Black XB360 120 Gig HDD + HDMI = $479

[vblh]

As an owner of a premium 360 i see nothin wrong with with this elite option. I won't pick it up now as i'd prefer to wait until the chip revision to 65nm & price drop but i like idea of the hdmi output as it provides some future proofing.

My present setup consists of a premium, connected via component & optical cables to samsung 244T & logitec Z5500 speakers respectively. Works rather well for me truth be told & i'm wired to the internet.

When i do upgrade (in a yr or two) the elite option would be my first choice as i'll be looking to get speakers and a monitor that support the hdmi output. As for the whole hd disc (blue ray or hd dvd) debate, i prefer the next option, downloading from xbox live. Not sure about you guys but i think before this gen is over we'll see games for download from MS & Sony & MS already has HD movies & TV shows for download so the whole next gen optical debate doesn't bother me in the least.

 

[Capeta]

Has it been confirmed that the HDMI cable will be sold as a stand-alone accessory? If so what is the price? Also what version of HDMI?

You could get a HDMI cable for about $10.

 

[DieH@rd]

Has it been confirmed that the HDMI cable will be sold as a stand-alone accessory? If so what is the price? Also what version of HDMI?

No, HDMI cable will be bundled only with Elite console. They will not sell standalone cable, because no other x360 has that port.

And transfer kit for user data on old disc will only be bundled with 120Gb HDD. No standalone version also...

 

[Arwin]

Actually there's never been any internal drive in X360, it's always been detachable.

I genuinely did not know that! Makes a lot of sense if you think about it though. I guess I got confused by trying to figure out why Microsoft hadn't released a larger HDD add-on option earlier.

No, the only possible way to output signal from HD-DVD is via composite cable.

Still waiting to hear about how the scaler now works though!

 

[Sis]

So Microsoft once again proves incapable of containing a secret (why do they even bother with "exciting announcements") and an apparent lack of vision about how to commoditize the Xbox 360. While they've spent countless resources on developing a niche within a niche product, Nintendo continues to plow ahead within that consumer friendly arena and Sony is tackling the high-end market.

I just don't get it. It's obviously not a play against the Wii. And it appears to be a response to the PS3, given that it's black and has an HDMI out. But...so what? Hopefully Microsoft has something else up its sleeve.

 

[Sis]

Still waiting to hear about how the scaler now works though!

How do you mean?

(Note: I'm not sure why the post you quoted said "composite only"--with the Elite, you'd obviously be able to output HD DVD movies through HDMI out.)

 

[Synergy34]

It's actually not included with the Elite models since they figure most purchasers will be new owners. It will come with the peripheral, but not with the Elite unit. You can ask for one (for free) from MS.

Where did you get the free transfer kit info from? I haven't had a chance to really read anything about this yet. Thanks.

Also, IMO, If i was MS, what they really should do is upgrade their kiosks to allow HDD transfers in the gaming stores.

As an existing owner and one who would really like to upgrade, this seems like it will be a hassle if I had to call them and wait for a kit.

 

[Titanio]

Where did you get the free transfer kit info from? I haven't had a chance to really read anything about this yet. Thanks.

It's mentioned in this q+a:

http://www.totally360.com/gameinfo.php?details=newsid&newsid=1452

 

[22psi]

Video preview of the Elite:

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

 

[Ben-Nice]

$20 less then the 20gig PS3 but STILL has no next-gen DVD media, come on Microsoft sort it out.

Well the infamous Micheal Patcher says....

The fact that Microsoft is not offering the external HD-DVD drive as part of the new Elite bundle may be an indication that it believes Blu-ray will eventually win the hi-definition format wars.

"It appears to me that Microsoft sees the writing on the wall – Blu-ray is going to win the format wars," he said.

"Ultimately, Microsoft will likely offer a Blu-ray drive with the 360 Elite, and I think consumers will be able to select based solely upon other drivers."

 

[Carl B]

People that were expecting HD DVD inclusion were on the wrong track to begin with - MS has gone on record before as saying "never" in terms of HD optical and 360. Afterall, they're actively trying to foster the digital ditribution model - that's what they care about. Hell, they don't care if HD DVD wins or not, so long as Blu-ray stalls or stumbles. And to that end, they're not going to be putting any of their own money into an expensive move with low payback like HD inclusion. VC-1's their game and now that it's attained reasonable studio acceptance/adoption, HD DVD is no longer needed as a vector for its proliferation. Besides, the present model of renting a 720p movie for a couple of days at ~$6 a pop is perfectly fine. (ok yes that was a shameless dig)

 

[Dave Baumann]

The actual answer for "How can we sell more 360's" is "get more developers to make quality xbox games". But they are betting that if they can prevent PS3 sales from happening, the chances of dev focusing on 360 will be improved.

I've always felt that the war for about the first few years is really for the hearts and minds of the developers. It has little to do with consumers decisions. Consumers just end up as pawns in the war for developer mind share. By far, the biggest impacts in who comes out on top in the console wars are the developers decisions. Even publisher decisions are not as impacting imho.

I'm not sure how the release of this unit makes any difference to what is going on on the developer from. Apart from a few key decision makers, its different people doing this to those evengelisingto and capturing developers / publishers. Given what we've seen from the developer/publisher support for 360 so far, is there very much to take issue with?

I agree

it keeps the brand in line with Sony so as not to create the perception of inferiority when they decide (which I'm guessing is still going to be soon) to drop the price on the other two.

I think this is part of the point. When you have Sony touting PS3 as a premium brand, with all the latest technology and options, a price drop on the Premium on Core units, still relatively close for Sony's release, will partly validate Sony's messaging and assist in positioning 360 as a less technically capable solution. By releasing the Elite unit the pricing of the lesser units can become more elastic and stretch further down, while the Elite is still priced to position it still as "premium technology". In essence I think they are ultimately aiming to stretch down towards Wii pricing with the core but also going after the PS3's premium position with the Elite.

Still waiting to hear about how the scaler now works though!

In what way? Are you thinking that because there is now an HDMI output that there will be similar limitations to PS3 in this regard? If so, there is zero reason why there needs to be, thats and implementation detail.

Given that we know of HANA (and I see no reason why the Elite unit doesn't use this) then it its just the same scalar funtionality that MS had with a different output backend so there needn't be any difference in how the Elite handles scaling even with the new output options. We already know that its transparent to developers.

 

[Paul_G]

So Microsoft once again proves incapable of containing a secret (why do they even bother with "exciting announcements") and an apparent lack of vision about how to commoditize the Xbox 360. While they've spent countless resources on developing a niche within a niche product, Nintendo continues to plow ahead within that consumer friendly arena and Sony is tackling the high-end market.

I just don't get it. It's obviously not a play against the Wii. And it appears to be a response to the PS3, given that it's black and has an HDMI out. But...so what? Hopefully Microsoft has something else up its sleeve.

Who says it has to be a response to anything? I suppose in part it's an answer to the PS3, but more than that I think it's an expansion of the ideas that MS were already using, namely the download and playback of both HD content and IPTV.

 

[inefficient]

Maybe it's just VC1 for the win.

 

[quest55720]

People that were expecting HD DVD inclusion were on the wrong track to begin with - MS has gone on record before as saying "never" in terms of HD optical and 360. Afterall, they're actively trying to foster the digital ditribution model - that's what they care about. Hell, they don't care if HD DVD wins or not, so long as Blu-ray stalls or stumbles. And to that end, they're not going to be putting any of their own money into an expensive move with low payback like HD inclusion. VC-1's their game and now that it's attained reasonable studio acceptance/adoption, HD DVD is no longer needed as a vector for its proliferation. Besides, the present model of renting a 720p movie for a couple of days at ~$6 a pop is perfectly fine. (ok yes that was a shameless dig)

That is what makes the whole pricing so baffling. The only reason to get a 120 gig hard drive is to pay and download content from xbox live. I sure in the hell won't pay 179 dollars to do that. MS has this ass backwards they should be selling the hard drive a lot cheaper to get more people to download movies and tv shows and make the money that way. MS is killing thier digital ditribution business to squeaze a few dollars out of customer for the hard drive.

I won't even get into the elite or I should say the rip off. I hope the gaming media rakes MS over the coals for the outlandish pricing. MS just let sony off the hook stupid move. If sony makes a comback and over takes MS we will be able to point to this day as the turning point.

 

[22psi]

I hate the pricing on the 120 GB HDD as an accessory, it's total rapage. For a new customer to ther 360 scene, I would think they would opt for the Elite SKU as it offers a lot more than the 20GB SKU for $80 more, but if they don't need the hdmi and space then the 20GB SKU is sufficient. All this will be much much better when console prices drop hopefully in the Fall.

Elite 449
Prem 349 with hdmi
Core 249 with hdmi

I think Prem and Core skus will only drop $50 if Sony doesn't drop the PS3's price. If Sony does a price drop, I think Prem and Core can go as high as a $100 price drop. I also think Sony should re-evaluate the 20GB SKU and make that as their primary SKU and make it available at retail again in abundance. Making the 20GB PS3 the main SKU would effectively drop the price of the PS3 to 499. In a way the 60GB PS3 model is an "elite" ish sku, comes with extra bells and whistles.

 

[Dave Baumann]

The only reason to get a 120 gig hard drive is to pay and download content from xbox live.

Not really. User data such as images and music can be stored there, which many people may do. This is also touted as the IPTV unit as well, which is one of the reasons for the larger HD inclusion.

 

[inefficient]

Just read the BR comment from Pachter. Very strange...

 

[Carl B]

That is what makes the whole pricing so baffling. The only reason to get a 120 gig hard drive is to pay and download content from xbox live. I sure in the hell won't pay 179 dollars to do that. MS has this ass backwards they should be selling the hard drive a lot cheaper to get more people to download movies and tv shows and make the money that way. MS is killing thier digital ditribution business to squeaze a few dollars out of customer for the hard drive.

I won't even get into the elite or I should say the rip off. I hope the gaming media rakes MS over the coals for the outlandish pricing. MS just let sony off the hook stupid move. If sony makes a comback and over takes MS we will be able to point to this day as the turning point.

Ok I want to say though that although to an extent the associated pricing here is... well, bold... I don't think this move is as insane as viewed by many here. The fact is Microsoft has a goal to reach profitability, and growing market share is just a means towards that goal. It does have the added long-term benefit of potentially hobbling your primary opponent, but I think with Vista underperforming, Zune lost to the void, and gaming being gaming... a division that was already under pressure to become profitable is only moreso now. The only "loss" here is the loss of what many thought could be a brutal blow to Sony and a rapid increase of the 360 userbase; but remember that for this move, MS probably won't suffer - afterall they don't actually lose anything here, and their release schedule is strong enough this year that I don't think their sell-through numbers are going to stall at all - in fact, it goes without saying that certain ttles will provide a boost.

Companies have to make choices all the time, and sometimes pursuit of the visceral victory against your opponent can lead to an actual defeat back on the books. They've made the conservative decision here - maybe not the best - but the conservative choice. SCEI is fast-tracking themselves to regain profitability as well, which is why when I hear "Sony needs to drop the price," my response is essentially "not if they want to reach their goal this (fiscal) year."

I also think Sony should re-evaluate the 20GB SKU and make that as their primary SKU and make it available at retail again in abundance. Making the 20GB PS3 the main SKU would effectively drop the price of the PS3 to 499.

I agree that Sony should* empahisize the 20GB model, but making it the main SKU or not does not make the PS3 $499... it's already $499 because this is a model you can buy afterall, emphasized or not.

* As mentioned above though, the name of the game is soft-landing to profitability, which is the reason for the 60GB emphasis in the first place.

 

[TheChefO]

So Microsoft once again proves incapable of containing a secret (why do they even bother with "exciting announcements") and an apparent lack of vision about how to commoditize the Xbox 360. While they've spent countless resources on developing a niche within a niche product, Nintendo continues to plow ahead within that consumer friendly arena and Sony is tackling the high-end market.

I just don't get it. It's obviously not a play against the Wii. And it appears to be a response to the PS3, given that it's black and has an HDMI out. But...so what? Hopefully Microsoft has something else up its sleeve.

I want this, personally, but..

..I am surprised to see MS building up this side of the value chain, rather than the opposite end. They're running quite a lot of risks here. The main one being if this makes the other packages look inadequate in the same way the core already was, and people feel this is the SKU to get. I personally feel that way now, chiefly because of the proprietary nature of their peripherals - I was happy to get the 20GB PS3 because I know I can upgrade it without being ripped off, but I'm not happy to do the same with 360 because their upgrade routes don't make sense..they really do push you to try and buy the most you can from the start. That was their problem with core, and that continues with Elite imo.

The other, and related, reason this is risky is because MS's range, and Sony's range, are now connected at two ends, something that never was the case before. There was always a gap that psychologically put a greater distance between them, but now with Elite, you're a small $20 hop from a PS3 and a Blu-ray player. It's not too difficult to imagine the elite being $399 for the holidays, and the 20GB PS3 being the same price.

Of course, you've also got Sony being a bit dumb by seemingly gravitating away from the 20GB model They should smell the opportunity here and make it the centre of gravity IMO.

Agreed on both. IF Toshiba bites the bullet and offers their hd-dvd drives as a sacrifice to BillyG I think this thing could do rather well. If not, they are heading in the wrong direction - IMO

As for the whole hd disc (blue ray or hd dvd) debate, i prefer the next option, downloading from xbox live.

yep Depends on the user/area though. If you have access to 10gb+ internet, then yes, no doubt. This is more a time issue than anything else but in my region they are laying Fibre like mad.

No, HDMI cable will be bundled only with Elite console. They will not sell standalone cable, because no other x360 has that port.

And transfer kit for user data on old disc will only be bundled with 120Gb HDD. No standalone version also...

At least they include the cable ...:smile: