only bundle as we've been playing too much for our 360's due to the strong dollar. $500 CDN is $445 USD. Microsoft could be doing this as a way to make the system more attractive compared to the PS3 which is priced at the current exchange rate.

not only canada..

By irsyz on 8/5/2006 10:24:46 PM , Rating: 2

http://www.xbox.com/es-MX/promociones/bundlepgr320...

apparently mexico too is getting a new bundle consisting of a premium 360 + pgr3. no live gold or free microsoft points are mentioned so i assume they're not included in the bundle..