The long rumored Xbox 360 Elite has finally been unleashed onto the world less than a week after the ‘rest-of-the-world’ launch of the PS3. It comes in black, has HDMI, a 120Gb hard drive and black accessories, while the local regional Xbox director has confirmed Xbox Live TV and movie downloads are coming to Australia later in 2007.

In case you’re wondering, the actual hardware within is the same as in the current Xbox 360’s, meaning gameplay on both existing Xbox 360’s and the new Elite will remain identical, something that’s crucially important in the world of console gaming whenever an ‘updated’ model is released that isn’t a totally new version.

Unlike the PS3, the new HDMI-equipped Xbox 360 Elite comes with an HDMI cable in the box, no doubt to rub it in to Sony who decided including an HDMI cable wasn’t necessary. It also offers 1080p HD output, something that existing Xbox 360 owners received an update for not too long ago, equaling the PS3’s output capabilities.

The hard disk at 120Gb is double that of the PS3’s 60Gb drive, although at least with the PS3 you can easily remove the hard drive and install another, letting you pop in a 200Gb hard drive should you desire, something that you can’t do with the Xbox 360 – or at least, something that you can’t do just yet. Nevertheless, the 120Gb hard drive will be sold as an option for existing Xbox 360 owners, with a cable included to transfer data from one hard drive to the other, ensuring that existing Xbox 360 owners aren’t left out of the bigger hard drive loop.

For those wondering, the Xbox 360 Elite still ships with a DVD drive, instead of an HD DVD drive, which incidentally finally goes on sale today in Australia.

Like the PS3, the Elite is black, although it’s a ‘sleek black’ as Microsoft describes it, and not the shinier (and more fingerprint magnetic) ‘piano black’ that the PS3 offers, although no-one is truly going to choose one console over another over the type of black finish on offer.

Of course there are also black accessories, such as the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, an optional black rechargeable battery for the controller and an Xbox 360 headset, while third party accessory manufacturers are no doubt looking to see which of their products can quickly be pumped out in black models to match the new Elite console.

David McLean, Regional Director Xbox Australia and New Zealand, said in a press release that “Since Xbox 360 launched a year ago, we’ve been listening to customer feedback and, as a result, we’re very excited to now add the premium Xbox 360 Elite to the top end of the Xbox range. With a large storage capacity for games, music, and high-definition TV shows and movies, the new 120 GB hard drive will help to satisfy our customers’ appetite for on-demand, HD entertainment experiences offered through Xbox LIVE Marketplace, both now and in the near-future.”

So, how much does it cost, and are Australia and Europe going to get Xbox Live Video downloads of TV shows and movies this year? Please read onto page 2 for the conclusion…