Microsoft announces Halo 3 Special Edition Console

As if Microsoft didn't have enough hype riding on its forthcoming Halo 3 ultra-blockbuster, the company is giving Halo fanboys another treat in the form of a green Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 and accompanying controller, 20GB hard drive, and wired headset to ship this holiday season. It's not like Microsoft is compensating for anything, Halo 3 is undoubtedly going to be one of the biggest titles ever, but we're not sure how long these paint jobs can keep our interest when certain Sony Computer Entertainments are slashing prices right and left.

[Fatima @ Jul 11th 2007 1:03AM]

What a disappointing show. No price cuts, no updated consoles that run cooler and quieter. Total BS! I think after I get tired of playing Halo 3 on my 360. I'm gonna sell it next spring/early summer for a Playstation 3. By that time good games would be out and besides i've been killing for a BLU-RAY player.

[Scott @ Jul 11th 2007 1:08AM]

Acutally, right NOW is a good time to snag a PS3. Hit Circuit City's site. 60gb PS3, extra wireless controller, and five free Blu-Ray discs for $500.

[Fatima @ Jul 11th 2007 1:12AM]

I just bought an iPhone haha. Kinda sort on cash.
I want to get a new 1080p HDTV be4 I buy PS3 anyways.

[Brent @ Jul 11th 2007 1:15AM]

I agree with Scott, except I'd pick one up from Amazon...$500 gets you a ps3, the ps3 BD remote, Memento BD, and your choice of 5 free BD's (the choices aren't all that great, but hey, they look good and they're free). Now is the time to buy, lots of great games coming soon.

[Scott @ Jul 11th 2007 1:26AM]

Oh yow! Even better. Nice find Brent! Glad I checked this thread again :D

[Scott @ Jul 11th 2007 1:28AM]

Ugh.

http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/bd_summer_bundle-online_order_form.pdf

Link to the mail-in form for the five Blu-Ray discs. VERY limited choices. Meh.

I know Circuit City's five-disc thing is also a mail-in - I'm guessing it's the same deal. Have to check.

[mastachiefhd @ Jul 11th 2007 8:59AM]

troll!!!

[Will @ Jul 11th 2007 1:07AM]

Moore held that thing like it was the Ark of the Covenant.. personally, the original console looks the best to me, though elite is a close second. I wonder how much of an impact this will have on hardware sales.. is it "exclusive" enough for current owners to buy a new console?

[tiuk @ Jul 11th 2007 10:43AM]

I agree that white looks best. I also prefer the white DVD tray of the Core to the chrome one on the Premium.

[Jeff @ Aug 9th 2007 11:34AM]

I am sorry if you think white looks the best you have horrible taste. The white/beige-esque disgustingness of the 360 coupled with the heat problems = one of the worst design decisions in the history of microsoft and thats saying alot, *cough* VISTA *cough*. I love Halo and will probablly buy another 360 just to play it but after the novelty wears off its back on EBay, its too much crap to deal with, if the 65nm really comes in September and improves the god awful reliability issues then perhaps I will keep it, but PS3 keeps adding features through free updates and once the hit games start coming I think the 360 is done for me. Give me the PS3 and Wii please.

[Dan Zagrodnik @ Jul 11th 2007 1:08AM]

The liveblog comments said it was grey...it sure looks green to me

Anyway, Im not surprised there isn't a price cut. That is going to come with the 65nm update later this year...the Xbox 360 is still cheaper and offers more games/content so once they get the 65nm up and running I'll finally get one :)

[kingofwale @ Jul 11th 2007 1:08AM]

Please oh Please tell me that Halo version is less likely to get RROD than ones before. Tell me that Microsoft actually made an effort to STOP screwing their customers. I don't know about you, 3 years warranty does NOT equal to a console that won't break.

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:15AM]

I said it in the presentation feed, but I'm guessing the new Halo Edition is just a green colored Elite.

[Andy @ Jul 11th 2007 10:06AM]

I think its actually a green colored premium. Its got the 20gb hard drive anyway.

[humpty @ Jul 11th 2007 1:08AM]

The RRoD is gonna look great against that Halo Green colour.. esp. since Halo 3 is gonna be taxing the system like crasy and fanbois are going to be playing it non-stop.. thats exactly what an overheating prone system needs.

New cooler running chips and better heat management? Nvar mind.. just throw more money into the warranty fund.

[Johnny @ Jul 11th 2007 2:25AM]

Crasy?

[Rob @ Jul 11th 2007 1:10AM]

So how much will it be $560? like the controller and headset mark up. a core system painted? or an elite painted is the real question and where can i get it and for how much?

[Fatima @ Jul 11th 2007 1:13AM]

Green paint = extra $50 dawg! *says Peter Moore's Left Nut*

[Ravi @ Jul 11th 2007 1:12AM]

Wow, that thing is hideous. Why can't MS ever get color right?

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:15AM]

What are you talking about? The Brown Zune was totally awesome! /sarcasm

[EMaster @ Jul 11th 2007 1:14AM]

Very VERY disappointing Keynote indeed.. Yeeech!

[prateeko @ Jul 11th 2007 1:17AM]

No picture, engadget? Try looking to Bungie for an OFFICIAL PICTURE:

http://www.bungie.net/images/News/InlineImages2007/H3_360goose.jpg

Bungie confirms it HAS HDMI, no word on price, other accessories or HDD size.

[humpty @ Jul 11th 2007 1:21AM]

So, its based on an Elite then.. lets see

$480 standard Elite
$70 Halo game
$50 Halo tax

$600 .. looks like its competing with 80gb PS3

Question. How many Halo fans are there that havent bought into 360 already?

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:34AM]

@Humpty, standard Elite with a 20G hard drive instead of 120G

[Lenz @ Jul 11th 2007 1:43AM]

@humpty:

At least one Halo fan without a 360 yet. I may pick one up now (though not the green one) for H3 and Assassin's Creed.

[macca @ Jul 11th 2007 1:18AM]

has anyone seen the blue dragon demo, the trailers are there and the sonic game is there, also a e3 2007 theme and picture pack!

[Hardcore @ Jul 11th 2007 1:22AM]

How appropriate, a feces colored 360 so you can yell at it by its color when it breaks.

[Jeff Lewis @ Jul 11th 2007 1:22AM]

You know - Engadget could start doing four or five posts a day about Halo 3 - maybe post a few articles about losers who tattoo Quake logos on their arms?

That would certainly be different from their usual coverage...

Oh wait... silly me - wrong company doing Halo 3.

[Eric V @ Jul 11th 2007 1:22AM]

* Halo 3 Special Edition Console
* Halo 3 Special Edition Wireless Controller
* Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive
* Halo 3 Special Edition Wired Headset
* Halo 3 Special Edition Gamer Pics and Theme (Exclusive download via Xbox LIVE)
* Component HD AV Cable
* Ethernet Cable
* HDMI Port
* Play & Charge Kit
* Xbox LIVE Silver Membership
* One-month Lbox LIVE Gold Membership
* Halo 3 game not included—sold separately

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/e32007/articles/halo3console.htm

[Noshino @ Jul 11th 2007 1:27AM]

* Halo 3 Special Edition 20GB Hard Drive?

I thought the Elite had a bigger HDD (120 GB)

So its just an upgrade premium 360?

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:28AM]

"20GB Hard Drive" - no lie...

???

[tiuk @ Jul 11th 2007 10:45AM]

Sounds like it's an elite, but with a 20 GB drive.

[David K @ Jul 11th 2007 1:23AM]

Wow. I was hoping that Microsoft would sell one of them Simpsons Movie SE Xbox 360 BUT NO!!! THEY HAVE TO MAKE JUST 100 OF THEM TO GIVE AWAY THEN COME OUT WITH THIS HALF-A**ED HALO 3 SE XBOX 360. WHOOP-DEE-F***ING-DOO!!! Sorry about all the rage.

[Zeus the God @ Jul 11th 2007 6:18PM]

@ Mak:

You are such a fucking stupid douche bag. The failure rate is no where near what that speculated failure rate is. Most issues are user related, especially when it comes down to the overheating bit.

It is based on the Elite, because if you had a brain, the Elite is the only console to have the HDMI port of all 360s. Well, this has the HDMI port, meaning it is based off of said Elite, only it has a 20 gig hard drive instead of 120GB.

You seriously are one of the biggest Sony fanboy zealots I have seen on Engadget.

[Mak @ Jul 11th 2007 3:00AM]

It's not based on the ELite, it's based on the Premium.

By defination, Microsoft can never produce a 360 better than the Elite.

I think the red rings of death actually look quite nice against that green colour, it will match your face, when your console fails for the 6th time..

[Phillip Black @ Jul 11th 2007 1:28AM]

I am a MS fanboy and even I admit that keynote was sad. There was nothing we didn't already know was coming announcet. All we got was a Green Xbox 360.

[Fatima @ Jul 11th 2007 1:38AM]

MS has screwed up, we will see how Sony fare's tomorrow. If they have a great one and convince people to pick up Ps3...boy MS is in trouble.

[Zeus the God @ Jul 11th 2007 6:22PM]

MS won't be in trouble, because there is nothing that Sony can do to rival the 360's games at the moment, and Home is a joke. If they would have actually made a decent network (paying for it isn't a problem), then they would have a chance, but they blew it from the beginning because of the whole angle they took with the PS3.

[endless @ Jul 11th 2007 1:34AM]

worst.keynote.ever.

[leo2178 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:40AM]

They're gonna slowly replace the defective systems in the stores with these and maybe people wont notice.

[Gabe @ Jul 11th 2007 1:42AM]

why would they announce a new cooler chip, so they can piss off all the whiny hate everything fanboys? all they have to do is make it happen, no need to announce a chip change.

[Evan @ Jul 11th 2007 1:42AM]

Apparently no one knows that they did this with the last console. The Halo version of the Xbox looked awesome compared to this though. Still, this probably is aimed at people who are getting the console for the game, nobody else.

[humpty @ Jul 11th 2007 1:46AM]

The weird thing is that its not bundled with the game. Makes no sense. You go out of your way to buy a Halo console.. surely, you must have some interest in Halo and are somewhat interested in buying the game?

[Nirvelli @ Jul 11th 2007 11:27PM]

@humpty:
Probably because so many people have already pre-ordered Halo 3, and if they are going to already have it then they don't want to spend an extra $60 on the H3 Xbox.

[Tesley @ Jul 11th 2007 1:43AM]

The new console looks like baby poo!!!!

[RichieRich @ Jul 11th 2007 1:48AM]

Wow, if there is no price cut by Friday (13th), I'm getting a PS3.

[paloooz @ Jul 11th 2007 1:50AM]

I can't help but ROFL@u.

[isagani @ Jul 11th 2007 1:50AM]

damn that this is ugly and it only has a 20GB-WTH is with that? Weak MS, price drop would have been killer with the solid game lineup this year... Oh well, competition is good - I hope Sony can make up some group and be competitive.(I want both to win since I own both)

[ryanworrell @ Jul 11th 2007 1:52AM]

wtf, 20gb hdd. stupid move there M$. Too damn cheap to threw in a 120. dam fuggers

[Jypson @ Jul 11th 2007 1:52AM]

Beauty HAS to be in the eye of the beholder, because that thing looks like crap to me.