Xbox 360 Elite Officially Announced

It should come as no shock that Microsoft has finally announced an upgraded version of the Xbox 360: the 'Elite'. The worst-kept secret in the videogames industry is now official, offering a 120 GB HDD, an HDMI port, and a smooth black finish for $479. The new sku drops next month, and to fill up that new hard drive Microsoft has lined up seven new partners for their Xbox Live video distribution service. Outfits like Paramount and Warner Bros. are nice to hear about, but I'm equally excited about the likes of National Geographic and ADV Films. 1up has the market cornered on commentary at the moment, with reactions from the staff there, a comparison of the new 360's value vs. the PS3, and a few words from Sony's Dave Karraker. If you're looking for even more coverage, there are several links available below.

L33T or 1337 edition.

[Rastignac]

That would have been a better name. For real elite gamers, L33T or 1337 is the right hyped choice.

Re:Worthless.

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

HDCP isn't that bad.

HDCP IS DRM, and it IS evil. But let's face it, it's the Barney Fife of the DRM world.

The only thing that kind of pisses me off about HDMI is that I can't record my own gameplay sessions from HDMI. Then again, I have nothing that could store raw 1080p either so...

Re:Interesting...

[Moocow660]

I'm 22 (and also went to engineering school,) and the last game console I bought before the Wii was a Sega Megadrive (Genesis in America) I'm mostly a PC gamer, and none of the other consoles really has anything extra to offer me to make me buy it instead of a new graphics card. Also, I never in a million years imagined I'd have girls I barely know turning up at my house to *ahem* play with my Wii. There you have it slashdot, Wii brings girls to your house*. *Disclaimer: Of course this still leaves you standing awkwardly in the corner of your own living room not quite sure how to start a conversation. Maybe they will fix this in the next hardware revision...

Re:Slot loading drive

[Loadmaster]

I hope so, or I expect the magic that's been holding the discs in my vertical 360 will wear out sometime soon.

Swi

Re:Interesting...

[nutshell42]

At my college, last generation the ps2 and xbox were pretty much in a dead heat for the top spot.

IOW, what you're saying is that your college anecdotes are useless for predicting the winner of the console wars?