Microsoft has launched a shiny new 250GB black Xbox 360 that is a lot smaller than the original.

- The touch sensitive buttons quickly asserted themselves as not-the-best-thing-ever when we were unable to tell if we'd turned the Xbox on under the bright lights of Microsoft's setup. We're sure we'd see the green glow easily in our dark entertainment center at home, but it's a small little inconvenience -- one that PS3 owners are well aware of.
- The touch sensitive eject button isn't so bad, because the tray seems uber fast -- we didn't clock it, but we'd say it pops out faster than our existing Xbox. - The Xbox feels just about as heavy as the existing Xbox, although the power adapter is smaller and much lighter.
- We booted up Alan Wake and while we were in a relatively loud room, we didn't find the Xbox to be loud at all. We'll have to get it in the labs to see how it stacks up with the original, but Microsoft obviously had noise pollution in its sights here. They worked directly with the drive manufacturer to reduce every source of noise (including air turbulence!), and dub their accomplishment "whisper quiet."
- This is a personal opinion, but we think it looks pretty badass in person, though not at all a wild shift from the existing look.