xbox elite

RAIN

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/776/776448/imgs_1.html

From IGN (Pics in link )
March 27, 2007 - In what appears to be Microsoft's standard cart-before-the-horse style of information delivery, the leading console manufacturer of this generation confirmed nearly all of the rumors preceding today's announcement of the new black, HDMI-enabled Xbox 360 Elite.

Dubbed the Xbox 360 Elite (not the "Zephyr" as had been rumored), the new black, $479.99 Xbox 360 comes bundled with a 120GB hard drive, has an HDMI port, and will ship to the US and Canada Sunday, April 29, 2007, Microsoft told IGN today in an interview over the phone.



The new "Elite" console contains the same parts, processors and chips as the Core and Pro units, and has the same dimensions, only it's got an HDMI port on its back-side (in addition to the standard RGB port) and comes with a 120GB hard disc drive (HDD), cables and headset, all in black.

"And for a unit that's got twice the hard drive storage space as the PS3, comes with an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable and a headset, it's still $120 cheaper than the $599.99 high-end PlayStation 3," said Albert Penello, Microsoft's director of global platform marketing.

A standalone $179.99 HDD also ships April 29. This package includes one 120GB HDD, software, and a specialized cable to port data from a user's current hard drive to the new one. To complement the new black console, Microsoft will also ship a wireless black controller (MSRP $49.99), a black Play and Charge Kit ($19.99), and a standalone rechargeable battery pack ($11.99) on April 29, also in black.

"The Elite is not a limited edition. It's permanent. And we will not replace any sku," Penello explained when referring to the flurry of rumors preceeding the official announcement. "We now have three SKUs and we predict the primary seller will continue to be the Pro system."

Penello also addressed concerns the new bigger hard drive might lead game developers to require it as a standard. "We won't force experiences that require the new HDD. Games will still be optimized around the 20GB experience. Nobody will be forced to buy a new drive."

Microsoft has no plans to offer rebates, discounts, or free trade-ins for loyal early adopters. When asked how he thought gamers would respond to the new higher-priced addition, Penello said, "I think and hope that people are going to understand. There is as price for being an early adopter and your points and feelings are valid (Penello said when referring to gamers IGN suggested would be angry about the new system). But whenever you innovate and change, you have to face this situation. Your same old system is still perfectly valid. Think about it this way, it's a new bundle that comes with a bigger hard drive."

When IGN asked why the launch system didn't come with a larger hard drive and an HDMI port, Penello explained: "We could never have done this before, to bring HMDI and 120 GB to the system when we launched in 2005. The reason we didn't do it before was because the HDMI standard wasn't complete. It takes time to develop these things. We started the console earlier than Sony did and when the HDMI standard wasn't done. At the time we were developing, this stuff was in transition."

IGN suggested to Penello that gamers might become skeptical about buying an Xbox 360 because of the introduction to this new system. Many gamers are already skeptical the existing systems aren't reliable, as they have witnessed countless stories of broken 360s only one and a half years since the launch in November 2005. Why should they buy a new system now, if for some new reason, Microsoft decides to create a new system a year and a half from now?

"Should we just ignore new technology? Or listen to the input we hear from gamers and address it? If some new technology comes out, I'm going to have to look at that. We're trying something new."

xanthor

No confirmation of HDMI being added to the Premium model *grumble*

flogen

RAIN wrote:

Penello also addressed concerns the new bigger hard drive might lead game developers to require it as a standard. "We won't force experiences that require the new HDD. Games will still be optimized around the 20GB experience. Nobody will be forced to buy a new drive."

This bit really got my interest - didn't MS say before launch that they'd require developers to optimise games for the Core bundle (in other words make it that all/most games didn't require a HDD)?
Of course, this requirement was ignored quickly enough by certain games - there's no reason why the developers won't do the same with this latest one... although what they'd need 120GB of space for is beyond me (but I'm not a developer or in anyway knowledgeable in that area)

Ciaran500

The vast majority of games still don't require a HDD and MS never said no games would require the HDD. Even still it going to be very unlikely a game will come out that will require more space than you get on a 20gb HDD.

Fingleberries

Ciaran500 wrote:

Even still it going to be very unlikely a game will come out that will require more space than you get on a 20gb HDD.

Very true ... I mean, even for the PC there wouldn't be many (any?) games that would require 20GB (I mean 13GB) to install.

TheBigEvil

This has just been posted on the BBC website, confirming the new Xbox 360 Elite with HDMI and 120Gb disk

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6502421.stm

Here's a link from Team Xbox on it also.

http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1938/Xbox-360-Elite-System-New-Partners-Announced/p1/

Personally I own a 360 and pretty miffed that Microsoft have gone off and done a big upgrade (obviously the PS3 scared the sh!te out of them with full 1080p via HDMI) considering its less than 2 years old. Although they have missed the opportunity to put in a HD-DVD drive as standard, you still need to buy it as an extra, which is a shame.

Everyone who bought the current Xbox 360 is being shafted a bit, and they must be worried about that because mentioned in the Team Xbox link is that they may do something for current owners, but dont know yet what that will be.

They really should offer an upgrade from the current 360 for €100/€150, not great, but to get a total update in tecnology for that price would not be bad.

Jocksy

Does this use the new processor? I'm going to stay away until I can buy a box that runs cool and quiet.

Kimbot

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360elite/default.htm

on the Xbox official site!!

To think I only bought mine last week!!!

steviec

Jocksy wrote:

Does this use the new processor? I'm going to stay away until I can buy a box that runs cool and quiet.

No it doesn't, or at least they haven't said a word about it. I'm guessing the processor will just be quietly switched over at some stage in all the models - the new one is mainly to reduce costs and isn't something they'll bother advertising, though I would love a quiet running machine that doesn't have overheating problems - that's why I bought a PS3 and I'm selling my 360 until Microsoft improve their hardware.

kmick

They should have sold a bundle with the 120Gb HDD and the HDMI port and the HD-DVD player for Eur10 less than the price of the new PS3 to really confuse the hell out of people. If they did which console has the better hardware?

TheBigEvil

Jocksy wrote:

Does this use the new processor? I'm going to stay away until I can buy a box that runs cool and quiet.

Didn't see any mention of a new processor, but yea it would be nice for it to run quieter. It would also be nice it they replaced that slab of a power unit. I mean you could power a small county with one of those !

skywalker

TheBigEvil wrote:

This has just been posted on the BBC website, confirming the new Xbox 360 Elite with HDMI and 120Gb disk

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6502421.stm

Here's a link from Team Xbox on it also.

http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1938/Xbox-360-Elite-System-New-Partners-Announced/p1/

Personally I own a 360 and pretty miffed that Microsoft have gone off and done a big upgrade (obviously the PS3 scared the sh!te out of them with full 1080p via HDMI) considering its less than 2 years old. Although they have missed the opportunity to put in a HD-DVD drive as standard, you still need to buy it as an extra, which is a shame.

Everyone who bought the current Xbox 360 is being shafted a bit, and they must be worried about that because mentioned in the Team Xbox link is that they may do something for current owners, but dont know yet what that will be.

They really should offer an upgrade from the current 360 for €100/€150, not great, but to get a total update in tecnology for that price would not be bad.

Your taking 2 sides of an argument there. Do you not think if they'd included the hd-dvd drive current 360 owners would be even more miffed?

astrofool

The HD-DVD drive could never be included unless they put in an x2 or x4 unit to keep it in line with DVD read speeds (something Sony has suffered with in the PS3). As it is, it's an extra that can be used or not, and brings flexibility to the console in the long run (inc. blu ray support if needed) without making people pay for something they might never use. I know myself I watch most movies on my PC, or on the TV via Divx/Xvid.

LookingFor

It'd be nice if they announced european availability, as this is the 360 I want.

For me, it's grand, but I am a bit puzzled by their strategy. This is only bringing them closer to where Sony is with PS3 in terms of cost, and invites unfavourable comparisons. They should really have made this new unit 399 and pushed everything else down by 100.

Ciaran500

TheBigEvil wrote:

Personally I own a 360 and pretty miffed that Microsoft have gone off and done a big upgrade (obviously the PS3 scared the sh!te out of them with full 1080p via HDMI) considering its less than 2 years old. Although they have missed the opportunity to put in a HD-DVD drive as standard, you still need to buy it as an extra, which is a shame.

You can already get full 1080p from your 360 and HD-DVD drives are two slow to put in the 360 currently.

TheBigEvil wrote:

They really should offer an upgrade from the current 360 for €100/€150, not great, but to get a total update in tecnology for that price would not be bad.

Total update in technology? Its a new port.

3rdDegree

I can see why people would be miffed if they just bought a new 360. But let's face it: This happens all the time. Buy a new amp and then a newer one with HDMI comes out; buy a quad core PC and then an 8 core comes out (or the quad core drops in price). It's a pain, but the way technology develops these days, it happens all the time. Gamers don't have any greater right than others to be upset.

I still have a launch 360 and love it except for the damn noise! Makes it useless for watching HD-DVDs. If this new machine is quiter, then I'll get it. If not, then I'll pass.

As for putting in a HD-DVD drive as standard: I think this would be a mistake. The add-on is fine for now; and as another poster says, if BD wins, then MS aren't stuck with a useless drive for next-gen video.

KeRbDoG

http://on10.net/Blogs/tina/exclusive-video-first-look-at-the-xbox-elite/

Stephen!

IMc onfused now as to which version to get

thefinalstage

Fudge them now! .......This is crap!

Keep me posted on possible deals for current owners

Captain Trips

3rdDegree wrote:

I can see why people would be miffed if they just bought a new 360. But let's face it: This happens all the time. Buy a new amp and then a newer one with HDMI comes out; buy a quad core PC and then an 8 core comes out (or the quad core drops in price). It's a pain, but the way technology develops these days, it happens all the time. Gamers don't have any greater right than others to be upset.

I still have a launch 360 and love it except for the damn noise! Makes it useless for watching HD-DVDs. If this new machine is quiter, then I'll get it. If not, then I'll pass.

As for putting in a HD-DVD drive as standard: I think this would be a mistake. The add-on is fine for now; and as another poster says, if BD wins, then MS aren't stuck with a useless drive for next-gen video.

I would think that keeping things as uniform as possible would be better for gamers - it is what makes consoles consoles, and not PCs so that you can buy a platform and be ensured a good lifespan.

Fair enough, when talking PCs, but this makes three difference manufactured versions of the 360, so now some people have hard drives, some people have HDDVD, some people have HDMI and 1080p.

SO what will developers do? Develop for the lowest common denominator - it is turning console land into PC land, IMHO. The standard 360 as such has no HDMI (thus no 1080p) , no hard disk and a DVD-sized maximum space per disk - is this really next gen?

And if (when?) BR becomes the standard - will MS give a **** about the 360 purchasers of the HD DVD? Not likely. This seems to fragment the platform quite a bit. I am not impressed with MS's behaviour as they are throwing money at the problem to maintain PR and marketing images but instead should be developing more original games (not more FPS games) and making Live free to compete with SOny's free online gaming and impending Home thing.

Ciaran500

Captain Trips wrote:

Fair enough, when talking PCs, but this makes three difference manufactured versions of the 360, so now some people have hard drives, some people have HDDVD, some people have HDMI and 1080p.

SO what will developers do? Develop for the lowest common denominator - it is turning console land into PC land, IMHO. The standard 360 as such has no HDMI (thus no 1080p) , no hard disk and a DVD-sized maximum space per disk - is this really next gen?

Every console can output 1080p over component or VGA, the HD-DVD drive will never be used for games as MS has said over and over again and the devs can use the HDD if they need it and I suspect they will more often as the generation goes on with more and more units with HDD's being sold.

savemejebus

Ciaran500 wrote:

Every console can output 1080p over component or VGA, the HD-DVD drive will never be used for games as MS has said over and over again and the devs can use the HDD if they need it and I suspect they will more often as the generation goes on with more and more units with HDD's being sold.

True every console can do 1080p over component or vga, unfortunately not every tv can accept 1080p over these inputs which is why it is a big problem.

The whole point of devs using the hdd isn't so much about the perception of broken promises, it just means that the core is really un-necessary and does nothing but clutter and fragment the product line.

robinph

Captain Trips wrote:

Fair enough, when talking PCs, but this makes three difference manufactured versions of the 360, so now some people have hard drives, some people have HDDVD, some people have HDMI and 1080p.

There is still only really the one version of the console. The core and premium consoles are exactly the same unit, except for a silver drive tray, and the only difference with this new Elite version is the colour of the plastic case and a new output port.

Captain Trips

I am referring to the different standards now evident in the 360.

All PS3s have hard disks, free online gaming and true HD video output as standard.

There are three different 360s now - I am not referring to the gfx, etc., . Will developers develop for 1080p - it isn't standard, will they use the hard disk for caching - it isn't standard, etc., .

I think Sony took the other route by including it all - HDMI, hard disk, free online gaming, wireless, HD video (BR) - as it makes a good all around standard for developers. MS went the other route and IMHO have fragmented the product with the likes of HD DVD (reminds of the Mega CD!), the way some have hard disks and other not - and now the elite. Some people will have true 1080p output as standard but the 99% of already sold 360s will not. The standard is pretty set for PS3 developers, but for 360 it isn't - except for a non HDMI, non 1080p, no hard disk standard. Hmmm.

It will be interesting how it all plays out this Christmas.

mcgovern

The standard might be set for PS3 owners but the PS3 is supposedly much harder to code for (a lot of well known developers have come out and said that) and the X360 (unlike the PS3) has a good scaler, so developing a game in 720p or 1080p (a whole 2 so far) won't make much difference to the end user.
1080p is too expensive to develop on, so not even PS3 games are made for it. There are also what, a few hundred people in Ireland with 1080p TVs?
Hardly a massive market.
Hard drives are mainly used for caching during game play, and Oblivion already proved that it is easy to use the hard drive to cache if its there and if its not, just continue on without caching.

Your fan boyism is clouding your judgement.

Ciaran500

Captain Trips wrote:

All PS3s have hard disks, free online gaming and true HD video output as standard.

True HD is an audio standard, not a video standard.

Captain Trips wrote:

There are three different 360s now - I am not referring to the gfx, etc., . Will developers develop for 1080p - it isn't standard, will they use the hard disk for caching - it isn't standard, etc., .

I think Sony took the other route by including it all - HDMI, hard disk, free online gaming, wireless, HD video (BR) - as it makes a good all around standard for developers. MS went the other route and IMHO have fragmented the product with the likes of HD DVD (reminds of the Mega CD!), the way some have hard disks and other not - and now the elite. Some people will have true 1080p output as standard but the 99% of already sold 360s will not. The standard is pretty set for PS3 developers, but for 360 it isn't - except for a non HDMI, non 1080p, no hard disk standard. Hmmm.

It will be interesting how it all plays out this Christmas.

All 360's can output 1080p and most 1080p TV's can accept it over component or VGA. The HD-DVD drive will never be used for games so is nothing like the mega CD.

GrumPy

Captain Trips wrote:

non 1080p,

all versions of xbox 360 can output 1080p.

EDIT: woops, soz Ciaran