Xbox 360: Full Final Hardware Shown Right Here!

hmmm, not bad at all, I have to say I quite like it. look forward to seeing the other console designs.

although it's a shame they've gone for the standard 2 memory card slots on the system, am I the only one who thought mem cards plugged into controllers was a nice idea? I wish nintendo hadnt dropped it either.

To put to rest the thoughts of 2 different variations of the console, the second image, (the full console with the glowing green circle showing) appears to be a render. I do animation and modeling professionally and I am 95% certain that the one view is a concept render. The texturing is too even and the reflections (specular highlights) on the metal portions are too perfect to be a physical model. I can't tell if the other image is a render or not because it isn't high enough quality, but it may very well be a photo of a physical prototype. That would easily explain the differences.

I think those sudden PR blowouts are either, of course, not sudden or mistakes at all OR sony being a party pooper again :) and blowing it's cash towards every direction.(SC3, zelda "mistake", now xbox "unveiling")

Remembering that there may be two versions of the X-box coming out, it's fully possible that these are pictures of both different versions.

Look these pictures over and then it might seem that spong is right again, but it does seem that spong has aquired renders of the almost finalized product. Thats my opinion lets see what you think.

Beautiful system! I love the way it looks. I had my doubts but in the end it all pays off, nice job they did. I think the lil door on the right is actually a button you push to pop the cover off and lets you switch the face of the system from vertical to horizontal. That would explain a lot in my opinion. Also explains the customization that Microsoft was talking about. I hope you can switch the button too .

"Although it's a shame they've gone for the standard 2 memory card slots on the system, am I the only one who thought mem cards plugged into controllers was a nice idea? I wish nintendo hadnt dropped it either."

And the benefit of that was what? A bulkier controller? Yes? They could've just knocked out the big green jewel of the nile and those useless memory card/"multipurpose" slots on the top in favor of a "SMALL!" headphone jack for the headset. Hell if people ever use the memory card slots they just put them into the system like normal gamers. It's not hard to get up walk three steps and insert the card of your choice (credit excluded, but man that'd be cool, card swiping for online purchases, or then again, maybe not).

Now for my expected two cents on the subject of the new box:

It looks pretty nice. A normal sized component I can easily fit into my tv stand. Although stacking doesn't seem like such an easy option. I wonder how many controllers they'll allow for. I also wonder being infrared and all as most people are assuming, are they going to run into the problems with ALL infrared controllers is the breaking of the signal which sucks no matter how you look at it. Remember the Wavebird is RF so you can use it behind a brick wall 50 feet away while crapping positioned at an obtuse angle to the tv. Infrared can't. How am I supposed to squeeze my evil out and play New Legends 2 and Mad Dash DX?! SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN!!! I may cry if I can't.

Well, not that I ever had much cause to use it, in a sports game, your profile follows the memory card its on, so as long as your memory card is in the controller you yourself are using, you get the correct stats...

Admittedly this kind of feature is underutilized, and I think there should be some kind of built in system for backing up card data to your hard disk, something simpler with more useful features than using the stock MS dashboard. Like an option to save to both at the same time, that way I can take my memory card to a friends, play the game, take it home, play some more, and the newer save data is automagically both on the hdd and my card. With the hard disk rendering memory cards optional I don't think there was much incentive to explore using them more.

As someone who LANs quite a bit with other Xbox users, most of whom do not have, nor particularly want LIVE! service I would also like to see, either in a new dashboard update, or in the new Xbox 360 the ability to transfer game patches to non-Live! users Xboxes. While I understand that content (i.e. maps, etc.) must be Live! exclusive, you should be able to transfer mandatory gameplay patches (anything that MUST be download) freely to anyone.

I actually find the Dual Shock to be uncomfortably small, and think that the S is just a s bulky as it needs must be.

My God, it's all so clear now.

The pic from the other day is the housing for the HDD. The little button is the ctach that keeps it in, the silver bit the handle to slide it out.

The two versions will indeed be the with/without HDD options. That is the slickest item of hardware I have ever seen.

That, is what marketing does for a console.

Well im impressed.. another great well researched and accurate spong exclusive.

Well done! *slow claps*

You have to hand it to M$, every once and a while they pull something unexpected out of the bag. In this instance, a killer-looking console.

But I bet the style gurus at Sony can beat it.

Well, they're gonna be showing it not long before E3, so they'll have already made it now...

Too short a time to go back now. I'm betting on something that looks like a stereo seperate or like all the rest of your under-telly AV.

My irony sense is tingling, and it's telling me "your" making things up.

There's not a whiff of the word "exclusive", and any implication that this is the case. Quite the opposite, in fact; Take, for example, the start of the second paragraph which reads "The images have been spewing forth over the past few hours from various European online outlets"

You forgot to continue that sentance, see it's supposed to end with, "killer-looking console thats design screams 'Apple-influenced' so loud my ears are bleeding."

I can't believe any of you are considering buying this. They're unveiling it ON MTV. What a big Eff You to E3 and the history of the videogame industry. It's ironic though, cause where video killed the radio star, the Xbox is killing the creative aspects of video gaming. Oh and 360? Isn't that a quick way of saying "We've gone around in a circle, and are selling you the same piece of garbage hardware we sold you 2-3 years ago." 360 gets you to the starting point, the same place you've been. And all of the initial garbage software will have the "360" tagged on the end of the title, guaranteed.

oh poor silly man, its not goign to be an I.R. controler interface, this isnt 1986 for christ's sake. they will work just liek the wave birds do, the IR on the front of the system is more than likely used for the included remote control that will give you dvd like controls, since the sucker will of course paly dvd's and possibly have tivo like DVR capabilities.
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