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New Version of Xbox 360 Looking More Likely
Engadget is just one of a number of sites running 'confirmations' of a new iteration of the Xbox 360 hardware. The new black-coloured console is said to include an HDMI port and a larger hard disk drive (120 gigs). While the code-name Zephyr has been bandied about online for quite some time now, Engadget is saying it will be released under the name 'Elite'. Initially to be sold as a third SKU (alongside the Core and Premium packs), when the initial black run sells out the hardware in the Elite will take the place of the Premium sku. An HD-DVD drive will not be incorporated into the unit. All this should be taken with a grain of salt, as the entire thing stems from 'sources' and a supposed article in the upcoming issue of Game Informer magazine; Microsoft has not yet confirmed anything.
Why not just call it The Awesome? http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/ultimate-fantast ic-four/15-1.jpg
Perhaps Microsoft thinks that people who would buy the Premium model now wouldn't if they knew a "Super Premium" model is coming out soon. If they assume rightly, then sales of 360 would dip. If their caution is warranted, the dip in sales would be a large enough number to make the 360 look less strong from a userbase perspective.
So if they were going to release this, they wouldn't announce it until very close to when available. If they weren't going to, they wouldn't say they're releasing it either.
We're not making it, and, if we were, we wouldn't tell you early.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Vomit bags included in case the user gets dizzy from spinning.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
dump the core and lower the price of the premium 50 bucks.
You mad
Penny Arcade is somewhat spot-on with their view that the new $479 X360 is competing against the $599 PS3 since the $499 PS3 is becoming increasingly rare in retail locations.
But come off it, Microsoft. You don't release this data but I put dollars to donuts that the Xbox 360 is the most faulty console release in recent memory. I've seen reports of people on their sixth console. My only hope is that when my current Xbox 360 breaks and I get my fourth one, they give me a working replacement, not the crap they've unloaded over the past year and a half. (That's my only qualm with the 360).
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
I was hoping that this would be the new Premium system at $399, and that the old Premium system would drop down to $350. Paying an extra $80 for a larger hard drive and hdmi seems kinda meh. After all, thats only $20 less expensive than the 20GB PS3. They probably should have thrown in wireless too (if only to get the Sony fanboys to shut up with the "LOL You HAVE to buy wireless you don't actually need for $100 LOL).
Seriously at that high price, the PS3 looks affordable ! By releasing this "Elite" 360, they are validating everything Sony is trying to feed us about the PS3's high price.
I am waiting for the next SKU named : "Xbox p0wns all Elite+ !", the I will laugh at everyone wh bought the "Elite".
The 360 is closing in on a year and a half after launch and instead of a price cut, they're going to charge us an extra 80 bucks for a new port and a hard drive big enough not to suck. M$ was making 75 bucks on each console they sold back in November. Guess I'll be stuck in the last generation for a while longer, or at least until it is possible to actually purchase a Wii.
I currently have an XBOX 360 that uses a Monster component-out to connect to my 65" Sony SXRD. It's beautiful at 1080i. My understanding is that HDMI has no performance improvement over the display of component though. Is that correct?
I'm not an audio-visual geek necessarily, so I may be confused. However, as I understood things HDMI's real contribution is not that of performance or quality, but of increased capability for content creators to control the data being carried over the signal. Is that true? I would have no problem buying this new 360 when it comes out if HDMI is a significant improvement over component, but it seems the best information I can find is itself indifferent and says that "neither is necessarily better than the other although particular devices may present a better experience with one over the other" (see quote below).
So, the question is - with a high end television and an Xbox 360 - which of the two is going to be preferable? It sounds to me like they're just releasing it with "HDMI" so that people will be suckered into buying the console all over again under a false believe that HDMI is going to provide them a significantly better result.
So, which is better, DVI or component? HDMI or component? The answer--unsatisfying, perhaps, but true--is that it depends. It depends upon your source and display devices, and there's no good way, in principle, to say in advance whether the digital or the analog connection will render a better picture. You may even find, say, that your DVD player looks better through its DVI or HDMI output, while your satellite or cable box looks better through its component output, on the same display. In this case, there's no real substitute for simply plugging it in and giving it a try both ways.
Source: DVI vs. HDMI vs. Component Video -- Which is Better?
Why not build it in for the elite version? Now, you not only have to worry about adding a drive on, but you have to search to get on that's the same color.
Does anyone know whether this means that there will be an HDMI cable released for the existing models? I've poked around the news releases, but haven't seen any mention of it.
They're likely holding back a price cut to counter Sony. They're in a good position right now, so there's not a large need to start slashing the price.
The price of the Elite, IMO, is a mistake. It puts it too close to the PS3 20gb unit for comparison, and all you get is a new connector and some extra HD space.
Honeslty, I've been waiting for an HDMI 360 with built-in HD-DVD drive. The latter doesn't seem to be the case though; but I'd buy a second 360, the elite, if it had and keep the "old" model in my room next to the PC to test my XNA projects. I'd love to have the HD-DVD functionality in my living room, but the add-on drive, like all add-ons, is clunky and ugly.
Without built-in HD-DVD its worthless to me.
For about a hundred bucks I can pick up a 120gig drive and a copy of Norton Ghost, clone my data over to the new drive and slap it into the 360 (yes, this actually works.) For a few bucks more I can pick up any color of RIT vinyl/plastics dye in any color I want - just waiting on my warranty to expire before I crack it open to dye it, and While I'm at it I can swap out the LEDs for some nice blue ones.
For me there is no reason to get HDMI over Component HD. The only real point of interest here is the 120gb HDD, which even then is not that special because if i buy a 120gb HDD for my current 360... How on earth to i copy all my saves/data to the new HDD.
I'm sure Microsoft will soon add support for writing data to external USB drives so we can save our downloaded HD movies/shows to fairly large external drive instead of eating up that space on the drive that ships with the unit. Even just the ability to save game saves and such to a 2gb USB thumbdrive.
Never have mod points when I need 'em, though. Well played!
But what does my opinion matter, I just vote here. It's not like I have any money or anything.
isn't the point that it has a new feature and now it's available? It's really only up to the fanboy on whether they are going to buy it twice, or if they wanted it so bad, why they bought a non-HDMI one in the first place. To everyone else, it is simply a new feature, not a conspiracy.
I can spend $20 more and get a PS3 that has Blu-Ray, free online and Cell processor. This is a disaster for Microsoft, they are tripping up big time. Looks like PS3 is about to dominate.
This is a smart move. The huge advantage Microsoft has over Sony is that they can price their systems $200 lower by not including HD-DVD. If HD-DVD were to take off, 2 years down the line, and prices of high-frequency lasers drop, it would definitely be worth it. But for now, HD media is a novelty and it simply means that Microsoft can continue to kick Sony's ass in terms of price. Due to the fact that Microsoft has basically allowed the arguement of "The PS3 is more powerful, but $200 more expensive" to go on (which is not exactly true, both have their performance strengths), which means that a $600 360 would not be able to compete with a $600 PS3, head to head.
This isn't surprisingly that MS would not even give this question a second thought. I know that some of you out there are begging to get their hands on a HD-DVD or BluRay drive (I've now joined the ranks of HDTV owners, so I definitely wouldn't complain), and are fairly dissapointed, but you have to understand the logic behind this decision.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
What if it's an April Fools joke. The magazine comes out in April and claims that M$ is releasing a new Xbox in April. Not sure if this will happen, but if it does I imagine there will be a lot of problems for Game Informer.
Can I bum a sig?
The current system can't output the full 1080p via component out. That is why they are even thinking of releasing an updated version. They know that HDMI & 1080p are both selling points in their own right.
The 360 might be able to support 1080p games, as it is already rendering that resolution for 1080i. The problem is that the system just isn't powerful enough to drive this resolution at a proper frame rate. when that's the case it doesn't matter if it's interlaced or progressive.
1080p games would be utterly amazing. progressive really shines when it comes to motion by it's shear nature compared to interlace. let me try to explain...
an interlaced signal, say 1080i, displays the odd pixels in the one frame and then changes the even pixels of the next frame. thus, at any given time it is displaying 540 lines of resolution. a progressive source however, displays the entire image, all 1080 lines, and takes up twice the bandwidth doing it too. now things get complicated by the way tv's and HD receivers handle them. say you've got a tv that displays 720p natively but can accept 1080i inputs. when it recieves the 1080i, it drops the res to 540, and upscales that to 720. make sense?
but the biggest selling point in my opinion is still the 1080p output via HDMI, because now the HD-DVD drive can output thru the 360 at it's native resolution, which is just awesome. but yeah... dropping the price a little would sell it to me even quicker :)
With sooo many repairs happening, there must be 1000s of people doing them.
Where are the leaked documents/cds/roms from the repair center.
If you work there, please copy it all before leaving, screw the NDA.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
And still no slot-loading drive...
The huge advantage Microsoft has over Sony is that they can price their systems $200 lower
Except that they are really only charging $30 lower with this Elite model compared to the base PS3.
And the online match play is free with the PS3.
How was that a huge advantage again?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Even just the ability to save game saves and such to a 2gb USB thumbdrive.
You mean like the PS3 (which can mount external storage and then let you copy things).
I had no idea the 360 could not do this. Between that and the Zune not mounting as external storage, it makes you wonder why Microsoft is shutting down access to external storage from devices it has control over. It would make the whole system much more useful if data transfer and backup were easier...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I am still on my launch xbox 360, and it's doing fine. The folks I know do fine.
Screw you mods, I was being serious!!!
The advantage is they have muliple price points and the added features are modular (except the HDMI port obviously). Not everyone wants online gaming, or HD movies, or even a HDD (not particularly usefull unless you at least sign up for live silver).
The HDD "Not particularly useful"? The HDD is quite useful for caching game content, or downloading new game content, or downloading demos. What is not useful is making it an optional part of the system, that was a mistake from Day 1 - in consoles you do not want "modular features" for then game makers cannot really rely on them existing. You want as few models as possible, preferably with no difference in terms of game play between the models (skins are a different matter being only cosmetic).
If Sony could offer a $300 version they would sell alot more units.
They will eventually, right now they are using the more expensive console to cement Blu-Ray as the de-facto next gen media format and also to recoup some R&D costs. Later the system will come down in price, and they will re-affirm the console lead because games will have more space availiable for content (among other reasons). I personally don't think Sony has any reason to consider price cuts until they can keep it in stock at Amazon for longer than a week at a time before it sells out. They have to wait until production finally meets demand, and then look at when price reductions make sense.
I don't even own a PS3 or have plans to do so anytime soon. I can just see the strategy and it's working pretty well.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm running 1080p right now, from my 360 to my (Acer) 1080p LCD TV, via component - and it looks fine. HDMI offers a more convenient connection (one cable instead of at least four) and it's digital (no conversion to analogue and back again, also it won't degrade over moderate distances), but in practical terms I'm more than happy with component. Wouldn't say no to HDMI, but I wouldn't rush out and pay more for it.
No more or less than the PS3. This is a common misconception (fostered by Sony).
The GPUs in the 360 and the PS3 were designed at the same time using the same process technology, and have roughly the same capabilities (PS3 has more pipelines, 360 has more shaders & bandwidth, but overall it's pretty close). The CPUs aren't that dissimilar either - PS3 has an advantage for crunching numbers, 360 has an advantage with general processing, it's arguable which is better for playing games (360 is easier to program though). Either system is quite capable of playing 1080p games at full frame rate, so long as the game isn't too demanding (hence Virtua Tennis is 1080p on both, and R:FoM/Gears are only 720p).
No, not at all. Only the most braindead TV would do that. You forgot that interlaced lines are staggered vertically, so that a 1080i still frame has identical resolution to 1080p. All movies played through a 1080i 30Hz signal are reverse-telecined by the TV to get the original 1080p 24Hz movie, and this is what is scaled to 720p. Any 1080i signal can be trivially upscaled to 1080p before downscaling to 720p, with minimal loss.
And to be perfectly honest, unless you have a 50+" screen or you sit closer than 2m, the average 20/20 human eye is hard-pressed to resolve the difference anyway.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
The HDD "Not particularly useful"? The HDD is quite useful for caching game content, or downloading new game content, or downloading demos. What is not useful is making it an optional part of the system, that was a mistake from Day 1 - in consoles you do not want "modular features" for then game makers cannot really rely on them existing. You want as few models as possible, preferably with no difference in terms of game play between the models (skins are a different matter being only cosmetic).
Right. Thanks for agreeing with me.
"The HDD is quite useful for caching game content" - 360 games don't rely on this due to the HDD being optional. Thankfully the DVD is fast enough to accomodate the transfer, unlike the Blu-Ray.
or downloading demos. Which you need at least Live Silver to access. See original post.
You do realize there are a few million people out there who don't even have their 360 connected to the internet, let alone signed up for the free 'Silver' membership... Honestly I don't get it, but there are people out there who do... and they number in the millions.
in consoles you do not want "modular features" for then game makers cannot really rely on them existing. You want as few models as possible, preferably with no difference in terms of game play between the models
Right. The existance of or lack of a HDD doesn't change gameplay at all. Any game will play on either the core or premium models. The Ability to (or not) playback HD movies doesn't change gameplay at all. The ability to Wirelessly connect to the internet doesn't change gameplay at all. If people want these features they pay for them, if they don't they don't. Gameplay is still not effected.
Think of it this way; not everyone bought a multitap or a network adapter for the PS2, despite free online and plenty of games offering support for 4 players. Not everyone needed/ wanted it.
Why dump the core? Why not lower its price by $50 too, and compete against the Wii?
I know everyone gets all resentful that a non-HDD version somehow means games can't support the HDD, but that's not the case. There are 360 games that require the HDD, and there are many, many more games which can take advantage of it if it's there. There are so many HDDs in the market that developers would be foolish to ignore them, it's not like some third-party add-on with no penetration. MS deliberately abstracted the filesystem for the same reasons it's abstracted in every OS - it dramatically increases flexibility.
You may not want a 'tard pack yourself, but believe it or not, it's actually better value for what you get - MS lose more money on the Core version. For 75% of the price you can pay 99% of the games, and that matters a lot to some segments of the market.
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
It changes gameplay in that it limits what designers can do, without being able to have a large fast cache at hand.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Stupid to throw wireless in now. It really only makes sense to include 802.11n final, if you're going to send something out with every unit, and even then that only makes sense when n gear has sufficent market penetration to say nothing of a final specification. Why? Who knows what kind of network to expect? The last thing MS needs it bad press caused by poor wireless networks when the expectation is every thing works automagically out of the box. To stream video over wifi you want certain fast but crowded bands, to avoid interference well, you know the concession is probably not so much streaming video. With n you can deliver more completely on out of the box expectations. (Which might not be entirely realistic, but oh well).