In all the console game systems we’ve bought over the years, we’ve never bought three of the essentially the same game system. We covered the portable market by buying three Nintendo DS and at least three Gameboys. Probably more like five in that case. There’s never really been enough time and a good enough library of games to warrant even strongly considering three of essentially the same console systems in our home.

Until today.

Yes, today is when Microsoft releases the Xbox 360 Elite. It’s back in black with a 120GB hard drive and sporting an HDMI connection for up to 1080p gaming (although I don’t belive any games support that yet). And while I’m completely skeptical that there will be many hardware problems the game library and Xbox Live is unmatched.

My wife and I are setting out to check out the local retail stores. First stop: Fred Meyer, then Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco, Toys R’ Us, the speciality game stores (they never have any systems at launch it seems except for those who preorder), Circuit City, Target and whomever else might possibly be selling one of the Xbox 360 Elite systems.

I’m thinking more people will be after the hard drives ($189 USD) than buying the complete Elite system ($479 USD), since running out of the 20GB hard drive space on the Xbox 360 isn’t very difficult for regular players. Beyond the increased hard disk space, the black design and an HDMI port and price increase (from $399 to $479) there is no other difference as far as I know between the Elite and a regular Xbox system. Hopefully by now most people that want an Xbox 360 already have one.

I’m taking my camera and will be documenting my findings for a follow-up to this post. Will we be able to buy one on launch day? Kara pointed out that eBay was already juiced with bids, so I’m not sure how this one will go. It feels a little bit like when Nintendo releases a different color Gameboy.

We’ll both find out soon. Wish us luck!

Did this post make you go hmm?

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