Someone is making new Shells

[PRince404]

Saw this on reddit :

https://preview.redd.it/3qafajwfeo8c1.jpg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f140988a9e4d3dddf512bbb20af620959f38d46e

Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/100064048958829/posts/pfbid02hFrw7uakTP7huCYtJgQ8GxgKyQqKDVyikFsvyRggeL3uNxbvXx2MtBXBGj7LHy68l/?d=n&mibextid=qC1gEa

 

I believe they want potential buyers to fill this survey :

https://www.surveycake.com/s/KZeXW

[PRince404]

Reddit post:

Christmas Miracle.

https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comments/18rdi88/christmas_miracle /

Edited December 27, 2023 by PRince404

[nikeymikey]

Lets hope these are not £100+ like a lot of other replacement shells out there. If they are then I'll pass thanks. 

[GoTeamScotch]

Love to see it. I voted for the orange shell.

Would love to see X3CP reproductions too. Maybe an updated Xenium version.

7 hours ago, nikeymikey said:

Lets hope these are not £100+ like a lot of other replacement shells out there. If they are then I'll pass thanks. 

I mean, injection molding is expensive and it's a small market! Probably won't be super cheap. Plus, I'd be willing to pay a decent amount if they're good quality. Not like Ghost Cases, those things were garbage.

[nikeymikey]

According to the recent post on RetroRGB.com the current estimate for these shells is $130-$145 (£100-£114)!!!!!!

If that is the price then I am definitely out. That's way too much for a shell imo. A max of £60 would be a reasonable price to me. 

[GoTeamScotch]

For me, that's not too unreasonable. Ghost Case shells were like $60 and they cracked ridiculously easily. I use to work at a repair shop that installed them. So like, I knew how to install them and had plenty of experience and knew how to be careful, and even I would get stripped screw threads or rubbing disc drives or cracked clips. I'll pay a bit more for something that rivals OEM plastic. It would still often end up being cheaper than finding an LE case. The smoke/skeleton Xboxes go or like $200, blue Asia cases go for way more even. Not to say these cases should be as expensive as OEM, but I could stomach $130 for a good case.

[Donnie-Burger]

1 hour ago, nikeymikey said:

According to the recent post on RetroRGB.com the current estimate for these shells is $130-$145 (£100-£114)!!!!!!

If that is the price then I am definitely out. That's way too much for a shell imo. A max of £60 would be a reasonable price to me. 

Yup 100 hundo - Clears, clear greens and Skeletons are only a little more than this, complete working XBOX and sometimes in really good condition.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Donnie-Burger

[Bowlsnapper]

10 hours ago, GoTeamScotch said:

For me, that's not too unreasonable. Ghost Case shells were like $60 and they cracked ridiculously easily. I use to work at a repair shop that installed them. So like, I knew how to install them and had plenty of experience and knew how to be careful, and even I would get stripped screw threads or rubbing disc drives or cracked clips. I'll pay a bit more for something that rivals OEM plastic. It would still often end up being cheaper than finding an LE case. The smoke/skeleton Xboxes go or like $200, blue Asia cases go for way more even. Not to say these cases should be as expensive as OEM, but I could stomach $130 for a good case.

As long as they last and have durability, I would pay a premium for a translucent case done well... For the right console of course.

[FrostyMaGee]

56 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

As long as they last and have durability, I would pay a premium for a translucent case done well... For the right console of course.

Yeah if they’re of very good quality I could see paying that occasionally when I needed something special case wise. I’d rather it be more like $100US but $130 is in the ballpark if the quality is A plus. Like @GoTeamScotch said many of the older cheaper ones were just that…cheap in most all aspects and I don’t recall them having much durability either (stress fractures, etc). 

[lopenator]

let's get everyone to vote. the more people that are in it the better chance we have to see these in more colors.

[nikeymikey]

26 minutes ago, lopenator said:

let's get everyone to vote. the more people that are in it the better chance we have to see these in more colors.

It becomes Irrelevant if everyone wants the same 2 or 3 colours tho

 I didn't vote at all purely because of the estimated price. 

[lopenator]

24 minutes ago, nikeymikey said:

It becomes Irrelevant if everyone wants the same 2 or 3 colours tho

 I didn't vote at all purely because of the estimated price. 

https://retrogamerestore.com/store/xbshl/

 

the winning colors already exist. why did they win

Edited December 29, 2023 by lopenator

[nikeymikey]

2 hours ago, lopenator said:

https://retrogamerestore.com/store/xbshl/

 

the winning colours already exist. why did they win

Look at what the preorder page says, they need 300 preorders of a colour to make it happen. Then look at the results of the vote lower down the page, the highest was the Dark Smoke black and that got 222 votes. Also a lot of those votes will of been cast before the price of $130 plus shipping was confirmed. 

If I was to preorder one it would cost me $164(£129) to get shipped to the UK. What put the price into real perspective for me is the fact that for that same money I can buy 3 or 4 complete working Crystal Xbox consoles inc shipping. 

Also the fact that it is currently kind of a risk as to what the final product will be made of is another thing that puts me off preordering. 

I suspect there will be quite a few people who voted for a colour before the price was confirmed and now will be reconsidering whether it is actually worth the cost. For those in the USA the shipping will be a lot less I expect, so the price will be more reasonable to them, maybe. The shipping alone to the UK is estimated at $40. Then if it were to be damaged on arrival I would then have to foot the bill of returning it to get a replacement. 

For all you guys and gals out there who are going to place a pre order, I hope there is enough pre orders of your selected colour to make it happen and I hope you get a product made of a decent material that is close to OEM.  

But for me, currently the cost just makes it not worth it.  Once they are out in the wild and people can confirm they are of a decent quality AND if the price comes down then I will be in for buying one.... 

 

[lopenator]

They say the quality will surpass OEM.

Shipping to me in the US is still 30$ it appears. I want to know how I can get a crystal for 1/4th the price of this please. I will buy immediately.

 

[nikeymikey]

1 hour ago, lopenator said:

They say the quality will surpass OEM.

Shipping to me in the US is still 30$ it appears. I want to know how I can get a crystal for 1/4th the price of this please. I will buy immediately.

 

Shipping seems to be $40 for pretty much all countries on the list. 

I also forgot to add VAT to my UK price in my earlier post. That puts the cost of 1 shell up to £154!!!! Insane and not worth it. Just because the plastic is apparently going to be better than OEM that still does not justify that price imo.

On eBay UK I can see 3 or 4 Crystals in complete and working order for a lot less than half the price of this shell.  Here's a couple of examples one at £50 buy it now and one currently at £31. There are others even cheaper if you buy untested, which I would as 95% of the time its an easy fix (plus I already lots have spare parts). Also Facebook Marketplace has a few going cheap too but I do not trust buying from there. Point is there are many out there if you go looking. I myslef have 5 Crystals already and honestly only paid £10 for 3 of them, Complete and working.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305328715107?epid=100300088&hash=item4717027563:g:ZHUAAOSwYMllivNq&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4E9OItkXdlw62YBzEgFwgqW45Roy9bd30mVDXWfzy35gfVIdtJPfCL4DzZ7x2kBARglceVWOE9OnNK3v7DNSdMObkhV9mXIGJO9WJLKkw3MJQf8sLUur7kLM3PeNgnCacfrHaOB1%2BF7nWggQYLqLLFQj6VXZX4kT7NlHdf0kxxFhkelKuSt7RlUOSF3b0gTmV5u%2BSHmavg4dW4geGD5MCBEAHO4K1pscT%2BllNoaP17%2FY1dt3oii9i5ukz3CsYzNuplmVM0fnVWzR3cQpgRWu2v9EogkDZjMO3zKZlrsqKvPk|tkp%3ABk9SR5Tf-NyWYw

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155732103865?hash=item24425b52b9:g:S08AAOSw6ftk5PlW&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwJdvFbXTlIIK74BoeMTvYaeOYvlRwosBT8gbwUxwWhR7a%2FFAAP%2Bmdzv%2F4ppf2ezQDnEJUuO4458hsbEJBiZihbWgtUncaHYk8z%2BYqhDYphxfOKfcU2%2BBr7MQ0ACs5A0Fu6%2BTf%2BwQY2BM%2F%2B6Zt%2Fh1MrV9ZAeslRiLy2rYGuB7V1fRTNXGvZJ0lOszh3eRpW898cIGXDG0nrYhiSsvba87uRTOYv2Ko3tsBs%2BFjmefewxmUbcOzv9s5LEUl1N5xvGntQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR5jf-NyWYw

Edited December 29, 2023 by nikeymikey

[ShinGoutetsu]

Yeah that's far too much, i guess its due to the mold costs. At that price I'll give it a miss too

[PRince404]

3 minutes ago, ShinGoutetsu said:

Yeah that's far too much, i guess its due to the mold costs. At that price I'll give it a miss too

I wonder how they got those molds, or made ones themselves.

[MadMartigan]

These will be on AliExpress after release for half the price. No way in hell I'm paying $125 + $40 shipping. They've lost their damn minds. 

 

Edit: My reasoning, they're still trying to sell, incomplete SNES shells for $120+. Got mine from AliExpress for $55 shipped and it came with every shell part needed. Game slot and controller ports. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by MadMartigan

[FrostyMaGee]

I could still see the price occasionally if the quality was oem or better. The shipping would be the killer for me. Thats a lot plus where its shipping from it could take a month or longer to get to the US. You just can’t ever tell from that area plus the slow walking US customs randomly does with packages. I’ve had some stuff arrive in a week but have had other things take almost two months. I would hope at $30-40 it would be via dhl, et al and fast but who knows. It says airmail would be extra so i’m thinking it won’t be fast for standard shipping. 
 

I will say this though…I do like that someone is making them and they do look very nice (really liking that smoke black one tbh lol). Hopefully they will have a lot of success. If the quality is there and they sell more maybe the price will come down or they’ll get a US distributor. Time will tell. 

[Marty]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:10 AM, PRince404 said:

https://www.facebook.com/100064048958829/posts/pfbid02hFrw7uakTP7huCYtJgQ8GxgKyQqKDVyikFsvyRggeL3uNxbvXx2MtBXBGj7LHy68l/?d=n&mibextid=qC1gEa

 

I believe they want potential buyers to fill this survey :

https://www.surveycake.com/s/KZeXW

Survey?

Yeah, I'm not doing free market research for some shady outfit.

Vaporware and/or scam.

[nikeymikey]

12 minutes ago, Marty said:

Survey?

Yeah, I'm not doing free market research for some shady outfit.

Vaporware and/or scam.

The survey basically asks what colour you would buy and thats about it. 

I am with you on the cost, they are way to expensive. As you said once they have made some then we will likely see them on Aliexpress, someone in the factory will leak the mould eventually. 

[nikeymikey]

2 hours ago, PRince404 said:

I wonder how they got those molds, or made ones themselves.

I believe they are creating them. I read a post somewhere that said they may need to tweak them after producing the prototypes.

 

1 hour ago, FrostyMaGee said:

I could still see the price occasionally if the quality was oem or better. The shipping would be the killer for me. Thats a lot plus where its shipping from it could take a month or longer to get to the US. You just can’t ever tell from that area plus the slow walking US customs randomly does with packages. I’ve had some stuff arrive in a week but have had other things take almost two months. I would hope at $30-40 it would be via dhl, et al and fast but who knows. It says airmail would be extra so i’m thinking it won’t be fast for standard shipping. 
 

I will say this though…I do like that someone is making them and they do look very nice (really liking that smoke black one tbh lol). Hopefully they will have a lot of success. If the quality is there and they sell more maybe the price will come down or they’ll get a US distributor. Time will tell. 

I've only just realised they are not US based. I assumed they were, but no. They are in New Taipei, Taiwan. Another reason to pass on these imo. Too far to come making the likelihood of it arriving damaged too high for me. 

 

I just realised I actually have the Transparent SNES case they made, It is good quality plastic but doesn't quite fit perfectly as if the screws don't hold up properly. I got it for £45 from a UK based supplier who was selling them off cheap to clear them out. Didn't come with the transparent controller ports surround or cart flap tho. I have just seen they want another $22 for those on their site. I will have to grab them at some point because OCD lol

Edited December 29, 2023 by nikeymikey

[Bowlsnapper]

6 hours ago, Marty said:

Survey?

Yeah, I'm not doing free market research for some shady outfit.

Vaporware and/or scam.

But if so, why the survey? What would that accomplish?

[Marty]

47 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

But if so, why the survey? What would that accomplish?

Market research. Companies pay big money for it....but they'll try and get it for free if they can.

It's why businesses give out those "points/rewards" cards. They track purchases so they can more accurately target their buyer demographic.

If there are some decent rewards (like Air Miles), I might participate.  But if it's "Hey, we'd appreciate your valuable feedback!", it's like, no fuck you. Pay me. I'm not doing your market research for you for free.

[MadMartigan]

11 hours ago, nikeymikey said:

I just realised I actually have the Transparent SNES case they made, It is good quality plastic but doesn't quite fit perfectly as if the screws don't hold up properly. I got it for £45 from a UK based supplier who was selling them off cheap to clear them out. Didn't come with the transparent controller ports surround or cart flap tho. I have just seen they want another $22 for those on their site. I will have to grab them at some point because OCD lol

My assembly went flawlessly and the case was very good quality. More than happy to share the seller I bought from. I did opt to use the OG power and reset buttons purely for cosmetics but it came with those as well and even new decals.