Comments on: Xbox 360 Premium takes Core place at 299?

By: Xbox360elitesux

Xbox360elitesux — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 03:07:52 +0000

Okay guys I hope this helps u all with your decision on buying a 360 elite or not. So pretty much here’s the whole thing in a nutshell.
360 elite costs $80 more than regular 360. All the elite has more than 360 is HDMI capability, which won’t even work with newer HD TVs. It’s a version 1.2, which can be upgraded but it costs more money. The 120GB more space, from what I know about games, is too much space anyway. Who is gonna store 120 gigs of crap on an XBOX? That’s what computers are for. games don’t take that muh space to save in he first place anyway. In my opinion, the Xbox 360 premium package is SO MUCH BETTER thanm getting the elite. I expect the elite will be bought seldomly and the 360 will still be a major gaming breakthrough. Microsoft is amazing, just not too great of market strategizers… IN MY OPINION. Just to give ya’all a heads up.

By: snuffy b. luffy

snuffy b. luffy — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 04:24:59 +0000

it always amazes me about these rumors. i live in redmond, so i see the hands of microsoft every day around town. when i get a sandwich at the deli chances are at least 1 person in line is a microsoft employee. you hear things. you know things. plus, it is very easy to get into play testing. i play tested gears of war and was amazed to hear people in shock and awe when i told them how far along development was since a release date wasnt announced. the simple fact is, if you want to know what the deal is make yourself a familiar face in and around redmond. you dont need uber 1337 spies or “inside info” to figure it out. just pay attention to the surroundings. when the weather permits, the MS campus usually has a good amount of people outside enjoying the grounds - playing frisbee or kicking a ball around. youll see techies walking around in groups arguing about some obscure issue and in general the campus looks active. thats just how things are. so lets say you check out the campus, its a nice day, youve heard some rumors and are expecting to hear something in the next week, you take a look around and see - - nobody. The campus looks absolutely dead. because everyone is inside working on whatever it is that hasnt been announced yet. this is how it was in the week leading up to the release of halo 2, gears of war and vista. you dont need black leather trench coats to figure this stuff out.

By: pantstain

pantstain — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:35:23 +0000

You people are funny. Firstly, I have to admit, this was a very interesting thing to read. Props to those not American and my American brotheren. Being of a decendant inslaved and brought to this country I am also thankful, now anyway. Getting a 360 in Africa is probably slim. Taking a minute for the “Native Americans” or “Indians” or the people of India, which ever you were referring earlier, that statement was unpleasant. The youth of the nation now argues over “VAT” pricing and bad “computer translation”. I would hate to get in a frag contest with you spawn campers. I do have a point to my madness. Xbox 360 w/o HDMI, if you own, which we all do, why upgrade if you don’t need to? Coversation ended. If Core is gone, so what do you have a hard drive? Be thankful, a 120Gb will be available for you too. It’s pure marketing, why not allow you to “buy” something from one of the riches companies on Earth? Fixed HDD, come on, I thought you guys were smarter…how fast can you fill up 120Gb? They know that too. Like stated earlier, Halo 3 will debut this year, couldn’t do it last year cause GoW did better than expected. So they have extra time to get it right, so we don’t complain early. Sure they could have released if needed late last year or early this year, but that would have required you to patch the game everyday for a week. Now, they can make it what you want to play. Sit back, for give the foreigners of the Crusades, and quit talking about the people who made this country what it is. We know we could take Europe, but where else would we find competition? Think about it…;)

By: mtbjunkie

mtbjunkie — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:53:02 +0000

Microsoft - Can we please have a trade in program for current 360 owners that want the black 360 w/ HDMI port? Half price would be great, Thanks!

By: jeson

jeson — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:05:49 +0000

i’ll laugh if it is price close to the ps3’s pricing. however i like the x360 and halo look awesome

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:28:08 +0000

Were you forced to buy a PSTwo when it came out? Does the first 360 become obsolete when a new version is released which does exactly the same. HDMI is a nice bonus, but nowhere near mandatory upgrade. It’s a simple new revision of the exact same product that can do the exact same thing, just has an extra A/V output.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:26:39 +0000

That’s the stupidest remark thus far in the comments. Size is a mere small factor in the equations. How about content protection, where Bluray is far stricter than HDDVD? Backwards compatibility, which Bluray does not have? Reading speeds, seek times, vulnerability of the discs, cost of drives? Sony having severe problems manufacturing intact diodes for the Bluray?

Merely looking at size is a testament to your shortsightedness.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:24:17 +0000

I got rather good results at math thank you. Besides Doug’s comment the VAT difference was explained several times in the comments here already. 399 US = 399 EU, and yes that means we are rather screwed permanently.

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:11:35 +0000

Apart from the fact that HDMI has been known (until 1.3 standard at least) to have extremely bad synchronization between audio and video.

By: Jer

Jer — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:17:23 +0000

The new 360 will be nice and it makes sence Seeing how they released the 360 so much earlier then the compation. I do believe change is a good thing and who knows MS is know for selling extras so why wouldn’t they sell a 120 gb HD for the current 360. Any way I am sure it’s just another marketing scam for MS to make more money.

By: ANTHONY

ANTHONY — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:23:11 +0000

WOW, MS IS MAKING A NEW XBOX AFTER ONLY A YEAR AND A HALF. BOY THEY REALLY MUST BE GETTING SCARED OF THE PS3. BUT I GUESS ITS BETTER LATER THAN NEVER.

By: coojo

coojo — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:08:36 +0000

blu-ray is better than hddvd cuz 50GB>30GB

By: J1980/ welljasona / UK Jay

J1980/ welljasona / UK Jay — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:19:54 +0000

I know that you are right by the way. HDMI is a fancy way of getting picture & sound together in an updated format - it’s basically a modern day scart cable

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:12:33 +0000

As if video game price conversions are ever done with this “math” thing you keep talking about. The Premium is currently 400 Euros and 400 USD. I’ll let you go from here, ask someone if you need help.

(and by someone I do not mean me because that’s as sharp as I get)

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:09:20 +0000

I can’t spell it out any plainer than our webmaster and all six of our original crewmembers are from the Netherlands which is in Europe thank you very much. To top it off, our server admin is in Belgium and we have several British newsposters and at least one Irishman. If memory serves, including myself, only four Americans currently work for this site. In other words: we are really outnumbered

You make a bad name for us good Americans

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:00:42 +0000

Never bought a Nintendo handheld then?

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:00:14 +0000

Screw ponies, I want a friggin’ unicorn.

By: Gunnar

Gunnar — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:12:49 +0000

“It sound to me like you have plenty of time. And your country wouldn’t be there if not for the young US, Unless you’re German, and I don’t want to think about that.”

Why wouldn’t his country be there if not for the young US? It’s not like the US has saved the world?

By: Creepy17

Creepy17 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:02:59 +0000

It would be a year and a half, which is about 25% of the expected life span of a games console. So really, it’s not that short of an interlude between release and upgrade.

By: C-Bass

C-Bass — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:23:49 +0000

Everyone trying to diss HDMI are stupid. i am not trying to shove it down your throat, but dont say it is inferior to anything else out there. the one addition i had was that recievers that use HDMI inputs are rare right now, but most HDMI products have an optical out as well. all you have to do is set the video to HDMI and the audio to your optical. stop complaining. and to re-release the 360 is lame. nice to see they went from a 4 year life cycle with xbox to a 2 year w/the 360

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:10:19 +0000

Will the new 360 be avalible in america too will there be some kind off deal if you trade your old one in you get a new one for a 100 dollars extra??? If not will the old 360 be obsolete

By: TCampbell76

TCampbell76 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:26:02 +0000

Did the editor of this article fail at math?
299 Euros = 392.8561 U.S. dollars. That is an estimated $5.00 price drop from the current US price. Also Amazon UK is selling Premium 360’s for £264.96 = 389.44 Euros. As for the HDMI console it was confirmed months ago.

This isn’t news. I’m impressed with the journalism skills on this site, no wonder I never heard of it before until Digg.

By: Stan Humphries

Stan Humphries — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:05:10 +0000

And your reply makes you look like an asshole as well.

Congratulations! You are a troll!

By: Stan Humphries

Stan Humphries — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:54:16 +0000

Then why do you respond to them with “BTW kiddo i have trees in my backyard older than your country..”

It sound to me like you have plenty of time. And your country wouldn’t be there if not for the young US, Unless you’re German, and I don’t want to think about that.

By: Blave

Blave — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:09:32 +0000

For the average consumer the difference in HDMI and Component is not very noticeable, if at all. Many tests have been done to prove this. On the flip side, the HDMI cable does allow for more seamless integration of your home theater setup granted that you have HDMI connections throughout your gear.

By: The_Glovner

The_Glovner — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:30:02 +0000

I got it, an laughed.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:47:06 +0000

Wow are you an asshole for making that statement! I live in the U.S. and I could never say something like that to another person.
Are your parents teaching you to not like any other country but the U.S.A.
Or maybe you’re native american and your indian name is ’sucksalotdick’ and your enviuos because you have no more dick to suck in this country because you have sucked them all!!!

By: steve

steve — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:37:39 +0000

What have you been smokin dude!
Do all the research on hdmi vs component and you will find out that hdmi does not look better!!! It’s just a bigger pain in the ass. Also you can’t use dobly 5.1 (optical) with hdmi. Unless your hdtv has an optical out!!! Or your amp has hdmi in and out! And since there really is no picture improvement and sometimes there is a picture degradtion (read up) it’s just not worth it!

By: Taomyn

Taomyn — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:39:47 +0000

They won’t do an HDMI port - it’s plain stupid. Apart from needing fancy coding to support two output ports (and increasing the number of hardware types to support), it means a mainboard redesign. They made a wise choice with a multifunction port (as did Nintendo and their Wii), so they simply need to update the code and bring out new adapters to keep up with changes (regardless of HDMI specs).

I think this prototype 360 was just a scare tactic for Sony’s benefit.

By: Farstarbuck

Farstarbuck — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:02:16 +0000

I find it hard to believe that MS will release a new SKU for over 400 Euros, A price far too close to the PS3 that has no next gen dvd player in it, only way its gonna be that much is if they include a HD DVD drive in the unit, 120 HD and HDMI 1.3 are not worth another 90 quid on top of 280 quid for me. Sorry.

By: c.

c. — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:09:43 +0000

HDMI is not overrated and you are not very smart nor do you know anything about HDMI. Component is not even close to HDMI as far as realizing a full picture. LCoS and what not are digtial, and it makes a LOT of sense to keep the signal in the digital domain. HDMI really shines when it comes to movies with much better bit depth, resolution, less chance for any kind of errors going from components. I am no real expert but just saying component is as good is not true and saying it is better is just plain ol’ retarded, considering just about any tv above 5 hundred dollars will have hdmi 1.3 in 2008. High class receivers usually have HDMI ports and will soon have HDMI 1.3 ports. All high class receivers will soon be fitted with the device for an all in one digital system from tv to receiver to bluray player. THIS IS FOR GAMING AND MOVIES THAT USE UNCOMPRESSED OR COMPRESSED SIGNALS in digital domain. Audiophiles will for quite some time use RCA’s for their systems as most high quality amps accept RCA’s. Most likely HDDVD is looking like it will lose so I am not thinking it will survive much longer than another year, with all the studios backing Bluray. But who knows….

HDMI 1.3 increases its single-link bandwidth from 165MHz (4.95 gigabits per second) to 340 MHz (10.2 Gbps) to support the demands of future high-definition display devices, such as higher resolutions, deep color and high frame rates. In addition, built into the HDMI 1.3 specification is the technical foundation that will let future versions of HDMI reach significantly higher speeds.

Deep color:
• HDMI 1.3 supports 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification.
• Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors.
• Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors.
• Enables increased contrast ratio.
• Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white. At 30-bit pixel depth, four times more shades of gray would be the minimum, and the typical improvement would be eight times or more.

Broader color space:
• HDMI 1.3 removes virtually all limits on color selection.
• Next-generation “xvYCC” color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals.
• Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately.
• Enables displays with more natural and vivid colors.

By: felizk

felizk — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:51:29 +0000

Whaat have you been smoking boy. Component better image quality than HDMI, that’s just madness

By: Norman Bates

Norman Bates — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:20:54 +0000

no offence coojo but i can’t stand 12yo yank kids

BTW kiddo i have trees in my backyard older than your country..

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:13:13 +0000

they need to do this before Halo 3, mass effect, and bioshock come out. If they do, all these games will bring in a lot of customers.

By: Bob Vu

Bob Vu — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:07:07 +0000

What is funny is that HDMI is over-rated. Let me ask all of you guys, how many of you guys actually use your HD tv speakers to play games. A few, I am sure the rest of you guys use a real surround sound system, not a simulated crap surround. So if you do use the HDMI port, you will have to add another wire or adapter in order to get the sound through your surround sound. However the black color and bigger hard drvie is pretty sick, bastards.

By: PrivateerLunatic

PrivateerLunatic — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:42:56 +0000

*then I realized, rather

By: PrivateerLunatic

PrivateerLunatic — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:42:19 +0000

Oh, and I was going to suggest that you just do the currency conversion for both the current and rumored future European 360 prices, compare them to the current American price, and get a rough idea as to the American prices if this story is true.

But then realize it’d be too much trouble for someone who already doesn’t take the time to use proper capitalization and punctuation.

Also, I forgot our straight-ass public education system sucks at teaching mathematics.

By: PrivateerLunatic

PrivateerLunatic — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:36:17 +0000

“Gay ass Europe?”

I daily wonder why God was so cruel as to make me share a country with people like you,coojo.

You’re the reason many of us have to lie and say we’re Canadian when we’re traveling…

By: Niels Keurentjes

Niels Keurentjes — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:14:51 +0000

The picture is illustrative. They never claimed they had a black 360 or a picture of it. I don’t even think it’s painted, just a Photoshop.

By: METAL

METAL — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 03:09:51 +0000

If it really was the rumored Black 360, they would have convinced people by showing a picture of the HDD and the HDMI output on the back. But they didn’t. Probably because they couldn’t because this is a home-made fake.