In conclusion to Microsoft’s rather lukewarm E3 2010 press conference, Senior VP of the company’s entertainment division, Don Mattrick, unveiled a smaller, sleeker, and more aggressive looking Xbox 360 console, which is set to hit stores in America as early as this week at $299. There’s no word on whether this new Xbox 360 will make its way to India or what its price would be here.
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Although technically this is very much the same Xbox 360 console, there are a few changes and improvements that make it a marked improvement over the older console, so if you’re in the market for an Xbox 360 you should hold off on your purchase till you can get your hands on this one. For starters, it packs in a slimmer 250 GB hard drive (hard drives from older Xbox 360s are incompatible) and built-in Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn’t done away with the power brick, although it is now smaller and lighter.
Microsoft claims this console to be “Kinect ready”. Now, all Xbox 360 consoles are compatible with the Kinect motion control technology, so while this is mostly just marketing talk, its interesting to note that older Xbox 360 consoles will require a separate power supply for Kinect to work with them, while this one won’t. Other changes to the new Xbox 360 include touch-sensitive power and eject buttons, almost zero operating noise, and of course, a more attractive Alienware-esque design with a glossy finish and chrome accents.
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For interested buyers in India, this news obviously raises two important questions. Firstly, ‘when is it coming to India?’, and secondly, ‘how much will it cost?’ Unfortunately, we don’t have any official word from Microsoft India as yet, and when we do, we’ll be sure to let you know. However, the Xbox 360’s past in India doesn’t bode well. This new Xbox 360 is very much comparable to the Xbox 360 Elite console which has been available all over the world for a while, but it was never released here (except for a very brief period in very limited quantities at an exorbitant price of Rs 35,000). Microsoft India did tell us last year that they would launch the Elite in India, but they’ve instead chosen to focus on the cheaper Arcade console for our market, and if that mindset continues, we may not get the slim here for a while.
Microsoft also announced a price drop for the older Xbox 360 units – the Arcade and Elite to $150 and $249 respectively, at E3. Again, going by past precedent, a price drop in the US doesn’t lead to a price drop in India, so we won’t necessarily see a price drop here because prices have been slashed in the West. Microsoft India follows its own pricing policy, so there’s no telling when we’ll get a price cut, if at all. We’ll be sure to keep you updated once we have an official comment on the new console and prices from Microsoft India.
Update: Microsoft India have confirmed via their Twitter that the new Xbox 360 will come to India, although there is no fixed date or price yet.
