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Microsoft official confirmed the worst-kept secret in games: the Xbox 360 is receiving a price cut on its top-end Elite system starting Friday. In other words, the long list of leaked catalog circulars weren't fakes. What this means is that the 120GB hard-drive-toting Xbox 360 Elite that used to be $400 will now be $300--the same cost as a PS3 Slim.

The Xbox 360 Pro, with its 60GB hard drive, will drop to $250 instead of $300, and will keep being sold until it vanishes off shelves. Kudos, by the way, to Microsoft for actually lowering the price on a soon-to-be-discontinued model, as opposed to the fate of the PS3 Fat. The updates are official on the company's Web site.

Great value, or just fair?

(Credit: CNET)

The Xbox 360 Arcade, however, will continue to cost $200. While that's somewhat fair, considering it's technically the cheapest next-gen console on the market, it's a bad deal. A hard drive, however, is an absolute necessity. The 360's proprietary 120GB hard drive costs $150, so you're effectively saving 50 dollars on the purchase of an Elite. If the 360 had a removable standard hard drive like the PS3 does, we might be singing a different tune on the Arcade.

This only makes the sound of that ticking clock over at Nintendo headquarters even louder. Will the Nintendo Wii reduce its price this holiday season? According to Nintendo's Yasuhiro Minagawa, the company still has no plans to do so. This doesn't mean, however, that a similarly priced bundle with a Wii MotionPlus and possibly a new game (Wii Sports Resort?) isn't in the plans.

Now that the 360 and PS3 are cheaper, the landscape of gaming is shifting in terms of value. We commented on this in terms of handheld systems, but it's also true in terms of the Wii. It can no longer be called a budget system by any stretch.

Realistically, Nintendo probably won't lower the price until one of its rivals makes its fully fledged system even cheaper than a Wii, and that's not likely to happen soon...or ever.

The other question is, has the PS3 leapfrogged the 360 in terms of console value, even with the new Elite price cuts? The Slim consumes less power, has Blu-ray, and is already based on hardware that came out a year after the Xbox 360 hit store shelves. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 has held the fort with a console that still lacks built-in Wi-Fi, a feature available on the Nintendo DS.

So, which is it...a $300 Xbox 360 Elite, a $300 PS3 Slim, or a $250 Wii?

Or, a $200 Xbox 360 Arcade?

The end of the Xbox 360 Pro is nigh.

(Credit: Kotaku)

Treat this right now as very likely, but still a rumor--a photo of a catalog page posted to Kotaku shows the 120GB hard drive-and-HDMI Xbox 360 Elite going for $299. The Meijer catalog (a Midwest store chain) in question is slated for August 30, which would mean a nice holiday surprise for future Xbox 360 buyers.

Other rumors have it that the price-dropped Elite and the bare-bones, hard-drive-free Arcade system will be the only 360s left on the market. It's a move that makes sense, since 120GB is not exactly a luxurious amount of storage space anymore, and is far more suitable for the mainstream than a fine-in-2005-but-now-piddling 20GB.

The 360 wasn't the system that most needed a price drop, after all. But then again, Sony might be following close behind with a cheaper (and redesigned) counterpunch of their own.

This leaves the Xbox 360 Elite at a price that's only $50 more than a Wii. And, for that price, you get a system that streams Netflix, plays DVDs, has robust online gameplay, and has far more storage than Nintendo's white box (even adding in a mountain of SD cards).

While we have absolutely no problem with getting more Xbox 360 for less, this raises a rather sharp sticking point with the prices of Microsoft's proprietary Xbox hard drives. An impassioned rant from Gizmodo accurately and appropriately skewers the currently ludicrous $160 retail cost of the 120GB hard drive. When half a terabyte can be had for the same--and when Microsoft, after all, wants us to buy more downloads than ever before--this hardly seems logical. Then again, maybe hard drive price drops/capacity increases are also on the horizon. In fact, wouldn't that be expected? If 120GB is the mainstream, there has to be a larger capacity to upgrade to.

Or, even better: Wi-Fi built in, and a slimmer, more reliable 360. How about that?

(via Kotaku)

(Credit: Kotaku)

Video game console SKUs seem to be dropping like flies these days. Just 24 hours after hearing about how Japan may lose the 80GB PlayStation 3, rumors are starting to swirl about the Xbox 360 saying goodbye to its "Pro" model. The claim is only strengthened by the above image, which shows an Arcade box comparing only two consoles instead of the older box art (to the left), which looks at three.

Keeping track of console SKUs has become quite the task, but it seems that Microsoft will narrow the Xbox 360 line to the bare-bones Arcade model and the beefy 120GB hard drive Elite version. The current Pro console originally shipped with a 20GB hard drive which was subsequently bumped up to 60GB last year.

We'd imagine once the phasing out is complete that the Elite will fall to around $300 with the Arcade sticking at $200. Of course we're not against dropping the prices on both of these systems--we just don't expect anything like that to happen until the holidays.

(Via Kotaku)

Grab the top-of-the-line Xbox for under $200.

(Credit: Geeks.com)

Geeks.com has a ridiculously good deal on a refurbished Xbox 360 Elite: $199.99 (after applying coupon code XDEALS at checkout). Shipping will run you about $16.

For those not thoroughly versed in Xbox models, the Elite is, well, the elite. The top of the line. The Xbox that normally sells for $399.99.

Like a new unit, the refurb comes with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port, a wireless controller, and a headset. Unlike a new unit, the warranty expires after 90 days.

On the cabling side, the Xbox comes with only the usual component-video cable. If you plan on making an HDMI connection, you can get what you need for just a few bucks.

If the Elite is overkill for your gaming needs and/or your budget can't stretch quite that far, Geeks.com also has a refurbished Xbox 360 Pro (20GB) for $149.99.

Either way you're getting a killer game console and a damn fine media center extender (meaning it can stream music, videos, and photos from your PC).

The Xbox also lets you stream movies from Netflix, though for that you need both a Netflix membership and an Xbox Live Gold account.

OK, so what do you think? Too good to pass up? If memory serves, this is by far the lowest price I've seen on an Xbox 360 Elite. The deal is available through July 31, but something tells me it'll sell out long before that.

Rumor has it the Xbox 360 Elite will take the place of the Pro.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Ars Technica's "favorite inside source" is at it again, telling the Web site that Sony is clearing inventory on the $399 80GB PS3 in advance of "dropping the price of hardware and launching the PS3 Slim rumor in the fall."

At the same time, Ars' mole claims the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro ($299) will be replaced by the Xbox 360 Elite ($399), which has a higher-capacity 120GB hard drive. In other words, Microsoft will offer up more hard drive capacity at the $299 price point, which seems to dovetail nicely with its plans to deliver a full assortment of retail game downloads that require more disc space than Xbox 360 Arcade titles.

According to the mole, which Ars claims has "an outstanding track record," we should also expect Microsoft to serve up some enticing system/game bundles for the holidays, similar to what we've already seen with the Halo 3/Fable 2 bundle.

In terms of rumors, this one sounds pretty straightforward and logical, and could really come from anybody who has some basic insight into the gaming industry. But hey, other blogs are posting this item, so we feel obligated to let you in on what's floating around out there.

Probably the most important thing to note is that the PS3 Slim rumor is alive and well and we expect it to continue to gain steam as we approach the end of the summer. In the light of Sony's inability to keep the PSP Go a secret, if the PS3 Slim is indeed for real, we somehow doubt Sony will be able to keep it completely under wraps.

It's also clear (if you believe this rumor) that Microsoft intends to keep the pressure on Sony, making sure the PS3 remains in third place behind the Wii and Xbox 360. The other day I spoke with Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, and he gave me the impression that Microsoft fully expects Sony to drop its price to $299 this year. "Otherwise, it's going to be very difficult for them to compete," Greenberg said. "They have to."

As always, feel free to comment.

(Source: Ars Technica)

We've seen plenty of network-connected streamers over the last few months, most of which rely in some degree on Windows Media Center for content. This wouldn't be such an issue if Media Center would just play nicely with third-party devices.

These "extenders," like the Linksys DMA2200, gave us an inconsistent stream with unreliable picture quality regardless of our connection strength. On the other hand, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD wasn't able to play as many file types as we would have liked.

It is with the Digital Entertainer Elite that we've found the best of both worlds: a media receiver that doesn't rely on Windows Media Center and a device that can handle almost any file format you throw at it. The Elite isn't necessarily for everyone, though--in fact, we'd probably recommend it only to that crowd of do-it-yourselfers who are fluent in the ins and outs of audio and video formats.

The Elite is priced around $400 and, while you won't have the added luxury of Netflix or Amazon Video on Demand, there are plenty of extra features that may justify its purchase, including a removable and user-replaceable 500GB hard drive. Read our full review to see if it's right for you.

In celebration of the release of "Resident Evil 5," Microsoft will be offering a limited-edition version of the Xbox 360 Elite console.

The Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 Elite will come in a red finish and have a red controller. Bundled inside the box you'll find everything the Elite has to offer, in addition to a code for an exclusive "Resident Evil 5" theme for your dashboard. Also included as a bonus will be a free voucher for "Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix."

Limited-edition Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 Elite (red)

The console should ship around the time "Resident Evil 5" launches, which is Friday, March 13. (The game will also available for PlayStation 3.) The price of the special console will remain the same as a regular Xbox 360 Elite at $400. In the meantime, check out our photo gallery of the red console.

We're not saying that the HP Pavilion Elite m9500y belongs in a pile of garbage. Far from it, in fact. At first glance, the spread of components you get for the price ($939) seems pretty decent: a 2.4GHz AMD Phenom Quad Core processor, a full 8GB of DDR2 RAM, a dedicated Nvidia 9500GS graphics card, 750GB of storage, and a wireless LAN card.

Unfortunately for HP, opinions change when you compare it with other systems like the Dell XPS 430-121B, which gives you faster DDR3 Ram, a more aggressive CPU, and trades Wi-Fi for a TV tuner card. Truly, the only advantage that the more expensive HP has over the Dell is the video card, which will only interest gamers and video editors.

On the other hand, if you fall into that category, chances are you've already read our review of the Gateway LX 6810-01 that actually gives you a better video card, the 1GB NVIDIA GEForce GT120, for just $779.

We're not saying that the m9500y deserves a punch in the mouth; it's just that there are other systems out there that give you a better deal for your dollar.

Check out our full review of the HP Pavilion Elite m9500y.

HP Pavilion Elite m9500y can't stand heat, gets out of kitchen