Xbox 360 Elite Officially Announced

It should come as no shock that Microsoft has finally announced an upgraded version of the Xbox 360: the 'Elite'. The worst-kept secret in the videogames industry is now official, offering a 120 GB HDD, an HDMI port, and a smooth black finish for $479. The new sku drops next month, and to fill up that new hard drive Microsoft has lined up seven new partners for their Xbox Live video distribution service. Outfits like Paramount and Warner Bros. are nice to hear about, but I'm equally excited about the likes of National Geographic and ADV Films. 1up has the market cornered on commentary at the moment, with reactions from the staff there, a comparison of the new 360's value vs. the PS3, and a few words from Sony's Dave Karraker. If you're looking for even more coverage, there are several links available below.

Comments

Re:Worthless.

[suv4x4]

So what you're really getting out of this product is a larger hard drive. Whether a bigger hard drive is worth an extra $80 to you is for you to decide. I fail, however, to understand how nothing more than a larger hard drive and a black paint job makes it elite.

I also wondered how *only* a black finish makes a MacBook $150 more expensive and "elite" but.. common sense isn't popular these days.

If enough companies do this, one morning I could wake up and really believe that black color is extremely expensive and worth the extra cost, who knows.

But every 360 addon is white....

[GreatDrok]

I have a 360 with HD-DVD drive and wireless adapter and a pair of wireless pads. If I was to switch to this just for the sake of HDMI and a bigger drive, bearing in mind that my HDTV doesn't support 1080p over HDMI, only over component and also I can't even see a difference between component and HDMI on the thing, I would also have to replace all the white extras. Oh, and I actually think the 360 looks better in white. Mind you, when I came to buy a new iPod Video I bought the white one because I didn't like the look of the black one.

I think Sony found a price point

[bunbuntheminilop]

and M$, while watching the sales of the ps3, and realised that the older demographic that they are targeting is willing to pay more for a console.

Sounds familiar...

[gamer4Life]

Feels like Microsoft is taking a page out of it's Windows business and putting it into the XBox 360. Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate... sound familiar? Not to mention tying in games development with Windows so developers feel the need to appeal to a greater audience and therefore develop for the Xbox/PC platform. All this sounds to reminiscent of what it's done to the PC market to the detriment of other platforms like Linux.

Re:Worthless.

[MikeBabcock]

I'm so sick of the anti-HDMI people.

HDMI does not require the use of HDCP. Being compatible with it does not mean turning on Copyright protection features.

HDMI can carry much higher bandwidth audio than optical or coax digital audio cables can right now, like TrueHD and uncompressed 7.1 PCM.

HDMI can share live display capability information (like that nice monitor detection you have on your VGA-based PC).

HDMI allows for better colour depth (higher bit per pixel values) and deeper blacks and brigther whites, combined with displays capable of these. This means displays can keep getting better and looking nicer and having richer colour because the capacity is already 'in the wire' so to speak.

Next troll?