Official: Xbox 360 Elite is real, video downloads coming to Australia

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 29 March 2007 01:13

Your IT - Entertainment

The Elite is due to arrive from the beginning of the Australian winter, which is the first of June, the US will get it on April 29, while Europe and Japan are still waiting for official release dates. While there are no official Australian prices as yet, we do have US pricing which gives us a good idea of what to expect. The Elite will also be a third SKU of the Xbox 360, with McLean confirming that despite rumor and opinion to the contrary, the Core and Premium consoles are here to stay, while also confirming that the Elite is a permanent new addition and not just a “limited edition special”.

The US price will be $479.99, while the 120Gb hard drive for existing Xbox 360 owners will cost US $179.99. No doubt the prices will be more than a simple conversion to Euros or Australian dollars, as this is always seems to be the case due higher costs in transportation and running operations in other countries.

One thing that wasn’t confirmed from the initial Zephyr rumors is whether or not the new Xbox 360 Elite is running a 65nm chip, instead of the 90nm chip that’s currently in use, but that’s of no real concern to consumers at this stage, as it is simply meant to lower production costs for the Xbox 360, which have already lowered to a degree that Microsoft now makes a profit on each Xbox 360 sold, just like Nintendo, leaving only Sony who makes a reported US $200 loss on the sale of every 60Gb PS3.

So, what about Aussies and Europeans getting Xbox Live Video downloads of TV shows and movies, presumably in both SD and HD formats as in the US, at least on selected content at currently available in the US?

All we know for Europe is that the service has been promised for ‘later this year’, and the story is the same for Australia, with David McLean saying that Xbox Live Video downloads are likewise due in Australia ‘later this year’.

If that turns out to be true, it will set the cat amongst the television industry pigeons in Australia who pay big money to license TV shows to play on free-to-air and pay TV services, and shows that Microsoft must be in vigorous discussions to get video content available everywhere.

It also mimics the problems that Apple had in securing deals all over the world for iTunes to offer a legal music store in a country other than the US, with plenty of countries now able to download all the music they want, but when it comes to video content, the deals have to be worked on all over again to get the service rolled out globally.

So, if you already have an Xbox 360, should you upgrade? The short answer is no, unless of course you really want a black Xbox 360 or an HDMI output, which is not necessary if you already have your Xbox 360 hooked up to your HDTV’s component video inputs. If you already own an Xbox 360, your best bet is to buy the upcoming 120Gb hard drive to store more data than ever before.

But if you haven’t yet purchased an Xbox 360, and are also intrigued by the PS3 and only have money to buy one of the consoles, instead of both of them (or all three if you include the Nintendo Wii), Microsoft has just made the console wars take yet another confirmed twist and made the decision for consumers on which console to buy that much harder, although Microsoft would probably say the Elite makes the decision much easier! :-)

Nevertheless, the Elite has some features that users have been asking for, with a bigger hard drive at the top of the priority list for many, especially US users who download a lot of video, games demos, new levels, music and more through the Xbox Live Video service.

From the point of view of generating worldwide interest in the Xbox 360 during the latest phase of the PS3 launch, Microsoft has certainly succeeded in creating a lot of new buzz over the past few weeks, and will no doubt do all they can to ensure the Xbox 360 stays in the spotlight while under simultaneous attack from the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii.

Now we just have to wait and see if the Xbox 360 Elite with its’ HDMI port and 120Gb hard drive, along with the separately available 120Gb hard drive for existing Xbox 360 owners, are as popular with consumers as they are with technology journalists.

From where we sit, Microsoft look like having a winner on their hands, which is wonderful for consumers, as it forces Sony work even harder to better compete, which in turn drives Microsoft to do better, too. Nintendo, too, of course.

And that is good for us all.