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Microsoft has slashed $50 off the cost of the add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 console in the US, Canada and New Zealand.

There’s no indication - yet - that the company plans to cut prices in Europe but, unless it has a death wish for the HD DVD format, it will, and soon too.

The price in the US now drops to $130 from $180 – almost 28%. Even better – at least for those it affects – it can still be bought bundled with a remote and a copy of King Kong, as well as the cool promo offer that gives them a coupon to choose five free HD DVDs. So, in real money, they are getting a HD DVD player and six movies for £65. Just not fair!

Still, when you consider the beating the HD DVD format is taking right now, with big movie studios deserting it for Blu-ray and Woolworths dumping it in the UK, you can understand the need for some drastic measures.-Martin Lynch

[Microsoft]

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What can you get the Halo 3 fanatic in your life? The Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 laptop perchance? Maybe a visit to see the Master Chief lovely captured in 7ft of wax at Madame Tussauds?

Or, if you haven’t already returned him to the Great Herd Of Single Saddos, maybe some limited edition, Halo 3 Adidas trainers. Just like the ones Master Chief would wear when dunking some hoops on the court – in between kicking Covenant ass and saving the universe, of course.

Ugly, aren’t they? I’d go so far as to say fugly. These beasts, officially called the Adidas Gil II Zero Halo Sneaker, are decked out with many Halo motifs, from weapons to vehicles, along with some laser-etched leather.

Thankfully, there are only going to be 100 pairs going on sale globally for around £55 a pair (US pricing), which means only 100 uber-fans will get the chance to prove just how sad they really are.-Martin Lynch

[Albotas]

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Just a few weeks after we hear that the cool Ceramic White PS3 is to get a US release, European gamers have a another reason to feel left out in the cold as Sony introduces a silver PS3 for Japan.

The Satin Silver PlayStation 3 is a looker indeed and will go on sale in Japan from March 6. apart from the new shiny clothes, it’s the basic 40GB version underneath. Sony said:

“A new fine metallic "Satin Silver" is offered as an additional color to the existing PS3 line-up of "Clear Black" and "Ceramic White". Choosing from a broader selection of colors to match their lifestyle and preferences, users will be able to enjoy next generation interactive entertainment contents on Blu-ray Disc as well as via the broadband network at home.”

If the colours are there to suit our lifestyles then Sony must think Europe is still living under the shadow of the Black Death, witch-burning, Devil worship and Joy Division.-Martin Lynch

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As mods go, the latest one from modding god Ben Heck is something refreshingly different: the Xbox 360 Elite laptop, complete with Halo 3 theme.

Why anyone would want one is another reason but you have to admire the dedication of one man to taking consoles and handhelds and doing to them things that the original designers did not intend.

For gamers who find life on the road hard without their console fix you get an Xbox 360 Elite, with 120GB hard drive, married to a 17in display and keyboard. The Elite in question uses the 65nm chip so shouldn’t melt on your lap and sports a Web-cam built into the bottom of the display for those Xbox LIVE ribbing sessions.

Thanks to in-built Wi-Fi, you should be able to game-on from just about any decent coffee shop these days. Go here to see the labour of love come to life. Or, see the Elite laptop in action in a short video after the jump.

For those who haven’t seen just how weird and wonderful Ben Heck’s earlier creations are, check out the Atari 800 laptop, NES Micro and the Atari Rev 5.1.-Martin Lynch

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The PS3 is a big brute when it comes to consoles. To be fair, the Xbox 360 is hardly a slinky either. Sony is rumoured to be sorting that out this Autumn with a PS3 Slim & Lite, for want of a better name.

T3 are pushing this latest bit of PS3 gossip from what it calls a “particularly well-informed insider” it met at the CES Show in early January. The new console is said to be slimmer, lighter and sexier. It could be the one sporting a badly needed bigger hard disk drive too.

Of course, slimming down its gaming products is nothing new to Sony. The PSOne PS2 and PSP have all been put on the Belly Button Lint diet, or similar fad diets, at some stage in their lives so a slimmer PS3 seems more a certainly at some stage than a possibility. But by this Autumn? Great if it happens but it sucks if you already bought one.

Anyway, if T3 got this nugget of information at CES more than 3 weeks ago, why has it taken so long to reveal it? Maybe it's because it took its art department that long to create the illustration on the left. -Martin Lynch

[T3]

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