Microsoft Readies Two Versions of the Xbox 360

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Microsoft Readies Two Versions of the Xbox 360

Gaming console will be available in a $300 basic edition and a $400
premium edition.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Microsoft's Xbox 360 will be available in two versions costing $300
and $400 when it is launched later this year, the company says.

The announcement, which was made at the Games Convention event in
Leipzig, Germany, fills in one of the last and most important pieces
of information about the console.

Capable of high-definition video, the Xbox 360 is considerably more
powerful than any gaming console available at present. At a recent
event in Tokyo the company showed previews of several Xbox 360 games
and all featured stunning graphics that bring a new level of realism
to computer gaming.

At the heart of the console will be a three-core Power PC chip
custom-produced for the console by IBM and a graphics chip from ATI
Technologies. It also has a 12X dual-layer DVD-ROM drive and the more
expensive version includes a 20GB hard drive, wireless controller,
headset, ethernet cable, and wireless remote control.

All of the accessories included in the pricier package, dubbed the
premium edition, will also be available as individual add-ons to the
basic system.

Waiting for a Launch Date

With the major specifications and the price set, the only other big
announcement awaited from Microsoft is the actual launch date. It's
promised to put the Xbox 360 on sale in North America, Europe, and
Japan before the end of this year. Japanese pricing details will be
announced at the Tokyo Game Show next month.

That launch schedule should put the console in the shops several
months before Sony Computer Entertainment launches its PlayStation 3
console. The PlayStation 3 has an equally impressive specification
sheet that includes an eight-core processor that boasts a total
performance of 218G FLOPS (floating point operations per second)--35
times the performance of the PlayStation 2.

Combined with an Nvidia graphics system, the Sony console should pack
about double the power of the Xbox 360, although how much of that can
be translated into a better gaming experience will depend on the game
programmers.

Moving towards launch, Microsoft also announced it has lined up three
companies to manufacture the console. They are Singapore's Flextronics
International and Taiwan's Wistron, both of which produce the
current-generation Xbox console, and Canada's Celestica. All three
companies will produce the Xbox 360 at their respective factories in
China, Microsoft says.


http://www.pcworld.com/news/articl [...] 05X,00.asp


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