Europe finally granted Xbox price cut

Microsoft has finally treated European gamers to a slice of American-style price-cutting on its Xbox range. European gamers should be able to get their hands on the ‘standard’ model for £30 less and save £20 on the cost of the Core model, when the cuts kick in later this week. The price-cuts will take effect on 24 August, …

[Tom]

Does it come with pre-paid jiffy bags?

If it came with about 20 pre-paid jiffy bags so it didnt cost more in postage than games to keep it going it might get onto my list of possible games machines.

[leslie]

Whats an elite got?

Whats an elite got that an xbox360 hasnt, why should I wait and pay more?

Also why did all the xbox games releases suddenly die after the xbox360 arrived, it's not like titles usually dry up overnight they go reduced, budget, bundle box, 50p

It was like someone said to all the software houses ''look the 360's here, stop the xbox titles or else (we wont let you do 360)...''

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm................

[Mark Thompson]

HDMI

The major difference is that the elite has support for HDMI which the standard model does not have.

I cn't say I have noticed Xbox titles drying up, several recent releases came out on both 360 and Xbox.

[Mark]

Re: Does it come with pre-paid jiffy bags?

Tom, I take it you're referring to sending an Xbox off for repair? There is a free collection service for broken Xbox's so no need for the jiffy bags (would there be one big enough for an Xbox 360 anyway?).

These latest Xbox's (i.e. the ones currently in the shops) generally have the new heat sink arrangement which should make it unlikely that they will break down anyway.

Leslie, well it's black (which is the new silver) with a HDMI port and a 120Gb hard drive (bigger than the premium's 20Gb). It also comes with a HDMI cable - not a high cost item but Sony couldn't manage this with the PS3.

[Simon Lacey]

RE: What's an elite got?

"Introducing Xbox 360™ Elite, the premier Xbox 360 console package that includes a massive 120GB hard drive, a HDMI port, and HDMI cable, all wrapped up with a premium black finish. Xbox 360 Elite also includes a black wireless controller and black Xbox LIVE® headset."

Premium packages are also available in HDMI form in the States.

[Jonathan]

@Leslie

This is my first post,

The Elite comes with a bigger HD as standard(120 gb) it also comes equiped with a HDMI port. It also uses fab 65nm instead the 90nm on its cpu so it runs cooler and uses less power. Both good things....

Finally it is also black not white.

The cheaper models are rumored to get that HDMI and new fab process soon.

On the xbox game question, its to force everyone to get the new console. The 360 has almost been out two years so most game publishers and software houses are now only developing for the later technology. It won't be long before production reduces for the PS2.

Hope that helps

[Martyn]

65nm

I don't believe the Elite is being launched with the new 65nm chip, it still uses the older 90nm chip. The 65 should be coming out closer to the end of the year.

[Blubster]

The reason why?

Nothing to do with the Wii gaining in popularity of course.

[Anonymous Coward]

Never mind the Elite console....

....when is someone going to do a modern-day version of the classic 'Elite' game FFS? You know, the space-trading one with the wire-frame graphics on the old 8-bit computers, what a top game!

[Konstantinos]

What about a new cooling architecture...

as long as these red lights keep poping out i wont be considering getting my self a new xbox even if they cut like 50(where the heck is the pound symbol -_-;)

I sold my 360 a couple of months ago and the poor buyer after like a couple of weeks had the red lights problem...

[Alistair MacRae]

All upcoming X360s have a HDMI ports

The only difference is that it has a larger hard drive. And it looks cool in black.

I'm thinking of selling my white to get a black one as it goes with my black samsung screen better.

The only thing that concerns me now is using HDMI port...

For those of us that have surround systems working via the optical lead... with an HDMI lead plugged in does that stop the component av dongle functioning as it has an optical out in there too.

[Keiron]

I wub my console, it has pwetty red lights!

ive recently had the three red lights problem... had it repaired, got it back, played it for five minutes then... had to send it back again, i dont think the prospect of microsoft paying me to have a console would really tempt me right now, IM JUST SO DISAPPOINTED IN MICROSOFT! even vista is more stable...

[Anonymous Coward]

65nm And new heat sinks

I'd give it a couple of months to buy a core or premium (about the time the ones with HDMI appear) as the ones that are on the shelves atm are likely to have the older heatsink layout... Not that the new one is more than a bandaid.

[Richard Kilpatrick]

Old news now, but...

I collected my pre-ordered 360 Elite; having ordered at £329.99 from Gamestation; the actual price was £299.99 with one free game (Blue Dragon, marked at £44.95 rrp but not a title I was aware of) plus any other game for £20 (naturally, I chose Bioshock).

Haven't taken it out of the box yet, but the serial number flap shows a build date of June 26th; I'm not sure if it's possible to tell if you have the revised heatsink layout by peering though cooling slots or such.

However, if this little serial number door is on all Xbox 360 boxes, perhaps people could be made aware of the build date the revised heatsinks apply from, and look for machines from that date when buying...