14 DAY TRIAL // Click to enlarge and look at the picture. What do you see? I'll tell you what you see: a not very realistic photo manipulation. What am I saying here? It's not even a manipulation, but an invention coming from someone dying to get the credit for unveiling the first "leaked" (so to speak) photos of the new Xbox 360 Elite packaging and console. Gaming site Consolas has six such photos (all I could see) in a gallery. Some of them look awfully believable yet the one you see here isn't that convincing, as 1UP and Engadget's sources also reckon.
And if you're asking why, it's mainly because of two reasons: 1 - In the left side of the picture, dimensions don't look real at all; the box's edges can't be seen either, which is a very strong indication that the photos are mugged (or at least this one); 2 - Normally, for a system with major improvements such as the Elite, the package should display at least one or two of those features, with big black, bolded letters saying HD-DVD INTEGRATION or, 120 HARD DRIVE, you know?
The thing is these aren't even the strongest indications. To top it all, 1UP says that the packaging shot is full of artifacts and JPEG compressions, final indications of all this being a hoax. But you can't blame them all that much really. You see, Microsoft's awfully secretive about their upcoming improved SKU and fans are just dying to chew on something. That's why gaming site Consolas felt the need to ease fans' pain, but sadly, all they really did was confuse them even more.