Microsoft has officially announced the price and package contents of the two XBox 360 bundles that will be available at the release on November, 25th. The basic XBox 360 Core System is priced at US $299.99. The XBox 360 Premium Edition will come with many extras, including a hard drive, and comes with a price tag of US $399.99.

Although Microsoft refers to the more feature-packed $399.99-version as just the “Xbox 360″, many sites call it the “Xbox 360 Premium Edition” in order to differentiate it from the Xbox 360 Core System.

“With both the Xbox 360 [Premium Edition] and the Xbox 360 Core System, we’re offering consumers real choice and real value,” said Peter Moore, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing for the Home Entertainment Division at Microsoft.

X Box 360 package contents

Comparing the XBox 360 Core and Premium Packs

The console you choose may depend mostly on whether you want a hard drive. Microsoft hope consumers will choose the XBox 360 Premium Pack over the XBox 360 Core System for the hard drive: “I think that a large majority of people all over the world will be buying the Xbox 360 systems ($399) [...] [the] hard-drive alone costs $100. So we really think the consumer will recognize the value and step up,” commented Peter Moore “but there are some people who just don’t want to do that. They may upgrade later on, and that is what the core system is all about.”

The Media Remote, hard drive, headset, HD-AV component cable and XBox 360 wireless controller will all be sold separately as Xbox 360 accessories. Purchased separately, the total value of these accessories exceeds US $200. The XBox 360 Premium Pack comes with all these accessories yet costs only $100 more than the Core system, making it a tempting offer that may well make the Premium Edition the preferred choice for consumers.

XBox 360 Price Announced: 2 Packages, $299.99 and $399.99