So it looks like the Xbox 360 will be coming in two flavours: a bare bones version for $299/£209 and a deluxe one with all the trimmings (including a wireless controller and 20GB hard drive) for $399/£279. I’d said all along that it would be more than $300…so there.

Since I heard the initial rumblings that it was going to have a dual price point in the US earlier today I was convinced that we’d get completely raped with that old “swap the dollar sign for a pound sign” thing with a £299/£399 price (they did that with the Xbox, after all), but MS have actually brought the 360 out here for less than the Xbox was at launch. We still end up paying about £50 more than the Americans but if you were to import one and pay shipping and import duty you’d probably be paying £50 more, and you’ve got to expect it anyway. Bear in mind that the US price doesn’t include tax either whereas ours does, so in some states the yanks will be adding around $30 to the price.

Kudos to Microsoft for actually giving us something close to a good deal. At least they’re not charging £70 for hardware that’s pushing five years old.