QUOTE(etrain1984 @ May 6 2008, 01:00 PM)
Well, we already knew it but now it is confirmed. Microsoft is officially raping xbox 360 customers who purchase the hard drive as an add-on.
They sure are, and the price disparity is only going to get worse.
Microsoft is going to have to seriously reconsider their current strategy when it comes to storage - and I honestly don't see any easy way around it for them unless they come up with a way for people to add their own hard drive to the Xbox 360.
As an example: When Microsoft made the argument that the 120GB MSRP was a fair price, their argument was valid:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=c...19&Itemid=2The problem is that hard drive prices fall very quickly. Whereas a 2.5" 120GB external drive sold for around $180 when they launched the drive, it currently retails for less than half that price:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8251553Next year, the price disparity will be even greater. What is becoming more and more obvious is that the Xbox 360 in it's current form is woefully inadequate when it comes to storage space. Microsoft will most likely never add a blu-ray drive to the platform, and the alternative for downloading HD content with the extremely frustrating HD storage limitations will only get worse a year from now when downloading content is even more pervasive and the cost to add 500GB or more to the PS3 will be even less than the cost of the 120GB drive for the Xbox 360.
There is honestly no point for Microsoft to ever add a blu-ray player to the Xbox 360. It made more sense when prices for standalone players were higher, but as prices on standalone players inevitably drop, it will become less and less of an issue. Because of the fact that Microsoft can't realistically use the space for game content, the added value of a movie player add-on is not high enough for Microsoft to bother.
As for storage space, the only realistic option that Microsoft has is that they will eventually be FORCED to allow people to use external USB hard drives for additional storage. While not as pretty as the snap on drive, it's a quick and easy way to level the playing field against the PS3, and it is the only realistic option for the Xbox 360 to effectively compete, and it will once and for all end the perpetual problem that they have when being compared to the cost of adding storage to the PS3.
Hardware Analyst Breaks Down Cost Of Xbox 360’s 120GB Hard Drive
May 6 2008, 04:33 PM
so the article says that these 120gb HDDs cost MS 80$ then MS sells them for 100$ to the retailers and they(the retailers) sell them for 180$ to the end-user, right? isn't this the official price from MS, they sell them on their official Xbox website for the same price as the other retailers, which means that MS is ripping everyone off. am I wrong? 
