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New Version of Xbox 360 Rumoured
Carlo Becchi writes "According to Engadget a new version of the Xbox 360 is on the way. The next version of the console is codenamed 'Zephyr', and sports a bigger disk (120 Gb), better manufacturing process (65nm) and HDMI digital out up to 1080p. From the article: 'The 120GB drive may or may not come bundled with the kit, we don't yet know, just as we also don't yet know how much a Zephyr 360 is going to run (we imagine it'll go for the same price as currently so they can keep up a little on their expanding margin).'" It should be pointed out at this point the whole story is a fairly convincing photo and leaks from 'a source'. Take with a grain of salt.
Will it come with a built-in HD-DVD drive, or will I still be expected to pay $200 for that add-on?
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I know they'll sell like hotcakes then. Especially if they smelled like hot cakes!
Future ruler of a small Asian-Pacific island
For the current Pro model? Maybe making it the core system... So everybody gets a HDD... I hope this happens soon...
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
MS presents the Xbox 361: The Do-Over Edition
I swear the FAA calls me every time I turn on my 360 to play a game. A couple of times, seismologists have dropped in to see what was going on.
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
"The PS3 raised the bar by including HDMI, blu-ray support, a hard disk by default, wi-fi and some other bits and pieces."
While Nintendo did just the opposite by not including many of those features. Despite that, the Wii is doing extremely well, for a number of reasons, including:
a) Price. Wii is less than half the price of the PS3. A Dodge Neon is devoid of features compared to a Cadillac, yet the Neon sells extremely well. (Well, sold, I believe the Neon has now been replaced by the Caliber? I haven't looked at their offerings recently.) Not everyone wants a Cadillac, and so a manufacturer doesn't necessarily need to make Cadillacs.
b) Focus on gameplay rather than whiz-bang oooh-shiny features that don't necessarily improve gameplay at all.
How well compared to PS3 or 360 is currently impossible to tell, since the Wii is the only of the three systems still limited in sales by availability. (which, in and of itself, is a good sign for the Wii).
PS3 didn't raise the bar in any way with those features, since the Wii has proven that those features are not necessary in any way for a given console to succeed.
The Core will most likely always remain available, because it is always good to have an entry level system to offer those who don't have $12938921704123 to spend on their consoles or have the money but are not willing to spend it on such purchases. (Such as myself, I have yet to buy a console that cost more than $150 for the system, and yes, that means I'm usually playing the previous generation but I have no problem with that. Used games are cheap, and I have better things to spend my money on.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Actually, I think it's the other way around. Microsoft's head start in the market (or its lesser specs in comparison to PS3, take your pick) has made the 360 the platform of choice for multi-platform developers. EA will never come to Microsoft and say, "We're not going to do Madden unless you give us HD-DVD." They're going to go to Sony and say, "Too bad we can't take full advantage of all that Blu-Ray space, but we have to work on the 360 as well and you two are close enough (unlike the Wii) that you get to be the Xbox of this generation and have all the crappy ports."
Because it's not "needless". Microsoft made the decision to go with DVD-9 for the 360, so that's what the developers get to use. Microsoft can't make the switch to HD-DVD unless they're willing to replace the drives of 7+ million 360 customers for free. That's never going to happen, so you suck it up and live with it. The 360 may end up with multi-disk games, or lower texture resolutions, or more compression artifacts, or what have you, but switching to HD-DVD is simply not a viable solution for the 360.