Editorial:360 Elite?
From Wikia Gaming
by user Hedchekr
Well what is Microsoft trying to do here? They claim to be supporting three different gamer types, Core- gamers who will just play games every once and a while and not really partake in online or downloads. Premium- gamers who will get online and download a few things. Elite- Gamers who download a bunch and want to utilize the IPTV feature coming out later. I can see that.
Now people have been having mixed feelings about this announcment of a new 360, saying there is no price point difference anymore between 360 and PS3. People feel that Microsoft is "charging out the ass" for a HDD, and that the $79 mark up is not justified when you can get a PS3 for $20 more.
Me personally, think this is a good call by Microsoft. Being the second biggest online media retailer (second to i-tunes) they could use the extra HDD space. And considering that the current 20GB HDD is $99 I feel that already justifies the $79 mark-up. As for I can get a PS3 for $20 more...Why would you? Thats the 20GB version with no card reader slots, and that one is very hard to find considering it dosn't sell, and stores are not stocking them anymore. But the 20GB PS3 has Wi-Fi. To me Wi-Fi is an option that is going to cater to a few people but not everyone. I have no need for a Wi-Fi system.
So with the 20GB model out of the way lets move on to the 60GB, where it is going to be a little harder to justify the 360s Elitness. For $120 more you get a Blu-ray player and all the memory card slots, not to mention a really nice machine period. 60GB more memory on the Elite is very nice, and now its with HDMI, right?
The version of HDMI that the Elite is utilizing is 1.2, not the new 1.3 standard so no True HD and no 5.1 sound. Kinda blows the Elite tag. Now all might not be lost, from what I understand there is no physical difference between 1.2 and 1.3, so is this something Microsoft can remedy with a patch? I hope so.
So out of the 360s the Elite to me earned its branding, but it dosn't make the PS3 price seem so high anymore, and they compare really well head to head. So once again it comes down to personal preference and what you feel you need in this generation of gaming.
