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Microsoft Bundles Games with Xbox 360

To promote its Xbox 360 gaming console over the upcoming end-of-year holiday buying season, Microsoft has announced it will be bundling two games with Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite consoles: Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The bundled consoles are expected to reach retail channels by the end of October; the Xbox 360 price will remain at $349.99, while the Xbox 360 Elite price will stay at $449.99. According to Microsoft, the game bundle equates to a retail value of $90.

The announcement comes shortly after Microsoft lowered prices on its Xbox 360 consoles, and right on the heels of its mammoth launch of Halo 3, widely viewed as the most-anticipated title for the platform. The bundle is almost certainly intended to sweeten the appeal of the Xbox 360, which will soon be entering its third year of availability (making it the oldest of the so-called “next generation” consoles). The Xbox 360 will also face increased competition from Sony as that company tries to increase the appeal of its so-far floundering PlayStation 3, as well as from the runaway success of the lower-powered (and lower-priced) Nintendo Wii.

Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
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