Black Xbox 360 Elite limited release in April features 120GB hard drive, HDMI port and cable priced at $479; A white Elite version will replace the Xbox Premium at $399 in summer 2007

20 March 2007

Posted by:Ferry

Just confirmed by Engadget‘s sources at Microsoft is that the black Xbox 360 is indeed coming and is called the Xbox 360 Elite! Here are all the details lined up:

* The new black colored Xbox 360 Elite is coming in late April, 2007.
* The 120GB Hard Drive will be sold separately for under $200. All new black accessories will also be sold separately.
* The Elite will be limited quantities only; that may be as much or as little as a couple 100,000s.
* The case, controller, and Live headset will all be black. It will have all new packaging.
* Elite will cost $479.99, and will be a 3rd SKU; it will be sold alongside Premium and Core packs.
* Eventually Elite hardware (in white plastics) will take the role of the Xbox 360 Premium at the current Premium set price of $399.99. That is to say, after the black Elite is launched and sold out, future white Xbox Premiums will have 120GB / HDMI.
* We do not yet know exactly when 120GB / HDMI will become the standard for Premium, but it is loosely estimated to be late summer or fall of 2007.
* Elite models run cooler than normal 360s, but they are not yet confirmed to have 65nm chips.

They also answer some other questions you might have:
* 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).

This is great news for gamers with a HDMI port on their HD TV, who don’t have an Xbox 360 yet. But current owners will surely feel the pain of a filled up 20GB hard drive and having to pay below $200 for a replacement hard drive is a must considering most 120GB internal-external hard drives cost about $30-$50 nowadays! Hopefully Microsoft will announce an easy way for current Xbox 360 Premium owners to swap their 20GB for 120GB that sees Microsoft copy over your gamertag, save files, video data and such for you.

Categories: News

http://www.myspace.com/astrotriforce astrotriforce

Holy crap! From 20 to 120! Insanity. And yes my friend Chris is here and he brought his 360. He just bought his last Christmas, I told him about this and he was like, “Man that sucks . . . I feel gipped!” Good news for me though since I don’t yet have a 360.
Magneto

April Fools dude! You won’t see it. Rumors like this happen every year at this time for April 1 jokes.
http://www.myspace.com/astrotriforce astrotriforce

Not according to GameSpot, who says that Game Informer will apparently have the exclusive scoop in their NEXT ISSUE. i.e., not the April issue.

But we’ll see. MS needs this so I doubt it’s a joke. The rumor has apparently been around since January.
supadupagama

To top it off Astro is that Game Informer never makes April Fools jokes in their April issues.

This is for real Magneto, we’re very careful getting confirmation is seemingly April Fools jokes at the moment, for example that’s why we haven’t run the possible NiGHTS Wii story.
Yohon

This has to be a joke. Honestly this will be bad for Microsoft. Why? because it will truly show how Microsoft only cares about the money. 480 for a new system that is only hdmi and a black case??? 200 for a 120gig hard drive?? Plus to top it off no HD DVD!! Not being a fanboy about it but add it all up 480 plus 200 for hard drive plus 100 for wireless (you know you need it)and if you want a cheap HD DVD you get the add on for 200. You guys do the math!! it’s not for for us as gamers.
trudavy

Yohon, ur an idiot, $480 gets u the new sleek black console with hdmi ports, the normal cables plus an hdmi cable, a 120gb hd, and black headset and controller

I jus want to kno if the headset is wireless.
pixelsword

trudavy, he’s not an idiot:

for $20 more you can get the 20 gb PS3 WITH a Blu-ray player built in. And let’s face it: Blu-Ray is out selling HD-DVD two-to-one and at one point three to one. So I’d rather get a PS3 and spend $100 on an HDMI cable and have the complete package, than go $20 cheaper, but spend *$200 for the losing brand of HD-DVD add-on. Or the even more expensive option of spending even more for a stand alone Blu-Ray player.

(*which will make the XboX more expensive than the high-end PS3 or STILL make it slightly more expensive if you add the HDMI cable to the PS3…but you still won’t have the option of playing high-density games through your add-on player!)
smarterone

pixelsword ur an I_D_I_O_T!

first xbox wont have a hd-dvd add-on

second blu-ray isn’t sellin any better than hd-dvd

also, this is no joke, i mean seriously!
MIcrosoft wouldn’t want a *false advertising* ticket hanging over them. Also, this is MARCH! NOT APRIL!
http://www.xbox360.com Jeff Smith

Dood the Elite is totally coming out, it was on G4 “Talk of the show” it looks sweet, but I totally feel ripped off, cuz I got my 360 on 11-16-06, and the system already broke, now they decide its a good idea to come out with a new one, that will break instantly too? that’s jacked up. But does anyone know how I could get my orignal xbox 360 fixed?

Please E-mail me if so

Yourburntstar@hotmail.com
-Jeff
Jake

This could and couldnot be a april fools joke but it might not be cause alot of people have published this and such and that costs alot of money and if it is a joke then they wasted quite a bit of cash!