Meet the new Xbox 360. It will launch today for $299. The old Elite will be $249 and the Arcade will drop to $149. The new console looks like a stealth Xbox in glossy black with touch-sensitive buttons. According to Microsoft it’s “whisper quiet,” with one large fan instead of two.

It has integrated 802.11n WiFi, five USB ports, and 250GB of storage on a removable hard drive, though it’s not the same drive as the old console, and older Memory Units won’t work, either. To upgrade you can use a USB-to-Xbox hard drive connector cable to migrate to the new box. What do you think?

Xbox Live and Windows Live Messenger are about to collide. But hopefully in a friendly and personal way. Microsoft just announced a new video chat service called Video Kinect. It’s an extension of its brand new Kinect voice- and motion-sensing control system.

We’re talking more than just video calling. You’ll be able to watch movies, news, sports and more with whoever you’re chatting with. Another interesting new feature is a skeleton-tracking tech that makes the Kinect unit follow users as they move around the room. Sounds creepy, but at least it is connecting you with your friends.

The recently relaunched ESPN3 online portal is coming to Xbox 360. Exclusively. It was just announced during Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference. Sportscenter hosts took to the stage demonstrating it, using footage from a USC / Ohio State game.

It has built in Kinect controller support, instant replays, highlights, polls and more, all accessible with your fingers or by the sound of your voice. It should be interesting to see how well this does. Should please many sports fans.

“Project Natal” has now become Microsoft Kinect. Several demos were shown, like Star Wars and even tiger petting. The Kinect interface to the Dashboard was also shown and a video chat app where you can talk to up to four friends and also share photos.

Nothing on price or date yet, but we can expect a holiday release. Price rumors are as high as $150. Likely it will be cheaper than that since this is a console add-on and not a full console. We will have to wait and see.

There has been no official confirmation, but word is that Microsoft could be ready to unveil an Xbox 360 Slim at E3. Sony has the PlayStation 3 slim after all and they do want to compete.

Let’s not forget that the PlayStation Move and Project Natal motion sensing controllers are just around the corner too. Things are heating up in the console wars. A slim Xbox 360 will be good as long as they don’t remove any important features to do it.

Microsoft’s Project Natal is coming soon, but what games will support it? We don’t know, but we can tell you about one game that will. Crave Games, the developer of Brunswick Pro Bowling for the Xbox 360, has confirmed that the upcoming version of its bowling game will support Project Natal.

The Natal version of Brunswick Pro Bowling will also offer support for the PlayStation Move. We’re looking forward to seeing Project Natal and the PlayStation Move hit shelves. We should know more soon.

Swedish retailers to the rescue! Looks like some Swedish retailers have listed the Xbox 360 motion controller Project Natal for 1,499 SEK, which means $200 in US money. If this is accurate, it isn’t looking good for Natal. Most games already cost $60.

This is not the finalized price point yet since it could be a placeholder figure, but if it does turn out to be accurate, I know that I would rather spend my money on quality games that don’t use Natal.

The image above is great news for those who have been waiting for some 3D gaming on their XBox 360. The console gets some help from an LG 3D television. LG and Microsoft are jointly marketing LG’s new 3D televisions along with 3D-capable Xbox 360 games in South Korea.

The plan is to later expand the partnership through the Asia Pacific region. Apparently they are about ready to begin bundling Xbox 360 3D games with LG 55/47LX9500 LED televisions at the end of June.

Now we get a fresh confirmation on when exactly Natal will be launching. According to Microsoft’s Syed Bilal Tariq, there will still be an October launch date for Natal. Microsoft’s marketing manager for Saudi Arabia says that the Natal launch: “is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010.”

So there ya go. Soon you’ll be able to play all kinds of Motion controlled games on your Xbox 360, while looking a bit less silly than those using a wii. And it’s about time.

Looks like SanDisk has finally shipped its Xbox 360 USB Flash Drive for the Xbox 360, which allows users to save games, download content and access multimedia files without a hard drive involved. The SanDisk drives come pre-formatted and lets you get going right out of the box.

You can also use existing USB flash drives if you want to save some money, but those will need to be set up before they can be used. You can get the Xbox 360 USB flash drive from SanDisk in 8GB and 16GB capacities for $35 and $70.

Each purchase comes with a one-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold.

[Ubergizmo]

It’s pretty obvious that this isn’t your typical store-bought Xbox 360. But it is special. It’s the millionth Xbox 360 to be sold in Australia and New Zealand. And that’s why the special effects guys at WETA got to have their way with it.

The end result is awesome, showing Master Chief blowing a hole right through the console. The man clearly came to kick ass and chew bubble gum, only to find himself out of bubble gum.

These X-Box 360 controllers will impress your friends when you turn the lights out and embark on some night-time gaming. They’re called Afterglow controllers, presumably because several of them mashed their buttons together until climax and now they are just basking in it. No, that would be silly. It’s because they glow.

They’ll add some excitement to your otherwise dark abode. These are available in 3 glowing colors and you can pre-order from EBGames now for $29.95. They should ship later this week.

If storing controllers is a problem for you with your PS3 or Xbox 360, you might want to get the Power Pyramid Supreme by Konnet. It’s compatible with both PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers, and can charge up to 4 controllers at once. Two PS3 and two Xbox 360 controllers.

It holds your controllers in style and will cost you $55 (USD). If you only own a PS3, you might want to just get a plain old Power Pyramid at $50.

It doesn’t seem like much of a prediction, but Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter foresees a new slim Xbox 360 hardware configuration before 2011 rolls around. More specifically he thinks that the new slim version will feature a 250GB hard drive with Project Natal bundled with it, without any price reduction or increase.

That means you would be getting the bundle for the $299 price point. Unless of course, Sony lowers the price of the PS3. Then it may go down to compete with Sony.

Enough with the tacky Swarovski crystals already. Game consoles should look tough and functional, strong. They shouldn’t look like Elton John on a Saturday night. The folks over at CrystalRoc can’t seem to stop themselves, as they are now offering this blinged out Xbox 360.

Apparently this particular eyesore will be used for one of Microsoft’s PR campaigns. Supposedly it took over 70 hours to finish, and they used more than 11,520 individual Swarovski crystals. It probably won’t show up for sale.