The Xbox 360 Elite should be rolling into you local video game store right about now, and reviews have already started to hit the many tubes that make up the Internets. CNET’s is just as good as any, but they review kind of weird. At least, not how I would have done it.
Gizmodo had the right idea: just look at what makes the Elite different from the regular 360, and review that. CNET didn’t. Instead, they look at the Elite in totality and come away with an 8.5. How on God’s Green Earth do you do that?
So let’s cut to the chase: the Elite’s addition of HDMI and a larger hard drive—120G—isn’t worth the price of admission, $479. Most, if not all, of the original grievances that many have had with the 360—it’s damn loud, no built-in Wi-Fi, no built-in HD DVD drive, etc.—have been rectified. Instead, Microsoft wants you to believe that “elite” means being able to properly connect the system to an HDTV. Uh, that’s hardly elite, fellas. Oh, and the HDMI isn’t even version 1.3. Wait…what?
So in essence, the Elite really isn’t worth the hassle, especially if you A) already have an Xbox 360 or B) don’t have an HDTV. That Microsoft charges $180 for the 120G hard drive when purchased separately is a whole different kind of crazy.
Maybe Microsoft should follow through on the rumors we’ve been hearing and just phase out the regular 360s and make the Elite the new normal.
Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite [CNET]