There's another way to get an 'elite' 360. $6 can of black matte Krylon spraypaint, and $2.99 roll of masking tape.

Last time I checked it was only available for in store pickup, but every Walmart in the country should have ample stock to supply the sudden onrush.

And will this magic spray paint give me an HDMI HDCP compliant output so I can actually use my xbox as a HD-DVD player once producers start using the relevant flags to downscale output when being played through non HDCP enabled outputs - eg HD component?

Steve,

I wouldn't lose any sleep about that if I were you. Chances are that HDCP won't be enabled on HD-DVD (or BD for that matter) movies in the Xbox 360's lifetime.

Lets be honest here - it's not THAT much of an upgrade.

Engadget have already tried it out against the 360 classic and the HDMI output makes no discernable difference over Component regards the display.

Not only that but it's not even built on the 65nm process yet, so the machine runs just as hot and the disc drive is still as loud as the classic version.

The only benefit I can see is the larger hard disk - but then you can mod a classic box to get the same result.

Elite - pfffftttt.

I can verify the Xbox Elite is available @ Circuit City... At least the Schaumburg, Illinois store has it. When I called they told me in-deed they have "some" but the bloke on the blower told me "they are disappearing faster than a puddle in a desert.

Robert Moist

I was in line Sunday morning at a local Target. About 3/4 of us were there for Wiis and 1/4 for Xbox Elite. They had plenty of both, as both are featured in their weekly ad. And the line wasn't that long -- 25 or so at 8 am.

Brad Hutchings

As I recall, the original 360 model that was demonstrated at E3 (or CeBIT I forget) was shown without an HDMI socket. When questioned about this, the rep from Ms gave the party line speech that there was "no plan to add an HDMI output." After some probing questions related to the PS3, the same rep was quoted as saying "If Sony do one, we'll do one".

Further up the Ms food chain, someone important said later that "HDMI is not necessary for HD gaming".

Sony then release the PS3 with an HDMI output on the higher spec model, partly I think because the 360 didn't have it, but mostly because they want blu-ray movie customers too.

Much muttering across the net ensues:

"360 will get an HDMI output..."

"No it won't, I'm sure those movies are faked..."

"...Ah but the mainboard pix look rather convincing..."

"...That picture is of a dev machine, which are black. It's a fake..."

"....Then why am I looking at a single-shot movie of an HDMI enabled 360 rendering to a HDTV?"

etc.

The 360 ELITE is announced. With the HDMI output added to the spec. And a few other bits. And it's black like the PS3. The news is that low volumes have been manufactured to a $480 premium. Everyone's talking about.

IS IT ME?

Microsoft, initiated by the competition, add a feature to the 360 that it should have had two years ago, and in doing so engineer a massive supply/demand discrepancy that enables them to charge a higher price tag in the process.

Damn, they're good.

I found an interesting article on the accidental gamer about the Elite. Check it out:

http://theaccidentalgamer.blogspot.com/2007/04/xbox-elite-catch-up-or-cash-in.html