According to a report from Network World, the Xbox 360 Elite price cut that has hit the US and Europe could be hitting Asian nations tomorrow, as Microsoft has announced a press conference in Japan.
The conference was confirmed by Microsoft Hong Kong spokesperson Julie Leong. The price cut will slash the price of the 120 GB Elite model to about $305 USD in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Although hardly an issue, Microsoft says they will remove the HDMI cable from the bundle, just like they did for the European version.
There was no word on Japan as of yet.
Result for: singapore
According to industry officials, an anti-piracy dog by the name of Paddy has made a large bust in Malaysia, uncovering 35,000 pirated discs in a few warehouses in the region.
The MPA added in a statement that the raids occurred last week in southern Johor. Paddy is trained to detect chemicals in DVD-R discs.
“Paddy led enforcement officers on a successful weekend operation to shut down the supply lines of pirated movie DVDs in the Malaysian state of Johor,” read the statement.
“Post-raid investigations revealed that two of the targets were actively involved in exporting pirated DVDs to Singapore.”
After the raids, 6 factories were shut down and brand new titles such as “Terminator Salvation”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”, “Angels and Demons” and “Star Trek” were seized.
“This is a clear signal to the pirates that we will not waver in our efforts to shut them down,” continued Mohamad Roslan Mahayudin, director-general of enforcement for the Malaysian ministry.
“We are glad to hear that Paddy’s skills are being put to good use against the large, organised network of pirates involved in exporting illegal pirated DVDs to Singapore,” concluded Mike Ellis, the MPA’s Asia-Pacific managing director.
Result for: singapore
Nokia has announced plans to bring their popular Comes With Music service to Australia and Singapore in the next couple of months, with other markets being eyed for the rest of 2009.
Company head of entertainment and communities, Tero Ojanpera, added: “In 2009 we will also be looking at the United States and Latin America. That’s the plan.”
For the near future however, Ojanpera says European expansion is most likely.
The company calls the service “a revolutionary program that enables people to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks from a range of great artists - past, present and future. Once the year is complete, customers can keep all their music without having to worry about it disappearing when their subscription is over.”
