New version of the Xbox 360 announced

[Steve]

MS just announced a new version of the Xbox 360 at E3. It's smaller than the current one, glossy black, has an internal (and removable) 250 GB hard drive, built in wireless N, it's "whisper quiet", has more connections on the back for audio/video and it has connections for Kinect (Natal), although Kinect will work with all current 360s.

 

Pricing changes: -

 

New 360 (available from this week) = $299

Original Elite = $249

Original Arcade = $149

 

It'll be available in stores this week. No word on pricing outside of the US yet.

 

It didn't look too nice in the pictures that leaked yesterday, but Aaron Greenberg just showed one off "in the flesh" on Gametrailers and it looks better than the current one.

[Steve]

Pics: -

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4700187853_d331852a31_b.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4700818476_96f62421fe_b.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4700818636_91215a4f1d_b.jpg

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4700188445_cab38bb471_o.jpg

[MrDee]

its on play via hotukdeals for £199

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/699398/xbox-360-slim-with-250gb-hdd-199-99

[Ryan]

if mine ever blows up i'll get one of these

[doppelkorn]

You getting one Steve?

[Steve]

You getting one Steve?

Quite possibly mate. I have a Super Elite already, so I'm gonna watch eBay sales closely to see how much people are paying for them and if I can upgrade to this new model for a decent price, then I'll sell the Super Elite and get one.

[doppelkorn]

Super Elite eh? You know I never did end up getting games for my new PC. I don't know how people find the time to play computer games. Do you use your 360 as a media centre too?

[Steve]

The Super Elite is just the same as the Elite, but with a 250 GB hard drive instead of 120. I started with a 20 GB one, then I sold that for an Elite, then I sold that for a Super Elite. I buy bundles every time and sell off the unwanted games, the old console and controllers etc. so it's never cost me a penny to upgrade - in fact, last time I made a small profit.

 

I use the 360 occasionally to stream films from my PC, but for most of my movie watching I use a WD TV media player. I've used Last.FM a few times on the 360 too.

[Gizmo]

Still getting a PS3 Slim. The lack of Blu ray in this makes it a non starter for me. I want as few boxes as possible under my TV.

[Steve]

You getting one Steve?

I've pre-ordered one now. Got it for £184. I got £103 on eBay yesterday for my Super Elite minus the hard drive. I should get about 45-50 for the hard drive and 10 for my memory unit, so it's only costing me about £25 to upgrade.

[doppelkorn]

Steve what do you love more - DJing or gaming?

 

Just tell me and be honest. Sometimes I feel I'm not the no. 1 priority in your life.

[Steve]

Steve what do you love more - DJing or gaming?

I do more gaming than I do DJing, but I don't do huge amounts of either (certainly not DJing!).

 

I got my new 360 yesterday. I'm really pleased with it. In the pics it looks like an Alienware PC or something, but it looks nice and sleek in the flesh. It's a lot quieter than the original 360 models.

 

[Ryan]

looks pretty. They should have done the light round the power button red though, just for a laugh.

 

i want one now!

[Sounds like a crime]

I might get one, Hmv are doing a deal that if you trade in your elite and wireless you get it for for 75 pounds !!

 

Im not to into the shiny black finish though. Just watch there be your finger prints all over it, in no time.

 

 

Though im intrested in it because its quieter and the bigger hard drive. Though i'll have to re download all my games (gr!)

[Ryan]

So steve is this thing quiet enough that you can just whack yer game in and play without savin them all on yer HDD? if thats the case i might sell mine and buy the 4 gig model. 4 gig is big enough if all i have is game progress saves and the odd arcade game.. plus if i ever needed to in the future i could upgrade the hard drive

[Steve]

The console fans and the disc drive are a lot quieter. With my old console, I installed games to the drive because of the noise and because of the reduced loading times. Now I install games for the better loading times and just cos I have the space to do it.

 

Do you have a hard drive for your 360 already? If so, you can remove the drive from the plastic casing and it'll slot right into one of those 4GB 360s. It won't be in a caddy, so it's not ideal if you move your console around a lot, but if it's sat under the telly all the time then it's fine.

 

If you get one, Amazon are doing a good deal at the moment: -

 

4GB 360 "Slim"

HDMI cable

Forza 3 (which I know you have already, but you could sell it)

Crackdown 2

 

All for £145.

 

Also, if you pay an extra £10 you can have either Medal of Honor or FIFA 11. Even if you don't want either of those games, get one of them anyway just to sell it. CeX are currently paying £30 cash for either of them.

[djdiggla]

Oh shit! You got one! The price increase is what gets me... I thought price was supposed to go down and features increase with a tech device over time... not the opposite.

The bluray is a nice feature as Giz said... no idea why they don't do a stand alone attachment like the HD DVD was... sure it's contractual. I rarely turn my 360 on but the only reason is I can't be bothered to pay for online (even tho it's hands down better) when I can do it free with my p3. Maybe I'll stick my 360 in the bedroom to stream movies from my media computer.

 

That would be funny, Ryan--if the lights were red~ haha

[Ryan]

The HDD i'm sporting on my box is a fake 120gig drive str8 from china. Its like 8 -9 months old and have had no trouble with it yet (fingers crossed)

but my plan was to sell the whole lot controller, drive, every thing, and add as little cash as possible to the new version.

i've seen ones goin for £120-30ish on ebay.

 

Not sure what i'll do. Thanks for the info

[Steve]

Oh shit! You got one! The price increase is what gets me... I thought price was supposed to go down and features increase with a tech device over time... not the opposite.

Is this about the 360 or PS3? In the PS3's case, the price was reduced when the PS3 Slim came out, although the touch sensitive buttons and power switch were removed to cut costs. Linux support was also removed. In the 360's case, the price remained the same when the new model was released, but they added in wireless N, the touch sensitive buttons, extra USB ports and what not. The only thing removed from the new version of the 360 is the old memory unit slots, but that's because MS added the ability to use any USB device as a memory unit in a previous dashboard update, so you can just use a standard USB stick.

[djdiggla]

Oh, I thought the price went up... I guess I was looking at the arcade price, huh. That's dope then!

[djdiggla]

Hey Steve, I'm 99% sure I'm gonna switch my preorder of BlackOps to 360 which made me think about how my 360 doesn't have HDMI. I have the non-HDMI "HD" connectors... do you think I should try and get a newer 360 which HDMI or will will it look basically the same? One thing I was thinking is how I have to adjust the stretch on my TV to how I want it with the 360 I have but my PS3 does it automatically I guess since it is hdmi. ...Then second question is, if I upgrade how do I copy all my data on the 360 HD to my new 360? And do I need to reformat it before I sell it?

[Steve]

What cable are you using with the 360? Component cables can look as good as HDMI with a lot of TVs. The same with VGA. I can't tell the difference between HDMI and component with my HDTV. If you are using component or VGA, I'm not sure what's causing the image to be stretched though.

 

There's 2 ways to copy data over on a 360: -

 

1. Buy/borrow an official transfer cable. That copies everything from your old drive to the new drive, then it wipes the old drive. It copies everything in one go, except installs of disc-based games, which you'd have to reinstall on the new console. If you get a transfer cable off eBay, you can use it and usually sell it on for what you paid for it. I've done that a couple of times in the past.

 

2. Use a USB stick. You can use any USB stick that's 1GB or above. Plug it into the 360 and go to Memory under System Settings. Have the 360 format it, then you can move your gamertag and game saves to the USB stick. Plug that into the new console and move the tags/saves to the new console's hard drive. You can also move DLC (map packs etc.), downloaded XBLA games and so on using this method. The only thing that can't be moved is when you've installed a disc-based game to the hard drive. In that case, you'd have to just reinstall the game on the new console.

 

If you use a USB stick, once you've got what you want off the old drive, you can go back into Memory, highlight the hard drive, then press Y and "Format" is one of the options there so you can wipe it if you want to sell it. If you use the transfer cable, it'll be wiped in the transfer process.

[djdiggla]

I think it's component cables I'm using ...it's 4 or 5 analogue cables that plug into the TV... the image isn't distorted or anything, I just can select if I want it to be normal square tv display, stretch, stretch plus, etc just like any widescreen TV... but with the PS3 there is no changing between those... I always assumed the HDMI just did it all digitally.

 

I might just stick with my old 360 since it sounds like not much difference, but I might have a friend who would buy my old one too... how much should I try n sell it for?

[Steve]

I just can select if I want it to be normal square tv display, stretch, stretch plus, etc just like any widescreen TV... but with the PS3 there is no changing between those... I always assumed the HDMI just did it all digitally.

Gotcha. Yeah, that's nothing to worry about.

 

I dunno how much your old one would be worth. Have a look at some completed listings on eBay to see how much they're going for over there. Over here, an Elite with no games goes for about 100 quid.

[djdiggla]

Cool! Thanks man!