Update
The Xbox 360 is now available in Australia. I have mine, but want to update you on the painful Harvey Norman Customer Service. Asking an employee if they have the new Xbox 360 he replied yes and proceeded to retrieve one from the back room. Strangely there were none on shelves. He proceeded to ring up the sale at $449, I said to him, that’s not the price is it? He replies yes. I explained that it’s listed as $398 on your website. After dissapearing for 10 minutes he returned to say that price was for the Elite. I said no, that’s for the new Xbox 360 and showed him their own website on my iPhone. With a shocked look on his face he asked me to follow him to his managers office. I did and discovered the 10 minutes he’d been away was spent with his manager trying to find the Xbox 360 on their own website and were unable to. I showed the manager my phone and he instantly approved the price of $398.
Long story short, don’t buy from Harvey Norman, just go to JB Hi-Fi or get somewhere else to price match.
Announced at E3 earlier this month, the new Xbox 360 slim goes on sale in Australia tomorrow. So far there are no reports of any retailers leaking it early here, so gamers will have to wait till most stores open at 9am, 1st July 2010.
The updated console hardware comes with a slew of new additions..
- Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive: A glossy black fingerprint attracting finish, the console looks great. With a 250GB hard drive, it should be plenty of space to save games, demos, add-ons, movies, music and pictures. New internals and heat vents should once and for all end reliability (RROS) issues.
- Built in Wi-Fi: The addition of 802.11n Wi-Fi built-in, makes the Xbox 360 the only console that supports N. While it still accepting B and G networks, N provides enough bandwidth to stream all of your HD content wirelessly. This saves having an add-on Wi-Fi N accessory for current models that cost $149.
- Project Natal ready: Coming in November, Kinect will connect via a specialized port to the new Xbox 360, avoiding a separate power brick.
- Whisper quiet: Jet engine be gone. It’s incredibly frustrating hearing the noise of the Xbox over a quiet scene in movie, the new model puts an end to that with what Microsoft say is ‘whisper quiet’ operation.
- Ports: Now with 5 USB ports (2 front, 3 back), HDMI, AV, Ethernet, Optical out.
- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black)
- Xbox 360 Headset (black)
- Dimensions: Width: 27cm, Depth: 26.4cm, Height: 7.5cm, Weight 2.9kg
As an owner of a 20GB, component only launch console, I’m overdue for a new one, so I’ll be grabbing one tomorrow. Will you ? While the new Xbox 360 S is certainly an upgrade on older models, I doubt many people seriously considering a PS3 would choose this instead. People new to the Xbox market now have a new shiny option.
Best place to buy
It doesn’t happen very often and quite frankly I’m surprised I’m about to do this, but I’d have to recommend to grab your new Xbox 360 from Harvey Norman. They’re offering the best price of any retailer so far at only A$398 despite the RRP being $449. This tip comes from Kotaku.
Bargain existing models
The price of existing models have been slashed in price since the announcement at E3. So if you can put up with the smaller hard drive and louder volume, you can pick up an Elite (which used to cost $450) for $250 now, but be quick these are no longer being produced.
More @ Xbox Australia
