Elite announcement "legitimises" PS3 strategy, says Sony US

SCEA has responded to the unveiling of Xbox 360 Elite, with a senior executive claiming the announcement marks a move towards the universal adoption of high definition standards.

In a statement, vice president of marketing Peter Dille commented, "We think every PlayStation 3 owner should have an "elite" experience, which is why we include an internal hard drive and HDMI output in every PS3 we sell, along with the 50GB of storage capacity on a high definition Blu-ray disc.

"Microsoftâs announcement today not only legitimises Sonyâs PS3 strategy, it moves us closer to adopting universal standards in the area of high definition gaming that will benefit game developers and ultimately the end user."

As confirmed earlier today, Xbox 360 Elite will come with black casing and a 120GB hard drive. Unlike the Core and Premium consoles, it will also come with a HDMI port - a standard feature of PlayStation 3.

According to Dille, "Sony has been the strongest advocate of high definition as the future of next-generation gaming. This requires high-definition components, including HDMI output, and large storage devices to deliver and store all that rich and vivid HD content."

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe declined to offer further comment.