Black Xbox 360 Confirmed: 120GB HD & HDMI
The hot word from Engadget has confirmed the existence of the Xbox 360 Elite, a transitional, limited-quantity black 360 that will retail for $479 and be sold alongside Premium and Core systems. Exactly how many of these sweet midnight babies will be available is anyone's guess, but the 120GB hard drive and HDMI output will become the standard for Premium systems as well sometime this year after the Elite systems have sold out.
Some other features of the Elite models, which may or may not make it to the revamped Premium system:
- The case, controller, and Live headset will all be black. It will have all new packaging.
- Elite models run cooler than normal 360s, but they are not yet confirmed to have 65nm chips.
- Prices may remain the same with the 120GB / HDMI hardware upgrade in the Premium Xbox, but we may still see a price cut on the line when 65nm chips start shipping.
- The HD DVD drive will not be internal or bundled -- Microsoft never did or nor does not currently have plans to put an HD DVD drive in the 360.
- There are no current plans to integrate WiFi into the Elite or future Premiums (although that can always change).
- Eventually Elite hardware (in white plastics) will take the role of the Xbox Premium. That is to say, after the Elite is launched and sold out, future Xbox Premiums will have 120GB / HDMI.
This certainly ups the ante for Microsoft's content distribution angle, and would effectively de-hamstring their video service if they can push enough of these onto their install base. For anyone who does not already own one, the future looks bright. For those of us who do, I certainly hope they don't decide to strong-arm us into upgrading (which, for my money, wouldn't happen) by denying us a larger hard drive accessory.
Otherwise, though, this seems like good news for 360 fans!
Xbox 360 Elite: new, black limited edition Xbox with HDMI and 120GB drive [Engadget]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 20 March 2007
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: 120gb hard drive, elite, hdmi, microsoft, xbox 360
I don't care about HDMI but I'd sure like the option to add 120gb to my old 360!
Fuzzy, the drive is going to be sold separately so you can use the 120gb on your old 360. My question is, how do I get my save games from one to the other?
Getting save games from one hard drive to another is a supreme pain in the ass. Basically, you just can't do it. Not even with a memory card! Most game saves will tell you that if you try to transfer the save to a memory card you can no longer earn achievements, or sometimes it just plain doesn't let you. I really hope they come out with some sort of transfer kit or easy solution because I would love to upgrade my HD.
Wait, still no wireless out of the box? HD-DVD still an add-on?
Elite, my ass.
I can understand the lack of HD-DVD, they don't want to alienate their current users and the only reason would be to watch movies, not play games since games on HDDVD would limit the number of people who could buy them, I say save it for Xbox 3. Integrated Wifi would be damn nice, especially considering both the cheap Wii and expensive ps3 have it built in at no extra cost, where as now 360 owners have to pay another 100 bucks just because they don't have ethernet wired to their TV room.
Blu-Ray is crushing HD-DVD in sales anyway, so that's not a big deal to me. the integrated wireless would be nice, but the bigger HD and the HDMI output are much appreciated. I'm glad I've held off on getting a 360 now.