Filed under: Announcements, Gaming, Home Entertainment

We've given away any number of Xbox 360s on Engadget in the past, but never one with the level of awesome turned up to 11 (or, in this case, 300). Today we're giving away one of just 20 super rare Xbox 360 Elite consoles printed with blood designs from 300 -- but rarer still since it's friggin' signed by Frank Miller. The details of what the winner takes:
300-Edition Xbox 360 Elite (120GB drive, wireless controller, etc.) Console is signed by 300 creator and comic legend Frank Miller, as well as Zack Snyder, director of the eponymous film 300 combo DVD / HD DVD (which is, incidentally, out today) to go right along with it. Look, we'll admit it, we really don't want to give this thing away -- so make sure you follow the contest guidelines, ok?

The rules (yeah, there are always rules):
Leave a comment below -- tell us your fave scene from the movie. (It's ok if you haven't...

Cult cartoon Futurama is coming back later this year as a full-length film. The movie, Bender's Big Score, will be available to buy on November 27 as a high-definition DVD, and will be followed by three other feature-length movies. Each movie will, however, be divided into four separate episodes and will be aired on TV.
Comedy Central will be showing the 16 episodes. Not much is known about them, apart from a few juicy tidbits from Bender's Big Score. Apparently it involves nudist aliens and the secret of time travel ñ- which apparently has something to do with Fry's buttock. [TV Squad via Slashdot]

New details are in on the HD-DVD set of Star Trek: The Complete First Season from Paramount Home Entertainment. There's some good news, and some bad. First the good news. The set will come with some ...

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Don't look now, but Microsoft is apparently readying a Vista Performance and Reliability Pack for release, and while it's certainly not available through Windows Update just yet, that doesn't mean it's not hiding elsewhere. Reportedly, the aforementioned pack and the Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack will institute a number of welcome fixes and performance increases in a variety of areas, and though the list is indeed lengthy, a few notables include:
Increased compatibility with many video drivers.
Improved visual appearance of games with high intensity graphics.
Improved quality of playback for HD DVD and Blue-Ray disks on large monitors.
Improved reliability for Internet Explorer when some third party toolbars are installed on Vista.
Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from XP to Vista.
Resolves an issue where creating AVI files on Vista may get co...

There are some Vista patches in unofficial form, leaked on the web, according to a few sites. CRN is calling it Vista 0.5, since a true SP is rumored to be over a year away. The update is supposed to help with driver compatibility, and increase file system performance, among other things. In my opinion, it would be pretty stupid to install this, since it's supposed to officially come out next week. I mean, do you really want to be installing a Beta patch on top of a v.1.0 of Windows? Some people just can't wait to tart up their machines. The full list of improvements:
938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of s...

Filed under: HDTV
As noted on Engadget HD the other day, and further clarified by Major Nelson this morning, that story about Target going exclusively Blu-ray was false. Turns out they're just installing Blu-ray aisle end caps, thanks to a new promotional deal with Sony, but HD DVD isn't going anywhere. Hopefully you haven't chucked out your HD DVD collection just yet in a concession to defeat at Thursday's "news," but if you have it's always good to know you can score replacements at your local Target, just like always. 
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

These 1080p-capable Inteset media centers not only have a 7.1 channel surround sound, they have both Blu-ray and HD DVD support with a hybrid drive built right in. They also support Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS audio, which is great since you probably won't have enough cash left over after you buy this to get another media center. Couple that with two HDTV (over the air, not cable) and two SDTV tuners, and you've got a media center capable of replacing much of your current entertainment system. Having both Blu-ray and HD DVD, even in a mid-'90s styled box, is nothing to complain about. [Inteset via Cepro]

Target plans to carry only Blu-ray high definition DVD players through the holiday shopping season, a move that boosts the Sony-backed technology and may deal a blow to rival HD-DVD.

We here at Gizmodo enjoy our Battlemodos, Linux controlled robots, dedicated students, iPod rumors, and stories of conversion involving Dvorak. We hope you enjoy them too in the Thursday round-up.
• We had a Fuji Camera ">blowout early thursday morning.
• Rumor: Apple 6G coming next month, no touchscreen, widescreen, or OSX.
• Monster and Monoprice go toe to toe in a HDMI Battlemodo.

• Hello Kitty Can Now Be Yours.
• Dvorak likes Mac, Apple fanboys everywhere smile.
• Chinese students bring new meaning to commuting.
• An inflatable bar in your pool will go nicely with your super margarita machine.
• Stinky shoes, be gone!
• Xbox 360 lowers the price of its HD DVD add-on, Target will exclusively sell Blu-Ray Players.
• Kameraflage is only visible to the digital eye.
•Cockroaches, now powered by Linux.

Blog: A look at how the supposed high-def "war" is shaping up.