June 25th 2012 9:17 am PT

$99 4GB Xbox 360 and Kinect offer comes to Best Buy & GameStop today

 

I wanted to let you know that the $99 console program we launched with the Microsoft Store last month is coming to participating Best Buy and GameStop stores starting today. Here is my original post on the program, which gives additional details on the offer.

Xbox 360, Xbox Live By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2012/06/25/99-4gb-xbox-360-and-kinect-comes-to-best-buy-gamestop-today/

  • B.C. Young

    A sign of things to come.

    • http://profiles.google.com/thief000 J.A.J.G. Thiéfaine

      I wouldn’t mind if this would come with the next Xbox at launch. That way MS could release a substantially more powerful machine for a smaller launch price with an added subscrtiption. The subscription price must not go higher than €15 a month though.
      But looking at the total sum of this “deal” I’m still very sceptical if that would bring any advantages at all as there are a lot of things that need to change for Xbox Live Gold if they want it to be considered by a large amount of consumers.

    • MohameD Fadel

      Like Some Xbox 720 ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002051391236 John Son

    Interesting if this works, more interesting if this might work out like a phone plan when the new xbox comes out if people can upgrade their system. Just gotta wonder for how many more months you’d be locked into doing that before being able to exit your contract.

  • Russell Gorall

    Dawnguard tomorrow. Wasn’t expecting it already.

  • http://twitter.com/karlcramer Karl Cramer

    Some people complain that this is more expensive than buying the console outright. True, but if you do the math it isn’t that much more. Better than buying it with a credit card and paying it off in installments.

    • http://twitter.com/txshurricane Jim

      Credit card + video game system = screwed up priorities

      • ElektroDragon

        You mean credit card DEBT + video game system. I buy everything on credit cards, but I always pay them off in full each month and profit from all the cash back. That’s the way you have to do it. Get them to pay YOU for using credit cards.

        • McWetty

          Truth! Love it.

  • ElektroDragon

    Rentacenter business models are so 1990.

  • McWetty

    Interesting concept, but if you can’t spot $250 upfront, maybe gaming isn’t your hobby. The games aren’t going to be cheaper, unless MS matches PSN+’s free game policy. Then it would get really interesting.

    • http://www.facebook.com/omarwhy Omar Yassin

      It’s not a bad thing to offer this option to people, especially families. Not everyone is a hardcore gamer, and besides, there are lots of cheap games not all of them are brand new releases.

      • TonyLN

        Exactly — For casual gamers there are some pretty good titles in the Arcade.

        • McWetty

          Casual gamers yes, but gamers none the less. This “deal” is being marketed directly towards people who can’t afford the upfront cost of gaming and it sounds shady.

          • TonyLN

            How many people do you think buy an Xbox with their credit card anyway? Do you have a cell phone? Did you get $200 off or something like that for signing a 2 year agreement? Same basic idea.

      • McWetty

        That’s true, but I look at this as a way to ripoff families and I don’t particularly like it. Especially since so many families buy stuff they shouldn’t (priorities).

    • ElektroDragon

      Heh, this isn’t for gamers, this is for all the people who want a digital set top box for media, and might only buy 1 game ever.

      • McWetty

        Good point. I didn’t think of the set top box applications because I never use them.

      • this_is_my_humble_opinion

        Why would anyone want an Xbox 360 as a set top box? You have to pay yearly for gold just to be able to access external services that you have to pay for individually. Other set top boxes offer the same functionality for free (and so will cost you much less overall).

    • http://twitter.com/cerca87 easy, Bakes

      just because not everybody wants to throw away $150 for no reason doesnt mean they couldnt.

      People who say stupid stuff like this get on my nerves

      • McWetty

        And I adjusted my opinion in a response.

        People who don’t read entire comment threads before adding their useless comments get on my nerves.

      • Xebu

        Throw away $150?? :-s You get lumbered with 24 months of Gold @ $14.99 which adds another $360 to the bill so you’re not throwing anything away for long.

        Comparing oranges to oranges: $290 upfront + $100 XBL (Amazon prices) = $390 or $99 + $360 = $459. You’re only burning $69 to spread it over 2 years, not actually that bad.

        I just don’t see the point in the 4Gb box. I could sneeze and fill that. And just using it as a set top box is such a waste :-(

  • http://www.thetjhzone.blogspot.com/ Tylerh1701

    I’ll take 5,000!

  • TonyLN

    Retail for this is $300 and retail Gold (I think) is $100 for 2 years — so $400 vs $460… So at retail prices it’s an extra $60 or $2.50 a month; same thing as about 7.5% interest. Doesn’t sound like a bad deal if you were going to put it on a card anyway.

    Of course you can get 24 months gold for $60 if you watch for the deals, put it on a card that offers rewards of some sort and buy a better bundle for the same or less… But the people who are going to be doing this are not going to be looking at those types of things.

    I think what this does more M$ that is brilliant is it gets people who may not have paid for or wanted the gold service to use it and see what it offers. They get use to having it — then hopefully keep it after it expires.

    Overall I think it is a good marketing strategy for M$ and for everyone who like the Xbox — the more people who have it the more exclusive content we get.

  • Iamdanight90

    This is a great idea this way the will keep live up after the next console comes out

  • http://twitter.com/theindrct Ken Cook

    Can an external HDD be attached to this? Like my 3 year old HDD?

    • http://www.facebook.com/RichHutnik Rich Hutnik

      I believe the 4GB flash storage memory system that is part of this deal, can add an HDD to it.

    • http://twitter.com/toohats toohats

      Any Xbox 360 S hard drive would work – but since that came out
      only 2 years ago, you probably have the original one. You could A – buy a new
      hard drive and special Orignal to S transfer cable, or B – might bet better off
      with a refurbished original one.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dane-Miller/500337604 Dane Miller

        You totally can use your old HDD (from the original x-box) you just need a 360 S HDD enclosure. They are like $10 on ebay.

        • http://twitter.com/toohats toohats

          Do you know if that would get you in trouble as a ‘modified’ Xbox 360?

    • http://twitter.com/cerca87 easy, Bakes

      i assume by “3 year old HDD” you mean one from an original 360, and the answer to that would be no. New 360 hard drives have different form factor

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonah-Falcon/525044162 Jonah Falcon

    People already do this with other electronics (ie. iPhones). It’s inevitable.

    • McWetty

      I was hoping someone would make the smartphone analogy…

      The difference here is that the Xbox will still game without XBL. Your phone won’t call or text or email without service. HUGE difference.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dane-Miller/500337604 Dane Miller

        You totally can call, text, e-mail with a smartphone. You just have to be within a wi-fi hotspot. It’s the same thing as having to pay for gold to use any of the apps, IE. Netflix, hulu, etc. Also more and more games are becoming more online centered. It’s a very comparable analogy.

  • http://dylancooks.com Dylan

    Is this a joke? This is a TERRIBLE deal.

  • fried_egg

    When is Major Nelson going to get replaced by the TVGUIDE? After all tv boxes do not need game people tweeting.

  • stuntz0rZ

    We all already own multiple 360 revisions. slim and phat. who needs more!?

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