Posts with tag elite
Posted Apr 2nd 2007 12:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Even though you won't be able to preorder the Xbox 360 Elite at
Gamestop, Circuit City has stepped up to the plate and is accepting preorders on the new black console. Just head on over to Circuit City's website to preorder, it's quite simple. You could also throw down extra preorder dollars on a new black controller or maybe a black play and charge kit, it's all up to you and your bank account. Anyone willing to shell out nearly $500 on a preorder to guarantee an April 29th black Xbox 360 Elite? Or do you think there will be plenty to go around come launch day?
[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Posted Mar 30th 2007 2:45PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Rumors
Even with the announcement of the
Xbox 360 Elite, it seems the longstanding rumor of an
HDMI adapter for the regular Xbox 360 just won't die. An Engadget reader named Evan M supposedly sent Microsoft an email after learning of the HDMI enabled Xbox 360 Elite. You see, Evan just purchased an Xbox 360 Premium, and was understandably miffed on hearing of the new Elite, knowing that his television supports HDMI. Evan received a response from Microsoft stating that a component to HDMI adapter was in the works, though the support person was unsure if this device would ever be sold by itself. In other words, it could be sold with a future iteration of the original Xbox 360.
Now, customer support isn't always on top of everything, so the information can't be taken as gospel. Furthering the doubt of such an adapter, Microsoft's Andre Vrignaud, better known as Ozymandias, recently stated such an adapter is not in the works at all. Furthermore, Ozymandias states that a hardware change was required to implement HDMI in the first place, hence the creation of the Elite.
And of course, the most obvious reason to doubt an HDMI adapter, it would serve no purpose. The analog-to-digital conversion created by an adapter would likely nullify the enhanced visual fidelity of HDMI anyway. Unless the HDMI port is the only free port on the back of your television, an adapter wouldn't make any sense at all.
Posted Mar 30th 2007 10:15AM by David Dreger
Filed under: News
The QuickJump Network's 360 site reported that according to a press release from Microsoft Japan, The Land of the Rising Sun will be getting its hands on the Elite, as there were rumblings that it wouldn't make the trip to the Far East. Of course, there were no specifics as to
when the third SKU would be showing up on Japanese store shelves. We can only guess if the Xbox 360 Elite will catch the attention of the Japanese consumer when it actually does come out and hopefully the price point will be proportionate to the Elite here in North America.
Posted Mar 29th 2007 4:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: Fan stuff
Negative fanboy sentiment is gathering around the price of the uber expensive $179.95 120GB HDD. And what better way for us to illustrate the pain in our hearts (and bank accounts) than by viewing a very professionally done YTMND entry. Go ahead, click the link and give it a listen ... we'll wait here. You gave it a listen right? Good, now our commentary will make sense.
The clip features Major Nelson's "ouch" reaction from his latest podcast and is obviously poking fun at the new HDD's price. From what we can decipher, Major's reaction to the HDD's price goes something along the lines of "
uhngh,uhngh,uhngh,uhngh eh eh uhuhuh ooh ouch", but don't quote us on that. You can't deny it, that new drive is one overpriced piece of hardware. Though, we still love you 120GB HDD, but you just cost way to much and don't get along with our longtime friend 20GB HDD. Heck, we might as well just open the floodgates and hear what everyone thinks. Go ahead fanboys, unleash your opinion on the new 120GB HDD and its price structure. But be nice guys, constructive criticism is always better than hate darts.
[Thanks, tapoxi]
Posted Mar 29th 2007 12:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
According to Evil Avatar, GameStop and EB Games will not be taking pre-orders for the upcoming
Xbox 360 Elite. The decision not to take pre-orders apparently stems from an uncertain number of consoles being allocated to each store. EvAv notes that there is no confirmation about whether or not customers will be able to pre-order the fabulously expensive
120GB hard drive.
So, if you want to snag an Xbox 360 Elite, you'd best be prepared to wait in line for one. Well, that or you could pre-order it somewhere else. Has anyone out there pre-ordered an Elite?
Posted Mar 28th 2007 5:00PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
Journalist for the Mercury News and all around Xbox guru, Dean Takahashi, recently raised an important question. The question: who really needs HDMI? Of course, Takahashi is referring to the
Xbox 360 Elite and its inclusion of an HDMI interface. Who better to answer the question than Kasey Holman, senior director of Corporate Marketing, HDMI Licensing, LLC. She couldn't be biased at all, right? Obvious sarcasm aside, Holman made the following arguments for the greatness of HDMI.
- HDMI provides the best video quality as there are no loss conversions involved, unlike component. The all digital signal will create sharper pictures without the ghosting or softness found through component. Smaller, high contrast details like text display this most prominently.
- HDMI provides superior digital audio (it supports up to 8 channels at 192kHz, uncompressed).
- HDMI is the future standard of High Definition content. Within a few years, content producers may activate a usage restraint token that won't allow High Definition playback over unprotected interfaces (i.e. component).
- Through an HDMI connection, the Xbox 360 will automatically detect the best settings for each television to which it is connected. In other words, users will no longer have to manually adjust resolutions and aspect ratios. These adjustments will be mad automatically according to the TV's specifications.
- HDMI sends both audio and video through the same cable, eliminating the need for separate cables. Of course, users of optical audio will beg to differ, but it does simplify things like System Link play.
There you have it, 5 reasons HDMI owns component. Anyone out there picking up the Elite solely for HDMI?
Posted Mar 28th 2007 3:45PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
With the announcement of the
Xbox 360 Elite came a flurry of news posts around the intertron, many of them featured right here. While the box has been confirmed for an April 29th release here in the States, our friends across the Atlantic have yet to receive any official date from Microsoft. So far, Eurogamer has conjured up two sources pointing to the nebulous date of late summer. The first source is Albert Penello, Microsoft's director of global platform marketing, who spoke on
Major Nelson's 360 Elite blogcast. The second source, a spokesperson from retailer HMV, also suggested late summer, adding that they would likely receive the new SKU "sooner rather than later." When questioned about the launch date, Microsoft responded that it was still awaiting confirmation of the European launch date.
Posted Mar 28th 2007 1:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
Aside from HDMI, the biggest feature of the
Xbox 360 Elite is undoubtedly the 120 gigabyte hard drive. Much to the relief of 360 owners everywhere, we now know that the 120GB drive will come with a transfer cable allowing users to transfer data from the 20GB drive to the 120GB drive. Sounds great, right? Don't answer that yet, because Joystiq has uncovered a few caveats to Microsoft's transfer solution. Do you have two 20GB hard drives? You'd better pick a favorite then, because the transfer software allows
only one 20GB drive to be transferred to the 120GB drive. Maybe you have data on your 120 GB drive you'd like to stick on the 20GB. Too bad, because you can only transfer from the 20GB to the 120GB. Any other combination -- transferring 20GB to 20GB for example -- won't work.
As if all that wasn't bad enough, transferring data automatically deletes any data already stored on the 120GB drive, and all files transfered will be deleted from the 20GB. Finally, data cannot be transfered back to the 20GB from which it originally came. Of course, some of these issues can be nullified by purchasing a
memory card -- a financial fact of which we're sure Microsoft is aware -- but the data transfer cable seems unnecessarily restrictive. Essentially, it will only be useful one time, unless you really want to format your 120GB HDD for some reason.
[Via Joystiq]
Posted Mar 28th 2007 10:15AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Earlier this morning Microsoft officially
announced the Xbox 360 Elite system and from what we can tell, it's getting a mixed response. Some of you feel that it's an unnecessary slap in the face to early adopters while others are pumped to welcome the new black hardware into their homes. So, we felt it was our duty to gather more information, pictures, and videos of the 360 Elite and further educate everyone. Then, we can all make an informed opinion and decision. Thank us later. Click through the links below to experience complete Xbox 360 Elite learnification.
- Channel 10 has an interview and Q&A with the Elite's main man Albert Penello.
- Major Nelson's special mid-week Elite podcast.
- Take a look at up close and hands on photos.
- Official press photos of all the black happiness.
- Read about all the Elite details over at Xbox.com.
- 120GB HDD info (it includes a migration cable).
Posted Mar 26th 2007 3:15PM by David Dreger
We've got a couple spy shots hot off the production line in China of the Xbox 360 Elite. They were taken with a cellphone so the shots aren't of the highest quality, but they get the job done. The site hosting the thread is TGFCer, which stands for "TV Game Fans Club", and according to our tipster, is one of the biggest Chinese bbs for video game enthusiasts. A later shot was provided of the top of the hard drive, and you can barely make out the "12" in "120G HDD" due to over exposure, but with some Photoshop wizardry (Command+I, or Control+I for PC users) we were able to get the text to become more apparent. More pictures (including aforementioned inverted color shot) after the break.
Continue reading Xbox 360 Elite production shots
Posted Mar 26th 2007 10:05AM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Rumors
With Microsoft staying hush-hush about the
Xbox 360 Elite, people are looking for information anywhere they can get it. It seems the latest source of information is the official XNA Game Studio Express forum on the Microsoft Developer Network. An innocent XNA coder looking for answers seems to have confirmed more than the press could with calls and email directly to MS. The question, from forum user PAPutzback1, was simple: "Will the HDMI output on the revised 360 require any code changes? I am hoping some developers have a beta unit and can answer this question." A Microsoft employee by the name of Shawn Hargreaves responded, "No changes required." Obviously, Hargreaves' answer points to the Xbox 360 actually integrating HDMI at some point in the future, possibly confirming the existence of the Xbox 360 Elite. Our buddies at Xbox-Scene also report that their Microsoft sources have informed them that the HDMI port could be worked into Core and Premium 360s by June.
Granted, Game Informer has already stated that it doesn't print false stories in its April issue, but this is the closest we've gotten to official confirmation from Microsoft. Take it for what you will.
[Via Xbox-Scene]
See also:
Xbox 360 120GB HDD advertising appears
Posted Mar 22nd 2007 3:45PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: Rumors
Update: As some of our commenters have pointed out, our own Engadget has confirmed with a trusted source that these pictures are indeed fake. Our surprise is palpable.
The word "official" is a tricky one out here on the clogged intertubes of Tomorrow World. Generally, the word "official" means one of two things. One, it means that something is, in fact, official, and that it is the genuine article. Two, it means that something is as fake as it can possibly be. It seems a handful of "official" pictures of the
Xbox 360 Elite have landed on Spanish gaming site, Consolas.com. Maybe we're jumping the gun here, but nearly
all the images look pretty damned fake. The controller and accessories look fishy, as though someone simply reversed white to black in all instances. We also find it odd that Microsoft would place the black Elite on a black background. The Elite package art is particularly suspect, as all the accessories pictured on it are white, not black. Put simply, we're skeptical.
Then again, we didn't find the
leaked Halo 3 packaging all that convincing either. What say you, 360 fanboys, real or fake?
[Via Digg]
Posted Mar 21st 2007 1:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Peripherals, Rumors
True, the rumored black
Xbox 360 Elite has yet to be officially confirmed, but we figured we'd add some more rumor logs onto our fanboy fire. Yesterday, Ben over at ars technica expressed his concern for how to transfer HDD data from his old 360 to the new Elite 360 if he were to purchase one. Not soon after Ben received a tip from a person who works at a large video game distributor (who wanted to remain anonymous) and divulged an answer to the data transfer problem ... an included cable. The tipster went on to say that,
"
MS has told us that the data will be transferred via some sort of cable that will be included with the unit. The cable will also be included w/ the 120GB drive that will be sold separately (price TBD)."
Again, this is a whole basket full of rumor berries, but if it were true would it sway your opinion on a new Elite 360 purchase? A HDD to HDD data transfer cable would be a great accessory anyway and with the release of a 120GB HDD one would think it'd be a no brainer. Or maybe we're all just geniuses.
[Via Digg]
Posted Mar 20th 2007 3:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
With the
revelation that the black Xbox 360, also known as "Zephyr" is in fact real (the image above is a dev kit, by the way), Engadget has gathered some concrete details from a trusted source. Some of these details were uncovered earlier this morning, but some questions -- particularly the notion of built in WiFi -- are brand new. See the fresh details below.
- First of all, the black Xbox 360 will be officially known as the Xbox 360 Elite.
- The Elite will be manufactured in limited quantities, possibly a few hundred thousand.
- Everything included with the unit will be black, including the case, controller, and Live headset. The packaging will be new as well.
- The Elite will cost $479 and will be sold alongside Premium and Core packs.
- Eventually, a white version of the Elite will replace Xbox 360 Premium packs. Presumably, this will happen shortly after the Elite is sold out. Once this happens, Premiums will include the 120 GB HDD and HDMI.
- There is no solid date for the Elite-to-Premium transition, though it is estimated to happen late summer or early fall.
- The Elite runs cooler than the current Premium, but it is unknown if it takes advantage of 65nm chips.
- Prices could remain the same when Premiums convert to 120GB/HDMI, but a price cut may still occur once the 65nm chips are implemented.
- The HD-DVD player will definitely not be bundled with the Elite and Microsoft stands by its claim that it has no plans to ever integrate an HD-DVD drive into the Xbox 360.
- There are no plans to integrate WiFi into the Elite or future Premium packs.
So there you have it, everything we know about the Elite until Microsoft decides to send out an official press release. Now that you know all the details (especially the bit about the Elite running cooler), do you plan on picking up an Xbox 360 Elite?
Posted Jan 2nd 2007 6:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Fan stuff
Halo.bungie.org got word from Mandalore that he has finally perfected his Lego version of the
Halo Elite. The Lego mini-fig is well constructed and even includes a make-shift sword to pwn all those noobs. Any fanboys out there ritually play ... I mean build with Legos and create some video game inspired work? We'd love to see someone create
Viva Piñata,
Gears of War, or even
Geometry Wars inspired creations. Be creative, get building, and
send them in!
[Via HBO]
< Previous Page | Next Page >
