Xbox 360 news and stuff

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Xbox 360 bundled with GRAW for $400?

Club Skill says that on September 30th, an Xbox 360 bundle will be available for $399.99. According to the article, it will be the Premium package along with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged, which is a collection of six arcade games: Geometry Wars, Wik: Fable of Souls, Bejeweled 2, Outpost Kaloki X, Hardwood Backgammon, and Texas Hold 'Em. This hasn't been confirmed, but if it is true it is a great deal: You're pretty much getting a full game and six XBLA titles for free.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Halogen: The Halo RTS that could have been

Slip Stream Productions has been working on a mod that would make a Halo RTS. But just a few days ago, Microsoft asked them to shut it down. In the forums on their website, they posted this letter:

Dear Friends,

For the last three years, we've worked incessantly to bring you the best Halo mod that we could. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but somehow Halogen has always managed to come out kicking. The problem with using copyrighted intellectual property as a base for a fan project is that you're very susceptible to legal action. We always figured that since Halogen was such a different take on the Halo franchise, we might manage to make it without incident. That changed today.

Hours ago, we finally recieved the words we've been dreading since the mod started to get noticed. Microsoft has decided that we are infringing on the intellectual property of Bungie Studios and has asked us to stop development on Halogen.

I was going to write a big sappy letter here, but what's the point. So..that's it then, I guess. The forums, site, and Moddb profile will all be shut down within the week. I can't say it hasn't been fun. It's a shame it has to end like this, but I suppose that's how it goes. Thanks, guys, for all the time you've spent supporting us. It's been a pleasure. We hate this as much as you do.

- The Halogen Team

The Halogen site has been closed, and the mod is officially over. It really is too bad, as it looked like it would have been awesome if it had ever been released. Why did Microsoft wait three years, after so much hard work had been put into it, to tell them to stop? Luke Smith at 1UP speculates that maybe Microsoft is planning on making their own Halo RTS. But no matter what Microsoft's plans are, something that could have turned out to be one of the coolest mods ever will now never be finished.

I've put together a collections of videos showing Halogen. Here they are:

[Via Kotaku, Joystiq]

Xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive? (Update: Microsoft says nope)

DigiTimes says that Microsoft is planning on releasing an Xbox 360 with a built in HD-DVD drive, as early as the first half of 2007. According to their site, sources in Taiwan's optical disc drive industry say Microsoft is selecting manufacturers in Taiwan to build the drive for a second generation Xbox 360. Microsoft has previously stated that they have no plans for an internal HD-DVD drive, and I don't think there will be one any time soon.
[Via OXM UK]

Update:
Tony Hynes, or Bastelyon, the Online Community Manager in Microsoft's Global Games PR department, has posted on the Gamerscore Blog to say once again that there are no plans for an internal HD-DVD player:

Rumors of a built-in HD DVD sku are greatly exaggerated. We’re proudly launching the HD DVD Player as an accessory this holiday. Turns out you want a say in how you spend your entertainment dollars. So who are we to burden every customer with the cost of expensive movie technology?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The Xbox 360 Laptop (Update: Added pictures)

Ben Heckendorm has modded many consoles, but his latest creation is one of the best ever made.
He has taken an Xbox 360, and after three months of work completely transformed it into a laptop. Costing about $1200 in parts, material, and machining, it "became the most monstrously difficult [project] since I've been into this "portablization" thing" he says on his website. So what did he end up with? The screen is a 17" 1280x720 progressive-scan LCD VGA monitor. The Xbox 360 is water-cooled, and has a custom built radiator. Wi-Fi is built in, along with a keyboard, and if you want to connect anything else it has 3 USB ports. The screen and the system use a single customized power brick supply. On the back there are ports for a component TV, VGA monitor, analog or TOSlink sound system, and composite video. It is encased in all alluminum, with the exception of the plastic keyboard, ring of light, and screen control area. All of this, with water loaded, weighs in at 14 pounds, with these dimensions: 16.75" x 10.75" x 2.8".
Here is a step by step description of how he accomplished it, and here are pictures and videos of the final product.
Here are some pictures, just click on them for the full size:

[Via Evil Avatar]

Sunday, September 10, 2006

This Week's Releases: September 10th, 2006

Here are the games releasing this week:
LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
NHL 07
NHL 2K7

Those are all releasing on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday the delayed XBLA game, Scramble.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Top Games on Live (Week of September 4th)

Major Nelson has last week's top played games on Xbox Live. Based on world wide unique users, here they are:

Xbox 360 Games
1	Saints Row
2	Madden NFL 07
3	Call of Duty 2
4	Ghost Recon 3
5	Texas Hold 'em
6	Oblivion
7	DEAD RISING
8	Chromehounds
9	BFMC
10	Final Fantasy XI

Original Xbox Games
1	Halo 2
2	Battlefield 2: MC
3	Madden NFL 07
4	Counter-Strike
5	Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6	Splinter Cell Chaos
7	Rainbow Six 3 BA
8	Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
9	Forza Motorsport
10	Ghost Recon 2: SS

Overall, Halo 2 is the most played, followed by all 360 games.

Xbox Live Arcade (Full Versions)
1	Texas Hold 'em
2	Time Pilot
3	Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
4	Hexic HD
5	Geometry Wars Evolved
6	UNO
7	PAC-MAN
8	Frogger
9	Marble Blast Ultra
10	Bankshot Billiards 2

Go here for the top 20.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Weekly Arcade Rundown: Scramble delayed, board games, Small Arms

This week's Xbox Live Arcade release was supposed to be Scramble, but at the last minute Microsoft decided it wasn't ready: "During the final testing and certification of the title, we discovered some minor issues that should be addressed, so we're going to take an extra week and fix these items to ensure a high quality game experience for you when the title launches".
The game will now be available Wednesday, September 13th, and since there was no game this week Micrsosoft released the Project Gotham Racing 3 Theme Deck for UNO.Xboxic has found the first screenshots of the upcoming XBLA board games Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Alhambra. Here they are:

Although the game Small Arms looks very interesting, there is not much information on it. So if you want to know more about it, check out the interview Xbox 360 Fanboy did with Don Wurster.

Next Dashboard update pictures, and suggestions for UI changes (Update: Added more pictures)

MAXCONSOLE has the first pictures of the fall dashboard update, see them here. The parts of the dashboard that are shown have an improved and nicer look, and you can see part of how XNA will be integrated. According to the article, it will release in November.

I'm sure everyone has ideas of what they would like to have changed and added to the dashboard. Wildchicken, who works on the UI team, has now given you the option to tell your ideas to someone who can implement them: On his blog, he tells you to post your ideas, suggestions, issues, etc. in the comments on this post. He says either him or someone on the team will review what you write, so you will be heard.

[Via Ozymandias, Joystiq]

Update:
Xbox-Scene has bunch more pictures, and here they all are.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

PS3's Europe release delayed

The release of the PS3 in Europe has been delayed until March 2007. Although still releasing as planned in North America and Japan, the number of consoles available at launch will be much less than promised. There will be only 500,000 worldwide: 400,000 for the U.S. and 100,000 for Japan.

More at Joystiq, or read what Microsoft has to say at OXM UK.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Top Ten Games on Live (Week of August 28th)

From Major Nelson, here are the top ten most played games on Xbox Live, based on worldwide unique users:

Xbox 360 Top Live Games
1 Madden NFL 07
2 Call of Duty 2
3 Texas Hold 'em
4 Ghost Recon 3
5 Saints Row
6 DEAD RISING
7 Oblivion
8 Chromehounds
9 Test Drive Unlimited Demo
10 BFMC

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Madden NFL 07
4 Counter-Strike
5 Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6 Splinter Cell Chaos
7 Rainbow Six 3 BA
8 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
9 Forza Motorsport
10 Rainbow Six 3

Top Xbox Live Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Texas Hold 'em
2 Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
3 Hexic HD
4 Geometry Wars Evolved
5 PAC-MAN
6 Time Pilot
7 UNO
8 Frogger
9 Cloning Clyde
10 Marble Blast Ultra

Overall, Halo 2 is the most played game followed by all the 360 games.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Weekly Arcade Rundown: XNA beta released, Time Pilot on Live, Space Giraffes

This marks the first of what will become a weekly feature. It will cover the week's news that relates to Xbox Live Arcade, from new releases to general announcements.First off, a new game is now available for download - Time Pilot. It can be purchased for 400 Microsoft Points. Next week's release is Scramble, which will be available Wednesday, September 6th for 400 Microsoft Points.
While only one new XBLA game was released, another was announced: Jeff Minter, who created the Xbox 360's music visualiser, will be bringing a game to XBLA. There are so far not many details about it, but Jeff Minter's LiveJournal says it is "a sequel to Tempest 2000/3000. The main character is the Space Giraffe." And that is what it has become known as, although it still doesn't have a real name. It will also come with some extras: You will get "new Neon effects supporting the webcam input as unlockables." Although there wasn't a release date set, it was revealed that it will sell for 400 Microsoft Points.
[Via Joystiq]
Also, as the XNA Game Studio Express Beta is now available for download. Don't know where to start? Here's a Tutorial on beginning your game development. If you find any bugs, make sure to report them so they can get worked out. So far you can't play the games on the Xbox 360, but that will change once the full version is released.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Marketplace: Over 50 million served

Major Nelson has some new and interesting statistics about Xbox Live Marketplace. Some of them we already knew, but I'll write about them all anyway. So far, there have been 50 million downloads from the Marketplace. A little over 3 months back there had only been 24 million. 600, 000 achievements were unlocked and over 2 million hours of gameplay were hosted in the first week of Madden '07's release. Texas Hold 'em set a record for the fastest download item ever on Marketplace in one day, and in the 24 hours following it's release, every minute it was downloaded 100 times. Since Xbox Live began in November 2002, its members across the world have logged over 2 billion hours. More than 60% of Xbox 360 owners use Xbox Live, and of those 65% have downloaded an Xbox Live Arcade game. That makes for 8 million downloads of Xbox Live Arcade games. Xbox Live members have purchased over 2 billion Microsoft Points. Over half a billion voice and text messages are sent a year, and 1,300,000 every day (A little over a week ago Microsoft claimed an average of 900,000 a day, although this may not be an average).

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Exclusive Interview with DJHUNTERD - a gamerscore of over 55,000 and counting

Achievements. They are, in my opinion, one of the best ideas Microsoft had for the Xbox 360 (and like any good idea, Sony decided to copy them). It gives you something more to strive for, and some make you play in ways you otherwise wouldn't. Developers have freedom over what they want their achievements to be, and can have up to 50 achievements and 1000 gamer points per game (up to 12 achievements and 200 points for Xbox Live Arcade titles). Some are easy, while others are quite difficult, and there are some pretty creative ones too. But one thing is for sure, getting one of the highest gamerscores in the world cannot be easy. Even so, DJHUNTERD has managed to have the 4th highest gamerscore in the world, and the highest in the United Kingdom. Here, I have an exclusive interview with him covering how and why he does it.

Q: First of all, what do you do for a living and who are you?
A: I am from Sacramento, CA currently in the Air Force stationed overseas in the UK.

Q: What's the reason for your Xbox Live gamertag?

A: I always used Hunter as my name for all games and I call myself “D” for the simple fact that my last names pretty hard to say. Add that to the fact that I DJ house music and there you have my gamertag.

Q: When did you decide to try and be one of the people with the highest gamerscore?

A: I would have to say it started when I met my good live friend Fixell. He was like at 15k and I was at roughly 10k. We became good friends and did ALL boosting together for every game and eventually my quest to surpass him and for a higher score came to be.

Q: Why do you do it?
A: My love of games and it keeps me busy than doing other things which could get me in trouble.

Q: How long do you think you can keep it up?

A: As long as games steadily come out I can go till the next gen.

Q: What are some of the hardest achievements you've gotten?

A: PDZ Dark agent, Quake 4 General completed.

Q: Which games had the easiest achievements?

A: Take your pick of almost any sport game… LOL!!!

Q: What achievements are you working on now?

A: Samurai Warriors 2 and Bulletwitch.

Q: Is there anyone in particular you have a rivalry with?

A: Not really but I think a couple of people think I am with them though ;p

Q: What's an achievement you'd like to see?

A: A single achievement worth 1000 GS. Like 100% game or something…

Q: Do you think you'll pass RANCE6 (the gamer with the world's highest score) anytime soon?

A: NOPE…. He has the incredible advantage of knowing Japanese.

Q: How much time do you play Xbox 360 daily, and how much of that is dedicated to getting Achievements?

A: I try to play a few hours everyday and on days I have off as much as possible. Almost all of it is time for achievements but I do play FPS with friends still for fun.

Q: What game are you most looking forward to?
A: I am looking forward to Gears of War, The Darkness, and of course Halo 3!

Q: Do you have any tips for getting achievements?

A: Pick the genre which you excel in (like mine is action/adventure/FPS) and go for all the points you can. Also, play all the sports games as they net you easy points. And my last bit of advice is if you don’t have a “dedicated” boost buddy who’ll do games with you… get one A.S.A.P. or it’ll be harder finding random people and getting those achievements.

Monday, August 28, 2006

39 news games Backwards Compatible, 9 updated

Another Backwards Compatibilty update is now available on Xbox Live. If you don't have Xbox Live, you can download it from Xbox.com. Here is the list of added and updated games:

Aggressive Inline
Aquaman: Battle of Atlantis
All Star Baseball 2003
All Star Baseball 2005
Burnout 3: Takedown
Catwoman
Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart UPDATED
Counter Strike
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Dead to Rights
Digimon Rumble Arena 2 UPDATED
ESPN Major League Baseball
Fatal Frame 2
Ford vs. Chevy UPDATED
Freaky Flyers
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows
Tom Clancy´s Ghost Recon - Island Thunder
Half Life 2 UPDATED
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer UPDATED
IndyCar Series 2005
Kabuki Warrior UPDATED
Lego Star Wars II
Links 2004
Magatama UPDATED
Maximum Chase
Mortal Kombat: Deception UPDATED
MTX: Mototrax Featuring Travis Pastrana
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection
MX vs. ATV Unleashed
Outlaw Tennis
Over the Hedge
Sid Meier's Pirates
Richard Burns Rally
Rogue Trooper
Serious Sam
Shincho Mahjong
Smashing Drive
Sneakers UPDATED
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run
The Legend of Spyro: A Beginning
TAZ: Wanted
True Crime Streets of LA
The Suffering
Trigger Man
Torino Winter Olympics 2006
Vietcong
Wrath Unleashed
X-Men II: Wolverine's Revenge

For the full list of all Backwards Compatible games, go to Xbox.com.
Some of these games are not yet released, like Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, and Lego Star Wars II. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction. Microsoft has said they eventually want "to have every Xbox game work on Xbox 360". I doubt that will happen, but even so they are going about it wrong. Every month, more games come out for the Xbox, and that's just more games that aren't backwards compatible. Every new game that comes out should be backwards compatible at release, and the code could even be included on the disc. And I know this would be a lot of extra work if Microsoft were to do it all, but that doesn't have to be. The developers could work it out, and although it would take extra time and money it would be worth it because their audience would be expanded to include many 360 owners.

Also, even though Lego Star Wars II will be available on the Xbox 360, the Xbox 1 version is backwards compatible. This is the first time that has happened, and hopefully they will do it more often.

[Via Major Nelson and Gamerscore Blog]

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Some cool game videos

I haven't posted much in the last few days, so here are some cool videos to watch:

My Animated World - An amazingly well done stop motion video, with a few game references in it.

Game Over - A bunch of retro games recreated with food and other objects.

Games Break Out - A funny video of games coming to life. Watch until the end.

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