191w ago - Today Microsoft's Major Nelson has announced that they will be offering an additional $50 rebate on the XBox 360 Elite until October 5, 2009.

This comes just weeks after the price drop of the XBox 360 Elite from $399 to $299, meaning after rebate it's just $249- not bad at all!

To quote from the Press Release: Stretch Your Entertainment Dollar with Special Offer from Xbox 360

$50 Rebate Offered with the Purchase of Xbox 360 Elite through Oct. 5

Beginning today through Oct. 5, when you purchase an Xbox 360 Elite for $299, Xbox 360 will put $50 back into your pocket with a limited-time rebate. Coupled with the recent price drop of the Xbox 360 Elite console, this offer makes your premium games and entertainment experience more affordable than ever.
Xbox 360 Elite puts all your entertainment in one place so you can play games, watch movies and TV shows, listen to music, and, coming this fall, keep up with your Twitter and Facebook social circles, all from your living room. Additionally, with a Netflix unlimited membership and an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership you can instantly watch movies and TV episodes...

195w ago - With its new price tag and leaner form-factor, the PS3 Slim clearly offers great value.

Unfortunately Sony had to strip Linux support, backwards compatibility, and some memory card ports in order to get the price down.

But consumers still get a great gaming machine, free online support, and a competent Blu-ray player. There are also some intriguing services unique to Sony such as Home and PSP connectivity, which might entice some users.

The Xbox 360 Elite, even with a price drop to $299, still struggles to compete feature-for-feature. The most glaring omission is the lack of on-board wifi adaptor. Microsoft currently sells its own, expensive adaptor as an extra accessory.

If gamers want to go online using their Xbox 360, they will have to pay for Xbox Live Gold, at a cost of around $49 per year. Silver members still get access to game demos, achievements, and Avatars, but little more.

Finally, the Xbox 360 still relies on DVD disks for content, which is fine for games but may disappoint videophiles who want the HD capability of Blu-ray movies.

On the other hand, Microsoft is the only manufacturer to allow users to stream Netflix movies from their console, which is ultra-convenient. Zune users can also connect their devices to Xbox Live to access multimedia...

195w ago - As previously reported, today the sales ads for the first week of September at Walmart, Gamestop and Meijer show the Xbox 360 Elite priced at $299 and replacing the current Pro SKU which Microsoft is phasing out.

Engadget has managed to get a leaked photo of the Walmart ad as you can see below.

To quote: "In a move obviously designed to offset Sony's recent PS3 redesign and price drop, the $299 price point will take effect on the same day as the new PS3 launches - September 1st. The Arcade SKU will remain at $199."

Expect an official Microsoft announcement soon...

197w ago - It appears the rumor from last week was accurate after all.

We now have a date for the Xbox 360 Pro model, with the shot (below) from a Meijer catalog due on August 30, 2009 and indicating the XBox 360 Elite is in line for a Pro-sized price cut to $299.

To quote: You'll remember, of course, that the origins of this rumor - Ars Technica's ever-reliable Microsoft mole - are that the 360 Pro is being phased out, taken off the market entirely, and that the 360 Elite will have its price slashed to that of the Pro to compensate. This will leave only two 360 consoles to choose from: the cheap, hard drive-less Arcade and the 120GB HDD Elite.

This will leave only two 360 consoles to choose from: the cheap, hard drive-less Arcade and the 120GB HDD Elite.

'Lo and behold, according to this catalog, that move looks like it'll take place a couple of weeks from now. So long, 360 Pro model.

197w ago - Today caliblue15 of BlueRayCenter Forums (linked above) has received some alleged retail pics of the XBox 360 Arcade/Elite from an anonymous Best Buy insider.

They beg the question if Microsoft is indeed discontinuing their XBox 360 Pro SKU for just the XBox 360 Arcade and Elite console versions.

However, some speculate the XBox 360 Pro won't be gone as it's still listed as '2013' with the XBox 360 Elite as 'out of stock' at Best Buy by August 30th.

That being said, according to caliblue15's source the new XBox 360 Elite is supposed to hit store shelves by August 30, 2009.

Based on the pics (below), it also appears as though the Audio/Video cable provided with the XBox 360 Elite will no longer be an HD cable. Instead, just a standard definition composite cable may be supplied... only time will tell for sure.