Curse

Toxage · Jun 17, 2008, 01:52 AM // 01:52

I am thinking about getting an Xbox 360, but I am unsure of which one to choose. Is there really that much of a difference between the Xbox 360 regular and the Xbox 360 elite? The only thing that seems different is the storage size.

I pwnd U · Jun 17, 2008, 01:57 AM // 01:57

OMG AND COLOR! NUB!

Okay on a serious note only the storage size and HDMI output is different.

http://www.gadgets-reviews.com/index...=342&page=post

Kanyatta · Jun 17, 2008, 04:04 AM // 04:04

To me, if you're just gonna get the Elite for storage space, you're wasting your money, because, imo, you'll never reach over 10GB of memory usage unless you really try. As long as you delete downloaded demos you never use, you won't have a problem.

The Elite is worth getting if you have an HDTV, because, if I'm not mistaken, comes with an HDMI cable, which, separately is $40 anyway, and it also has a few other perks, if I'm not mistaken.

Wrath Of Dragons · Jun 17, 2008, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Xbox 360 Elite = black, 120 gig harddrive (120 = 179.00 at best buy) and has a HDMI cable
XBox Pro = white, 20 (its seriously 15, even empty)

Both 360s have HDMI now, so theres no difference.

The only reason to buy the elite is the sexy black, and the bigger harddrive if you need it. The HDMI cable is nice, but an average one is like 15 bucks on sale.

There are rumors that Microsoft will announce some change to the 360 at e3 this year (middle of july)
Maybe a bigger harddrive for the pro, or maybe pricecuts.
Might want to wait.

Lord Sojar · Jun 17, 2008, 05:24 AM // 05:24

Or a blu ray drive. Or you could get a PS3 as it is.... getting a lot better.

Wrath Of Dragons · Jun 17, 2008, 05:39 AM // 05:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Or a blu ray drive. Or you could get a PS3 as it is.... getting a lot better.

They keep saying no to that one....man that would be excellent. *fingers crossed*

Lord Sojar · Jun 17, 2008, 05:54 AM // 05:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrath Of Dragons

They keep saying no to that one....man that would be excellent. *fingers crossed*

They are foolish to say no to implementing a Blu Ray enabled 360. That is the 360's primary weakness; DVD9. Game designers are severely hindered by DVD9 and are forced to cut quality of game textures and poly counts to fit content on to disks. They can only "cheat" for so long before their cheats stop working (Gears of War 2 is the farthest the system can go)

The PS3 is limited only by the designers limitations in understanding the Cell processor. The Cell is smarter than they are. The PS3 wins hands down in a head on contest of power. The 360 wins in library of games, primarily because it was out 1 year earlier, and was easier to develop until more recently.

Blu Ray is beautiful, and Microsoft knows it. They are just being stubborn because it would be openly admitting that Sony won in that area. Microsoft need to swallow their pride and move on. Blu Ray is the HD format, and it is a beautiful format at that. I love my PS3 coupled with my gorgeous televisions. You couldn't pay me to give it up. I just watched Sunshine on BluRay and it was absolutely gorgeous; my eyes were blinded just as the actors' were by the sun's magnificent glow. Truly, HD is beauty in its purest form.

-Loki- · Jun 17, 2008, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

The PS3 is limited only by the designers limitations in understanding the Cell processor. The Cell is smarter than they are. The PS3 wins hands down in a head on contest of power.

According to Konami, it's limited by blu ray as well :P They ran out of room with MGS 4. They had to cheat by installing new textures and removing unused ones between acts. Don't get me wrong, the game is RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing fantastic, and there's so much shit on that disc. But it's pretty much the equivalent of disc swapping.

Kanyatta · Jun 17, 2008, 08:28 PM // 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Or a blu ray drive. Or you could get a PS3 as it is.... getting a lot better.

Why would SONY sell MICROSOFT Blu-Ray? One of the major selling points of the PS3 is Blu-Ray, and seeing as Blu-Ray is owned by Sony, it would be like Nintendo selling Mario to Microsoft or something.

I'm probably going to buy a PS3 within the next year, even though I do not own an HDTV. MGS4 and GoW3 just appeal to me too much. Besides, the PS3 has better graphics, and its only about $50 more expensive now.

some guy · Jun 17, 2008, 11:53 PM // 23:53

Didn't steve ballmer confirm they are working on blu rays?

Lord Sojar · Jun 18, 2008, 12:02 AM // 00:02

Why? Royalties... Sony makes billions off of royalities. Microsoft doesn't want to play, then they lose. They want to play, they still lose. Sony has Microsoft by the throats, and Microsoft won't admit it. Microsoft is trying to get new market position because they totally blew it in the HD format war. Sony now controls every major movie studio (whether they be under Sony Pictures or not) that wish to release in HD format (which is where the big money is going to be starting this year and going to 2010 or beyond) Blu Ray is also highly expandable, with up to a 200GB disk on current hardware via firmware upgrades. Sony crushed their opposition by using the PS3 as a catalyst for their format. It was a brilliant (albeit terribly manipulative and evil) plan to control the market. They are now one of the world's most powerful companies (if they were not before).

Microsoft is being strangled alive by Sony. They either cave in and give BluRay to the 360 owners, or they play hardball and the 360 users pick up a PS3 and drift away. They lose either way. Sony played their hand well, and Microsoft is just too stubborn to fold or call Sony's bluff (but Sony has a royal flush here) Sony lost a ton of money on the PS3 gamble... but they have made it all back via BluRay, and will make it back 100 times over in the end. If they control the biggest major movie studios and get royalties from the others (unless the others decide to just absorb into Sony Pictures) they will be the richest company in the world hands down.

I am not saying that I like the way Sony plays, or that their product is always the best. Their audio equipment sucks... but they do deserve a big round of applause for the corporate boxing match they just played. They crushed everyone because of the PS3 and using the growing trend of gaming as their leverage. Toshiba didn't have the gaming market to bank on, and including a BluRay drive in their machine was the cheapest, easiest way to flood the market with their player. They also had the most storage space and superior disk quality. They had no chance of losing. Sony, love them or hate them, did play this well; you cannot deny that.

Microsoft will eventually have to show their weakness and give in. Either that, or lose out on billions of dollars in additional sales revenue (which would be stupid)

Kanyatta · Jun 18, 2008, 12:34 AM // 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Microsoft is trying to get new market position because they totally blew it in the HD format war.

Actually, not really, because HD-DVD was Toshiba's thing, which Microsoft just bought for that one player, that didn't go over well. Microsoft's thing is HD Digital Downloads, which are still going pretty strong.

IMO, Sony would be stupid to sell Blu-Ray rights to Microsoft. If that goes, about 40% of PS3 sales go and MGS4 is the only reason to buy a PS3

Lord Sojar · Jun 18, 2008, 01:22 AM // 01:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kanyatta

Actually, not really, because HD-DVD was Toshiba's thing, which Microsoft just bought for that one player, that didn't go over well. Microsoft's thing is HD Digital Downloads, which are still going pretty strong.

IMO, Sony would be stupid to sell Blu-Ray rights to Microsoft. If that goes, about 40% of PS3 sales go and MGS4 is the only reason to buy a PS3

Not really... the PS3 is a native Blu Ray player. The 360 would have to have it as an addon. And the PS3 has Killzone2, Little Big Planet, HOME, MGS4, along with many other unique and exclusive titles that shame the 360. It just took a while for the PS3 to accelerate. We are only seeing 40% of its power, due mainly to the Cell. Ray tracing additions onto Cell processing will enable graphics beyond anything the 360 can produce, and Blu Ray disk size gives developers wiggle room for high rez textures and extremely high poly count character and level models. DVD9 is antique technology and cannot hold the amount of data needed for the true next gen games. Multi DVD installs are going to be the norm on PC pretty soon, if BluRay doesn't manage to wiggle in as the new storage medium as well (which it well may as prices are dropping rapidly)

Oh, and as far as Microsoft not being involved in HD-DVD? I won't argue that, I will just point you in the direction of a source that cannot be denied.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...onGroupPR.mspx

for more info:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed...oft-hd-dvd.ars

So yes, Microsoft fell down and got a big boo boo. Poor them. They have to pick up the pieces now. Sony has them by the throat, like I said.

Kanyatta · Jun 18, 2008, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

So yes, Microsoft fell down and got a big boo boo. Poor them. They have to pick up the pieces now. Sony has them by the throat, like I said.

Microsoft, being worth approximately $269,000,000,000 compared to Sony being worth approx. $53,000,000,000, their "boo boo" doesn't affect them as much, and I wouldn't say Sony "has Microsoft by the throat."

The sales numbers are in:

360: 19 mil
PS3: 12.81 mil

According to their respective companies, anyway.

Lord Sojar · Jun 18, 2008, 06:41 AM // 06:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kanyatta

Microsoft, being worth approximately $269,000,000,000 compared to Sony being worth approx. $53,000,000,000, their "boo boo" doesn't affect them as much, and I wouldn't say Sony "has Microsoft by the throat."

The sales numbers are in:

360: 19 mil
PS3: 12.81 mil

According to their respective companies, anyway.

Ah, put you only take into account Sony itself. Sony Pictures is an entirely separate entity. This isn't just about the consoles. Yes, the 360 has outsold the PS3 as a whole, but the PS3 served as a launcher for BluRay. Sony played this well, and there is no arguing that. Any intelligent investor will tell you the same thing.

Oh, and yes, Sony does have Microsoft by the throat. Movie studios are a HUGE business, and extremely international. Sony has that segment tied down with diamond filament. Microsoft is stuck in a very uncomfortable corner, with one side being giving in to Sony and showing some form of weakness, and the other side being to hold out on their digital downloads which won't reach attrition for years because of the terrible worldwide shortage of extremely high speed/bandwidth connections available to average citizens.

Ah, and never forget cash on hand. Company value is estimated on the entirety of the company, employees, total product, production facilities, licenses, royalties, etc etc. Sony has more cash on hand then Microsoft last I checked. Sony has $5.4 billion cash on hand (in just their electronics division) while Microsoft has around 24 billion across their entire company. Sony has... oh 6 divisions, each with around 6 billion. That is 36 billion alone in cash on hand. Too much cash on hand can be a bad thing, and that is where stock payouts come in handy, as well as buy backs. Microsoft at one point had 60 billion cash on hand. They had a special one time payout of 3 dollars per share (which made me happy), as well as doubling their quarterly dividends. Dividend increases cost the company more money, but increase market standing. Debt can actually be a good thing.

Sony's gaming division has incurred huge amounts of debt, and is seen as an albatross to the company; that was until the PS3 gamble paid off, and they smashed Toshiba and Microsoft into the ground in the HD format war. Now that they have full control of the new format, they can progress into royalty earning coming out of their ears, and sell out division stock to reinvigorate the gaming division (SCEA). Watch Sony carefully, they are playing this beautifully, as far as financial planning is concerned. I invested into their stocks recently, as well as Intel, Apple, and RIMM. So far, my gambling has paid off.

-Loki- · Jun 18, 2008, 09:04 AM // 09:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kanyatta

Microsoft, being worth approximately $269,000,000,000 compared to Sony being worth approx. $53,000,000,000, their "boo boo" doesn't affect them as much, and I wouldn't say Sony "has Microsoft by the throat."

The sales numbers are in:

360: 19 mil
PS3: 12.81 mil

According to their respective companies, anyway.

Oh, only quoting sales numbers? You should take into account that not only was the 360 released 16 months before the PS3, it has been outselling the 360 in Europe since October 2007. For having a 16 month lead, the 360 is definitely not doing as well as some people like to think. It's also gotten a significant sales boost in Japan since the release of MGS4.

~ Dan ~ · Jun 18, 2008, 11:33 AM // 11:33

OP, why bother buying an Xbox? It'll have the 3 red lights soon enough.