Microsoft last night issued an announcement confirming the existence of Xbox 360 Elite, an upcoming model of its Xbox 360 featuring HDMI output and a 120GB hard drive. The news comes after months of rumor and speculation, which were kicked off in earnest with leaked photographs of an Xbox 360 unit allegedly codenamed "Zephyr" and including the upgrades eventually revealed to be part of the Elite model. Last week, the reports edged closer to an official confirmation as Game Informer published news of the upcoming Elite console in its most recent issue.
Xbox 360 Elite is set for release in United States retail stores on April 29 for $479.99, an $80 premium over the standard 20GB Xbox 360 and a $180 premium over the hard drive-less Xbox 360 Core System; neither of the two current Xbox 360 models includes HDMI output capabilities. The new model will be finished in matte black, with a matching black wireless controller and a black headset. Also included will be an HDMI cable and a one month trial subscription to Xbox Live Gold. Contrary to certain hopes, Xbox 360 Elite will not make use of the 65nm CPUs said to be incorporated into the console some time this year.
The system is expected to appear in other major markets worldwide later in 2007.
Also available in stores will be the 120GB Xbox 360 hard drive, which at a price of $179.99 corresponds with the price difference between the Elite and Core units. The standalone drive will be packaged with a data transfer cable allowing existing 20GB hard drive owners to move downloaded content over to the larger capacity drive. This cable will not be included in the Xbox 360 Elite bundle.
In response to the announcement, Sony Computer Entertainment America marketing senior VP Peter Dille said in a statement, "We think every PlayStation 3 owner should have an 'elite' experience, which is why we include an internal hard drive and HDMI output in every PS3 we sell, along with the 50 GB of storage capacity on a high definition Blu-ray disc." Xbox 360 Elite comes in at only $20 less than the Blu-ray-equipped 20GB PlayStation 3 model.
Alongside the Elite confirmation, Microsoft announced various new content parters for its Xbox Live Video Marketplace service, including A&E Network, ADV Films, and National Geographic. Neither of last night's announcements made any mention of the console's upcoming IPTV functionality, which the company briefly outlined during CES. All Xbox 360 consoles will support IPTV via a firmware update when the service eventually goes live.
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Comments
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In Australia it should be available July, maybe early August. RRP is not specified, but they're saying 799.
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I'll own both in a years' time, so I feel pretty non-partisan about it all. Just seems like a misstep is all.
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Theres no way Im paying $179 for that drive damnit.
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does this model have the new smaller 65nm chips there were rumours of way back when?
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Not including the HD-DVD drive and not having games support the format is MS telling us that HD-DVD might not come out on top and if it does win the format war they don't lose anything.
It is not politically correct for MS to come out and say that they are unsure if the HD-DVD format will win. As such including the drive as a add-on has given them (and us) the flexibility to back out of the format if Blu-Ray wins the war. I guarantee you that if Blu-Ray wins this war then we will see a Blu-Ray add-on for 360 and quite possibly a built in drive at a much later point. Also including games supporting the format. Vice versa if HD-DVD does win. A drive will come standard on the 360 and games will eventually support it.
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Jeeze.
Might as well sell the 360 and just buy an elite system.
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MS is leveraging their ideal now. They're not waiting on anything. Pile on while Sony is seemingly down. Press has been negative for Sony. Perception on the boards is that Sony's made numerous mistakes - they have, but it has been blown out of proportion. Reports of Sony's negative talk about cheap consumers doesn't help their image much either.
MS is sitting in the cat-bird seat. They've got numbers. They have exclusive titles that seem to move the system. They have non-gaming related initiatives that seem to be well received. Xbox Live continues to be a success and Gamerpoints have wound up being a bigger deal than expected. So, they're doing very well and in a way are testing the waters. $20 separates all that MS and Sony provide. MS is *giving* you 100GB more for $20 less. That 100GB of extra space won't go to waste if you're looking to take a sampling of their true media hub experience. That allows for a killer media center. You can do a lot with Sony's 20GB model, including replacing the HD. But most people will look at it as a top of the line system in the Xbox 360 Elite for $20 less than the entry level PS3 for $20 more. It's a nice safe gamble if you're Microsoft. When Sony lowers their prices, MS can as well - with less expensive manufacturing costs to boot. MS also has the option of just lowering the price if it won't hurt too much and if they believe it'll hurt Sony.
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You want to patch software in small increments. But hardware's a much different beast.
I completely agree that a 120 gig HD unit is a wise step - now you actually have the system viable as a media center, and since it's "external" it's backwards compat.
However, I think they felt they had to compete with the PS3 (Ha! they needn't have worried) and get new hardware out there as well. I wish they waited until they had both the 65 mm chips and a built-in HD DVD drive to release this "elite" system (which yes, might cost $600 with all that included). This may make them trail the PS3 by half a year, but it would have been a much better decision.
I'm one of those that I care not what the color of my system is, I just want to frickin' game on it.
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Blu-ray, HD-DVD, wireless controllers, wireless networking, HDMI, and HDD size are pretty much IRRELEVANT if you just want to play games.
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At least MS have learned some things from Sony and have followed their lead by doing a non-global release and jacking the price up for very little benefit.
But you dont include a HD cable? Stupid sony.
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WTF Microsoft? I guess my monies go back into my wallet.
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For $600 I should fucking hope you get an elite experience.
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Also according to Engadget, the Elite is NO LONGER going to be a 'limited run' product but that being said, we don't have 100% confirmation that the black elite may or may not be a limited run.
Furthermore not all peripherals are confirmed to come in black, for example the listed accessories do not mention if the wheel comes in black or not at this time.
RUMOUR has it that the elite will eventually be released in white and eventually the premium and core models will use the elite 'base' and have HDMI - this is highly likely but I don't beleive finally confirmed either.
In other news abrasion has wet himself as you all may know.
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I would probably have gone for this if it had integrated HD-DVD and Wi-Fi (even if it had cost more money), but as it stands I just can't see a great deal of point.
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