AT&T Tech Support 360March 27, 2007 9:01 PM PDT
Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Elite
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News of the Elite console has been making its way around the blogosphere and video game sites for days; Microsoft's announcement did not contain any real surprises.
Essentially, the new console, at $479, is set to include a 120-gigabyte hard drive, as well as an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port, an HDMI cable and a wireless remote, all in black. The Elite package will not, however, include an upgrade to the Xbox 360's behemoth power supply.
The existing Xbox 360 Core package, which has no hard drive, costs $299. The Pro model, which includes a 20GB hard drive, costs $399. Users of those models who want to upgrade to the 120GB hard drive can buy it separately for $180, Microsoft said.
Asked about well-publicized quality assurance problems with the Xbox 360 line--resulting in some customers returning their consoles multiple times--Xbox product manager John Rodman said the Elite would raise the line's quality standards.
"We made a tenet to not ship the Elite console...unless we got quality to where customers and readers and ourselves are happy," Rodman said.
That means, he said, that Microsoft is committed to the Elite being a better-built console that will not be subject to the same frequency of customer service complaints.
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most bang for the buck, the 360 is the best all around system
for gamers and the PS3 is a bloated mess that has it's only
saving grace as a cheap BluRay player. Yet, I CANNOT believe
Microsoft is throwing a bigger Hard Drive, HDMI and a black
plastic into a stock 360 and calling it ELITE!?!? No INTERNAL WI-
FI??? NO INTERNAL HD-DVD DRIVE AND REMOTE??? This is a
complete joke. And what's worse is the media coverage calling
this a cheaper alternative to the PS3. I'd rather they had put in
Wi-Fi and and HD-DVD drive and sold it for $699. At least it
would have been a competitive feature set... wow... now there's
no wonder these are the guys who make a blunder like the Zune.
The 120 GB HDD is $179.
Add'em up and you get... $479.
At that price you get: the wireless controller and the headset, the HDMI port and cable (no extra $30 charge there, children!), a component cable (if Major Nelson didn't mispeak) and a TOSLINK audio adapter (for those that need DVI instead of HDMI).
You don't get wireless.
(I have a home wireless network; I use wired. It is *much faster* and cheaper to set up, too.)
You don't get HD-DVD.
(Nobody yet builds a blue-laser drive that can match the speed of the red laser drive in the 360. Plus, as pointed out recently, HD video on disk is barely a market; <1% of Netflix customers use it. Lots of smoke, little fire, there.)
Is it a bargain?
No.
Is it a ripoff?
No.
Just a good enough deal.
When you're in command of the market that's what you do. You establish your price points and you maintain their value; you don't cut prices just to screw the other guy--who's losing out anyway--and you don't put in features just to pad the checklist. Otherwise, you end up building a PS3 and the market already has one of those.
Its an Xbox guys, not a Playstation.
Get. Over. It.
the Elite would have HDMI but the price would
be $179 less. A good buy.
The optional hard drive could have been added at a later date, if so desired.
In that way it would
allow those of us who don't want to download
100's of movies to play games on a high definition
tv. Less than 10% of US population has HDTV and
these games are 1080def which is the highest definition.
For some strange reason Sony has conflicting
reports. The 20gig is expensive but Microsoft
says the Hard-drive value is $179 less.
So why is PS320 gig so high a price.
It doesn't add up.
Nevertheless, despite the price the PS3 20gig
is still alot of memory for games and should
be more than enough for most people.
Some of those games are complex and take some
time to learn--learning curve. So why anyone,
even fast learners, need so much memory is perplexing.
These greedy game mongers who play games through
once and then discard them in a day for no reason
at all are causing a price jump of $200 a unit.
He says that technology changes so fast that if they integrated wifi,
it will be obsolete quickly. So why they are using DVD? Why just
make it an option? Why they use Wifi on Zune?? Is the HDMI 1.3?
Isn't HDMI a moving target also??
Second, wired is superior to Wifi. So Will microsoft going to pay for
customer's ethernet wiring in their house??
If M$ was offering a console with a bigger hard drive and Wi-Fi support, this would be acceptable but adding the HDMI port is an admission of failure in M$ part for not thinking ahead, especially in regards to Hi-def content because obviously, whether through a download or HD-DVD the movie industry is not going support having their property put through an unsecured connection like 360's multi-AV cable.
In my opinion, if I bought a 360 already and I just read this, I have to wonder "what is M$ going to bring out that is for 360 that I can't do and will it affect my gaming or what types of games will this affect?" - and that thought is going to give me a sour feeling about my investment and M$ in particular.
360 was off to a good start having exclusive content and gaining games that Sony lost the exclusive clause on but this development is going to make not only have consumers question M$ commitment to its product customers but industry partners as well.
M$ ambition to control the living room and future multimedia paths is going to be the 360's undoing, in my opinion.
End user!
BTW - I upgraded my modded xbox to a 80gb hard drive that took all of 1/2 hour!
From a supplier perspective, MS is providing a comperable unit to the PS3 with a lower price. People who already own 360s are not target customers for the elite. The elite is targeted at people who do not own any next gen console. The only thing that is missing is wireless and an HD drive. Anyone who has gamed online will tell you that wireles impairs that experience so that is not factor.
Putting an HD drive in a gaming console was a bad move by Sony. You do not need Bluray to play any PS3 video game. The PS3 is a trojan horse for Blueray. Everyone who buys a PS3 is really covering Sony's costs for Bluray development. Even if 60 million people buy PS3s, Bluray could still be a dead format.
Both HD disc formats will be short lived IMO. Sooner than you think, satelite, cable, and phone companies will begin offering HD content on demand. Combine that with HD Tivo and the usefulness of an optical disc diminishes. Plus there is no guarantee that Bluray will win the format war.
Worst case scenario, Bluray dies (just like the Betamax) and PS3 owners have a $300 gaming machine that they paid $600 bucks for.
Moderate case, Blueray wins the war but on demand also gains momentum. You still paid too much because eventually, on-demand will beat Bluray.
Best case, Bluray wins and there is no on demand HD content. Yeah right.
Any way you slice it, PS3 buyers lose out. Think about it. Broadband has improved about two-fold over the past two years. Three years from now, we may all be downloading 10 megabits from our power lines and have a terabyte Tivo box or Media Center. Why do I need to go buy an HD disc again?
1) No built in wi-fi. Like seriously, I thought the 3rd time around Microsoft would have it built-in, I'd rather not pay upwards of $129 (user from Canada) for an adapter. Frankly, I'm disappointed
2) No built in HD-DVD. I wonder about this one. Is the fact that Blu-ray movies are outselling HD DVD by a ratio of 3-1 contributing to Microsoft's reluctance to implement it? Either that, or at the very least, have the Elite come with an HD-DVD drive seperately WITH the console would be nice, but no. And has Microsoft finally got rid of the humming noise that is common to most 360's?
3)Still only 3 USB 2.0 ports. I mean, the one in the back is obviously for the Wireless Network Adapter so in reality you only have 2. Wouldn't it have been possible to have two more in the front beside where the other 2 are now?
4)Pricey HDD. I mean having to dish out what will probably be $200 Canadian or more for an extra 100 GB of space...I mean, really, it's good they adressed the need for a bigger HDD, but for that price I could buy a DS Lite and a game...maybe they will bundle it with something...hopefully? (although I have a staff purchase at Best Buy)
5)Will we see a price drop on Premium and Core? Better yet, is the core even worth manufacturing? I see consoles being bought on a continual basis. And the cores are collecting as much dust as Sony's 20GB PS3. For the price of a core, and the new hard drive you might as well get the Elite...unless this is Microsoft's plan.
I look at the Elite now, it is basically the premium in black with a bigger hard drive and HDMI. I will probably get an Elite seeing as how I have all the accessories I need, but really, I think Microsoft could have done a better job with the Elite.
Man people were **** of with Sony, A lot more gonna be pissed of with Xbox 360
Personally I see it as a wast of money, in every single way, and complete gimmick to drive attention away from sony console.
Ps3 and a wii is the only combination of console which meets all yours needs really.
I have got a feeling Microsoft have just thrown their chance of ever winning this console war out of the window.
Long live Sony and Nintendo.
HDMI is a plus for the Elite, but it doesn't warrant those who already have the premium 360 to drop $480 on the elite.
releasing. Could be a lot more bad press on the way if it is not
1.3. Without it they can't support the new frame rates, colors or
high quality audio coming down the pipe. I still think the PS3 is
the only comsumer device supporting the new spec.
As far as them coming out with an HDMI adapter for the current
model, it probably won't be possible without another ungodly
huge adapter to clutter more rack or shelf space. HDMI has quite
a bit of technology around it and knowing MS they can't design
anything right on the first three passes.
Sony PS3=future proof
MS 360=upgrade after 15months?!?!
That may be a good reason not to buy an Xbox.
Give it a year and we all will be wanting a extreme when were sitting at home doing nothing while are 360 is being shipped for repairs.
- THE TRUTH IS
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by JAY2045
March 30, 2007 2:47 AM PDT
- 16 months after launch Microsoft is now playing "catch-up". They may be right in the sense that the 360 doesnt match up to the PlayStation 3.
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