Comments on: Xbox 360 Elite Announced, Pictures

By: Chris chance

Chris chance — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:50:39 +0000

Yes microsoft lovers can bash sony for the sheer fact that sony FORCES PEOPLE TO BUY BLURAY… I DONT WANT BLURAY OR HDDVD I WANT A GAME MACHINE!

And for 250$ i can get a core 360 or 300$ i can get a premium 360 for just that, GAMING (check froogle prices have fallen a bit)

Chris / NTN
http://www.nextechnews.com

By: Anuban

Anuban — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:07:01 +0000

Right now no one really needs HD movie capability but in two to three years the story will be different. I can almost bet that yet another 360 will emerge in the next 18 months. One with built in HD-DVD that costs $650. We shall see. Now I do wish that Sony had more good games that I haven’t already played on the 360. Maybe today is a good day to get a PS2 and forget about all this next gen stuff and just play some God of War II. I really need to do that.

By: Evander

Evander — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:59:18 +0000

Your first post Anuban you said the PS3 is $600 and the Elite with the hd-dvd add-on is about $680.
But I agree with you on this absolutely, when the Elites use the 65nm chip and have better features then I might say that it would be worth it. But right now I don’t need HD movie capabilities so the 360 still looks more favorable at the moment. Just not until they improve on it and make the necessary changes to make it truly “elite”.

By: Anuban

Anuban — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:15:03 +0000

I just cannot agree with that but you have your opinion which I respect and I have mine. And this time around I think MS is charging too much for the Elite with no built in High definition movie playback features. I understand what you are saying but spending close to $500 and getting NO HD playback capability is a rip off imo. And again this unit is using the currently existing 90nm chips. No way I am going for that with the 65nm right around the corner.

By: The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:40:33 +0000

But dude! Bashing sony was fun for many reasons cuz they never gave u options. The 360 gives u options to be the price of sonys ps3. The 360 is still way cheaper for someone like for me the gamer that only cares for a gaming machine. Now, I just said someone like me. Let me change that, I love games and if i wanna buy a gaming machine then I something that is cheaper and upgrades.

I bought the 360 basically for gamez and the dvd player, now 360 will have either hddvd and blu ray add ons. But, if someone doesnt wish to view those movies yet. *cough* most of the world right now….officals say next gen-hd- will be around 10-11. This is perfect someone that bought a 360 or wii-i know wii cant- with the option to go hd,hd movies and etc they just pay the base price of 400 bucks.

Where sony is forcing their users to use blu ray which u dont even need for the next gen games. So far nintendo and MS are making the right moves. They realize ppl only buy consoles for what? of course the answer is gaming. Now, someone like me yes this is the example bout me buys the console 1 for gaming. 2 I know it can do movies,music,the stuff for pictures,online and etc.

The average american that buys this kinda stuff for their kids doesnt know this. I think if sony gave the ppl a choice to upgrade to 179$ hard drive,or hdmi,etc….its still a good buy.. EVEN though they come out the same price its -200 cuz they gave u the options for the hd/blu ray add on.

By: Anuban

Anuban — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:29:01 +0000

Looks like I will pass totally on this version. And also for the record … I think MS has just made it’s first HUGE mistake in this race. Just my opinion and I am not going to get into a fight with anyone about it.

“One thing the console will not come with is a data transfer cable, as had been rumored. However, a stand-alone, $179 120GB drive for the console will be released alongside the Xbox 360 Elite bundled with a data transfer cable. The cable will allow for the transfer of all Marketplace downloads and game saves from an existing 360 hard drive to the new hard drive.

According to Albert Penello, Microsoft’s director of global platform marketing, the old hard drive will be blanked following the data transfer and can then be attached to any other 360. “The stand-alone drive is the main option we’re suggesting to existing Xbox 360 owners,” he told GameSpot.

So what about HDMI-craving HDTV owners who want to get an Xbox 360 Elite and transfer their current XBLM content to it? In one word: Wait. Penello said that Microsoft is “working on a solution” for transferring data from current 360s to Elites, but he would not elaborate.

Hardware-wise, Penello said the Xbox 360 Elite has the same disc drive and processors as “current models.” He also confirmed it would not have an internal HD-DVD drive, as some had suspected. “We don’t want to segment the user base,” he told GameSpot. He also confirmed that the external Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive would not be available in the Elite’s black finish for the foreseeable future.

Another thing the new console won’t have is Internet Protocol TV functionality, which Microsoft announced it was bringing to the 360 platform at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. “[IPTV] trials will start this summer,” said Penello, who didn’t have a start date for the service.

As for the fate of the current hard-drive-less $299 Core Xbox 360 and 360-equipped Pro Xbox 360 models, Penello said they would continue to be offered. He also confirmed that the new model would be a permanent addition to the 360 product line and not a limited edition.”

Yeah so count me out on this one. I will wait for IPTV and the new chips and an optional black HD-DVD player thank you very much. For the first time I do think that Monarky may be right about MS ripping people off. I am not a happy camper with this news. I don’t see how they can confuse the market so much with 3 SKUs … that sucks. And to me the new Elite is not very elite at all. Bah. If you want to call your thing Elite include Wi-Fi, include a High definition playback format, include the new 65nm chips, include the IPTV functionality. Maybe then nearly $500 bucks wouldn’t be so bad.

By: Anuban

Anuban — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:01:28 +0000

Wow!!! That is one expensive hard drive … still it really shows that they were ripping people off with the 20 GB drive. I usually try and defend MS but in this case that was garbage. Selling a tiny drive for $100 bucks and then releasing one with 6 times the storage and only $79 dollars more … that is a good thing even if the overall price is high. So yeah we were getting shafted paying all that extra money for a premium over a core. But anyway the Elite will take the place of the premium at some point. I know I will buy one by the end of the year. I can use the HDMI connectivity.

It just occured to be that the $80 price differece in the drives is the same price difference between the Elite and the current Premium’s so getting an Elite is a good deal afterall because you are also getting the HDMI port, a HD cable and a nice black finish so when you look at it from that perspective they did alright I guess. Still kind of pricey and actually more expensive than the top of the line PS3 … of course I mean when you add in HD-DVD as this makes them completey equivalent.

For most consumers (most don’t care about cell vs IBM processors and memory differences etc.):

PS3 – 600 bucks gives you blu-ray, HDMI, black finish, 60 GB HD
360 – 680 bucks gives you HD-DVD (add-on), HDMI, black finish, 120 GB HD

So you decide … all I know is that now MS supporters CANNOT bash Sony for having such a high price anymore. Now a complete top of the line Xbox 360 is costing nearly $700 … are you kidding me? No one seems to even care though and that is pretty hypocritical of people. I don’t really like Sony that much but fair is fair and once the PS3 games start flowing they really will be able to compete with MS now. I think this new price is a big mistake … it would be okay if they would have included HD-DVD (of course they can’t since they don’t want to lock themselves into a format so early in the format wars) but other than that I don’t know.

But yeah I will still get one (just like I will eventually get a PS3) … I just needed to vent a bit because … well just because.