Painfully, the ad makes it look like the God of Collection is two separate games. A quick comparison of Black Friday console deals from the big guys:

Walmart
• Playstation 3 Console w/Infamous & Batman Arkham Asylum Games + Dark Knight Blu-ray – $300

Best Buy
• Sony PlayStation 3 Package w/120GB Console, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet and Clank – $300
• Xbox 360 Elite 120GB with Pure and Lego Batman + four games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man Web of Shadows, Wall-E, and Ghost Recon 2 – $300

So if you're after an Xbox 360 Elite, then Best Buy seems to be the clear winner so far, while for me, Walmart's PS3 deal looks like the pick of the crop. GameStop does have a bunch of cheap games, though. Check out the listing at: [Kotaku]

Predicted by Ars, the Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle includes a 360 Elite, Lego Batman: The Videogame and Pure. It's available now for $299.

Meanwhile, for those just looking to score a controller and some games, the $60 Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Game Pack includes a wireless black controller and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Lumines LIVE!, Bomberman LIVE! and Ms Pac-Man. We're feeling too lazy to look up the price of each title and convert from MS points, but given that a controller only runs about $35, this bundle sounds like a bit of an upsell if you're not going to play each and every title. Also, Jason Chen will just top your Geometry Wars scores, so don't even bother. [Major Nelson]

Yes, Blu-ray is a big aspect of what makes the PS3 appealing. But for gamers, is that a huge selling point? As for Wi-Fi, well, that depends on your setup. Most gamers who are serious about playing online probably would rather plug their console right into their router. And Bluetooth? Who gives a shit about Bluetooth?

To be fair, there are definite advantages to PS3 that make it appear to be a better value. Really want a Blu-ray player? Home theater setup too far away from your router to plug the console right in? Turned off by an annual charge for online services? The PS3 is right up your alley.

But for many people who are interested in serious gaming consoles, what matters most is software, not hardware. And the Xbox 360 arguably has the best games library and the best online service. And for me at least, that makes up for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi about 50 times over, which is why I would personally recommend the Xbox 360 to a friend over the PS3. But despite that fact, the decision as to what console to buy has never been harder.

Aw, what the hell. Just buy both. [Kotaku]

It's all been rumored for a while, but seeing those numbers captured with some sort of sub-cellphone-quality camera really makes the price reduction hit home. (Plus, the extra controller Target's offering is a pretty tempting cherry on top.)

This is happening, folks. And the feeling is more intense than I'd ever imagined. [Engadget]

UPDATE: Kotaku has just published a similar ad from Best Buy. At this point, we don't even need Microsoft to confirm. I mean, they can or whatever. But we already know what's up.

This September, the Xbox 360 Pro (60GB, $299) will be replaced by the Elite (120GB, $399). So in one sense, the Xbox will see a price cut. In another, the 360 doesn't necessarily sound like it's getting any cheaper with some lower entry level price.

Also of note, Ars reaffirmed their claim that a PS3 Slim would arrive this fall along with price drops "on the hardware that's out now." Even with these rumors standing as they are, Sony cuts the price of the PS3, it's hard to imagine Microsoft not offering a true price cut as well. [Ars Technica]

It's free for a limited time, since Microsoft didn't really target Elite at upgraders, but didn't want to piss them off either. Grab one and transfer your stuff already. – Jason Chen

Update: There's some confusion as to what the transfer process does. If you don't use this cable to transfer, yes you lose your downloaded game videos which you can download again, but you also lose access to your Arcade games, which end up as demos if you try and download them again.

Also, it doesn't render the 20GB one useless. It just wipes out the old data on there. You can still use it as a spare drive.

Migration Help [Xbox via Kotaku]

So for you guys who made a little wish to your fairy godmother that the Xbox 360 Elite was going to have cooler parts, you may want to wait until fall. And for those of you who already purchased an Elite? We're sorry. – Jason Chen

Xbox 360 GPU to go to 65nm in fall, TSMC to see side benefits, says paper [Digitimes]

Product Page [EBGames]

Don't let the black paint job distract you; the only thing you need to ask is if it improves the video quality. After seven hours of testing, with standard definition DVDs, HD DVDs, benchmark discs, WMV movies from Marketplace, games, and even photos, I have my verdict:

The XBox Elite's HDMI output is the best around for all the formats I mentioned above.

Should you buy it?

Gamers who have an Xbox 360? No!

Videophiles looking for an HD DVD player? No!

Videophiles looking to get into the Xbox Live video marketplace? Yes, but know that this bitch is still loud.

Guys like me who are gamers and video geeks? Ya, this is for you. The fact that all that video and audio is being piped through a single HDMI cable is a bonus. And this is confirmed by only one other Xbox Elite owner, but I swear it's a touch cooler and quieter, but those differences could come from the old unit's worn fan bearings, and dust on heatsinks causing undue heat retention. It's a wash.

It's kind of technical, but if you really want to know why the HDMI is better, read on.

Let's start with video. Playing back the Xbox 360 Marketplace trailer of 300 (720p), I paused and photographed the WMV file at similar timestamps, and compared component and HDMI output of both using a Canon 30D DSLR: Shadow detail was better with the HDMI.

Then I ran through the HD DVD player, using Tokyo Drift and the newly minted HQV Silicon Optics test disc—the rigorous test disc benchmarks showed the same flaws on both the HDMI and Component outputs. Jaggies That means the video processor between the older and newer Xbox is likely identical, or of identical quality. That's the processor, though. This isn't a high-end HD DVD player. As for the outputs and what I saw with my own eyes and confirmed with my camera. The HDMI's slightly better shadow detail showed itself. That detail might be lost on a lesser TV or the untrained eye. But remember that the component cables are limited to 1080i. So HDMI wins at full 1080p with no compromises, but with VGA cables you have a draw.

Then I moved to the standard def HQV tests, which is a moot test: The component cables can't upscale standard-def DVDs. They run at 480p, no matter what. The upscaling you'd see is being handled by the TV. We're really testing the TV, not the component output. HDMI wins, with another tie for VGA.

Playing games, Command and Conquer and Virtua Tennis yielded no differences between the 1080p signals of all three cables—except the strange washed out colors that the VGA cables sometimes show (GRAW and Gears of War, for starters). The HDMI again has that shadow detail boost that comes up over and over again. HDMI wins for a better picture, even though all cables do the 1080p dance with games.

Photos. I loaded up some 1920 x 1080 images onto a thumbdrive and did back-to-back testing of both color bars and vacation photos. This is where the HDMI's shadow details were most apparent. It's worth nothing that most LCDs and only some plasmas are going to have the great shadow detail that this Aquos does. So a lesser TV will either benefit from the low-end picture boost, or it'll miss it completely. Depends.

But between that little boost, the inability for the analog component cables to a) upscale DVDs b) do full 1080p output on HD DVDs, HDMI beats it. And while the VGA cables are capable of 1080p for HD DVD and are capable of upscaling DVDs, the reported color issues should give you pause. HDMI wins with no compromises.

*Caveats: For all tests, the TV, a Sharp Aquos 52-inch 92 series, had fixed settings on standard, dot-by-dot mapping, noise reduction off. The camera's exposure was the same for both side-by-side shots.
It's possible the TV had a different calibration for its component inputs versus its HDMI ones, but then that has to be the case on the plasma I tested it with for a bit.

– Brian Lam

Xbox 360 Elite [Gizmodo]