At Microsoft’s E3 2010 keynote this morning in the US, they announced a brand new model of the Xbox 360. The new hardware comes with a slick glossy black design, smaller in size and quiet. Hopefully the massive top and side grills provide adequate ventilation and mean the overheating / red ring of death problems are finally behind us. Microsoft say the new Xbox 360 is whisper quiet.. a stark contrast to the jet engine of Xbox 360 originals.
A much needed inclusion for the Xbox 360 hardware is built-in Wireless N.. finally !! A very, very welcome inclusion that had previously required a $150 adapter to achieve.
Launch console owners are all too familiar with the tiny 20GB HDD, the new model ships with a 250GB drive so there’s plenty of storage for game content, demos, movies, music etc. 250GB Xbox 360 hard drives have been a fairly unique item in Australia, for a long time only being available in a console bundle package.
Another advantage of the new model is it’s ability to power Kinect, where as current models will require a separate power brick when Kinect ships later this year.
The price of the new model is US$299 and if your in the US, it’s available today. Pricing and release dates for Australia are still to be announced.
Update
The new Xbox 360 will be available in Australia from July 1st 2010 and cost A$499, the current price of the Elite. [via Delimiter]
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