Christmas comes early to 360 Elite owners: free HDD Transfer Kits for all

It looks like Microsoft has decided to return some of its record-breaking profits back to the consumer in the form of a free Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit for Elite owners -- although some will look at this gesture as less of a gift (being that it could have just been included in the box with all Elites) and more of a hassle to get a one-time-use product that already comes bundled with the standalone 120GB drive. Interested parties can grab the necessary form by following the Read link, but you'll need the serial numbers of both 360s to qualify, so if you were just looking for a free cable to tie up your pets or friends, you're out of luck. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via Joystiq, thanks Josh F.]

[Kyle @ May 2nd 2007 11:04AM]

I'd rather have 4 wii's than 1 360. I don't understand why people are spending money on this stunt by microsoft to cash in on these noobs. This reminds me of the ram upgrade for the N64 back in the day... except that was actually worth it.

[Andy @ May 2nd 2007 11:24AM]

First off, don't let it bother you what people want to spend their money on. It's hardly a "stunt" by Microsoft, it's just an upgrade and a new version. If people who already have a 360 want to buy one then good for them, it's their money. However some of us, myself included, didn't have a 360 before and choose the Elite because it has HDMI and the bigger hard drive. I plan on downloading many demos, possibly movies, tv shows, etc, so I will want the bigger HDD. Are you saying I should buy a cheaper version, then pay for the HDD again? Even if you buy the core, it would cost more to buy all the parts of an elite than it would to buy the Elite.

Some of you Nintendo and Sony fan boys need to chill the hell out.

[Julian Emmett Turner @ May 2nd 2007 11:11AM]

The first reporting of this was correct. Every other headline I've seen tries to spin it as "free for all" or some crap. The thing is, I desire it without owning a single XBOX 360 because I believe it can be modified cheaply to make an SATA to USB adapter. Stop getting my hopes up with misleading titles that make it sound like the news is announcing a policy change as to who this is available to.

[Matthew @ May 2nd 2007 11:21AM]

Does anyone know how long it takes to get the cable once you fax the form in??

[Jeff P. @ May 2nd 2007 11:32AM]

"I'd rather have 4 wii's than 1 360." Wow, what a noob. You go right ahead and take your wii and leave the 360 for people that would rather have an advanced game system and media center instead of a reboxed Gamecube. The wii may be a fun system but it's leaps and bounds behind the 360 or the PS3. I'm not quite sure exactly how this 360 upgrade compares at all with the ram upgrade for the N64 but maybe you're smoking something I'm not. With the ability to download HD and SD content a larger hard drive is needed. Duh. Let's see you do that with your wii. God I hate fanboys.

Or did I just fall for a troll?

[MAK1981 @ May 2nd 2007 11:37AM]

To the 4-Wii's-over-1-XBox360 fanboy... isn't the same "stunt" being pulled by Nintendo on their ridiculously large "selection" of Game Boys? Let's see... Game Boy Advance, Game Boy SP, Game Boy with brighter screen, DS, DS Lite, etc....

Good God, fanboys.

[Beryllium @ May 2nd 2007 11:50AM]

I don't currently own any consoles. In fact, I haven't owned a console since the NES/Genesis. However, my current 6-month plan involves getting an XBox 360 Elite and a Nintendo Wii.

Why the Elite rather than a regular XBox 360? Well ... A) I'm a whore for trendy gadgets, even though I almost never actually buy them - so the black case is a big selling point. (It matches my entertainment centre.) And B) I'm interested in getting the HDMI connector, and perhaps the HD-DVD addon (although I won't get that addon until many months after I get the console).

My point is, Microsoft isn't just doing a cash-grab with the Elite; they're targetting people like me, who haven't entered the console market yet, but are seriously being swayed with games like Gears of War (which I played at Christmas and found to be totally awesome) and features like downloading HD movies and XBLA.

[andy @ May 2nd 2007 2:12PM]

@ Beryllium

I'm with you bro, but I'm holding out for the fall and the smaller chip version. I require silence in my theatre setup, and I'll sacrifice whatever I have to for that.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ May 2nd 2007 11:54AM]

"I'd rather have 4 wii's than 1 360."

Wait a minute, wouldn't that equal like.. 2916mhz with like 256 MB GDDR3 RAM?

That'd indeed put it up there within the ranks of the 360 or PS3..

(Anyone have that EGM picture of the three PlayStation 1's tapped together to make a PS3? lol)

[RyanTV @ May 2nd 2007 12:26PM]

I had a premium 360 that crapped out right after the warranty expired... so i waited and got an Elite. I don't really mind having to request the migration cable, but Microsoft is one of the largest technology companies in the world - there is no reason that i should have to waste my time/money snail-mailing them a printed PDF. You can't tell me that there is no one in all of Microsoftland that could have put together a web submission form that would have taken care of this in a more timely manner.

[AG @ May 2nd 2007 12:58PM]

How about the cable BEFORE we buy, so that we don't have to wait two weeks to play our game saves on our new purchase?

[Patrick McCarron @ May 2nd 2007 1:34PM]

I agree completely with you AG. I spent the last two weeks working with Microsoft on this issue. I was promised last week that I'd have one shipped to me on Sunday/Monday so when I got the new system I could exchange the data right away.

I then called on Monday and I was told that I would have to wait until I got the system, then I could submit the form and wait 2-3 weeks for the cable to arrive. They also refused to email me the form, so I can get it at work where xbox.com is a blocked website. I had no computer at home so I had no way to get the form short of going over to Kinkos. This surprised me that they had no way to help me out with getting the form.

So I found it unacceptable to have a $500 system sitting around waiting for a cable, and also to tell my friend who was going to buy my old 360 to wait three weeks when he had other offers from other friends.

So, I took this as a sign to not get an Elite until Microsoft gets their act together, and I canceled my order.

[Mark @ May 2nd 2007 1:23PM]

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but isn't this just an enormous waste of materials? Single-use?? What the hell are you supposed to do with it afterwards? How about a recycling program?

[E-Rock @ May 2nd 2007 1:48PM]

Can't you plug in the 20GB from your old 360 until the cable arrives? Not an ideal situation, and I'd be pissed as well, but it at least gets you some functionality while you wait.

[RyanTV @ May 2nd 2007 2:07PM]

yes, you can plug in your old 20GB HDD and play as normal with your elite. I've been doing that since Sunday with no issues.

I personally don't care about waiting a few weeks for the cable, but I understand those that need to get their data off so they can get rid of their old 360 - Microsoft really should have just included it in the box and avoided this whole mess.

[Beryllium @ May 2nd 2007 2:23PM]

I was tempted to do the same, but then I decided it would be best to act sooner than that; for, as I've discovered, my PC makes far more of a racket than the 360 would make, and it will be in the same room :)

[DerekPowell @ May 2nd 2007 4:51PM]

They ought to have a submission form over xbox live, then it could automatically detect that you have an elite, and you wouldn't need a seperate computer.

[PS!CHO @ May 2nd 2007 5:48PM]

Wow, you need to have your Elite serial AND your old 360 serial, I just sold my old 360... This should have been included with the Elite. Anybody know how to retrive my old serial, or perhaps a new one? :D