XBOX 360 Pulls one out of the hat ... Kinda

[xXx Duffy xXx]

The new Xbox 360®. Here today, ready for tomorrow with a brand new, leaner machine in an all new black gloss finish. Wi-Fi is built-in for easier connection to the world of entertainment on Xbox LIVE, where HD movies and TV stream in an instant. It's ready for the controller-free experiences of Kinect—you don't just play the game, you are the game. With the huge hard drive you'll have plenty of space to store your favorite games and movies. Xbox 360 is more games, entertainment. and fun.

The story is this. XBOX dropped a new console release. It's a slimmer, more powerful, quieter, and "shiney-er" system. 299.99 on the tag isn't too bad however.

Built in Wi-Fi: The new Xbox 360 is the only console with 802.11n Wi-Fi built in for a faster and easier connection to Xbox LIVE. Download or stream HD movies, TV episodes, and games from Xbox LIVE Marketplace in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound from anywhere in the house. Compatible with b/g/n networks.

About damn time ! PS3 had the one up on this aspect for quite some time. It's nice to see that 5 years is enough taunting for Microsoft.

Kinect ready: Coming this holiday, Kinect will make YOU the controller. With a dedicated, specialized port, the Xbox 360 250GB is built to connect seamlessly with the Kinect sensor— and have you up off the couch and into the world of Kinect in no time.

Yeah, that's right. XBOX is turning into a Wii. Motion capture is the newest way to emerge yourself into the games you play. This is nothing more than your typical idea theft on Microsoft's part..... again.

All in all, the new systems are pretty nice. The hard drive is removable however proprietary to the machines. You can't use your own 2.5'' drive sadly. The 250GB is more than enough space for now though. MS will more than likely offer a 320, 500, 640 and even a 1TB drive over time I imagine. It only seems like a matter of time.

The only drawback I see so far is the gloss black finish. They really should have thought this out a little more. My TV, my External HDD, my laptop, my speakers, my sub, and even my mouse is all "gloss black". Chalk this up to one more thing I can leave my fingerprints on. They should have used another for of coating on it. Perhaps a flat back but textured look would have been sufficient. Perhaps a carbon fiber print?

Anyhoo, all in all, good job on a stealth release. People will be sure to pick these up when they really do see them. The size difference alone is a good enough selling point. Only improvement I would like to see is to get a Bluray drive in there already. It'd be worth an extra chunk of change to make this option into an "upgraded model".

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x...0250GBconsole/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CIPggFz8CA

[H.E. Pennypacker]

gloss black is nice. it's good it will match with everything else. The power button itself also isn't a button anymore, it's got a touch sensor.

[DarkAssassin]

what is with the other consoles ie Wii and now Xbox going with a black finish, i think the PS3 should be the only black console of the gen. I don't think you will ever see xbox with blu-ray since that is owned by sony and others, i do believe Panasonic and Sony have the most patents on this product Sony being the disc and Panasonic being the tech ie players and readers. I don't think Microsoft wants to start paying royalties to other side lol , i read somewhere that microsoft was supposed to see about using it but they sayed that they were going down that road. Wi-Fi all i have to say is its about time, its something that should have been done from the word go, and also about time that they included a bigger HDD, but i think they should have given the option to be able to swap out drives like PS3. Well even though they make it shinier with bigger HDD and fancier things like wi-fi i think i will stick with my PS3's