Awesome! Except for the fact it will be >600$ probably...

Yowza. Retailing at...

1,000 Big Ones!

Heh, anyway...an HD DVD drive? If they plan on releasing games on that thing, that may piss off the userbase a ton. Unless they ship out free HD DVD add ons to previous owners, but I doubt it.

DAMN! And I just bought a 360. I JUST bought it.

i could believe all of that, but i doubt they would thrw all of that into one machine and expect it to sell(the cost would have to be around $600 atleast)

Stuff, when it was a Men's magazine, ranks just above Victorias Secret Catalog on the pre teen jack off junk mail list.

They used to "review" games waaaayyyy before they even come out.

hd audio, 320 gig drive and built in hd-dvd...id buy it in a heartbeat. I got the Elite as a 2nd 360 for the HDMI and I have no issue buying another console because I know it will get alot of use. If its over $500 that will suck but...if it has the features to match the price tag I might jump in...

Of course Ill need to find someone who wants to buy my Elite and Wifi adapter and hd-dvd drive...or I could buy another hd-tv for the bedroom. My girlfriend is going to kill me.

Depending how much it costs, I may have to buy one for myself and "Gift" the other one I have to my brother. After I buy a PS3, of course.

So... They made a PS3?

Yeah let's see how many people who bitched about the PS3 $600 pricetag actually buys this thing. I'll guess quite a few

Uh oh is Kotaku gonna get blackballed for this one? Just kidding but that is just not a smart move to release another one. I don't think there are too many people holding out just for wifi and and HD-DVD player.

built in wifi.......*slits wrists* i could have wanted for an ultimate instead of buying a 100 wifi adapter!

I love how MSFT is basically doing all this stuff that the 360 Attack Forces deride the PS3 for.

Focus on games meme: DEAD
Too expensive: DEAD

Maybe they'll finally ungimp their HDMI in this one as well.

Oh goody, they're finally giving us all the little things that we really wanted built in the system in the first place but now it's going to cost and extra $300.

Never going to happen.

Even if it does..

SONY WILL OFFICIALLY HAVE THE UPPER HAND.

And by that I mean.. Microsoft will be acting in an act of desperation... and my 360 will be going on Ebay.

This really won't do anything for the Blu-ray versus HD-DVD battle.

Other than bring a price-heavy 360 on the market for the people that want to just buy the most expensive version, it looks pretty uninteresting.

I wish they would re-design the thing. It's pretty damn ugly.

S

@PapaBear434: It's not a PS3 without giant enemy crabs.

And everyone who got a 360 for the holidays can no longer claim to be a virgin. This is due to the fact that they just got severely fucked. Severely. Fucked.

"So... They made a PS3?"

Yep, but with games.
;)

Let's take turns guessing the price.

On this matter, I'm happy that I don't need to worry about this SKU crap Microsoft is pulling off. Yes, Sony has like 4 SKU's as well, but they're not adding shit on top of them like an HDMI output.

By the way, the Xbox360 Elite already was capable of 1080p HDMI.

Furthermore, "hi-def audio output"? That's called Toslink in my book and the Component-HD cables had an input for that since day 1. Other than that, it could be digital coaxial, which I seriously doubt is a step up from optical (Toslink) - it's equal in transmission quality.
The only thing left would be HDMI audio - which every HDMI-out carries.

The HD-DVD integration is the thing that makes the least sense. It could only be used for movies anyway, thus I don't see the point of building it inside. The add-on was fine if you ask me. Built-in Wi-Fi, I understand. A bigger HDD wouldn't surprise me.

Résumé: I call serious bull on this.

All this stuff was supposed to be in last year's "Elite" ... so are they going to keep guessing the same shit until MSFT finally announces it?

@SaintAnima: Agree that the HD-DVD drive makes this report hard to believe. In-unit drive just seems to be a much bigger bet on HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray that Microsoft has been willing to play in the past.

If it is true, I think they will keep all the games as DVD. The HD-DVD inside would be just something to help the HD-DVD sales. I think MS would be dumb to make any games on HD-DVD since it would alienate their user base.

If they went HD-DVD from the beginning as PS3 did with their Blu-ray then games on those disc would be feasible IMHO.

So while the HD-DVD function attracts the movie buffs in the HD wars, the rest would attract the rest of the user base. I would like to get a hold of the 320gb HD for sure. I hope this new SKU is not $1000. I think it would be a bad move, something for Sony to rub in the competitions face. Though, you never know if all true what else MS has in store for this to counter Sony's expected PR response.

Wow imagine if they had only put all that into the 360 right away.

If MS come out of this gen with a lead over Sony the Michael Pachters of this world will look at MS, then Sony and say to Sony "thats what you should've done"....

@PapaBear434: BWAHAHAHAHAHA

I wonder if it will still come with RROD?

okay...could someone please explain why we need another 360 sku? Really. What's the point now?

@Achaemenid: They might be talking about the fact that the 360's HDMI is only 1.2, not 1.3, so true lossless sound like Dolby+ and True HD does NOT work on a 360's HDMI.

This is a joke right Another 360 that's pathetic

Sounds expensive!

But HD DVD players are hitting $100 now and this is just an HDVD-ROM so it shouldn't cost MS too much.

320GB might be internal...With cooler chips come smaller heat-sinks...With smaller heat-sinks comes more internal space...an internal HDD could be 3.5inch.

320GB will be ungodly expensive unless it's a full-size HDD...how are they gonna do it?

I think the only hold-outs are the die-hard Sony-lovers so I'm not sure who this will convince...

@subnet6:

Please don't make me list them all again. You know as well as I do that the game lineup is pretty strong anymore, and is shaping up to get much better in 2008.

Too much, too late.

I fail to see how this is exciting.

I hope this doesnt come true, but knowing how many Xbox 360's there are out there right now, I cant help but figure it will. I laugh in the faces of all those supporting Xbox now, here you are again having the cock rammed down your throats. Hope it feels good. Glad I didnt take this route. My PS3 has been Ultimate since the day it was released.

@papabear,

Oh, relax. I'm joking! Did you miss the wink?

It was too good to pass up.

@Royal_Highness:

Don't even joke about that. I'm still waiting on my fifth system from them, not due until at least early February.

@Ruisu: Was that supposed to be funny? If you are counting the PS3 is up to 4 SKU's. Only one who doesn't have four if this comes out is the Wii.

By the time this comes out wouldn't it be more practical to wait until the next console generation to buy something so expensive?

This is only going to happen if MS can get the SKU in for $399 maximum, preferably less. Yes, that will entail taking a loss, but presumably the idea is that Toshiba would absorb a large portion of that as a factor of overall losses for HD-DVD adoption promotions. You have to admit, looking at a value proposition like these specs represent, and if they are more or less free from the RROD, then suddenly the PS3 is no longer sitting on its lofty perch of having Blu-Ray as a technological advantage. I also hope that HD-DVD games become a real possibility if this unit turns out to be real...but we'll see how it turns out.

Well, I don't have an HD-TV yet...or surround sound...and I already bought a wifi adapter. Guess I don't need this one! Thats a few hundred saved for a PS3! WOO!

Including the HD-DVD drive is just silly since it would only be usable for movie playback. It's still a game machine and anything that doesn't directly relate to it's ability to play games is just superfluous dreck.

@Samicham85: *Slap*

"The 360 Ultimate will retail for... five hundred ninety-nine US dollars!" Yeah, I'm gonna add myself to the list of people calling BS. And if's true... then I'll add myself to the list of people who don't care.

Wait, are they going to do something about that GARGANTUAN power brick?

@PapaBear434: Does the PS3 has 7.1 channel output ?...

Is there a point to this? I wish microsoft would just integrate wifi into all the sku's. That's all it's gonna take for me to keel over and get an arcade.

@subnet6:

I figured. But I'm just bitter that they are making yet another one when they still can't give me a working damn unit.

@subnet6:
Burn! But man, this will be expensive.

@Achaemenid:
Is the Elite really capable of 1080p? Or is that just another lie. My 360 says it's capable of 1080p, but it isn't. And it's true Sony isn't adding shit to the top, but they're certainly skimming it off. And I like the addition of an HDMI out. They sort of just snuck it in the regular SKU without telling anybody or charging extra. I really do hate multi SKU consoles though, especially when you can't upgrade the previous SKUs. This also seems like it would be for hard core 360 fans who wouldn't mind paying a lot. But guess what they already have.

I really hate that they are just now adding wi-fi. That is what the 360 was really missing. Now that I have a fiber optic network, I desperatly need all my devices to have built in wi-fi, and I wouldn't want to pay for a bunch of shit I don't need just to get wi-fi.

People scoffed at the PS3's price when that first came out...heh wait until they see what MS is going to ask for this.

Also...XBox Ultimate? Somewhat cheesy.

That would probably be the worst part of the announcement, if true.

"You were part of our Elite...now become...the Ultimate..."

we always cpmplain when a company doesn't add features to the harware and when they do it then people complain that nobody wants it. I got money to burn so count me first to pick up the Bently model to the 360 system. Bought 360 day one then upgraded to the elite day one and looking for another day one for the ultimate. bwahaabwahaha....!

Hey guys, April Fools Day actually is in April...

@papabear,

Yeah, I hear you . Don't get me started on the RROD.
I WILL lose it.

Much like I chide Sony for constantly re-SKUing the PS3 in an effort to find on that will sell, I also chide MS for re-SKUing the xbox in an effort to get one that works.

Now if we could just get Nintendo to re-SKU the Wii with a nice graphics chip!
:)