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MS axes core system already! WOW!

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FudgeNuggets

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2006
Location
Gone Racing
I thought this was an April Fools joke, but it wasn't released on April fools. I guess the only fools are those who bought the core system. UNBELIEVABLE!

REDMOND, Wash. — March 31, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that they are cutting the Xbox 360 Core System from it's product lineup, and discontinuing support for it effective immediately. This comes after Sony's announcement to make a hard drive a standard feature for it's upcoming PlayStation 3 console. Microsoft is also pressuring 3rd party developers to make their games require the hard drive add-on, in order to get existing Core System customers to buy the hard drive add-on.

Understandably, Microsoft's latest move has caused some criticism from the gaming world.

After the announcement, we managed to get ahold of the Connecticut GameStop regional manager, Tyler Banks. "This is ridiculous, really," he said. "Microsoft made two packages for a reason: The premium package for the hardcore gamer who needs everything, and the Core System for the more casual gamer who doesn't need boatloads of downloadable content. Now that Sony has revealed more of their plans with the PlayStation 3, Microsoft is attempting to one-up Sony, all at the expense of the consumers who went out and spent 300 bucks on the Core System. That's 100 bucks extra for this now 'required' hard drive, which is only a third of the size of PS3's (360: 20gb, PS3: 60gb - Capn) and they've essentially paid the SAME PRICE for the premium package, only without all the other accessories."

Certainly, one would see this decision as a bit, well, wrong, but Microsoft's own Peter Moore had this to say:

"While some people may criticize us for this, 1 year from now everybody will be thanking us for improving their gaming experience. The Xbox 360 hard drive will empower gamers to reach a higher plataeu, both in the gaming world, as well as in the real world. The future is nigh, and we are the ones to deliver it. While adoption may be slow, this minor crisis will not be the end of us. It is but one last hurdle before the Journey and salvation!"

Calls to his office about what he was possibly high on were not returned as of press time.

Certainly, Microsoft would never be in this hole if they had just settled on one SKU with the built in hard drive, rather than splitting it's customer base into two groups, which is a business strategy that Sony hopes to trounce with it's upcoming PlayStation 3, which is rumored to be due this November with a built-in 60 gigabyte hard drive.

Digg this
 
thats MS for you, those ******** shouldnt even have their paws in the console market as far as I'm concerned and I havnt changed my mind since the first haXbox
 
If this is true its pretty silly that they'd decide to axe it 4 months after its released. Do you have a link to the article?
 
"Update 4/3/06: If you havn't guessed it by now, then I suppose now is a safe time to admit this was an April Fools joke! No ill-will towards Microsoft at all, though it was fun to see the fanboys ranting about this story on the various sites this story showed up on. Much thanks to everybody who got the story on digg; it was a raving success!"

:)
 
hah! got me! I got to the article before they said it was a joke. Seriously shouldn't they have waited until 4/1 to publish that? It did seem reasonable for MS to do that though.
 
Rattle said:
thats MS for you, those ******** shouldnt even have their paws in the console market as far as I'm concerned and I havnt changed my mind since the first haXbox

Their going to handhelds now too man
 
FudgeNuggets said:
It is but one last hurdle before the Journey and salvation!"

Why does he sound like one of the higher Arch's in Halo 2 all he missed was Great (Journey) & Glorious (Salvation) and it'll be perfect. I was just about to purchase a standard package with a memory card. I wouldn't be downloading content for now I could always get the HDD when it's cheaper obviously not.
 
Wow. I'm surprised by the fanboyism in here. I personally think they made a good decision. Now they can drop the price on the Premium without figuring out how low to put the Core. And remember those awesomely short load times on the Xbox? Hard drive. Music? Hard drive. Live? Hard drive. Downloadable Content/Themes/GP's? hard drive.

The 360 needs the hard drive if it is going to be even remotely used for gaming.


And also, 60GB HDD? What's that gonna raise the price by, $100?
 
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