Microsoft Corp. has announced plans to bundle two “family” video games with its Xbox 360 Elite game console during the holiday season. The company hopes to attract more attention of non-core audience to its premium game console. The success of the plan is not obvious, to say at least.

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle will contain Lego Batman: The Videogame as well as Pure game titles in addition to Xbox 360 Elite console with 120GB hard disk drive, one Xbox 360 wireless controller, an Xbox 360 headset, Ethernet cable, composite video cable and so on. The bundle will cost $299, a price-point that casual gamers consider rather high for a game machine. The Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle is already shipping.

Separately, Microsoft unveiled Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Game Pack, which includes a wireless controller along with four popular Xbox Live Arcade video games and costs $59.99.

Microsoft announced several rather interesting Xbox 360 Elite bundles in the recent weeks in a bid to more successfully compete against Sony PlayStation 3 Slim 120GB. With the “Holiday Bundle” the company probably hopes to address casual gamers with increased budget by providing free “family” games with its premium console. Still, it is not obvious that a lot of people will choose a $299 game console instead of well-known Nintendo Wii, which now costs $199.

Tags: Microsoft, Xbox