Upgraded Version of Xbox 360 to Be Introduced by Microsoft

By LAURIE J. FLYNN

Raising the ante in the video game wars, Microsoft is bringing out a new version of the Xbox 360 game machine that has a bigger hard drive, better high-definition video support and a stylish black finish, not an insignificant feature in a world where looking cool ranks high.

The idea is to appeal to an elite class of hardcore game players who would like a little more of everything.
“Today’s games-and-entertainment enthusiast has an insatiable appetite for digital high-definition content,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, in Redmond, Wash.

The Xbox 360 Elite, which is to be announced today and will be in stores in late April, will have a list price of $479, or $80 more than the Xbox 360 Pro and $180 more than the basic Xbox 360. The new model has a 120-gigabyte hard drive, in contrast to the standard model’s 20-gigabyte drive. It also has a high-definition multimedia interface port and cable and a wireless controller and headset. Current Xbox 360 owners can buy the new 120-gigabyte hard drive as a separate accessory for $179.

Microsoft is clearly hoping to fill what it sees as a hole at the top end of the market. The Nintendo Wii has been outselling the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 in recent months, but that system is largely positioned as a family-friendly game machine that can be purchased for $50 less than the lowest-priced Xbox. The Sony system is priced higher than both the Nintendo and the Microsoft systems, with the cheapest model priced at $499.

Both Microsoft and Sony have positioned their consoles as entertainment hubs, not just for playing sophisticated video games but also for listening to music and viewing downloaded movies and television shows.

John Rodman, group product manager for the Xbox platform and Xbox Live, pointed to a recent Microsoft survey that revealed that nearly 40 percent of the time that Xbox 360 users spent with their consoles was for activities other than gaming.

Yet when it comes to gaming, Xbox 360 users are serious, Mr. Rodman says. Six out of 10 Xbox 360 users use Xbox Live, Microsoft’s online gaming service.

“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” he said. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”

James L. McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, said that Microsoft hoped to encourage customers to spend more money downloading movies and games, which require considerable hard-drive space.