We don’t usually post comics here, but today’s Penny Arcade hits the nail on the head when it comes to PC upgrades. To play a lot of the titles this Holiday season, you’re going to need one killer rig.
It’s a bit over the top, but this is one of the reasons I slowed my uptake of PC games and moved to consoles. I just don’t have the time, funds, or desire to keep upgrading my PC.
Hop on over the Penny Arcade to see a bigger version of the comic (in case your puny eyes can’t read it here).
Just in case 60GB isn’t enough for you, and you don’t have the stones to upgrade the hard drive yourself (trust me, it’s insanely easy and doesn’t cost that much to get a 120GB 2.5″ HDD), you’ll now be in luck with Sony Computer Entertainment Korea confirming the 80GB model.
Not only do we have box shots showing the 80GB size, but now we have the official SCEK website showing the specs in a few places. According the the spec, the 80GB model will sell for KRW 518,000 (USD 557 / EUR 412 / GBP 232) and will hit the shops on June 16. Here’s the kicker: the 80GB model will be the only one available in South Korea as there are no plans to launch the 20GB or 60GB versions there.
Even though I said I wasn’t going to, I picked up a Xbox 360 Elite today. The black beast is better than I anticipated.
The first thing I noticed was the Elite is very quiet. Much more so than my older Premium console. This is when idle, playing movies (both standard DVD and HD-DVD), as well as playing games. It’s a treat to not have to hear the fans spinning like crazy. The new Hitachi drive helps too.
The HDMI video connection looks fantastic. There is a noticeable difference in colors and black level on my 50″ Samsung 1080p over component video. Don’t take this to mean the HDMI connection produces a much better picture… it’s a known thing with my model of HDTV that HDMI looks way better than component.
I’m waiting on my transfer cable, so I can’t comment on using the 120GB hard drive yet.
Overall, it’s the best 360 console I’ve had. Is it worth the upgrade for most users? I don’t think so. But if you’re looking to replace a broken console and you don’t have warranty, or you just want to pick up a 360 for the first time, definitely take a look at the Elite.
Remember how we told you the Xbox 360 Elite doesn’t come with a HDD transfer cable? Well, Microsoft decided it didn’t want to royally screw it’s current hardcore customer base (this time), and will be giving away HDD transfer cables if you ask for them.
The news comes in a self Q&A on GamerscoreBlog.
Q. Got it, thanks for the advice on which item to buy, but I am pretty set on upgrading to the Xbox 360 Elite, how can I do this?
A. We realize that around the launch of the Xbox 360 Elite that some folks may in fact want to upgrade from their current console. For those consumers interested in doing this, we will be providing a solution to obtain a migration kit from Xbox.com completely free of charge. You can get more information about obtaining one of these kits from a URL that will be live tomorrow.Note that there are some differences between migration data from one hard drive to another using the same console and doing this migration to a completely new console. See the differences outlined in more detail below.
The URL has not gone live yet and has not yet been provided by Microsoft. This is good news though for users looking to upgrade. Hopefully it doesn’t take Microsoft 6-8 weeks to send it to you…
We’ve upgraded here at Loot Ninja. Our new server is in full effect. You should notice the site loads faster now.
We’re going to implementing some cool new features in the coming weeks, so keep checking back…
We’re going to be making some major server upgrades tonight here at Loot Ninja. I’ve been working diligently setting up and locking down our new server, and we’re ready to make the move.
Tonight I’m going to make the DNS changes for the server. It should only take 24 hours for that to take place, but it may take longer in your area. If you don’t see any new stories, just be patient. The new server will be much faster, and will enable us to setup a lot of cool new features that we have been working on.
We have a lot of big plans coming soon for you here at Loot Ninja. To accomplish everything, we’re going to need to beef up our servers a bit. In the coming weeks, there’s going to a server upgrade which will enable us to bring you some cool new features. Stay tuned for more news on when this will take place.
What’s that you say? How will this affect me? Well, in short, it won’t. You just might not get all of our news stories right away on a Saturday when the DNS servers are updating. But trust it, it’s going to be well worth it 
So I grabbed the v1.60 update yesterday for my PS3. It took a good bit to download at 5pm EST. I guess the servers were getting hammered. After installing (and fearing it would corrupt my hard drive like previous updates were doing to tons of users), I got to check out some of the features.
First off, kudos to Sony for Folding@Home. It’s a great program from the minds at Stanford University, and having PS3 users participate is a great way to have some good come from your console. One of the first things I did was download the Folding client (it’s not included by default in the v1.60 firmware update). The 50MB download took me a few minutes. Once I accepted the license agreement, I was off and folding. By default, everyone’s name is “PS3″ and not on a team. You can change this if you’re already a part of Folding, or just leave it as is. I checked the CPU/OS stats, and there were roughly 4000 PS3’s on the folding network at the time. I think this is a great accomplishment.
Background downloading works well. I wish it automatically went into the background queue, but instead, you have to click “Perform in Background” for every download you want to add to the queue. An extra step, but it still works. I played a couple games while downloading with no problems.
The other big feature, as I see it, was the addition of the disk auto-start option. I love being able to turn off that option, so when I put in a disk, it won’t automatically start. I expected this from the start with the PS3, since it’s in the PSP, but it didn’t take that long for them to add it.
Overall, the firmware update is better than I first thought. I thought it would be a cheap upgrade. Granted, I still expected more given the hype Sony made about it. But it’s still a nice update to the system. Now, if they can only push out some good games…
Ars Technica is reporting that the new “Elite” Xbox 360 will come with a data transfer cable which will allow users to transfer everything from their current 20GB hard drive to the new 120GB hard drive. Sounds like a great deal to me, if it’s true. It’s been a big question in people’s minds that when (not a matter of if) Microsoft releases a larger hard drive, how will they deal with users transferring their files. Personally, I use the XSATA to backup my 360’s hard drive regularly, since they tend to kill themselves in my house on a regular basis (I’m on #6 now, for those counting).
From their article:
I work for a large game distributor. MS disclosed this SKU to us a few weeks ago—definitely not a fake story. Price, features, color are all correct. MS has told us that the data will be transferred via some sort of cable that will be included with the unit. The cable will also be included w/ the 120GB drive that will be sold separately (price TBD).
Please don’t cite me, but this is all accurate info.
This is good news for everyone who’s thinking of upgrading, myself included. I’m looking forward to an official announcement from Microsoft soon.
We’re launching a new page to the site today… an upcoming release list broken down by console. Check it out from the menu bar, or just click here if you’re lazy
This list is constantly updated, so check back frequently.
Stay tuned for more new features and upgrades from Loot Ninja.
Coming Soon!
Recent Comments