$479 for a last generation DVD based system.

The PS3 is expensive, but it's not overpriced.

It's over, Sony has won:

The PS3 is cool.
The Xbox 360 is dull.
Blu-ray is new.
DVD is old.

After reading the comments, I'm thinking they should have included wi-fi instead of HDMI.
Don't forget that you'll need an HDTV with an HDMI port to get any benefit from HDMI. Also, do you _really_ think that your Xbox 360 games will look that much better over HDMI than, say, VGA?

The hard drive is ridiculously expensive, but that's par for the course. I don't think there's ever been a console HD that wasn't seriously overpriced (remember the PS2 hard drive?)

$479 + $199 HD-DVD + $99 Wi-fi = $777. Suddenly a PS3 seems affordable.

Nice to know that they're screwing existing 360 owners by charging them $179.95 for the 120GB drive when the price difference between the Premium and Elite is only $80.

bad and ugly move....they should be stomping over Sony neck with a price drop of the premiun and the elite for max 450 USD with HD-DVD or WiFi on the box...but no. They want to get more money from the customers.

Horrible move. The winner Sony and big N.

I think the lack of HD-DVD in the oh so elite version means that MS doesn't have that much confidence with HDVD's future prospects.

UHOH :P

of course it doesn't come with hd-dvd or wifi integrated
that's for the uber and ultimate editions respectively

this is likely being released because sony can sell their console at such a high price
microsoft figure they might as well give it a stab as well
if they can raise the price of a product which reducing the cost to produce it (ala die shrinks and economies of scale) then of course they'd try
i reckon you wouldn't see an elite edition if the ps3 completely flopped

Xbox 360 Elite is a limited edition product.

The revision 2.0 versions of Premium and Basic will come shortly after it.

Premium 2.0 = HDMI, 65nm CPU/GPU

Basic 2.0 = 65 nm CPU/GPU

I'll buy one IF its 65nm tech and runs cooler. Otherwise I'll just wait until they release the 65nm versions.

thanks MS for this overpriced useless upgraded 'elite' version...all they would have to do is read TR to know what the people really want...

a new revision @ $399 ($100 < Sony)...$450 max if they want to milk it

120gb
hdmi
wifi-g
hd-dvd internal
spiffy paint (so people know it's different)

is that really too much to ask?

We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” he said. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”

I'm still laughing at that quote from an article I read quoting MS.

MS should have name it "1337 edition". ;)

a paint job with hdmi enable for 500buxs nice!!
If you're gonna charge 500buxs for this, can you spend some time and redesign it. It's already ugly, wait till a few more years down the road.

pwned by a couple hours!

http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49169

Awesome, i waited out my next gen budget and glad i got a wii instead of an xbvox 360, otherwise i wouldnt be able to get this bad ass elite version :] good thing my b day is this saturday

i think they're waiting for christmas for the price cuts. the elite will drop to 400 and the platinum will drop to 350 or 300.

still pretty lame though, hdmi, a bigger hard drive and a paint job. They could have at least added wifi, and the console's been out for a year and a half with no price cut.

i'm thinking they're targeting new buyers in the hopes they will pay the 80 dollar premium.

Looks like it still lacks built in Wi-fi.

I can't wait. It'll be mine! All mine!

Not a bad deal if you're waiting for the battle between HD-DVD and Bluray to settle down (or being overtaken by internet distributed movies).

But IMO we'd be better off with a drop of the basic xbox360 model and a price cut for the Premium/Elite to be at the existing $299/$399.

Anyway I'm going for a Wii in the meantime :)