Burning Down the Xbox 360

Dean Takahashi, of the Mercury News, had the chance to visit the product evaluation and reliability labs for the Xbox 360 at Microsoft's Mountain View, CA, campus: " A guy named Rich Lee showed menditions. There is room for 120 Xbox 360s on the racks in this room, which can be heated or cooled as needed. I step in and feel the warm air blast me. The Xbox 360s stay in the pressure cooker for up to 72 hours at a time. There are about 1,100 components on the motherboard. A lot of stuff can go wrong a gigantic chamber where he can simulate all sorts of environmental co"


Xbox 360 may not always have a hard drive

Microsoft's forthcoming next-generation console may not always ship in a configuration with a hard drive, key Xbox executive J Allard has confirmed, with developers being warned not to rely on the component for their games. Speaking in the September issue of US magazine Game Informer, Allard said that the company isn't yet ready to announce details of possible multiple models of the Xbox 360, with the presence of a hard drive being touted as one potential difference between models.


Xbox 360 to ship at $299 without HDD, $399 for high-end version

The LA Times has broken news of Microsoft's pricing plans for the Xbox 360 console, revealing that the a basic version of the next-generation system will launch at $299, with a premium version shipping at $399. According to the paper, the $299 version of the console will not include a hard drive - with the extra $100 for the premium version buying a 20Gb drive as well as a wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable and wireless television-style remote control.