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Xbox 360 Elite is 1337 Loot

At A Glance
  • Elle looks at what you get with the new Xbox 360 Elite.

As you might have heard, there's a new console in town: Xbox 360™ Elite. This ebony beauty takes your games and media to a whole new level with a bigger hard drive and a new HDMI port.

Make the neighbors jealous.

Make the neighbors jealous.

The Goods
So, here's what you get in the package:

  • Xbox 360™ console, black
  • Wireless controller, black
  • Wired headset, black
  • 120GB hard drive
  • Component HD AV cable
  • HDMI cable
  • HDMI audio cable

The whole kit and caboodle.

The whole kit and caboodle.

Not a bad little package, I must say. I could use that big hard drive right about now.

Elite Entertainment
Xbox 360 Elite is really set up to extend your entertainment experience on Xbox 360. With the 120GB hard drive, you can really gorge on movies and TV shows from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace.

Let me tell you, that hard drive is quite roomy. You can save tons of stuff on it: game saves, game demos, Xbox LIVE® Arcade games, themes and gamer pictures, ripped music, downloaded video. Ah yes, video. Store movies, TV shows, trailers, music videos, community videos, much of it available in glorious high definition. Good times.

In case you're curious about HDMI, it stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface. It's a way of transmitting audio and video to your TV using a digital connection. It carries audio and video on the same cable, so it's a convenient way to hook up your console to your TV without a mess of cables to worry about.

Use the HDMI audio cable alongside the HDMI cable if you have a rad sound system and don't want to pipe audio just to your TV. Don't have HDMI on your TV? No worries, we've got you covered with the component HD AV cable right in the box. I know. We're so nice.

By the by, the Xbox 360 HDMI, component, and VGA HD AV cables are all capable of producing 1080p video resolution for games and downloaded videos. The HDMI and VGA cables support 1080p for DVD and HD DVD, with the component limited to 480p for DVD and 720p and 1080i for HD-DVD.

Accessories
If you're looking for accessories with a matching black finish, try these:

All Xbox 360 accessories (yes, even the white ones) work with Xbox 360 Elite.

Upgrade to Xbox 360 Elite
If you already have an Xbox 360 console and are looking to step up, transferring existing content to the Xbox 360 Elite is easy with the Xbox 360 Transfer Kit. It's not included with Xbox 360 Elite, but you can order it for free.

The Xbox 360 Transfer Kit includes a transfer cable and a disc. To use it, attach your Xbox 360 20GB hard drive to your new console and connect the new 120GB hard drive to the same console with the transfer cable. Pop in the transfer disc, follow the instructions, and voilà.

The transfer kit is a one-time, all-or-nothing deal. You don't get to pick what to transfer, and all of your stuff is erased from the original drive when it's done. It'll also erase everything from the new drive before it begins, so don't put anything on the new drive until after the transfer. Some content may not transfer, such as unmovable or corrupted content, but the transfer kit is the only way to transfer certain saves (some games don't allow copying of saves) and preloaded content.

An important note about transfers: any time you move content from one console to another, the licenses stay with the old console. This is true whether you use the transfer kit, move saved material with a memory unit, redownload, or just attach the old drive to a new console.

Because the content is licensed only to the console and the Xbox LIVE® account that downloaded the content, you'll have to sign in to Xbox LIVE with your account any time you want to use it on the new console. (To avoid this, you may prefer purchasing the 120GB hard drive separately. Transfer content from the old hard drive to the new one. Since it's the same console, your licenses remain intact.)

The console licensing restriction applies to most content downloaded from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace, including Xbox LIVE® Arcade games, videos, and TV shows. Movie rentals have a more restrictive license (no "roaming" with your Xbox LIVE account), so you won't be able to access those at all on another console. Watch your movie rentals on the original console before transferring your content.

More Info
Hungry for more? These links will give you more information on the Xbox 360 Elite and how you can use it to improve your gaming experience.

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