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HMV points to Elite in summer

Expects confirmation soon.

High street retailer HMV has told Eurogamer this morning that the Xbox 360 Elite will probably launch in late summer in Europe.

"All we understand is that it's at some point perhaps around the late summer, but we don't know anything beyond that," a spokesperson for HMV told us.

"We're expecting the product to be sold in sooner rather than later, and obviously at that point we'll have a fuller idea of all their launch plans, precise timings, pricing and everything else from a retail point of view we're likely to know."

The comments support those made by Albert Penello, director of global platform marketing for Xbox, who expects the unit to ship outside of America in the late summer.

Microsoft told Eurogamer this morning that it was still waiting for confirmation on a European launch date, clearly awaiting word from the big cheeses in America.

If you've not caught up yet, Microsoft finally confirmed the existence of the black Xbox 360 Elite this morning, which will sport an HDMI port and 120GB hard drive.

It's launching in the US on 29th April for US$ 479, and will include HDMI, component and DS cables in the box, as well as black peripherals to suit your styling needs.