Furthermore, instead of the built-in HD-DVD, Microsoft should make it Blu-ray seeing as how HD DVD is out of business. But I'm also aware that the xbox disc and games don't hold the same amount of data as a PS3 Blu-ray disc.

I just think they need to think about compensating the old xbox owners for the built-in wi-fi and make it Blu-ray and NOT HD-DVD

bigstickcop

9876543210

And this is "Stuff." WTF do they know? Stick to titties.

ianken

ThE mOsT hIgH

Sounds identical to the PS3, but the PS3 is better built and will probably be alot cheaper.

fenderfuel08

IAWTP

EnigmaNemesis

stennex

so just to recap: not knockin' it (well, ok. maybe a lil bit), i just don't get it.

ps - just saw that konami shot down that rumor yet again. so yes, please save that seat for me ;)

BruzeWayne

zanzibarlegend

p.s. this rumor much like the mgs4 rumor is after all just speculation. if mgs4 doenst come to 360, dont worry ill have an open seat for you to play it at my house:)

zanzibarlegend

zanzibarlegend

cmorrigu

PatATC

presto117

Jandlecack

I personally only care about the built-in Wifi, and even then it's not as if they can't wait and just put it in the Xbox 3, 720, or whatever the damn thing's gonna be called. I just want a 360 that I'm confident won't RROD on me.

Jason144

BruzeWayne

PatATC

superaktieboy

"You are a cocky man-child that doesn't seem to understand that people have different tastes."

VitFer2007

No, I just don't like willful ignorance. It's why I don't like politicians, religious figures, and those with an irrational hatred of a mega-corporation that doesn't even know they exist.

PapaBear434

kw4k

WOW :O
wait one second..
MSFT bullied SNE for having a too high, having BluRay Builtin, having WiFI builtin (apparently it was the customers choice to have these or not)
now MSFT copies them?? sumit is not right :S

anyways..
i would really feel cheated if such an xbox came out and i already had an xbox 360..
i think that if MSFT does release this xbox 360.. that means the end of xbox 360!! they'd be better off releasing it as xbox 720 or sumit with full Xbox 360 & xbox BC, new controllers (that motion sensing controller??) etc!!

superaktieboy

ErickTheRed

ErickTheRed

thereturnoftheufo

The "washed out" color correction video circulating around is about changing your RGB setting via HDMI to full, not deep color support. Deep color is 30 bit(or more) color depth.

[www.hdmi.org]

aka Bitter

Sloopydrew

So what, you are arrogant an insecure and can't stand criticisms of your favorite games. And you're lecturing ME about maturity? GTFO!

Soldrak

You are a cocky man-child that doesn't seem to understand that people have different tastes.

PapaBear434

Never bought it. Got Crackdown instead.

You were saying?

PapaBear434

Lattyware

320GB? Remember the 360 uses 2.5 inch SATA hard drives. Now go find a 320GB drive at that size. At around £100ish they would be far too expensive for M$ to dump in, and keep the console worth buying. Along with quieter fans and a built in HD-DVD drive, with the mark-up they put on that gear? They would never do it. They'd have to either price it at around £500 or loose a lot of money on it.

Lattyware

Sugaray

Lant

Best cure for fanboyism: Buy all three consoles. But first, get a high paying job or something.

Soldrak

LostHorizon

Folklore was a low-budget game with low-budget production values.

Basically I'm calling you a certain someone who probably enjoyed Lair because its a PS3 game.

Soldrak

On a side note, it's really great that Sony lets people extend the platform with common parts like USB HDD (even with the FAT32 limitation), I just wish it could use some network shares as well as I have dedicated fileserver set up.

ara

So far, I prefer Uncharted to ANY exclusive game the 360 has and besides, games such as Oblivion and Assassin's Creed are available to PS3 users as well... aaaand Ratched and Clank is real fun too.

That shit about the 360 having so many good games (compared to the PS3) is slowly fading. I'm tired of people fighting over this kind of crap, but I'm pissed at those idiots who keep on defending the 360 with such an outdated argument.

Ruglia

NameYourCharacter

Iron_Dragon_2.0

HawaiianActor

SkyChicken

Badmofo

JakeDunn

The massive HDD would be for people who want to rent a ton of Video Marketplace content, and the HD-DVD built in is great for videophiles.

As a gamer, all I care about is the games. I have an Elite, and that's fine for me. Far more likely to buy a PS3 before I get a 360 "upgrade" I don't need.

These last 4 months have seen so many great games released on 360 that the idea that MS is somehow screwing us over doesn't compute at all in my head. I've been having FUN!

Kazzahdrane

Gagamus

MGS 4 ON 360 CONFURMED!!!

The Dark Defender

Azurite

Blah8

MS is simply responding to the market, as they have done all along. For me, the original 360 has everything I need. I don't need HDMI, I don't need more than a 20 GB HDD, I don't need HD-DVD (since I couldn't take advantage of it without HDMI inputs on my HDTV), I don't need 1080p output (it already gives me 720p/1080i), and I don't need built-in WiFi.

It should be apparent that MS is readying the console for IPTV, which they hinted at last year, but ATT has been very slow in bringing on-line. (But ATT will never get my business, since the only Internet option they offer is DSL!). I expect that they will also announce future DVR support in some update.

bornonce

Dingo Devious

agreed

LittleBigPlaneteer

If this is merely an attempt from Microsoft to boost sales of the HD-DVD Market *as I figure if this is actually the case, I have a separate theory below* then it may just be too late. I go by Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and various other retailers and there's usually an entire row of Blu Ray movies waiting to be purchased, and the HD-DVD section being less than a quarter of the same size. This late in the game to make a push for the dominant lead...

Unless Microsoft starts offering small fees equal to that of the HD DVD Drive or Xbox 360 + HD DVD Add-On + Very Small Fee for an exchange, I don't see the console selling much at all.

My theory is very simple. If this is the case and they will be suddenly trying to push HD-DVD. Then the only reason for this is because they have apparently chosen HD-DVD as the primary disc source for their next console, which i'm quite sure is already in development.. Since it's only a couple years until release, it must be at least in partial development.

Dennen

Well if true (which I think they are off on a few things) the components are now cheaper than they would have been last year (brings cost and retail price down) and I am sure there was a lot of legal issues and other such licensing securing for this whole set up.

Though this was also the rumored system of last year (and it was just the Elite), and it seems they will keep saying the same rumors with a few added things until one of them is right eventually.

EnigmaNemesis

shadowmonster

gadgetfanatic

Berith

If I have any dislike this generation, it goes to the Wii. I find a couple games on it calling my name (Fire Emblem, for instance) but for the most part I haven't regretted selling off my launch unit and find the whole recent Nintendo bandwagon-eers to be overrated and obnoxious.

I have my gripes with all the companies, as any long time member of this site will attest. I do generally prefer the Playstation lineup of games, something I make no secrets or apologies for, but I don't let that get in the way of a good game.

Please, in the future, don't toss the "fanboy" flag at the first appearance of opposition to your opinion. You dilute the charge against the legitimate loyalists, and you bring yourself in question on the same accusation. By calling anyone with different tastes than you a "fanboy," your own credibility gets destroyed.

PapaBear434

Heavenly Sword was a great game, great story, great graphics. It was just really, really short.

And Folklore is a very good game. Unique gameplay, cool gimmick/hook, and a great story.

Basically, I'm calling you a tool.

PapaBear434

Probably absolutely nothing. If Bluray or HD-DVD goes the way of the dodo, the discs are still very useful as a medium for storing data. Same as Beta was still used for video production years after its supposed "demise". Same as cartridges were specific to one console, and it never affected them negatively.

@PlayerX: I just meant that it must be annoying to buy a 360, then suddenly find out there's going to be a better version of it.

Why? Are you that insecure that you absolutely have to own the latest?

Last year I spent $70k on an Evo IX. This year they're bringing out the Evo X which has some nice handling mods. I'm totally NOT disappointed or annoyed about that. My car is still awesome fun to drive. Technology evolves and stuff gets outdated. But in this case, nobody with a 360 will be left with a machine that doesn't play games.

The only thing this does (if the rumour is true) is make Microsoft and some xbox fanboys (in particular, the ones who dissed the PS3 for all the "superfluous" stuff) look like tools. Depending on the pricing, it may also make this particular 360 SKU look like very poor value for money.

Doshu

The problem is that I posted only to front out Aurvant, who was lieing about the 500GB hdd IN his PS3 as part of his fanboy rant. (I see 3 other people have addressed this with no retaliation from the Sony Defense Force). Even later he said that you CAN set it up that way, which is why I said "theoretical" dual hdd setup. It's not even a big deal, I have a 500GB NAS that feeds my console all of my media wirelessly.

"BY AURVANT AT 06:40 PM @ara: No, but you can use a 250GB internal drive and another 250GB external drive.
It's not that hard to set all that up to work in your benefit."

With nothing directed towards PapaBear, he decided to defend Aurvant and accuse me of living in a bubble at the same time. Now you pipe up to "defend" PapaBear - who, based on his well written posts, needs no defense. I see you checked out my post history, hoping to "prove" that I'm an MS fanboy/hypocrite, thereby discovering my first post was made in December, 2007. 'Tis a shame you assume I'm somehow "new" to kotaku simply because I've refrained from posting. Prior to this dialogue, I've posted only twice; both of which were to address blatant lies used in some B.S. fanboy arguments. I've been a reader of kotaku for quite sometime, I've just been trying to avoid getting caught up in these flame wars. It simply amazes me that my post, direct towards ARA and about Aurvant's post, has now got me in a discussion with two unrelated posters.

Papabear, all I said is that based on the posts I've read (which unfortunately can't be all of them due to the sheer number of ignorant posts on kotaku) that you [appear to] love Sony and/or hate MS which is fine. Admittedly I only saw 1 or 2, but I too would hate MS if I had to go through 5 Xbox consoles. I'm sorry for making an incorrect assumption about your console preferences, just as I hope you understand my "bubble" doesn't exist as you perceive it.

This is the reason I rarely post on kotaku or other gaming sites. There is too much going on to follow the good posts and when you do finally drop a line you get caught up in a back-and-forth...... well you get it.

Regards

SN_GAMER

NINJA BUNNY TURNED DELICIOUS STRIPPER

Soldrak

LittleBigPlaneteer

Hammertime

Hammertime

[www.edepot.com]

Sony actually divides between countries and
the capabilities actually are different for
PAL and NTSC. The site has PS3 secrets

edepot

LittleBigPlaneteer

FP Shindokie

why?

ManjiKengo reads DuneTiger reads Kotaku, seems pleased.

This would be sort of a dick move on MS's part, isn't it? After nickel and dime-ing owners for every accessory, WHOA! HERE'S A NEW ONE, IT'S GOT EVERYTHING, THANKS FOR PLAYING. It doesn't affect the people who already have a 360 much, but it certainly is rather convenient for people contemplating it and comparing hardware with the ps3.

But it is definitely interesting; the feeling i get is that if they do go with this then they are definitely now going eye-to-eye with Sony instead of going "well, we've got more games, and it's less expensive, and stuff!"

not_tom_brokaw

I was sort of wondering this myself, actually, as I was reading through everyone's comments... why aren't MS concentrating more on extinguishing fears of the RROD? It'd be like Boeing coming out with a plane that fucking blew up all the time, but instead of fixing that problem, they'd shove more seats into it or something.

PlayerX

Well MS is a fan of download so I guess they would like to see both of them because DVD is to small and if both faile the door is wide open for there download. Apart from that the losser would need to use the other format or make a new one. For the Moment Blu Ray outsells HD-DVD 2:1, but compared to DVD it`s still only a small part of a biger cake. I hope that Blu Ray wins, because the size amount of data you can put on it is high. It might to high for the current generation, but I guess for the next generation the size would be good if it is still on discs and not by download.

Cidor

PlayerX

HDMI in all versions does 1080p, as does component if your TV accepts the signal. The "hi-def" audio output is via HDMI as well, so I would call this bs.

If it bears fruit, MS has lost their minds finally. The Elite was the beginning but this is going a bit far, especially after the jabs taken at Sony. The only real extra here is the bigger HDD, and the PS3's HDD is swappable anyway.

All this will do is prolong the HD format war, and we all know why MS would like that.

SG79

I mean for instance if Blue Ray is accepted as the standard format for high definition movies does that mean the xbox 720 will have a built in blue ray player or vise versa for the ps4?

It would really make the opposite side look like an idiot backing up a failed format. Of course sony already has experience in that department... :(

lifeinthefridge

I couldn't tell from all the comments.

Anyway it is BS. If it is true, it will probably red ring as soon as you attempt to use the features.

ProfWho

That is the point. They are not making it for YOU!

So who cares?!

EnigmaNemesis

VitFer2007

Keegs79

imthemanurnot

MedelliaObscured

trina

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

1. Tivo like DVR
2. Cable Set-Top box to view cable/satellite signals
3. An IPTV receiver for Microsoft's new service
4. An HD-DVD player
5. A 360 game console

It serves 5 different functions. I could use all of them including the IPTV function depending on price. I'm the target market. The devil is in the details. Pricing is a big factor.

Not sure when this will happen and what it will be called, but something like this is very doable and would sell depending on price of course.

JackB99

the only thing on this supposed revision that interests me is the silent cooling. for that alone i would sell my elite and buy a new model. the rest i dont need. it really is very loud.

however, i dont believe they can cool the 360 hardware silently. quieter than they currently do, yes, with cooler chips and a better internal design. not silently. based on that i suspect this is bogus.

red

lifeinthefridge

What utter bogus.

Patient

Dimipapa

You must have missed my posts, then. I had a 360 long before my PS3, and have went through the trouble of replacing it five times. The first time at costs because the warranty didn't exist yet.

Or, just up this page, where I proclaim my love for Dead Rising and Crackdown.

Like I said, you live in your own personal bubble. Only the information you want gets in.

PapaBear434

The market for expensive all in one consoles is already harvested by Sony so there would be only a small amount of people who would buy that. Also it would not help MS, because what they need is a lot of new costumers and they can not get them with such a high speced 360.

For the HD-DVD, well MS does not want that you develop a game that is using HD (one or two developers could do that like FF11 because it`s a MMORPG) so there is no chance HD-DVD would be used for games. For the battle HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray, well Toshiba did not say that they losted, but that`s almost over Blu Ray is well ahead of HD-DVD . On the other side it helps MS as long as the war is going on maybe some people don`t get a PS3 because it could be a bad investement so they would more likely stick with 360 because DVD is solid.

Cidor

Heyyou27

HawaiianActor

Where in hell did you find a 2.5" 500GB HDD? Largest I can find is 320GB and it costs AU$280.

@Achaemenid: True, it *could* be about lossless audio - but why call it "hi-def" audio? That in itself makes no sense to me

Oh really? Tell me what "hi-def" audio offers compared to optical or digital-coaxial, which is considered top of the line even today? The only thing that can even *compete* with optical/digital is HDMI - which hardly offers an improvement except "lossless" audio.

The sample rate that HDMI can pass on to your amp is significantly higher than optical or coax. That's why some people call it hi-def audio.

And HDMI more than competes with optical/digital. 196Khz audio makes CDs and MP3s sound like a worn cassette tape (and that's not even taking into consideration 5.1/7.1 audio). But don't take my word on it. Go to a high-end hifi or home theatre store and ask for a comparison between HD-DVD/Blu-Ray and DVD on a good receiver, or (just as valid) compare SACD/DVD-Audio and CD. I certainly didn't believe the differences would be so huge until I ran some comparisons.

@Ehardergardens: thanks for the 7.1 info, sounds like it's not PS3 limited as much as it is the the bandwidth of the optical output. Is this a standard hardware optical output limitation, i.e. the 7.1 setup sony is using requires that much bandwidth and optical output is not capable?

Np on the info. The optical output has hardware limitations which restrict it to 5.1 audio / 96Khz audio. In a way, it is due to Sony though (S/PDIF = Sony / Philips Digital Interface). As I said above, the S/PDIF hardware can't handle the bandwidth that HDMI audio can. I wish it did though. My receiver only does HDMI splitting (doesn't decode the audio), and the comparisons I've done with optical show up massive differences.

Doshu

Intellectualdiot

This also sounds like the PSX all over again. And yes, this thing will be expensive especially if MS isn't actually releasing this thing themselves. If they're farming it out to other companies (like Toshiba for instance) then there's a chance this thing will top out at over $600 bucks.

Overall a waste of time.

incredibilistic

The Vampire Raziel

Why would you "look??!?" like a penis for buying the Premium, which is all around cant go wrong!?!?

Man, are gamers that concerned over "image" of what they buy like people with brand name clothes?

EnigmaNemesis

Luis

So the original Zune people got larger storage on them and the larger screen, oh and the glass screens now?

You still get the same software on all 360s! Just like Zune.

I dont get how MSFT is screwing people over, by releasing new shit!?!? Which is RUMORED btw!

They had this SAME rumor last year for the Elite, and half the stuff turned out to not be in it.

EnigmaNemesis

PlayerX

That, and absolutely everyone I know who has a 360 has had to replace them at least once, which is a shame, because I really want to play Halo 3... until they become really cheap and finally decide what they're going to be, I'm not goin got buy one.

PlayerX

360...it's okay...but it will never...could never...be my main console. I'm just not feeling it. Glad I got mine for free so when I sell it, it's all profit.

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

I don't have a problem with revisions (or special editions ala Halo), but this habit the 360 team has with completely fucking over their initial buyers is really pissing me off to no extent. The 360 team really needs to get a hint from the Zune team who made sure all the early adopters got all the new features.

I took a loss upgrading from the Premium to the Elite. I will certainly make sure all hell brakes loose if this is true. Unless they're willing to take my Elite, WiFi Adapter, and HD Drive and send me an Ultimate version for free.

C4WDeX

Sku you MS

The Zac Attak

Arcade
Regular
Premium
Halo
Ultimate

I rather have just the GB difference like PS3 than the different choices like what they are doing with Vista. Screw you Microsoft! I'm only sticking to the Premium.

-

I really doubt that MS would do something this stupid. I just don't see it happening

Now, if it is true, I'm going to be laughing my ass off.

EvoAnubis

Balance_In_Life

sir_blazeAlot

gadgetfanatic

Anyone want to explain what the point would be? Creating a stronger system wouldn't help it compete with the Wii and With PS3's at what... 399 now... why would they make themselves the highest priced console on the market? Such a move makes no sense. The early adopters already bought their 360's. The more casual gamers are not waiting for a higher priced 360 before they enter the market. While I personally do hope it's true - I'm in the market for a 360 and HD-DVD drive - such a move by Microsoft would reek of stupidity.

YCS

YCS

I'm in a bubble but you're the one blindly defending fanboys? I'm just pointing out a blatant lie that was already discovered by ARA. Re-read Aurvant's post... he had a "500GB hdd in my PS3". Then it turned out that one COULD have 500GB, in theory, by using an external drive. Since when can you not use an external drive with an Xbox 360?

It's okay PAPABEAR434, you've already proven yourself a Sony lover / MS hater (which is fine) with all of your posts, you needn't waste your time responding to this post.

SN_GAMER

I'm sorry but WTF?

What's so great about killing the competition and rendering an older sku useless, especially if it'll screw over your consumers. I could understand if it was a next generation system.

I'm an early adoptIr of the 360, and though it has some great games, i think that the system is bad, especially when it RRODs and with MS reworking the sku to make it better for future consumers, thus brushing away those who first bought it. MS should have spent more time in testing and R&D. I'd like to hope that MS is shooting themselves in the foot for this one. But I'm saddened by another image of a consumer gladly shooting themselves for MS instead.

kryzhal

I believe that in the end, both sides will have good exclusives. The only true negative nowadays lies with the 360. In terms of games, it is the only console that can nearly guarantee most huge hit platinum sellers to eventually port over to the PC market. And for those of us who have a PC gaming rig, that's just one less game to buy for the console... In other thoughts, some game analysts also feel that some 360 games may also be ported over to the PS3 if it ever does pick up in sales to be a well strengthened force.

Dennen

Yea. With better games.

I kid I kid!

Vecha

so far, its been on all-day marathons with no troubles, remains cool to the touch and very much quiet...either i gut lucky, or something went right with the batches that came after last summer.

TheIrishNinja

An HD dvd drive...didnt Microsoft say they were trying to phase out physical HD formats and bring in digital downloads?

Gaia99

I am moreso making this response to those that say the HD-DVD drive will gimp out the gamers if they begin to design games for it. Afterwards citing that MSoft will have to start sending out HD DVD drives to people who already own an Xbox 360. This is simply won't happen. Not from a company's side only, but also because I am rather positive the external HD DVD drive lacks the reading power to gather all the game data from a disc at such speeds required. Data transfer is the problem with that I do believe.

Dennen

Sugarbloodsuckers

You know, I had a 500GB hard drive hooked up to my PS3 externally. It's very possible, and not hard to do.

As far as more and better games? Well, having "more" is hardly a factor anymore, as the PS3 has been nipping on their heels for a while. Not to bad since the 360 had the year head start.

Better games? Matter of opinion. I love, with great intensity, Dead Rising. I also enjoyed Crackdown way more than I should. But beyond that, I don't have much other use for the 360. Meanwhile, I had all sorts of exclusives for the PS3, and a ton coming soon in 08.

But hey, enjoy your bubble.

PapaBear434

The new releases of consoles are coming out faster, but they are making smaller changes. I would be interested in this "ultimate" but how long will it be ultimate for? When is the xbox 720 coming out, if at all? Are they just going to keep releasing these new $400, $500, $600 consoles every couple years with minor updates.

Finally, I'm hoping this is the 'next gen' x-box and that it will make the jump to all HD-DVD games. I want that.

nlyonssmith

But then you'd be implying that Aurvant is a lieing Sony fanzombie who is upset that the Xbox has more and better games than the PS3. Why else would someone make a completely false statement to "defend" his console only later to come up with a "theoretical" double hdd scenario?

SN_GAMER

zanzibarlegend

Witzbold

Proof: [www.amazon.com]

NoBullet

Leighroy

kyo27

It would only sell in the US. They don't even want HDDVDs in the EU anymore.

Mongoosekun

xpnet

Wyld

Xiedo

DELETED

m$oft just face it, you had your run, its time for the ps3 to rock the gaming world, it had a rocky start but it is going to shine. the ultimate is going to cost more than the origonal price of the ps3, and its probably going to have new problems

matizzy

Ausl0

Fareo

Kyle81

dowingba

smitherssocal

Akmed

Jandlecack

It's not that hard to set all that up to work in your benefit.

Aurvant

weasl

Flurp

Mitch10

But wifi ($100) , the HDD (well over $400 since its custom) and HD-DVD($200) your looking at a $1000+ xbox 360, which won't sell. In fact if they release a console like that the ps3 sales would increase because consumers would laugh at microsoft. i wanted more in a 360 than what it has before i buy it, but not excess junk.

Zaos

Unless all HDD will be compatible with all future systems...

Collapse The Control

hahaha....that was awesome...they did make a Ps3...lol...

and i agree with balance_in_life..they are trying to play catch up and do what PS3 did from the start..lol...u dont "need" a hard drive or a wi-fi adapter..lol....LMAO...

robinhood1013

Zenshai

Chicken_Dippers

Could not state it any better

DevonTheDude

Besides that, the report only says two things aside from, "HD-DVD," and that's, bigger HDD, and built in Wi-Fi. That's not enough to justify the, "ultimate," tag, especially when they've already have a package labeled elite. I mean, High Def audio and 1080p output aren't new features. Okay so the Audio might be, but it would require such a small revision in the HDMI standard that Microsoft is using that you couldn't possibly use it as a real selling point.

Besides, "completly 65nm parts," and, "silent fan," uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft said that the 65nm GPU wouldn't be ready until quite a ways into 2008 did they not? Even if they did, I doubt simply switching that one part out would allow them to make the thing perfectly silent.

Really, this all just strikes me as some sort of, pie in the sky thing some fans threw together without first thinking of the consequences of such design changes.

WolvenOne

ara

Something tells me that you've drank some Kool-aid as of late.

PapaBear434