Many
of our and other sites' readers already know, we posted a story ten
days ago, January
11
th
,
stating that a local retailer found old Xbox 360 models dating as far
back as 2006 in the new 2007 Holiday Bundle boxes. We had an update
to the article two
days later, after receiving numerous comments
through the website
N4G.com
,
regarding the fact that we did not mention that “local” referred
to Toronto and whether the story was completely true or not. We
suggest you read the original story and update, linked above, before
reading this final update.
Today,
Microsoft Canada replied to our questions, asking how this happened
and why models from 2006 were appearing in the new 2007 Holiday
Bundles, with a statement saying, “Our focus is on the best
experience possible and all the consoles are capable
of 1080p output
for games and movies through either HDMI or VGA cable connections."
While this statement did not address the fact that the 2006 year
models were appearing in these boxes, it did, implicitly, admit that
Microsoft knew it was packaging the new bundles this way.
The
only advice we can give to consumers looking to buy an Xbox 360 with
a newer chipset and HDMI port is to check the box very closely to see
which console it is, as we have said since the original article. If
the box doesn't say that the Xbox 360 has an HDMI port, it probably
doesn't have one. The other option is to opt for an Xbox 360
Halo
Edition or Xbox Elite, which are all built with HDMI ports.