Much Ado About Nothing Much

Posted Mar 28, 2007 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 29, 2007 at 03:56 PM

Xbox fanboys all over the Internet were practically wetting themselves with excitement yesterday when Xbox Live went down for about 12 hours for scheduled “maintenance.” The theory floating around was that this downtime was Microsoft‘s preparation for the release of the “Halo 3” beta, which is arguably the most anticipated video game ever. When Microsoft said it had a big announcement to make after the service went back online, the rumor mill went into overdrive.

Not surprisingly, the rumors were wrong. The announcement was this: Microsoft is issuing a new Xbox 360 Elite with a 120 GB hard drive, HDMI support and a sleek black finish.

::crickets chirping::

Didn’t we know about that, oh ... at least three weeks ago?

The only new info is that the system will retail for $479.99, which is a bump of about $80 over the original 360 configuration—and at least brushes up against PlayStation 3 territory.

So what if you already own a 360? Is it worth upgrading? The 120 GB hard drive (which will also be sold separately for $179.99) is probably essential if you hope to take advantage of everything the 360 offers (or will offer soon, such as IPTV, high-def movies and DVR capabilities). And if you have an HDMI-equipped television set, it’s a no-brainer.

Which could pose a problem. What happens to all the Xbox Live Arcade games you downloaded onto your old hard drive? Do you have to pay for them again? What about your gamertag? Since its release, the 360 message boards have been overrun with posts from gamers who have experienced major problems trying to transfer their gamertag from one system to another. (And not just because it takes, like, two hours.)

Of course, for early adopters, the major issue here may be that they paid $400 for a system that became obsolete in a matter of 16 months. It’s kind of like when you splurged for the 40GB iPod and a few months later found out you could’ve gotten a 60 GB model with video for the same price.

So what do you think? Should 360 owners be pissed that their almost-new systems are no longer cutting-edge? Or should they just accept that this is the price you pay for being the first on your block with any new gadget?