Microsoft Lowering Prices on Older Xboxes

Microsoft apparently held a media roundtable Monday night after its Xbox press event, confirming that it will eventually phase out its existing models in favor of the new “slim” model.

My colleague Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat reported:
“The new Xbox 360 with a 250-gigabyte hard drive and the smaller black design will sell for $299,” Takahashi wrote. “The older Xbox 360 Elite console with a 120-gigabyte hard drive will sell for $249. And the Xbox 360 Arcade console, which does not have a hard drive, will sell for $149. The Elite and Arcade consoles will be sold until existing supplies run out.”

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Microsoft has not said if it will release versions of the Elite or Arcade models with the new design. The latest Xbox costs $299, and will be available this week.

To date, Microsoft still has not released a price for the Xbox Kinect peripheral; Aaron Greenberg, an Xbox product manager, denied reports that the Kinect’s price had been set. Gamestop reportedly posted a Web page claiming that it would be priced at $149.

“No Kinect price announced yet, retail price estimates are purely speculative, final price & pack-in details are not yet determined,” Greenberg tweeted.

Microsoft’s own official Twitter account, however, has revealed that Kinect will go on sale on Nov. 4, backed by 16 launch titles. Microsoft will begin selling the new slim Xbox in Europe on July 16.