no doubt this new batch of consoles will push gaming into a new era , with less limits on the creativity of skilled programers and artists .
It will use virtual RAM on the hard drive when it has to, caching things that aren't needed to be accessed at high speeds like voiceovers etc .Care to share a link on that info? Cos it sounds like bs to me...remember, the HDD is detachable! That sounds like a very bad idea and not something that they would implement.
Software wise the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatibleDid they confirm that? I know that it will be more than powerful enough to emulate the original XBox, but I don't recall them confirming the backwards compatability...tho it's hard to believe that they would leave it out if they can easily accommodate it.
That is complete nonsense. Right now the current XBOX only have how much? 32MB of RAM or 64? Whatever it is, that RAM you cyah run nuttin on a PC with that. You comparing PC RAM to Console RAM. Doh do that. Its used in different ways. When you watch DOOM 3 or SPLINTER CELL 3 there is no way in hell, no way a 32 or 64 MB RAM ANYTHING could run that on a PC. But it doin it on XBOX, and DAMN GOOD too. I mean to top that on a PC you go need the top of the time gfx card.Thank you for saving me the effort of explaining it!
the other big question surrounding the 360 was backward compatibility. However, Microsoft would only say that the console will be "backward-compatible with top-selling Xbox games." This ambiguous wording could mean that Microsoft will select which titles will run on the next-gen console. However, it could also simply mean that Microsoft is merely being prudent in case some original Xbox titles don't work on the 360, as was the case with some older PlayStation 1 games and the PlayStation 2.
That is complete nonsense. Right now the current XBOX only have how much? 32MB of RAM or 64? Whatever it is, that RAM you cyah run nuttin on a PC with that. You comparing PC RAM to Console RAM. Doh do that. Its used in different ways. When you watch DOOM 3 or SPLINTER CELL 3 there is no way in hell, no way a 32 or 64 MB RAM ANYTHING could run that on a PC. But it doin it on XBOX, and DAMN GOOD too. I mean to top that on a PC you go need the top of the time gfx card.
GRAPHICS CHIP firm Nvidia has showed off its contribution to the up-and-coming Sony Playstation III, dubbed RSX.
The RSX chip connects directly to the Cell microprocessor crafted by a Sony, Toshiba and IBM partnership.
Nvidia claims the RSX chip, which will be made at a Sony fabrication plant in Nagasaki, represents 1500 person years of investment - whatever that means. It will deliver two teraflops of floating point power when it's coupled to the cell.
And Nvidia said it will contain 300 million transistors which it claimed is more than the number of trannies in CPUs and GPUs of the three leading current generation systems put together.
Meanwhile, Elpida said it will make XDR memory modules for the Playstation III - it has licensed that technology from Rambus.
SO IBM hypersters are claiming their cell chip can do two teraflops per second. what about the lastest power5??? Go to IBM.com and find out here.
There you can see the latest and fastest power5 dual core processors can do 56.78 Gigaflop/sec in an eight way configuration. That's 16 Power5 cores combined, and the total is only 56.78 gigaflops for 16 lowly Power5 cores, or, about three gigaflops/per core. which makes sense, a float point operation takes more than one clock to finish, and each power5 core has probably two or more FP units...
So, there is no magic, you can't possibly do more than one instruction in one clock in one unit. You can do multiple if you have multiple units. To have 1000gigaflops, you will need 500 units each operate at two gigaflops.
A teraflop means 1000 gigaflops, so IBM is claiming that one PS3 is 2000% faster than an eight way power5 server selling at half a million bucks??
This is stupid.
Umm Czar aren't most of the stats of the PS3 out already? it'll sport 3 Cell processors, a next gen Nvidia video card prolly a derivative of the NV85 (I think thats the notation). It will once again use RDRAM memory technology, etc? At least thats what i've read from more than one site.Errr...any particular reason that's pointed at me? o_O
XBox 360 to sport 48 unified graphics pipelines
Stick that in your pipeline and smoke it
By Fuad Abazovic: Thursday 26 May 2005, 22:46
XBOX 360 REMAINS the centre of everyone's attention and we have some more juicy things to say about its graphics. We even have a diagram!
As most of you know by now, ATI developed the XBox chip and the it's codenamed R500. It took ATI two years to finalize this design and this chip is unlike any other graphics chip yet seen. It will be even more advanced than the soon-to-be-announced R520, aka "Fudo".
If we remember correctly, the R500 is an advanced version of a chip once codenamed R400 - the one that ATI was working on after R350, Radeon 9800PRO. You can see here that ATI cancelled it but I am sure that we wrote about it on the INQ before.
R400 was supposed to have unified Shaders and to be heavily programmable and that’s exactly what the R500 is. It has three blocks each having 16 pipelines that can do pixels or vertices at the same time. This gives you a total number of forty eight pipelines that can process either pixels or vertices.
Each block of 16 pipelines has its own vertex cache to store some data while processing vertices and they all together communicate with 10MB of EDRAM memory connected with ultra fast bus of 256 GB/s. This memory allows ATI to have "Free" FSAA and it sounds like Xbox might end up with amazing graphics anti aliased at the same time.
ATI built this chip with 90 nanometre marchitecture but we don’t yet know how many transistors you actually need to make such a chip.
Compared with desktop parts this chip will be more advanced than the R520 and it should be comparable with the R600 generation of cards - the one scheduled for autumn of 2006. This one will have WGF 2.0 compliance and will be able to deal with Shader model 4.0 at the same time.
The next-gen boasting, bashing, and boosting continued today in London; hometown boy Peter Moore says Xbox 360 will sell 10M in year one on advantage from early release date.
The fiery-mouthed Moore from Microsoft tossed another taunt toward the competition today. Using the visibility of the opening keynote address at this week's ELSPA Games Summit, Moore predicted that Xbox 360 sales would reach 10 million units before the end of the console's first 16 months at retail.
The BBC Online today is reporting that Moore, Xbox corporate VP of worldwide marketing and publishing, expects "first-mover advantage" to be one of the console's key ingredients for success.
That number seems not to have been concocted out of thin air. Corroborating that figure is a report published today from analysts at Kagan Research. Kagan sees the 360 selling 11 million units by 2007--a figure consistent with Moore's statement.
"The target of 10 million units gives tremendous momentum to a platform," Moore testified to the audience this morning. According to Microsoft, the 360 will be available to US gamers before the end of the year.
However, Kagan sees any first-mover advantage eventually succumbing to the PS3.
Further on a statement released today promoting the report, a Kagan analyst says: "We believe Sony PS3 will be the strongest seller of next-generation video game consoles. However, Microsoft's Xbox 360 will narrow the gap with Sony to come within 28 percent of the PS3 installed base--selling almost twice as many next-gen consoles as Nintendo Revolution by 2010."
Moore himself knows a little about how first-mover advantage can turn into a story with a very unhappy ending. The once-marketing boss (and then COO) of Sega of America saw firsthand the lead held by the Dreamcast--released some 13 months before the PlayStation 2--evaporate in the heat of PS2 sales.
Xbox 360 GPU to be manufactured by TSMC
Confirmed
By Fuad Abazovic: Wednesday 13 July 2005, 10:37
OUR KNOWLEDGEABLE friends confirmed that only the CPU for next generation Xbox 360 console will be developed by IBM in its Fishkill factory. This facility will not play with a GPU design as it's not ready for good yields on a 90 nanometre process.
But now we have confirmation that Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), will take care of R500 production for the Vole. This decision was easy as TSMC is in a much better position with its 90 nanometre yields and production and as we said many times before Microsoft needs millions of those chips as soon as possible.
Imagine that all ATI and Nvidia graphic chips are now manufactured at TSMC and at the same time Microsoft will manufacture its chips at the same factory as well. Only Playstation 3 GPUs will be produced at a different Japanese factory.
Microsoft will keep TSMC busy and will definitely drive its business as those consoles are high volume jobs, at least for those kinds of chips, but it cannot be compared with low-end product orders, as TSMC will pump out millions or MX4000, Geforce 5200, 6200 or Radeon 9250 or X300 based cards. This is where the money is, not with the SLI and Crossfire chaps.
If the Vole wants to get enough chips to market in October and November, it should be going into final production as we write.
Microsoft still losing money on Xbox
Gaming 360 not likely to make much either
By Aaron McKenna: Friday 22 July 2005, 12:04
DESPITE posting a 22% increase in revenue for its Home & Entertainment division Microsoft continues to make an operating loss on the arm amounting to $179 million, bringing the yearly loss to $391 million. This is down from a loss of $1.2 billion last year, so not too bad, but the Xbox remains a big money loser for Microsoft. When I asked Stephen McGill, head of UK marketing for the console, if Microsoft was expecting to make money on the Xbox 360 he shrugged and told me: “We’re thinking long term.” Microsoft figures that the console market is a highly lucrative one, especially when mixed in with its larger home entertainment designs, and is willing to pocket a loss in the short to medium term for a long-term money spinner.
If it pays off, then Microsoft could stand to make back losses on the Xbox inside a few years, though it is still surprising that it is willing to bankroll the console at a loss through more than one generation.
Microsoft to side with HD DVD for Xbox 360
Fighting Sony on another front
By Aaron McKenna: Saturday 30 July 2005, 15:56
WITH MICROSOFT and Toshiba having jumped into bed together it has come as no great surprise that Bill Gates announced that the Xbox 360 is to incorporate HD-DVD, one of two formats vying for the position of the successor to DVD. This will heat up the war for the succession of the throne as Sony have sided with the other contender, Blu-ray, and so if one format loses the war in no doubt magnanimous fashion then it could spell trouble for the console that has sided with it. Of course the same is true vice versa, and so both companies are taking calculated risks in making their decisions.
Microsoft’s choice to go with HD-DVD has come a little late in the game for the Xbox 360 though, and so they plan to include "old fashioned" DVD drives on the first batches of 360’s when the console launches for Christmas.
How Microsoft plans on handling upgrading everyone to HD-DVD afterwards we can’t wait to hear about.
As the Big Three (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) planned their business tactics for the next-generation console wars, none have been willing to divulge their strategies, lest competitors get the scoop. All that was left was for industry media, fans, and analysts to speculate on what would be of the new consoles. In its quest to get the console out in time for the holiday season, Microsoft hasn't exactly kept the shutters drawn on its secrets of its next-gen contribution, the Xbox 360. Pictures of the console surfaced before its debut on MTV, its name was exposed before the company could spin it itself, and the prospect of standard wireless controllers came with no strings attached.
Today, Microsoft laid down new facts about its upcoming console at the Games Convention in Leipzig, and they sounded awfully familiar to analyst predictions and forum posters' speculations. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will be released in two SKUs, the "Xbox 360 Core System" and the "Xbox 360." The two products will be sold at $299 and $399, respectively. The two systems break down as follows:
Xbox 360 Core System - $299 (299 Euros, 209 GPB)
-Xbox 360 console
-Wired controller
-Detachable faceplate
-Xbox Live Silver membership
-Standard AV cables
Xbox 360 - $399 (399 Euros, 279 GPB)
-Xbox 360 console
-20GB detachable hard drive
-Wireless controller
-Wireless Xbox Live headset
-High-definition AV cables
-Ethernet cable
-Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)
-Detachable faceplate
-Xbox Live Silver membership
Peter Moore, Xbox corporate vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing, reiterated that the Xbox 360 is still on schedule to launch simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Japan this holiday season. Details on the specifics of the Japanese release will be disclosed at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which begins September 16.
Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Morgan Securities, sees the $299 model as a "publicity stunt." "They're doing it to say they are launching at $299. The hardcore guys will absolutely not buy the $299 model...Only a complete idiot would buy the $299 model." Pachter references Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi's statement saying the PlayStation 3 would "be expensive" as an attempt to "psych Microsoft into charging $399." But, he sees the $399 price point as providing Microsoft with breathing room to lower the price once the PS3 is released, which is projected to be in 2006, or even 2007.
Regarding the release date, Moore said there have been no announcements made primarily for competitive reasons, but also because Microsoft was still monitoring the production flow of the console's components and localization of launch titles. "One thing we won't do is underserve the market and leave retailers high and dry. That never works, that just leaves more people who are P.O.'d at us than happy with us."
There are also still no games that are definitely launch titles. But Moore does outline the strategy Microsoft is approaching. "So much is going to happen in the next couple of months...My view is simple, you need to make sure that you have the key genres covered at launch. Take care of sports, racing, action-adventure, fantasy, first-person shooters. I think there are check marks that need to go in boxes to make sure that gamers have games they are looking for in a particular genre. We're still tracking 24 to 40 Xbox 360 games for release before the end of the calendar year. I think you'll see that all the titles we got excited about at E3 are still firmly in that launch window [90 days from the release of the Xbox 360]."
But what about gamers who aren't ready to jump into the next generation? Moore seems pleased with the current success of the original Xbox, and doesn't see any price drop with the console. "We’re selling all we can get [made]. Our biggest challenge is to meet demand and what is typically a very quiet time of year. So no, I don't see any plans to change any pricing as we currently stand on the Xbox."
Things are looking rather grim for the 360..... (http://www.trmk.org/)
See the November 20th, 2005 article.
EDIT: Da-haaaaym. (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=263738250326156973)
lol @ xbox sux.
jus so dred!
to all the xbox haters u can smoke on this BFG lol
to all the xbox haters u can smoke on this BFG lol
lol
WAR AGAINST XBOX! PS3 RULES!!
not arguing with that...sony all the wayto all the xbox haters u can smoke on this BFG lol
lol
PS3 RULES!!
WAIT ON D PS3 WHICH COMMIN OUT IN 2007
uh never c halo or halo 2 run on ah sony system
when PS3 have a WORKING system and a CONTROLER then talk na. PS3 so far is a figment of your IMAGINATION.
Hey, for the reccord we are allowed to be given more time because on paper, PS3 is better
Hey, for the reccord we are allowed to be given more time because on paper, PS3 is better
so proto you get a chance to play a 360 yet?
However, when they DO so, its well done. But yes, the 360 has yet to prove itself. But then every system when it comes out kinda does this. PS2 was the same thing.
Nissan builds Xbox 360 into car
Uses steering wheel and pedals to play
By INQUIRER staff: Monday 09 January 2006, 23:35
NISSAN SAID it has made a car which has an Xbox 360 inside.
The Urge has standard driving features but when you park the thing you can play games using the car’s steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals.
You watch the games with a flip down seven inch LCD screen and games include Project Gotham Racing 3.
The firm showed off the car at a Detroit car show today. So if you see somebody in a parking lot apparently pretending to drive and cursing and swearing, don't assume she or he is mad. Although he or she may be, of course.
Rumor 4: There will be over 50 Sega Dreamcast games on the Xbox Live Arcade
within 2 years, launched a handfull at a time. Every Dreamcast game released on 360 will be priced at around 10 dollar
NES games for the XBox 360
Emulators are us
By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 28 March 2006, 14:14
A BLOKE has come up with an emulator for the XBox360 which will play the old Nintendo games.
Called NESCafe, the emulator works through Media Center on the Xbox 360 and it does have limitations. The inventor who goes by the handle ‘X-S Enthusiast’ has not found a way to add a menu for the roms list so you will have to edit the nes.htm and change to whatever Nes rom you want to play.
X-S Enthusiast has included a Public Domain rom for testing but claims to have got Zelda1-2, Excitebike, and TecmoBowl working. He says you can find the Roms for these online.
The emulator can be downloaded here (http://dwl.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/mce/emulator/Nes_Emulator.rar), and there is a video showing it all working here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MKNzmU4G1sE) and instructions here (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=500366).
you know why he can do that
"Because im da Juggernaut B*TCH!!!!!!!"
Then again, I couldn't really care less about Naruto, so there's still yet to be a reason for me to buy the 360. Yes, folks. I went there.wey, that can't be...you don't like naruto?
i sure if i pelt my 13 inch blackim sorry thats as far as i can make hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahah
like a 72" plasma tv to watch worldcup on
lord laertes my mind mus be in de gutter but first time i read your post LOL
well if i doh have d money to buy original games i sure dont have d cash 4 livefor real. you should...
I got my XBOX 360 a week after it was launched...PREMIUM SYSTEM of course !!Ronnie, do you have Live? If so, what is your Gamertag?
I also have:
4 wireless controllers
2 Play and Charge Kits including Rechargable Battery Packs
Wireless Network Adapter
And the following games:
Project Gotham Racing 3
Perfect Dark Zero
Dead or Aive 4
Call of Duty 2
Fifa World Cup 2006
BTW...360 OWNZ
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAH THIS DESERVES A NEW POST, I GOT IT, MY XBOX 360 WITH AN EXTRA CONTROLLER(WIRELESS) NO CORE SYSTEM STUPIDNESSSSSS AND GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER HAHAHHAHAHAAH POSTIN PICTURES WHEN I GET BACK TO TRINI
Yes...I'm on live...TRINI RONNIE 2 is my gamertag. I had TRINI RONNIE before but just decided to get a new account. I dont use live when i'm in Trinidad because of my slow dsl conection here....I''m online alot when i'm in florida. Whats your gamertag ?
Yea thats true DSL really is faster up herewell then my comcast cable must be smoking alyuh den?:D
is the fifa world cup 2006 any good?
Yea....its one of the best soccer games to come to a console in a while
alright alright ! I oficially apologize for my use of he word 'soccer' !To me it doesnt matter what you call it, we ALL know what he is talking about, i call it both actually
COD3 will be on all platforms save the PC????? (WDF???)
Microsoft flogs consumer Xbox tools
Design kids, design
By Nick Farrell: Monday 14 August 2006, 06:51
SOFTWARE GIANT Microsoft is to release a consumer version of its software design tools used to create video games for its Xbox 360 console.
The XNA Game Studio Express program is a cut down version of the XNA Framework and will hit the shops at the end of the month.
You need to pen the code on a Windows PC but the goal is for hobbyists to sit down and create their own code.
Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president said that it was Vole’s the first step in creating a "YouTube".
He said that the program would be a first for consoles, which traditionally have been the exclusive domain of skilled programmers, artists and designers.
The software is designed to eliminate much of the tedious hand-coding involved in making a game from scratch. However the hobbyists who use the consumer versions are still going to be needed for the consumer version.
Of course they will also have to be serious geeks with an ability to do multi-media, mathematics, programming and games development skills.
More here (http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/Microsoft-selling-consumer-version-of-professional-software-toolsused-to-create-video-games/2006/08/14/1155407719490.html).
a game from SCRATCH? in 2months? daz a joke awa? My final project is actually to make a beta version of a game with a group. They would have to be hella good boy.
Oh FYI, that game that is okay.....Flat Out and FLat out 2 is actually the final project from Devry University game design students. That not bad atall for a first try of newcomers in game design.
Microsoft announces HD-DVD pricing
And other Xbox 360 news
By Dean Pullen: Thursday 28 September 2006, 20:42
AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS of negative press for Sony, Microsoft has announced a slew of products that will ensure Sony remain left in the doldrums.
Coming from the Tokyo game show, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will be able to support 1080p resolutions via a dashboard update later this year - a feature of the PS3 Sony has touted as being a major competitive advantage of its new console over the 360.
Obviously this feature will only be supported via component or VGA connections, as the 360 currently doesn't have official HDMI support.
It must be noted that this resolution will primarily be used to upscale current content and DVDs. Unlike Sony, no 'native' 1080p is currently planned.
Further news came from the Microsoft X06 Barcelona conference, where the HD-DVD drive's price and availability were announced. The add-on drive will retail for $199.00 in the US, €199.99 in Europe and £129.99 in the UK from mid November - the Japanese launch has already been confirmed for November 22nd at ¥19,800. Various new games for the Microsoft console were announced, but the most interesting was news of a partnership between Microsoft and a new Peter Jackson backed game studio, Wingnut Interactive - which may explain the bundling of King Kong with each HD-DVD drive.
Jackson will embark on a new "collaborative effort with Bungie Studios toco-create the next great chapter in the Halo universe", along with at least one other game based on newly created IP.
Further special mention goes to the promise of the much loved Sensible Soccer and Doom for future download via the Xbox 360's live arcade.
The man get Americanized...it happens, as long as he doh call roti an "Indian Burrito" like that jackass on MTV
yea, that's fine, but when you can afford it, get an HDTV with at least 1080i like Odion.
Xbox 360 sells out in Japan, PS3 cables cost extra
Console news roundup
By Dean Pullen: Friday 20 October 2006, 10:09
SURPRISING NEWS from Japan comes from stores selling the new Xbox 360 'Blue Dragon' bundle.
100,000 of the special edition consoles that come with a Blue Dragon faceplate, five miniature figures and the game Blue Dragon, have already sold out with another 90,000 on their way.
According to 1up.com, one major online retailer managed to sell out of their allotment in five minutes, with others managing to last most of the day.
This comes just weeks before the release of the PS3 in Japan, and it's a much-needed boost for Microsoft where most weeks it has been struggling to shift even 1,000 units of the 360 in the land of the rising sun.
In related console news, Sony have said that the first 500,000 PS3 systems shipped in North America will include "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," the Sony Pictures Entertainment comedy starring Will Ferrell.
This will come of some surprise to prospective PS3 owners considering that Sony have also announced that the console will not ship with a component cable, let alone any HDMI hook-up, meaning buyers wanting to view their PS3 in full-high-def glory must fork out even more cash for the privilege.
U.S. games will be released at previous-generation prices of $59.99 (expect that to translate to £49.99 in the UK, if Sony ever ships anything to Europe), but the bluetooth enabled controllers (with unremovable batteries) will sell for a sizeable $49.99, provoking more murmurs of discontent in the gaming community.
The PS3-branded HDMI cable will also retail at $49.99. Just for your information you can pick these up on ebay for less than 10 bucks.
At least you get a nice Blue-ray film bundled-in with your $599 PS3...which you can't actually watch at full resolution unless you spend more money on 'optional' accessories. Even Microsoft bothered to bundle a component output within the 360 premium pack. µ
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PS3 and Xbox 360 about the same
Silicon Knights developer claims
By Nick Farrell: Wednesday 01 November 2006, 07:05
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MICROSOFT'S Xbox 360 and Sony's soon to be seen PS3 are much of a muchness according to games developer, Denis Dyack.
In an interview with Game Daily,Dyack, who is president of Silicon Knights, said the 360 and the PS3 were are equal in power.
While the PS3 had more processing power, the 360 had more available memory, he said. There is potentially more power in the PS3 but it was harder for developers to tap and might as well not be there.
The public might think that the PS3 was better, but to developers, they both looked the same, Dyack said.
Of course the PS3 will end up costing punters a lot more so really his comments are a bit of win for Microsoft.
He said that Microsoft was looking really good. "In the beginning, everyone thought Sony would walk away with it, now we will not know sure for two years," he said. As far as the Wii is concerned, Dyack said that a lot would depend on whether its controller does not break over time.
here are some guaranteed top sellers coming @ years end
Lost Planet by capcom and Mass Effect by Bioware (this one is under alot of people's radar, but it's by the developers of KOTOR and Jade Empire, how could itn ot be good?)
Rejoice you PC FPS gamers, salvation may be at hand for pwnage on the Xbox 360.
:rolleyes:
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/12316/Connect-a-Mouse-and-Keyboard-to-Your-Xbox-360/
Correction, I WILL WTFPWN you with a keyboard and mouse :p
W1nTry will be thinking he can own me in COD 2 now with him on a Keyboard and Mouse. LOL
Crooks thieve £750,000 worth of Xbox 360s
Look out for dodgy dealers
By INQUIRER newsdesk: Thursday 23 November 2006, 10:48
CRIMINALS HAVE NICKED a shipment of Xbox 360s worth about £750,000 during a lorry hijacking soon after it left a depot near Lichfield in Staffordshire, reports The Times.
No doubt the consoles will be popping up at dodgy market stalls across the country as Christmas time approaches. Police in Staffordshire are looking for witnesses to the hijacking which supposedly happened on Monday at about 5am, on the A38 motorway.
It's thought that there were at least three men involved in the hijacking, believed to be driving a Range Rover and Rover saloon. Apparently, they signalled for the driver of the lorry to slow down, at which point the driver assumed the gang was letting him know there was something trapped under the wheels of his lorry. This was not the case, though, and once pulled over, the gang attacked the driver and made off with the lorry, which was later found devoid of someone's Christmas presents on the A38 at Minworth in Warwickshire.
The driver was taken to hospital for his injuries but was deemed okay and discharged. Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK, the distributor, has apparently ordered an internal investigation about the attack.
Staffordshire copper Peter Stevens told The TImes: "We are appealing for information from anyone who is offered these games in suspicious circumstances, such as in a pub, at a car boot sale or off the back of a lorry." Or from Nintendo employees. µ
Xbox 360
As reported last week in the games round-up, Blue Dragon has caused quite a stir in Japan.
80,348 copies were sold upon release, boosting the title into 4th place within the Japanese games charts - unprecedented for a Microsoft console in Japan.
Other records were smashed by Microsoft this week. Microsoft has announced that more than 2 million copies of Xbox 360 title Gears of War have now been sold around the globe, making it the fastest-selling next-gen console game so far.
It's also the most played game on Xbox Live, with more than 1 million GoW players taking part in 10 million online gaming sessions.
Good news for GoW fans comes from Epic Games President, Mike Capps, discussing charging for downloadable content: "We started long before the game ever came out; we started on the next stuff. We always take care of our customers, we always give them stuff for free and we're going to keep doing that forever."
Epic have a history of releasing free additional content (e.g. Unreal), and it would be incredibly pleasing if they continued this trend with GoW.
Microsoft have also updated the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list with a new update. Head over to 1up.com for the full list of updates and additions. µ
Xbox 360 gets IPTV
CES 007 Who needs Blu-ray or HD DVD when you have an IP addy?
By Theo Valich in Las Vegas: Monday 08 January 2007, 11:03
Click here to find out more!
MICROSOFT JUST HASN'T stopped with cracking the holes in PlayStation 3 armour. First it knocked the 1080p discussion, and now, an IPTV service is being prepared in order to make the Xbox the TiVo device for the late first decade of the 21st century.
Unlike the thing Steve Jobs will allegedly be unveiling at his MacWorld keynote - opening exactly the same day as CES this year - IPTV content isn't provided by Microsoft. However, it is working with existing content providers that run their services.
Robbie Bach used the CES Keynote to launch the service with an intelligent name: IPTV for the Xbox 360. Since companies are only talking about social networking blah blah, it's no wonder that this service will feature a sort of joint commenting on content, all with the aim of having as deep a social impact as possible. Just imagine heated arguments over a "scientific error" in one of the sci-fi series [Sheesh, let's hope not. Ed.]. All that, courtesy of IPTV on Xbox 360.
We have seen the demo and we have to say that Microsoft has added a lot of headroom with the console, because software just keeps on being developed. The amount of official modding has just been incredible.
You're still thinking that a larger hard drive isn't on the way? Think of 120GB local storage and hundreds of gigabytes at your local media server. Or a terabyte or two? µ
* THE service is planned to start working by Yule 007. The exact details are unavailable.
W1nTry, organize a date and time please, so that I can calendar it in on my Blackberry..LOL
Arcman, last night was real weak on my part, I was not playing my best and I kept on getting distracted by my fiance, so I need a rematch with you and woodyear99...LOL
Ay, we not 'priding victory' by any means eh.Running scared now I see.... (doh study me is jes guntalk LMAO) but yeah, date and time?
I not playin biggish. I know FULL well what Redlum08 is capable of. Seen it with me own eyes.
Actually, it should be the opposite. The achievements that I could not do before, I could finally do. Examples: Get 100 kills with the chainsaw, Play Co-op levels.LMAO... hear dis man, he thinks is a seta NPC or n00bs on Live. Granted there are, but usually you're NEVER that lucky. Live will SLOW your acheivement rate ask ANYONE who's on it (save those that only sweat dem arcade games). Dread the minute I got Live, meh achievement rate went down. Granted I started with COD2 which has NO acheivements on LIVE, then Halo 2 (also NO acheivements on Live) then came GOW (which does have achievements, but to say yuh gonna easily get 100 chainsaw kills in RANKED Matches... LMAO). Dude yuh eh see masterchief play yet and he eh have 100 of those, so TRUST ME it WILL slow yuh down. On an aside though, if yuh real GOSU it could happen. Get a working DSL connection to run Live on and we go sweat. After we see how good yuh are we go talk again.
No scope sniping and men dancing around you as you bleeding out pretending to f&*K you in yuh ass as you there dying. W1nTry knows that all too well. LOL.HYMC LOL!!! but that is the point, they have REAL BEAST on Live and if yuh doh have a good team is LEVEL rape iymc. SO those 'ranked' achievements not that easy to come by. I am sure there are other games with LIVE that could be a better way to get those acheivement points. But as MSCHF pointed out a while ago, apart from some small measure of bragging rights, achievements are pretty useless save for showing if yuh have a life or not (more poinnts showing you don't) as yuh cyah do nothing with them. IF they would only allow you to use it as credits or somethign, that would be sweet!
GG... MS has finally realized the potential of Live! they're out to kill the competition... well we always knew that but great to see this finally becoming a reality... now to see how well they pull it off... not to mention we finally get a wtfpwn you controller adicts with a keyboard and mouse lmao...
Wait nah, Camre on LIVE? aye we hadda sweat some man add Redlum08 and W1nTry, arcman too for that matter... men sticking dread...
nah he ain't playing wow...although he aint sent my burning crusade key for me yet..hmmmmLMAO... the same ramp we talking bout here right? if it is then I figure is cause WOW would cause him to lose sight of his goals to finish his degree and he'd flunk out seeing as WOW was created by the devil to lead us all away from our real lives, so I sayeth onto thee, thou....
i offer to let him use my wow account and he cuss me yes. started ranting about the bible and the devil and all kinda thing.
well cam, looksl ike you stuck playing more DOA4Unfortunately :(
If a Xbox 360 Keyboard and Mouse coming out, I not building a gaming pc unless its for really exclusive titles, and seeing how i waiting for years now to acquire a decent gaming console and pc i can wait for something like that.1 word for you: Crysis
If a Xbox 360 Keyboard and Mouse coming out, I not building a gaming pc unless its for really exclusive titles, and seeing how i waiting for years now to acquire a decent gaming console and pc i can wait for something like that.1 word for you: Crysis
go play shenmue :Pn1gga PLEASE, not even the same genre
Son. Lets draw farcry for an example. Look at the big whoop over the graphics at the time, it looked great, but it was the blandest most boring FPS evaRRRRRRRR! Aside from that, building a PC to run crysis comfortably is expensive, first off vista/DX10 cards run minimum of $400 IF you know where to look, average retail is $600. That alone makes it NOT worthwhile.camrE I find your statements harsh at best. First off, crysis isn't out till later this year and by april-may there will be the full range of mainstream (read 200 and less) video cards supporting DX10. So 400 is off, granted you'll need vista but by that time most/all PCs being shipped from the main distros (dell, HP, etc) will be Vista shops. Also with MS intending for cross platform gaming (which is the point of this thread, thus we're digressing) the lure of a PC or 360 for that mater will be more plausible. Anys, back to the point, I guess its different stroke for different folks as I personally preferred farcry to MANY FPS that have come lately (eg quake 4 which was quite drab at best). If crysis does everything the producers say it will, that game will be the game to beat this year at least on the PC. That aside Unreal 3 is due out this year as well, so if not crysis then UT3 amoungst some other good titles will be enough reason.
Son. Lets draw farcry for an example. Look at the big whoop over the graphics at the time, it looked great, but it was the blandest most boring FPS evaRRRRRRRR! Aside from that, building a PC to run crysis comfortably is expensive, first off vista/DX10 cards run minimum of $400 IF you know where to look, average retail is $600. That alone makes it NOT worthwhile.camrE I find your statements harsh at best. First off, crysis isn't out till later this year and by april-may there will be the full range of mainstream (read 200 and less) video cards supporting DX10. So 400 is off, granted you'll need vista but by that time most/all PCs being shipped from the main distros (dell, HP, etc) will be Vista shops. Also with MS intending for cross platform gaming (which is the point of this thread, thus we're digressing) the lure of a PC or 360 for that mater will be more plausible. Anys, back to the point, I guess its different stroke for different folks as I personally preferred farcry to MANY FPS that have come lately (eg quake 4 which was quite drab at best). If crysis does everything the producers say it will, that game will be the game to beat this year at least on the PC. That aside Unreal 3 is due out this year as well, so if not crysis then UT3 amoungst some other good titles will be enough reason.
1. When has a new graphics card EVER debut @ a msrp of less than $350? Especially one with new technology standards such as DX10? GFX card prices ain't going down baby. The more new tech they put out, the higher the can jack the prices, and people continue to buy. See SLI/crossfire. Those nVid 8800 cards came out @ $680.You don't read properly, I said mainstream cards are out in May and they ALL fall under 200USD hence the 'mainstream' tag. If you wanna bet money on this we can. I ain't saying they'll play with all the bells and whistles, but if a man could run farcry on a 5500FX and think that was good, then R610 and R630 should be more than fine to run the DX10 lineup.
b. Yes you WILL need vista to run DX10.Let me say something about this:
b, ii. cut the crap about dell and all that nonsense, while those "gaming" rigs do sell, not one of us who call ourselves "gamers" go out and purchase those extremely overprices dell/alienware premade machines for gaming, we make the crap ourselves. Which leads me to a new point that you brought of for me (thanks :mellow:) the added cost of Vista to run these games the way they were meant to be run. OEM Vista goes for $200-$150. That also goes into the cost factor.
1. When has a new graphics card EVER debut @ a msrp of less than $350? Especially one with new technology standards such as DX10? GFX card prices ain't going down baby. The more new tech they put out, the higher the can jack the prices, and people continue to buy. See SLI/crossfire. Those nVid 8800 cards came out @ $680.
You don't read properly, I said mainstream cards are out in May and they ALL fall under 200USD hence the 'mainstream' tag. If you wanna bet money on this we can. I ain't saying they'll play with all the bells and whistles, but if a man could run farcry on a 5500FX and think that was good, then R610 and R630 should be more than fine to run the DX10 lineup.Let me say something about this:
b. Yes you WILL need vista to run DX10.
b, ii. cut the crap about dell and all that nonsense, while those "gaming" rigs do sell, not one of us who call ourselves "gamers" go out and purchase those extremely overprices dell/alienware premade machines for gaming, we make the crap ourselves. Which leads me to a new point that you brought of for me (thanks :mellow:) the added cost of Vista to run these games the way they were meant to be run. OEM Vista goes for $200-$150. That also goes into the cost factor.
A PC enthusiast will build his own machine
A GAMING enthusiast won't necessarily build it when he can afford to buy it, don't try to push that idealogy onto 'the masses', that's BS.
As for OEM Vista costing 150-200: $140USD Vista Home Premium (http://www.viosoftware.com/Windows+Vista+Basic+PG/Windows+Vista+Home+Premium+OEM+DVD.html?osCsid=540d99d7b22c51754807d22257fc7cd4)
And that's IF you want Premium, the Basic is 113USD and the upgrade package is cheaper still. But hey who'd go searching for the best deal, I mean if yuh tech savy enough to build yuh own rig, why on earth would you look for the best price on the software too right?
Lastly, dread you sound like the harbinger of death for gaming on the PC, we know you're a console man, but geez the negativity is astounding. Can we not at least hope it brings gaming to both platforms closer and make gaming as a whole better?
Console gaming just makes better financial sense to most people.
Console gaming just makes better financial sense to most people.
All the more reason why MORE cross-platform games should be made.
Those that can afford a 'bess' PC will buy/build one.
Poor choice of words, being able to 'afford a bess PC' and being willing to spend money constantly on the upgrading of a gaming PC as opposed to picking up a console are not the same thing. Like Vivman said, 'financial sense' makes the difference, I've been able to pay for the construction of a gaming PC for quite some time now, but i really don't think it's smart to make such an investment in a gaming PC at this point. I have a PC for browsing and word processing here at home already, so for me it makes more sense to invest in a console as opposed to a PC.
PS. just so everyone knows, I'm not insinuating in any way that PC gamers lack sense for investing in their machines, but rather that they will have a better understanding as to the value they place on their investments.
selective persepting seems to have been the reason the neanderthalls died out.
1) i never implied in anyway that "having/upgrading a gaming PC and having a console was the same" if you think i did please show me where, because i cannot see it, maybe i could clear it up directly if you point it out.
2) i have the term 'financial sense' in inverted commas for a reason, but seems like you neglected that part. My fault for the ambiguity, it's in inverted commas because i belive 'financial sense' differs from person to person.
if you read the Post Scriptum i had in my post you would have realised that there was no reason to counter my response, as we have both clearly said the same thing with one exception. i do not believe that being able to afford/build a gaming level PC equates to being willing to go about getting one. Ability and Willingness have never been one and the same.
Gears of War a Lock for PC
Epic's VP calls it "inevitable."
by Hilary Goldstein
February 15, 2007 - In a recent interview with IGN sister site TeamXbox, Epic's Vice President, Mark Rein, gave thumbs up to rumors that Gears of War was headed to PC. Just don't expect it anytime soon.
Rein told TeamXbox that Epic would "eventually" bring Gears to PC. "I just don't know when," he said. "The big challenge is to make a game that was designed solely for the console…to take advantage of every last little corner of that console, to fill every little crack and run as many threads as we could and do as much to exploit the power of that machine, and make it run well on enough PCs to be worth releasing."
"It's inevitable," Rein said, "but it's just not there today."
Viv, Shiv, W1n and Master C, I have seen the PROMISED land, and it is THIS :
(props to Shivadee for showing me this one).
(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/217/xfpsdz3.jpg)
http://cgi.ebay.com/XFPS-360-Keyboard-Mouse-adapter-for-XBOX-360_W0QQitemZ190092931748QQcategoryZ122517QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Can you say: 'HELLLLL YEAH'!!?
Now TELL me allyuh didnt just wet yourselves when you saw this.....
I need one like CRACK!!!! lol
Uh, it's black
HDMI port and HDMI cable (oh, you bullies!)
120GB hard drive (but you told us 20GB was more than enough!)
A $479 price tag (ouch!)
No HD-DVD integration (yup), the "format's not proven" (pssst, and it's being outsold)
The 120GB hard drive will be available for under $200 (uh, we certainly hope so!)
It's coming in "late April"
Dubbed the Xbox 360 Elite
Limited-edition; probably a couple hundred thousand units
Case, controller, and headset will be black; new packaging
Confirmed: 3rd SKU; sold alongside Premium and Core bundles
Elite runs cooler than other models
Eventually Elite hardware (in white) will replace Premium; estimated to be in late summer or fall
Xbox 360 Elite goes official
120GB HDD, gets HDMI plus cable included
By Dean Pullen: Wednesday 28 March 2007, 08:56
MICROSOFT HAS officially announced the availability of the Xbox 360 Elite console.
This sleek black console, complete with black joypad and accessories, will feature as a third SKU along side the Core and Premium bundles, and will not be a limited edition unlike previous speculation suggested.
The console, packaging, peripherals, and specifications can already be seen on the Xbox.com US site here.
As rumoured for sometime, the unit will come complete with HDMI out - and will also feature an HDMI cable included within the box. Presumably this is a thumbing of the nose at Sony - the PS3 was criticised for not including the cable within the box, and charging a substantial amount for the additional accessory.
The package will also come complete with both component and composite cables. Nintendo and Sony take note.
Below you can observe the newly coloured 360, along with the Elite packaging and its respective paraphernalia.
(http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/3520/xboxelitelt5.jpg)
The Xbox 360 Elite will have an estimated retail price of $479.99 and is expected to begin arriving in U.S. stores on April 29.
For existing Xbox 360 owners who wish upgrade their hard drives to the 120GB HDD, it will be sold separately for an estimated retail price of $179.99, including a data exchange cable, allowing existing 360 owners to transfer their data from existing hard-drives to the new 120GB.
Microsoft refuses to state when the 360 is expected to utilise the 65nm CPU/GPU parts that are known to be in development for the eventual cost reduction of the console. µ
The black color is nice and all, but when you think of it, it's not worth it at all. The 120GB HDD is selling @ MSRP of $179.99, which is ridiculous. You can get a 500GB Sata 3.0GB for $150 now :angry:That's teh truth... I wonder bout that mod to get a normal SATA drive to work in the 360... hmm 400GB perhaps?
The black color is nice and all, but when you think of it, it's not worth it at all. The 120GB HDD is selling @ MSRP of $179.99, which is ridiculous. You can get a 500GB Sata 3.0GB for $150 now :angry:That's teh truth... I wonder bout that mod to get a normal SATA drive to work in the 360... hmm 400GB perhaps?
*Redlum08 starts to sweat profusely as the thought of W1nTry playing on a K&M in GOW kicking a$$....DAMN RIGHT!!! but i'd only use it for FPS, not TPS... i've come to like GOW on the controller... you get that thingly feeling as the controller vibrates in your hand when that Bayonet cuts your enemy down!!!!
Halo freaks get weeks of squeaks
Multiplayer beta for part three launches soon
By INQUIRER newsdesk: Wednesday 11 April 2007, 09:17
Click here to find out more!
THE DATE FOR the launch of the Halo 3 multiplayer beta has been set at May 16. This will be to the delight of raving Xbox 360 fanboys everywhere.
However, if you're hoping to get involved, forget about it. All the places for the beta have been assigned to those who registered last year, or bought special retail packages of futuristic Cop-'em-up Crackdown.
Three maps will be on offer to gamers - Snowbound, High Ground and Valhalla, and new vehicles will include the Mongoose ATV. Weapons in the rack will be a new Brute Spiker, Spike Grenades, a Spartan Laser and a beefed up Assault Rifle.
In a public statement, Bungie suggested that the beta "will contain quirks, a couple of rough edges and all that jazz," managing expectations that this will be a near-final experience.
However, given that the game isn't due to hit the shelves until later this year, we suspect that gamers could come out disappointed. Watch for the backlash on May 17. µ
You refering to the HMDI connector? cause composite comes standard with the normal 360 and thats your HD in right there... i've been wondering though... the Elite version... what kind of rear conenctor does it use? Is it a HMDI out only? or does it use the standard propreitary connector with an HDMI cable for HDMI? but it will work as normal with the original cables? Enlighten me.
Xbox dashboard update tips up
Turn on, tune in, download
By Wily Ferret: Thursday 10 May 2007, 10:19
Click here to find out more!
MICROSOFT has finally released its much-vaunted 'Spring Dashboard Update' for the Xbox 360.
The update adds a dedicated 'blade' for Xbox Live Marketplace, cross-platform integration with Windows Live Messenger, improved VGA performance, and support for H.264 and MPEG-4 codecs.
If you're using your Xbox online, you'll have to download it or be booted off.
Interestingly, Microsoft has used the update to jump on the eco-friendly bandwagon. If you're downloading a large game or demo from the Marketplace, the console will effectively switch itself into 'low-power' mode, where almost everything besides the net connection and the hard disk are inactive, enabling you to download overnight with the minimal power requirement. The console will even switch itself off when it's done.
Saving the world one Xbox at a time. µ
Xbox 360 could beat PS3 in Folding
Microsoft has to think outside the box
By Theo Valich: Thursday 10 May 2007, 09:24
Click here to find out more!
IN AN INTERVIEW with the San Jose Mercury News Peter Moore, corporate VP of Microsoft's entertainment business unit admitted that Microsoft was somewhat caught out by Sony's PS3 Folding@Home client. He said even Bill Gates had a conversation about "applying philanthropic processing power to big problems".
But he souldn't resist a jab at Sony's endeavour. "I’m not quite sure yet whether we’re seeing real tangible results from the PlayStation 3 Folding@Home initiative," he suggested.
Microsoft knows all the deficiencies of IBM's sluggish in-order triple-core PowerPC that is built inside its own console, and does not want to get soundly beaten by IBM's Cell. However, it is unclear whether the Vole of Redmond is aware that it has something far more powerful inside its own boxes.
The Geforce 7900 inside the PS3 is no match for Xenos in the Xbox. Even the Sony Cell would probably end beaten by 48 vec4+scalar units hidden inside Xbox's 360 graphics chip. Folding@Home is Stream Computing at its finest, and six/seven/eight SPE units can flourish in the CPU. But when compared to the GPU, the Xbox 360 GPU would probably run in circles around Cell CPU.
And then Microsoft's marketing machine might get interested in touting Folding@Home for the Xbox 360 console, since it would no longer be a race between a snail and a rabbit, as far as protein folding performance is concerned.
The next question would then be, could Brook get set up running on a Xbox 360 GPU with all the limitations that Microsoft environment is using? µ
"I can't comment on failure rates, because it's just not something -- it's a moving target. What this consumer should worry about is the way that we've treated him. Y'know, things break, and if we've treated him well and fixed his problem, that's something that we're focused on right now. I'm not going to comment on individual failure rates because I'm shipping in 36 countries and it's a complex business."
"f we truly believe that we can in some way marshall the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners, with a processor that's of equal power to the PS3, then you have my commitment that we'll look at that. And if we believe we can add value to solving a gnarly problem such as the medical problems and the health problems that Folding@home seems to be doing, then we'll certainly look at that very strongly."
"One thing I've seen -- and I've been going to Tokyo now for eight years, probably 50 times in the last eight years -- is there's a more global outlook now from Japanese publishers than there has ever been. Capcom (is) the best example of that with Dead Rising and Lost Planet, with which they've done incredibly well. They realize the Japanese domestic market is insufficient to sustain them without globalizing, and, quite frankly Westernizing the way that they go to market. Konami, Sega, Capcom, Namco -- all doing that same thing. And that bodes well for us, because obviously they see our strength in the Western world and they're becoming great partners of ours."
"I felt a disturbance in the force...Wait... Sony was able to make that many PS3's yet? LOL
...It's as if a million Sony fanboys all cried out BAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, and then were suddenly silenced."
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....
it still dont change the fact PS3 dont have sh!t for games.Is that to say they don't have SH1T games? or they don't have Sh1t aka any games?
GTA4 episodes only available for Xbox
But at what cost?
By Wily Ferret: Monday 18 June 2007, 09:18
TAKE TWO games, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, has shocked gamers by announcing that additional downloadable content for GTA part 4 will only be available on the Xbox 360, shunning the PlayStation platform that made the series a hit.
Additional game levels and missions will be available to download over Xbox Live. Given the cross-platform nature of the game, it was also assumed that the same would be true for downloads on the PlayStation Network, but now it seems that this isn't going to be the case. There are all sorts of suggestions about how much Microsoft paid for this exclusivity, but no confirmed numbers.
GTA4 is out on October 19, and the episodic content is undated, but don't expect it to hit until the new year.
Microsoft scored a coup obtaining a simultaneous release for the game across the Xbox and PlayStation, and further securing exclusivity for downloadable content has got to be one in the eye for Sony. However, the firm could yet have the last laugh, as livid PS3 gamers cause a very public stink that could be embarrassing to Take Two. We'll just have to wait and see. µ
Microsoft rejigs gaming team
As Sony criticises Volish 'bribing' of developers
By Wily Ferret: Wednesday 04 July 2007, 10:16
THE VOLE HAS SHIFTED around chaps at the top of its gaming division, leaving newbie Chris Early as head of the games for Windows Live.
Early was previous a Volista in the Casual Games division. The half-time substitution seems to indicate that things aren't exactly going as well for the GFWL team as it might have hoped. A Vista-exclusive gaming platform that replicates the features of the successful Xbox Live, launch titles that support GFWL are Shadowrun and Halo 2. Halo 2, of course, is a release of a game that's been out for three years on the Xbox and which any FPS gamer has already done to death; Shadowrun is a multiplayer-only deathmatch game that has been generally criticised for lacking depth and being too expensive for the amount of gameplay included. All in all, then, an inauspicious start for the platform.
The Vole must be hoping that Early can woo some bigger developers to take part in the Games For Windows Live platform - a tough sell when most developers don't want to go Vista-only and want to maintain a degree of control over their multiplayer servers.
However, it's not all bad for Microsoft's gaming division, as the Xbox 360 is continuing to sell well and attract some good games - such as the exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto. This has clearly left a rather bitter taste in Sony's mouth, as top bod Jack Tretton has accused Microsoft of 'bribing' developers to bring exclusives to the table.
"We don't buy exclusivity. We don't fund development," Tretton said in an interview, single-handedly revealing why Rockstar chose to go with Microsoft and not Sony for the exclusive GTA4 deal - money talks, this is the videogame business, folks.
He went on to, we might suggest, grossly overstate the success of Sony's position in the game development marketplace. "Microsoft is too dependent upon the third-party community, and Nintendo is too dependent upon first-party," Tretton proposed, managing to name two consoles that are selling faster than the PS3 around the world. If both have the wrong approach, the game-buying public sure doesn't seem to care. µ
Microsoft has said that it is facing a bill of more than $1bn to cover the cost of offering extended warranties, after failings with its Xbox 360.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6275728.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6275728.stm)
The company admitted it had been forced to make "an unacceptable number of repairs" to the consoles after key hardware failed.
Customers who suffer the problems will now be given a free three-year warranty, the company said.
The failures are indicated by three red flashing lights on the console.
Microsoft, has not revealed how many of its machines have suffered the problem, but said the number was "bigger than we are comfortable with."
It added that the move - which will also see some people reimbursed for postage and repairs on consoles which were out of warranty - was aimed at keeping the loyalty of its customers.
"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division.
"But this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologise."
It added its Xbox division was still expected to make a profit during the financial year beginning 1 July 2007.
Well look at that...
>>>
Retailer Confirms $100 PS3 Price Cut (http://gatt.carigamers.com/index.php/topic,9130.msg163867.html#msg163867)
Vole seen readying 65 nanometre Xbox ramp
DAAMIT gets shrunk
By Wily Ferret: Tuesday 10 July 2007, 10:25
ALL INDICATIONS that Microsoft is readying a 65 nanometre platform shrink of the Xbox 360, in a move that will reduce costs and likely improve the console's reliability.
Codenamed Project 'Falcon', the project is to push IBM's triple-cored PowerPC processor and DAAMIT's Xenos GPU down to 65nm, from the 90nm they're made at currently. As any fule no, iterating process technologies results in smaller chips, cheaper costs and less power consumption.
The roll-out of the new chips has been credited with driving the Vole's confidence that it's warranty problems are over.
Sony recently reduced the price of its PS3 by $100, a move thought to be simply adding $100 of pure cost to Sony's business plan, since no hardware revisions have been made and the company already sells the console at a healthy loss. The move to 65nm will enable Microsoft to cut the price of its Xbox 360 console and possibly still make a profit.
Indeed, rumours around LA this week are that Microsoft will use its E3 press conference to announce a price cut for the console, sparking a price war with Sony that the Japanese company has little hopes of winning. µ
Xbox 360 dies because of electricity protection
It is sensitive egg
By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 10 July 2007, 08:55
MICROSOFT IS claiming that the reason its Xbox360 consoles are dying in droves so much is because punters have poor electrical surge protection.
Although Microsoft is refusing to say what is causing the large number of red ring of deaths in its boxes, its technical support teams are apparently claiming it is caused by poor surge protectors.
According to Law of the Game, technical support are reading from a card saying that the Xbox 360 is highly sensitive to reductions in power, and even the slightest cut in power can cause things like the fans and even the DVD laser to malfunction.
Apparently ninety percent of the failed consoles have been plugged into a surge protector, so Vole thinks they are responsible. Using a similar logic 100 percent of them were also switched on so maybe the power switch is to blame.
Vole is saying that you should let your Xbox run free a surge protector and experience lightning strikes, power surges and brown outs.
The thing about the beta for THOSE THAT ACTUALLY PLAYED AND SAW IT, is that its exactly that a beta. That aside I too was taken aback the first time I saw the graphics... I was like Halo 2 on steroids? I mean after playing GOW... its hard to look at any other game and be impressed with graphics, satisfied even is difficult now. However I can see from the beta that once Halo 3 is polished properly it will look quite good. It has an altogether different feel and look from GOW but will still be quite eye catching I am sure. From playing the beta in 1080i glory, I can honestly say that the water effects were near complete, the textures were there but the polish was missing. Even the folliage was decent. I expect it to be impressive enough and as for NOT showing all your cards even at E3. Honestly Halo 3 is the biggest game on the console so its a done deal in terms of sales to most/all that own a 360. So I think holding the best for last is a good idea.
New Call Of Duty 4 trailer here (http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/13025).
OH MY STARS AND GARTERS!!! O_O This game just keeps lookin BETTER AND BETTER!!!
Don't even bother letting it load. Just download the wmv version and revel in its ubernessss......
Xbox 360 Price Drop Coming
by Matt Gibbs
Microsoft has said they will be lowering the price of the Xbox 360, however it won't be a E3, as rumors suggested.
As reported by Bloomberg, Shame Kim, who is VP of Microsoft Game Studios, has said that they will be lowering the Xbox 360's prices to increase sales and lure customers who otherwise normally wouldn't be interested in traditional video games.
"We need to compete effectively for that customer and part of that is getting to the mass market price point for the console," said Kim. "We definitely are working on that area."
If the Playstation 3 is struggling to keep up now, let's see how they do with a Xbox 360 price cut. Especially since we are so early into the lifecycle of the former.
Sorry for the double post but THE ACE COMBAT 6 DEMO IS UP!!!
OH YES!!! THE GAME LOOKS AS GOOD AS THE TRAILER!!!
BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*tries to calm down*
FCUK DAT!!!! BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
OMFG!!! THIS GAME IS TEH PWNAGE!!! (lawd, I sound like such a fanboi, but FCUK DAT!!!!)
oh yeah, and BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
*realises that I just wet myself* (OK, not really, but you get the picture)
All 11.6 million Xbox 360s are faulty
Volish confessions
By Nick Farrell: Thursday 12 July 2007, 07:38
MICROSOFT HAS admitted that all the 11.6 million faulty Xbox 360s sold in the last 19 months are faulty.
In a statement, Volish spinsters said that all of the consoles suffer from a design flaw which could cause the machine to fail.
However, the outfit said that while it is extending the warranty coverage from one to three years to compensate consumers, it had no plans to recall or exchange the boxes.
Volish gaming supremo Robbie Bach refused to say what the problem is, but said that units currently in stock will be upgraded.
Sorry for the double post but THE ACE COMBAT 6 DEMO IS UP!!!
OH YES!!! THE GAME LOOKS AS GOOD AS THE TRAILER!!!
BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*tries to calm down*
FCUK DAT!!!! BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
OMFG!!! THIS GAME IS TEH PWNAGE!!! (lawd, I sound like such a fanboi, but FCUK DAT!!!!)
oh yeah, and BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
*realises that I just wet myself* (OK, not really, but you get the picture)
That controller is sweet indeed, but I'm still not sure if its worth buying JUST for that game.
I would have preferred a flightstick/throttle combo that will work with the Xbox 360 console AND the PC.
I know it can be done. The big question is IF it will be...
On another note:
After seeing trailers/gameplay for Mercenaries 2, and Star Wars: Force Unleashed, I'll have too happily add
those titles to my 'games I MUST have list'. Oh yeah, and Resident Evil 5.
Whew...owning a 360 just got a WHOLE lot better. All Microsoft needs now to 'sweeten the pot' is to drop
the MSRP on all new games from $60 US to $50 US. Now THAT would make more sense than a console price drop.
New extended Resident Evil 5 trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/game/2036.html). Has a lot of gameplay footage in it.
One word: god-DAMNNNNN!!! (OK that might be two words :lol: )
Can you say 'FO SHIZZLE!!?'
Hmm maybe now I can take another chance with the rings of death :p hopefully get one with that new heatsink everyone raving about....
Yo ghost recon 2 demo out on xbox live yet? i suppose it would be out before on psn, i think its been out a week on psn. I never played the first one but after playing demo DaMn! ok have fun cya xD.
Price drop: Those price drops will certainly make thing interesting over the course of the next couple months, especially with Mass Effect, Halo 3 and Madden on the way. I am still undecided as to which console to buy first (clearly i ent limitiing myself to just 1) but i would feel alot better about the 360 if they would get those new chips installed pronto!
GRAW2: exclusive maps only stay exclusive for a few months then everyone can get em, it sucks imo. Story in GRAW2 kinda not important since basically you looking at a war.. i mean, the story will be the war more than anything else. I seriously doubt you gonna miss anything by not playing the first one, in fact, i think as a new player you might be better off playing only the second one and totally ignoring the first. I say this because from what i have read, not many significant improvements were made (not many were needed) so just grab a copy of the second one.. of course the fact that you gettign PS3 versio nmeans yo uhave to wait soo, hard luck.
Wiimote video: call me impressed... simply impressed.
Xbox 360 to get HDMI port
Premium bond
By Wily Ferret: Thursday 09 August 2007, 08:55
MICROSOFT HAS confirmed that it is including HDMI outputs on its Xbox 360 Premium consoles, in a move designed to win back hardcore gamers and video enthusiasts.
HDMI, the prevailing consumer standard for digital video and audio in HD, was already included on the Xbox 360 Elite console, a minor upgrade to the 360 which, aside from being a sleek black, also includes a larger hard drive.
Now the port will also appear on Premium consoles, thus allowing gamers to avoid having to tackle the awkward 360 video cable - and providing direct competition to the PS3.
HDMI is a proprietary standard, and Microsoft is having to pay a buck or so to the HDMI conglomerate which, ironically, includes Sony. Microsoft, along with Intel and other PC component makers, has been working on a copycat port dubbed Universal Display Port, which is basically exactly the same thing but made as a royalty-free standard.
It might be too late for consumer electronics, but PC players are still hoping to avoid paying too much to the CE companies on the back of HDMI's success.
In the meantime, gamers picking up Xbox 360 consoles made after July should find a funky little port waiting for them on the back of their console. Isn't life exciting? µ
It would appear that the purported 65nm "Falcon" motherboard has yet to make it into storesSlowly I may get a 360.... Microsoft seems to be fixing the problems now...
UK, August 30, 2007 - Peter Griffin and the rest of his dysfunctional family are set to make their debut on the Xbox Live Marketplace, thanks to a deal between Microsoft and 20th Century Fox. Initially, that means the first two seasons will be available for download from September 3.
LOL i jealous i know i gettin this game what u doin postin though? go kill them B*tches lol!jealousy x 2 :angry:
halo 3 >>>>>>>>>>>>> COD 4
kthxbai. every control scheme for FPS for the XBOX follows the Halo control scheme. That is when you set the standard. 2 set the standard, 3 will as well. Despite what people say, despite all the qq and bullkaka talk...the game was #1 on XBOX live for almost 3 years STRAIGHT for a reason.
When 3 is out....EVERY MAN jumping the f*ck off COD for HALO 3....when COD 4 come out it will be BIG....yea they will be online playin.....but it eh countering the big boy fellah. Its like when Rainbow Six came out after GoW....it was REAL SWEET....but it eh countering GoW.
Redlum...if you go on HALO 2 when it was #1 how long you had to wait for a match room to fill? 10 seconds? 5? instant game fada.. And this is all kinda 3 in the morning.
Halo 3 ending cutscene anyone???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_vW6RHy8FM
Theapprentice .. teh heretic
WE MUST ATTACK TEH HERETIC WITH FULL FORCE!!!!!!!!!/me equips bfg (big forkin stick) and whaps some cents on apprentice :D
:violent5: :protest: :ph34r: :lol: :mellow:
/me gives apprentices panties a wedgie :D
OK sorry i dont have any info on this but i saw it on G4 earlier and i just had to say there are many good games on xbox360 but only this one makes me jelous i dont have one yet lol. What is it? the new pacman now dont go thinkin oh damn another 3d pacman remake of pacman. No its a brand new pacman with 2d graphics that somehow manages to look amazing, its amazing how good it looks while keeping the classic pacman style. Its available on Xbox arcade and i would be happy to pay for it if it were to ever come to ps3.
Seems like you Halo 3 people damn near 'broke' Xbox Live (http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/09/26/master-chief-breaks-xbox-live/).
P.S. how come we haven't heard a peep from the PS3 fanboys recently?? Hmmmm....Awfully quiet on the PS3 side of the fence... :mellow:
QuoteP.S. how come we haven't heard a peep from the PS3 fanboys recently?? Hmmmm....Awfully quiet on the PS3 side of the fence... :mellow:
probably watching their metal gear trailers over and over
allyuh rel sad eh.....
*sigh*
It seems that the 65 nm 'Xenon' CPU (http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/14674/New-Xbox-360-Innards-Spotted-Have-65nm-CPUs-Arrived/) boxes have arrived. Great, so all of you who were 'brakesing' from buying a 360, can now take along hard look at it.
I wonder if there's a way to tell on the box if you've got one.
Wow this is really good news, question though, for systems that have RROD'd and are under warranty, will they replace the Processor with one of the new ones?
Gimme sum chakra ppl allyuh stingy or sumtin :lol: why my gamertag not displayin?
Bungie, Microsoft part company
The Halo slips, according to leaked email
By Jesse Denzin-Weber: Tuesday, 02 October 2007, 10:49 PM
Falk AdSolution
THE RUMOUR MILL is spinning again after a Seattle Post-Intelligence reader posted an email received from a friend of a higher-up, stating that the creator of the massively popular Xbox series Halo, Bungie, has separated from Microsoft.
The email states Microsoft gets to keep all rights to the ‘Halo’ franchise and says the official announcement won’t be released until October 6th, so as to not impact the quarterly results.
Bungie was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, where it gained exclusive publishing and distribution rights to select Bungie-developed titles, including Halo. Microsoft has denied the split saying, “There’s been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is ‘Halo 3.’”
According to the email Microsoft was interfering with various aspects of Bungie’s business. It claims Voles were fiddling in everything Bungie did, from marketing to public relations. According to the email, Microsoft was also “stingy” with profits.
Whether the email is genuine or not remains to be seen.
Wouldn't this be interesting....QuoteBungie, Microsoft part company
The Halo slips, according to leaked email
By Jesse Denzin-Weber: Tuesday, 02 October 2007, 10:49 PM
Falk AdSolution
THE RUMOUR MILL is spinning again after a Seattle Post-Intelligence reader posted an email received from a friend of a higher-up, stating that the creator of the massively popular Xbox series Halo, Bungie, has separated from Microsoft.
The email states Microsoft gets to keep all rights to the ‘Halo’ franchise and says the official announcement won’t be released until October 6th, so as to not impact the quarterly results.
Bungie was acquired by Microsoft in 2000, where it gained exclusive publishing and distribution rights to select Bungie-developed titles, including Halo. Microsoft has denied the split saying, “There’s been no such announcement. We continue to celebrate the tremendous success of the global phenomenon that is ‘Halo 3.’”
According to the email Microsoft was interfering with various aspects of Bungie’s business. It claims Voles were fiddling in everything Bungie did, from marketing to public relations. According to the email, Microsoft was also “stingy” with profits.
Whether the email is genuine or not remains to be seen.
Oh hell yes. I've been using my Republic Bank credit card to pay for Xbox Live since January.
Oh hell yes. I've been using my Republic Bank credit card to pay for Xbox Live since January.
u can buy a ONE YEAR XBOX LIVE card too.
Microsoft confirms Bungie jump
Natural selection
By Paul Hales: Friday, 05 October 2007, 4:41 PM
MICROSOFT confessed today that Bungie had done a bunk.
We reported that Bungie and the Vole had fallen out. Now, Microsoft has spun the line that the relationship is to "evolve".
It spun: "Bungie Studios, developer of the Halo franchise, is to "embark on a path to become an independent company."
The Vole says it will retain an equity interest in Bungie and no doubt expect more from what it calls the “Halo intellectual property" which it claims it owns, "as well as other future properties developed by Bungie".
"While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe" said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios
A spokesBungie said the firm will continue to develop, "with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms."
"We greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through 'Halo' and beyond," he said. µ
And so it came to passQuoteMicrosoft confirms Bungie jump
Natural selection
By Paul Hales: Friday, 05 October 2007, 4:41 PM
MICROSOFT confessed today that Bungie had done a bunk.
We reported that Bungie and the Vole had fallen out. Now, Microsoft has spun the line that the relationship is to "evolve".
It spun: "Bungie Studios, developer of the Halo franchise, is to "embark on a path to become an independent company."
The Vole says it will retain an equity interest in Bungie and no doubt expect more from what it calls the “Halo intellectual property" which it claims it owns, "as well as other future properties developed by Bungie".
"While we are supporting Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our ‘Halo’ entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the ‘Halo’ universe" said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios
A spokesBungie said the firm will continue to develop, "with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms."
"We greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through 'Halo' and beyond," he said. µ
Hey W1n I think at least one of the two 360's will be delivered today, none was home yesterday apparently and UPS tried to deliver, so I will soon find out.GG... lemme know
Halo 3 earned $300 million in a week
More punters than you can poke a stick at
By Nick Farrell: Friday, 05 October 2007, 7:44 AM
MICROSOFT has managed to flog $300 million worth of Halo 3 copies in its first week of sales.
The Xbox360 game is now officially the fastest-selling video game ever and managed to raise enough cash to knock spots of other forms of entertainment.
Vole must be patting itself on its furry back, because despite having a year of Xbox360s dying fairly often, the outfit has managed to flog some of the years top games including BioShock, Mass Effect and Project Gotham Racing 4.
According to xbox360achievements.org, more than 2.7 million gamers have played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first week which is about a third of the seven million Xbox Live members worldwide.
So far they have played 40 million hours of the game. The outside world has become a distant memory along with any dreams of a date with the opposite sex. µ
Theapprentice .. teh heretic
WE MUST ATTACK TEH HERETIC WITH FULL FORCE!!!!!!!!!
Kaizen equips bfg (big forkin s tick) and whaps some cents on apprentice :D
:violent5: :protest: :ph34r: :lol: :mellow:
/me gives apprentices panties a wedgie :D
Theapprentice .. teh heretic
WE MUST ATTACK TEH HERETIC WITH FULL FORCE!!!!!!!!!
Kaizen equips bfg (big forkin s tick) and whaps some cents on apprentice :D
:violent5: :protest: :ph34r: :lol: :mellow:
/me gives apprentices panties a wedgie :D
Just skippin through and I don't know why I picked up on that sorry
Err...thinkin of gettin a 360 after I see the orange box
What the FRAK!!? (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/826/826261p1.html)
Is this cool or what!?
Err...thinkin of gettin a 360 after I see the orange box
Err...thinkin of gettin a 360 after I see the orange box
FYI ... you can get the orange box for PC as well.
Err...thinkin of gettin a 360 after I see the orange box
FYI ... you can get the orange box for PC as well.
Also on PS3 as well :P
u can buy a ONE YEAR XBOX LIVE card too.
Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba Corp. this week denied working on a version of Microsoft Xbox 360 game console with built-in HD DVD drive. Nonetheless, the fact that such rumours have been surfacing regularly for about two years now, it may eventually turn out that there is no smoke without fire.
“An Xbox with a built in HD DVD drive is critical. They and we are working on it. It also has to be more than a gaming machine. Microsoft recognizes this. A version of the device may also be sold under the Toshiba brand name,” an anonymous representative for Toshiba is reported to have said by Smarthouse web-site.
For the first time a rumour in regards HD DVD-equipped Microsoft Xbox 360 game console emerged in mid-December, 2005; the second time that the device emerged on horizon was in July, 2006, when Mark Whittard of Toshiba said that it was possible for Microsoft to develop a flavour of Xbox 360 with HD DVD drive inside; the third time when rumours about the product surfaced on a Taiwan-based web-site in September, 2006, with claims that Microsoft started development work on the device. Finally, Microsoft tipped a “new” HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 in September, 2007, but then retracted the claim.
The rumours today include possibilities to release a version of Xbox 360 game console that would rival an anticipated media center flavour of Sony PlayStation 3 and would feature a TV-tuner and new multimedia software besides HD DVD drive incorporated inside.
“Toshiba has no comment to make on this matter. The Xbox 360 is not a Toshiba product,” a spokesman for Toshiba UK is reported to have said by Stuff.tv web-site. Microsoft reportedly also denied the possibility.
While Microsoft can enable future customers with capability to view HD DVD, the game machine itself is unlikely to benefit from that, as games for the console are expected to be oriented on typical Xbox 360 devices that only support typical DVDs. On the other hand, if Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s PlayStation 3 with built-in Blu-ray drive starts to outsell the Xbox 360 in the USA and Europe, Microsoft will have to seriously consider adding HD DVD drive or cutting the cost of its Xbox 360.
For those in the US ... Best Buy has a deal on the HD-DVD player for 360. You get the following:
HD-DVD player
Media remote
King Kong HD-DVD
5 free HD-DVD (mail-in offer, choose from a list)
2 free HD-DVD (choose any from store, must be less than $34.99 each)
AND
Heroes Season 1 HD-DVD
This deal is only good this week. Did I mention that you get all this for $179? I'll be heading over there at lunch today.
Let me say this right here and now (ahem):
ACE COMBAT 6 IS A BOSSSS GAME!!!
All Xbox owners need to have this game running in their system (even if is a borrow) at some point.
Yes its that good, and I haven't even touched the online multiplayer yet.
Microsoft censors Xbox 360
For the good of the children
By Nick Farrell: Thursday, 08 November 2007, 10:03 AM
SOFTWARE titan, Microsoft has decided that parents need to take more control over their kid's use of its games console.
A new feature is being added to the Xbox 360 includes a limit to the amount of time children can play.
The big idea is to make the console more attractive to parents who love torturing their children with autocratic and dictatorial controls under the guise of preservation. This is a big market across the pond.
Volish researchers found that 90 percent of parents had some restrictions on video gaming, with half of those being limits on playing time.
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division said that as the Xbox 360's customer base broadens, more punters demand to be censored.
The new function is similar to one installed in Windows Vista which is designed to stop adults wasting all their day searching for porn. The new timer can be set to limit playing time on a daily or weekly basis.
It is optional and any child who doesn't want the parental controls used would be adviced not to tell their parent or guardian they are there or should hide the instruction manual.
Very disheartening news....
You'd think after 2 years Microsoft would have perfected their hardware and solved the unusually high failure rate...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JEsNuuvCU8
Thats the new rumoured RRoD on the falcon chip 360's :(
Thats the new rumoured RRoD on the falcon chip 360's :(
people that own a Wii and PS3 only and have never been online until you have bought these consoles.....fellas you REALLy eh know what online is. seriously......PC doh even qualify wrt to online matchmaking and such. I was on Warhawk the other day and i HATE the PC style setup
in LIVE you go on......it setsup a match based on your skill and ability. None of this "drop me into a game juss so" scenario....Although dont mind that i HATE the "log in and then you get kicked" because of some FAT ASS who feel he worth more than SPIT hosting a game decide to kick you from that game.
stop looking at this bogus garbage you read on forums and on gamenews sites. Full of S H I T. get a 360 and feel online the way its supposed to be.....end of mc story.
on another note. PS3 is starting to do it well....and i like that. The update is a step in the right direction.
Wii.....fellas....i have the 3 consoles and that system just collecting DUST.....Redlum go agree with me too, he have one....same thing. When they build a better interface to accomodate age and certain restrictions ill deal Wii. Somethign CAN be done, a password system (like in cable channels) or SOMEthing...but this friend code shit just NOT working hoss.
yuh know what. IIIIIIIII go design a MC interface and pitch it to Nintendo..watch......*grumbles under his breath* mc nintendo sticking man...they could rule the world!
Wii.....fellas....i have the 3 consoles and that system just collecting DUST.....Redlum go agree with me too, he have one....same thing. When they build a better interface to accomodate age and certain restrictions ill deal Wii. Somethign CAN be done, a password system (like in cable channels) or SOMEthing...but this friend code shit just NOT working hoss.
i know online play er...'revoltionizes' games, but dat all allyuh could talk bout, online, online, online, a true gamer looks at all the aspects of a game, including STORY mode, not just online, yuh do realise that ppl love to talk bout online play wedder it good or not, think about that for a moment ^_^
first of....as a former game reviewer......generally speaking a game reviewer doesnt know their head from their ass bout a game and why a game is "good" or "not good"
Its a matter of opinion as a game reviewer. MANY times have we played games reviewers thought we terrible and we thought were great.
I remember one reviewer from Gamepro once said he didnt like Jet Set Radio because he is Brittish and didnt like the music.....wtf.
Another thing to note and to get back to my point. You dont rate graphics separately from everything else. You dont say....okay graphics, check....gameplay, check.....storyline, check. These are not independent of each other. A game is created with EVERYTHING in mind. and a GOOD game has the factors to QUANTIFY why they have those implimentations.
a simple game like Brain Age for the DS does not have stellar graphics, and no doubt you could have implemented features that USE stellar graphics. This was not the POINT of the game, the point was GAMEPLAY. It has NO story, its just progress per se and it develops as you do. Using simple dependency features you progress.
To answer your question, NO i would not say a game is crap because graphics are "ordinairy" but then it DEPENDS ON THE GAME.
again.....FPS games MUST have top of the line graphics MOST of the time to be good. This is one of the FOCAL features of a FPS game, its VISUAL presentation.
However playing a game like say.....Wii Sports the graphics are very simplistic but that is not the INTENTION of the game. It focuses on gameplay more than graphics.
I remember a person once said he didnt like Resident Evil 4 (in a preview article i read on Gamasutra.com) because RE is about zombies and these people were not. So they didnt like it. However the story was good, the graphics were great the gameplay was great...so why that? its because he was thinking INDEPENDENTLY of the features of the game.
Sure it SHOULD have zombies because its called RE...but then if you want to nitpick like some of these reviewers do you can say well its Umbrella, they deal in bioweapon warfare and this is another exerpt of that bioweapon warfare, or WHATEVER you can MAKE something up. the POINT is that no one CARES if its zombies or not.......shit trying to kill you, its intense, its fun, it has a compelling storyline and alot of people liked it .....sales and the multiple iterations of it speak for itself.
Bottom line.....you judge graphics, gameplay, storyline, multiplayer and such wrt the genre of game and its presentation. not just by themselves.
Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan
Gaming round-up 65nm PS3s seen in wild
By Dean Pullen: Monday, 12 November 2007, 10:48 AM
INCREDIBLY, THE Xbox 360 outsold the Playstation 3 in Japan last week.
The Xbox 360 sold 17,673 fueled by Namco Bandai's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which debuted at the number two spot behind Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii.
The PS3 sold only 17,434 units a slight 200 unit separation, but a significant increase over previous sales.
At least the PS3 is catching up in the development stakes - Call of Duty 4 is reported to be strikingly similar on both platforms, with Joystiq providing videos to prove the similarities.
Things were a little different this year. For their second Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update, Microsoft decided to trickle the features out instead of dropping them on us all at once. Around Halloween, we realized things were awful quiet, so we asked you what you wanted to see in the Fall Update. On November 7, Microsoft kicked things off by announcing the Parental Timer, a feature we're certain you're all eager to try out. They followed that up on November 13 by confirming Xbox Originals, downloadable Xbox 1 games for your 360. On the 26th, they spilled the beans on the social-networky "Friends of Friends" feature, ostensibly to give paranoid folks some time to disable the functionality (which they can do here). Capping it all off a day later, MS Japan dropped some info, notably the ability to set your real name (your real name is xXsmokezmadbluntz420Xx?), your location, and a brief bio – more of that social networking stuff the kids are crazy about.
Finally, after what seemed an interminable wait, Microsoft was ready to let us in on the big picture. We spoke with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg about next Tuesday's update and what was still in store. "There are three different categories that speak to a majority of the updates," Greenberg told us.
I do not have a supporting link for this but i just saw on G4 that the Naruto game for the Wii has Xbox Live support that anime fans have alwaysb een craving. Ubisoft is allowing players to play the entire game with all the voices in Japanese by the anime's original cast!
Now if only they could add some morep layable characters for the MP.
But if u read d xbox live terms of agreements or rules dey say if u do so u cud get banned.well you can read it and believe that. You will not get banned. Put in your auntie US addy or something....anyone you know that would allow you to use their US addy. I used my OLD university addy in Canada that I left ages ago...and NOTHING happened. Its fine :)
The BBC News had a sit down with Bill Gates at CES recently and instead of asking him their own questions, they asked him their viewers.
We've had a lot of questions from people who weren't really happy with the kind of service they've been getting from Xbox in the last few years... What are you going to do to ensure that new consoles are more reliable than previous versions?
Well we certainly had to apologize to our uses about a number of box that had to be replaced. We did that for free for all of those people, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it. We've got incredible reliability on the new work we've done. Our commitment is that it will be the most reliable video game box out there. People really love the Xbox because of the content, but we've got to make sure that the hardware never stands in the way of that.
Later in the interview he was asked about Vista and the possibility of releasing a version that would be no-frills, but still support game playing.
Don't know if this is d right subject area to post this, but i ned help. I keep getting a moderate NAT setting with live. I'm on blink with one of those tstt Paradyne modems. Does anyone know how to set this modem up to give me an open NAT?
The manufacturing test equipment had major gaps in test coverage and wasn't reliable or repeatable. Manufacturing processes at all levels of suppliers were immature and not in control. Initial end to end yields were in the mid 30%. Low yields always indicate serious design and manufacturing defects. Management chose to continue to ship anyways, and keep the lines running while trying to solve problems and bring the yields up. Whenever something failed and there was a question about whether the test result was false, they would remove that test, retest and ship, or see if the unit would boot a game and run briefly and then ship. 360 is too complex of a machine to get away with that.
Metcalf's source also cites the lack of a sufficiently staffed and skilled engineering team causing problems that could have been easily avoided had proper funding been given to the project.
The main design flaw was the excessive heat on the GPU warping the mother board around it. This would stress the solder joints on the GPU and any bad joints would then fail in early life.Hit the link below to read the whole story on what could possibly be one of the most ridiculous instances of big-business ineptitude in the history of the gaming industry.
The Xbox 360 Elite laptop
I was pretty impressed by this even though I don't own an xbox. Sweet mod!!
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/04/the-xbox-360-elite-laptop-ben-heck-strikes-again/
If ur talkin bout d VGA cable, it wont work on laptops as laptops are input only (or is it output?). Either way it wont work tried it already
it wont work like that Rten
I used to use the cable from my 360 to the montior but the way this guy has it is different
it isnt just a 360 running off a laptop but a 360 housed in a laptop case.
OHHH like that, I posted about this MONTHS AGO... geez
yuh knowLMAO fuh real!!!
if that was on the Wii.....i feel it go be fun.
imagine man bowlin in he livin room knockin down light and juice from he padna hand an ting.
madness.
RROD prone consoles.Well if it make you feel better mine was made 28 of july
I feel sad tonight as I found out that my console missed the manufactory date for consoles that are least likely to get RROD buy only 9 days.
I have my warranty still but damn. I'll be away from me system for a while if I get RROD.
The date was 24/08/07. Man this pisses me off. And mine is 19/08/07. :crybaby2: :crybaby2: :crybaby2:.
Well there is still hope for our consoles.
I get two RROD already and my thing ventilated and have modded fans. Anyway http://www.n4g.com/events_gdc2008/News-113561.aspx
Gears 2 ftw! I might repair it again for this and NG2 .. maybe..
We look, and we are hitting the ball out of the park in North America, and I think that there's regions of Europe where we're not doing as well as we'd like to do, and we have room for improvement. Those are renewed areas and key areas of focus for us.
The 360's been out since 2005. Plenty of time to sell plenty of consoles. But just how many have Microsoft actually sold? John Schappert's got the answer: 18 million. And that's worldwide. Well...North America and Britain, mostly. Most other places, including Japan and, more importantly, Sony's European heartland, couldn't give a rat's arse. Which is something Microsoft are both aware of and are trying to turn around:QuoteWe look, and we are hitting the ball out of the park in North America, and I think that there's regions of Europe where we're not doing as well as we'd like to do, and we have room for improvement. Those are renewed areas and key areas of focus for us.
Might want to focus a little harder. If the single biggest gaming market in the world isn't digging your product on the scale Europe ain't digging it, you got problems!
http://kotaku.com/359527/18-million-360s-sold-worldwide
Lite-On builds Blu-ray drives for new Xbox - report
Lite on details
By INQUIRER Newsdesk: Tuesday, 01 April 2008, 9:25 AM
MAKER OF DISC-SPINNERS Lite-On is building Blu-ray Disc-(BD) ROM drives for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes' sources.
Lite-On currently builds DVD drives for the Volish box, but it looks like Microsoft will bite Sony's bullet and move up to Blu-ray, since it can't persuade anyone to make HD-DVD drives any more.
Lite-On will begin shipping drives to Microsoft in the latter half of this year, Digitimes' unverified sources said. They also said the firm has begun shipping the drives already so unless a poisson d'avril has swam under the drawbridge, someone's a bit confused.
The drives headed for Microsoft are for the next-generation Xbox, the 361.
QuoteLite-On builds Blu-ray drives for new Xbox - report
Lite on details
By INQUIRER Newsdesk: Tuesday, 01 April 2008, 9:25 AM
MAKER OF DISC-SPINNERS Lite-On is building Blu-ray Disc-(BD) ROM drives for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, according to Taiwan-based Digitimes' sources.
Lite-On currently builds DVD drives for the Volish box, but it looks like Microsoft will bite Sony's bullet and move up to Blu-ray, since it can't persuade anyone to make HD-DVD drives any more.
Lite-On will begin shipping drives to Microsoft in the latter half of this year, Digitimes' unverified sources said. They also said the firm has begun shipping the drives already so unless a poisson d'avril has swam under the drawbridge, someone's a bit confused.
The drives headed for Microsoft are for the next-generation Xbox, the 361.
Hmm why would anyone buy a PS3 after this?
GTA IV coming out soon and i wont be able to play because of exam YAY!
XBox 360 overhaul come August
BD player, new graphics chip
By Paul Taylor: Monday, 05 May 2008, 10:47 AM
ACCORDING TO KNOW-IT-ALL EDN newspaper in China, Pegatron Technology (bastard offspring of Asustek, in case you’re wondering), has managed to grab the highly-denied “Blu-Ray for Xbox360” deal of the year.
We imagine Microsoft denied the existence of such unit, not to shield its upcoming launch from the competition’s prying marketeers, but rather because its staff were responding in default “mirror” mode whereby hacks that asked the Vole if they had plans for a BD add-on, they received a 100% flat/honest “No”. True. All things considered, it won’t be an add-on.
The newspaper adds that Pegatron will assemble Microsoft’s console with the in-built BD player, with units hitting the market in Q3/2008 – Mid-summer, as it were.
This goes head-on with Dean Takahashi’s info on the Xbox 360 “Jasper” platform that is scheduled for August of this year. We'd already mentioned this platform over here, btw. The Jasper will feature a shrunken 65nm ATI graphics core and “smaller memory chips”. This does make more sense if you’re using the new GPU core to aid you in decoding HD on Blu-ray, too.
So that’s about it, major Xbox 360 platform overhaul coming this summer, with some time to spare for Christmas - Blu-ray, faster graphics and what is likely to be an all-round cooler console – and the thing is assembled by Pegatron Technology.
This Xbox 360 "Ultra" (our word, not the Vole's) should be able to do a bit more than trail the PS3. Should make for an interesting holiday season this year.
Blu-ray not coming. Officially. Until it does.
By Wily Ferret: Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 10:06 AM
IT'S THE RUMOUR that just won't die - Vole is planning to introduce a Blu-ray drive for its Xbox 360 games console in the wake of the death of HD-DVD.
Indeed, we reported news from Taiwan that Asus had even secured order to supply drives, which would ship as part of the 'Jasper' update for the 360 platform later this year.
But, proving that their line is nothing if not persistant, Microsoft has categorically denied that it has any plans to introduce Blu-ray.
Responding to a query from Gamepro, a Microsoft official said that "As we have stated, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360." That's pretty categorical, although the obvious caveat is that there are 'no plans that this particular PR chump knows about'. What J Allard and co get up to in their own time is between consenting adults.
It does seem unlikely that Microsoft can continue to ship honking quantities of 360s in the face of a very obvious one-up from Sony on the features front. Even if the Blu-ray drive does arrive, don't expect it to be standard, and don't expect any games in the format either - Microsoft has far too many standard DVD consoles out their to even think about cheesing off existing owners. µ
GTA4 causes mass manslaughter
Online hotbed of car crime
By Wily Ferret: Friday, 09 May 2008, 11:00 AM
GTA4 INSPIRED more than 2.3 million people to get online with their Xbox 360s over launch weekend, according to stats compiled by Volish Guru Larry Hyrb.
The online console service saw 1m concurrent players at its peak, thanks to GTA's seamless built-in multiplayer experience that allows gamers to set up their matches via the game's mobile phone.
The game has now overtaken perennial favourites such as Halo 3 and Gears of War to become by far the most popular game currently being played online by Xbox users. Indeed, the average gamer spent more than four hours playing the game online in just the first week - not including time spent in the epic single player campaign.
Microsoft staff also revealed that Xbox 360 console sales rose by 54 per cent in the launch week for GTA, as gamers finally persuaded themselves of the need to ditch the old PS2. Some preliminary information (corroborated by Wired here) suggests that GTA was selling in roughly 60/40 quantities favouring the Microsoft console.
Have a look at the numbers for yourself, here (http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2008/05/07/559006.aspx).
First off, new parts coming:
Xbox Jasper 65nm chips all lined up
Between IBM and the Taiwanese
By INQUIRER Newsdesk: Friday, 09 May 2008, 9:26 AM
MICROSOFT has lined up all the chips it needs to build its upcoming Xbox revision named Jasper.
Jasper is due this summer and features chippery shrunk from 90nm to 65.
IBM is supplying 65nm Xenon microprocessors for the box. Now, according to CENS, TSMC is to build 65nm graphics chips and north-bridge chips for its latest version of XBox360 game consoles Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) will do the packaging and Nanya PCB Corp. has a hand in the deal too.
The Chinese wire says Microsoft has booked foundry capacity for some 10,000 300mm wafers at TSMC.
It also says a further Xbox, with integrated GP and CPU and named Valhalla, is set for autumn 2009. (http://Xbox Jasper 65nm chips all lined up
Between IBM and the Taiwanese
By INQUIRER Newsdesk: Friday, 09 May 2008, 9:26 AM
MICROSOFT has lined up all the chips it needs to build its upcoming Xbox revision named Jasper.
Jasper is due this summer and features chippery shrunk from 90nm to 65.
IBM is supplying 65nm Xenon microprocessors for the box. Now, according to CENS, TSMC is to build 65nm graphics chips and north-bridge chips for its latest version of XBox360 game consoles Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) will do the packaging and Nanya PCB Corp. has a hand in the deal too.
The Chinese wire says Microsoft has booked foundry capacity for some 10,000 300mm wafers at TSMC.
It also says a further Xbox, with integrated GP and CPU and named Valhalla, is set for autumn 2009.)
http://cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_23301.html (http://cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_23301.html)
So if you were still somewhat concerned about buying the Red Ring box, after this summer ur fears should completely be laid to rest.
And now GTAQuoteGTA4 causes mass manslaughter
Online hotbed of car crime
By Wily Ferret: Friday, 09 May 2008, 11:00 AM
GTA4 INSPIRED more than 2.3 million people to get online with their Xbox 360s over launch weekend, according to stats compiled by Volish Guru Larry Hyrb.
The online console service saw 1m concurrent players at its peak, thanks to GTA's seamless built-in multiplayer experience that allows gamers to set up their matches via the game's mobile phone.
The game has now overtaken perennial favourites such as Halo 3 and Gears of War to become by far the most popular game currently being played online by Xbox users. Indeed, the average gamer spent more than four hours playing the game online in just the first week - not including time spent in the epic single player campaign.
Microsoft staff also revealed that Xbox 360 console sales rose by 54 per cent in the launch week for GTA, as gamers finally persuaded themselves of the need to ditch the old PS2. Some preliminary information (corroborated by Wired here) suggests that GTA was selling in roughly 60/40 quantities favouring the Microsoft console.
Have a look at the numbers for yourself, here (http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2008/05/07/559006.aspx).
Where are the PS3 fanboys comparative numbers?
Microsoft rants at Sony's broken promiseshttp://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=137829 (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=137829)
Console round-up GTA IV compared
By Dean Pullen: Monday, 12 May 2008, 9:05 AM
BRIGHTON BASED gaming site, Eurogamer, has an in-depth look at the difference between GTA IV on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Though both consoles do a good job, it seems the 360 just pips the PS3 for image quality.
This isn't the only area in which the Xbox has the slight edge - Microsoft has released data claiming the 360 has sold over 60 per cent of the launch week copies of GTA IV.
Xbox 360 Not only has Microsoft won more sales of GTA IV, it also ensured Microsoft sold a bucket load of consoles.
Gamedaily.com reports that 360 sales jumped 125 per cent.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 group product manager Aaron Greenberg has attacked Sony for what he sees as a failure to deliver on promises made by the firm.
"Where are all the other products using and networking with their Cell chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray, as they said, would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?" he said, among a longer rant viewable here.
Gears of War 2 gameplay footage has finally been released, and it's looking as good as we'd hoped.
You have to admit though Sony has caught up alot since the PS3 launch. And in terms of value for money I would say the PS3 has more to offer, weren't there a few articles posted last week saying that GTA 4 is pretty much the same experience on either system
@ redlum
i expressed uncertainty in how long sony will be behind microsoft....for maybe another year or 2.
meaning by an estiamte that sony *might* within a year or 2 break the 1 yr advantage Microsoft has...
of course thats a pretty farfetch'd statement as a year is really really long time...
btw redlum....what games u have on ps3 to date?
that we cud possibly play online etc...
@ redlum
i expressed uncertainty in how long sony will be behind microsoft....for maybe another year or 2.
meaning by an estiamte that sony *might* within a year or 2 break the 1 yr advantage Microsoft has...
of course thats a pretty farfetch'd statement as a year is really really long time...
btw redlum....what games u have on ps3 to date?
that we cud possibly play online etc...
I have UT3, COD 4, Resistance, Motorstorm, haven't gotten any other PS3 games lately due to Gears 2 announcement and spending most of my time sweating Gears on Live with the tons of Trinis on there, especially the GATT folks that are on there. You really should get a 360 Apprentice you will see more online gaming on Live than you do on PS3 anyday...W1nTry, Agokillya, Woodyear, Chinarakinda, Spartan, Shivadee and many more can attest to that. As for a PS3 sweat, when you get a group of 6 or more together then we can organize something, until then is Xbox Live FTW!!!
@ redlum
i expressed uncertainty in how long sony will be behind microsoft....for maybe another year or 2.
meaning by an estiamte that sony *might* within a year or 2 break the 1 yr advantage Microsoft has...
of course thats a pretty farfetch'd statement as a year is really really long time...
btw redlum....what games u have on ps3 to date?
that we cud possibly play online etc...
I have UT3, COD 4, Resistance, Motorstorm, haven't gotten any other PS3 games lately due to Gears 2 announcement and spending most of my time sweating Gears on Live with the tons of Trinis on there, especially the GATT folks that are on there. You really should get a 360 Apprentice you will see more online gaming on Live than you do on PS3 anyday...W1nTry, Agokillya, Woodyear, Chinarakinda, Spartan, Shivadee and many more can attest to that. As for a PS3 sweat, when you get a group of 6 or more together then we can organize something, until then is Xbox Live FTW!!!
in reality i don't XD
Well I do...one person nearby...but then he don't got the broadband hookup so not online :}
and I have 80 + people on my list that are Trinis!crap we reach that high??? damn
wow dam, i've been missing out, i have gears here just collecting dust, i didn't realize that when u all where playing it was a "Trini" group, otherwise i would have joined, i guess now i hadda look out for when u peeps on
The PS3 is still too pricey.
Does MGS have an online multiplayer?
So Metal Gear Solid 4 is out...
Which of you 360 people buying PS3 now? :D
You still jumping in Arc?
Hmmm back to Xbox 360 goodness, so it's only video content available with the release of UT3 on teh 360? or will we get beta goodness like what they did for the Halo 3 beta?
So Metal Gear Solid 4 is out...
Which of you 360 people buying PS3 now? :D
You still jumping in Arc?
So Metal Gear Solid 4 is out...
Which of you 360 people buying PS3 now? :D
You still jumping in Arc?
I will buy a PS3 eventually, it's kind of funny how they are marketing the system now. Saw an ad the other day it included small clips of their exclusives such as MGS, Little Big Planet etc. and then "Only on PS3" hehe
Actually, what I was reffering to is a beta of GEARS OF WAR 2 with with the full release of UT3 for the 360. Similar to what they did with Crackdown. You bought Crackdown and got to play the Halo3 beta before the final game was released. So we are hoping for a similar deal for GOW2 with UT3.
You’d think, by now, that Microsoft would have learned their lesson about being “first” and “quickest” to the market. Their haste to get to the starting line first resulted in a loss of over a billion dollars and a loss of unquantifiable consumer confidence, no matter what the PR spin on the Red Ring of Death fiasco is this week.
It is naive to assume that a 2011 release means Microsoft will make another RRoD-sized blunder with the design. Corporations learn from billion dollar mistakes.
I don’t want another new console to shell out $600 bucks for. Sony has repeatedly said that they plan on having a 10 year life cycle for the PS3 and I applaud them for that. Will Sony ever realize the potential of the PS3? Who knows, but at least one company is sticking to its guns and isn’t out searching for the next big thing.
By 2011, the Xbox 360 will be long in the tooth. Gamers want bigger environments, more detail, shorter loading times and the holy grail - 60 frames per second at 1080p. A PlayStation 3 with 256MB RAM will be hard pressed to stand up to an Xbox 720 with 2GB or more RAM and a GPU with several generations of improvements. Throw in a Forza/Gears of War launch title (and backwards-compatibility with my 360 controllers/steering wheel) and it’s a total must-buy for me and I’m willing to bet it’s the same for many more.
And you’re unlikely to pay $600 for it - the Xbox 360 launched at $299 and $399.
Sure, if the next, next-gen Xbox is launched in 2011 it will be six years from the 360’s launch, but what about people that aren’t early adopters? There’s a lot of us out there that didn’t buy an Xbox 360 until 2006, or 2007, or even more of us out there that still haven’t purchased the console yet. What about us, Microsoft?
That’s consumer electronics in a nutshell - and gamers have it pretty good. Millions of people are spending hundreds of dollars on iPods and mobile phones that are obsolete in less than a year. Your Xbox 360 has some serious legs in comparison.
Do you think the Wii will last longer than 2010? I highly doubt it. (WTF?! Of course it will negative b!tches...)
But everybody with 360 wants metal gears no?
So on behalf of ALL XBOX 360 RROD owners i call Microsoft and CUSS THEY ASS OUT.
Serious.
Instead of sending me a Box to put the 360 in. they send an email with a LABEL to print out. I hadda get my OWN box and......what d @SS is dis.
I called them and said i dont want no email sh!t send me a box and label and everything to send back. They said that they cant do that right now and if I would follow the instructions to print the label and use my own box.
I told them
"I Dont want a f*cking email! I want a coffin for this defective POS you sold me, and I want YOU to fix it in the time you said you would"
They sending a box now :P Geez.....the things you hadda do to get your stuff :(
So on behalf of ALL XBOX 360 RROD owners i call Microsoft and CUSS THEY ASS OUT.
Serious.
Instead of sending me a Box to put the 360 in. they send an email with a LABEL to print out. I hadda get my OWN box and......what d @SS is dis.
I called them and said i dont want no email sh!t send me a box and label and everything to send back. They said that they cant do that right now and if I would follow the instructions to print the label and use my own box.
I told them
"I Dont want a f*cking email! I want a coffin for this defective POS you sold me, and I want YOU to fix it in the time you said you would"
They sending a box now :P Geez.....the things you hadda do to get your stuff :(
I read an unconfirmed rumor that the next dashboard update will support private voice chat for more than two people both in and out of a game.
my word... now to decide which platform to get SF4 on for console..
my word... now to decide which platform to get SF4 on for console..
ps3 of course. d-pad is better
its got the better fighters coming though which is a big part of the decision. ATM PS3 wins in that department. Only thing that would tilt me towards the 360 version is LIVE, but that depends purely on how well the netcode is i.e if they use the GGPO framework that they seem to be using in SFHD.
Paying isn't the issue, netcode is and from what i've read both will be using the same netcode framework which is based on GGPO, but whoever implements it better will probably get my vote. As it stands there isn't a single game on the 360 right now that I want to play.
Paying isn't the issue, netcode is and from what i've read both will be using the same netcode framework which is based on GGPO, but whoever implements it better will probably get my vote. As it stands there isn't a single game on the 360 right now that I want to play.That's like me, there isn't a single game on the PS3 that I want to play >_<
Hmmm...I guess there's nothing for me to buy till 2009 then. :(
Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of any of those titles (well except GoW 2 maybe).
Well keep in mind red, Arc doh sweat online much :p
He's alergic to cut @r$3 LMAO!
Microsft E3 press conference
announced to release this year
1. Fable 2 - October
2. GoW 2 - November
3. The last Remnant (closes you go get to a FF game for now) - December
4. NEW XBOX LIVE dashboard with avatars - Fall
5. Netflix - FREE with GOLD LIVE subscription - Free streaming videos (Redlum go bawl)
6. Portal: Still Alive - Fall this year
7. Fallout 3 - Fall this year with downloadable content.
other stuff mentioning
1. Geometry Wars 2
2. Galaga Legions (YES! a sequel)
Other things to note
Resident Evil 5 announced for March 2009 (black friday)
LAST but not least
Final Fantasy 13: Fabula Nova Crystallis is announced for the 360!....well BOOM!!!!!!
Does everybody have to download the movie, or one person has it and invites people to watch?
8 person chat is great. no more stupid annoying americans.
The new interface looks nice too.
The Q-motions wireless skateboard features an Ollie button for kick flips, jumps, air maneuvers as well as its 8 touch sensors that let you perform all sorts of tricks and maneuvers. The board will retail for $99 at RadioShack come Fall. This is totally a must-have accessory for hard-core fans of the Skate-boarding / surf-boarding genre.
The scheduling of the drop is telling as well. It takes place 1 week after Square Enix's 'Infinite Undiscovery' and 2 weeks before Harmonix/EA's 'Rock Band 2' - both exclusive to the Xbox 360 platform at the time of release and pricedrop (obviously, Rock Band 2 will ship in November for the other platforms).
Price drop on ps3, price drop on 360, where is the wii price drop? lol oh yeah the demand is too great :pPretty much, milk it while it's good I guess. They just BETTER use all that DOSH to make their next gen console blow mind! and not just innovative in gameplay.
Vote XBox 360
Ultimate election gimmick
By Paul Taylor: Wednesday, 27 August 2008, 8:51 AM
STARTING THIS PAST MONDAY, Americans can use their Xbox Live service to register to vote in the upcoming presidentials. The initiative, jointly developed by Microsoft and Rock the Vote is supposed to tap into the 12-million large Xbox Live community and draw the couch potato crowd to participate in the so-called “democratic process”, or something like that.
Rock the Vote is a youth-oriented organisation that mixes pop culture with politics to attract people to politics. RtV had previously premiered on-line and phone voter registration, but doing it on the Xbox 360 sounds so much more avant-garde and cool.
"The Xbox Live community is active, vocal and passionate," gushed Marc Whitten at Xbox Live HQ. It is, especially if they can gather in teams and blow stuff up. Let’s just hope people register with their real names and not their handles. It’d be a bit strange if the odd 20,000 or so players with “MasterChief” in their names were to do that…
The Xbox Live community was compared to being the “seventh largest state in the country”, equivalent to owning about 20 electoral votes – which, of course, it isn’t. 12 million is the total number of Live users worldwide.
La Vole’s console will also be present at both GOP and Democrat conventions where attendees will be able to watch the voter registration system in action. We guess it’ll also let people work off some of that frustration for not coming first in the primaries.
Maybe Hillary will get some satisfaction after all…
I got another RROD, so can anyone say... Microsoft wants me to buy another!
Dude what the hell?You giving me the money to buy it? :p
How many thus far? 2 or 3?
And err.. Wanna give Playstation 3 a chance? :P
so waitNo, MS will replace them for free. You apply for the RMA online and MS will ship you a box with everything required to send it back to them (postage paid). Then in about 2wks to a month you get back a new Xbox with 1 month free Xbox Live Gold. Of course, we're in T&T so I do have the cost of shipping it back to my cousin in NYC first and then getting it back.
when these things rrod you have to buy ah next one? they dont replace it?
oh okSometimes, but that only prolongs it's use. It WILL inevitably die, the towel just gives you a few more days/weeks at best. So fiah, i'll just send the damn thing back. Gotta get it back before GOW2 is out... O_o
and that towel haxx thing doesnt work?
oh okSometimes, but that only prolongs it's use. It WILL inevitably die, the towel just gives you a few more days/weeks at best. So fiah, i'll just send the damn thing back. Gotta get it back before GOW2 is out... O_o
and that towel haxx thing doesnt work?
It's only 200USD in the US... I live in T&T, locally it'd be ALOT more. So even if I bought a new one, I still have to ship it. So looking at it this way:
Replacement = price to ship both ways + Time
New = Price to ship 1 way + 200USD + Less Time
Considering I doh have 200USD sitting around atm, the replacement seems more feasible.
ok console noobs
iam becoming highly interested in an xbox since netflix come on board and prices dropping thanx to economy (go depression yay ^_^)
but i needs some pokedex info on a few things.
iam hardly going to be buying games, i wanna watch real movies off of it but, if i buy a movie from xbl
are the movies in 1080p, whats download rate like and whats teh drm infection like for the files
oh and wat file type are teh movie downloads
the odd thing though is that people actually willing to pay for the content outside of first world territories.There are laws and liabilities that a US Company must go under when opening the market outside of the US. They 'prefer' to stick to a stable market such as the European or Japanese market. These markets can maintain stability with numbers, even in the face of a crisis (eg the recent debt the US country went into and game still selling like crazy, mind you EA Los Angeles is pretty much a hole in the earth now *junkies (not all of them)*).
The smart move would be to offer the content, at least with DRM.
What have they got to lose?
THey end up losing more money by keeping their market restricted.
So simple solution, have a US base in Trinidad and tap into their connection....LOL
Microsoft cracks down on modified Xbox 360s
All your consoles still belong to Vole
By Nick Farrell: Friday, 14 November 2008, 9:10 AM
USERS WHO have modified their Xbox 360s might be finding that the machines they paid for suddenly don’t work.
Microsoft seems to have been searching its Xbox Live subscribers to find those who have dared to improve their Xbox 360 consoles and is pulling the plug on them.
OK the 'improvements' do allow users to play pirated games, but Vole seems to be trying to stop software pirates by clamping down on the hardware that they have actually paid for.
The bans enforced are reported to be permanent, with no method available to contest the decision through Microsoft.
It is the second time that Vole has had a go at purging the mods from its life. The first Night of the Long Knives took place around the Halo 3 launch. This purge appears to be connected to the release of Gears of War 2.
What has freaked the modders is how Vole actually knows their consoles have been modified. On various modder forums, users have claimed that they had made numerous efforts to avoid detection through the use of hardware and software based 'stealth patches'.
A few users claim that they had disconnected their network cables while playing 'backed-up' copies of retail games, but were still switched off.
ic
so microsoft thinks its legal for me to buy their hardware
then they intentionally brick it
right..
yu can do what ever you like to something you purchase
if yu try to sell or resell it, thats different, then your infringing on their copyright and patent
but copy right and patent do not govern usage of purchased goods.
yu can do what ever you like to something you purchaseBy buying a current console you do not purchase it for yourself...only the RIGHTS to use it. This means .....read your license agreement. Microsoft, SOny AND Nintendo can f*ck you over for "vandalism" of their property (ie modifying it)..which you have the license to use but do NOT own. They ALL also reserve the right to BAN your account, and even repossess your system for NO GIVEN REASON. Thats how it is.....dont like it? dont buy it.
if yu try to sell or resell it, thats different, then your infringing on their copyright and patent
but copy right and patent do not govern usage of purchased goods.
Ok Folks, after 3 years running strong, my Xbox 360 has finally given up the fight, it's little heart finally gave out at the hands of an update..RROD on 11/30/08... R.I.P. buddy!
Make room for the new Jasper Elite!!
Ok Folks, after 3 years running strong, my Xbox 360 has finally given up the fight, it's little heart finally gave out at the hands of an update..RROD on 11/30/08... R.I.P. buddy!
Make room for the new Jasper Elite!!
You're luckier than MOST Xbox owners XD. Speaking of which, you now have at least 2 RROD's to return. So you'll have backup XD.
Yeah man it is inevitable, hope the new one lasts :pDONT SAY THAT PLEASE.... :(...Please.
* Opens throttle on Lasko to all *Tell them nah..allyuh noobs who get RROD.....you must pray harder to God.
I aint playin dat nah...
Shug Shugg Shugg Shugg....Choo Chooo.. do you hear it? the RROD train is a chugging LOL. :yay:O M G...You fri&&inn blight....LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWD
Which version of the 360 did you have? I have 2 power supplies sitting in a cupboard. I'll PM you my contact info.
Which version of the 360 did you have? I have 2 power supplies sitting in a cupboard. I'll PM you my contact info.BESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TEll you Prayers=The Answer
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?Aye Silva, just an idea, you mentioned before that your cousin or relative in the states or Canada has access to Live, perhaps have them log in as you and download the maps, then you can log in at home and go to Download History and you should be able to download them again onto your own Xbox..I know it worked for W1nTry, because he did download the maps before his Xbox died and then he was able to download again AFTER the region lock went into place...give it a try if you can..
Yeh i will try it out weith gears one first...but did he do it with Gears 2 or gears 1?Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?Aye Silva, just an idea, you mentioned before that your cousin or relative in the states or Canada has access to Live, perhaps have them log in as you and download the maps, then you can log in at home and go to Download History and you should be able to download them again onto your own Xbox..I know it worked for W1nTry, because he did download the maps before his Xbox died and then he was able to download again AFTER the region lock went into place...give it a try if you can..
Yeh i will try it out weith gears one first...but did he do it with Gears 2 or gears 1?Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?Aye Silva, just an idea, you mentioned before that your cousin or relative in the states or Canada has access to Live, perhaps have them log in as you and download the maps, then you can log in at home and go to Download History and you should be able to download them again onto your own Xbox..I know it worked for W1nTry, because he did download the maps before his Xbox died and then he was able to download again AFTER the region lock went into place...give it a try if you can..
BTW thanks again for the adapter wintry.
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?Aye Silva, just an idea, you mentioned before that your cousin or relative in the states or Canada has access to Live, perhaps have them log in as you and download the maps, then you can log in at home and go to Download History and you should be able to download them again onto your own Xbox..I know it worked for W1nTry, because he did download the maps before his Xbox died and then he was able to download again AFTER the region lock went into place...give it a try if you can..
I need M$ points BAD for the new gow2 maps!!! Anybody willing to lend me some till i cud buy and give you back?the new maps are quite good.
I need M$ points BAD for the new gow2 maps!!! Anybody willing to lend me some till i cud buy and give you back?
IDK if u have points u cud give me the code or somethin...you cant get points like that....when its on your account its there. You're gonna need a gamer card. SHould ask me, i bought some for a couple friends when i came down.
I'll see if i cud get someone away to get points for me
IDK if u have points u cud give me the code or somethin...The only thing i could suggest is that you call JK Entertainment and see if they have any 1600 pnt cards for $175.
I'll see if i cud get someone away to get points for me
Well it happened again, my second 360 died...got it november last year :(At least it made a year XD
Well it happened again, my second 360 died...got it november last year :(
Well it happened again, my second 360 died...got it november last year :(
* holds 360 and handles it nice * :laughing7:
Well it happened again, my second Elite 360 died...got it november last year :(Hi Club RRoD.
Same.....came home and my bro 360 RROD...its 2nd gen 360...about 2007Well mine is 1st gen woohoooo. I got the last in the store that day so im guessing i got the last 1st gen they had... my luck :D
still under warranty.....carrying it back to fix when i head back to Cali
Most of the time to spot a certain console type you gonna have to look at the details written on the box
http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/12/12/how-to-find-a-jasper-xbox-360.aspx
This time I didn't get a red ring, I started getting corrupt graphics and then it stopped outputting to the TV no matter what cables I use. I assume that means a gpu problem?They do not (at least not for free)
I dunno if MS covers that...
I paid like 40% dutyThats what happens when you tell them you have something to declare... tsk tsk woody you should know better! XD
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
dunno if u guys figured out a way yet but i stumbled across this on the net
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
dunno if u guys figured out a way yet but i stumbled across this on the net
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions
hmmmm never thought of dat apprentice check it out an see if it work an tell meh nah, but to b honest do we REALLY NEED the video store???This is true. But you are talking about legalities in two different countries. You know this is catering to the US....no one else really. And renting movies here is so damn easy AND faster than downloading a torrent (unless you have a paid rapidshare account). For the latter being caught doing that could mean either:
there are other ways of obtaining movies its called torrents lol
When I was in trini we used to have blink before we switched to Flow. Blink used to be a nightmare for me to setup a connection.
When I was in trini we used to have blink before we switched to Flow. Blink used to be a nightmare for me to setup a connection.
:( Sucks considering its blink I have.
SF4!!!! I in dat!!
i want them mc fightpads too :P
Proof ? Bought one it RROD on day 2, carried it back got another one.Holy sh!t. I was planning on buying one this year. Now i gotta think 2wice.
Proof ? Bought one it RROD on day 2, carried it back got another one.Holy sh!t. I was planning on buying one this year. Now i gotta think 2wice.
Proof ? Bought one it RROD on day 2, carried it back got another one.
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
dunno if u guys figured out a way yet but i stumbled across this on the net
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions (http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions)
Setup internet connection sharing on the PC e.g. My PC ip: 192.168.1.2
Wintry just to clarify something, the ICS is to be on the VPN connection not the Home Lan so how does setting up ICS using your lan IP going to work. Or did I misunderstand what you were saying?
Setup internet connection sharing on the PC e.g. My PC ip: 192.168.1.2
Wintry just to clarify something, the ICS is to be on the VPN connection not the Home Lan so how does setting up ICS using your lan IP going to work. Or did I misunderstand what you were saying?
Setup internet connection sharing on the PC e.g. My PC ip: 192.168.1.2
Wintry just to clarify something, the ICS is to be on the VPN connection not the Home Lan so how does setting up ICS using your lan IP going to work. Or did I misunderstand what you were saying?
You understand now why I had to ask? Not using a 2nd network card in your PC makes things that
much more complicated. You now have to have a pretty decent understanding of TCP/IP, VPNs, routing,
DNS, etc if you're going to set this up using your existing physical setup.
Hmm see the sad part is I doh have an xbox again lol. It on vaaction in Canada lol. hopingto get it back this year:SAye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
dunno if u guys figured out a way yet but i stumbled across this on the net
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions
I have done it and it WORKS!!! I downloaded UMK3 which was blocked. I did not use Hamachi however, i used another service. :yay:
Ok Here are the details.
I followed the article submitted by Blu Vice. If you can't find it see attachment. The one recommended in the tutorial you had to pay for so i scoured the net for free alternatives.
The instructions are pretty straightforward but I did even less work because i found a trial vpn service which automatically configured and created the vpn connection. http://anonymitynetwork.com/ (Download a trail version here, the file should be vpn_tool.exe) Unfortunately the trial only last 3 hours but I wanted to test the method so this was ok.
Other resources to look into to find Free Vpn service or tool ( I haven't checked these out as yet so if they worked please post back results)
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Steganos-Secure-VPN-Download-73840.html
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/SimonTools_CyberGhost_VPN_53514_p/
Note: I used my laptop which is using wireless to connect to my router. Other pc's were connected to my router via ethernet. This would not affect them and you would not have to disconnect them or do anything otherwise.
Before starting go to whatismyip.com and take note of you IP address.
- Click to start free trial and register at the site, it gave me a password which i retrieved from the email account.
- I entered it back at the site and followed instructions to download the vpn tool.
- I installed it(make sure to choose an ip address of a region you xbox 360 locale is registered to) and the vpn connection was made automatically and appeared in taskbar. Check whatismyip.com to see if you IP address changed
- I then went to Network Connections, right clicked the VPN connection and clicked properties.
- Go to the "Advanced Tab" and enable Internet Connection Sharing. Refer to X-sploit document for screenshots.
- Connect xbox 360 to laptop/desktop via ethernet cable ofcourse (wireless adapter if you have it)
- Check whatismyip.com to make sure you IP has changed
- Put on xbox360 and you're good to go. ( MAKE SURE THAT YOU XBOX 360 NETWORK SETTINGS IN ON AUTOMATIC NOT MANUAL)
Aye peeps..just came ot me as an idea. Im not all that tech inclined so forgive any stupid mistakes or assumptions of mine. Is it possible ot use a program such as hamachi to set up a VPN to give yourself a US ip address to download the gears 2 maps?
dunno if u guys figured out a way yet but i stumbled across this on the net
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/get-around-xbox-lives-ip-restrictions
I have done it and it WORKS!!! I downloaded UMK3 which was blocked. I did not use Hamachi however, i used another service. :yay:
Ok Here are the details.
I followed the article submitted by Blu Vice. If you can't find it see attachment. The one recommended in the tutorial you had to pay for so i scoured the net for free alternatives.
The instructions are pretty straightforward but I did even less work because i found a trial vpn service which automatically configured and created the vpn connection. http://anonymitynetwork.com/ (Download a trail version here, the file should be vpn_tool.exe) Unfortunately the trial only last 3 hours but I wanted to test the method so this was ok.
Other resources to look into to find Free Vpn service or tool ( I haven't checked these out as yet so if they worked please post back results)
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Steganos-Secure-VPN-Download-73840.html
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/SimonTools_CyberGhost_VPN_53514_p/
Note: I used my laptop which is using wireless to connect to my router. Other pc's were connected to my router via ethernet. This would not affect them and you would not have to disconnect them or do anything otherwise.
Before starting go to whatismyip.com and take note of you IP address.
- Click to start free trial and register at the site, it gave me a password which i retrieved from the email account.
- I entered it back at the site and followed instructions to download the vpn tool.
- I installed it(make sure to choose an ip address of a region you xbox 360 locale is registered to) and the vpn connection was made automatically and appeared in taskbar. Check whatismyip.com to see if you IP address changed
- I then went to Network Connections, right clicked the VPN connection and clicked properties.
- Go to the "Advanced Tab" and enable Internet Connection Sharing. Refer to X-sploit document for screenshots.
- Connect xbox 360 to laptop/desktop via ethernet cable ofcourse (wireless adapter if you have it)
- Check whatismyip.com to make sure you IP has changed
- Put on xbox360 and you're good to go. ( MAKE SURE THAT YOU XBOX 360 NETWORK SETTINGS IN ON AUTOMATIC NOT MANUAL)
* Yet again, Arcman feels compelled to hold his Xbox 360, and 'handle it nice' *
Well I got the RROD so i'll be offline 4 awhile. I might try the towel trick, but i might not...
As yuh talk online sweat dey Red. I now have ALL the GOW2 maps.
So when is de next sweat?
I wonder if anyone go be selling WaW used anytime soon, maybe I can get in on the action lol
Microsoft has launched a new web tool which you can take your avatar, backdrops, props, text and more to make interesting pictures which can be use in a wide variety of places.
Plus you can import your own backgrounds to add yourself in front of a scene like a mountain, or your favorite porn star.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/avatars/freeyouravatar/default.htm
Be thankful some of you little boys' parents can even afford Xboxes and PS3s and Blink/Flow internets while you're STILL IN SCHOOL.
Some of us actually had to 'work' for those things.
Played it a long while ago as the demo was out in Japan. Didn't like it at all, seems to copy Ninja Gaiden and GOW shamelessly.I liked it so far. Dont care if its a copy, just care if its fun.
Be thankful some of you little boys' parents can even afford Xboxes and PS3s and Blink/Flow internets while you're STILL IN SCHOOL.
Some of us actually had to 'work' for those things.
Be thankful some of you little boys' parents can even afford Xboxes and PS3s and Blink/Flow internets while you're STILL IN SCHOOL.
Some of us actually had to 'work' for those things.
You daaaaaaaaamn right.
i remember having to give a guy 10 packs of split channa to borrow a copy of super C for the weekend
I couldn't even own a PC, or a console until I was a big, workin man, so it really irks me to see some lil boys on these forums b!#ching about how they 'hate [--insert brand name here---]' and the like.Sorry for double post but just caught my eye is it just me or u making reference to me?
Just study your BOOKS, and when YOU actually have to pay hard earned money (that YOU worked for)
for something, THEN complain all you want. :)
Until then...don't make us have to read that drivel.
I couldn't even own a PC, or a console until I was a big, workin man, so it really irks me to see some lil boys on these forums b!#ching about how they 'hate [--insert brand name here---]' and the like.Sorry for double post but just caught my eye is it just me or u making reference to me?
Just study your BOOKS, and when YOU actually have to pay hard earned money (that YOU worked for)
for something, THEN complain all you want. :)
Until then...don't make us have to read that drivel.
If it is I hope i know I WORKED for my money to buy my first console. Grocery...Optometrist etc
So if it still 'irking' you daz ur business but for now please dont assume cuz being the "grown-up" you are you should know the a$$ of u n me saying by now.
If it wasnt well w/e scene l8r
blu_vice, you must not believe everything you read on the internet. lol
because I type "I am really obama" doesn't mean it is true.
For all we know silvaback is a 13 year old unemployed russian kid with a penchant for causing trouble in cyberspace.
back to more important matters, looking for a count of street fighter men. Who has it on their xbox 360?
blu_vice, you must not believe everything you read on the internet. lol
because I type "I am really obama" doesn't mean it is true.
For all we know silvaback is a 13 year old unemployed russian kid with a penchant for causing trouble in cyberspace.
back to more important matters, looking for a count of street fighter men. Who has it on their xbox 360?
sigh.... Gears 2 eh?? .... best used for killin mosquitoes and flies.. i don't see much use beyond tht :(.... a pile ah toots.Hey seraph, to be fair, the single player campaign is much better than the 1st installment... now if they'd just merge the 1st game's multiplayer with the 2nd game's additional gameplay, we'd have a winner XD
Don't buy MS/PSN points cards on Amazon. You end up spending much more than what they're worth to buy and ship.
here's some more info on it
http://www.amazon.com/gp/swvgdtt/help/online-codes-help.html/ref=dsvrt_hiwocxl_help_learn (http://www.amazon.com/gp/swvgdtt/help/online-codes-help.html/ref=dsvrt_hiwocxl_help_learn)
Guys I should be back sumtime early May, so all ah allyuh could stop crying now k? LOL!
You may have seen stories going around lately about a supposed "E74" error that seemed to be on the rise among Xbox 360 owners. Apparently this sort of error has been going on for awhile now, but since it wasn't the famed "red ring" error, it was subject to the standard, shorter warranty, and not the three-year extension offered to red rings.
Apparently Microsoft did a bit of research into the situation--or saw that there was mounting pressure online about the frequency of these new E74 errors--and decided to do something about it. Today, the company announced that E74 is now covered by the same extended warranty that covers the old red ring hardware failures. Why? Because the E74 error can supposedly be triggered by the same general hardware failure that causes the rings. Whoops.
The good news is that anyone who has previously paid for repairs on an Xbox 360 that had gone E74 will be reimbursed. More details are available directly from Microsoft.
Hmm... there is no money in cure only treatment... wait no... that's pharmaceutical... oh wait... it's prolly the same here XD
so I am going to buy an arcade edition 360 @ $199USD.
I'm getting a HD for free from a friend of mine who has 2 (his first 360 got RROD and he just ended up buying another).
AS for games, I'm thinking i have high speed net now so i might as well invest in Live capable games.
Gears of War 2, Street Fighter 4.... and maybe a racing title, both Forza 2 and Burnout Paradise are on sale for around $20usd on amazon, any suggestions as to which of the 2 i should grab?
so I am going to buy an arcade edition 360 @ $199USD.
I'm getting a HD for free from a friend of mine who has 2 (his first 360 got RROD and he just ended up buying another).
AS for games, I'm thinking i have high speed net now so i might as well invest in Live capable games.
Gears of War 2, Street Fighter 4.... and maybe a racing title, both Forza 2 and Burnout Paradise are on sale for around $20usd on amazon, any suggestions as to which of the 2 i should grab?
I believe Burnout Paradise might be more worthwhile as a couple people on here have it..Foz, Agokillya?
yeah shivadee had mentioned the DLC to me a while back, i hear it includes some cool vehicles. I was a fan of the first Forza btw.
I actually played a bit of Midnight Club LA recently and i thought it was pretty cool, i like the open environments.
Next question is, what about headsets... should i stick with the microsoft one or by like a plantronics or something?
Trinidad and 'reasonable price' is an oxymoron. You wont find a new Xbox 360 for anything close to resonable
in this place. Better to import it yourself. Even with all freight/Customs charges, it will still be less than what
most stores would charge for it here. If you can get someone coming in to bring it for you, even better.
I refuse to buy a console in Trinidad because of the ridiculous pricing.
Trinidad and 'reasonable price' is an oxymoron. You wont find a new Xbox 360 for anything close to resonable
in this place. Better to import it yourself. Even with all freight/Customs charges, it will still be less than what
most stores would charge for it here. If you can get someone coming in to bring it for you, even better.
I refuse to buy a console in Trinidad because of the ridiculous pricing.
40% of the value so a $200 US 360 should have $80 US or so in duties.280US aint bad at all na 360 immc lol
I paid 40% when I brought in my old Elite...
saw an elite bundle ( resident evil ) for 4000 yesterday, btw.
Trinidad and 'reasonable price' is an oxymoron. You wont find a new Xbox 360 for anything close to resonable
in this place. Better to import it yourself. Even with all freight/Customs charges, it will still be less than what
most stores would charge for it here. If you can get someone coming in to bring it for you, even better.
I refuse to buy a console in Trinidad because of the ridiculous pricing.
http://www.sheltechelectronics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2 (http://www.sheltechelectronics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2)
note d orginal price eh cuz it hav 15% OFF sale (dunno if da still goin on hadda check wen i pass monday)
d normal price is around 3100, if d discount still on better act now
U giving urself an early Christmas gift or what lol.
I wouldn't say you can't get a console locally @ a good price. I bought all of my consoles from JK, granted I know the owner personally but still, the pricing wasn't that bad and I liked the peace of mind knowing if anything went wrong, could send it back to him for warranty/repair.
Agreed, I could have saved a few dollars doing the import but not enough to offset the peace of mind of local support.
Even bought my recent ps3/sf4 from them.
http://www.sheltechelectronics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2 (http://www.sheltechelectronics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2)
note d orginal price eh cuz it hav 15% OFF sale (dunno if da still goin on hadda check wen i pass monday)
d normal price is around 3100, if d discount still on better act now
I wouldn't say you can't get a console locally @ a good price. I bought all of my consoles from JK, granted I know the owner personally but still, the pricing wasn't that bad and I liked the peace of mind knowing if anything went wrong, could send it back to him for warranty/repair.
Agreed, I could have saved a few dollars doing the import but not enough to offset the peace of mind of local support.
Even bought my recent ps3/sf4 from them.
...and that my good chap is the key part of your statement there.
'Fyah bun' as they say, ALL local merchants when it comes to purchasing a console.
I want to think they feel there's no other way to buy a console. Well f@#k em.
My PS3 is a bess media center that can play games too :)My Xbox is a bess console that is also a media center XD.
Lol I not against anything, will most likely be on meh 4th 360 by christmas :sice cold if u ask me
The online for PS3 not so hot man. But yeah I wondering if I can put my RROD concerns at ease...
I think its the more mature gaming platform.
You get what you pay for and PSN is??? cost what??? right....
Yuh miss de message there, more mature as in XBL has been around longer than PSN and as such MS has developed a stable, powerful platform for multiplayer.I think its the more mature gaming platform.
really? more mature? XBL? lol
not wit d kids/jackasses who does b on there
Again this references the previous point, you're not paying simply for the features, you're paying for the maintainance of solid servers and supporting hardware that make the XBL experience better than PSN atm.You get what you pay for and PSN is??? cost what??? right....
umm both are p2p servers.
yall really jus payin for 3 features imo
cross game chat, invites & d party system
invites ah cud do without, chat not all da hot up cuz tbh i doh wa nobodby breakin my concentration wen i in a clan battle in kz to tell me outta timin shit, in a single player game sure, party yes we cud do wit dat.
Sony wah yuh do it tru home but until home loads way faster an gives u d option to boot str8 into it it too tedious.
but hey at least ppl does play online cyah say d same for the ghost town dat is d trini side of things on PSN
New 360 Dashboard coming August 11
Link: http://tinyurl.com/l9rxdj (http://tinyurl.com/l9rxdj)
"The Games on Demand service that lets you purchase digital versions of Xbox 360 games will be part of the update, and Mass Effect is expected to be among the first releases, along with BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Over 30 games will be available on the 11th."
http://www.gearlog.com/2009/07/microsoft_exec_portable_xbox_d.php (http://www.gearlog.com/2009/07/microsoft_exec_portable_xbox_d.php)
The portable Xbox is coming: That much, it seems, is no longer up for debate. The question is when such a device will arrive. In an interview posted today by gaming site Kikizo, Shane Kim, a Microsoft corporate VP, confirmed perpetual rumors that the company's popular console will finally be getting a handheld counterpart.
"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when'," Kim told the site, "because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like instant-on 1080p HD, Facebook, Twitter, Project Natal ... And so we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... extend to other platforms. No question about it."
Kim added that, for a portable system, Xbox Live would be the "connective tissue." Plenty of questions remain, the VP added, including whether such a device would also function as a phone (via Windows Mobile) a la the iPhone.
so who got dat mvc2 ?
its mahvel baybee!
I'm gonna be using tversity to stream media on the 360, anyone has any tips before i do this?
Hmm first post... trying to start something... nope, it's gone, spam. Moving along.
arcman you doh even use yuh xbox no more. steups
arcman you doh even use yuh xbox no more. steups
arcman you doh even use yuh xbox no more. steups
Who say dat? I'm just not online when I do...unless I beating up you and Redlum in Street Fighter 4. :)
As for Redlum (cheap bastard), I have something for that Sagat.
yes you beat my Abel cause i not good with him. I buss yuh up with sagat's tiger spam though. :P
Oh and throw is not mapped to one button, its two buttons. lol
The staple Xbox 360 - the Xbox 360 Pro - looks set to march straight off retail shelves and into the history books, if new console packaging is anything to go by.
First hinted at by Ars Technica’s ever-reliable mole in June, then further hinted at by new 360 packshot renders later that month, photos sent to us by GameStop employees earlier this week seem to offer proof that Microsoft will soon go from offering three Xbox 360 consoles to just two.
Look at the spine of these new, actual 360 Arcade boxes (pictured above, on the right) arriving at retailers across the US. Unlike previous models of the Arcade (on the left), which showed the relative inclusions offered in the Arcade, Pro and Elite models of the 360, this new box only shows the Arcade and Elite. No Pro.
Wonder if this means the Elite is in line for a price cut (to the price the Pro is currently), as it assumes the mantle of “standard” 360 console? It’d make sense, especially as a spoiler for Sony’s surely-impending launch of the PS3 Slim.
anyone had a problem with the xbox360 optical audio out for 5.1? cuz my xbox has this weird problem of randomly going silent while playing games for only like 1second and then it comes backs and it might be fine for another 5-10mins before it happens again, and its not my speakers since it they work fine with my pc and ps3 when doing optical out.. anyone know what i can try?
Anyone getting this XBLA game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-shadow-complex/17-1156/ (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-shadow-complex/17-1156/)
Anyone getting this XBLA game.
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-shadow-complex/17-1156/ (http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-ex-shadow-complex/17-1156/)
Looks good. Reviews first then i'll see.
Flip on your Xbox 360, sign into Xbox LIVE, and you'll discover Microsoft's new dashboard update ready to deliver its freshly feature-laden payload. That payload amounts to over a dozen new attributes (see my review for the complete list) including user interface improvements, new avatar props, expanded Netflix viewing features, and full versions of Xbox 360 games downloadable to your hard drive.
Here's the list of Games on Demand titles available out of the gate. I've had a look this morning and confirmed the sizes and pricing personally, so the following information should be accurate as of 8/11. Bad Company wasn't in Microsoft's official release list, while Test Drive: Unlimited was, but isn't up yet.
$30 - American Idol (3.70GB)
$30 - Assassin's Creed (6.56GB)
$20 - Battlefield: Bad Company (4.92GB)
$30 - BioShock (4.66GB)
$20 - Burnout Paradise (2.81GB)
$30 - Call of Duty 2 (5.27GB)
$30 - Dance Dance Revolution Universe (3.01GB)
$20 - Fight Night Round 3 (3.19GB)
$20 - Kameo: Elements of Power (5.42GB)
$30 - LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (5.71GB)
$20 - Mass Effect (6.83GB)
$30 - Meet The Robinsons (5.72GB)
$30 - MX vs. ATV Untamed (2.77GB)
$20 - Need for Speed Carbon (5.38GB)
$20 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted (6.67GB)
$20 - Perfect Dark Zero (5.22GB)
$20 - Prey (4.27GB)
$30 - Rainbow Six Vegas (6.60GB)
$20 - Ridge Racer 6 (6.08GB)
$30 - Rockstar Table Tennis (3.28GB)
$20 - Sonic the Hedgehog (5.17GB)
$30 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (5.87GB)
$20 - Viva Piñata (4.89GB)
$30 - Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (4.94GB)
http://kotaku.com/5339432/elite-360-no-longer-ships-with-hd-cables (http://kotaku.com/5339432/elite-360-no-longer-ships-with-hd-cables)
One of the things I appreciated most about my Xbox 360 Elite was that it shipped with an HDMI cable in the box, letting me get the most out of my system's visuals without the need for further expense.
Thing is, I got my Elite years ago. If you plan on picking one up in the future, you won't be so lucky, as several GameStop employees have told us new models of the hardware hitting stores across the US (new box pictured) no longer ship with a HDMI cable. In fact, they don't even ship with component cables either, just some SD composite cables, meaning anyone with an HDTV is going to have to pay a little extra. An HD tax, if you will.
Disappointing, Microsoft. How are you going to help kick the HD generation along shipping composite cables? This was a bum move when Sony pulled it in 2006. Pulling it in 2009 is just...yeah, disappointing.
I have finally fallen victim to the RROD :( after 3yrs damm u MS!!! :(
Tell me more about this canada link? that might come in handy when I finally get an xbox 360 to add to the console stable.
I have finally fallen victim to the RROD :( after 3yrs damm u MS!!! :(
I’m like, look: I’m chill. You want to hang out, watch some movies, play some games, connect with friends, that’s cool; let’s kick it. You know I straight up bring the entertainment in hi-def, with every single Xbox 360 title supporting 720p minimum, and up to 1080p. I got the smooth anti-aliasing, awesome sound, everything. We’ll have a awesome time, f’rill.
And I stick by my friends, you know? The important thing is trust. I’m gonna open myself up to you 100 per cent, brand new out of a retail box, OK? This is where I’m coming from. And if we have problems, hey, we’ll get through them. I know I have my hangups just like you probably got yours. But I’m bringing a one-year Microsoft Warranty into this relationship, plus the Red Ring of Death Warranty, so you know that whatever it is, I’ll try to work it out with you.
Just hear this, though. If you betray me? If you take me to freakin’ court? That’s it, man, I am through with you forever.
I have finally fallen victim to the RROD :( after 3yrs damm u MS!!! :(
I have finally fallen victim to the RROD :( after 3yrs damm u MS!!! :(
You, foz4ric and TriniHandofGod. All RROD within 24hrs. WDMA!
Wait...Chi SECOND Xbox RROD too? WTF!!?
Wait...Chi SECOND Xbox RROD too? WTF!!?
*W1nTry kicks his 3 RROD XBoxes in a cupboard so arc doesn't notice*
How is that possible when they sitting in plain sight on my Living room floor? LOL
Lawd have mercy...is there ANYONE else that still owns a working Xbox 360, that's more than 2 yrs old?
I have finally fallen victim to the RROD :( after 3yrs damm u MS!!! :(
You, foz4ric and TriniHandofGod. All RROD within 24hrs. WDMA!
Ok...that shiznit made me howl with LuLz.
+1 ma nugga.
Its true that my Xbox aint get NEARLY as much runtime as these other guys' own, but
still, my bro sweat it a LOT in my absence. I'm really surprised it stayed working this long
when everyone I know with one has had them fail...and some more than one.
Its really appalling how high the failure rate is. :(
Its really hard for me to recommend to a parent (who may already not know enough)
to get a Xbox for their kids, when this is still happening to the latest 'Jasper' units as well.
...but confirm this for me peeps...did Chinara's SECOND Xbox RROD also? Wasn't that a Jasper, or Falcon?
I'm on a Jasper, got one with the 512mb memory, let's hope they are as reliable as is claimed
I don't think there is any way to prevent rrod, seems to be luck yes.If it were mere luck then there would be a cure, level coceyea broom iwmc.. sadly it's not the case. It's just poor QA.
I don't think there is any way to prevent rrod, seems to be luck yes.
I don't think there is any way to prevent rrod, seems to be luck yes.
Nah boy wood...that aint good atall.
* organises Orisha bush-bath *
I'm on a Jasper, got one with the 512mb memory, let's hope they are as reliable as is claimed
Bush Bath and Coceyea Broom for you too! :P
Microsoft responds to Xbox 360 54.2 percent failure rate report, doesn't dispute the data
http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/24/microsoft-responds-to-xbox-360-54-2-percent-failure-rate-report/ (http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/24/microsoft-responds-to-xbox-360-54-2-percent-failure-rate-report/)
Admittedly, when we saw Game Informer's survey that pegged Xbox 360's failure rate at 54.2 percent, we were thinking that was a bit steep of a number, possibly bumped up a few digits from some possible sampling errors. So when we were gearing up to read Microsoft's statement responding to the data, we fully expected some harsh rebuttal of the number. Turns out we got disappointed. A spokesperson for Redmond pointed to its superior entertainment value, its "best warranty in the industry" and its "constantly improving design, manufacture, and performance." At no point is there a dispute or even direct reference to the findings, which is really something that could've helped public perception on a nagging issue. How about taking a page from Fujifilm, eh Microsoft?
^ dat jus not smart lol
yuh already hav a ps3 to use wen/if d 360 hadda go for repairs
^ oohhhhhh i see
but still 2?
i hav no regrets wit my ps3, jus hav a major problem wit d local community, and by d looks of things it not gonna change at all.
oh well back to gaming by mehself and randoms till ah get meh 360.
^ oohhhhhh i see
but still 2?
i hav no regrets wit my ps3, jus hav a major problem wit d local community, and by d looks of things it not gonna change at all.
oh well back to gaming by mehself and randoms till ah get meh 360.
^ lol wam, thought agokilla did his voodoo an got ur system back online?
^ lol wam, thought agokilla did his voodoo an got ur system back online?yeh it work for a day then died again.
^ oohhhhhh i see
but still 2?
i hav no regrets wit my ps3, jus hav a major problem wit d local community, and by d looks of things it not gonna change at all.
oh well back to gaming by mehself and randoms till ah get meh 360.
d way thing going with 360 d ps3 community may very well increase, i for one switching so ps3 community here i come and F#$& MS
It was a good run though Jarrox, 3 years without problems and tons of online sweats was worth it don't you think? lol
- A new independent study shows Microsoft's lingering 'Red Ring of Death' (RROD) hardware issue that results in the console breaking appears to be on the decline.
SquareTrade, the largest independent warranty provider, has analyzed the failure rates of over 16,000 new consoles at random covered by the company for the last two years. The company provided additional information, saying the breakdown was: 2,500 PS3s, 2,500 Xbox 360s and 11,000 Wiis. The study highlights the many prevalent hardware issues and errors found in today's consoles.
One major point the study revealed is that since the inclusion of the smaller, cooler chipsets, often referred to as 'Jasper' chips, the Xbox 360 console has seen less and less 'Red Ring' errors.
SquareTrade does note that many costumers are reporting the RROD error straight to Microsoft, which would bypass the company's statistical data, and says the failure rate of the Xbox 360 could be as high as 35%.
This data comes only weeks after Game Informer published its own survey results, indicating the Xbox 360 failure rate was as high as 54%
The study is quite thorough and is definitely worth checking out on SquareTrade's website.
XBox performs parallel tasks
Profs put away Halo 3 for five minutes
By David Neal
Monday, 14 September 2009, 17:00
BRITISH SCIENTISTS have worked out that the XBox 360 can be used to power something other than teenage adrenaline rushes.
White coat wearers at the University of Warwick have taken the game console's GPU and made it perform parallel processing functions. Of course the fact that the Xbox 360 is a consumer games console means that the academics were able to perform some impressive number crunching on a very cheap system indeed - especially compared with the cost of using a dedicated clustering system.
According to a BBC report gleaned from a rather niche sounding periodical, the professors built a system that would let them model how electrical signals in the heart deal with damaged cells. That's much better than the usual 'scream at people while playing multi-player games' use that the XBox 360 usually endures.
When it comes to performance the GPU is not quite the full ticket, but the team said it's not all that far off either. Dr Simon Scarle, a researcher on the team, told the Beeb, "You don't quite get the full whammy of a cluster, but its close."
Now he just needs to kill the third zombie, steal its amulet, and blow up a dozen Covenant warships - that should do the trick. µ
Great deal. Arcman approves.
I would so get this if I didn't already have one.
Reddos...yuh officially still stickin if yuh aint preorder this yet.
Horror of horrors...while playng the DiRT 2 demo my system shut down and the two left quadrants began flashing RED.
I left the system off for a while, and then restarted it...and, well, so far so good.
Research indicates that it overheated. It rebooted on me before, but I never saw those red lights.
Could it be that a RROD failure is imminent?
Horror of horrors...while playng the DiRT 2 demo my system shut down and the two left quadrants began flashing RED.
I left the system off for a while, and then restarted it...and, well, so far so good.
Research indicates that it overheated. It rebooted on me before, but I never saw those red lights.
Could it be that a RROD failure is imminent?
TO think Halo 3 is still that popular... interesting. The others are a given COD4, WAW, GOW2, etc.
I guess... we all know that MW2 will PWNZ all when it's released XD
I guess... we all know that MW2 will PWNZ all when it's released XD
Well yea, no brainer, on both Live and PSN... :P
/me walks in thread, reads post aboveI know nothing of the PS3, but what alternative memory cards did the PS3 support? (and by the way) with the exception of modded 360s (whom in many cases don't go on live in the first place) noone I know uses illegitimate storage, so how is this a problem and reason NOT to get a 360 exactly?
What rubbish...
yet another reason for me not to get an Xbox360...
PS3 ftw~!!!
/me storms off topic
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/microsoft-bans-unofficial-xbox-360-memory-units-643296 (http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/microsoft-bans-unofficial-xbox-360-memory-units-643296)
Microsoft bans unofficial Xbox 360 memory units
Latest 360 update shuts out third-party carts
If you are using an unofficial memory unit with your Xbox 360 then you had better back up your data onto an authorised Microsoft 360 storage device quick sharp, as the next 360 update will shut-out third party devices from working with your console.
The new update is set to add a range of new features to your Microsoft console, including Last.fm, Facebook, Twitter and more.
Major Nelson advises
Xbox Live's Major Nelson blogs: "When Preview Program members start receiving the Xbox 360 system update next week, one of the changes is that unauthorized Memory Units will no longer work with the Xbox 360. If you've moved your profile or saved games onto one to "back it up," you'd better move it back onto an authorized Xbox 360 storage device prior to taking the update.
"If you continue to use an unauthorised Memory Unit after the update, you will not be able to access your stored profile or saved games."
If you want to know more about officially licensed Xbox 360 storage devices or accessories you can read more about the licensed accessories program on Xbox.com
So there you go. Consider yourself 'advised'...
the 360 is a gaming platform that plays media
The PS3 is a media platform that plays games
Its marketed this way, its aesthetically appealing this way. It was the design of both consoles.
Hands on: Xbox 1080p streaming, social networking impress
The upcoming Xbox Live fall update brings with it Twitter integration, Last.fm, Facebook, and instant streaming of video content at 1080p. So how does it all work? Very well. Our preview of the upcoming features shows a very mature set of updates for the venerable Xbox Live.
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated October 21, 2009 9:56 AM CT
At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft laid out its plan for Xbox Live. By adding Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and streaming high definition video, it was going to create a home entertainment product that would fulfill most of the needs of those buying home theater PCs, or at least add value to the Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Do the company succeed? We have a sneak peek at these features, and we have to say, the implementation is pretty impressive. Read on to see what you have to look forward to with the next big Xbox Live update.
Keep in mind that each of these updates is actually an application that you'll download from Xbox Live, meaning the integration into the dashboard isn't perfect; each one will need to be launched before use. Let's take a look at how well each application works.
Last.fm
Last.fm is a streaming music service that allows you to create custom stations based on your own likes and dislikes. On Xbox Live you're given a selection of premade stations, as well as the ability to create your own.
I began a station by putting in the band name "Wilco," and was treated to a song by one of my favorite bands. Next it played Uncle Tupelo, the band Jeff Tweedy began with Jay Farrar before their split into respective bands. In fact, the next track was by Son Volt, and when I said I liked that, it brought up "Avenues" by Whiskeytown. My Morning Jacket? No thanks. The next selection was from The Jayhawks, and I gave that one a heart. Very quickly it had an idea of what I was looking for, and served up some great music.
You'll also be treated to images of the band you're listening to on the screen, and you can pull up information about each band, as well as similar artists and tags describing the band. This all makes it simple to find other music you might be interested in, or to look through genres.
My next project was creating a station with rock from the 90s, so I started with Alice in Chains. That gave me a Mad Season track, which I said I didn't like. Then it gave me Pearl Jam, and then Stone Temple Pilots, and then Screaming Trees.
None of this is news if you've used Last.fm in the past—and your account will carry over to your Xbox 360 if you have—but if you're new to the service the interface is intuitive, and you'll be able to set up a perfect station in very short order. It's a good fit for the Xbox 360, and anything that can take me from Alice in Chains and get me to Faith No More in four steps is a very good thing.
A minor annoyance, however, is the fact you can't listen to music while doing other things. Since the Last.fm application has to be launched from the dashboard, you can't play music while looking at downloads or doing anything else.
Twitter and Facebook
Is this the time for another "welcome to the social" joke? The Twitter client allows you to update your status, read the latest tweets in your feed, search for topics, and take a look at what the current trending topics are. If you're going to Tweet, you're going to need to pick up a chat pad, as typing even 140 characters with the on-screen keyboard is painful. The interface is nice, bright, and easy to read.
(http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3155/xboxupdatetwitter.jpg) (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/xboxupdatetwitter.jpg/)
The best thing? There is no way to automate Tweets. That means people won't flood their feed with information about what they're playing or what achievements they've unlocked; this is purely a straight-up Twitter client. Very nice.
Facebook is about what you'd expect. It's set up to look like the Xbox 360 dashboard, and you can check the status updates of friends, take a look at pictures, update your status, and in an odd twist it pointed out two other gaming writers who I was friends with on Facebook, but not on Xbox Live, and then offered me the ability to send them friend invitations.
The linking of all your social media networks may be getting somewhat out of hand.
Zune Video Store
Here's the supposed magic trick: the ability to stream high definition content instantly. We were given a code to download one of the Harry Potter films to try this feature, and the results speak for themselves.
http://vimeo.com/7165433 (http://vimeo.com/7165433)
A note on the video: my camera was set to record a teeny-tiny video, and I wanted to record the first time the video loaded. I re-recorded the video, but it said "resume" on the menu, and I didn't want things to look shady. This is the first time the video loaded, and it does so at a good speed. I want to show that off rather than get a slightly clearer video that would make people skeptical.
The video loads nearly instantly, you can skip chapters, and while it does take a moment or two for the video to snap into full high definition, once it does the image looks beautiful. The video marketplace has been rebranded with the Zune name, but the real star here is the streaming technology. You can still download the content if you'd like, but why wait?
Keep in mind the video quality is determined by your connection speed, but I'm not running anything special over here—a speed test showed my connection at 6.8Mbps download and 1.41Mbps upload. The service does what it advertises: streams high definition content instantly.
We'll see how things change when this update goes live and the servers get hit a little harder, but our limited testing is pretty impressive.
In conclusion
This is a solid set of updates, especially since everything will be free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The Facebook and Twitter applications were neat, but may not appeal to everyone. The Last.fm feature and streaming video, however, will both add some significant value to the service.
Damn you xbox 360 I want to trust you again but you betrayed me so many times in the past.
Damn you xbox 360 I want to trust you again but you betrayed me so many times in the past.
i know the feeling... i feel yuh pain but i'm a gamer and 360 is it in console gaming, after using the ps3 for a few days I finally made up my mind and i'm sticking with 360. sony cant come close to what microsoft has done.
Oh hush GREG!!! When you RMA'ing mine eh eh eh
when is the next Halo 3 sweat?Buh laertes we does be on regular during the week, though i'm on late usually. We sweating tonight, not sure it'll be H3, might be BTA IV, but check we round 11 nah
i ent christen the 48 hours yet, was thinking about doing so tonight though. i have a Marketing Management final at the beginning of December that i NEED an 'A' in, so i contemplating not coming on live till that exam over and done with.
i ent christen the 48 hours yet, was thinking about doing so tonight though. i have a Marketing Management final at the beginning of December that i NEED an 'A' in, so i contemplating not coming on live till that exam over and done with.
Anyone getting DJ Hero ?*Tumebleweeds roll by*
Aye Red RMA RMA RMA RMA RMA RMA and also I posted in the 360 Sweatage thread.
Ok, good news, I was able to RMA Chinara's Xbox, bad news, all the other ones no good, they want $99 for the repair F@#$!!!! LOLHmm... cheaper than 200USD for a new one :p
Aye Red RMA RMA RMA RMA RMA RMA and also I posted in the 360 Sweatage thread.
Ok, good news, I was able to RMA Chinara's Xbox, bad news, all the other ones no good, they want $99 for the repair F@#$!!!! LOL
Hmm I am contemplating getting a third one, any new hardware revisions supposed to come out next year?Yes, they recently did a shrink of the components again, so smaller cooler CPU and GPUs and smaller mainboard. Can't rem the new codename. But the answer is yes.
http://www.destructoid.com/microsoft-offering-on-site-xbox-360-repair-at-new-stores-152768.phtml (http://www.destructoid.com/microsoft-offering-on-site-xbox-360-repair-at-new-stores-152768.phtml)
The very first Microsoft store opened today in Scottsdale, Arizona. I ran over to check it out and we'll have more on that a little later today, but there's one story that I'm sure will interest all of the 360 owners out there who have ever had an issue with console failure (i.e. most of us). MS is taking some of the hurt out of the repairs process by allowing for in-store repair service.
Microsoft stores will be equipped to handle some basic repair tasks. All you have to do is walk in the store with your console, drop it off at the Answers Desk and a Microsoft Store employee will then diagnose the issue that you're having. If it's something simple -- such as a faulty power supply causing the Red Ring of Death -- they'll rectify the situation immediately.
If it has to be shipped out, however, things are just about as awesome. Once the store has received your console, the main distribution center is notified and a replacement unit can be sent right away.
Yeah, it's only any good if there's a Microsoft Store in your area, but it's exactly the way this sort of thing should be handled. I really have to give them credit for this one. Come back a little later for a closer look at the Microsoft Store.
So why Dell gettin orn so (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A3129081&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643&acd=10495476-1547706)? :awesome:Cause they want in on the action?
http://www.xboxic.com/news/5626 (http://www.xboxic.com/news/5626)Well IW shafting its customers so let MS shaft them XD tho we get the shaft ultimately
mw2 avatar clothing......thank M$ for not makin it free lol
M$ denied IW request to make it free it seems
I would say doh mod, cory or kevin have a neighbour who mod his and was playin MW2 and the account get ban.
if you really HAVE to mod, dont even bother trying to go online.QFT
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/extreme-bible-reading-app-coming-to-xbox-360/
For 400, you'll soon be able to pick up the awesomely-titled Bible Navigator X on Xbox Live Indie Games. Sure, developer B&H could have opted to choose a more modest title like Bible Navigator 360 or plain ol' Bible Navigator -- but this app is meant for the kids. "This is also a great tool for youth ministers who teach in youth spaces that already have Xbox consoles in them," the press release says. "It's a quick way to create teaching aids from equipment you already have."
X will include HCSB versions of the Old and New Testament, search capabilities and an awesome animated intro. According to the press release, this marks the first time the full Bible can be viewed through a games console. "The Xbox isn't just secular entertainment anymore," said Aaron Linne, B&H Publishing Group's executive producer of digital marketing. Certainly, some players may want to download this after the "No Russian" level from Modern Warfare 2.
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029441,49304288,00.htm (http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029441,49304288,00.htm)
Sixty per cent of Xbox 360s have kicked the red-ringed bucket, compared to 16 per cent of PS3s and just 6 per cent of Wiis, according to our survey on the reliability of games consoles in the UK.
CNET UK commissioned the survey last month -- and the results don't reflect well on the Microsoft console. Some 1,128 UK-based console owners responded, of whom 562 owned Xbox 360s, 473 owned PS3s and 591 had Wiis (some owned more than one).
Of those Xbox owners who have bought their Xbox since January 2008, 34 per cent report that their Xboxes have broken -- still double the lifetime failure rate of the PS3. Microsoft introduced new components in late 2007 and early 2008, when Bill Gates boasted of the Xbox's newfound "incredible reliability". Our survey shows that while the console has improved, it's still far from reaching Gates' goal of being the "most reliable video game box out there".
Only 25 per cent of disappointed 360 owners had owned the console for more than 18 months before it broke, with 47 per cent reporting a failure inside a year. Seventy two per cent returned their Xbox to Microsoft, who extended the 360's warranty to three years after the console's problems became widely known. Fifteen per cent sought their own solution, such as repairing it themselves or giving up and throwing it under a bed. One miserable gamer reported, "I can't afford to get (the Xbox 360) fixed as it is out of warranty, so it sits in the spare room all lonely."
Many 360 owners report the console breaking more than once. Of those whose console has broken at least once, 32 per cent say it has broken twice, and 19 per cent say it has broken three times or more. One person said their 360 "was repaired six times before (being) refunded by Microsoft".
Of those who have bought a 360 in the last two years, only for it to break, 29 per cent say it has broken more than once.
This was a self-selecting survey, so it doesn't represent a random sample of console owners. It's likely that people whose consoles have had problems are more motivated to fill out the survey, but the results are still interesting when you compare the Xbox 360 to its competitors.
The console makers are not in the habit of releasing such information, so this kind of survey is the best guess we have. We think the sample size and spread of console ownership do give it some credence, however, and it tallies with the anecdotal experience of many gamers we've heard from.
The survey did not distinguish between the Xbox 360 Arcade and Elite versions, which are very similar, or the PS3 and PS3 Slim, which has only just been introduced.
A spokesman for Microsoft said, "The vast majority of Xbox 360 owners are having an outstanding experience with their Xbox 360, and they invest in our platform more than any other.
"On July 5, 2007 Microsoft acknowledged an unacceptable number of repairs and took unprecedented steps to take care of all of our customers, providing a three year extended warranty on consoles experiencing the three flashing red lights error. We have continued to make improvements to the console and make customer service a top priority should someone require repair."
Has your console broken? How did you get it fixed -- or is it pining away on top of a wardrobe? Did you receive good customer service? Tell us your experiences in the comments.
VERY small sample size to make a determinant conclusion. This is simply for the sake of theoretical study. Agreed it is informal, this should not even be up on a "gaming" site. But again, the level of intelligence of some game "reviewers" is a reflection of their score of some games; poor!
Don't miss the FREE Xbox LIVE Gold weekend, courtesy of McDonald's McCafe. For two action-packed days, Silver Members can enjoy everything that Gold Membership has to offer, including online multiplayer gaming, the ability to join Xbox LIVE parties, video chat, photo sharing, early access to game demos, exclusive discounts, and more!ROFLMAOO LEFT FOR DEAD>???!@?!?@ LOL
The FREE Gold Weekend begins at 9 AM Pacific Time November 20, 2009 and ends at 9 AM PT November 23, 2009. Silver members are invited to connect to Xbox LIVE and experience Gold privileges FREE of charge, compliments of McDonald's McCafe.
hear nah fellas, who say L4D2 demo?
RDon't miss the FREE Xbox LIVE Gold weekend, courtesy of McDonald's McCafe. For two action-packed days, Silver Members can enjoy everything that Gold Membership has to offer, including online multiplayer gaming, the ability to join Xbox LIVE parties, video chat, photo sharing, early access to game demos, exclusive discounts, and more!ROFLMAOO LEFT FOR DEAD>???!@?!?@ LOL
The FREE Gold Weekend begins at 9 AM Pacific Time November 20, 2009 and ends at 9 AM PT November 23, 2009. Silver members are invited to connect to Xbox LIVE and experience Gold privileges FREE of charge, compliments of McDonald's McCafe.
hear nah fellas, who say L4D2 demo?
A man not serious... over MW2?..
Lol but seriously that gonna FA$% up all de servers even more on MW2 with so much ppl using the freebies...
There were freezing cold lines to wait in, boxes to open and new games to play -- in fantastic HD resmolutions! And then, of course, it began.The RROD?
There were freezing cold lines to wait in, boxes to open and new games to play -- in fantastic HD resmolutions! And then, of course, it began.The RROD?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/30/xbox-360-controller-ingeniously-hacked-for-nes-use/ (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/30/xbox-360-controller-ingeniously-hacked-for-nes-use/)
Hey, it's just what you've always wanted: to use your Xbox 360 controller on your old NES. Using a Cortex M3 processor left over from a school robotics project, Francois Gervais managed to rig his wireless pad to control something decidedly less advanced than a game of Modern Warfare 2. There's a video of the controller in action after the break, and you can grab some of the code being used in the Google link below -- perhaps one of you brainiacs will finally hack the Wiimote to control a Jaguar. A tech writer can dream...
It wish it turns out to be a box full of BOOKS!!! :laughing7:
I dunno...a kid his age shouldn't be getting an Xbox 360. I didn't get a console (NES) till I was
13, and that is after some serious begging, and improvements in school. I wasn't able to get
another console (SNES) till I actually started working.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/185509/dont_steal_this_xbox_360_thief_tracked_by_gamertag.html (http://www.pcworld.com/article/185509/dont_steal_this_xbox_360_thief_tracked_by_gamertag.html)
If you steal an Xbox 360, don't forget to disable the auto sign-in feature before going online. That's the lesson high-tech crooks are probably gleaning from today's New York Post brief about a thief, 22-year-old Jeremy Gilliam, apprehended after logging into Xbox LIVE with his victim's online game id.
Xbox LIVE requires a unique identifier known as a Gamertag, similar to an instant messaging id. The owner of the stolen Xbox 360 noticed his Gamertag was logged in without his permission, then told his parents, who contacted police. Detectives on the case ostensibly worked with Microsoft to get the stolen Xbox 360's IP address, then followed the digital breadcrumb trail back through the ISP used by Gilliam at the time. That led them to Gilliam's grandmother's house, where they discovered a trove of pilfered games, laptops, and satnavs reportedly accumulated from hundreds of vehicle break-ins and multiple home burglaries.
Jeremy GilliamGilliam was already in the investigatory hotseat for stealing over a dozen unlocked cars, and according to the Post, he's now been charged with grand larceny.
It's not clear whether he logged in manually or automatically, or for how long the incriminating Gamertag was active, but an internet connection with an Ethernet cable or Microsoft's wireless USB dongle is required to access Xbox LIVE, so it's a safe bet he was online intentionally.
Gamertags aren't the only way Microsoft can trace Xbox 360s. Each system has a unique identifier that's passed to Microsoft when you sign into Xbox LIVE. It's that identifier that allows Microsoft to give some of us in the press access to features ahead of the general public. Logic dictates Microsoft could match IP addresses to identifiers, thereby allowing someone whose Xbox 360 was stolen to trace it, were Microsoft made aware of the theft, and should the perp log into Xbox LIVE--with or without an incriminating Gamertag.
I'm pretty sure Microsoft doesn't support system id tracking at this time. For that matter, most people probably don't write down their system's serial number. But if they did, speaking hypothetically, Microsoft could trace stolen systems on that basis alone (the complexities of juggling irate customers, the police, and fiercely independent internet service providers notwithstanding, of course).
One of my friends had an Xbox 360 stolen from under his nose. He was just outside his apartment when it happened and heard the thieves through the ground floor window but didn't make it inside quick enough to see or stop them. Afterward, I helped him download his Gamertag to a new system: To date, several years along, no one's popped up on his login radar, meaning the id's almost certainly been wiped and replaced with another. Had we recorded the serial number, and were Microsoft to offer a tracking service, however, we'd probably have come across it by now.
Can any one help me please? I have a blink internet connection of 2mbs, yet i can't connect to xbox live to save my life! Any suggestions?
[Update, 5:30pm: And off comes the rumor tag! Microsoft may have pulled the post but the original video is still live on its own servers, which you can find right here! We'll scrub through it for more information. Update, 5:47pm: Full transcript after the break.]
Microsoft's Channel 9 developer community site accidentally posted a video interview with Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment & Devices Division, several hours before the company's annual CES press conference. Initially tweeted by @ch9, the video was pulled, as evidenced by this tweet from none other than @microsoft: "Sorry, spoke too soon, or, tweeted too soon. This video later tonight."
Vigilant tipster Iced_Eagle wrote us just after the video was pulled, giving us a quick breakdown. "Go to the 11:53 mark in the video to hear them start discussing Game Room," our tipster writes. "They aren't totally concrete on the details, but they talk about how this is supposed to bring back that retro fun to gaming." That sounds an awful lot like that consumer survey we spotted in October for a virtual Avatar arcade, one of the potential titles of which was "Game Room." You don't say ...
Iced_Eagle also unsurprisingly reports, "In the video they confirm Natal is on for this year." Considering everyone from Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot to Microsoft's own Steve Ballmer have alluded to a 2010 release, we're not the least bit surprised. But if they're still calling it Project Natal in this video, that means we're probably looking to E3 for an official reveal, with branding and all.
Microsoft's CES keynote begins at 9:30pm Eastern and we'll be delivering all the news straight from Las Vegas.
[Thanks for the great tip, Iced_Eagle!]
Bach on Game Room:
Well, Game Room in some ways is sort of a retro approach. And it's interesting, there's a generation of people -- sort of my advanced, mature age [laughs] -- who grew up with a set of games like Centipede. They look almost like casual, fun games today -- at the time they were high-end, edgy games -- and so Game Room is the idea of bringing that back to the market. And bringing that to a very broad audience. And I think what we're gonna find is that when people can get 30 or more of these games, they're gonna love it for the experience. And it's not just you and I who are gonna love it, even the people who would call themselves "hardcore gamers" are gonna say "Oh wow this is fun!" In a retro way. It's sort of like my daughter going to watch Journey. I'm like, this is a band that was playing when I was growing up. And she thinks it's a cool band and I like the music. And I think you're gonna have the same phenomenon with Game Room. We're gonna enjoy the games and they're gonna think it's cool. I think that's very powerful.
When asked "What's 2010 look like?" Bach responded, in part:
And then you look at what we have coming in the Xbox space, with Project Natal, which I think is going to revolutionize how people think about the gaming business, and actually turn into ....
Playstation Home has the capability to play old arcade games in virtual cabinets right? Haven't loaded up Home in months.
Playstation Home has the capability to play old arcade games in virtual cabinets right? Haven't loaded up Home in months.
Yes. But to play on those virtual cabinets you have to stand in a virtual line up.
A ton of details of Halo: Reach are revealed in February's Game Informer magazine. The 10-page feature drops some amazing details about the upcoming game. Here are some of the stand-out points:
Reach is a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved.
The protagonists are The Noble team, a six-person squad with different looks and weapons specialties.
The color palette will be darker than previous Halo games, reflecting a darker emotional tone.
The Covenant will be scarier in this Halo, and will feature deep, creepy voices.
The game will support battles with up to 40 AI opponents, twice as many as Halo 3.
Health will not replenish, like in the original Halo.
New weapons include the marksman rifles (mix of a sniper and battle rifle) and the "needle rifle" that will blow people up if they're hit by a number of shots in a row.
Armor will provide special abilities. Stealth and extra-speed are mentioned.
Multiplayer will offer all the options of Halo 3, and add some as-yet undisclosed new wrinkles in the game.
There are a bunch more details in Game Informer, of course; so check your newsstand for it. Halo: Reach is a 360 exclusive that comes out this fall.
i might be wrong, but i feel that Halo Reach multiplayer will be something like MW2 :xbox360:
weapon pick ups can be equally lame (if not more) in MP gaming, especially team based games.
I just hope the gameplay mechanics do not feel as floaty as Halo normally does.
It is VERY BADD!!!
However, I find the 'realistic' and 'simulator' control schemes a little TOO unforgiving with the physics.
I spent more time recovering from stalss than actually shooting stuff up. Not cool.
If Namco don't make an Ace Combat game, it looks like nobody have the 'balls' to make another flight
combat game on console.
If I only buy 3 more games for the year, this has to be one.
so did you ever buy the IL2 sturmovik game?
Weapon pick ups in team based games just do not work unless is a totally casual sweat.
Maybe we should ask Jasonjohn what he meant with his comparison of Reach and MW2, we off on a tangent discussing camping when chances are he talking about potential sales figures.
yea lookin rel good
cant wait to dive into the XBL scene an play this
when does the beta start?
ODST armed and waiting ^_^ WooHoo!! Bring It!!
Isn't Halo: Reach supposed to take the series a more gritty, serious direction? I think thats why I was intrigued for this one.Yes it is, and finally using a real HD engine to give it the shine and polish the story has always been begging for XD
If its really more of the same...just "another" Halo in a sense then I guess I'd lose interest.
The closet is opened: Xbox Live welcomes LBGT signifiershttp://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/03/the-closet-is-opened-xbox-live-welcomes-lbgt-signifiers.ars (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/03/the-closet-is-opened-xbox-live-welcomes-lbgt-signifiers.ars)
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated 2 days ago
Microsoft hasn't been the most progressive company when it comes to dealing with gay and lesbian issues on Xbox Live, but the company has just announced a small but important change to its Code of Conduct for the service. You can now describe your relationships with a number of preapproved words.
"Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs," Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten wrote. "However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms."
You can now describe your orientation as Gay, Bi, Straight, Transgender, or Lesbian. The new code also notes that other words are verboten, and these accepted words are contextual. "Other terms regarding relationship orientation are not allowed. In addition you may not use these terms or any other terms regarding relationship orientation to insult, harass, or any other pejorative use against other users," the document explains.
"I truly believe that our diversity is what makes us strong: diversity in gaming and entertainment options, and diversity in the people that make up this amazing community. I look forward to seeing you on LIVE soon," Whitten said.
It may seem like a small thing to some, but now gamers don't have to hide their sexual orientation to play on Xbox Live.
Blur's multiplayer beta hints at a spectacular game
By Michael Thompson | Last updated about 2 hours ago
Bizarre Creation's Blur is shaping up to be a great arcade-style racing game for the PC, PS3, and 360. The game's multiplayer beta is officially launching today on Xbox Live; we got to spend some time with it this weekend, and it's a ton of fun to play. The beta lets players check out four tracks, four play modes, eight power-ups, and fourteen vehicles.
Getting access to most of this content utilizes a ranking system that will seem familiar to anyone who's played a game with competitive multiplayer play. In order to increase your rank, you have to earn fans. However, since power-ups are picked up on the race track, every one of them is available to players from the beginning. These power-ups are actually a blast to play with, as they help make the gameplay feel unique; there's a lot of strategy involved in determining what kind of power-ups you want to use with specific cars on certain tracks. It's also particularly satisfying to watch a homing missile wreck one of your nearby opponents.
Earning fan points isn't that difficult. You'll snag a boatload when you complete a race, and there are bonuses that can be earned just about any way you can imagine during your time on the track. Drifting, surviving attacks, launching attacks, activating speed boosts, surviving a lap without using a repair boost, and using a repair boost are only a few ways to earn fan bonuses. Thankfully, speedy accumulation of fans means that it only takes about an hour to gain access to the majority of the beta's content.
As you advance through the ranks, new cars, mod types, and game modes are unlocked. Initially, you're stuck in the basic race mode and can only use the beginner car models. That means you're probably going to get pummeled if some higher-level players are in a race against you, since they're likely driving more powerful vehicles. There are also a number of challenges that players can achieve by accomplishing certain tasks like surviving a specific number of attacks or completing a race within a time limit without using any power-ups.
Based on the multiplayer beta, Blur seems like it's going to be a blast. It should be noted that the race tracks feel a little generic, but the gameplay is fun and different enough to make things interesting. Overall, it feels like a cross between Project Gotham Racing mixed with Mario Kart, with just a bit of the Burnout destruction mixed in. If the rest of the game is as fun and fast-paced as the multiplayer is, then Blur can't make it to stores fast enough.
Armor Abilities are a refined version of Halo 3's Equipment feature, where instead of being used once, each ability will be reusable, with a cool down time between uses. It is unknown whether these may be picked up and traded, or earned and equipped like armor permutations.
Sprint
Allows the player to move at increased speed for a certain length of time.
Active Camouflage
Provides players the ability to have Active Camouflage for a period of time.
Jetpack
The Jet Pack ability allows players to fly upwards and maneuver in mid-air.
Overshield
Increases your shield by 200% allowing you to take more damage.
Hologram
The hologram is used to distract or confuse enemies during combat.
Radar Cloak
This ability will make you invisible in the enemies radar when activated.
Leap
Used to evade incoming fire and move faster.
*Redlum starts tempting Apprentice and Blu_Vice*
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360elitesystem/default.htm (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360elitesystem/default.htm)
Halo ODST and Forza III with Elite system....Halo Reach Beta around the corner fellas! LOL
The image above shows the motherboard of an Xbox 360 slim. But the catch here is that it’s the new chip design for the rumoured Xbox 360 slim, which is undergoing testing in China. This new design combines the GPU and the CPU together which makes it small. Its not a little modification- it’s a total redesign of the system.
Also with Project Natal due this year, it might actually be a good idea to launch the slim version along with it. However we will advice that you take this with a grain of salt.
https://xbox.promo.eprize.com/tokenbase/?affiliate_id=netflixgoldThanks
Get a free month of XBL by entering this code on the above link - W2N4F9
Well I got meh key so I gonna adds SOON!Say thank you silvafor telling me =)
1. The FOV is 78 degrees in Reach, Halo 3 was about 60 degrees.
2. At the basic level, you move slower than the Chief (not including Sprint).
3. Jump heights are "a little more realistic." It's a little more grounded.
4. Lunge range is shorter than it was in Halo 3, but it's not really noticeable.
5. It takes two melees to kill a player: one to take down the shields, the other to kill.
6. You are not invulnerable when carrying out an assassination animation - you can still be killed.
7. Five headshots to kill someone with the DMR, five headshots to kill someone with the magnum. Differences between the guns are mainly rate of fire, accuracy, and range. The DMR fires more slowly but it can reach you from farther away. The range of the magnum "plays right outside ideally AR range": magnum a very skilled user can take down a guy with an AR.
8. Frags are more dangerous in Reach, they're more scattered on the map. Less grenade spam than in Halo 3. Larger blast radius.
9. As others have mentioned, you can shoot grenades and have them explode.
10. The grenade arc in Reach is different from Halo 3. It's not that much of a difference, but "you're going to have to relearn some stuff." If you're sprinting and you throw a grenade, you'll throw it farther.
11. Secondary fire on the grenade launcher
12. You "gotta be trying to hurt yourself" to receive fall damage in Reach. The stun is back if you hit the ground hard.
13. For health and shields, it'll take a longer time than in Halo 3 for them to recharge. Health also recharges, but it recharges "at thresholds." If you're about to die, your health is going to regenerate so that a single scratch is not going to kill you, but you'll still have to go out and search for health packs.
14. Health and shields on Elites and Spartans are different. Elites are larger, so they have more health and more shields. The time it takes to kill an Elite with the AR on the open battlefield is very close to that of a Spartan. It takes 6 DMR headshots to kill an Elite.
15. The beta will only feature on Spartan Spartan whereas the final product may feature on Elite Elite as well.
16. Player encounters in REACH will be longer than it was in Halo 3.
17. Almost everything that is coming back from Halo 3 has been tweaked in some way.
18. There have been changes made to the sword combat.
19. In regards to sandbox changes, there is no "uber weapon." There is no particular load-out that dominates all the rest.
20. As I suspected, there are no Spikers or SMGs in Reach.
21. Aim Assist is on a "for weapon setting."
22. Sniper is "even more of a weapon for adults."
I have a 120GB and I have a feeling I will run out of space pretty soon. Would not mind upgrading to 250GB. The question is the price of doing you own upgrade vs Microsoft's HDD drive.Cory dont play greedy..delete them battlefield demos and thing lol
how many Bad Company 2 360 players are there from trini?
I have a 120GB and I have a feeling I will run out of space pretty soon. Would not mind upgrading to 250GB. The question is the price of doing you own upgrade vs Microsoft's HDD drive.Cory dont play greedy..delete them battlefield demos and thing lol
You will be surprised how much space you using with shyt u dont need.
BTW Flash drive update ftw!
how many Bad Company 2 360 players are there from trini?
Like you considering joining the Squads Larry?! :P
It's possible, will see how things look in a couple weeks an update you guys, as it is i have about 6 months of Live gold to make use of and a handful of older titles to trade in @ sheltech, so i may just decide to join the bandwagon.
that's how they get ppl to buy new and not used lol
Be careful guys. Don't bad talk Halo...Foz will murder you all lol
Be careful guys. Don't bad talk Halo...Foz will murder you all lol
...but Halo (as a franchise) was never that great anyway...so to 'bad talk' it is to compliment it. :happy0203: [/troll]
This game may prove the best Halo yet and one we'll sweat the way we sweat MW2, BC2 and GOW!
Not particularly, sprint was always a part of other games like BF and MW, cloack, shield all those are unique to Halo, I think it's added a nice new element to the game that makes gameplay more creative.
Hmm all this xbox 360 talk, argh must get another 360......*nightmares of saurons red rings* ahh
talk talk talk talk Vice sell yuh daam ps3 and buy a 360 nah steupsHmm all this xbox 360 talk, argh must get another 360......*nightmares of saurons red rings* ahh
lmao @ sauron's red rings
@ Red well da fella obviously a n00b
i know it needs recharging just like how camo wears off after a certain time in H3
for a good player havin camo from d start is nasty
from what i saw jetpack men didnt seem to make an impact as they were dispatched quickly (das something i would honestly never use dont see the point tbh when it have better stuff to use)
anyway allya seein me there when d game drops
gettin increasingly fed up of d psn community and they lack of variety
talk talk talk talk Vice sell yuh daam ps3 and buy a 360 nah steupsHmm all this xbox 360 talk, argh must get another 360......*nightmares of saurons red rings* ahh
lmao @ sauron's red rings
@ Red well da fella obviously a n00b
i know it needs recharging just like how camo wears off after a certain time in H3
for a good player havin camo from d start is nasty
from what i saw jetpack men didnt seem to make an impact as they were dispatched quickly (das something i would honestly never use dont see the point tbh when it have better stuff to use)
anyway allya seein me there when d game drops
gettin increasingly fed up of d psn community and they lack of variety
ps3==better investment... meh I don't agree, but then it comes down to ur taste in games. There is nothing on the PS3 that would urge me to buy it.
I prefer Bad Company 2 over MAG. Both consoles have their merits though Live is way better than PSN. Yuh hadda pay for it tho :p
Hey guys, just signed up, hoping i can get some good feedback.
I have a 360 that needs repairs, the power unit got flood damage and although the main box did not get wet i'm getting the 3 red rings, so i figure when the power supply got wet it might have surged and fried something in the console.
long story short, i've had a ton of drama with 360's (this is my 3rd) and i can't be bothered trying to send this one back to MS.
Is there a reliable place in T&T i can have it checked out? Who would the GATT recommend?
Thanks in advance.
So the xbox 360 now has a cooler design, is black, wifi built in and runs cooler. It looks like its becoming a PS3.Except it still has the better online experience, more competitive players and is still a gaming console that can do media - NOT a media device that plays games XD
lol, yeah my 360 is black and has optical out
so won't be selling it anytime soon,
besides, only playing one game on it at the moment.
still, nice product refresh
So the xbox 360 now has a cooler design, is black, wifi built in and runs cooler. It looks like its becoming a PS3.Except it still has the better online experience, more competitive players and is still a gaming console that can do media - NOT a media device that plays games XD
PS its been black before so it's only shiny like the PS3 now...
Dancing without a Dance Pad? A pet game without a stylus or Controller....Kinect is a revolutionary way to play games without having to use any controller...You can control the Xbox with your hands and voice...thats the point. But I guess you missed it...Enjoy the Dildo, I mean MOVE....
Dancing without a Dance Pad? A pet game without a stylus or Controller....Kinect is a revolutionary way to play games without having to use any controller...You can control the Xbox with your hands and voice...thats the point. But I guess you missed it...Enjoy the Dildo, I mean MOVE....
allya men sad yes
ask yourself this question HONESTLY red
will u play Halo with Kinect or Gears with Kinect?
pretending ur hand is a gun? can u see yourself in a mp game of using kinect?
I think Vice misses the point that Kinect was developed for MS to capture the casual market with fun controller-less gaming. They've been saying this since day 1 of Natal. If MY mom is asking me to buy a game then they must be doing something right. You really need to stop being "serious and competitive" all the time.
However, it would be stupid to think that MS doesn't have plans for integration in a few "serious" games. I don't see Gears getting it or any FPS for that matter to even think that is utterly ridiculous. Adding an additional controller peripheral would go against the controller-less marketing they're going for presently.
Actually Microsoft has much less in terms of risk than the Wii did. Remember this is an already established platform with a huge library of games and a strong online presence with many paying subscribers.
Some may say that this is lame since it looks like it is targeting casual gamers like the Wii did. Lets just think for a minute, suppose they did not bother with the hardcore gamer making the kinect only for casual games/movie couch potatoes too lazy to find the remote. How could this flop? They would have a totally new demographic to now push the console to. The system already has hardcore fps games, now it can move into wii territory which as we have seen has been very lucrative.
If on the other hand this failed, how much have they really lost in terms of brand image? I think the RROD issue would have been much more damaging to their brand image. In comparison if the Wii did not get it right the console would have been doomed, if the 360 doesn't get it right well it'll just be another forgotten peripheral.
Though I must say the Move does not seem as impressive, if both can offer the same level of accuracy I can see the argument for the Kinect, in terms of cost alone as I am seeing multiple users on one Kinect? vs. having to get multiple wireless peripherals for the move.
I think Vice misses the point that Kinect was developed for MS to capture the casual market with fun controller-less gaming. They've been saying this since day 1 of Natal. If MY mom is asking me to buy a game then they must be doing something right. You really need to stop being "serious and competitive" all the time.
However, it would be stupid to think that MS doesn't have plans for integration in a few "serious" games. I don't see Gears getting it or any FPS for that matter to even think that is utterly ridiculous. Adding an additional controller peripheral would go against the controller-less marketing they're going for presently.
As someone said Vice just hating cause the 360 is where its at and he got a blu-ray player. (That's not what was actualy said, just the PG-13 version) LMAO!
I find the fanboyish statements against the PS3 in this thread getting REL old, and VERY immature.
Last I checked PS3 has been sweeping the awards with its exclusive games.
That said, 360 has been pushing some equally good software that I'd like to play.
Don't take it so personal. Those guys just love to poke fun at the PS3 in the spirit of good ole trini picong. As I talk dat...Kevin Butler's snide swipes at Kinect are rather amusing when you look at em (without you Xbox glasses of course).
I was a skeptic of Move...I'll admit that, but the live demo of Sorcery really floored me. I'm actually considering getting that one. I would really like to see how it functions in SOCOM 4 though.
Don't take it so personal. Those guys just love to poke fun at the PS3 in the spirit of good ole trini picong. As I talk dat...Kevin Butler's snide swipes at Kinect are rather amusing when you look at em (without you Xbox glasses of course).
Guys... sigh.... i love my 360.. really i do.. but i am contemplating getting it modded right about now.
There are so many games i want to play coming in the next year and if i decide to buy them all i may very well end up spending in excess of 300 USD which makes little sense when you consider http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2 (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2) i mean... what if i modify my 360, which is not too expensive to do right now, and simply purchase that new model later in the year as there is are several games that i will want to experience, all of which do not need to be online.
thoughts?
Guys... sigh.... i love my 360.. really i do.. but i am contemplating getting it modded right about now.
There are so many games i want to play coming in the next year and if i decide to buy them all i may very well end up spending in excess of 300 USD which makes little sense when you consider http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2 (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2) i mean... what if i modify my 360, which is not too expensive to do right now, and simply purchase that new model later in the year as there is are several games that i will want to experience, all of which do not need to be online.
thoughts?
Guys... sigh.... i love my 360.. really i do.. but i am contemplating getting it modded right about now.
There are so many games i want to play coming in the next year and if i decide to buy them all i may very well end up spending in excess of 300 USD which makes little sense when you consider http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2 (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-250GB-Elite-Console/dp/B003O6JJKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277126989&sr=8-2) i mean... what if i modify my 360, which is not too expensive to do right now, and simply purchase that new model later in the year as there is are several games that i will want to experience, all of which do not need to be online.
thoughts?
Well dis is de way to look at it, do you want to play games on XBL atm, if yes you will have to cool out and wait until it is closer to de release date of de new console before you put in dat shiny mod chip. Dis looks to me like de most feasible option as when dat patch comes, and it is not a case of "if it will come" but "when it will come" there goes your ability to play games online.
I think you guys misread.. i plan on modifying my CURRENT 360 and eventually purchasing the new 250Gb model to play online.. how else i gonna beat up redlum in Sf4?
We review Microsoft's new and improved Xbox 360 Slim console which offers a number of new features in a smaller, quieter package.
Introduction
It has been four and a half years since the original Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005. New bundles have come out, hard drives for consoles have jumped in capacity exponentially, and there is even a black model of the 360 out there, but at its core the console has remained the same in terms of design.
When the Xbox 360 originally debuted against the Sony PlayStation 3, it did so with somewhat similar hardware, but several less bells and whistles. At the time, it seemed like a great move, as the PS3’s price put it out of reach of most gamers and where areas the additional add-ons for the Xbox 360 could be purchased anytime.
Price was definitely one of- if not THE- major factors in giving the 360 a commanding lead on the PS3 from the start. But times change. The more things are manufactured, the cheaper they become, and as the PS3 has dropped in price without sacrificing its features, its sales have quickly risen. In answer, Microsoft has followed suit and released a new model, with new features that allow it to compete with the PS3.
Many have been calling it the Xbox 360 Slim, but technically that is a misnomer, as it is a replacement for the 360, not an alternative. It is actually classified as the new Xbox 360, so we will call it that.
Features and Design
The obvious change is in its look. The matte colored exterior has been replaced with a glossy black casing, and a concave indention that comes to a point at the power button, which has also been redesigned. Where the old model had a button that needed to physically be pressed, the new 360 buttons are touch sensitive and require no pressure. There is even a sound to indicate that the command was accepted. The same is true for the tray, as the button has been moved from the side, and placed above. One minor drawback of the new casing is that the shine of the casing is also extremely prone to gathering fingerprints and smudges.
In terms of size, the new 360 is smaller than the original by roughly an inch and a half to two-inches. It is not a huge difference, but it does feel more compact. Part of that is due to the fact that the hard drive design has been totally remodeled. Where on the previous version it was located on the side, the new version puts the hard drive inside the console. It is still removable though, but that presents a problem in itself.
The hard drive is located behind a panel on the side, but to remove the drive itself, you pull on a fabric tab that in turn releases a button to unlatch the hard drive. In theory this seems fine, but if you repeatedly pull out your hard drive and transport it between multiple Xboxes- which WILL eventually happen- then the cord will wear down. If the cord rips, the hard drive is not going to come out easily. This is a minor flaw, and Microsoft is likely banking on the fact that people will be using smaller hard drives to transfer the data via USBs rather than continually removing the internal hard drive, but it still seems like an unnecessarily risky design. It is a minor gripe, but an obvious one. The inclusion of a 250GB hard drive standard is in itself nice, but the 250GB hard drive was standard on the last 360 bundle as well.
The change of hard drives does mean that the hard drives on older 360s are not physically compatible with the new models, but there is a cable you can buy that will allow you to transfer existing data from one drive to another with ease.
As for features, the new 360 finally catches up with the PS3 by including 802.11 b/g/n wifi connectivity. This is probably the single biggest improvement over the former models, which required you to purchase an additional accessory that cost anywhere from $80 and up. Even used WiFi adapters still run $50 and up on eBay. The PS3 has had it since launch, and it is about time the 360 caught up.
The new 360 also features five USB ports (two on the front and three on the back) versus three in the old 360, as well as an AUX port specifically for Microsoft’s Kinect motion device. On the back, the connections are the same (HDMI, Ethernet out), with the exception of an upgraded digital audio port that accepts TOSLINK S/PIF optical input standard on all models.
Internally there is a new chip by Valhalla, a 45-nanometer chip designed with integrated CPU and GPU. The redesigned chip improves energy consumption by as much as half in some cases, makes it run quieter, and it decreases the size. In terms of processing power, there isn’t much difference.
The chipset has been an issue with the 360 of course, but that was due to a specific chipset that has long since been replaced. The red ring of death badly damaged the reputation of the 360, but surprisingly it did not seem to drastically affect its sales. Regardless, Microsoft has learned their lesson, and on top of the chipset, the console itself runs cooler than its predecessor. Part of that is due to the new chip, but the double fans of the original model have been replaced by a single, more efficient unit. With the chip putting off less heat, the single fan should be more than enough to keep the console cooler than the original. You still need to maintain a healthy dose of common sense when running the device though; in other words do not stick it in a closet under a bunch of towels and expect it to survive too long- but that is the same with any electronics. Heat is bad, but the new 360 runs at lower temperatures than the original.
The new 360 is also much quieter. When the 360 first came out, a game disk would spin so loudly that it sounded like the thing might fire out of the console. The sound has become like a toothache that you have become so used to that you learn to ignore it. It is only after a visit to the dentist that you realize that there was a better way to live. It is the same with the new 360. You will immediately notice a difference, and wonder why you never noticed how loud your old system was.
The console will of course be backwards compatible with all existing Xbox 360 titles, but one thing missing is a slot for the memory cards that were specific to the original 360s. However, recent software updates have allowed you to create a facsimile with any USB thumb drive.
One of the biggest selling features of the Xbox 360 has been the Xbox Live service that offers things like Netflix streaming, movies for rent, and now even ESPN content live and on-demand. Since this is all software based, there didn’t seem to be any difference in terms of performance.
Accessories
The system ships with a black controller, a headset, the standard power cord, and a composite AV cable. One gripe with the new 360 is that it does not ship with an HDMI or any form of HD cable. With all gaming heading towards HD, you’d think this would be a given. They also ship the new 360 without an Ethernet cable.
Conclusion
The new design looks great. The 360 was due for an overhaul, and the designers did a great job on it. As with anything, some will love the design, some will hate it, but most should find it a pleasing change. But looks alone aren’t likely to sell any consoles. If there is one single feature worth touting, it is the inclusion of WiFi, which really does make a big difference. The quieter sound is a nice touch, and the 250GB hard drive is a great selling point.
While this new unit is unlikely to make anyone go out and buy one if they already own a relatively new 360, it might convince older users (that managed to win the proverbial lottery by avoiding the red ring of death) to upgrade.
Perhaps the biggest negative that people will focus on is the comparison between this model and the PS3, which is the same price but features a built-in Blu-ray player. $300 is reasonable for the new 360, but the Blu-ray might be enough to sway new gamers that are still deciding between the systems towards the PS3. That is more of a “pro” for the PS3 than a “con” for the 360 though.
If you are looking for a new console and Blu-ray isn’t your thing, then you won’t be disappointed with the redesigned Xbox 360.
Highs:
* Good price point
* Includes a 250GB hard drive
* It looks cool, and it is smaller than the original
* It is much quieter and runs cooler
* Built in WiFi
Lows:
* An odd way to remove the hard drive that could potentially cause problems
* No HD connectivity without additional purchase
* No Blu-ray player
* The fancy shine is easily smudged with fingerprints
Xbox 360 Slim review
http://www.digitaltrends.com/game-console-reviews/microsoft-xbox-360-slim-review/ (http://www.digitaltrends.com/game-console-reviews/microsoft-xbox-360-slim-review/)QuoteWe review Microsoft's new and improved Xbox 360 Slim console which offers a number of new features in a smaller, quieter package.
Introduction
It has been four and a half years since the original Xbox 360 was released on November 22, 2005. New bundles have come out, hard drives for consoles have jumped in capacity exponentially, and there is even a black model of the 360 out there, but at its core the console has remained the same in terms of design.
When the Xbox 360 originally debuted against the Sony PlayStation 3, it did so with somewhat similar hardware, but several less bells and whistles. At the time, it seemed like a great move, as the PS3’s price put it out of reach of most gamers and where areas the additional add-ons for the Xbox 360 could be purchased anytime.
Price was definitely one of- if not THE- major factors in giving the 360 a commanding lead on the PS3 from the start. But times change. The more things are manufactured, the cheaper they become, and as the PS3 has dropped in price without sacrificing its features, its sales have quickly risen. In answer, Microsoft has followed suit and released a new model, with new features that allow it to compete with the PS3.
Many have been calling it the Xbox 360 Slim, but technically that is a misnomer, as it is a replacement for the 360, not an alternative. It is actually classified as the new Xbox 360, so we will call it that.
Features and Design
The obvious change is in its look. The matte colored exterior has been replaced with a glossy black casing, and a concave indention that comes to a point at the power button, which has also been redesigned. Where the old model had a button that needed to physically be pressed, the new 360 buttons are touch sensitive and require no pressure. There is even a sound to indicate that the command was accepted. The same is true for the tray, as the button has been moved from the side, and placed above. One minor drawback of the new casing is that the shine of the casing is also extremely prone to gathering fingerprints and smudges.
In terms of size, the new 360 is smaller than the original by roughly an inch and a half to two-inches. It is not a huge difference, but it does feel more compact. Part of that is due to the fact that the hard drive design has been totally remodeled. Where on the previous version it was located on the side, the new version puts the hard drive inside the console. It is still removable though, but that presents a problem in itself.
The hard drive is located behind a panel on the side, but to remove the drive itself, you pull on a fabric tab that in turn releases a button to unlatch the hard drive. In theory this seems fine, but if you repeatedly pull out your hard drive and transport it between multiple Xboxes- which WILL eventually happen- then the cord will wear down. If the cord rips, the hard drive is not going to come out easily. This is a minor flaw, and Microsoft is likely banking on the fact that people will be using smaller hard drives to transfer the data via USBs rather than continually removing the internal hard drive, but it still seems like an unnecessarily risky design. It is a minor gripe, but an obvious one. The inclusion of a 250GB hard drive standard is in itself nice, but the 250GB hard drive was standard on the last 360 bundle as well.
The change of hard drives does mean that the hard drives on older 360s are not physically compatible with the new models, but there is a cable you can buy that will allow you to transfer existing data from one drive to another with ease.
As for features, the new 360 finally catches up with the PS3 by including 802.11 b/g/n wifi connectivity. This is probably the single biggest improvement over the former models, which required you to purchase an additional accessory that cost anywhere from $80 and up. Even used WiFi adapters still run $50 and up on eBay. The PS3 has had it since launch, and it is about time the 360 caught up.
The new 360 also features five USB ports (two on the front and three on the back) versus three in the old 360, as well as an AUX port specifically for Microsoft’s Kinect motion device. On the back, the connections are the same (HDMI, Ethernet out), with the exception of an upgraded digital audio port that accepts TOSLINK S/PIF optical input standard on all models.
Internally there is a new chip by Valhalla, a 45-nanometer chip designed with integrated CPU and GPU. The redesigned chip improves energy consumption by as much as half in some cases, makes it run quieter, and it decreases the size. In terms of processing power, there isn’t much difference.
The chipset has been an issue with the 360 of course, but that was due to a specific chipset that has long since been replaced. The red ring of death badly damaged the reputation of the 360, but surprisingly it did not seem to drastically affect its sales. Regardless, Microsoft has learned their lesson, and on top of the chipset, the console itself runs cooler than its predecessor. Part of that is due to the new chip, but the double fans of the original model have been replaced by a single, more efficient unit. With the chip putting off less heat, the single fan should be more than enough to keep the console cooler than the original. You still need to maintain a healthy dose of common sense when running the device though; in other words do not stick it in a closet under a bunch of towels and expect it to survive too long- but that is the same with any electronics. Heat is bad, but the new 360 runs at lower temperatures than the original.
The new 360 is also much quieter. When the 360 first came out, a game disk would spin so loudly that it sounded like the thing might fire out of the console. The sound has become like a toothache that you have become so used to that you learn to ignore it. It is only after a visit to the dentist that you realize that there was a better way to live. It is the same with the new 360. You will immediately notice a difference, and wonder why you never noticed how loud your old system was.
The console will of course be backwards compatible with all existing Xbox 360 titles, but one thing missing is a slot for the memory cards that were specific to the original 360s. However, recent software updates have allowed you to create a facsimile with any USB thumb drive.
One of the biggest selling features of the Xbox 360 has been the Xbox Live service that offers things like Netflix streaming, movies for rent, and now even ESPN content live and on-demand. Since this is all software based, there didn’t seem to be any difference in terms of performance.
Accessories
The system ships with a black controller, a headset, the standard power cord, and a composite AV cable. One gripe with the new 360 is that it does not ship with an HDMI or any form of HD cable. With all gaming heading towards HD, you’d think this would be a given. They also ship the new 360 without an Ethernet cable.
Conclusion
The new design looks great. The 360 was due for an overhaul, and the designers did a great job on it. As with anything, some will love the design, some will hate it, but most should find it a pleasing change. But looks alone aren’t likely to sell any consoles. If there is one single feature worth touting, it is the inclusion of WiFi, which really does make a big difference. The quieter sound is a nice touch, and the 250GB hard drive is a great selling point.
While this new unit is unlikely to make anyone go out and buy one if they already own a relatively new 360, it might convince older users (that managed to win the proverbial lottery by avoiding the red ring of death) to upgrade.
Perhaps the biggest negative that people will focus on is the comparison between this model and the PS3, which is the same price but features a built-in Blu-ray player. $300 is reasonable for the new 360, but the Blu-ray might be enough to sway new gamers that are still deciding between the systems towards the PS3. That is more of a “pro” for the PS3 than a “con” for the 360 though.
If you are looking for a new console and Blu-ray isn’t your thing, then you won’t be disappointed with the redesigned Xbox 360.
Highs:
* Good price point
* Includes a 250GB hard drive
* It looks cool, and it is smaller than the original
* It is much quieter and runs cooler
* Built in WiFi
Lows:
* An odd way to remove the hard drive that could potentially cause problems
* No HD connectivity without additional purchase
* No Blu-ray player
* The fancy shine is easily smudged with fingerprints
Well, this is sad and unexpected: Microsoft's Major Nelson just announced that Xbox Live Gold will be getting more expensive in the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico starting November 1. A single month will go from $7.99 to $9.99, three months will go from $19.99 to $24.99, and the yearly sub will now be $59.99, up from $49.99. Yes, it's super lame, but to make up for it Microsoft's running a quickie "lock in" promo for a discounted $40 one-year Gold sub starting November 1 -- a nice deal if your subscription is set to expire around then, we suppose. We're definitely wondering why Microsoft is jacking Live prices right before launching Kinect and the gaming-focused Windows Phone 7, though -- we've heard theories ranging from an attempt to increase Entertainment and Devices revenue to a simple inflation adjustment. We'll poke around -- and we're guessing there's about to be a run on Gold upgrade cards.
The D-pad on the existing 360 controllers is, to put it mildly, utter garbage. If you want to play any games relying on precise movements, such as fighting games, buying a third-party controller is a requirement. Microsoft hopes it has this problem licked, however, and is releasing a controller with a new, updated D-pad on November 9. The catch? You won't be able to buy the controller alone; you'll need to grab the Play and Charge Kit to get it, and the final cost will be $64.99.
Here is the controller, complete with transforming D-pad.
Updated D-Pad Controller (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz6aTTKE6hE&feature=player_embedded#ws)
Wow...not cool M$.
I've actually been using XBL less and less over the years. Some of the 'extra' stuff
that M$ has added to XBL recently I just don't use, but I guess that all users would
have been forced to accept a price hike at some point. Word is that the 'Hulu' video
service (which by itself is 10 US) is the cause of this price increase. Others say that it may be a pre-emptive move to recoup imminent Kinect losses. Either way, this isn't going to go down well with the masses.
The timing of this is very bad. The last thing you want to do in a 'recession' is raise prices...especially if you can't really justify what direct benefits your customers are getting for that extra 10 dollars.
Outta curiousity... why would you WANT to buy the 4GB? I have the run of the mill 20GB and as it is I am out of space with addons, demos, vids, etc...
even if you won't use it, it's still good to have it. Especially with the increasing size/quality of XBLA games, it's not uncommon to find those titles being over 900mb these days.
I dunno, me personally if I going 360, I'm getting my hard drive space.
Yes I won't be using it for media since I already do that on PS3.
But for things like game installs, updates and even If I end up using it for media, I'd like to have that space and no hassle of buying a new drive, or turning the ps3 on to get the media there.
To the best of my knowledge I haven't encountered anything like that, tho on SWAT particularly I do find I get spawn killed too easily, YUH HEAR THAT RED, SWAT IS SH1T
Kinect has heard grumbles from people over its high pricing, and failure to work correctly. Now MS have essentially confirmed that the picky Kinect can’t function well in messy, loud, or poorly lit environments – which basically describes 90% of the gaming rooms out there. read more
If you’re like us you’ll already be swinging Move controllers around your head in an effort to slay your foes, defeat your opponents and otherwise claim victory in the digital playground. But it’s not all about Sony, Microsoft’s pitch at the motion-control market is looming on the horizon and there has been heated debate over which is best. Who will “beat” who? We think it’s all a matter of perspective…
In China, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the other major consoles are effectively banned, and are only sold on the country’s gray market.
In their place, a bunch of zany home-made consoles have emerged from China-based entrepreneurs. Hence, while the rest of the world has the Nintendo Wii, China has the Vii, and also the Wü. And, just as many of us will be able to purchase Microsoft’s hands-free Kinect controller from November, Chinese gamers will get the EBox.
… Sorry?
Well, the EBox is yet another homegrown Chinese game platform that, like another console I could mention, will provide users with a controller-free experience when it debuts in early-2011.
Is it that time of the decade already? Yup, it is, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.
The next generation of video game consoles is coming up like all generational leaps tend to; in a clandestine fashion. Despite the incredibly high quality of titles that have come from the past year, (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and God of War 3 on the short list) video game sales are down across the board. With advancements in 3D technology, the dawn of social networking, and motion controls appealing to our species’ growing mass of idiocy, the pieces are all in place for the big three to start all over yet again. Gaming is in need of a reason to get excited, and this is exemplified by severe stagnation of the system that shook the industry four year ago. My friends, the reign of the Nintendo Wii is at its ending. And yes, the doors are locked permanently.
The Wii’s sales are down by 45% on a year-by-year basis. This week last year, the Wii doubled the sales of the Xbox 360. Doubled. This year? The Wii is trailing the 360 by over thirty thousand units. The Wii is in fourth place, behind the DS, the Xbox 360, and even the Playstation 3 (which is kind of like trailing a runner that keeps punching himself in the balls). The Wii’s game library isn’t doing much better. Software sales can be kindly described as “continually lagging,” and accurately described as “laughably terrible.” The console is in a downward spiral, and interest in the system has tumbled from its peak. Now that the Nintendo 3DS is coming out with visuals that can rival the Wii’s, Nintendo must make a change in how they view their system’s hardware. Simply adding the power necessary to keep the Wii afloat via a peripheral would be unbelievably stupid and costly, especially since Nintendo already tried that before with hilarious results:
Ok so I really wanted to run some MW2 online so I did the unthinkable and and updated my dashboard. Just then I heard a voice thru my 360 something about "roger roger target is locked on coming in for a bombing run" upon hearing that I immediately ran outside only to see a stealth bomber(the bastard was flying low example of said bomber can be seen in the above post) coming close to my house, instantly I did a back flip and ended up on my roof. The bomb bays opened what did I see a freaking big ass hammer it fell quick and I didnt know what to do, no time to think I lined it up perfectly and broke that shit with my pinkie... toe thought it was my pinkie finger right. I let out a sigh of relief as Jackie Chan and Jet Li patted me on the back they said my technique got better all I could say after was "thanks guys."
TRUE STORY
Ok so I really wanted to run some MW2 online so I did the unthinkable and and updated my dashboard. Just then I heard a voice thru my 360 something about "roger roger target is locked on coming in for a bombing run" upon hearing that I immediately ran outside only to see a stealth bomber(the bastard was flying low example of said bomber can be seen in the above post) coming close to my house, instantly I did a back flip and ended up on my roof. The bomb bays opened what did I see a freaking big ass hammer it fell quick and I didnt know what to do, no time to think I lined it up perfectly and broke that shit with my pinkie... toe thought it was my pinkie finger right. I let out a sigh of relief as Jackie Chan and Jet Li patted me on the back they said my technique got better all I could say after was "thanks guys."
TRUE STORY
It's finally here. After three years of development, evolving from a rumor to a product that's made headlines with high-profile appearances on Oprah, Ellen, and The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, Kinect for Microsoft Xbox 360 (formerly Project Natal) is a reality. Microsoft has touted Kinect ($149.99 direct) as the next level of motion control, one that eschews physical, hands-on controllers by using the human body itself for input. It's a lofty task to undertake, certainly one far riskier than what Sony has done with the PlayStation Move ($99.99, 4 stars), which uses Nintendo Wii-like remotes (albeit, ones that are far more accurate). Microsoft has succeeded in making its spin on motion gaming not only a reality, but an insanely fun Xbox add-on that uses Kinect's depth-sensing camera and microphone in a revolutionary way that kills any accusations of it being a Wii-inspired gimmick.
Kinect Bundles and Games
Kinect comes available as a $149.99 standalone device, but should you want to purchase it along with an Xbox 360, there are two additional options. Microsoft sells a $299 bundle that pairs Kinect with a 4GB Xbox 360, as well as a $399 bundle that packages Kinect with a 250GB system. I like the flexibility here, as it gives gamers many options for getting in on Microsoft's motion action. You won't need an Xbox Live subscription to use Kinect, but you can use Kinect's motion navigation with several of Xbox Live Gold features, such as ESPN.
Kinect Adventures is Kinect's pack-in game, but there will be several other titles on store shelves at or near its launch including Dance Central (a pad-free take on Dance Dance Revolution), Kinectimals (an advanced spin on Nintendogs), Kinect Joy Riders (racing), Kinect Sports (the Microsoft equivalent of Wii Sports), Sonic Free Riders (racing), and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (exercise). Granted, not many of these titles will appeal to the hardcore gamer, but Microsoft has marketed it toward families, so the titles' casual nature isn't very surprising.
Kinect Design, Setup, and Tutorial
The 1.3-pound Kinect is an all-black 2.8-by-11.1-by-2.8-inch (HWD) horizontal bar positioned on top of a motorized pivot that's designed to blend inconspicuously into your entertainment setup. Its face houses three sensors that are used to track players' movements and voice commands: a 640-by-480 RGB camera, a monochrome depth sensor, and a multi-array microphone. The back houses the lone connection cable, and air vents are built into the sides and bottom of the device to keep it cool during long play sessions. A power/USB cable is included for connecting Kinect to older Xbox 360 models.
Setting up Kinect is a simple affair: If you have the new Xbox 360 ($299.99, 4 stars), simply plug the device's sensor cable into the Aux port, which is easily identified by the orange stripe positioned above it. If you own an older Xbox 360, plug the sensor cable into the included Power/USB cable, and then plug one end of that cable into a USB port and the other into an outlet. When we connected Kinect to the new Xbox 360, it was instantly recognized and powered on without the need for AC power—the new Xbox 360 supplies enough juice to power the device. Note: Microsoft recommends positioning Kinect between 2 and 6 feet above the ground, and centered just above or below your television or monitor.
After powering on, the Kinect sensor came alive and immediately began scanning the environment,then locking the camera into a prime position. The Kinect then ran through a series of required tests, in which it checked the background noise level, speaker volume, and microphone calibration, the three components that power its voice command feature (more on that later).
A brief tutorial then showed me important gestures all users need to know to operate Kinect. First off, moving your hand so that the floating cursor is positioned over a game option makes a selection ring appear that assists in the confirmation process. Also, raising your right hand and waving it back and forth, for example, causes Kinect to recognize you, while positioning your right arm next to your body while holding your left arm at a 45-degree angle away from your body pauses games. These three gestures are universal, and work in any gaming scenario. Kinect's facial recognition can be used to log you into your Xbox account.
Stellar Motion Control (When You're Within Range)
Kinect comes packaged with Kinect Adventures, a collection of athletic titles that serve as a fun tech demo, like a more thematic version of Nintendo's Wii Sports. The most interesting of these six games is "Reflex Ridge," a two-player split-screen (player versus player or player versus Xbox) racing/obstacle title that has gamers speeding down a river on a raft. As your on-screen avatar moves forward, obstacles appear to slow your progress, so you have to leap, side-step, and duck objects. The motion tracking was surprisingly accurate in my tests; the instant I leapt, my avatar leapt. When I leaned left or right, my character leaned left or right in step. In fact, the only time I felt a disconnect between myself and my on-screen persona is when I had to jump up and down rapidly to increase the speed of the raft—occasionally a jump wouldn't register. Still, the overall experience was extremely impressive.
Even better, a second player can jump into the game at any time without the need for calibration or having to pause the game and dig through menus. When another person walked into Kinect's field of vision, "Reflex Ridge" automatically detected the new challenger and split the screen. I was floored by this, as it allowed a second player to jump in without breaking the flow of the game.
Kinect Sports, one of the launch titles, further demonstrated the device's incredible motion sensing. The Bowling game mode showed that Kinect can detect speed variations, as slow arm motions produced slow rolling balls, while quick arm motions produced balls that blazed down the lane. This attention to detail made the game feel much more like a true game of bowling than Wii Sports, and I could easily see those that excel in the real life sport finding greater success in the game than those who don't. Kinect Sports contained two other addictive games that nearly shut down the PCMag lab one Friday afternoon with their excellent recreations of the actual sports: Table Tennis and Volleyball. As we served, leapt, delivered backhands, and spiked balls, everyone marveled at Kinetic's ability to encourage everyone to get up and play, and work without the physical controllers that non-gamers can find daunting. Kinect would occasionally miss a motion input, but it was surprisingly rare.
In order to enjoy Kinect, you have to be positioned in a sweet spot about 6 to 8 feet away from the sensor. This means that you might run into trouble if your forced to set it up in a cramped space. It also means that even if you have the proper amount of floor space, you can easily step out of the play field. Kinect, however, even senses when you do that; when I moved out of position while playing Boxing, the game instructed me to step back, forward, left, or right, so that I was back into the play zone. Once you get a hang of the play areas, staying within it becomes second nature. Marking the sweet spot on the floor can be very helpful, though.
Voice Command and Video Connect
Microsoft has done itself a bit of a disservice by not promoting Kinect's voice command capabilities as highly as it has the system's motion control. Kinect functions on the "If you see it, you can say it" principle, which means that onscreen actions can also be performed by speaking them instead of using arm movements. For example, saying the word "Xbox" causes the Kinect's ear to perk up and await your command. Following that with "Open Tray" causes the disc tray to pop open. You can also use it to launch any of Xbox Live's non-gaming services like ESPN and the Zune Marketplace. Kinect's voice recognition worked well in my tests, but it did occasionally miss a command. Minimal background noise and speaking clearly definitely helped.
Microsoft also includes a Video Kinect mode, which lets you use Kinect as a webcam to chat with others—even those that don't have Kinect.The camera will also track you around a room as you move, so the person or people on the other end of the video stream has you in view. Unfortunately, it was unavailable for use during out test period, but we able to confirm that only those with Microsoft messaging accounts (Windows Live, MSN, Hotmail) will be able to use the service. Still, we had a chance to experience Video Kinect in a demo set up the week before today's launch. The 640-by-480 camera accurately tracked a colleague when he moved from the left side of a sofa to the right, and the people on the other end of the stream reported that the camera kept him within their field of vision.
Should You Connect with Kinect?
Kinect is a great leap forward in motion gaming. If you already own an Xbox 360, the $149 is fairly reasonable—after all, when you consider a game title like Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock will cost you $169 after you buy all the necessary accessories. If you don't own a Xbox 360, you're going to have to shell out at least $299 for the entry level Xbox 360 Kinect bundle. Still, that's more affordable than the $399 PlayStation 320GB Move Bundle, which comes with the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Eye camera, a single Move controller, and a game. And your $149 for Kinect gets you groundbreaking technology that tracks your full body lets you use your voice to control your Xbox, and opens doors for new, exciting gameplay experiences. If you have an Xbox, Kinect is a must-have add-on that's more than worthy of our Editors' Choice Award.
Can't wait for 2010. :)
Is it that time of the decade already? Yup, it is, and it couldn’t have come soon enough.
The next generation of video game consoles is coming up like all generational leaps tend to; in a clandestine fashion. Despite the incredibly high quality of titles that have come from the past year, (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and God of War 3 on the short list) video game sales are down across the board. With advancements in 3D technology, the dawn of social networking, and motion controls appealing to our species’ growing mass of idiocy, the pieces are all in place for the big three to start all over yet again. Gaming is in need of a reason to get excited, and this is exemplified by severe stagnation of the system that shook the industry four year ago. My friends, the reign of the Nintendo Wii is at its ending. And yes, the doors are locked permanently.
The Wii’s sales are down by 45% on a year-by-year basis. This week last year, the Wii doubled the sales of the Xbox 360. Doubled. This year? The Wii is trailing the 360 by over thirty thousand units. The Wii is in fourth place, behind the DS, the Xbox 360, and even the Playstation 3 (which is kind of like trailing a runner that keeps punching himself in the balls). The Wii’s game library isn’t doing much better. Software sales can be kindly described as “continually lagging,” and accurately described as “laughably terrible.” The console is in a downward spiral, and interest in the system has tumbled from its peak. Now that the Nintendo 3DS is coming out with visuals that can rival the Wii’s, Nintendo must make a change in how they view their system’s hardware. Simply adding the power necessary to keep the Wii afloat via a peripheral would be unbelievably stupid and costly, especially since Nintendo already tried that before with hilarious results
So what would lead someone to jump to a sensational conclusion like that? In this case a report from Gamespot that essentially states the following: “In testing the Kinect, two dark-skinned GameSpot employees had problems getting the system’s facial recognition features to work.” Here’s why they’re making too much out of nothing.
While the story is being pitched in the news cycle as a “Microsoft’s technology is racist” because that’s what grabs headlines and generates pageviews, the reality is much tamer. Gamespot was given a demo unit (most likely) of Kinect to test out and review ahead of the official launch, and while testing, they noticed that the unit had problems detecting facial features on dark-skinned users. The problem occurred with two of the three dark-skinned employees that tested the units (I guess Gamespot is using ‘dark-skinned’ instead of black to appear balanced?) and did not surface with any light-skinned employees. So in essence, the camera on Kinect (and that’s what it really is, a webcam within the unit, as you can see above) is hit or miss when trying to detect facial features on dark-skinned individuals. Oh my god, racism?!
Not really. As Crunchgear points out in an equally sensationally-titled post, the issue is similar to an issue HP’s webcams encountered last year to which the company responded by saying that it was a problem with the “standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose,” and that the cameras exhibited the problem seeing this contrast without sufficient lighting (a problem that wouldn’t be as apparent for lighter-skinned individuals).
.........As much as I liked it, however, I have no idea how I could justify having Kinect in my living room as a permanent fixture. To conduct the Dance Central review, I had to slide my coffee table under my dining table, push my couch against my bookshelves, and stack all my dining chairs in the kitchen just to get the six-to-eight feet of space needed for the device to work. My roommates were not pleased.
Even if I could somehow buy the perfect IKEA showroom setup for the Kinect to live in, I’m not sure the launch games are good enough to sell the device to Wii diehards and fresh PlayStation Move adopters. I mean the sports game and the adventures game are kind of old hat for motion controls; the fitness game and the dancing game have been done before in different ways on other consoles; and even if Kinectimals is a fresh idea, it’s got limited appeal (and to me it’s just plain creepy). That’s not to say the games aren’t fun – I loved Dance Central – but nothing in the lineup is stand out enough to make me say, “Wow – I’ve got to have that right now.” If only that Star Wars game were coming out this year…....
Not too sure what you mean, Xbox 360 along with Live works fine here in Trinidad. The only thing is the region blocking which prevents you from buying certain content such as movies, music etc. If you are referring to the zune music store, http://social.zune.net/music/ (http://social.zune.net/music/) I'm not too sure.
Perhaps someone on the forum has used it before?
i just bawlin sour grapes cuz i on silver till nex mth lolThe Reach, it compels you... you MUST join the frey, we are waiting O_O ......
Ammmm, suuuure, but den I hadda get a nex Xbox too, cuz for sure me eh givin up my Halo Reach time to friggin Dance Central!Correct is right
Ammmm, suuuure, but den I hadda get a nex Xbox too, cuz for sure me eh givin up my Halo Reach time to friggin Dance Central!Correct is right
Pfft and someone made a comment to me over the weekend about the PS3 being used for supercomputing XD EAT ya heart out Sony Move!
Pfft and someone made a comment to me over the weekend about the PS3 being used for supercomputing XD EAT ya heart out Sony Move!
But its no fun if I can't provoke :p
Yeah for real, same thing I find for PS3, I ended up canceling my Move order since I wasn't too impressed with the current lineup. Will look at it again in a few months.
Xbox 360 set to be 2010's best-selling console in the UShttp://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/11/xbox-360-set-to-be-best-selling-console-this-year-in-the-us.ars (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/11/xbox-360-set-to-be-best-selling-console-this-year-in-the-us.ars)
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated about 5 hours ago
The Nintendo DS was the best-selling hardware for October, according to the NPD sales information for the US. The Xbox 360 came in second place, but that's OK. "The Xbox 360 has generated the most unit sales among the console platforms on a year-to-date basis as of this month," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. "The Nintendo DS remains the best-selling hardware system, overall."
While the NPD Group no longer shares specific information for each system, Microsoft let us know that it sold 325,000 Xbox 360s, up 30 percent from 2009. "During the month, Xbox 360 secured six of the top 10 console game titles, including the top four titles overall, a feat never-before accomplished by a current-generation console," Microsoft announced. That's a pretty good way to head into the holiday season.
Those titles, in order, were:
NBA 2K11
Fallout: New Vegas
Medal of Honor
Fable III
Just in case that isn't enough good news, over one million Kinect units have been sold to date worldwide, which puts Microsoft well within range of its 5 million unit goal for the year. That's not shipped, that's not sold to retailers, that's actual consumer spending. Not a bad launch for a new piece of hardware.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops having just launched—a game that has historically performed very well on the 360, not to mention the fact that upcoming content will be a timed exclusive for Microsoft—and the Kinect bundles looking like they'll be a hot item for Christmas, it should be easy to keep the momentum going.
Sony and Nintendo have not shared any sales information with the press.
Consider:In contrast to what a wizards underling (I wonder who will catch that) said not so long ago about me being one sided, I have in the past stated that it was my belief that the PS3 would win the current 'next-gen' console war, because of it's Blu-ray and media centric design. News like what i'm about to put though does make me wonder though.QuoteXbox 360 set to be 2010's best-selling console in the UShttp://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/11/xbox-360-set-to-be-best-selling-console-this-year-in-the-us.ars (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/11/xbox-360-set-to-be-best-selling-console-this-year-in-the-us.ars)
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated about 5 hours ago
The Nintendo DS was the best-selling hardware for October, according to the NPD sales information for the US. The Xbox 360 came in second place, but that's OK. "The Xbox 360 has generated the most unit sales among the console platforms on a year-to-date basis as of this month," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. "The Nintendo DS remains the best-selling hardware system, overall."
While the NPD Group no longer shares specific information for each system, Microsoft let us know that it sold 325,000 Xbox 360s, up 30 percent from 2009. "During the month, Xbox 360 secured six of the top 10 console game titles, including the top four titles overall, a feat never-before accomplished by a current-generation console," Microsoft announced. That's a pretty good way to head into the holiday season.
Those titles, in order, were:
NBA 2K11
Fallout: New Vegas
Medal of Honor
Fable III
Just in case that isn't enough good news, over one million Kinect units have been sold to date worldwide, which puts Microsoft well within range of its 5 million unit goal for the year. That's not shipped, that's not sold to retailers, that's actual consumer spending. Not a bad launch for a new piece of hardware.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops having just launched—a game that has historically performed very well on the 360, not to mention the fact that upcoming content will be a timed exclusive for Microsoft—and the Kinect bundles looking like they'll be a hot item for Christmas, it should be easy to keep the momentum going.
Sony and Nintendo have not shared any sales information with the press.
Oh btw we discussed the local prices of PS3s, anyone saw the Kinect Bundle selling locally yet? Price?
That is pretty cool, I wonder if they will be able to get 2 kinects going simultaneously to give a full 360 degree view.Better patent that one time woody!
i have a kinect. Now trying to understand the thing. Voice commands were successful.
I would like to try out online gaming. I was able to sign up with XBOX live today. my gamer tag is Thr33MCHANG. Would be cool if someone could add me. Waiting on TTPOST to deliver my Halo titles. Will update when they arrive. Can FROZA be played online? not seeing it but it's only been 4 days and well I have to keep up the appearance that I bought the XBOX for them...HAHAHA yeah right!
i have a kinect. Now trying to understand the thing. Voice commands were successful.
I would like to try out online gaming. I was able to sign up with XBOX live today. my gamer tag is Thr33MCHANG. Would be cool if someone could add me. Waiting on TTPOST to deliver my Halo titles. Will update when they arrive. Can FROZA be played online? not seeing it but it's only been 4 days and well I have to keep up the appearance that I bought the XBOX for them...HAHAHA yeah right!
Maybe now ah could cetch up to yuh in Black Ops :P
WalMart have d 4GB Xbox S for CAD$129 right now...real tempting to pick one up and den get d Kinect...ah know meh gf done hintin dat she wouldn't mind playin it. I was jus studyin to hold out a lil longer for d nex wave of games.
Use Physicam technology to control many other games using a Web cam instead of a keyboard. You set motion sensors on the Web cam capture screen, then decide what keyboard keys those sensors push. The result is the ability to play many games (including online flash and shock games) using physical motion in front of your Web cam.
has anyone played limbo? I love the look of that game...wish it was on psn
nice vid there Beserk, it shows the potential for FPS games in terms of movement, Kinect is truly innovative yes...
has anyone played limbo? I love the look of that game...wish it was on psn
I have played it. One of the best games i've played in 2010. Graphic style is very different and creepy but effective when it comes to hitting you with the hard puzzles thrown at you in the game. It's a shame it's not available for the other platfoms.
@ 3M_Chang. yeah local credit card works fine when linked with xbox but the card must have a U.S address tagged to it.
has anyone played limbo? I love the look of that game...wish it was on psn
I have played it. One of the best games i've played in 2010. Graphic style is very different and creepy but effective when it comes to hitting you with the hard puzzles thrown at you in the game. It's a shame it's not available for the other platfoms.
@ 3M_Chang. yeah local credit card works fine when linked with xbox but the card must have a U.S address tagged to it.
So yuh saying if I put my "skybox" address it could work? because I can't go beyond the address part.
has anyone played limbo? I love the look of that game...wish it was on psn
I have played it. One of the best games i've played in 2010. Graphic style is very different and creepy but effective when it comes to hitting you with the hard puzzles thrown at you in the game. It's a shame it's not available for the other platfoms.
@ 3M_Chang. yeah local credit card works fine when linked with xbox but the card must have a U.S address tagged to it.
So yuh saying if I put my "skybox" address it could work? because I can't go beyond the address part.
Billing address needs to be the address on the card
skybox is a shipping address
Actually the address on my card is my skybox address.AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you ! I will let you all know how it goes.
so I bought 4000 Microsoft Points. CYAH DO NUTTEN WITH IT ODDA DAN BUY AVATAR CRAP!!!!!!! Yuh cyah even buy descent games! STEUPS!
Yeah, I knew kinect had beat out the Move when I saw the sales of the 360 Dance Central topping the charts.
That's their killer app right there.
Ballmer wants Xbox for boys and Kinect for the laydeez
CEO has Xbox vision
By Spencer Dalziel
Tue Jan 18 2011, 13:50
TEALEAF READER and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the Xbox isn't a games console and, with Kinect, will be part of everyone's future.
Ballmer spent most of a recent interview with USA Today toeing the company line with on-message Kinect and Xbox talk. Most impressive was that Ballmer managed to bash a square peg into a round hole by responding to non Xbox based questions with Xbox related answers. Maybe Ballmer just wanted to promote something after spending an hour during his CES 2011 keynote speech saying nothing at all.
He was keen to insist that the Xbox will be a ubiquitous plaything in living rooms for some time to come.
"Xbox isn't a gaming console. Xbox is a family entertainment center. It's a place to socialize. It's a place to watch TV," he said.
But in the world according to Ballmer, Xbox has already hit the male teen demographic and it will be Kinect that girls will rave about.
"You go to your average 15-year-old boy, and he will say 'I'll take an Xbox.' I want that average 15-year-old girl as excited about the Kinect, and we haven't done as good a job drawing in that broader set of demographics," Ballmer added.
That answer came in reply to a question about how well the Vole measures up against Apple and Google for cool factor. Go figure.
If Kinect is the future of consumer electronics interaction, there might be some truth in the rumours that Microsoft will put gesture control in Windows. Over at Winrumours, there is talk that Windows will get a Kinect SDK and drivers support. Rumour has it that a Kinect SDK and drivers will be out within a few months and will allow third-party developers to create gesture-based titles for PC games. µ
Funny you guys should be talking about Kinect...Sure beats holding a lightbulb in your hand to control the gundam! XD
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/v-sido-kinect-motion-capture-robot,news-9737.html (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/v-sido-kinect-motion-capture-robot,news-9737.html)
Piloting that Gundam might be closer than you think. :happy0203:
*smug look* "Why Arc, what on earth do you mean" XD
Let's put this in perspective, firstly I am not against the move, it's a good product, very accurate, looked like a really different experience in KZ3 (I think it was KZ3 demo). I am not in any way saying that good apps won't be developed for its respective platform. I am simply stating that imho I would rather use my whole body to control a gundam, not just 2 current day joysticks.... you can appreciate where I am coming from Arc XD
On a related note, the Kinect outsold the move 13:1 over the xmas and take into consideration it was volume constricted. I just think it has more appeal as it's more involving that an advanced Wiimote, thats all. Not saying I wouldn't use it.
Company asks for US volunteers to test next system update, offers Halo: Reach as a reward for participating gamers.http://www.gamespot.com/news/6306298.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop%3Btitle%3B6 (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6306298.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop%3Btitle%3B6)
Microsoft is gearing up for the next Xbox 360 system update, but it needs gamers' help testing a few things out. The company today announced a new System Update Preview Program for US-based Xbox 360 owners to help test a new disc format for the system.
Are there three more exciting words in the English language than "new disc format"?
By signing up at the Microsoft Connect website and filling out a survey, US gamers can volunteer to take part in the preview program. Multiple thousands of gamers will be chosen to participate, with Xbox Live Gold members receiving priority over their nonpaying Xbox Live Silver counterparts.
Participants will receive a copy of Halo: Reach (and possibly other rewards as well) for their trouble, but the program is not without risk. During the registration process, Microsoft warns that due to the nature of prerelease software updates, there's a chance participants could wind up with nonfunctioning systems. The agreement makes no mention of Microsoft repairing systems broken as a result of the update.
When asked what security or storage benefits the new disc format might bring, a Microsoft representative told GameSpot there were no additional details to share at this time.
Microsoft has been developing a new disc format for use with the Xbox 360 of late. However, before you say "yay, Blu-ray's finally coming to my favourite console a good three years after HD-DVD upped and died", it's not Blu-ray. Sorry.http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/39365/microsoft-new-xbox-360-disc (http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/39365/microsoft-new-xbox-360-disc)
Instead, it's essentially exactly the same disc format that's been improved by unlocking an extra 1GB of space that was previously reserved for DVD-Video and anti-piracy measures.
Currently, games have to fit into 6.8GB on a 7.95GB disc, with the rest being a locked-off partition. However, beta tests are presently underway in the US, with participants trying out copies of Halo: Reach that take up an additional 1GB of disc space. It's unknown whether there is additional content or if the game has just been decompacted to make up the shortfall.
Either way, if successful, a full roll-out is expected, with a dashboard upgrade to all Xbox 360s globally that will allow them to access the extra information.
The details of the 1GB extension were discovered by Xbox 360 scene hacker, commodore4ever, who tweeted: "MS will introduce xgd3 – this will add more ap checks, cvi (content integerity) checks, increase the disc size and adds a new layer for protection issues – all in the 20500 sdk! bring it on".
There's currently no word on when the change-over might occur.
You are joking, right?
Just in case you're not, let me just spell it out - Xbox owner, Microsoft, paying royalties to console rival PlayStation's owner, Sony, for the use of Blu-ray technologies...yeah...not likely.
You think I really didn't know/consider that?I figured you knew this, but to hear that you aren't joking - well, the logic defies me. Not sure what to tell yuh. D maths jes doh add up fuh me, sorry.
I'm actually not joking btw.
Digital downloads is still a good while away, especially with many ISPs in the states starting to cap downloads. There's also the issue of changing the whole way without involving retailers, some might think offence, refuse to sell the hardware.I agree that capped connections are an issue, but I fundamentally believe that something will change all of that - telecoms will bow to the masses, whether by way of legislature, or consumer uprising. We've just experienced the very thing here in Canada - the big telecoms wanted to put caps in place and Canadians fought back, so they rescinded. Now Canadians are trying to push for it to become a talking point for the coming election so that politicians and lawmakers know that it is an important issue to consumers.
Sony makes Vaio laptops that run Windows, do they not?Das d best parallel you could draw to argue yuh point? No thinking in, or out, of boxes required here, wyatt pretty much said it - Microsoft nah want nuttin to do wit Blu-ray, and they are happy with the alternatives (DVDs and digital distribution), whereas Sony doesn't have that stance regards Windows (maybe it totally grinds their entertainment division though), and even if they did, wha dey go put on dey PCs? Linux?? OS X??? Be real, there is no alternative, unless dey wha have sales drop harder dan breadfruit. You self. Bettah dan dat.
So why is a Microsoft console using BDs so 'logic-defying'?
Try to think outside the box a bit.
...http://www.webpronews.com/netflix-bandwidth-settings-announced-for-capped-users-in-canada-2011-03 (http://www.webpronews.com/netflix-bandwidth-settings-announced-for-capped-users-in-canada-2011-03)
Netflix wants to help the internet starved Canadians! Late last night, Netflix CPO Neil Hunt announced via the official Netflix blog that data usage is being lowered by 2/3 for members in Canada.
...
1. “Good” – The default setting with good picture quality and lowest data use per hour (about 0.3 GB/hour)
2. “Better” – Better picture quality and medium data use per hour (about 0.7 GB/hour)
3. “Best” – Best picture quality and highest date use per hour (generally about 1.0 GB/hour – or up to 2.3 GB/hour when streaming HD content)
Doing the math, a person who streamed 30 hours of content in a month would use 9GB on the “good” setting, 21 GB on the “better” setting and 30-69 GB on the “best” setting.
...
Microsoft prepares a Halo anniversary bash
Could breathe new life into the thought-dead franchise
HUNCH SHOULDERED SUN AVOIDERS rejoice as Microsoft is planning a party to celebrate one of your behind closed doors pastimes.
The console game Halo will be the subject of festivities, as opposed to Wonder Woman costume changes, and Microsoft, with the aid of developer Bungie, will throw a big bash for it as it enters a second decade.
Halofest will take place at the larger Pax Prime event, which runs from 26-28 August, and might include some surprises. Possibly even a new installment in the series that was supposed to have extended itself with Halo: Reach.
"If you call yourself a Halo fan, this is the year to attend PAX Prime! With a PAX Prime badge, fans gain admission to Halo Fest, the largest and most expansive live Halo experience ever. Packed with tournaments, exclusive panels, and sweet prizes, Halo Fest is the place to be for Halo fans attending PAX Prime 2011," says the official Halo web site.
"This event commemorates ten incredible years of Halo, looking back at the amazing stories that forged a diverse community and redefined gaming for two entire console generations. [Join us] and see why the last ten years of Halo were just the beginning."
Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/numb-thumbs-blog/2049541/microsoft-prepares-halo-anniversary-bash#ixzz1LVHL3cGK (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/numb-thumbs-blog/2049541/microsoft-prepares-halo-anniversary-bash#ixzz1LVHL3cGK)
The Inquirer - Computer hardware news and downloads. Visit the download store today.
Looks very interesting indeed.
I would have preferred a keyboard for the WASD vs the thumb stick but definitely worth looking into.
Speaking of which, the Xim 3 is out now and looking decent.
http://store.xim3.com/XIM3_p_8.html (http://store.xim3.com/XIM3_p_8.html)
If I remember correctly, I actually opened mine and swapped it out for a known working card but it still failed to register.
I am pretty sure that's what I did but for the life of me, I can't remember 100%. I'll ask a pardner and see if he remembers as he was helping me with the issue.
Microsoft replacing older 360s damaged by new firmware update
By Andrew Webster | Published about 3 hours ago
It seems that the latest Xbox 360 firmware update isn't compatible with all versions of the console, as a small number users reportedly cannot play games on their systems after updating. To make up for this, Microsoft has confirmed that it will be replacing consoles for those affected.
"Following a recent update to our system software, we have become aware of an issue that is preventing a very small number of Xbox 360 owners from playing retail game discs," a Microsoft representative told Eurogamer. "This issue manifests itself a as a unique 'disc unreadable' or 'disc unsupported' error on the screen. We are also able to detect this issue over Xbox Live and are proactively reaching out to customers that may be impacted to replace their console."
Those affected are urged to contact Microsoft in order to confirm that their consoles need replacement.
The new firmware is designed to support a new, updated disc format for the 360, which reportedly adds up to 1GB of usable data to Xbox discs. Microsoft will be replacing the outdated consoles with new 250GB slim 360s, and users will also be given one free year of Xbox Live to make up for the inconvenience.
LOL @ 'inconvenience'. :laughing7:
Now THAT is customer service.
Meanwhile...a pardner of mine whose 40GB PS3 unexpectedly YLOD'ed
2 weeks ago gets nothing more than a 'hard luck, buy another' from Sony. :shakehead:
LOL @ 'inconvenience'. :laughing7:
Now THAT is customer service.
Meanwhile...a pardner of mine whose 40GB PS3 unexpectedly YLOD'ed
2 weeks ago gets nothing more than a 'hard luck, buy another' from Sony. :shakehead:
Clearing up some confusion
Clarification time! The console replacement plan that is the subject of some of today’s headlines is related to a previous update, NOT the system update that has been in public beta and will be deployed shortly.
The new disc format that is part of the beta has been rigorously tested across all Xbox 360 models and there are no known compatibility issues.
Hope that clears a few things up.
Xbox 360 By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson
Just bought a kinect (early father's day present) and while setting it up on the xbox 360S, noticed that xbox live is offering a month for $1 again.
Checked online and some lucky gamers were able to use this deal for multiple months.
One claims to have gotten as much as 36 months at a $1 each. Madness.
Anyone from GATT got in on the action?
I'm tempted to try it. I mean for a $1.00, you can't really go wrong. It supposedly adds the time on to your existing subscription if you have one (which we do, with about 7 months left I think)
lol, done know.Bess thing talks, bullshit walks. All the haters on the kinect just not seeing the bigger picture
Dance Central 2 for the misses birthday ftw
We run some heavy Kinect adventures last night. Consensus is that the Wii is no match for Microsoft's offering. And this from a household of nintendo fans.
They come real good
Can't wait to see Kinect Sports in action
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/microsoft-xbox-360-250gb-console-rkh-00002/10145674.aspx?path=09f6eeb1c3d1c67c257379f1fe800136en02 (http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/microsoft-xbox-360-250gb-console-rkh-00002/10145674.aspx?path=09f6eeb1c3d1c67c257379f1fe800136en02)
250GB 360 for $198
I'm thinking really hard to go and get this...
Cash tight now, was planning to buy for Christmas, but by then it'll still be $299 right?
Also doesn't Msoft have a 5 free games promotion with the 250gb 360? Or is that a special bundle.
Ok so I went to a best buy and 2 walmarts and they were sold out ;(
Then I went to FutureShop and woot! 2dozen in stock.
Did not get the free games sadly but yes TheApprentice has finally "JUMPED IN"
I'll try to get Gears 3.
Should I play gears 1-2 first? Or can I just play 3.
Dont got a whole lot of time to play a major backlog of games =|
ViceKartel might be right about the world coming to an end in 2012
Apprentice just bought an xbox.
@wyatt.......yes it is......1st i got mod then apprentice buys a 360.......time to stock up on canned foods
ViceKartel might be right about the world coming to an end in 2012
Apprentice just bought an xbox.@wyatt.......yes it is......1st i got mod then apprentice buys a 360.......time to stock up on canned foods
LOL
Unprecedented things happening this year. :happy0203:
O and if there really is a nice fast track cutscene of previous events, then I guess I'll pick up Gears 3. (Provided I have the time of course)
I played the GoW campaign and must concur with Redlum, it's worth it.
One of the better campaigns I've ever played.
Not as gripping as CoD's but definitely worth the 8 - 12 hours or so it would take you to complete.
Haven't touched the GoW 2 yet....been holding my breath, waiting for it to be released on PC.
Looks like that isn't going to happen :(
Anyone want to lend me the GoW 2 for 360 so I can catch up before GoW 3 hits?
I'm easily pleased in that department. Big fan of every 1980's action movie starring Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Stalone, Willis, Norris and Lundgren.Yup, not that the 'metro bordering on androgynous actions stars of today' don't do a good job (see bourne series), but there's something about the over muscled, over the top, blood all over your kitchen sink and ceiling action star that just puts a 8yr old smile on my face... being a child of the 80s anyways...
hmmm well ya'll convinced me to eventually play Gears 1 and 2.
I see there's a nice combo pack of the 2 available for $30.
I decided though to get Gears 3 now since all of allyuh getting it. My time is limited so it'll be nice to spend that time playing on LIVE with you guys.
I'll play the Gears 3 campaign first and I guess I'll appreciate all the lead up to Gears 3 when playing 1 and 2 in prequel form.
You must introduce me to this "social" place that is Xbox Live. I know not of it.
Btw, W1ntry, Redlum, Agokillya.. Ya'll have no space for me on your friends lists :(
hmmm well ya'll convinced me to eventually play Gears 1 and 2.
I see there's a nice combo pack of the 2 available for $30.
I decided though to get Gears 3 now since all of allyuh getting it. My time is limited so it'll be nice to spend that time playing on LIVE with you guys.
I'll play the Gears 3 campaign first and I guess I'll appreciate all the lead up to Gears 3 when playing 1 and 2 in prequel form.
You must introduce me to this "social" place that is Xbox Live. I know not of it.
Btw, W1ntry, Redlum, Agokillya.. Ya'll have no space for me on your friends lists :(
Sorry Apprentice, been busy past two days, Anniversary and all. I will make room and add you ASAP. W1nTry and Agokillya will do the same, just you caught us on a rough week. LOL
Agokillya is in NY, W1nTry is flying out on vacation tomorrow, but once everyone is back, believe that we will sweating Gears 3 like crazy! You can add Jarrox, Foz4ric, NDVenom33 to start off your list, as they are regulars as well and I will add you when i get home, just been very busy past few days. Again, welcome to Xbox Live and if you want to join in the Gears 3 Campaign 4 player Co-op feel free as well. We could always use another COG for the fight against the Locust and Lambent :)
hmmm well ya'll convinced me to eventually play Gears 1 and 2.
I see there's a nice combo pack of the 2 available for $30.
I decided though to get Gears 3 now since all of allyuh getting it. My time is limited so it'll be nice to spend that time playing on LIVE with you guys.
I'll play the Gears 3 campaign first and I guess I'll appreciate all the lead up to Gears 3 when playing 1 and 2 in prequel form.
You must introduce me to this "social" place that is Xbox Live. I know not of it.
Btw, W1ntry, Redlum, Agokillya.. Ya'll have no space for me on your friends lists :(
Sorry Apprentice, been busy past two days, Anniversary and all. I will make room and add you ASAP. W1nTry and Agokillya will do the same, just you caught us on a rough week. LOL
Agokillya is in NY, W1nTry is flying out on vacation tomorrow, but once everyone is back, believe that we will sweating Gears 3 like crazy! You can add Jarrox, Foz4ric, NDVenom33 to start off your list, as they are regulars as well and I will add you when i get home, just been very busy past few days. Again, welcome to Xbox Live and if you want to join in the Gears 3 Campaign 4 player Co-op feel free as well. We could always use another COG for the fight against the Locust and Lambent :)
I've been looking for some trinis to play gears for awhile, add me and lets see how good you guys are......
hmmm well ya'll convinced me to eventually play Gears 1 and 2.
I see there's a nice combo pack of the 2 available for $30.
I decided though to get Gears 3 now since all of allyuh getting it. My time is limited so it'll be nice to spend that time playing on LIVE with you guys.
I'll play the Gears 3 campaign first and I guess I'll appreciate all the lead up to Gears 3 when playing 1 and 2 in prequel form.
You must introduce me to this "social" place that is Xbox Live. I know not of it.
Btw, W1ntry, Redlum, Agokillya.. Ya'll have no space for me on your friends lists :(
Sorry Apprentice, been busy past two days, Anniversary and all. I will make room and add you ASAP. W1nTry and Agokillya will do the same, just you caught us on a rough week. LOL
Agokillya is in NY, W1nTry is flying out on vacation tomorrow, but once everyone is back, believe that we will sweating Gears 3 like crazy! You can add Jarrox, Foz4ric, NDVenom33 to start off your list, as they are regulars as well and I will add you when i get home, just been very busy past few days. Again, welcome to Xbox Live and if you want to join in the Gears 3 Campaign 4 player Co-op feel free as well. We could always use another COG for the fight against the Locust and Lambent :)
So I see there is tough competition at the top of the Simple XBL leader board there....
http://www.carigamers.com/cms/forums/index.php?action=simplexbl
3 point differential for first place...I will have to make up some ground there to keep my lead :P
So I see there is tough competition at the top of the Simple XBL leader board there....
http://www.carigamers.com/cms/forums/index.php?action=simplexbl
3 point differential for first place...I will have to make up some ground there to keep my lead :P
where d ps3 one.............
To quote Id and Blizzard: "when its done" lol
The real answer is Sony has not made their API publicly available. We need access to an API to construct the leaderboard.
Some open source developers are trying to create one. If they succeed, you may see a local PSN leaderboard in the future.
I was real amazed to see how high MentalJack scored on the leaderboard Redlum. The man is a serious contender.
You better watch your six.
To quote Id and Blizzard: "when its done" lol
The real answer is Sony has not made their API publicly available. We need access to an API to construct the leaderboard.
Some open source developers are trying to create one. If they succeed, you may see a local PSN leaderboard in the future.
I was real amazed to see how high MentalJack scored on the leaderboard Redlum. The man is a serious contender.
You better watch your six.
....Boosting much? >_>
i am disappoint :(
i am disappoint :(
That's what I said.
Sony need to be more open with their data (not in the hacking sense)
I guess Microsoft can afford to pay top developers to implement their API for xbox live with all the $$ they rake in with Gold subscriptions.
The PS3 peeps not so lucky.
@redlum, how does boosting work? Care to explain??
lol, men serious bout their rankings yes.
As mentioned on the GATT bbm group, we can have a discussion with Mental in mumble before rushing to any conclusions.
Mental, would say 7pm tomorrow be ok for a quick chat on the issue? Just to put everyone's mind at rest.
Ever connected to GATT voice chat before?
If not, instructions are here:
http://www.carigamers.com/cms/forums/index.php/topic,19486.0.html
Well lets hear what the man have to say first.
You never know, could be some overzealous cousin in his house pulling those stunts.
Man might not even be aware.
what is grasping at straws about that??
many people use a console. In my house alone, at least five - six people responsible for the scores on my xbox 360 account.
You really think I'm THAT good at Dance Central on Kinect?
The point is not moot.
Accusing someone of an act they may not be responsible for is not something GATT staff should condone. Especially in such an open fashion.
Lets get his side of the story first before rushing to conclusions. That is what we agreed to do in the GATT BBM group.
Lets stick to that plan before brandishing the pitch forks and torches.
I know we all excited that the 25th is battlefield 3 day.
Deep down inside though we all have the secret desire to buy Dance Central 2!
Buyin it for my "sister" ;)
:D
Once you go XBL everything else is irrelevant XD
Having both PS3 and 360 is the real deal.
Having both PS3 and 360 is the real deal.
+3 to you Apprentice
Now I know who I keep sending invites to while your account is on ZUNE... :S
LOL
Assume you've been busy, since you haven't been able to sweat GOW 3 with us yet...just message us when you're ready and we'll link up. Just make sure you have a mic. LOL
-10 *eyes agokillya and redlum*
lol @ dance central 2 taking over. Hoss, I feel your pain.
That's why I have TWO xbox 360's
I think I should get this... cardio ftw (+)
Trinidad is not supported on Xbox live as far as I'm aware of.
You'll need to input some fake billing address, or a friend/family member's US address.
Locally most people sign up for xbox live with a US address since they don't accept local credit cards for buying stuff. Also Microsoft doesn't sell Xbox Live points in TT dollars, so that's why places have to sell the US cards.
It's strange that it's asking you for a billing address. You'll have to provide one to get through.
Make sure and note down everything you enter as it will be important if you ever have problems with the XBL account or the 360 itself.
So if i used a family members billing address it would be legit? but what if i made up a real address in the states could that work too? Man i cant believe all this trouble ......why do the local stores even sell ms points if they dont work, i thought i was just gonna "top up" my account. See this is why i prefer pc gaming over my xbox.
Another interesting tidbit....
http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/09/report-xbox-720-releasing-holiday-2012
Microsoft sells nearly a million Xbox 360s in a week
Seven years old and still going strong
By Dave Neal
Wed Nov 30 2011, 12:49
GAMING CONSOLE VENDOR Microsoft has just sold its largest number of Xbox consoles in a week.
In a seven day period that included Black Friday and Cyber Monday, both traditionally big days for retailers, the company managed to shift 960,000 consoles in the US alone, the most ever in a week.
800,000 of the devices were sold in one 24 hour period, it added, meaning that the rest of the week was perhaps a little more lacklustre.
Jeff Meisner, editor at the Official Microsoft Blog welcomed the high sales figures, which also saw more Kinect units leave stores and enter homes. Meisner said that combined standalone and bundled movement sensing gewgaw sales numbered 750,000.
"Xbox 360 should deliver its eleventh straight month as the number one console in the US. Given the robust holiday portfolio and the new Xbox LIVE dashboard going live on Dec. 6th," he said. "Microsoft expects holiday momentum to continue, driving Xbox 360 to finish the year as the number one console in the U.S."
The firm has not released worldwide sales, but it is possible that these were also high. Microsoft is making a big push with its Kinect hardware and is rapidly releasing more titles that make use of its software for voice control.
These include the recent Halo CE Anniversary release, and the Black Eyed Peas Experience. µ
What about HBO GO? Has anyone gotten it to work here in Trinidad?
Report: Kinect-powered Internet Explorer 9 coming to Xbox 360http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/05/report-kinect-powered-internet-explorer-9-coming-to-xbox-360/ (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/05/report-kinect-powered-internet-explorer-9-coming-to-xbox-360/)
Microsoft's system would be the last to get an integrated Web browser.
by Kyle Orland - May 10 2012, 4:11pm SAWST
Console Gaming
45
Given that Microsoft is the only console maker that also develops a full-featured desktop Web browser, it's a bit odd that the Xbox 360 is the only current-generation game console that doesn't include a Web browser. That might be set to change soon, though, as The Verge reports that Microsoft is working on a Kinect-compatible version of Internet Explorer 9 for the Xbox 360.
While Kinect reportedly won't be required to use the TV-based browser, the peripheral will allow users to perform voice searches and navigate using gestures. There's no word on when Microsoft plans to launch the new browser, but it does seem like the kind of thing the company would announce during its E3 festivities.
The Verge cites unnamed sources for the Web browser information, but the site previously used similar sources in reporting the first details of a subsidized Xbox 360 with a monthly fee, a program Microsoft officially announced earlier this week.
Apple, Congressmen support Microsoft in battle to prevent Xbox ban
Motorola's hope to ban Xbox also offends Nokia, Intel, Cisco, and Activision.
by Jon Brodkin - June 12 2012, 6:20pm SAWST
Console Gaming
Intellectual Property
75
With the US International Trade Commission set to decide whether to ban imports of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, a team of rivals including Apple, Nokia, Intel, Activision, HP, and Cisco have written to the ITC pleading that it not stop sales of the product. Numerous members of the US House of Representatives weighed in on Microsoft's behalf as well.
An ITC administrative law judge recently recommended that the commission ban the 4GB and 250GB versions of the Xbox console, due to the violation of standards-essential, video-related patents held by Motorola Mobility, which is now a division of Google. With a final decision pending, an IP attorney representing Apple, Mark Davis, wrote to the commission on June 8, saying that Motorola committed to license patents under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND), but is circumventing FRAND requirements in suing Microsoft (as well as in suing Apple in similar cases).
"Apple respectfully submits that any exclusion order directed against Microsoft would significantly undermine the standards-setting process and frustrate the purpose of FRAND," Davis wrote (Scribd link). More testimonials on the Xbox's behalf came from Activision, Nokia, HP, Cisco, and Intel, all saying the public interest outweighs the concerns of Motorola.
Numerous members of the US House of Representatives filed letters opposing an Xbox ban as well. US Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), for example, wrote that an import ban would be inappropriate because it would be based on standards-essential patents, and harmful because it would exclude the only video game console created by a US company from the market. The letter, along with others from Reps. Dave Reichert (R-WA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), and Sue Myrick (R-NC), are date-stamped June 8 and were released on the ITC documents site today.
Motorola won a ruling that Microsoft infringes four patents (links to the patents here), which relate to the H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 video coding standards, and the 802.11 WiFi standards. In its defense, Microsoft pointed out that in getting patented technology accepted into industry standards, Motorola "committed to the IEEE, ITU and ISO standards bodies that their essential patents are licensed on non-discriminatory bases offering fair and reasonable terms."
Separately, Microsoft also won an ITC import ban ruling against Motorola Android devices that infringe Microsoft patents—but Microsoft asserted patents that hadn't been pledged to industry standards, and thus aren't encumbered by FRAND obligations.
Members of the Illinois Congressional delegation (Motorola's home state) led by Danny Davis (D-IL) spoke out mildly in favor of an Xbox import ban in a letter to the ITC, not specifically naming the Xbox but saying that "we strongly support vigorous intellectual property right protection, including injunctive and exclusionary relief."
The Federal Trade Commission also weighed in, as we reported last week, saying the ITC should not ban either Xboxes or iPhones. Although there seems to be no question that Microsoft infringed the patents, the majority of those filing opinions with the ITC oppose the import ban on the grounds that Motorola should never have sued with standards-essential patents in the first place.
Will there be multiple versions of the next Xbox?
"Scalable" architecture patent points to systems with variable hardware power.
by Kyle Orland - July 11 2012, 3:41pm SAWST
Console Gaming
Game Development
67
One of many possible processor-sharing configurations discussed in a Microsoft patent for a more flexible game system architecture
USPTO
For better or worse, one thing you can generally count on in the console gaming market is that a system you buy on launch day will have the same basic capabilities as the same system bought six years down the line. Even though numerous internal hardware revisions in that time might reduce the component size and lower the production costs, anything designed to work on one configuration of the console would have to work on all the earlier ones as well. But a patent application filed by Microsoft suggests that the company may be looking to release its next Xbox in multiple configurations, each with varying hardware power and capabilities. A patent like this usually wouldn't be so interesting on its own; Microsoft files patents all the time, and most never see the light of day. But this one includes details that are intriguingly similar to those included in the now famous "Xbox 720" leak that came to light last month.
Microsoft's patent for a "Scalable Multimedia Computer System Architecture With QOS [Quality Of Service] Guarantees" describes a design for a game system that is capable of "allowing platform services to scale over time." Those "platform services" include pretty much everything the hardware does besides directly running games—everything from maintaining the basic operating system, handling network traffic, and interpreting inputs to potentially streaming content to nearby tablets or recording TV shows.
A standard console configuration might explicitly devote one entire CPU/GPU combo to handling those basic platform functions, while other processors are dedicated to the game-playing "application" functions. But Microsoft's patent describes a new "communication fabric" framework that would let the system allocate computing resources more flexibly between platform and application tasks concurrently, while also ensuring that the game-playing portion doesn't dip below a certain quality threshold. So the operating system would be able to use as much processing power as it wants, as long as it doesn't interfere with the performance of a game that's running at the same time.
That's important, because it would also let Microsoft design multiple hardware configurations of the same basic game system, all of which run the same games, but some of which allow for additional "platform" features that use the extra hardware power. The patent even hints at this kind of configuration diversity. While "lower cost embodiments" of the system might be forced to share a single GPU between the platform and application systems (theoretically limiting the power of the platform aspects), the patent suggests that subsequent versions of the hardware could provide "more platform services... due to hardware improvements." In other words, as computing standards increase, newer versions of the system would be equipped to provide additional functions, while still running games designed for earlier versions of the hardware.
What might those extra "platform services" entail? How about converting your game console into a general purpose computer? The patent describes one "embodiment" of the design that could be equipped to run "a different general purpose operating system (e.g. Windows)" including "Internet access via a browser, word processing, productivity, content generation and audiovisual applications." In this configuration, the hardware would be able to easily switch between a game-playing mode and "general purpose computer mode," without requiring separate processors for each distinct part.
But the added services don't have to be that elaborate. Other configurations discussed in the patent could be designed to "be operated as a participant in a larger network community" (read: act as a home server), handle basic audio/visual functions (like persistent on-screen chat or streaming music), or make use of a third CPU to speed up storage access times and process complex inputs (read: Kinect) faster and more accurately. Theoretically, the more advanced hardware could even improve the graphical rendering on games designed for earlier configurations.
The "Xbox 720" document that we reported on last month discussed a potential system architecture that was "designed to be scalable in frequency/number of cores," and have a "modular design to facilitate SKU updates later in lifecycle." And while the leak was labeled as "for discussion purposes only," it's dated just a few months before the December 2010 patent filing (the patent application was only published online by the US Patent and Trademark Office late last month, and found by Internet sleuths earlier this week).
Taken together, these documents present an interesting middle way to combine the PC world of constantly upgradeable hardware with the console world of standardized design. While developers would still have a set baseline "quality of service" configuration to aim for with their designs, the console would also be able to evolve to make use of new standards in computing power as time goes on. Combined with some sort of subsidized monthly fee model, which includes regular, cell-phone style upgrades, Microsoft could ensure that its players aren't using obsolete hardware even years after the system launches. With average console lifecycles continuing to increase, it might not be such a bad idea.
The good news... Halo 3 is now free for XBL Gold members (yay)
The bad news... Halo 3 is now free for XBL Gold members...in the US :(
...amd here I was bigging up XBL for better online play, voice-chat implementation, etc and forgot about one of THE biggest 'gotchas' of the service... Yep, dat region lockout. :(
What a way to be reminded.
...and I pay the same money as US subscribers eh... No more, no less.
Yes...there are 'ways around this' but PSN+ subscribers don't have to deal with this bullshit.
Sleeping dogs? Celebrations are in order the first free game from MS that didn't release decades ago.Not sure if to remove for being a troll or men still bitter over xbl > psn XP