Look, we can't really be bothered to confirm or deny any of the rumors flying around here, we're just in this for the cute kangaroo pics. But digging a little deeper, we discover a word from GamersReports that they've got an "inside source" saying Microsoft Australia tipped off retail store Myer about a Black
Xbox 360 with a 120GB hard drive a couple of days ago. Now apparently more sources have confirmed the reports, even tossing HDMI into the mix (making it into a sort of
black Zephyr), along with a $749 AU (about $584) pricetag and a supposed April launch date. The sources even say that Microsoft is hoping to beat projections and launch in March to disrupt
Sony's March 23rd PS3 launch. GamersReports also claims that there are now pics of the Black 360 floating around on the internets, so we'll keep an eye out for those, and until we spot a few kangaroos slipping Premium Black packages into their pouches along with an extra controller and a copy of Rainbow Six, that's about all the cred we're going to give this rumor for now.
[Via
Xbox 360 Fanboy]
posted February 8th 2007 7:53AM
meddow: Yes, the dev 360 is charcol and is capable of playing unfinished games burned onto a dvd. It is given press (i.e. cnet) for reviewing games.
That doesn't mean that Microsoft isn't planning to make the 'Zephyr' black. It would make sense (marketing wise) to create a visual distinction between the current 360 and the Zephyr. Even though it is essentially the same console, the new appearance/updates will generate buzz and increase demand, while also better competing with the ps3.
I hate fanboy time around the nets. But come off it, everyone. You like PS games, buy a PS3. You like Xbox games, buy an Xbox. Prices don't change because you whine and no one gives a shit if you think your console is better because you paid less. If you enjoy it, be happy and don't hate on someone because they bought a different system. You sound like a bunch of Chevy vs. Ford hicks.
hey engadget, nice roo. how about crediting the artist?
Regarding this HDMI, and sorry if it is ignorance by my side, but let's imagine that you have the nicest HDTV with HDMI 1.3 and 1080p at 60 inches or more okay? (If we don't have a TV bigger than 50 inches we are not going to notice much difference between 1080i and 1080P anyway).
What do you do with the audio? All TVs I have seen, even the expensive 60 inches or more with 1080 p has stereo sound. And we all agree that HDMI is DVI with Audio. So the point is that you will be getting 1080P image but stereo audio right? How do you take advantage if you had a 5.1 or 7.1 sound system if you only have 1 HDMI cable that is connected to your TV? Can someone explain me that, very please with cream on top?
I am still thinking I am better with my 1080 i super monster cable and optical cable for my 5.1 system that is outside the box
------------------------
dude hdmi and dvi are the same THE ONLY THING DIFFERENT IS THAT HDMI OUTPUTS AUDIO AND YOU GET TRUE HI DEF WITH DVI OR HDMI 1080P
"Those sony son's of b1tchs are going down"
I'd buy it for $500. It would look good with the rest of the home theater since the 360 is the only white thing in the cabinet and sticks out horribly. Now you will have two media extenders!
Oh, JinKazama you forgot to mention the additional $50 for live services compared to Sony's POS.
Any just in case anyone forgot "next-gen" is an marketing word. "generation" would imply all of the ones coming out in this time period whether they have HDMI or not. It's also not next-gen any more it's current-gen. Oh I'm going to have to trademark that one.
F'ng kangaroos
This is pretty nice but I like alot of other people already have a xbox 360. As long as the the 120 gb hard drive can be brought separately I'll be happy. But that brings another question. If the 20 gb drive is $100, how much will this cost or does this mean that a huge price drop for the 20 gb drive be in store?
Could you have meant Meijer, Paul?
Nevermind; I should've googled those sweet Aussie chain stores first
well, they kinda did the same thing with xbox1.
Developers consoles were Crystal and green colored, with a serial extra port. Then they released them to the market as Halo and special edition consoles :P
360 dev's consoles are black. it was just matter of time.
Maybe this is the much anticipated Xbox 360 with the 65-nanometer silicon-on-insulator semiconductor, and quieter DVD drive. Which means no more over-heating, unless you decide to water cool the thing, but it doesn't make the CPU any better.
jt - are you suggesting that people at Microsoft are morons because they feel HDMI is a necessary component of a next-gen console? If adding HDMI is really such a non-event why do they even bother then?
Michael
"I hate to break it to you, but $584 is the american price converted from AUS dollar."
Yeah, i caught that too.
There is no way this is true to the fact that they are going to charge almost $200 more for 100GB and another output, 120gb hard drives do not cost anywhere near that, and since those drives are just your typical off the shelf 2.5 hooked up to their adapter, MS would be shopping for cost.
i figure the price for a HDMI port would be negligible, at max costing $20 in parts.
Also, they have made the dev. process cheaper over time, made a cheaper more efficient 65nm chip.
I'm not saying an xbox with these specs couldn't exist, i'm saying that it would ship at $500 tops for it to be sellable.
The point of the large HD and HDMI is primarily for their movie/tv store and HD-dvd player.
with that unit costing $580 and their add on player being $200, that would make a nearly $800 HD-DVD and/(or $600) downloadable HD movie player with HDMI.
Besides it costing $800, you can achieve the same for $600/$400 with less storage and no HDMI.
The bottom line is HDMI and 100gb more is not worth $180, i don't care how you spin it.
And as for saying the 360 is more powerful than the PS3, you're simply wrong.
I love my 360, but you have to accept in 1 or 2 years the PS3 could very well have more technically capable games, but that burden lies on the developers.
Does that mean the 360 will suck?
HELL NO.
The Xbox was more powerful last round, but their was still PS2 ports and V-V. And the tech gap between the XB1 and PS2 was much greater than the PS3/360 gap of current.
That little graphical boost that the PS3 can have in the end is worthless though, anyone who has played wii sports can tell you that pixel perfect 1080P graphics won't win the masses dollars.Even though you may care about having the best graphics on your 60" plasma, games are becoming more mainstream, and those mainstream gamers don't have the same priorities as yourself, and won't see the difference, and simply won't care about the highest resolution if they can't clearly see it. The only people i know who can afford 60" HD TVs/ have them don't even know what 1080i or p is, they just know "HD".
I mean i hate to ruin it for the fanboys who think the console war is set in stone and their console is the winner... but it has barely even begun.
"For one thing, the PS3 version has been optimized to take advantage of the Cell processor and hardware that the system offers. As a result, the game runs a lot faster than the 360 build. Entering dungeons or buildings results in a load of 3-5 seconds, compared to the 7-10 seconds or longer for the 360 version of the game. Similarly, the amount of framerate drops or hitches that cropped up in the wilderness as you accessed a new area on the 360 have been substantially reduced on the PS3 version. There is a plan to completely eradicate these issues as the game nears release, as well as fixing a number of bugs that were present in the other builds. Kiss the item duplication glitch goodbye."
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/762/762108p1.html
"Starbase00 @ Feb 8th 2007 5:13PM
Noshino, a quote from your link says "This has been fixed with new shaders dedicated to rendering the foreground cleanly with sharper details..."
So, it sounds like they added code to the PS3 release that makes it look better. This has nothing to do with the hardware of the PS3 but how the software is written. This same "fix" could possibly be used with the 360 version to improve visuals.
Anytime an existing game is ported to a different platform, improvements are made over the existing version."
The new maps is a nice chance to imporve the graphics and yet......they haven't done so? Also, I'm not much into software, but hey, it says that it was build to take advantage of the cell, doesn't it?
javier.guillermo
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html?q=graphics%20comparison
Heh, if the 360 had a year advantage over the ps3, why should the ps3 version have better graphics than the 360? shouldn't it be the other way around?
Also, don't compare multiplatform titles, you said it yourself, and so does the article, the 360 has had a year advantage, why don't we compare titles that came during the same time period? look them up by yourself, within the same month of release, ok? I'm too lazy to link pictures right now, heh
Prove me wrong please? :)
Dis new 360 is good for ppl w/ a high end setup. Ne1 who have/plannin to have a highend setup, knows that u want minize any A/D or D/A conversions or step downs if possible. Just like a car stereo setup (usin dis as an example so u can relate) u want a clean uncompressed signal runnin into ne amps, avrs, etc u go.....b/c any flaws in the signal gets amplified (krazzzy distortion). str8 up if there is gonna be ne A/D or D/A conversions M$ should be using burr brown DAC's or faroudja VP's which I doubt M$ will put in da 360 n sell for less than 1k. B4 I get dis new 360 tho M$ is gonna have 2 add an internal HD-DVD preferably a toshiba.
(HDMI is capable of 1080p n higher resoultion plus 7.1 uncompressed LPCM audio on a single cable..dont sleep on it)
Now if u dont have/plan on gettin a highend setup or upgradin ur current setup...hdmi means nothing to u now, but it will mean something 2 u later on.
I love how everyone with a PS3 says "JuSt LiKe TeH pS3!!!111". So, tell me guys, was it a coincidence that almost right after the Wii controller was announced that suddenly there is "motion sensing capabilities"? Hmm... and wow, seriously, Who in the entire world EVER heard of making a Game system Black? Or wow, didn't know that my black tv, black zune, black laptop, black dvd player, black bass guitar, or black Cell phone were all copied. hmm.. maybe We should start trademarking Colors? And besides the fact that the PS3 completely SUCKS. 1 good game? Wow, Sony sure is outdoing it self there.
And by the way, it's smart.. a Way to tell the difference between the Zephyr and Original 360. Not to mention all it is is responding to customer demand.. Almost everyone wanted a black 360, to match with their other black Electronics. (GASP!)
microsoft is retarted. first they were talking trash about the ps3 and now they r copying it. those assholes.
New systems will be brought out. Sony did it in the last generation hell even during hte PS1 days. New technology makes it cheaper and more effective. Look at the PS2. Eventually they released the "slim" version. Granted they did not add any new technology they had left out such as "hdmi" in this Xbox rumor.
My HDTV runs at 1080i which is easily sent through the component cables. Also 1080p can be sent through a VGA yes its "analog" and all you tech Junkies really hate that word dont you? My buddy owns a nice 1080p set and I honestly see no justification from 1080i to 1080p for gaming. The differences are so small and I don't think its justified for DEVs to even waste their time on the higher resoultion. Lower frame rates YAY.
HDMI is a nice addtion, I would add if they add it they should seriously put in upconverting for DVD playback. (Another BIG selling point IMO)
I love my DIVX DVD player with upconversion makes all my DVDs look wonderful on my 1080i set, this will hold a lot of people until HD-DVD / Blu-ray crap is sorted out.
Just remember, most of you bought your Xbox 360 or PS3 for one thing GAMING. Most games are optimized for 720p (per microsoft).
So in closing, its all about the games, we Xbox owners have a wide varity of GREAT games and yes we pay 50 dollars PER YEAR for our service, but no lag, great customizable features makes it worth it to me. (Not to mention the prizes that have been annouced) Paid 50 dollars for the service getting a crappy 40 dollar game for free? Not a bad turn around :P
Take care people and remember Fanboy's admit it, you want both systems :P
So, how are you enjoying playing with the other PS3 customers via the internets? I hear they both are going to list thiers on ebay.
Fun. Now we can all go get a new one for a different color, and have it look like the original and not the 360. At first glance at least. :P
I work at a video game store, and today saw on the price change sheet the black X360 120g had its price set at $479.99 new price. That usually happens when an item is first entered into our system. Still cheaper than the Ps3, and not nearly as useless.
don't get too excited... remeber the xbox 360v2 that was suppose to be exposed at CES in january and how that never happened? I can see this as being 99% rumor.. so like i said, just let it blow over, i'm pretty sure this won't happen - at least not now - MS would be silly to do this now when there doing so well.
http://nexgenwars.com/
This system's specs look promising but there is one major problem with it. It doesn't have an internal HD-DVD drive... That alone makes this an easy decision among Sony faithful and value shoppers alike. Of course you have your fanboys that will trash the PS3 till the end of time but if you look at pure specs the PS3 is a better buy. Now if it does come with an internal HD-DVD drive, HDMI, and that 120GB HDD and the price is lower than $600 then it will definitely be worth it and I might even consider purchasing one over the PS3 because the 360 does have better games out now and they continue to get more and more PS3 exclusives on their already large roster of games. As a Sony fan its difficult to actually watch the 360 steal those exclusives from the PS3 but the 360 is selling right now and the main purpose of the gaming companies is to sell games.
actually i did the math ,ps3 costs 777 in australia (177 more than in the U.S.) so the price stated for the new 360 minus 177 is $407! so probably there will be only a very small price increace if that!!
ANY IDIOT COULD REPLACE THE ORIGINAL CASE WITH A CUSTOM BLACK ONE PURCHAC3D AT THE LINK I HAVE LISTED BELOW!!! THE CASE FOR SALE HERE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE IN THE PICTURES!!!
http://secure.llamma.com/catalog/product_reviews_info.php?products_id=700&reviews_id=913&osCsid=08ee755aa2cdfbe93a4b6963248dd2fe
Well firstly, MGS4 spanks any games xbox has to offer, secondly bill gates is gay = ] even if he had shit all to do with the box, thirdly, blu-ray whats that 52gb dual layer? 9gb dual layer hd-dvd? resistance fall of man, not a great game: 1st gen and all that, is already more than 9gb, for games on the box to have a lot of levels etc etc, stuff that games need, its going to die in the near future. lol.
HD DVD is 30 gigs dual layer. A reg DVD is 10.4 dual layer. Stop pulling numbers out of your ass. Anyway - Sony is not killing itself with price and games as it is with bad publicity. On a side note - I can see Microsoft using the HD dvd drive for games soon enough =).
Out of my ass, i pull numbers outta wikipedia foo', bov'd 30gb still aint 50 is it. and the box doenst have an hd drive unless you fork out 100 smackers for it (english, probably i dont really know apart from their not cheap) and this Zephyryryryryrhyryr shit? i swear its an old crappy ford car...
hey guys this is just probly an april fools joke because im not buying his 120 memory hdd
I just think its geeks going crazy over something that admits their defeat. Ps3's coming out, shit me, we better upgrade the 360. Microsoft can upgrade all they like. Sony will win in the near future anyway, because it has lots more pure potential.
How about trading the 360
we have today now
and it will help buy the new one.
blow me?
STOP CALLING THE 360 A NEXT-GEN CONSOLE!!! IT HAS BEEN OUT FOR ALMSOT 2 YEARS GOD DAMNIT!!!! On another note, PS3>Xbox360, for oh so many reasons. most of them have already been mentioned, but its quieter, more powerful, HDMI+blu ray, wi fi networking that works very well, and kick ass apearance.