Retailers price Xbox 360 Elite at £330

European retailers HMV, Play and GAME have begun taking pre-orders for Xbox 360 Elite, pricing the console at GBP 329.99 - despite the fact Microsoft has yet to make an official announcement.

Xbox 360 Elite, which features a black casing, 120GB hard disk and HDMI output, is due to launch in Europe on August 24. It is already on sale in the US, where it is priced at USD 479.

Speaking to our sister site Eurogamer.net this morning, a Microsoft spokesperson said there is "nothing to announce at this time" regarding the official UK price for Elite.

When asked where the retailers could have received their information, the spokesperson suggested that a leak from another region could have occurred as the retailers have a European presence.

Last week Xbox UK marketing boss Steve McGill told Eurogamer, "If you compare it to the price difference between Xbox 360 Elite and Premium in the US, you wouldn't be far off."

The Premium sells for USD 399 - roughly 83 per cent of the price of the Elite. In the UK the Premium costs GBP 279, which would theoretically put the Elite at around GBP 336.