Xbox 360 Elite: HDMI-enabled black unit in late April for $479, limited-edition

Your a fool if you fall for this April fool's joke...
I've seen Dev Kits, they are black, I actually talk to a Microsoft guy who works on the games with the 360. He says all their dev kits are black.

"I've had a change of heart. Yes I do own a 360, yes I do pay for Live, yes I hate how MS treats people and tells them things that are contrary to what they are actually doing. I hate that Peter Moore said that this 360 was a prototype and the people should continue buying the other earlier models. I am beginning to hate MS. I love the games on the system, it's the company behind the system that I hate."

This is typical behavior of all companies. No one is going to announce a revision of their product ahead of time, killing existing sales of the product. Why do you think Apple always announces new iterations of the iPod just days before they launch, and threatens to sue blogs that publish details about their upcoming plans?

If you go back and read through most of the stories where Microsoft was asked for comment, they didn't deny that a new SKU was coming. They just refused to comment, said they had nothing to announce, etc.

I wanna say "no way" but come time it's out ... I'd think about double dipping. I could care less about the color, but HDMI and a larger HD are nice. Really though ... the determining factor will probably be how much the 120 gig HD costs separately by itself. An HDMI port is nice but not a necessity.

@Myke

"(capitalist pigs, blah blah blah I'm guessing)"

Wow, you are either a racist or completely ignorant of the Japanese culture. You do realize that the Japanese are also capitalists and your off-hand remark is against the Chinese right? China is the last stronghold of communism, not Japan. So you're either ignorant or racist, or perhaps both.

How pissed off will early adopters be? Well, I got mine on day one, and am horribly pissed off. They should have a trade-in program or something. Don't get me wrong, I love my 360...but this one is so much better.

"I don't see why MS is going thru all this trouble just to add more HDD space and HDMI and not include the HD-DVD player.(?) Like someone said for $20 more you can get a PS3 with a next-gen HD movie player! Seems completely stupid and makes me wonder if this is a joke."

IPTV. Which is the rationale for the additional 100 gigs.

You can also use the 360 at 1080p for those tvs that require HDMI connectors to do 1080p to watch downloaded HD content. You can buy the HDDVD add on and use that as well. And of course, HDMI is just a connector, its not a magic bullet that really means anything. It would help me out with my setup where I have 4 (soon to be 5) devices but only 2 component inputs, and I do not have a 1080p set.

I don't like the price. I think pricing a console over $400 is a bad idea and pricing it that close to the ps3's unavailable entry level system is only compounding mistakes MS is making. Fortunately, the rumors are saying this is a limited edition system which probably explains the price increase.

"If you want a game console with new, advanced features (motion sensing, Wi-Fi, Blu-ray)"

I'm surprised you didn't mention bluetooth here.

And while you're talking about "advanced" features, note that 802.11n and bluetooth 2.1 will not be appearing in the "futureproofed" ps3.

This is the worst flame fest ever.

APRIL FOOLS!!!

christ, it's a BLACK LIMITED EDITION people. with more space for your demos and movies.

it will *not* add new features, it will *not* fragment the xbox userbase, and it will *not* deprecate all the 360s before it. you can get the bigger HD for your xbox too.

as much as sony lovers want it to be, sorry, *HDMI isn't a feature*, its a newer type of display cable. it won't change what the machine can do.




.

"So you're either ignorant or racist, or perhaps both."

Yeah, you're right, it's both. Me and my black friend and my american indian freind always go on racist advetures...

I was refering the fact that alot of the japanese culture is about honor and they believe many american companies have no honor and are therefore consumed by the almighty dollar, making them capitalist pigs. I wasn't just refering to thier system of economy, so go fuck yourself =)

@Myke

Ignorance doesn't cover you here. Your statement was racist regardless of how non-racist you believe yourself to be. Xenophobia falls under the guise of racism too. Your statement has nothing to do with the honor/caste system of the Japanese culture it has to do with ignorance of a culture. An interpretive lack of honor does not equate to your comment, your comment is ignorant of a culture and demonstrates xenophobia and thereby racism. Get over it and expand your horizons. The Japanese people do not refer to Americans as "capitalist pigs", communists used to. The Japanese have never been communists, as I pointed out before, that would be the Chinese and the Soviets. It's also questionable how many of those people would have ever said such a thing, it's more along the lines of what Americans claimed they said about the Americans in order to demonize the communists. Accept your mistakes, have the balls to apologize for those insensitive comments and move on. Trying to defend yourself by counting the people you are friends with as a justification as to why you are not a racist disrespects them just as much as your initial poorly chosen remarks.

I get your point, but demonstrate some consideration. You're better than that.

It's too expensive... I mean more (ok, much more) HDD and a HDMI interface is not worth 80 bucks more.

APRIL FOOLS!!!

I just want to know if the drive will be quieter. Mine runs like a train engine in my living room. The black does look sweet.

I'll still be waiting for a smaller, quieter 360. :D

I'm pissed because I'll be buying a new 360 soon enough just for the hardware upgrades. I can wait til the new hardware comes out for preiums, but it sucks the 360s didn't already have this stuff.

rfom - seriously now, what the hell are you talking about?

by software, its not only their first party games, its also the 3rd party software who choose to support them (more everyday). more importantly, its their dev support and online structure. all software.

MS may copy stuff on windows, but what have they copied for the 360? they mastered online gaming on the console on their own. i suppose Sony came up with rumble, motion control and friends lists on their own right?

yeah they make money on accessories and services, because their machine is $399. at least that 200USD was optional, not *mandatory* for pre-mature, expensive propietary tech (blu-ray) that has nothing to do with games?

tell me again what's necessary about HDMI? does it change what the machine actually *does*? no, it's an A/V connector. the first 360 can render, upscale and display 1080p just fine without it.

it's statement like that make sony apologists sound so desperate. when they just repeat something off of sony marketing materials like the back of the box - which in the end, still has NOTHING to do with games.


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And again, I never said the japanese were communists, where the hell did that even come from??? I stated that the Japanese appear to dislike the way american companies are run. I spent almost 2 months in Japan less than 3 years ago and thats definetly the impression I got. It's not a false one either, anyone can turn on the news today and see american investors getting screwed over by those higher up than them. So the Japanese are definetly not dumb, and they believe in honor, a quality that is lacking in the american business world, which I believe to be the main reason the xbox360 is doing less-than-stellar in Japan. I can't speak for every Japanese person who refuses to buy an american gaming product but there has to be SOME reason they dislike it, and that's the impression I got from the few Japanese gamers in my age group that I managed to start up conversations with (which wasn't that many suprisingly, it seems to be either a love it or hate it feeling towards gaming with the mid-20 japanese folks I met, but thats also a very small sample size, so who knows). I apologize that I used a term that is apparently forever attached to the commies but seeing as how I never actually mentioned the word communist in any of my comments, I find the sudden jump to that plateau, and the random link to Xenophobia and racism, a bit much.

@Myke

Your experiences and points are valid and I am not denying them. I hope that you see and understand the linkage I am making though.

It's a scary situation and it can easily turn into something very ugly.

As for the "anti-American" position that appears to permeate Japanese society in regards to gaming, I don't think that they're wrong, regardless of the motivation. Sony uses Microsoft as a defacto standard for their computing hardware, so the gaming console wars are a very interesting situation. Theirs is a very complex and sometimes un-graspable society. While some things appear very simple, they are truly complex.

trolls are people who just drop random unsupported statements and don't answer retorts or become part of the discussion right?

aight, just checkin.



.

so, is the 120 gig HDD included or do u have to buy it seperatley? if u do then that suks but i think i'll still buy the new HDD just to piss off my friends who went through a lot of trouble to get the ole premium versions.

But will it be slimmer?

I want that.

You may or may not be interested in this but the 360 got a 40 dollar trade in boost today at gamestop

Has the issue of data migration from the old hard drive to the new one been addressed? If so, how?

I see no problem at all with any of this.
1. I have an HDTV and I sell them as well and I have first hand experience with how big of a difference digital makes over analog connection. Not only that but HDMI allows transfer of video in 1080p60hrz and audio in 7.1, both in digital. And not everybody can even use HDMI so that's why they're putting it into the Elite not the Core. That's why it's call the Core.
2. The 120GB HDD is a god-send for me because I download marketplace content all the time.
3. The noise level will be dropped dramatically because it will have the new dvd drive that has been enstated for the last little while.
4. The black will be great for me because all my other equipment is black, have you ever seen a white amp or dvd player that sold well?
5. They will never offer a console with an internal HD drive, ever. There's a format war going on right now and if their chosen format loses out in the end then they would be out an entire console.
6. They're also planning on releasing a larger memory card as well because they increased the size limit of XBL Arcade games.
7. The 65nm chipset will more than likely be inside it since they would actually make more money per console by doing so.
8. Hello black controller. Four white controllers drives me insane. Even just two drives me nuts.
9. The new HDD comes with a transfer cable to roll over all your content on your 20GB HDD. I have over 15GB of music on my Xbox 360 and over 1.5TB on my computer. If I had to re-rip all 15GB of that music I would go insane. And don't try and tell me I should just stream my music from my PC to my 360 because I would love to see anybody go through 1.5TB of music to just make a 50 track playlist that doesn't get repetative.
10. If you don't have a use for an HDMI cable then don't buy the Elite. Their gonna sell the 120GB HDD separately as well so don't worry about it. The separate one even comes with a transfer cable.
11. With the Halo 3 Beta coming out soon and the new Halo 2 maps for 360 coming out as well, everybody will be running low on storage space.
12. Don't even try and claim they are being like Sony by doing this because atleast they are still smart enough to have IR and RF pickups on it instead of going all Blue-Tooth. If I spend $400 on the Harmony 890 remote I want it to run the least expensive piece of equipment in my system. Hell, I've even got cables that cost more than the Xbox 360 or the PS3.
13. There's no point in complaining about the WiFi lacking because you can get a bridge and some Cat6 for under $80 and it will have a faster bit-rate than the PS3's WiFi.
14. The Blu-ray player is a gimick that is worthless because even the cheapest stand-alone player reads the BD discs at twice the spead. I'm not up for waiting up to thirty seconds to skip a chapter.
15. I've only had one previous 360 that bricked on my with the ring of death and I got it in December of 2005. And when it did break six months later, Microsoft paid me back the $129 I gave them for the replacement I have now that is still running strong.
16. The only thing I can think of that would be nice is the ability to have .mov, .wav, and .aac playback. Even with a killer system, 5.1 surround in games and movies is still great because any 7.1 reciever or pre-amp can figure out to separate the fourth and fifth channels to make the sixth and seventh channels. Now, if they had Digital Coax as on audio output then I would be willing to even go the extra $20 to $500.
17. For all those people that don't have a need for one or any of the new features or just think that it's a waste of time and or money, then don't buy it. It's not call the Core. It's not the Premium. It's not even the Premium Plus. It's the F###ing Elite. It's the same reason Pioneer labelled their best home theater recievers and plasmas under the same title. If you can't pay "Elite Prices" then don't. Not everyone can and that's fine. That's why there are two ther great options available as well.

Price tags on both the PS3 and the 360 are a bit high, but as the systems get better, you have to expect that. Besides, there's a reason Bill Gates has more money than most countries!!!
I haven't bought either system yet.... I keep hoping someone will allow me to use keyboard & mouse to play games. I was raised on PC, and I just can't get used to the console controllers.
Does anyone know if this is possible, or at least if there are any plans for this capability in the near future?

Until now, I could not make up my mind which of the three new consoles is right for me. I love the HDMI and hard drive they are adding! To me, this makes my decision even harder, although it might take the 360 from third on my list to the top! Can anyone offer me any advice on which one to buy?

The elite is no joke, just go to www.ign.com and look 4 urself. It will run cooler, its not limited, but obviously it doesnt have everything the PS3 has. I still have the first Xbox and am planning to sell it on ebay with my new 1 when the Elite comes out.

I'm an avid xbox fan, but MS is milking it a tad bit too much. I have the original xbox, and am going to move up to the 360 in may. In my opinion, if you haven't purchased one already, then it's worth it. If you do own one, don't bother.

The thing that's really bugging me though,is if this is an "elite" model,where's the wi-fi? I like the 120gb hard drive,but I don't see a majority of the 360 users using almost half of it. I'm also feeling the black. I always hated MS for leaving their black and green color scheme. But the one thing I hope ALL console manufacturers consider....BRING BACK A FREE GAME WITH CONSOLE PURCHASE!!! The higher the consoles get, the more they strip down the "extras". It should come with a free game,and TWO controllers. That's how I feel about it.

OK guys im sorry, but I am an owner of a premium xbox 360 and i was damn happy when i first baught it. it was cheaper than a ps3 and it had a decent library of games, and microsoft seemed like it was being honest with its consumers. they bitched about how sony was adding too many things i.e " HDMI and a 60gb hdd" and M$ kept saying how they didnt need all that to make a console worth buying... and look at waht the hell happened. i feel pretty shafted right about now, i thought that i was getting a console at its prime, and that i could proudly say that i own a pimp 360, but now this elite comes out... with HDMI (remember, M$ was always bitching about how it was "not an important factor" in producing a good console) Yea.. bull fucking shit. i like my 360 but M$ can lick my fucking balls. at least SONY told the consumers BEFORE releasing their system what exactly would be in it and what it was capable of .. and of course .. the price tag. Im not dishing out another $479 to get a black chunk of greed on M$'s part. It just gets me angered. PS2 had a face change.. but it did the same thing.. it played ps2 games.. xbox 360.. haha.. i think its M$ who is gimmicky .. not SONY..

sony = built to last. BLuray will fuckup HD-DVD any day.

notice how playstation copy every1..... spiderman font any1, oh nice grill, thats not a grill its my ps3!! oh what about the playstation navigation button, a direct steal of the 360's guide button, nice touch senstive triggers bitch!! oh an they lost the dual shock, suckers!!! a hard drive? remember how much shit xbox copped when it was first released, too much like a computer, oh yer, ps3 has support 4 keyboard an mouse..its a peice of shit, ive played it, none of the games compare to anything on the 360. oh and 360 is gettin way more exclusives... plus epic are finding it hard getting the unreal engine 3 to perform as good as it does on the 360..... owned muthafaka!!!!!!!

oi bojangles u dumb sh#t, dont bitch bout ms talkin shit, sony first told consumers u would be gettin three ethernet ports, six usb ports, and 2 hdmi ports... but it only has 1 ethernet port 4 usb ports, an 1 hdmi port..sony also said that all ps3 games will support 1080p, bullshit most are 720p which 360 has been doin for over a year now!!! oh and..f#$k it im goin to bed lol

Here is a link to a tracker that has in stock notifications for the elite.

http://www.xbox360elitetracker.com/

Dont be stupid poeple. The only difference is the system will be black. They will have the 120gb harddrives for sale seperately. This is MS's way of making money.

Fuck some damned paint. And dont sell you Xbox to buy this one. if you care about the new hard drive.......just buy the bigger one when it comes out.

a little pissed, cause i just bought my 360 2 days ago, what is hdmi port and cable? whats the difference? will you be able to upgrade old 360s to this?

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). A new all-digital interface for digital TVs that carries video, audio, data, and control signals.with a bandwidth of up to 5 gigabytes, which means it can easily support all HDTV standards...... but dont worry its not essential, the cables that come with the premium work fine for hdtv, an can easily output 720p u wont be able to uprgade ur 360 to the hdmi version, since there are no ports on the back of the core or premium, only the elite has the hdmi.

if ur using a 1080p tv, it is better to use the hdmi cables, otherwise 720p is fine with the ordinary cables.

It's called Xbox 360...cos either you need to keep buying updated versions...or send it back constantly to repair...
I will get another one...but with the 65nm chip...I don't want to experience something like that ever...

so much for 360 being the final console released...
fuckn ms assholes...

why the hell didn't they release this with the first xbox release.. i wanted a black one from the beginning but they wanted to please those Japanese Nintendo\play station lovers... jackasses..

anyway ill probably end up buying one, i thing the whole limited quantity thing is just some hype to try to get it to sell like it did on the first release.

i think that 80 dollars more for and extra 100 gigs is a great deal i remember when no even heard of a gig byte and now your getting 120 for 80 dollars that less then a 1 dollar each plus you get HDMI cable that cost 50 dollars for a cheap one an 100 or more for a good one, the ps3 owner had to go buy there own MS is given us HDMI, component, and composit cable for those that dont have an HD TV yet