Wed, Apr 14, 2010 | 12:30 BST

$300 360 Slim with Natal and 250Gb HDD on the way, says Pachter

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Michael Pachter’s predicted we will see a $300 bundle from Microsoft that will have a Xbox 360 Slim, with a 250Gb HDD and Natal packed in with it.

Speaking in a note ahead of this week’s NPD release, the Wedbush analyst that the move will only happen if Sony doesn’t give PlayStation 3 another price cut by the time its own motion controller PlayStation Move launches.

“We expect another price cut for both systems some time this year (most likely around September), but note that because its
manufacturing costs are lower, Microsoft has the ability to lower price earlier,” he said.

“At a minimum, we anticipate the introduction of a more feature-packed Xbox 360 as the standard SKU in late 2010 (likely with a 250Gb hard drive) at the same $299 price point, and think that Microsoft will cut price before the fall only if it begins to lose significant market share to Sony.

“It is far more likely that we will see a slim version of the Xbox 360 with a 250 Gb hard drive and with Project Natal bundled into the box while maintaining the $299 price point, especially if Sony does not lower the price of the PS3 by the time Natal and Sony’s Move controllers launch in the fall.”

Rumours of a hardware SKU with Natal built-in have been mentioned before. Recently, rumours of a 360 Slim have been circulating recently, although they’ve both turned to shit.

The NPD results for the month of March releases on Thursday night.

17 comments

Happy Hardon Harry
14/04/10, 12:32 pm

I wouldn’t believe a word that came out of that gobshites trap.

Anders
14/04/10, 12:36 pm

He made the same prediction a couple of months ago, but then the price was $249.

Bulk Slash
14/04/10, 12:37 pm

That first 360 slim leak was very likely genuine. The GAF posters were pointing out that Kotaku’s information was complete rubbish, not that the motherboard was fake.

cookiejar
14/04/10, 12:37 pm

I would tend to agree with not listening to that bloke, but I think a slim is inevitable at this point. Although, Im not sure sure it’ll have an HDD. Microsoft updating the 360 software to use USB devices, I think points to a smaller Wii like SKU with you having to supply the extra storage yourself.

It might have a small amount of built in memory like the Arcade does, but its clear they want to go after the Wii market whilst staying hardcore enough to keep up with PS3.

Just my thoughts, anyway.

AHA-Lambda
14/04/10, 12:45 pm

360 slim I think is real
250Gb HDD we know are real
natal bundles almost certainly real

but all of that for $300? IDK =/

scuz
14/04/10, 12:50 pm

well natal’s going to be priced at the £85-95 range i reckon, so it’s possible. i really can’t see microsoft doing a slim version though.

Quiiick
14/04/10, 12:51 pm

@ cookiejar
Interesting idea.
But AFAIK Microsoft and Sony do not let you store purchased game/movie data on external USB-drives/sticks. Only game-saves and non DRM’ed video/music.

Blerk
14/04/10, 1:07 pm

Anything can go onto the USB devices now – games, DLC, XBLA games, whatever.

Edit: On the 360, that is. I have no idea about the PS3.

sennasnit
14/04/10, 1:22 pm

Not on PS3, unless you’re doing a HDD swap, but it can’t read games ‘n stuff from an external.
That’s mainly because of the standard laptop drive thing, you really don’t need to use external, you just swap the HDD.

#10

cookiejar
14/04/10, 1:27 pm

Hadn’t thought about the DRM issue.

Interesting.

#11

sennasnit
14/04/10, 1:29 pm

Wouldn’t USB be ssssslllllloooooowwwwww compared to SATA?

#12

Blerk
14/04/10, 1:36 pm

Not necessarily.

#13

xino
14/04/10, 1:38 pm