Xbox 360 Elite

[Ioman]

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEZulZAVllpgNRLjqX.php

A new black Xbox 360 with HDMI output and larger hard drive.

http://www.t3.co.uk/__data/assets/fp_auto_layout_image/748754/varieties/4.jpg

I have heard the new new hard drive is 120GB. Who is gonna get one?

[neuroking]

I think this might be my first plunge into the next gen world...

I seriously hated the look of the white one, wanted a bigger HD, and wanted to wait until it had matured a little. Check, check, and check.

[Ioman]

Good idea. The newer Xbox 360's also have a quieter DVD drive. That's one of the reasons why I don't use mine for movie, its way too loud.

[neuroking]

Well, I got my Elite yesterday. BB had a big stack of them, and they were basically handing them to people as they were stacking, so demand was pretty high. Unfortunately, I had a massive amount of work to do and only had a few minutes with my new toy, but here are my impressions: (keep in mind this is my first 'next-gen console')

- It is loud, but not horribly loud. I have a Samsung DLP, which has a fan and the color wheel spinning. The Xbox was louder than the tv, but only really bad if you sat on the right side, whithin direct view of the fan intake.

- It looks so much nicer than the white 360s, though the finish is a little bland looking.

- No freezes/crashes in my 30 minutes of CoD3 play. Then again, 30 minutes.

- I'm not using HDMI (TV has no inputs for it), but think it is a good investment. Other people are saying that shadowy areas in HD-DVDs look better. But, unlike people with useful information, I have none!

- There's no black wireless headset. Poo.

- BB had probably 1 black controller for every 2-3 Elite systems.

Other than that, there's probably not much to say about it. Oh, there's something like 103GB free on the ahrd drive at boot, which I found odd, but I didn't check to see what was preinstalled, if anything.

I have to say that playing CoD3 (also have Crackdown, but haven't opened it yet) on a 61" TV was disturbingly realistic. The gun size and perspectives really made me feel almost uneasy. Then I killed some Nazis and felt much better about it.

If I get all my work done tonight (yeah, right), I will set up Live and try Crackdown.

If you have a 360, there's no real need to upgrade, unless you download alot of content. I would wait for the 65nm versions, which should run cooler and quieter. The Elite is slightly better than the Premium systems I've played, in these respects, but that might jsut be because it is brand new and not burned in.

[Ioman]

Thanks for the initial impressions. Since I already have a 360, no need to upgrade it looks like.

Crackdown is really fun, bust that thing open!

[dang]

Brandon,

PM me your nick!

[neuroking]

Roger that. I still haven't had a chance to set up Live. Probably won't until sometime this weekend, but I'll let the DT crowd know when I do. (Podcast will be up tomorrow night, too!)

[dang]

sweet! I've been playing crackdown. It's a blast. I loved Gears of War too.

[ModestMouse13]

i read some reviews. They all said basically what neuroking stated. HDMI is nice addition and so is 120 GB HD but its still noisy and no wifi