It is raining announcements from Microsoft. We had barely come to terms with the unveiling of Kinect, its no-controller gaming system for the Xbox 360, when the Redmond biggie took the wraps off a new Xbox 360. And it definitely reminds one of what a certain Japanese company did with its own next-gen console a year or so ago. The new Xbox 360 is sleeker, slimmer and a whole lot quieter than its predecessors, if we are to believe what Microsoft is saying. It is also, hallelujah, available in black and comes with a much smaller power brick. On the spec side, it now has a 250 GB hard drive (up from 120 GB) and built-in Wi-Fi (no need to jiggle around accessories, praise be), although hard drives and memory units of the older Xbox 360 will not work on it. There are also five USB ports, a special port to connect directly to Kinect, and touch-sensitive buttons.
Best of all, it come at no additional price – the tag remains USD 299, the same as the current flagship model of the console. And is likely to be available in US stores this week. Has Microsoft tackled the Red Ring of Death issue? Ah, we know not, but I am sure we will find out in the coming days.
