Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Feb 1st 2008 10:48AM
posted Feb 1st 2008 10:48AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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a buddy of mine was trying to get an elite for 3 weeks, he finally had to settle on a pro.
Wasn't there a rumor it was going to be replaced with a Elite with built-in HD-DVD? I wonder if something threw a monkey-wrench into this?
Box is too funny. Nice job.
My local Gamestation has shelves full of them
I've seen a few around the Chicagoland burbs.
Little bird told me the are refitting for the 65nm chips. Cannot Confirm Yet.
360fanboy has already tackled this issue, like 2 weeks ago.
According to one of their sources, M$ has is gearing up to start selling consoles with the new 65nm chips.
It's true!!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=xbox+elite&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960
I was at Best Buy a couple days ago to trade in my Elite because it's having disk tray issues and the fan has started to make a clicking noise. When I went to customer service they told me that they hadn't seen an Elite in stock since Christmas. Hopefully they get some more in stock soon because I paid good money for that replacement plan (mainly so I wouldn't have to go through Microsoft's repair program). I'd rather not have this thing die on me and have to wait weeks for Best Buy to get more.
Mine was 2 weeks old when it just flat out stopped working. I had just got COD4 and I went home to play it and the disc wouldnt read so i tried my other games and they didnt work. I took it back to Circuit City and now its 3-4 weeks b/c they have to special order it.
The UK seems to have a plentiful supply of them, or atleast the major online retailers. Maybe this is US only, or the reason they are hard to find is going to be US time exclusive.
I was looking for one in town about 3 weeks ago and everybody was out. I ordered one from Amazon in the end and they got it too me right away. Praise be to their huge stock warehouses :D
Hull,
United Kingdom
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000OYMSL6/ref=dp_olp_3
OUCH!
There were some at a few of the Walmarts.
I live in Lawrence, KS. SOld out here, all over the Kansas City metro, and Wichita. A friend of mine tried to get one in Wichita and was told everywhere he went that it was on backorder. =(
I guess some people finally grew a brain and realized that the 120GB drive (which retails for $200) and the black paint job and HDMI cable were worth the extra $100.
My fiance bought me one about 3 weeks ago from Amazon.com. They had plenty in stock at the time, but they certainly weren't upwards of $600 at the time. All of the major retailers in the area chuckled a bit, though when we asked if they had any in stock or expect any soon. I guess we got lucky with Amazon.
I'm in Cinci,oh and I called literally every store within a 10 mile radius, no dice. that was last week. interesting to see that others are having the same issue
i work at a best buy in Toronto Canada and we have quite a few actually....
I just saw one sitting in the shelf at my local wally world..
i wanna buy it...just 100 bucks short
I've been following this closely and am kinda surprised this hasn't surfaced until now.
I returned a Pro 20G I bought as part of a very large entertainment package (my dream HDTV, surround sound, gamings system, etc). They were pretty good about taking it back and the store mgr (of 1 of the 2 biggest box stores which I leave unnamed but I'm sure you can figure out)had me on top of the list to receive an Elite (wanted a larger HDD and falcon chip) once one came in on the truck.
fast forward several weeks later, he's telling me he still doesn't have one- N-O-T because there's been pent up post-holiday demand but because they haven't got ANY in since b4 Xmas. Not only is this a big box store, but it's one in a very big market. So with a retail location that moves that much inventory and is always getting higher than avg allocation of gaming systems, not getting any in, obviously somethings up.
Arcade's are readily available as are Pro's, and unlike some of the misinformed posts here, most everything you'll see out there now is likely to be their 65nm chip (aka falcon) unless you catch a store with aged inventory.
One other tidbit FWIT that I think it's ok to share:
- On the day of the MS keynote at CES, there was a span of several hours where the Elite SKU (only) was pulled from both the Circuit City and Best Buy websites.
:)
Luv that black matte finish. The glossy piano black is nice too but I think I prefer the matte.
You think this had anything to do with CES and HD DVD?
What if they intended to start putting HD DVD drives in the elites and then cancelled the announcement in the Bill Gates keynote and this is fall out of the phasing out of elite units without the introduction of the elite HD DVD xbox?
I noted this in my blog http://philsplace.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/a-new-360-bundle/ leading into CES, thinking that maybe some announcement was forthcoming. Alas, here in Michigan, my buddy eventually had to buy one from someone else because we still are having a hard time finding many hard drive enabled 360s in the area, let alone the Elite. Best Buy seems to be out of all but the arcade.
oh, and after questioning Walmart last week when they might be receiving more Elites, the Mgr told me that they weren't going to be getting anymore in and that Walmart was instead discontinuing that SKU.
I got one of the last Philippines stock not only were the Elites available regularly on one retailer but they also carried a few perhaps less than 20 i recall. They could not get a stock refresh and the last sku they had was the one before the bundle.
-Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?
-Ebay , Next question!
:3
-Where in the world is the Xbox 360 Elite?
-Ebay , Next question!
:3
We have an Elite to give away on our podcast. And we're looking for a creative way to do it. Call me a shill, but it is what it is. :)
http://visitmix.com/blogs/TheSignal/
Where I live, even the Pros have gone missing and according to store people, none are expected to be on their way to the store shelves anytime soon either.
I had a hard time finding a new one for me. I got the last one that EBGames in rideau/ottawa had. It's a pre-xmas box too. says 203W but was actually 175W. I thought I'd have to macguiver myself something for the optical out cable but was surprised to see a slimmer plug for the audio. Anyways, I was told that the 120gig hdd is also quite sparse by the store manager.
I found an Elite at a local Micro Center store here in Minnesota. They had 10 units in stock. I think people forget that some stores carry video game systems. I drove 35 minutes to get mine.
One of my buddies got one 2-3 weeks ago for a home theater from newegg or amazon. In the KC metro any 360 is in pretty short supply. Before xmas most big box retails had stacks of 30-40 on the floors. Lately you hardly seen any in Walmart or Target. I haven't checked Best Buy stores, but the website makes it look like no stores stock them anymore and online is sold out.
Strangely walmart.com has them, but only if you purchase them as part of a bundle with an extra controller and a game. Not sold online, if you try to buy just the elite.
i've only seen a few arcades in philly area best buys and game stops.
no premiums/pros no elites.
my gamestop has 4-5 shelfs of elites in the Chicago suburbs
ebob9, I suspect that Microsoft / Toshiba would have announced with much fanfare an HD DVD model at this year's consumer electronics show. Unfortunately for them Warner kicked them in the balls the day before CES and they probably shelved their plans indefinitely or for some more opportune moment. I doubt there are any opportune moments any more, but who knows maybe the much vaunted superbowl ad is designed to relaunch the format.
It may well be that MS was even clearing stock of Elite in preparation for this announcement that never came and now they're in a bit of a pickle.
It's not just the elites that are scarce...even the Pro version is becoming hard to find. I think this may be a tactic to clear out existing inventory before shipping the 65nm Falcon configuration. Just my 2 cents though...
Get alerted when in stock:
http://www.instalker.com/p/47/Xbox-360-Elite
i got my elite 2-3 weeks ago, MicroCenter (where i got it from) actually didn't have any Pro's left in stock, but did tell me they had a ton of elites and arcades.
I've been looking high and low to find one in Utah, and haven't been able to find one in stores since the holidays.............we got tons of Arcade versions though
I saw 2 sitting in John Lewis in Edinburgh yesterday soooooo not really that hard to find eh ?
I had a 3 week wait in October to get one from Dell. Stock issues. I was hoping then to get one of the newer refits, but nope. Could it be the set-top IPTV deal in the UK making them scarce?
My local stores have huge piles of 360s... but few or no elites...
maybe MS figures that stuffing the channel with lower-cost models is less costly than stuffing it with the lowest-margin model.
While being a new model, the Elite is still using the older boards (with HDMI). Most arcades and pro's that DO have HDMI have already been moved to the smaller chips. The elite is just getting that same treatment, hence the clearing out of inventory.
I bought one of those extended warrantys on the pro version when I first got it in 2005 and have returned RRODs around 4 times without any trouble. Right after Christmas, RROD, so I take it in to Bestbuy to get another and they tell me they don't have any in because of Christmas. So I wait a week or two, still no Xboxes in stock at any Bestbuy. I finally called corporate yesterday and the customer service lady told me they weren't planning on selling the pro version anymore. I think she was talking out of her ass or she might have heard about the 65nm chips and interpreted it as they aren't selling them anymore. Either way, I decided to just send it to M$ and wait for it.
Here in Atlanta area I have noticed lack of Elite at several BB and CCs.
New Circuit City just opened a week ago here, and the shelves had a handful of each unit (Arcade/Premium/Elite) available.
The Elite was originally supposed to be just a limited edition item so I guess they could potentially be finally running out of stock.
As 1 or 2 people have pointed out, and several others have ignored, the Elites have already made the transition to Falcons. I have one, which was bought in early-to-mid December.
The transition which has YET to happen is the GPU's shrink to 65nm. The Falcons out now are only 65nm CPUs. It was previously speculated that the full CPU/GPU die shrink transition would be completed in February or March of '08, so if anything, that might be what we're seeing. I hadn't heard about the SKUs being pulled around MS' keynote at CES, but I find that to be a fascinating tidbit. It's already widely known that Gates cut a significant HD-DVD spiel from his speech, so who knows.
Main point: The planned 65nm CPU die shrink is already here, and has been for over a month. Get your facts straight.
futureshop in ancaster, Ontario had 9 last week... just FYI. ever thought they might just be popular and running out of stock? *shrugs*
When I bought my Elite back around May or June, they were sold out then, too. I ended up buying one off some guy on craigslist. Typically I'm opposed to paying any markup whatsoever, especially since I'm not a big gamer, but I wanted the HDMI for my 1080p TV, and the 550 cash I paid for a new-in-unopened-box-with-receipt was hardly any more than I would have paid for a $480 elite + tax at a local store.
Recently? I haven't seen an Elite in central MA since 2 weeks before Christmas. I haven't seen many Pros recently, either. There seem to be plenty of Arcade versions though.
Out in eastern Iowa as well. I work for a best buy here, and we have been out for weeks, and it is still on backorder at every store. The Pro has been hard to come by as well, but has recently been showing up in stores.
Still in stock on Amazon UK.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Xbox-360-Elite-Console/dp/B000PD0HQE/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1201890742&sr=8-3
...maybe they're hoping to force people to buy the cheap Arcade version and a bunch of accessories so they can dump that SKU, since most online games can't even be played without a harddrive, although you can add one later.
have a launch 360Premium, but am considering getting an Elite for the larger harddrive and HDMI output...but since I haven't even come close to filling my 20gigs I have a hard time justifying the expenditure...
Wow is that not accurate. Elites were released with the new falcon chip at the same time the other sku's were. I could give you lists of folks who have bought Elites with the new Falcon config over a mth ago.
Also- people are getting the lack of availability due to *demand* confused with lack of availability due to *supply*- ie you can't find'em cuz the stores aren't getting any... even the largest Circuit City / Best Buy locations haven't been shipped any for several weeks now- get it??
And folks throwing out garbage like "my local retailer has shelves and shelves of them" are either full of crap, don't know the difference between the Elite and the other sku's or mistakenly assume those 3 empty black Elite display boxes on the shelf at EB Games / Gamestop actually have a console in them!
Problem Solved
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:*&resnum=0&q=xbox+360+elite&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf
I saw 3 of them at Wal-Mart last night in Wichita KS
Chad...If you click on the links you will see most of those stores are sold out...something is a brewing...
I had been looking for a 360 from Jan. 1 - 17 and finally bought one on Amazon but I still don't see any in the stores until now. They were readily available before Jan 24 but now ghost shelves.
I'm sure most of you know, but those of you that don't - beware when UPGRADING to and Elite from one of the lower models whether through a warranty exchange at a big box store or voluntarily - it doesn't matter. All of your previously downloaded content will need to be repurchased. It's clearly spelled out in MS policies. They will not transfer the licenses to your new box. Hell, they won't even transfer the licenses to the new box the sent me in exchange for my RRoD Pro, but that's another story.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the HD DVD Super Bowl commercial. Pretty unlikely, but that would be quite the announcement.
Try Sears.com! I purchased mine on thursday Jan 24 and got it on Tuesday Jan 29! I paid for expediated shipping. I had been looking forever for one and tried sears.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_12605_Computers+%26+Electronics_Video+Games_Video+Game+Hardware
Engadget, /another/ regression in your comment system. Now you're mixing slash directions and breaking comment forms.
As for my opinion on the article, the 360 is still completely worthless to me. The PS3 can be used productively, and the Wii niftily, but you don't so much as own a single core of the 360. Unless you're a soldering iron ninja who fears no loss.. but I'm not. So I just try to dissuade people from buying that garbage.
saw about 3 yesterday in best buy.
are you kidding me, i work at shopko and all we have are the elite versions, there have been so many people asking for the premium version that i have put up a sign that says we are currently out of them and that we only have the arcade and the elite versions. so my suggestion to those out there is to run on down to your local shopko and see of they have some.
Around X-mas time there were plenty of Elites at my local Best Buy (surprisingly). Every now and then they run low, but for the most part it's not hard to find an Elite, rather it's hard to find a Pro.
I was at Best Buy on Wednesday, looking to purchase a Xbox 360 Pro bundle with the two games, but noticed they didn't have *any* 360s in stock, other than 2 arcade units. I questioned an employee, who said they've been out of 360s for over a week.
I also noticed Rock Band was out of stock.
Just a couple of weeks ago, they had stacks of each.
Everyone please stop posting how many you've seen in local stores. That only means that some stores still have stock left over from Christmas, what's important are the reports that stores are not receiving *new* stock.
The GPU die-shrink is plausible, however we didn't see similar shortages associated with the CPU die-shrink, so it's unlikely.
The built-in HD DVD theory is plausible, especially if two stores removed the Elite SKU during Microsoft's CES keynote as Andy M suggested.
Will somebody please explain to me why when I press reply it goes to the main engadget.com page? That is, if you can reply to this post.
I live in Vancouver and work at London Drugs. We haven't had any elites in stock since early Dec. The MS rep was by this week and I asked him about it, he said that nowhere in the Lower mainland has been recieving elites, and he has no idea why.
My 360 just died this week after 2 years of heavy use. I went to take it back and get an elite and no one has any elites around me at all. I live within 2 hours of DC and I cannot find an elite and now I am w/o a 360
I work at a Woolworths store in the UK, at the moment we have no Xbox 360 Arcades, Cores, Premiums Its just the elite, we have about 30 for them we just cant shift, we're even shoving halo for £10 which people are liking. Weather its just a US epidemic or not i dont know, but just a heads up.
I've been trying to get one for 4 weeks now, they're gone long gone. tried Gamestop, BestBuy and Circuit City at N.Y. Yesterday @ BestBuy they told me. They just got a shipping on "PRO" but none of Elite. When i asked them, as usual the dudes at the store don't know anything about it.
@Dave: "i work at a best buy in Toronto Canada and we have quite a few actually...."
Can you get any back over the border? How big are your pants?
I work at a Best Buy outside of St. Louis and we haven't had an Elite since before Christmas either. I believe we've received (and sold) about 4 or so Pros in that time frame, and maybe 3 or 4 Arcades.
Was just in Austin, TX last week, couldn't find an elite at GameStops, EB Games', Best Buys or Walmarts. Tried calling a few San Antonio Best Buys and they didn't have any either.
Now I'm in South Korea and the country does not have any on sale. The used market over here is going ballistic.
:(
I received an Elite for Christmas along with several games. Just one week later the DVD player stopped recognizing disks so I took it back to Best Buy for an exchange. In the Houston area they were out of stock. At that time warehouse did not have any and it's been that way ever since.
So, since Jan. 1, 2008 to Feb. 2, 2008 the warehouses which supply all Houston Best Buy stores have been out of Elites and from talking with the Managers they have not been told anything and do not have the faintest idea about what is going on or when their warehouses will get any stock shipped to them from Microsoft.
I personally have the fun of playing the system for only one week and now I have nothing. I even have several games I never got around to opening before the Elite broke.
This has made it a pretty lousy Christmas for me (the Elite and games are they only thing I got) and I am definitly not feeling the "Microsoft Love" right now.
As of this posting they seem to be back at the online store, but not actually in any stores at Best Buy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0700000%23%230%23%2319r~~cabcat0701000%23%230%23%233z~~nf410%7C%7C2432303020616e64205570&list=y&nrp=15&sc=gameToySP&sp=-bestsellingsort+skuid&usc=abcat0700000
And now they are sold out online again. This is just friggin sad.
Does anyone know the real story ? It's getting close to two months now.
This sucks. I've been actively looking for about two weeks. I called 4 Wal-Marts in my area (I live in the South, lots of Wally worlds) and none have a single one. EBGames, same deal. They have one Halo version collecting dust.
I know as soon as I find one and buy it Microsoft is going to announce a new version or price drop.
Live in NJ, been trying to find an elite in BB as I have to many gift cards there. I've seen 1 elite in a EG games in the past 4 weeks. I don't want to settle on a pro cause I want the huge HDD. Hopfully a new sku or some elites start to roll around.
I think most of them are at the Microsoft Store here in Redmond, WA. That's where I got mine in December for about $400.