As we told you previously, we are now able to confirm that the Elite will continue in most markets, but as we suspected they will continue in limited edition form. The next version of the Elite to be released will be the new “Elite Game of the Year Bundle” which will replace the red Resident Evil 5 Elite bundle.

Our sources tell us that the supplies of the Resident Evil 5 Elite bundle are pretty much exhausted, and in fact many retailers have been out of stock on the Elite now for some time. The Elite Game of the Year Bundle will feature the same Black Xbox 360 that has been offered with the Elite previously with a 120GB hard drive, a single Black Wireless controller, a black wired headset, component HD AV cable, HDMI cable, and an Ethernet cable. In addition, the Elite Game of the Year Bundle will also include Halo 3 and Fable II. A free Netflix trial is also included in the bundle.

From what we can tell from the packaging, Microsoft has not used the term “Limited Edition” on the packaging itself; our sources tell us that this version will last until another “Limited Edition” refresh on the Elite, which is expected prior to the holiday season. It is unknown what this version might be, but we suspect that it will be tied in with the launch of one of the major holiday titles if it is decided that it will carry the limited edition branding. We expect to see this version of the Elite to continue through the Summer, at least.

Our sources have confirmed that we can expect the Elite Game of the Year Bundle to arrive on retail shelves on May 4th. It is unknown as of yet whether these Elite consoles will be using the Jasper revision of the Xbox 360, but it is thought that this will be the case.