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Microsoft Xbox 360 250GB gets UK release date
Microsoft officially unveiled the new Xbox 360 250GB at gaming show E3, and it's a chip off the old block rather than a blazing departure. The new model packs a 250GB hard drive and 802.11n Wi-Fi, as leaked yesterday, but isn't the slimline version many hoped for. It will connect to Kinect, Microsoft's new name for motion-sensing webcam system previously known as Natal.
Microsoft reckon the 250GB model is 15 per cent smaller. It's slightly shorter than the current model, as the picture by our mates from GameSpot shows, but still has a similar waistline to the Xbox 360 Elite. Click here for GameSpot's hands-on first impression from the show floor at E3.
Differences include a new glossy black case, extra cooling vents, and a new external power supply. It has a total of five USB sockets, Ethernet, HDMI and an optical audio port so you no longer need a proprietary adaptor for sound. Microsoft also reckons it's whisper-quiet.
The console comes with wireless controller and headset. US customers get the new Xbox 250GB today, while online stores are offering the Xbox 250GB to UK gamers for £200, for release on 16 July.
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anonymous 15 June, 2010 12:07
ps3 fanboys suck on those cherrys
anonymous 15 June, 2010 12:43
looks sweet that puppy!! will be gettin 1 o them bad rascals!!!
anonymous 15 June, 2010 13:13
PS3 still owns it... I don't see no bluray player you fail
anonymous 15 June, 2010 13:15
ps3 got competition cool
anonymous 15 June, 2010 13:18
PS3 SUCK WHEN THIS IS RELEASED IT WILL BE MOST BOUGHT ITEM IN WORLD
anonymous 15 June, 2010 13:36
Lets hope no red rings due to the console being smaller!!! Will wait this time.
anonymous 15 June, 2010 13:46
Just another commercial gimmick to squeeze a few pennies more out of the average 'Joe'....by flogging essentially the same bit of kit... with some less than innovative tweaks. Don't blame Microsoft though..., if people have money to burn, then why not.
anonymous 15 June, 2010 14:49
Will it be any more reliable or will it only last a 1 to 2 years like the existing cheaply made xboxes .
anonymous 15 June, 2010 16:00
no one cares about your blu-ray drive..... what gamer buys blu-ray movies anyways ? As gaming consoles go the Xbox wipes the floor !
I believe it is you that has failed my friend..
anonymous 15 June, 2010 16:03
I bet any money the PS3 players will b tradeing there ps3's in when this baby come out... i carnt wait .... iv pre.ordered mine woop woop ....
Suck on it Ps3
anonymous 15 June, 2010 16:14
Anyone know were i can preorder mine in the uk?
anonymous 15 June, 2010 17:26
ps3 for blu ray and sum games, PC is for the real gamer (if you have the money that is) xbox is for people who are poor gamers.:)
anonymous 15 June, 2010 18:44
Oh dear First Windows Vista and now this... well done microsoft yet anougher epic fail!
anonymous 15 June, 2010 19:57
And pay £40 to go online, yh right...
anonymous 15 June, 2010 20:41
"...and a new external power supply" - How about an internal power supply like the PS3 slim? It's still 2 boxes...
anonymous 15 June, 2010 20:57
o.k listen up, blueray is not really important. gamers dont care about blueray. by the way, would it still have red lights of death and would xbox live still charge. suck on ps3 gamers.
anonymous 15 June, 2010 21:12
With Kinect the xbox will be proper gamers console like the Wii!!!!
anonymous 15 June, 2010 21:48
ps3 slim rulez but i have already got one and i am getting this for my bedroom
anonymous 15 June, 2010 21:49
ps3 all the way so shhshhshhs
free online
blu ray
anonymous 16 June, 2010 02:02
yer but with the ring of death fixed for good cant see it been a gimmick
anonymous 16 June, 2010 02:04
no ive been readin around ring off death has been fixed so they say but yer £40 a year still but oh ps3 cant cross game voice chat an when they do bring it out its gunna cost ya £50 a year if u wanna go premium
anonymous 16 June, 2010 02:06
nintendo r gunna go bust with this and project natal
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:35
You say: PS3 still owns it... I don't see no bluray player you fail
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AnonymousTue 15 June, 2010 1:13pm
--
I say: You suck. Bluray is crap and i dont see halo on the playstation.. OH
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:36
You say: PS3 still owns it... I don't see no bluray player you fail
I say: You suck. Bluray is crap and i dont see halo on the playstation.. OH
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:36
You say: PS3 still owns it... I don't see no bluray player you fail
I say: You suck. Bluray is crap and i dont see halo on the playstation.. OH
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:39
Got mine Pre-ordered this morning!!! The release has come just in time my xbox just broke this weekend, it was a sign to get this new one!!
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:39
Got mine Pre-ordered this morning!!! The release has come just in time my xbox just broke this weekend, it was a sign to get this new one!!
anonymous 16 June, 2010 09:39
Got mine Pre-ordered this morning!!! The release has come just in time my xbox just broke this weekend, it was a sign to get this new one!!
anonymous 16 June, 2010 10:46
U NUTTERSSSS, ITS FREE BUILT IN WIFI FOR THE NEW XBOX, SO NO MORE PAYING 50 QUID FOR A YEAR, ITS JUST FREE, AND BLURAY IS JUST ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING MONEY, IT DOESNT REALLY MATTER, AND XBOX NOW HAS PROJECT NATAL, WHICH BASICALLY MAKES U THE CONTROLLER, U DONT NEED TO HAV ANYTHING, EXCEPT FOR A BODY :P SO SUCK ON IT PS3 PLAYERS!!!
anonymous 16 June, 2010 10:50
dont get me rong i still love PS3, but xbox is better
anonymous 16 June, 2010 13:14
RROD, noise and heat
ps3 still wins
What's the point of a massive hard drive?
anonymous 16 June, 2010 14:20
Project natal looks good but not better then ps3 move u muppppet, how are u gna play shooting games without i gun, what using ur hand, how old are you? u need a controller for games, Its more family based but it cant do all games like the ps3 move which is the best all rounder. Also tht xbox looks like a managled screw up, the ps3 slim in the most beautuful, and still better console, also has 3D Games in blu ray. Halo is sexy but its passed it, it ended at Halo 3, get over it. All the ps3 exlcusives like killzone, uncharted, god of war are fuking amazing...all u have is halo which is had its time and passed it. Oh and not to mention gran turismo 5 which LOLS at forza motorsport.
anonymous 17 June, 2010 00:21
this is a ps3 with the xbox logo on and it still manages to fail
anonymous 17 June, 2010 00:24
it also looks like a Xbox elite been beaten with a golf club and that what will give you absolute rubbish and the Xbox kinect is laggy and slows game play
anonymous 20 June, 2010 13:59
xbox slim? its still larger than the ps3 slim
and its got nice look to it but what? its like 5cm or a few more cm then the original xbox...
new xbox 360 size= FAIL
wifi= nice idea but 4 years late microsoft
kinect ready= :/ i guess...
250gb=finally
price=reasonable
anonymous 20 June, 2010 20:22
HAHAHAHA dont compare a PS3 to this a PS3 has lost already its not even beter than a normal 360.
always on the blue ray i use my consel for gaming not watching movies and theres somthing called a dvd player to watch them. PS3 hahahaa wat a joke
marlonking5342 21 June, 2010 11:23
my 50 pence worth.....
Microsoft already said earlier this year, they werent going to waste loads of money on new hardware for the current console (like sony did on the slimline), unlike sony, microsoft have pretty much made back the costs of developing the 360, This is my opinion but I doubt they have done much to the internal hardware, this looks more like a small upgrade to keep the 360 going for the next few years, which is a good move, it's ashame i only just recently bought the new wifi adaptor for my 360, but hey, built in and quiet can only be good, and they shaved a little bit of size as well... cool, RROD... we shall see. TBH, dont bother me, you buy a car, it will break down, MS replaced mine free of charge.
Why does 250gb HDD matter? well unlike sony who invested stupid money in developing blu-ray, which now can be bought for well under £100, MS were clever, with streaming media content and downloadable movies, means that HDD does actually matter more so than blu-ray ever will.
Also on a side note, PS3 fanboys always bring up blu-ray which benefited about 2 games so far on their console, when in actual fact the data read speed of the DVD drive on the xbox was faster, which meant all our games loaded faster.
and finally.... the gimicky motion games.. of all of them, Natal will be the best, Nintendo, king of gimick was clever enough to market it and get it out there, Sony, who have no orginal ideas took 3 years to develop the exact same thing with childish bobbles on. and MS have developed the next thing, the new gen of gimick motion... which is awsome.
Rock on MS and XBOX :D
anonymous 21 June, 2010 17:11
ive had both consoles but currently hav ps3 slim which is great and i prefer it to xbox. However overall and i dont think there a significance between the 2 of them that makes one so much better then the other. Its just opinion of what you prefer. It terms of kinect and move, i think they'll both be a hit, kinect will be more limted to the type of games and reliability is always a worry but it will be new and good, move will knock wii of its purch and is good for every type of game, again no real difference.
anonymous 21 June, 2010 17:15
oh and following on about blu ray, it is good, i watched avatar in blu ray - amazing, you get lovely picture and sound. so why buy a dvd player when u can hav a games console and blu-ray player in one? along with media streaming
anonymous 22 June, 2010 08:29
PlayStation 3 will always hold a lot over the xbox 360. I trade Video Games And Consoles for a living, but I am not a huge gamer. The PS3 has so much more going for it for ease of use and technical specs it's hard to see why anyone is buying the 360. Pros and Cons even with the new XBOX 360 250GB. Still has the same awful cheap feeling controller with no built in rechargeable battery, The PS3 controller has become iconic, the only 2 controllers that I would say come close or are even better is the Nintendo 64 or the originator of all modern controllers, the Super Nintendo Controller.
No blu-ray drive, a lot of you are saying that this is not essential, but think of it this way, HD-DVD is dead and the DVD the same as the VHS will be a memory of times past sooner than people realize I think, plus the possibility of Blu-Ray Compared to say a dual layered DVD which is what I think the XBOX runs is like the difference between the N64 Silicone Chip Set Carts and when Sony started using CD based media for the PS1, think about it.
The menu screen is much more simple and nicer to navigate on the PS3 than the XBOX OS in my opinion, that's why Sony have integrated almost the exact same Menu screens in to their newest Bravia HDTV.
The PS3 is compatible with all external Hard Drives with no capacity limit. XBOX 360 is limited to 16GB, even the new 250GB model, another way for Microsoft to make money from peripheral sales, at least you actually get a good size HDD as standard in the new model I guess though.
I won't bang on for any longer, so this will be my last point for now. You do not have to pay or subscribe to use any online features on PS3, the only extra you have to pay is for additional content such as games or movies, not for the privilege to play the games you have already paid for online.
All these factors add up to the 360 regardless of this new model being a very poor machine in terms of its capabilities.
All this said though, I will be purchasing one, for one reason, and one reason only. Kinect aka: Natal. If it works as shown with no flaws, it will be the biggest technological breakthrough since the micro chip itself. Past that, there is no other reason in my opinion to purchase a 360, I would rather buy a PC, and I am a Mac user, lol.
I'm done,
Michael Gwatkin.
SENSE-ABLE SOLUTIONS.
marlonking5342 25 June, 2010 15:33
If your not in to games then you wont get it.. but yes microsoft are annoying that they didnt let you use any harddrive, and the controllers didnt come as standard with rechargeable batteries, but it kept costs down orgininally at launch when the ps3 was like £500, but just to comment on above. I used to love my PS1, but after getting used to the xbox controllers (which didnt take long) they are alot more comfortable, the ps3 retains the same shape, but now with the analogue triggers which are quite springy, the grips at the bottom don't let you get as comfortable grip as the xbox contollers do, so xbox wins there. sony are too scared to change the shape.
with regards to the comments on blu-ray, yeh sure great for all in one movie player also, if thats what you want, but in terms of games consoles, bluray is just a storage medium, which affects bearly any games at the moment, and seeing as things are moving towards harddrive storage, its irrelevant having the more space on disc, as i stated earlier.
The menu system is down to preference, xbox one is quirky, but i like it, sony use the same system everywhere which is good to know everything is the same, worked fine on my psp, but when i saw it on the ps3, just thought it was bland and a waste of a whole screen, might be good for a jazzy tv menu in comparison to other tvs tho.
And finally the old chesnut, free online gaming, well, you get what you pay for, ps3 online gamers cant expect much, so are generally impressed, xbox users play the £3.33 a month (peanuts) and get a good service, and i can vouch for that, whether its worth paying the extra for, who knows. but certainly i dont mind paying for it all the time it works well.
all this boils down to one thing tho, causal gamers who want everything and hardcore gamers who prefer one over the other. I've said enough, there is little in it, but definitly pros to each, my pro is xbox tho.
anonymous 26 June, 2010 11:56
Ughh BLURAY uhggg NOONE CARES HI DEF LOOKS GREAT ON MY 60" Screen
anonymous 28 June, 2010 20:41
yeh but downloadable content eg games and movies, is only good if you have a good conection ! 10 times quicker just to go out and buy it or BORROW it !
anonymous 29 June, 2010 11:02
Please stop arguing like littte infants, both systems are great and both have there bad points just like everything does, but it evens out in the end... I'm lucky enough to have both consoles and i enjoy them both just as much as each other, so no one "fails" as you lot so annoyingly put it.
anonymous 30 June, 2010 17:39
like the last person commented, what a bunch of children. You've all 'failed' for been so pathetic. I have both consoles. Love the xbox but prefer the ps3. Everything just runs more smoothly on it. It has less kids cheating on it than the xbox and its an all round entertainment console something xbox missed out on. They couldn't even do the most basic gamer essential and put in inbuilt wifi. I love the xbox though for its gamer side but its clearly not the better console. Maybe this new one wil go far to build the huge gap ps3 created, but i doubt it very much, they seem to have only done what everyone else did years ago. Microsoft are behind the times and out of touch.
anonymous 2 July, 2010 12:30
Microsoft intend on streaming you HiDef - Bluray is owned by Sony and they dont want to pay royalties to the competition.
I am pretty sure that Bill Gates said a few years ago, Video Stores would become obsolete as all Videos would be downloadable, no late return fees and no hassle going down to the store anymore.
anonymous 4 July, 2010 15:35
ps3 still fails
anonymous 4 July, 2010 17:19
XBOX FAILS SO BAD ITS FUNNY THAT KINECT IS GONNA BLOW MASSIVE CHUNK
anonymous 6 July, 2010 11:45
ps3 move is a big copy of kinect so suck on that
anonymous 12 July, 2010 18:45
ps3 is terrible hardware wise it sucks half the ram and the processor which btw is worse single 4.2 where-as the Xbox has 512mb ram (still terrible) and a tri core processor move is a copy of kinect with built in wifi there will be an army of hackers to deal with live but hey you get what you pay for up to 10 times the speed of ps3
ps blu ray sucks
anonymous 14 July, 2010 17:17
OK, PS3 people go away, no-one wants your opinion because if you are a fanboy chances are you have nothing useful to say. Secondly no-one cares about blu-ray because DVD is still the most common disc and everyone has a DVD player and DVD's not blu-ray. And xbox's are NOT cheaply made, I have had mine for 5 years and it has only broken for the first time about a month ago and bear in mind it was one of the 2005 models so that is allowed.
anonymous 25 July, 2010 19:40
Hang on your all going on about how much better then ps3 it is, well your wrong, for these reasons
#1- There is a Ps3 Slim which makes nearly no sound
#2- The disk doesn't break when you pick up your Ps3, unlike Xbox, and Yes microsoft haven't fixed it with new Xbox
#3- Blu-ray Ps3 Has it!
#4- Psn is free...
#5- Ps3 don't have as much Annoying 10 year old Americans as they do on Xbox
#6- Ps3 you can browse the internet as much as you like and its free, don't see that on Xbox
#7- Ps3 don't break as easy as the Xbox (Red ring of Death)
#8- Now i like the Xboxs New look but the PS slim looks far better
Suck it Xbox... :)