Online visitors are finding out that Xbox 360 preorders don’t come cheap. In fact, they’re outrageously expensive.
EBGames.com and GameStop.com both unveiled Xbox 360 preorder bundles.
On EBGames.com, the cheapest bundle (dubbed “Xbox 360 Core Bundle”) ships with the $299 Xbox 360 Core system (sans hard drive) and includes four games: Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo, Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3. It also comes with an extra wired controller and a memory unit. This bundle sells at the pre-tax price of $599.93, and offers no savings over buying each of the products individually. EBGames.com also sells the “Xbox 360 Ultimate Bundle,” which includes the same games but includes Microsoft’s upgraded $399 Xbox 360 retail package, at a pre-tax price of $699.92.
GameStop.com offers similar package deals, but their version of the “Xbox 360 Ultimate Bundle” runs for a staggering $1199.83 before tax. Granted, it includes eleven games (such as GUN, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, and the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), but it does not offer any savings over buying each component separately.
Strangely enough, neither GameStop.com nor EBGames.com currently offers customers the opportunity to buy the standard retail Xbox 360 packages, which include no games and run at $299 and $399. These standard packages are only available at brick-and-mortar GameStop and EBGames stores. Vice-versa, these overpriced packages are only available on the retailer websites, not through the physical store locations.
Our advice: skip the online bundles and head straight to the store. You might have to wait a few extra weeks to get the specific Xbox 360 titles you want, but that’s a small price to pay to keep your options open.