Microsoft Lowers Price On Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 will now be lighter on your wallet. Starting this Friday, Microsoft will slash almost 30% off their Xbox 360. This means that the Xbox 360 Arcade goes from $279 to $199. The basic Xbox 360, which features a 60GB hard drive, goes from $349 to $299. The Rolls Royce of Xbox 360's, the Xbox 360 Elite, which features a 120GB hard drive goes from $449 to $399-down.

The measure has been taken to help Xbox 360 sales, which as of late have been facing stiff competition from Sony's Playstation 3 (40 GB goes for $399) and Nintendo's Wii system (goes for $250). Despite competitors closing in, Microsoft saw sales of the Xbox 360 increase 85%, in it's most recent quarter. This puts yearly sales to 1.3 million units.

This probably has to do with the mega releases of Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto 3, both smashing numerous game industry sales records. Microsoft has high hopes for Rock Band 2, the virtual instrument utilized videogame, which is slated for release this month, as it continues to try to stay on top of the videogame console mountain.

Reports also say that Microsoft is developing a motion styled controller to compete with the Wii, and Playstation 3's "Sixaxis" controllers. Microsoft has refused to confirm those reports. Microsoft also spent $1.6 billion to fix the dreaded "red eye of death" that would cause certain Xbox 360 units to lock up, a problem they say they finally solved.