Microsoft’s got to be pretty pleased with itself over recent Xbox 360 accessory sales. It got rid of the HDMI cable included in the Elite package, so more people are buying one from Microsoft or its retailers, not to mention the HDMI dongle necessary to use the cable (unless you’re willing to crack yours open). It got rid of third party memory support so now you’re required to use Microsoft approved storage. Microsoft also announced a bunch of nifty bundles just a few weeks after the quiet new Jasper chipset went out, prompting people to replace the year-old box that had likely already died once.

All those changes mean another accessory is out of stock as we start into the holidays: the Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit. I can’t say I’m surprised, but apparently Microsoft is. The company does “not know when inventories will be restored,” according to Joystiq. The only people in luck are those of you who bought the 120GB HDD kit, which comes with the transfer cable. Other than that, Redmond recommends you just continue to use your old hard drive. You’re SOL if you were on one of those third party memory cards.

Microsoft has announced another 250GB bundle for the Xbox 360. This one includes Forza 3 though without a customized console like we found in the Modern Warfare 2 bundle. Unfortunately for you US types, the bundle will only be available in the UK and South Africa.

This is the third in a pretty sweet lineup of 360 bundles over the past few days, obviously designed to compete with the 250GB PS3 bundles Sony has been showing. The bundles have some strange differences, though, and not just with regard to region.

The Halo bundle, for instance, forgoes the 250GB hard drive, something that would be great for all those Bungie Pro users looking to save additional game content locally, for a copy of Halo 3. The Modern Warfare 2 bundle seems to be the only one with a customized console, but it doesn’t include customized controllers. And of course there is the region issue. Why some and not others? Why not standardize these things across the board? And for god’s sake, why won’t they sell the 250GB unit as a separate periph?

As the holidays loom closer I’ll be interested to see what else comes out of Redmond. More bundles, or just more tweaks to the existing SKUs?

Remember that 250GB Xbox 360 that’s been floating through the rumor mill? At a press event today, Microsoft announced a Limited Edition Xbox 360 Elite bundle for Modern Warfare 2, which includes the massive hard drive.

The bundle, which retails for a measly $399.99, is available for pre-order today and includes a customized console, two black wireless controllers, a copy of the standard edition Modern Warfare 2, and that whopping 250GB hard drive. As with all new Elite packages, the console only ships with a composite cable. Regardless, this is an incredible deal. For an extra hundred bucks you get a controller, more than double the hard drive space of the regular elite, and a copy of one of this year’s most anticipated games.

You can check out the full bundle and pre-order now at Amazon.