120 gig black 360 almost offical? April ETA?

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Just yesterday our inside source gave us a tip that Microsoft Australia has told a store named Myer to prepare the store for a Black 360 with a 120GB hard drive in April. Well day 2 of product knowledge today (Brisbane, Australia) featured Microsoft themselves and it's now 100% official that the Black 360, (with black controller), 120gb hard drive and HDMI is due out in Australia for $749 AU in April. They will try to push this forward to late March to deter buyers from the March 23 PS3 launch. Hopefully we see this good news sometime in Europe and USA. Should you take it as a grain of salt or not, whats your thoughts?

http://gamersreports.com/news/4966/120gig-black-xbox360-with-hdmi-official/
 
Yeah I thought about posting this but it didn't seem official enough.

A source said the Myers depertmant store chain down under will be advertising this within four weeks, so it shouldn't take long to prove or debunk.

I have a Q, is HDMI necessary for IPTV? Because of hi def programming? If so, that seems to me to put a hard fall time limit on an HDMI equipped Xbox introduction.

This sucks though, as I've said before MS keeps building the dream 360 piece by piece. Eventually we will see quieter (DVD drive), 120GB hd, HDMI, black color, and eventually I suspect HDDVD for movie playback...and mine has none of that.

Anybody remember that controller prototype that MS floated a ways back? The uber black one with an improved D-pad, that they asked in a survey if people would pay $60 for? I always did think that looked neato, if too expensive.

This brings up pricing issues too. It'll be going for a high price in AU, however I cant imagine it'll go for more than $399 here.

One more thing, I think one hidden angle on this is the fact HDD, mark my words, is going to become the new spec war. This 360 is going to seem more appealing simply because it's got a big number, bigger than either PS3 version, on the end. There are going to be customers who go well, I can get this 60GB PS3 or this 120 GB 360..I'll pick the 360. PS3 has had every spec advantage until this.

Edit: In the end though, I'm still skeptical. It seems odd Australia would be the place to leak this..
 
Not that I would mind something like this happening (bigger is as they say..better and a matte black 360 would look super fine) but it would seem odd of MS to intro such a vast change in their product this late.

Consoles are generally known to be fixed spec. If anything the trend has been to remove features as time goes by not add them.

I'm sure many would feel ticked off that they've from a certaoin point of view bought their way into a dead end (with a lot of money might be added).

Peace.
 
At this point, I think it is reasonable to assume (yes I know) that a new sku is coming. All I would ask, is a reasonable upgrade option. Say I ship my current 360 back to MS (or better yet, store trade) & another 100 bucks, get me a shiny, quieter, HDMI, bigger hard-drive-y one.

Alas, I fear that this will not happen.
 
This brings up pricing issues too. It'll be going for a high price in AU, however I cant imagine it'll go for more than $399 here.

I was about to say "nah, it'll probably be in the $449-499 range", but remembering about the 65nm process and other cost cutting measures, you might be on to something here :eek:

If they can sell that SKU for under $599, im sold. Its that much more "bang for your buck" than the PS3 (well, with me anyway :oops: )
 
I was about to say "nah, it'll probably be in the $449-499 range", but remembering about the 65nm process and other cost cutting measures, you might be on to something here :eek:

It would be a smart move for MS, release a model that has superior specs to the PS3 for $399, and drop the core to $199 and premium to $299 in april. PS3 will probably drop price around the same time.

If MS would smarten up and price their HDD at ~$60, and ditch the wired controller, they might actually be able to really start selling some serious numbers with the $199 core.
 
I was about to say "nah, it'll probably be in the $449-499 range", but remembering about the 65nm process and other cost cutting measures, you might be on to something here :eek:

If they can sell that SKU for under $599, im sold. Its that much more "bang for your buck" than the PS3 (well, with me anyway :oops: )

Add the $200 HD-DVD and $100 wi-fi and you have a $899 360, great "bang for the buck" compared to the $599 PS3.
 
Add the $200 HD-DVD and $100 wi-fi and you have a $899 360, great "bang for the buck" compared to the $599 PS3.

I can use my Linksys WGA11B perfectly fine on the 360, so no extra purchases there. And, I dont care about HD movies, so theres more money saved there.

I buy a console for games and 360 is currently the console that caters to my interests. So your "PS3 is a bargain with the stuff included in it" doesnt work on me ;) :p

Besides, if I wanted HD movies, uhh theres Live Marketplace for that :LOL:
 
A selection of eight 720P movies that take 8 hours to download and cost $5 each is not my ideal solution, but if you like it. :smile: ;) :cool: :eek:
 
Well, he *didn't* say he liked it... he just said it was there if he needed it. ;)

Anyway black console, 120GB, and HDMI to me equals plus, plus, and another plus. Spril seems to close though, that I wonder the validity of this rumor. Still though, I guess we'll know soon enough. Pricing will also be interesting to see; if indeed they come in at $399 it shows a willingness to hold off hardware profitability for a while longer. I'd more expect ~$449 myself, but then again I'm just commenting on something that may or may not be true at this point anyway.
 
microsoft never comment on rumours :devilish:

by the way, am i the only person to think its too early for microsoft to release new colour console??? they better get hdmi for white one as well if this article is true :devilish:
 
Well, he *didn't* say he liked it... he just said it was there if he needed it. ;)

Anyway black console, 120GB, and HDMI to me equals plus, plus, and another plus. Spril seems to close though, that I wonder the validity of this rumor. Still though, I guess we'll know soon enough. Pricing will also be interesting to see; if indeed they come in at $399 it shows a willingness to hold off hardware profitability for a while longer. I'd more expect ~$449 myself, but then again I'm just commenting on something that may or may not be true at this point anyway.

I sincercly doubt that a 120gb hdd and an hdmi port amount to anywhere near 50$ of added cost over a 20gb hdd.
 
If the previous drives were not perpendicular, and the new ones are, then it may be the case that they can get to increased disk sizes without increasing the number of platters and heads, which could minimise the costs. HDMI appears not to be coming from a 3rd party but their own HANA chip. Overall the part costs could concievably be fairly slim over the current premium pack.
 
I think this is highly possible. MS would love to counter the PS3's appearance in Europe as well as in general. A black version with a 120GB HDD looks liek a good marketing strategy. Even if it doesnt sell as well as the normal 360 it still makes the wanted impression by MS in the consumer's mind
 
So... is this a 3rd SKU or would it replace the Premium SKU?
And, of course, will there be an accompanying price drop for the other SKU(s)?
 
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