Those lucky Japanese have had the 250GB Xbox 360 HDD for a couple of weeks. And now there’s news that the new HDD should be available here as of today for $130, according to this “Make More Room for Entertainment” advertisement and an official word from Microsoft.

Up until now it was only available as a console bundle. $130 is the same price the 120GB was going for previously. Pretty great deal.

The image above apparently shows a new model of the Xbox 360. For the first time the console combines the CPU and the GPU in a single chip and it’s smaller. Testing has recently been completed in China. It’s not just a new board for the existing hardware, it’s supposedly a total redesign of the console, like the PS3 Slim.

This remains rumor for now, so take it with a grain of salt, but it makes sense with Natal launching later this year. And since the PS3 slimmed down, the XBox 360 would want to shed some pounds as well.

Now this is no Ben Heck masterpiece, but modder TheTwoJ’s Xbox 360 laptop is still pretty sweet. And if you want to get your hands on it, you can bid for it on eBay for a starting price of $1,950.

That’s less than it cost the modder to make. He spent over $2,000 and 650 hours making the X-top and it has been as it’s been tested for problems for the last three months. It’s made from an Xbox Elite Jasper system, with a 120GB hard drive and 17-inch Gateway monitor. There’s also an Xbox Live camera in there, and it even comes with 12 months of Gold Live membership, a wireless 360 controller, Xbox Live headset and a custom power supply.

If you’ve been waiting for the next Xbox 360 bundles and wondering what they will be, then we have some good news. The $399.99 packages shown above feature two controllers, expanded hard drive space and a game.

You can expect the Final Fantasy XIII version on March 9 and the Splinter Cell: Conviction version on April 13. They arrive too late for Valentine’s day, but get your man one anyway and he will love you for life. You’ll be a gaming widow, but still, you will be loved.

Cable and satellite TV are dying a slow Zombie death. The limbs are continually cut off, but the head has so far managed to avoid a kill shot. We wonder how much longer they can survive. The New York Times is reporting that some dealings are going down between Microsoft and Disney. The focus of these dealings is ESPN streaming on the Xbox 360.

Apparently live streams of sporting events could come to the console with the viewer paying a subscriber fee. There would also be related interactive games. None of this is confirmed, so don’t take it as fact just yet. Though we do love the idea.

While we wait and see whether the Xbox 360 is getting a Blu-ray drive or not, there’s something else to look forward to. Thanks to a new marketing strategy, you will soon be able to buy the console with the Star Trek or Transformers 2 movie.

Right now it has been confirmed exclusively for the UK. The bundle includes an Xbox Elite, an extra controller and the movie on USB.

One week after Sony’s spacious 250GB PlayStation 3 Slim lands in the States for $349.99, Microsoft’s 250GB Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 bundle is set to arrive with the game and two black wireless controllers. All for $399.99.

Costco and Amazon both list a November 10th ship date listed for the package. You better get your pre-order in now folks. It’s a great buy when you pice everything separately.

Microsoft has announced a new Xbox 360 holiday bundle. For $299 you get an Elite, Lego Batman, and Pure. That’s a pretty good deal. On the other hand, if you already own a 360, you can get a new controller, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Lumines LIVE!, Bomberman LIVE! and Ms Pac-Man for $60.

The new Elite pack is expected to ship to retailers today, but for the controller bundle you’ll have to wait until November. The holiday is looking good so far.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite just dropped to $299. That’s a pretty sweet price. But Microsoft wasn’t done. They’ve begun a new mail-in rebate program that brings the cost down to $249. That means that consoles purchased between today and October 5th are eligible.

They must be feeling the heat from the PS3s price. Just visit Xbox.com/eliterebate. This is for US purchases only.

We already knew that the Xbox 360 Elite would be replacing the current Pro model, but a new ad outted by Kotaku backs up those rumors and confirms that the Elite will also be taking over the Pro’s $299 price point.

Obviously none of this is official, but the ad shows the date for the price drop as August 30th, so we will likely hear from Microsoft before that date.

One of Ars Technica’s sources says that the Xbox 360 lineup will see price shifts this fall. They also confirm that the PS3 Slim is still on the way. In September the Xbox 360 Pro (Priced at 60GB, $299) will be replaced by the Elite (Priced at 120GB for $399). On one hand, the Xbox is getting a price cut. On the other, the 360 doesn’t sound like it’s getting cheaper with a lower entry level price.

You’ll also be happy to know that ars has also restated their claim that a PS3 Slim will arrive this fall along with price drops “on the hardware that’s out now.”

Remember that rumored new Elite bundle with Halo 3 and Fable 2? It’s official. For $400 you get a 120GB Elite 360 with the two games. As we told you when this was but a rumor, that’s what the console by itself is selling for at the moment.

After hearing rumors that Microsoft was going to phase out the standard Elite and offer bundled “limited edition” models, we kinda knew this was for real. Go ahead and pick one up if you haven’t already played Halo 3 and Fable 2.

This may be nothing… but ArsTechnica has some info from a reliable source that Microsoft is preparing to ship a new Xbox 360 Elite. This one would come bundled with Halo 3 and Fable 2, while only costing $400. That’s what the console alone costs right now.

We recently heard rumors that Microsoft was going to phase out the standard Elite and offer bundled “limited edition” models, so the info fits.

The latest rumors suggest that Microsoft is considering putting the Xbox 360 Elite on the back-burner, while they take no more orders and allow stocks to dwindle. That way the Elite could be treated as a limited-availability option, on sale on at select European and US retailers. It is believed that retailers prefer only two SKUs, low-end and high-end.

Any remaining Elites on sale would more likely be special editions, like the red Resident Evil 5 package announced last month. Elite packages take longer to sell than the Arcade or Pro 360s, so this is what they want.

Well, this makes it almost official. A new red Xbox 360 Elite is coming. This news came via the usual route. Sort of: First it began as a rumor, then a retailer inventory listing and then an innocent mention in a New Zealand press release.

An MS New Zealand promotion for the upcoming release of Halo Wars, buy a 360, get a free copy of the game, explicitly excluded “the Red Xbox 360 Elite console which is exclusive to EB games.” Yeah, the one that hasn’t been officially announced. Like my other question of the evening concerning color, I ask again: Would you get a new red Xbox 360? Or no?