Xbox 360 Elite Preview - Page 1 of 2

Xbox 360 Elite Preview

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Is the new black Xbox 360 worth the $479 price tag? Let's take an in-depth look at the new system before it launches in April.

Announced recently, Microsoft will release a new version of the Xbox 360, called the Elite. It will be black, offer HDMI support (cable included in the box) a larger 120GB hard drive, and will run cooler than the regular 360s. The big question on everyone’s mind is, does all this justify the $479 price tag?

I guess that depends on the angle you look at it from. I happen to like the white 360. I wouldn’t say it was my first choice of color, but more on that later. A black one offers an alternative, for sure, yet it fails to offer any originality. In the end, it makes sense to differentiate between the Elite and the other 360s, but this is a marginal selling point, at best.

HDMI is certainly the way to go for HD gaming. Many people questioned Microsoft leaving it out in the first place. Its inclusion here is a good idea for people with nice HDTV sets, especially with the prices dropping on such units. Still, only enthusiasts will see the difference between HDMI and component 1080p.The last software update allowed for 1080p through component hookup, so again, this might seem marginal.

The biggest improvement here is the hard drive. Now that you can download movies and TV shows through Xbox Live, the 20GB hard drive seems real small, even worse if you try to download HD movies. Demos also take up a lot of space and it is only natural to expect that they will only get bigger, so this feature is surely needed by a good amount of gamers.

The 120GB hard drive will also be available as an add-on for existing Xbox 360 owners. Regardless, if you don’t have a 360 and figure you'll use a good amount of hard drive space, the Elite is the way to go, for now.

The 360 runs hot, but not so much that I would suggest trading it in for the cooler Elite. Again, this is good news, but a marginal reason to pick an Elite over a 360 Premium. Does this improvement make the Xbox 360 a better purchase than the PS3? Well, maybe. I personally think the PS3 is too expensive. Note, not overpriced, just expensive. Yes, it has Blu-Ray and yes, Blu-Ray will probably win out.

Graphically, I think the consoles are at a dead heat. So, technically, with the larger hard drive and HDMI, this console competes much better. It’s still way cheaper than the top of the line PS3. If hard drive space and HDMI are selling points for you, the Elite wins, hands down. You have a better library right now with Microsoft. This certainly isn’t the nuclear weapon Microsoft needs to win the console war. This might be a secret weapon of sorts, but that’s about it.

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