Xbox 360 Elite being phased out in favor of limited edition models?
By Donald Melanson 
posted March 6th 2009 5:33PM
posted March 6th 2009 5:33PM
This one's still a long ways from actually panning out, but Fudzilla is reporting that Microsoft could be about to phase out its standard Xbox 360 Elite console and instead fill out the top end of the scale with limited edition models like the recent Resident Evil 5 bundle. According to the site's unnamed sources, Microsoft would get the transition started by simply letting inventory dry up beginning sometime in the second quarter of this year, during which time it would apparently limit sales of the console to North America and Europe. Then, once those have all been moved off the shelves, Microsoft would supposedly shift its attention to new, potentially even pricier, limited edition consoles, which themselves could well be limited to select retailers. In other Xbox 360 news, Fudzilla also says that Microsoft could soon be offering a new standalone hard drive that's bigger than the 120GB drive now found in the Elite, although there's no indication as to exactly how much bigger.[Via Joystiq]
The Elite just doesn't justify the price. If you just want this thing to play games (which is the majority) then the Pro is good enough. I've got a 60Gb Pro - hardly use the hard drive. You usually play a game for a period, then you throw it into the pile - so you can take it off the hard drive. You don't need the special HDMI cables in the pack - any HDMI cable will do with a Pro. I can see value in removing the Elite and going with limited edition models - with something more worthwhile than just a black case, a slightly bigger drive and HDMI cables.
Now this may actually be very interesting. Phase out the Elite model and drop in limited edition models second quarter of this year. This could mean they are paving the way for a new system next year. The timing seems a little bit early but apparently MS have found the root cause to the quality issues seen on the first rash of consoles. This would give them some confidence to apply that learning to a new console. I call 2010 the year of the new Xbox. Just think about what's lacking on a 360 (as a standard component). HDMI, Blu-Ray, built in wifi, standard hdd support (ala PS3) and others. I'm not sure if this console would be a next gen or just an upgrade to the current platform.
MS should release the NORROD edition.
The elite is a pretty stupid SKU. It's way overpriced and the hard drive size was completely unnecessary until NXE came out (and then MS reduced the price of its overpriced HDD by $30, but you can fairly easily find the 120gb drive for as "little" as $125 these days at walmart). MS should go back to 2 regular SKUs and for the love of god, cut the prices on your accessories by 40% at least.
I had a feeling this was to come... What's next, a new final fantasy limited edition Xbox elite?