Microsoft accidentally confirms HDMI?
by Richard Mitchell 
{ Mar 26th 2007 at 10:05AM }
With Microsoft staying hush-hush about the Xbox 360 Elite, people are looking for information anywhere they can get it. It seems the latest source of information is the official XNA Game Studio Express forum on the Microsoft Developer Network. An innocent XNA coder looking for answers seems to have confirmed more than the press could with calls and email directly to MS. The question, from forum user PAPutzback1, was simple: "Will the HDMI output on the revised 360 require any code changes? I am hoping some developers have a beta unit and can answer this question." A Microsoft employee by the name of Shawn Hargreaves responded, "No changes required." Obviously, Hargreaves' answer points to the Xbox 360 actually integrating HDMI at some point in the future, possibly confirming the existence of the Xbox 360 Elite. Our buddies at Xbox-Scene also report that their Microsoft sources have informed them that the HDMI port could be worked into Core and Premium 360s by June.Granted, Game Informer has already stated that it doesn't print false stories in its April issue, but this is the closest we've gotten to official confirmation from Microsoft. Take it for what you will.
[Via Xbox-Scene]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
raymond @ Mar 26th 2007 10:22AM
but its a lowly tech support employee. i wouldnt believe it unless its directly from the mouth of j allard, bill gates, or peter moore themself!
NomBomB @ Mar 26th 2007 10:32AM
hurry the hell up, damnit! i already have a buyer for my premium!
a ham sandwich @ Mar 26th 2007 11:00AM
i still need PROOF! this doesnt do it! wheres j allard?!!?
Toph @ Mar 26th 2007 10:43AM
I still call BS on the whole Elite thing, really.
It makes us sound as if we're all unhappy with our current 360s and wish we had a system that utilized PS3 specs (HDMI, larger HD, black shell), which just isn't the case in most aspects. I'd like a bigger HD for the sheer sake of being able to hold onto more demos longer. I don't download HD movies from the 360.
Personally I don't need HDMI even though I have an HDTV (Component is working just fine) and I sure as hell don't need a black console again!
(Back two years ago at E3 when I was interested in the system, I'd chosen a silver PS3 to get at launch. Well, we all know what happened since then besides a shell color change.)
..I wanted a yellow Wii, too:)
a ham sandwich @ Mar 26th 2007 11:13AM
im with Toph on this one. i think its BS too. ill bet this whole thing was set up by MS as perhaps the best april fools joke ever. in about a week they'll probably come out publicly and say "haha got ya!"
it seems to me like we're so desperate for rumors (im lookin at you apple) that we'll believe anything. all they need to do is "leak" proof and thats enough information for the rest of us
Insomnious @ Mar 26th 2007 11:08AM
I think the Elite simply appeals to fanboys who simply just have the latest technology. Apparantly the Premium is already out-dated. :S
I really couldn't care about the Elite. I bought my HDTV for playing the 360, so went looking for component input (although it does have DVI, which with a simple converter could utilise HDMI). I've never had less that 10GB on my hard-drive, it doesn't get too hot, the drive isn't THAT noisy, etc etc.
Same goes for whether the Elite is real or not - big deal. The premium still plays 360 games, although a lot of people seem to have forgotten that.
Insomnious @ Mar 26th 2007 11:09AM
I think the Elite simply appeals to fanboys who simply just have the latest technology. Apparantly the Premium is already out-dated. :S
I really couldn't care about the Elite. I bought my HDTV for playing the 360, so went looking for component input (although it does have DVI, which with a simple converter could utilise HDMI). I've never had less that 10GB on my hard-drive, it doesn't get too hot, the drive isn't THAT noisy, etc etc.
Same goes for whether the Elite is real or not - big deal. The premium still plays 360 games, although a lot of people seem to have forgotten that.
KaneRobot @ Mar 26th 2007 11:17AM
Toph, Microsoft would have come out and said that the elite is a hoax by now if it were not true. Stuff like this slows down immediate console sales, they'd have no reason to "decline comment" if it were fake.
Toph @ Mar 26th 2007 12:06PM
The reason MS may have not come out and point-blank said this was all conjecture and false rumor is that they may indeed have something coming up that utilizes aspects of the Elite, yet not the whole shebang. Imagine if some MS employee says that there is no HDMI coming; well fanboys would take that to mean a everything else about this Elite was true. Same with say, no upcoming black system. We'd all assume the system was still hitting, just white.
They may have something coming, but i've said all along that if there will be, it'll be a gradual change leading to this Holiday season with perhaps a cooler running disc drive and HDMI support, as pointless as I think it is.
I really, really think a black system is 1) a stupid idea and 2) confusing marketing, and MS wouldn't do that.
SuicideNinja @ Mar 26th 2007 12:22PM
"It makes us sound as if we're all unhappy with our current 360s and wish we had a system that utilized PS3 specs (HDMI, larger HD, black shell),"
Seriously. My PS3 is hooked up to HDMI, and while it makes the menu fonts readable...no big changes anywhere else. The 360 over component looks just as good, and it never had font problems to begin with. It also never makes me want to pick up the console and throw it in the street because it's so anti-user-friendly. Ahem.
I am going to go VGA for 1080p on the 360 (even though 1080p is over-rated...got it...not really impressed).
I think the whole "HDMI" thing is over-rated also. The audio/video over one cable SEEMS like a good idea...until you're running through 2-3 devices.
For HDMI elitists....is digital really that much of an improvement over analog VGA? Most people don't even notice the difference!
Jude Brown @ Mar 26th 2007 9:15PM
I'm not pissed about the Elite, but I certainly will not buy the 720 right away.
giddieon @ Mar 26th 2007 7:28PM
Sadly this should have been from the get HDMI... not a year later...
Also what piss me off on the 360 is lack of HDD suppport...if MS had got off there ass and made it so that every system would have a HDD more developers would have taken use f it ...and we would get better games...
I mean Xbox 1 had HDD on all system... this is just wrong for the 360 not to have it is a step back...
And now with this HDMI and Elitl shit box it sounds like MS is playing catch up...
The only thing I loe about my shit box is live...the only thing keeping it in the air...
Come on MS less Skus and more Focus....
Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 27th 2007 5:48AM
"No changes required."
Why would there be? Isn't the hardware supposed to handle all the handshaking, or do you expect "old" games not to work with HDMI?
Not confirmation at all. Just a bit of tech information.