It's 14 days of savings! Simply purchase an Xbox 360 Elite at the regular price, visit http://www.xbox.com/eliterebate (once it goes live), jump through whatever hoops they require you to jump through in order to qualify, and BAM! - eventually you'll receive a $50 check in the mail, which you'll probably accidentally throw away!

Can you tell I don't have much faith in the rebate system? It's a mechanic based on the fact that many people won't take advantage of the offer, or won't follow instructions properly. Perhaps I am just bitter that my own instruction-following skills are so lacking. Perhaps I just hate checks.

NERF 2 is being developed partially in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the NERF brand, and perhaps mostly due to the amazing sales of the first game. Set for a fall release, the new game comes with a new blaster - the NERF Switch Shot EX-3. New to the weapon is a NERF decoder scope, which reveals hidden elements when the screen is viewed through its ruby-red lens. The game itself is your basic rail shooter with NERF elements, including the ability to configure your in-game blaster with "millions" of upgrade combinations, as well as enhanced co-op play.

Poke fun at it if you'd like, but if I were twelve-years-old this is exactly the sort of junk I'd go crazy for. A video game plus a cat terrorizing device? Sold. Looks for NERF 2 to hit store shelves this fall.

Arguably two of the console's most defining game experiences come together in the Xbox 360 Game Of The Year Bundle, available in limited quantities beginning next month. You get an Xbox 360 Elite console complete with a copy of Halo 3 and a copy of Fable II, which should cover the bases for anyone who likes to mix their first-person shooting with a little inventory management and character leveling. Best of all, the games add nothing to the price of the console, with the bundle retailing for the normal price of $399.

Not a bad deal for someone eager to see what the Xbox 360 has to offer all in one fell swoop. As for those of you who've already purchased an Elite recently...oops.

Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out if Mega64' series of live-action video game performances is a work of genius or a work of madness. All I can think as I watch this latest clip is how utterly embarrassed I would be to be out there in public, dancing along to a rhythm game that's only playing in my head. I suppose that's why the Mega64 squad does this sort of thing...so I don't have to.

In the end, I think I had more fun trying to make out the words to Josh Jones original song, which is just enough of Steriogram's "Walkie-Talkie Man" to be recognizable, while still remaining utter nonsense. Hit up the link below to download the song as an MP3!

Elite Beat Agents {Mega 64]

In my mind's eye, I just see the same old 8-bit wireframes only... better, somehow. A bit less blocky would do. They don't even have to have textures or anything, just as long as the gameplay is up to the original I will be happy. Just slap a bit of anti-aliasing on or something and I am there.

Sadly, the odds of Elite 4 being released for the BBC Model B or Commodore 64 are quite slim, but series co-creator David Braben has popped up to tease us with the idea that Elite 4 will be hitting current-gen consoles.

This sounds great, but surely Elite needs about 500 keys to be playable? Matching the complex controls to a game pad is going to be tricky, clumsy or both.

As to the game itself, Braben is staying tight lipped. “Very, very deep and dark,” is all he could reveal - hopefully referring to the gameplay rather than the remaining project plan.

Elite 4: “We are looking at console,” says Braben [Videogaming 247]

Elite 4 technology almost finished, says Braben [Develop]

Chacun son pack [Gamick]

Besides a bigger HDD, HMDI was one of the big selling points for the black Xbox Elite. But what if Plain Jane Xbox 360s could do HDMI? That would be pretty crappy for all those folks who upgraded. Manufacturer XMC is claiming that it has created a cable that will allow HDMI connection for regular Xbox 360s. Apparently, designs are going to be finalized in the next four weeks, and production should kick off after that. If this really does what it says it does, early adapters always get screwed, and good things come to those who wait. Brian Ashcraft

HDMI Conversion For Reg Xbox 360 [Max Console via Boy Genius]

All the games, all of them, turned into demos that asked me to download the full version. This is very unhappy making. I plug my cable back in and get on the phone.

I'm told by customer service that the only way to get the games working is to get my free data migration cable, and then he asks me to register my system to get the cable... I'm a little upset that among the many cables that come with the Elite they don't give you the data cable like they do with the stand-alone hard drive—and in fact many people online have been talking about their plans to buy the stand alone and return it after using the cable—but I'm even more upset that the cable is reportedly causing the same DRM to kick in with your games... If I bring my Elite to a friend's house that doesn't have ethernet in the living room, we can't play Geometry Wars? That's silly.

Silly and mean. Kim Phu

If You Upgrade into an Elite, Your Arcade Games Have a Surprise for You [Arts Technica]

As late as yesterday I was getting reports from stores stating there would be no program, but today all of the stores I talked to yesterday have changed their tune, stating that the premium systems would be worth $250 (from $190), with cores fetching $200 and first-gen Xbox systems being worth $50.

The trade-in credit can be used towards anything, so if you were looking to offload an original Xbox, now would be the time.

I'll be seeing the GameStop manager who yesterday assured me there would be no trade-in program of any sort later today. If he winds up missing I was at your house the whole time. Michael Fahey

Good morning reader people! In case you missed the big news, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Elite. In short: The Xbox 360 Elite will come with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port, a HDMI cable, both component and composite cables, an audio adapter for use with HDMI and a black finish for the console, wireless controller and Xbox Live headset. The Elite model will hit in North America on April 29 for $479.99 along with a new stand-alone 120 GB hard drive that will sell for a whopping $179.99.

So, now that we know what it is, it's time to run a horribly unscientific poll. Brian Ashcraft

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

By way of a site I've never heard of from a reader who's never tipped us come these very hazy Xbox 360 Elite pictures. Could they be fake? Sure. Would real Xbox 360 Elites, which seemingly really do exist, look like this? Sure.

So let's pretend they're real and gaze on in gadget-loving stupification. Brian Crecente

Forums [Thanks Joey]

Xbox 360 Fanboy recently received what they believe to a picture of an upcoming Gamestop ad for an Xbox 360 120 GB harddrive.

The interesting thing is that the ad, as Fanboy points out, doesn't appear to really confirm the existence of the Elite as much as it announces a larger harddrive that could fit any Xbox 360, perhaps. That sounds like good news to me. I was starting to worry that Microsoft would just leave the standard 360 owners out in the cold. But Microsoft would never do something like that would they? Brian Crecente

Xbox 360 120GB HDD Advertising Appears [Xbox 360 Fanboy]