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Week of September 7, 2008
Microsoft fires game test contractor who talked to VentureBeat
>> From venturebeat.com:
[QUOTE]
Robert Delaware was the only named Microsoft worker (a contract employee) who talked -- without permission -- to VentureBeat for our story last week on the Xbox 360 defects.
Microsoft had him fired on Wednesday. Delaware worked as a game tester at Microsoft but was employed by the temp agency Excell Data. He reported directly to a Microsoft manager, who told him he was being let go because of the VentureBeat article.
Delaware, a 29-year-old Seattle resident, expects to face civil charges from his former employer VMC (which tests games for Microsoft) and Microsoft as well. He will likely have to hire a lawyer. Microsoft spokesman David Dennis said the company does not talk about personnel issues.
"I don't regret it," he said in a phone call on Thursday. "I'll fight it. If they want to come after me, bring it on."
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Full Story: venturebeat.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XNA Game Studio 3.0 Beta Release On Its Way
>> From the Team XNA Blog:
[QUOTE]
On behalf of the XNA team I am excited to announce the upcoming availability of the XNA Game Studio 3.0 Beta. This is a significant milestone and represents the completion of all our features for XNA Game Studio 3.0! We'll have much more information with the final release but here's a quick glance at some of the key features and additions in the beta:
Zune
* Compatibility with the upcoming Zune 3.0 Firmware release. Please note that the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP will no longer work once you have upgraded your Zune device to the 3.0 firmware.
* Improved deployment stability.
* Support for Zune deployment on Windows Vista x64 Systems!
* You can now use the Remote Performance Monitor for Zune games.
Xbox 360
* Xbox 360 project templates (You will not be able to develop on the Xbox 360 until our final release. We felt this was important to include so that you could get projects converted over and look at the system, even if you are not able to run the games, yet).
* Support for the Big Button Pad.
Framework & Visual Studio Features
* Enumerate and play back media on your Windows computer or Xbox 360.
* Simple sound effect support on Windows computers and Xbox 360.
* Support for Rich Presence (lets friends know what's going on in your game).
* Support for Invites (ask your friends to join you in a multiplayer game) and Join Session In Progress (after you see what your friends are doing, you can join their current session with just a couple of button presses, even if that's a different game to the one you are currently playing)
* Compress your content and save space with the new content compression features!
* ClickOnce packaging support for distributing your XNA Framework games on Windows.
* Upgrade your project from XNA Game Studio 2.0 using the Project Upgrade Wizard!
* Take screen captures of your game running on Zune through the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
* Support for .NET language features like Linq
* Create multiple content projects and leverage cross project synchronization in Visual Studio.
* FBX importer improvements: read materials containing multiple textures, and export custom shader materials directly out of Max or Maya.
We hope that early next week you'll give the XNA Game Studio 3.0 Beta a download and run it through its paces. As we mentioned above this beta will be very close to what our release looks like, so if you encounter ship stopping issues (crashes, hangs) please let us know through Microsoft Connect! We've paid close attention to your feedback and we've added many of the features you requested. If your feature didn't make it in this release, don't worry we've still got more to come! If you have ideas on ways we can be better share them with us through Microsoft Connect. There you can add or vote on feature suggestions that you would like to see.
We'll post on this blog as soon as the download becomes available early next week!
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
The New Xbox Experience - What You Want to Know
>> From the Xbox PR Blog:
[QUOTE]
Many of those who got to attend PAX got a look at the New Xbox Experience - specifically the dashboard. Now it's everyone else's turn to get the goods on what's coming your way. Even those who saw the demo will learn some new things. Every Friday, we want to bring you information that will hopefully answer some of the questions you've been asking. Granted, we may not have something every single week but check back, anyway. After all, you don't want people to point and laugh at your lack of knowledge, right?
For our first week we wanted to show you how the Games Played slot will look in the New Xbox Experience.
It will become obvious for the next few Wednesdays that my team is Gamerscore obsessed. Let's be honest, with high Achievement counts, it was sometimes a pain having to scroll through all of them to see how well we were doing. Once the New Xbox Experience launches that will all change.
When you click on your Gamercard in the New Xbox Experience you will see some familiar options; your messages will be accessible, you will be able to edit your profile or update your Avatar, manage your account, switch profiles (if you have multiple profiles) and change the Theme (more on Themes in the coming weeks). From here you will also be able to see every game you've played on your Xbox 360.
Check out the screen shot up there (click it for different sizes). The team has created a mock account for Major Nelson (Yes, we know the Gamerscores don't match up on his account but that is because we created this screen shot on a build that is still being worked on).
The first card shows all of the Achievements you've unlocked and lists out your overall Gamerscore and the highest possible Gamerscore you could have based on the games you've played. To the right of that every game you've played will have its own card that fans out. If you've played 3 games (like this account has), you will have 3 cards. 500 games? All 500 will fan out on your screen. You can check out what Achievements you've unlocked per game and what you have left to work on.
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Rumor: Woolworth's to cut Xbox 360 console prices in the UK?
>> From engadget.com:
[QUOTE]
We received the image above from a supposed Woolworth's employee who scanned an upcoming retail catalog for our sicko pleasures. We can't verify the claim, but we understand that Woolies is in the midst of an escalating, retail price war in the UK gaming space. As such, what we're likely looking at are promotional cuts from the normal, £160, £200, £260 to £130, £170 and £230.
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Full Story: engadget.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft Confirms New 149 USD Price for 120GB HDD
>> From gamedaily.com:
[QUOTE]
When Microsoft cut the prices on its Xbox 360 hardware earlier this month, many wondered if the company would also drop the price on its 120GB hard drive for consumers who want more storage space. Shortly after the price reduction went into effect, a number of retailers began listing the hard drive at the new price of $149 (previously $179).
Now Microsoft has confirmed that this is an official price drop as well. "We reduced the price of the Xbox 360 120 GB Hard Drive to $149 in conjunction with the recent Xbox 360 console price drop. We believe this offers consumers even greater value when selecting accessories that meet their individual gaming and entertainment needs," a spokesperson told GameDaily BIZ.
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Full Story: gamedaily.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft Responds To August NPD Sales
>> From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
We're on track for a record-breaking holiday with a new sweet spot in pricing and the launch of the New Xbox Experience this fall. At $199, Xbox 360 offers the greatest entertainment value available, with the leading online service, the best games, and the greatest selection of downloadable movies and TV shows.
Weekend sales post-price cut up over 100% (Microsoft internal data)
· Coming off the Sept. 3 price drop announcement, the weekend retail results are in: Console sales across all Xbox 360 models were up over 100% between Friday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 7. The Xbox 360 Arcade system, now the lowest priced next generation console on the market at $199, showed the largest lift, selling at six times the rate it was the weekend before. (Microsoft internal data)
· According to NPD, 195,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in the U.S. in August, contributing to life-to-date spending of $10.7 billion on hardware and software, and a U.S. install base of 10.9 million units. (August NPD).
With the best-selling line-up of sports games on the market, sports fans have spoken: Xbox 360 owns sports. Here are some specifics:
"Madden NFL 09" on Xbox 360 secures #1 game in August
· Over one millions copies of "Madden NFL 09" sold on the Xbox 360 platform in August since its launch on Aug. 12. Madden fans helped contribute to Xbox 360's record-breaking software attach rate of 8.0 games per console. (August NPD)
"Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09"
· Xbox 360 players hit the greens with Tiger's latest installment, purchasing 56,000 copies of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09" in the five days it was on the market, more than on any other platform. (August NPD). Xbox 360 gamers eager to watch Tiger walk on water contributed to the $94 million spent at retail in August for third-party publishers on the Xbox 360 platform, or 45% of share. (August NPD)
"NCAA Football 09"
· The kick-off of the college football season didn't stop Xbox 360 gamers buying 460,000 copies of "NCAA Football 09" since it launched, more than PS3 and Wii versions combined. (August NPD)
From sports games and music titles to the biggest blockbuster games this holiday, the best games are on Xbox 360
· Xbox 360 games secured three spots in the list of top 10 selling games in August: "Madden NFL 09" at #1, "Too Human" at #7 and "Soul Caliber IV" at #8. (August NPD)
· Beginning last month with "Madden NFL 09," Xbox 360 has a string of blockbuster titles, each expected to sell at least a million units, launching in the coming months including "Gears of War 2," "Fable II," "Guitar Hero IV," "Rock Band 2," "Fallout 3" and "Lips."
Xbox 360 continues to move more games for third party publishers than any other platform
· With $94 million in third party game sales in August, Xbox 360 generated more dollars at retail for third party publishers than any other console, to date generating $4.1 billion, or 58% of share. (August NPD)
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Full Story: kotaku.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
NPD August: 360 195.2K, PS3 185.4K, Wii 453.0K
>> From gamasutra.com:
[QUOTE]
The North American video game industry grew only 9 percent year-over-year in August, according to NPD, showing slowed growth compared to recent months, but software sales were strong with the release of EA's Madden NFL 09 and continued first-party Nintendo success.
As usual, Nintendo DS and Wii took the top hardware slots respectively. Xbox 360 jumped ahead of PlayStation 3, but both were beat out by PSP. All hardware systems saw their sales decrease from July.
Per-unit sales are as follows:
Nintendo DS - 518.3K
Wii - 453.0K
PlayStation Portable - 253.0K
Xbox 360 - 195.2K
PlayStation 3 - 185.4K
Playstation 2 - 144.1K
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Maximus 360 Xtractor Tool - Dumps Liteon Keys
>> From maximusgames.net:
[QUOTE]
The new ALL-IN-ONE Tool, It supports POWER KIT + SERIAL RS232 + USB Tool, throw away anything else you have been using, this is all you need to update/reflash your drive safely. After endless hours of design and testing we are proud to offer this high quality product.
Feature List:
- RS232 Support (Liteon Key dumping)
- USB Support inside Windows (Liteon Key dumping)
- Power Feed all XBOX 360 Drives
- Automatic Mode-B on Hitachi 59 and earlier (78/79 require slax)
- Compatible with already released tools (dvdkey/dvdkey32)
- Native Toolbox support soon
- Onboard ON/OFF switch
- Onboard Eject tactile switch
- High Quality and Heavy Duty Parts
- Safe and Tested Design
- Other small features to be released will be announced later
START SHIPPING ON 29 Sept 08 PREORDER NOW !!
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Official Site: maximusgames.net
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft doesn't tell you
>> From techradar.com:
[QUOTE]
Essential hacks, tricks and secrets for Microsoft's supposedly closed system
1. Connect your Xbox 360 to two screens at once
2. Play your own music in original Xbox games
3. It can write its own blog
4. Play Xbox 360 games online for free - without a Live account
5. Interact with your Xbox 360 music
6. Connect your Xbox 360 to a wireless network without an official adaptor
7. Play music from your iPod
8. Reset your Xbox 360 video settings
9. Play any media file, plus online videos on your Xbox 360
10. Use any HDMI cable and still get digital surround sound
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Full Story: techradar.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft: Xbox 360 sales surge on price cut
>> From seattlepi.nwsource.com:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft said today that Xbox 360 sales rose significantly following the price cuts announced by the company last week. The company said retailers are reporting that sales of the video-game console increased more than 100 percent over the weekend, compared with the prior weekend.
Of course, it remains to be seen if those bumps will be temporary or lasting.
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Full Story: seattlepi.nwsource.com
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XBMC for Xbox 2008-09-08 SVN rev15452 build - T3CH
>> T3CH released a new SVN compile (rev15452) of XBMC for Xbox(info) (compiled 09-08)
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 Noteworthy/XML/Script changes:
* Team Razorfish's MediaStream skin updated to 0.90
For the full changelog (all added/fixed/changed/updated stuff) since the 2008-09-01 SVN Rev15293 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
GG2 Creator: Easier for a Small and Mid-sized Developer on 360
>> From siliconera.com:
[QUOTE]
* How come Guilty Gear 2is an Xbox 360 exclusive? This game looks like it could be a PlayStation 3 title too.
* Daisuke Ishiwatari: It was easier for a small-and-mid-sized developer like us to develop a game for XBOX360 than PS3. Also, since the main feature of the game is the network battle, XBOX 360 with organized network infrastructure was considered more suitable for the game.
This GG2 was the first title that we took the overseas development into consideration and since Xbox 360 had been widely used especially in the U.S., we wanted to challenge the system.
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Full Story: siliconera.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
New Xbox 360 games copied to HDD won't load much faster
>> From gamersglobal.com:
[QUOTE]
Xbox Product Manager Germany Boris Schneider-Johne states in a utmost interesting interview with Golem.de that this [quicker load times when playing games from HDD] won't be the case for the majority of 360 games.
"We now allow the customer to install games on their hard drive. This is optional, you don't have to do it. But if I do it, these games will load faster because a DVD-drive with seek operation does have load times every now and then. There are prominent examples, for instance: Project Gotham Racing 3, one of the first games for the Xbox 360. There the load times have been very long; those are going to get reduced immensely. Recent games are already optimized; there the gain is relatively small."
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Full Story: gamersglobal.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Bach: Xbox Biz Unaffected by Slumping Economy
>> From edge-online.com:
[QUOTE]
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, says his unit hasn't seen a slowdown in consumer spending in the face of the economic downturn.
Bach went on to add that the Xbox business has been doing very well. He said that the videogame industry moves on new release cycles rather than economic ones and predicted a strong holiday shopping season for Xbox.
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Full Story: edge-online.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox Live Makes Adweek's Digital Hot List
>> From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
Adweek has just released their Digital Hot List - a yearly list of top digital destinations for advertisers - and right up there with the big boys like Google, Facebook, and...Stardoll, is Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Measuring statistics such as year over year growth, pages viewed per users, and time spent on pages, along with factors like ad innovation and cultural influence, Adweek has ranked Xbox Live as number 7 on its list, falling neatly between YouTube and The Huffington Post.
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Full Story: kotaku.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Midway admit Xbox 360 European concern
>> From play.tm:
[QUOTE]
European Midway chief Martin Spiess has conceded in a new interview that the publisher are somewhat concerned by the performance of the Xbox 360 console in Europe.
"I don't know what it's like for other companies, but the market is not as big as the US market, so naturally we have lower attachment rates," Spiess offers.
"But it could be growing to the same size as the US - the only problem we have right now is that we see in certain territories Microsoft is lagging behind. Sony has become very strong, Nintendo has become very strong, but the Microsoft market in certain territories is concerning."
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Full Story: play.tm
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
PR: Xbox LIVE Creates New Political Forum
>> From the press release:
[QUOTE]
The online entertainment service best-known for great multiplayer games like "Halo 3" is creating a forum fueled by a different type of passion: the 2008 U.S. elections.
Starting Tuesday, September 9, Xbox LIVE members will receive an early opportunity to cast their vote - via a Gamerpic download - with poll results posted next week on Xbox.com. Gamerpics are visual representations of gamers' personalities, available for download through Xbox LIVE. "Voters" will have the option of downloading a Gamerpic for McCain, Obama, Other or Undecided. When the download is complete, they will be automatically entered for a chance to win a Gibson™ guitar for their part in rocking the vote. With more than 12 million active LIVE members worldwide, this unofficial poll could serve as a sneak peek into young Americans' perspective leading into November's elections.
The breakthrough partnership with Rock the Vote allows Xbox LIVE members to quickly and easily register to vote, which removes one of the biggest barriers, especially for first-time voters: research. With only two U.S. states providing online voter registration (Arizona and Washington, respectively), Xbox LIVE is going where young voters are, online - and simplifying the registration process. In less than five mouse clicks, a young American can have their voter registration information complete, along with information where to send via U.S. mail. This fall, Rock the Vote aims to help register two million young voters.
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Phone phishers hop on filesharing legal threats bandwagon
>> From theregister.co.uk:
[QUOTE]
Fraudsters have begun cold-calling householders to accuse them of copyright infringement online and threaten them with court action, an ISP has reported.
The development comes soon after the law firm Davenport Lyons won a widely-reported £16,000 default court award for a videogames firm from an alleged filesharer. Davenport Lyons followed up the default judgement by telling newspapers that it had identified 25,000 more targets that it would take to court if they did not pay a £300 settlement.
Small ADSL provider UKFSN received a support call yesterday from an elderly customer who was concerned after being contacted by a scammer on Tuesday.
Accused of illegally sharing music, UKFSN's subscriber was savvy enough to refuse to give any details, and turned the tables on the caller, demanding to know where they were calling from. When they refused to provide credentials he hung up.
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Full Story: theregister.co.uk
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Interview with Phil Spencer - new head of Microsoft Game Studios
>> From oxm.co.uk:
[QUOTE]
* You've got the Halo franchise, and you've got GOW 2... do you think you need to develop any new kind of hardcore gaming franchises? Obviously you've got Lips and you've got You're In The Movies, do you have any other kind of new platform exclusive hardcore titles coming? Do you think that's important?
* I think it's very important, and the next game I'm shipping is a core brand new IP franchise. The amount of new IP that we've brought to the market on the 360, it's one of the things I'm proud of. Gears for me is an interesting case study. Two years ago, nobody had played a game like that, played a version of Gears of War. Now, people kind of talk about it as a franchise that's been around forever, as if it's an old IP or an old franchise, which I think is the strength of that brand that's been built.
Our history to date on our platform; Crackdown, Gears of War, Too Human, games that really want to focus on the core, I think our track record speaks for itself there and it can continue to be part of Microsoft Game Studios.
* So you will have new exclusive IPs coming?
* Absolutely, absolutely.
* What will you do differently to Shane Kim for Microsoft Game Studios?
* The evolution of the platform for me opens up interesting opportunities for us content creators. The new Xbox experience that we announced on Monday, Live continuing to grow, the majority of our Live customers being gold customers, allows us to push beyond just retail games, which we've already done with DLC and different experiences, with people continuing to buy maps or whatever we deliver... but stepping back and really thinking about that connecting gamers and the entertainment experiences that we can bring.
The primetime stuff that we showed, that we announced at the briefing was a great example of that, of a new gaming experience, of this idea of programming certain timeslots, and certain experiences like the one vs. 100 game, not just for that but for all types of games, creating interesting opportunities.
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Full Story: oxm.co.uk
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Gamefest 2008 Presentations now Available Online
>> From the Team XNA Blog:
[QUOTE]
This year's Gamefest included exciting announcements about Games for Windows - LIVE and Xbox LIVE Community Games. Now, you can enjoy the interesting and informative Gamefest 2008 presentations from the comfort of your own home! We've posted many of the presentation's slides and audio at XNAGamefest.com Enjoy!
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Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Deals: Free MS points with 360 purchase, 15usd games and more
>> From xbox360fanboy.com:
[QUOTE]
If you're going to take advantage of the new price cut, we advise heading over to Circuit City where they'll toss in a free 1600 Microsoft point card with any console purchase. They're also selling GRAW2, Saints Row and Dead Rising for $15 and giving away a free tshirt and $10 gift card with the purchase of Force Unleashed.
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Full Story: xbox360fanboy.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
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