Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday it would launch the advanced version of its Xbox 360 game console, Xbox 360 Elite, on October 11 in Japan, a country where sales of its game gear lag far behind rival machines from Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Sony Corp.
The new console, which comes with a 120-gigabyte hard disk drive and offers better graphics quality, will sell for 47,800 yen ($390).
That compares with 25,000 yen for Nintendo`s Wii and 49,980 yen for the basic version of Sony`s PlayStation 3, equipped with a 20-gigabyte hard drive.
Microsoft sold 122,565 units of Xbox 360 in the first half of calendar 2007 in Japan, a home turf for Sony and Nintendo, according to data from game magazine publisher Enterbrain.
Nintendo`s Wii sales came to 1.78 million units and Sony sold 503,554 units of its PlayStation 3 during the same period.
The Xbox 360 Elite is already sold in North America for $479.99.
sections: Hi-Tech |