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Week of July 27, 2008
VGC Source Also Confirms Xbox360 September 7th Price Drop
>> From vgchartz.com:
[QUOTE]
Thanks to an amazing VGChartz member, we have strong reason to believe the Ars Technica price drop rumor is indeed true, with a photo to prove it.
This picture is confirmation of the earlier Ars Technica article from an informant stating that the Xbox 360 would drop it's price in September to $199.99 for the Core, $299.99 for the 60GB model, and $399.99 for the 120GB Elite model. This picture shows nearly irrefutable proof that those rumors are substantiated, and are set to happen in just over a month.
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Full Story: vgchartz.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Square Enix: 360 FFXIII development hasn't begun
>> From gamespot.com:
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Today at its DK Sigma3173 Event, Square Enix made a series of announcements.
Director Motomu Toriyama didn't beat around the bush when Nomura asked him questions about the 360 FFXIII. Starting off, he reconfirmed that, "We haven't changed the direction of the development. We're making the PS3 version first, and then porting to the 360 later." That means that since the game will be released simultaneously on both platforms in North America and Europe, the PS3 release will be held back in those territories until the 360 version is complete.
Furthermore, Toriyama also revealed that, as of July 29, his team hasn't yet received the tools needed to begin work on the Xbox 360 version of FFXIII. "I'm telling them to not think about the Xbox 360 right now," he said. "We can think about it after the development kits arrive."
The designer also reassured PS3 owners that the game's quality would not suffer due to the 360 port. "We aren't going to change any specifications [of FFXIII] because of the multi-platform announcement," he declared. "Right now, we're fully concentrating on the PS3 version."
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Full Story: gamespot.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Rage and id's Love/Hate Relationship with the PS3
>> From kotaku.com:
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Last night John Carmack took to the stage at QuakeCon and inadvertently ignited a fanboy flamewar.
Id's upcoming open-world shooter Rage, he told the assembled gamers, will look worse on the Xbox 360 [than PS3 or PC] because of storage issues.
"We have concerns (about the 360 version of Rage) because of the economics of the platform in terms of what it costs to go to multiple discs," Hollenshead said. "There is disc space issue on the 360, and if we cant find a clever way or compromise with Microsoft to address that issue... even though we feel the 360 has superior hardware, the size limitations may mean that we may not have as much texture density or resolution on the 360 version.
"Let me be clear, this is an open question, we have these tech issues and we are working with Microsoft to solve them."
And the issue isn't just about the game being too big, Hollenshead says that developers lose upwards of 2 gigs of space per a disc because of information Microsoft requires developers to put on the discs.
While allowing the game to be installed on the Xbox 360's harddrive may help, it actually wouldn't solve that problem, Hollenshead added.
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Full Story: kotaku.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft: We Want More Exclusives
>> From edge-online.com:
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Microsoft, which has been able to capture some important (timed) third-party exclusives such as Rock Band 2 and BioShock, continues to chase more exclusive deals to differentiate Xbox 360 from competitors.
Asked about Xbox 360's weaknesses, Microsoft interactive entertainment boss Don Mattrick replied, "We'd love to have more exclusive hits on our box, absolutely. Are we investing in that? Yes we are. Does that take a lot of time? Yes it does."
Microsoft's exclusive deals go beyond the boxed product. Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3 will both offer exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360 versions. PS3 players wanting an extended experience for those games are out of luck.
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Full Story: edge-online.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Id's Carmack: '360's the better platform' for contemporary games
>> From eurogamer.net:
[QUOTE]
Id Software technical director John Carmack has said that it's easier to realise the potential of the Xbox 360 hardware but that the PS3 has certain theoretical advantages, and he speculates that Blu-ray could play a decisive role in the console war in future.
"What you can say really quite clearly and not get into too much argument about it is that the 360 is much easier to develop for, it's easier to get the performance out of it that it can deliver, and the rasterizer, the GPU side is generally faster than what the PS3 has," Carmack told Eurogamer at QuakeCon.
"You could design a game where the PS3 would be the superior platform, but you'd have to go out of your way to do it. If you're doing a game like people just want to do games now, the 360's the better platform."
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Full Story: eurogamer.net
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Mole attack: 360 price cuts on all hardware in September?
>> A 'trusty' mole over at arstechnica.com told 'em Microsoft will introduce a price drop for all Xbox360 SKUs in September:
[QUOTE]
Early Sept price reduction on X360 hardware:
* Arcade (no hard drive) to $199
* Pro (60GB) to $299
* Elite (120GB) to $399
We should also expect hardware and game bundles for all hardware versions coming in the fourth quarter, just in time for the holidays.
The last time the mole talked to me, before he became a super-villain, he told me the 60GB model of the hardware was coming, and he was right on the money with that one. Those prices should be considered rumors, but I'd be very surprised if this wasn't accurate information. Very sexy pricing.
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Full Story: arstechnica.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Bethesda: Why we prefer the Xbox
>> From techradar.com:
[QUOTE]
Bethesda's Peter Hines has explained why the software giants behind Oblivion and the forthcoming Fallout 3 use the Xbox 360, rather than PC or PlayStation as their main development platform.
"If you have the PC as your lead machine you have the problem of not knowing what configurations people have, how many gigs of RAM or what graphics card they have," explained Hines.
"Obviously we are more familiar with the Xbox because we are familiar and the other thing is that the Xbox is much easier to take to tech shows.
"We can just pop the hard-drive off the Xbox and put it on any machine which is an advantage. Taking the PC or PS3 to these things just isn't convenient."
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Full Story: techradar.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Edge-Online: Inside the New Xbox Live - Part 1 and 2
>> From edge-online.com(1)/edge-online.com(2):
[QUOTE]
With the core gamer market in the US pretty much wrapped up and PS3 snapping at Xbox 360's heels in every territory, Microsoft needs to extend its console's reach. And it's looking to Europe to do that. Later, when we meet John Schappert, vice president of Live, software and services, he calls Europe the Xbox's new 'battleground' for good reason: 360 sales there have long trailed those in the US, despite Europe's larger population. With the PlayStation brand retaining strong cachet, Xbox 360 routinely sells the fewest consoles each week in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, even if it has a much stronger presence in the UK. And Live, the main differentiator between Xbox 360 and PS3, will be the way to do it.
"The gameplay style in Europe is more casual, more collaborative and social," Henson says. "They're a key part of us getting the next 20 million on the service. We're asking how we become something that's relevant to everyone. I think Europe is the North Star, the sign that says 'here's what it looks like to broaden the service to everyone'." On this most carefully orchestrated of visits, where every meeting runs exactly to time and every attendee is perfectly prepared and on-message, Henson, warmly genial though he is, is performing a routine that establishes Live as the foundation stone upon which Xbox 360's fortunes will rest.
"Because of the amount of stuff that's coming into Live, it's actually a little difficult for people to find it, especially people outside the core users," admits Whitten. "It's based on this idea that you know exactly what you want to do: hit the eject button, put the disc in, go to multiplayer and start playing your Halo match. That's the way it's always worked. That worked super well for the cognoscenti of the console world, but the truth is that there's an amazing amount of content that for a lot of people is hard to find."
The new dashboard, therefore, strikes out in a different direction. "The idea is to move toward this channel metaphor, so you can see at a glance the types of things that I can do on my box, to make these things much more relevant about me," Whitten explains.
Jeff Faulkner says, "Today, if you're playing Halo and I say: 'Hey, let's play Uno', it's a case of, 'Right, I'll set up the session and I'll invite you in'. There's a whole bunch of steps and I'm wondering what's going to happen, where he's gone. For new people that's difficult. So what if the party leader selects the new experience and we all go there together - no loss of communication, no loss of us being together and social?"
Add to that the new UI's avatars, which Whitten sees as a way of articulating a more social atmosphere: "The Community channel will be filled with animated avatars that are all saying: 'Come on over, I'm playing this'. Press one button and you can party up and get into their experience or start that conversation."
Another gesture to the hardcore is the Guide. Its functionality has been increased to match all that the current dashboard can do and use the same blades interface, but still fits into the same 32MB of RAM, and Whitten claims that it will be more responsive. It's intended as a core users' shortcut device, and will allow players to quick-launch in and out of content.
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Full Story: edge-online.com - part1 (3 pages) | edge-online.com - part2
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
There's An Xbox 360 Shortage In Japan?!
>> From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
Tales of Vesperia is launching in Japan soon. August 7th, actually. And some people seem pretty excited. It's the tenth entry in the Tales series. The Namco Bandai title is an Xbox 360 exclusive, so that just might mean that Microsoft will move more than it's standard 3,000 Xbox 360s a week in Japan. Or not.
As of posting, Amazon Japan is sold out of new HDMI Xbox 360s (but does have Elites). HAPPINET, one of the major Xbox 360 distributors in Japan, are sold out of everything but the Elite. According to game store clerk threads on 2ch, the Xbox 360 will be restocked after Tales of Vesperia is released. What's more, the Tales of Versperia bundle is apparently limited to something like 7,000.
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Full Story: kotaku.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS game exec John Schappert talks about Live, Netflix deal, and Blu-ray
>> From venturebeat.com:
[QUOTE]
* VB: Will you have micro transactions with the avatars?
* JS: That may be in the future. In the near term, we want to launch these with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall. I think there is a lot more we can do with them. You will see us continue to add experiences that make use of the avatar. Our goal is not to create a sterile environment where you move furniture around. It's about how can we make our gaming experiences better. That is why you see the first usage of avatars will be in games on the Xbox Live Primetime channel like 1 vs. 100, Scene It? (pictured above) and Uno Rush. What's nice about the avatars is they can be your gamer persona for your online profile picture or your in-game person. Your avatar can be your in-game person.
* VB: There were other rumors of things. A motion-sensitive controller. Did you study that?
* JS: You know our answer but it's good of you to ask. We would be remiss if we did not invest in new technologies. We are always doing that. We were proud at this show that we had great games for our core audience. We had a brand new Xbox interface. New casual games, new video partners, and the Netflix partnership. That's what our focus is on now.
* VB: The Netflix deal stands out as more important. Like maybe it will be the end of Apple TV. Why would you want other boxes for movies?
* JS: Through the power of software, we can change the functionality of the Xbox 360. That's the beauty of it. We saw Netflix had a cool new feature that could go with our box. Our job is to provide as many entertainment options as we can to our consumers.
* VB: And you aren't that interested in a Blu-ray player on the Xbox 360?
* JS: Sony announced they're going to have their own video store on the PlayStation Network. That validates our own view that the future is not about an optical-format battle. It's about having movies delivered to you digitally. They announced seven partners. We have 45 today. We think that digital distribution is the way to go.
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Full Story: venturebeat.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft: We won’t scrap Live Gold fees
>> From mcvuk.com:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft revealed that it would be scrapping charges for Games for Windows Live at Gamefest 08 last week - but has confirmed to MCV that it won't be doing the same for Xbox 360 service.
A Microsoft spokesman explained to MCV: "For only a few pounds a month Xbox Live Gold members already get access to the best online gaming network in the industry, the ability to play and watch countless demos and trailers before the rest of the gaming community, and video chat and messaging."
"With the new Xbox experience coming this Fall, we plan to give even more reasons why Xbox Live Gold is the best bargain in the industry."
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Full Story: mcvuk.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XLink Kai v7.4.18 beta
In-Depth: Xbox Live Community Games - Multerer Tells All
>> From gamasutra.com:
[QUOTE]
Shortly after the keynote presentation in which Boyd Multerer unveiled Microsoft's pricing scheme for its XNA Community Games initiative, Gamasutra had the chance to sit down with the Microsoft executive and discuss the thinking behind the company's strategy.
* There isn't any way for people to distribute games without charging for them, is there?
* BM: Well, on Windows, you can currently download the toolset, you can download for free on that platform, and it's perfectly fine to distribute your game to other people on Windows machines for free. On the Xbox space, where we're opening up the console, and we're opening up the couch to people for the first time in this way, we want to prove that this is a viable commercial market first.
Now, we're always open to changing the model, and doing those things in the future, but for now we want to focus on the professional aspect, and prove that there is even a market here, because it's never been done before.
* Do you have projections about what kind of numbers or what level of participation you're expecting?
* BM: Alright, well, it kind of goes two directions. One: as far as, "What kind of games are there going to be? What kind of purchases are there going to be?" goes, we have no idea. Because there's nothing to study! Because this really hasn't been done before. So we're kind-of sneaking on some new territory, and it is a bit experiment, and we're going to find out; we're going to demonstrate how big the market is.
On the creation side, we recently passed a million downloads of the toolset. Now, we know that some people are downloading it multiple times, and use a couple versions, so we think maybe three hundred thousand people have actually played with it. That's like twenty-five times the entire size of the game industry.
Now, how many games are they going to make? That's a good question, and we'll find out, but holy smokes, there's a lot of interest.
* If someone makes a game in Spanish, and it's only in Spanish, is it going to show up on the US market?
* BM: Yeah, we're still working on some of the details of how it gets displayed. It's really more of a question of, "If I know what language you speak, and you said, 'I don't want to see any games in other languages,' can I filter them out correctly?" So it's more of a filtering question than it is about whether we'll let you see the games. The goal is to let you see as many games as you can, because you're going to pick what you want to play!
* The royalties change when a game is in front, right?
* BM: That's right. The primary share is 70% to the creators. And most of the time that your game is for sale, it'll be at 70%. During the short period of time it's being heavily advertised by being in that front, it's an additional marketing charge between 10% and 30%. And exactly where it's going to land is going to depend on performance.
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS: 60GB Xbox 360s have no specific street date
>> From xbox360fanboy.com:
[QUOTE]
With 60GB Xbox 360s popping up at retailers nationwide, we thought uninformed retailers just weren't playing by the release date rules.
Major Nelson has confirmed with us that Microsoft never set a specific street date for the new 60GB HDD 360 models, telling us that "they'll just appear in the retail channels." So, whenever retailers unload 'em off the trucks, Microsoft is fine with them going directly to store shelves.
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Full Story: xbox360fanboy.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Europe makes up 1/4th of Xbox Live
>> From computerandvideogames.com:
[QUOTE]
Europe makes up "less than a quarter" of Xbox Live's total membership, mostly down to language differences, Euro Xbox VP Chris Lewis has revealed.
"And I'll tell you also that a large part of that is in the UK," he continued, "partly because of the language aspect, the fact is you need, on a community service like Live, enough people of a similar language orientation to get a community so that it starts to really blow out.
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Full Story: computerandvideogames.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
NeoGenesis v23, MednafenX-PCE v5, MednafenX-Lynx v4, ZsnexBox 3.5
>> Nes6502 released updates of the NeoGenesis(info), MednafenX-PCE(info), MednafenX-Lynx(info) and ZsnexBox(info) emulators for Xbox1.
* NeoGenesis Sega Genesis/Megadrive/32X/SegaCD/MegaCD Emulator for XBox v23
* MednafenX-PCE - PCE/TG16 Emulator for XBox v5
* MednafenX-Lynx - Lynx Emulator for XBox v4
What's new/fixed:
-Added support for video previews. Video previews must be in xmv format and placed in the Videos folder. Users running at 1080i need to adjust the font for the game select screen to the following:
Game Select Settings
Max Text Width: 220
Number of Lines: 10
Font Size: 20
Line Height: 32
The Xbox does not have enough CPU power to render several true type fonts at 1080i and update the video preview. This does not apply to 480i/p or 720p.
* ZsnexBox 3.5
What's new/fixed:
-Fixed bug where preview border was displayed when preview border was disabled.
-Freed several megabytes of RAM. This fixes the screenshot display problem in 1080i.
-Added support for sub folders in the Images directory.
This will allow users to sort the images (i.e. a folder for Maps, Manuals, Strategy Guides, etc...). Much higher resolution images are now supported.
Official Site: n/a, by Nes6502
Full NFO/readme: NeoGenesis v23 | MednafenX-PCE v5 | MednafenX-Lynx v4 | ZsnexBox 3.5
Discuss this news item on our forums: NeoGenesis v23, MednafenX-PCE v5, MednafenX-Lynx v4 | ZsnexBox 3.5
LetsKillDave Replies to Microsoft about Xbox LIVE Community Games
>> From David "LetsKillDave" Weller's Blog (who used to work at Microsoft's XNA):
[QUOTE]
Well, after one of my recent posts made CVG and Kotaku headlines, it seems that Microsoft felt compelled to respond to my issues. I agree that offering easy ways to select games by top-rated/higests-sellers on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace is a great way to help consumers sort between the gems and the monkey poo. In the end, I think the media picked up on the wrong parts of my blog post. My key point was that there is no consumer-oriented mechanism in place to help consumers rate/comment on the games. You certainly can't do that on the XNA Creator's Club site, nor can you on Xbox.com. My emphasis here is that the community games approach is different from Xbox LIVE Arcade games, and that a new way of enabling developers to publish their games on Xbox LIVE warrants enabling consumers a way to comment on those published games. We will know more when the fall Xbox dashboard update comes out.
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XBMC wins another SourceForge Community Choice Award
>> From xbmc.org:
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XBMC media center was nominated as a finalist in this years SourceForge Community Choice Awards (CCA) in no less than seven categories, including "Most Likely to Change the World" (awarded to Linux) and "Best Project for Multimedia" (awarded to VLC). The winners were announced at a party held as part of OSCON and XBMC won the award for "Best Project for Gamers". The "Best Project" award went to OpenOffice (which was overall winner taking home three awards in total).
XBMC started life out as the central piece of media center software for the old Xbox games console, and it is great to receive this recognition as the media center that gamers enjoy and use.
Over the last 12 months or so we have been branching out to all platforms, so that XBMC now also runs natively on Linux, Mac and Windows. We hope with a couple of stable releases under our belt (expect some news about this shortly) that more and more people will be using XBMC on their platform of choice.
Team-XBMC would like to thank SourceForge.net and everyone who took the time to vote for XBMC in this year's SourceForge Community Choice Awards.
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Official Website: xbmc.org
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
PS3 native dev makes for 'better' Xbox 360 games
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
[QUOTE]
In an interview at this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, Steinberg [Sony Computer Entertainment America's VP of product marketing] explained how the ten-year plan for the company's flagship console had given the PS3 a strong foundation, and while it was the late arrival on the next-gen scene, developers were starting to see the potential.
"We see the development just now starting to get going," he said. "We're now in our third and fourth generations with first party, and that will start to create some distance with the competition - from our standpoint - but as the third parties begin to move their development to native PS3 and port down to other platforms, they'll start to see their games' fidelity getting better and better - and in fact I think even Xbox 360 games will start to look better as a result.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Forbes about Xbox720, PS4 and Nintendo 'Us'
>> From forbes.com:
[QUOTE]
Game machines typically are on the shelves for five or six years before a console manufacturer rolls out the next one. With the expense and success of this crop of systems--which have been out two to three years--it could be closer to eight years before we see the PlayStation 4, Xbox 720 and Nintendo "Us"--or whatever they end up being called.
Both hardware and software manufacturers are already gearing up. Work on Epic's "Unreal Engine 4," a graphics engine for next-gen games, has been under way for almost two years now under the guidance of founder Tim Sweeney. "It's not like there's anything to show today," notes Epic Vice President Mark Rein.
On the hardware side, the battle seems to be focusing on graphics. Nvidia, which powers the PlayStation 3 and fueled the original Xbox, is showing its plans for the next generation to the console makers in an attempt to woo them. Intel, meanwhile, is pushing its Larrabee graphics processing unit, which it believes will unseat Nvidia from its leadership position.
Nvidia has the advantage of a proven history, but developers are curious about Larrabee--and eager to see if it can live up to Intel's boasts. Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices, which bought graphics company ATI, is actively talking up its next-gen products with all three console makers as well.
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Full Story: forbes.com
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World's Loudest Xbox 360?
>> A video showing an Xbox360 after it got repaired by Microsoft...
Update: The gametrailer.com embedding of this video seems to not be working right for some reason, so if the video below doesn't work for you go watch it directly on gametrailers.com.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
First Picture of Xbox 360 'Opus' Motherboard
>> Electric Tuner over at the xbox-underground.net forums posted what seems to be the first picture of the Xbox360 'Opus' Motherboard.
The 'Opus' is a 'Falcon' generation motherboard designed to fit in a Xenon case. So that means a 90nm GPU, a 65nm CPU and no HDMI port. Microsoft will probably mostly use these boards to return to people suffering from the RRoD on Xenon boards.
That seems to match the with the picture below ... it has no HDMI port and while we cannot see the CPU/GPU chips it uses the new CPU heatsink and has less inductors next to the CPU which indicates it uses the 65nm chip.
Also notice how this Opus board has the HANA scaler/video chip (like the zephyr/falcon boards) ... so it's maybe not impossible to hack your own native HDMI port to these motherboards.
Picture News-Source: xbox-underground.net
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
EA: 360 motion sensing controller 'a smart move'
>> From videogamer.com:
[QUOTE]
The heavily rumoured 360 motion sensing controller would be a "smart move" on Microsoft's part, according to an associate producer (Gred Rinaldi) at EA.
He said: "If Microsoft was going to get in on the game, they would need something that incorporated a gyroscope and accelerometer. Microsoft could do it.
"For the Tiger team I think it's huge for us. Something like that fits like a glove. For a golf game it fits perfectly. You don't even need to think about it. You're holding the controller in your hand. It feels like a club. It's shaped like a golf club. You can do that natural motion. It's not like a shooter where you have to run around and still have to use an analogue stick. You can really feel like you're playing golf in your living room. I think that's a huge advantage for golf games and games in general."
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Full Story: videogamer.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Shane Kim Talks 360 MMO Washouts
>> From edge-online.com:
[QUOTE]
True Fantasy Live Online. Marvel Universe Online. They're two formerly high-profile games that were to be big MMOs on Xbox platforms, but they never came to fruition.
Shane Kim, former general manager of Microsoft Game Studios who's now a corporate VP, told Edge, "I'll admit MGS has not had success in the MMO space, and that happened under my leadership, so I take full responsibility. It's a tough and challenging space that's evolving all the time - a lot of shifting sands. We haven't been able to crack the code."
Kim added, "Game development is hard enough as it is - in the MMO space you're talking an even bigger investment, basically double. So it does add that layer of complexity - we just haven't found that right mix.
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Full Story: edge-online.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft: We can ensure quality in Xbox Live Community Games
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
[QUOTE]
A Microsoft representative has contacted GamesIndustry.biz to respond to a blog post by former XNA community manager David Weller last week, which claimed the company wasn't doing enough to guarantee the quality in its Xbox Live Community Games.
"There will be many ways for users to find the truly quality, creative and fun content on Xbox Live Community Games, and we're going to ensure the best possible experience for consumers," said Microsoft.
"First, there will be free trials of every community game available on Xbox Live as well as a detailed description, because it is really important to us that consumers know what they are paying for. Second, we will have a thriving Xbox Live Community Games storefront for the top-rated games, highest sellers and most downloaded titles of the moment. Finally, consumers will be able to visit Xbox.com to view all of the games available on the service, easily search and sort titles by user-ratings, content and genre, rate games and even download them directly to their Xbox 360."
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XBMC for Xbox 2008-07-28 SVN rev14439 build - T3CH
>> T3CH released a new SVN compile (rev14439) of XBMC for Xbox (XboxMediaCenter(info)).
This T3CH-compile is a complete snapshot of what is in SVN at the time the build was compiled, with just a few small additions.
Special Notes and Added/Noteworthy/XML/Script changes:
* XBMC-Addons Installer updated to 1.2b.
* added: Plugin method xbmcplugin.disableCache(). Allows you to disable caching so backing into the directory will refresh the listing. (sets a property "donotcachetodisc") Thanks cptspiff
For the full changelog (all added/fixed/changed/updated stuff) since the 2008-07-15 SVN Rev14095 build click here.
Keep in mind this is a SVN snapshot of the current development tree. It's not an official (stable) point release. Use only if you know what you are doing.
Official XBMC Site: http://xbmc.org (manual and FAQ)
Official T3CH Site: http://t3ch.yi.se (release RSS feed)
Download Binaries: n/a (built with XDK) | Download SourceCode: here
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Some Free Online Play on LIVE Silver Accounts Confirmed till Fall
>> From shacknews.com:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft has informed Shacknews that Xbox Live Silver members will only have free multiplayer access to select cross-platform titles--Universe at War, Shadowrun and Lost Planet: Colonies Edition--until the next system update arrives this fall.
"For a limited time, we are offering free online multiplayer on Xbox 360/Games for Windows titles that offer LIVE cross platform play," a representative explained. "This promotion won't last, so we encourage everyone to take advantage of it while they can."
The representative concluded that, "When the new Xbox experience launches this fall all multiplayer gaming on Xbox 360 will be for Gold members only."
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Full Story: shacknews.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
AcidMods' RapidFire Mod with out Microchip
>> From acidmods.com:
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Are you tired of those complicated Microcontrollers or those expensive ebay kits well here at acidmods we say **** em. We are tired of people stealing our work to try and make a quick buck... So to all you Ebay scalpers Kiss my ASSidMods *** taunt you got served...Here is the Xbox 360 Rapid Fire Tutorial. In this tutorial all you will need is a button and some wire..
Here is the wiring Ground on LED 1 to Momentary Switch to middle pin on trigger!!! That Easy!!!
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Full Story and More Videos: acidmods.com
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Leaked 'New Xbox Experience' Installs on Modded 360s?
>> From xhavok87.wordpress.com:
[QUOTE]
The new "Xbox Experience" Fall Dashboard has been leaked on the web and I had a chance to crack at it.
Update9:
It has finally been done but NOTE, only modded systems at this point are able to do the install. The process is quite easy if you cannot figure it out but will not be released at this time. A fellow member here by the name of xg4m3r has discovered a path for modded consoles to install the update as you can see in the video below. Like I said in update 8 we are still working on this process to see if we can manage anything on retail consoles. We are not releasing anything at this time but more news is to come soon. Enjoy for tonight because tomorrow should be a whole other day! See you soon!
NOTE: Your Xbox 360 NEEDS to have the Infectus 2 Chip in the system for this work. Not just a modded FW hack the chip is required also. Sorry for the confusion!
Some other info:
* Update Works On Dev/Test Units Right Out The Box!
* A Call From M$ During The Update Is Asking For MAC Address from the XBox 360 to validate install.
* Beta Stage 2 Release Begins In Mid August!
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Full Story: xhavok87.wordpress.com
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Rumor: XBL Silver Now Allows (Some) Free Online Play?
>> From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
OK, this is hard to run down exactly, because there's a Live Weekend going on right now, which means you can play online for free on Xbox Live. But reader Draco, a Silver level gamer, says that he's been playing cross-platform multiplayer games for free since Wednesday night, which precedes the Live Weekend (which started at midnight Friday.) I checked his Gamercard and, yeah, he played Shadowrun online on Thursday.
It seems that ending the gold/silver distinction in Games for Windows Live (effectively making it free) might have had the same effect for those who game on titles that are both PC and 360. A commenter on Xbox Live forums found that Shadowrun online play was free, for example. Reader Draco, who spotted this, says it works for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition and Universe at War: Earth Assault, too.
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Full Story: kotaku.com | forums.xbox.com
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