New family-oriented Xbox 360 bundle is available from Friday 26 October. We’d heard the rumours, now here are the facts.

Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 “Arcade” console is a stripped down version of the previous cheapest option available, the “Core”. Instead of a 20GB hard drive to store downloads, save games and other media, the “Arcade” comes with a 256MB memory unit – good enough to store a few Xbox LIVE Arcade games – five of which come in the box: Uno, Luxor 2, PAC-MAN Championship Edition, Feeding Frenzy and Boom Boom Rocket. Although targeted specifically at families, there is only one wireless controller in the box. At least this new model has HDMI as standard for when you decide to splash out on that high definition TV, and wish to download encrypted TV shows and movies. Don’t forget you’ll need an HDD for that too though.

As part of the announcement Microsoft is reminding potential customers of its extensive family settings onboard with Xbox 360. Another big ‘announce’ is that SHREK-N-ROLL is coming exclusively to LIVE Arcade.

Okay, let’s see how these families react. It's £199, BUT...