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Xbox News is a site that brings you the very latest Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One news, the latest games and releases, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
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July 29th, 2009, 02:51 Posted By: wraggster
Get thee to an e-mail inbox, Kotaku reader, as invites for the "2009 Xbox Live Update Preview" have been going out to those who opted in to the early look at new changes to the Xbox 360 dashboard.
Those updates include things like Netflix movie party sessions, Games On Demand via Xbox Live, interface tweaks and an Avatar Marketplace, plus much, much more. That means Spartan and COG armor for your Avatar can't be far behind. The new updates roll out to the general public on August 11, but some lucky Xbox 360 owners will be buying new pretty "steampunk" outfits for their Avatars as of today.
Did you get in? Let us know in the comments, then let us know what you think about the changes.
Hats off to everyone who tipped us off about their invite!
http://kotaku.com/5325032/xbox-live-...-going-out-now
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July 28th, 2009, 16:43 Posted By: wraggster
There's a writeup on SpywareGuide that explores the world of Xbox Gamerscore hacking, and how high Gamerscores are proving to be a big target for hackers and phishers. It also talks about how a recent release of a Gamerscore-altering program onto forums for hacking & cheating is proving to be lucrative business for both eBay sellers and those who want to artificially inflate a Gamerscore before selling that account, or trading it for credit card details
http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/0...ground-Economy
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July 27th, 2009, 18:31 Posted By: wraggster
Independent Xbox 360 developers polled by Eurogamer about Microsoft's decision to reorganise the Indie Games channel pricing structure have said they had no idea it was going to happen until it did.
"The new pricing structure is an interesting move because it came out of nowhere and no one really expected it or was prepared for it," Matt Davis, developer of Easy Golf: Course Architect, told Eurogamer today.
Weapon of Choice developer Nathan Fouts said: "It seems a little out of left field as they've never mentioned it before, but perhaps they've been reading some of the complaints on forums that some developers are charging too much."
Davis concurred: "I think the change was to adjust prices to consumer expectations as opposed to developer expectations," he told Eurogamer.
Microsoft's changes mean that the most indie developers can charge for their games is 400 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.40/EUR 4.60), with 200 MSP (GBP 2.04/EUR 2.40) and 80 MSP (GBP 0.68/EUR 0.96) price points also available, although to qualify for the latter games must be less than 50MB in size. The changes go into force on October 22.
Despite the loss of the highest-possible price point, both Davis and Fouts were broadly in favour of the changes, agreeing that the new low-end price point in particular is a good move. "I hope they never feel the need to allow for a free game option," Fouts added.
"I don't think the price change will hurt developers at all," said Davis. "Based on my experience with the system I would argue selling at 400 Points would bring in more money than selling at 800 Points.
"Some developers are worried about a race to the bottom with the new 80-MSP price point while others are disgruntled over the loss of the 800-MSP price point. Having gone the 800-MSP route before, I'm personally not going to miss it." Easy Golf - along with other titles like Biology Battle - have voluntarily reduced their prices to 400 MSP in the past anyway.
"I think that's the ideal scenario," said Fouts, "which is to allow the individual businesses to work within the free - or sort of free - market."
The two developers were also pleased with changes included in the XNA Game Studio 3.1 update, both applauding the option to sell games in other regions (Sweden, Germany, Japan and Singapore were mentioned), to prompt gamers about updates automatically rather than expecting them to find out on forums, and to distribute up to 50 trial versions - review copies, effectively.
As ever though, there's the feeling that more can be done, particularly in the area of marketing, which other indie developers have previously rubbished.
"Voluntarily crippling a service and then hoping it will succeed seems confused to me," Fouts said, supporting those views. "Indie Games are buried within the Xbox 360 Game Marketplace and I've spoken with plenty of gamers that have tried to buy Weapon of Choice but struggled for a while or eventually even gave up and had to search for help. How can you sell a product that no one can find?"
Fouts advocates the creation of a "permanent, high-level dashboard connection to the Indie Games section". "Total consumer volume has always been Indie Games biggest hurdle and giving gamers the ability to easily find the section would help immensely and only makes sense for both Microsft and developers," he told Eurogamer.
Otherwise, both developers would like to see leaderboard support and an Achievement system or equivalent. "Gamers are paying real money for Indie Games and the economy of gamerpoints could still be balanced after allowing this powerful tool to Indie Games," Fouts argued.
"Mommy's Best Games is currently developing Grapple Buggy with the hope to get it released on XBLA, but if we must release it on Indie Games we're hoping more changes are enacted for the best release possible," he added.
Despite their concerns though, Davis and Fouts are united in their support for Microsoft's efforts in general.
"I suppose the best news of all of this is that Microsoft is still investing in Indie Games and making changes - as long as they're still making adjustments I think they still care about it and are trying to help it succeed," Fouts said.
And Davis went even further: "The bottom line is that the XNA team is constantly working their tails off to evolve Indie Games into a successful distribution channel, and if a person doesn't like how it is at any given time they can check back four-six months later and find the system is upgraded for the better."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...out-of-nowhere
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July 24th, 2009, 21:56 Posted By: wraggster
Xbox Live's Community Games venture has just been re-branded as "Xbox Live Indie Games", and along with the new name comes a new pricing structure, which will see some titles sold for as little as $1.
Ever since Community Games launched, there have been complaints that the minimum asking price of some titles was too steep, so Microsoft have now allowed developers to charge as little as 80 MS Points (USD$1) for a game.
In addition to the new name and pricing, Microsoft also announced that the number of nations included in the Xbox Indies program is expanding, with Japan and Germany added to the list.
http://kotaku.com/5321788/xbox-live-...ng-games-for-1
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July 24th, 2009, 21:41 Posted By: wraggster
That's right kids. Netflix movie parties, avatar accessories, Games on Demand (though no proper Xbox 360 titles yet -- this is just the preview after all). We just got the update and are exploring right now, so stay tuned. If you're one of the select few, let us know in comments!
Some notable bits thus far:
Netflix now has way, way more options. You can actually browse content via the app, which is great. As a commenter points out, HD content is now denoted with a tag.
There isn't any avatar prop content available just yet -- hopefully we'll get to pick out an awesome gun to carry around soon though.
No Games on Demand content from the current gen console is available, but apparently the games will start rolling out in early August (sigh).
As we noted in previous posts, the preview doesn't boast any of the Last.fm, Facebook, or Twitter additions yet.
We know they're still working the kinks out, but there seems to be noticeable slowdown when shifting between pages, something we've never noticed before in the NXE.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/24/t...eview-is-live/
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July 24th, 2009, 21:40 Posted By: wraggster
We've heard plenty of talk about ten-year console life cycles for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and it looks like there's some consensus starting to build around the idea that any new consoles really are still a long ways off. Speaking with Eurogamer earlier this week, Epic Games VP Mark Rein cast some doubt on the very need for new consoles anytime soon, pointing out that "over half the users who played Gears of War 2 so far do not have HDTVs," and adding that "there's no way we're ready for the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox Whatever." He did also note, however, that the current consoles would see some major changes, and in the case of the Xbox 360 he says, "it's called Natal. That is the next Xbox." For the curious, Rein also concluded that Natal would win in a fight with Sony's motion controller, but only if it was a kickboxing fight, "because it can see you kicking."
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/24/e...ff-natal-is-t/
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July 24th, 2009, 21:38 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft shipped 11.2 million Xbox 360 units over the course of the last financial year.
That's more than in 2008 - back then the figure was 8.7 million. Console sales and Xbox Live revenues were also up.
However, 360 and PC gaming revenues were down by $161 million, or 3 per cent. Microsoft's financial report puts the drop down to Xbox 360 price cuts.
Overall revenue for the Entertainment and Devices Division (which covers PC gaming, 360, Zune and Mediaroom) was down by 5.6 per cent ($453 million). Operating income fell 66 per cent ($328 million).
In the last quarter alone, gaming revenues were down by 12 per cent ($110 million), "primarily as a result of decreased Xbox 360 console sales" and again, price cuts. A rise in Xbox Live revenues helped to make up for it though, as did the fact the company spent 30 per cent less on marketing - that's $107 million worth of Xbox 360-branded beachballs.
Microsoft Corp.'s total profit dropped by 18 per cent to reach $14.57 billion for the year. In the last quarter, profits stood at $3.09 - a fall of 29 per cent.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/11...hipped-in-fy09
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July 24th, 2009, 21:35 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has reported its fiscal 2009 financial results, with the headline news that numbers are, as expected, down across the board.
The corporation posted total revenues of USD 58.44 billion, down 3 per cent on the previous year, while profit was also down by 18 per cent to USD 14.57 billion.
Diluted earnings per share fell by 13 per cent to USD 1.62 as the final quarter of the fiscal year - the three months to the end of June - was hit hard.
In those three months revenue dropped year-on-year by 17 per cent to USD 13.10 billion, while profit dropped 29 per cent to USD 3.05 billion and EPS fell 26 per cent to 34 cents.
"Our business continued to be negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and server markets," said Chris Liddell, chief financial officer at Microsoft. "In light of that environment, it was an excellent achievement to deliver over USD 750 million of operational savings compared to the prior year quarter."
And Kevin Turner, COO, added: "While economic conditions presented challenges this year, we maintained our focus on delivering customer satisfaction and providing solutions to our customers to save money. I am very excited by the wave of product and services innovations being delivered in this next fiscal year."
Among those new products set to ship in the next twelve months is the latest edition of the company's operating system, Windows 7, which Interactive Entertainment VP Chris Lewis previously told GamesIndustry.biz would be "great for games".
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...evenue-decline
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July 23rd, 2009, 21:44 Posted By: wraggster
New from Divineo China
A brand new official Toshiba-Samsung Xbox 360 DVD drive, version MS28!
Tested for CD reading and eject function, this is the best drive for Xbox 360. As Microsoft Xbox 360 requires a key from your board for the drive to work, you will have to flash the drive with this key for it to function.
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July 22nd, 2009, 20:54 Posted By: wraggster
The reinstatement of the Call of Duty brand into Modern Warfare 2 has boosted consumer awareness and purchase interest for the game, new research from Nielsen has found.
While the game was originally introduced with the Call Of Duty moniker intact, it was then referred to as Modern Warfare 2, before bizarrely having the CoD name put back on the box.
Nielsen's videogame tracking service shows that the CoD-stamped game now "benefits substantially from association with its multi-platinum parent franchise Call Of Duty."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=219947
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:47 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's E3 demo for Project Natal include two game demos -- Paint Party and Ricochet. We assumed that these minigames were developed from scratch, specially for the E3 demonstration, but Epic's Mark Rein has stated in an interview with OXM that they were made using the Unreal Engine 3.
That makes UE3 the first middleware to support the new motion control system, meaning developers who utilize it shouldn't have much difficulty adding Natal functionality to their titles. UE3 isn't quite as commonly used as it was in 2007, but this does mean there's no excuse for Gears of War 3 not to support Natal. We suspect a great many of you would enjoy a bit of motion-controlled chainsawdomizing
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/21/e3...real-engine-3/
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:43 Posted By: wraggster
After announcing the disappointing delay, 2K Games has gone back into BioShock 2 teaser mode, kicking off the 'BioShock 2 Artists Series' and promising more 'Something in the Sea' viral at Comic-Con tomorrow. Do they know we've seen the game already?
You'll probably remember that Something in the Sea was the viral site that teased the sequel's premise before it was properly unveiled in magazines and online.
"Something in the Sea continues in San Diego on July 23," 2K says on its website, so we're probably in for more vague photos and drip-feeding story documents.
As for the BioShock 2 artist series, the publisher says it asked "several uniquely different artists to create a piece of art that represented their Rapture to celebrate the profound effect the city's beauty has on the BioShock community.
"These works, released over the coming months, represent the artistic impact BioShock made on gamers worldwide, and how the game spoke to each of us individually," it says. The first, by Invader Sim creator Jhonen Vasquez can be found on this page.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=219939
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:35 Posted By: wraggster
Bubble Bobble Neo is crashing the Summer of Arcade party. Taito set August 5 as the release date for their four player remake of Bubble Bobble.
Officially, the date is just for Japan, but almost all Xbox Live Arcade games debut in North America simultaneously. Also, Taito has English menus ready so it’s not like they have to spend extra time translating anything either.
Bubble Bobble Neo will cost 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and it looks like Taito has DLC planned for the future.
http://www.siliconera.com/2009/07/22...ive-in-august/
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:25 Posted By: wraggster
Although Microsoft's marketing department likes to keep its execs on a short leash, you really should listen to its CEOs when they espouse launch schedules. They are, after all, CEOs and tend to have the big picture (like dates) related to major projects that drive revenue. Recall 2008, when Bill Gates told the world that Windows 7 would arrive in 2009 causing Microsoft marketing to scramble-out a redaction attempting to reset expectations for a 2010 launch. With Windows 7 now officially launching in October, well, guess who was right? Fast forward to last month when Steve Ballmer made a similar slip saying Project Natal would arrive in 2010 causing Microsoft to issue a statement that a launch date had not been confirmed. Now DigiTimes is reporting that Aptina has won the exclusive rights to equip Natal with a 1.3 megapixel CMOS image sensor required for Natal's camera. More importantly, the Taiwanese rumor rag says that shipments of the "new version of the Xbox 360 console" are slated for the second half of 2010 -- a date that sounds like Fall to us as previous rumored. Of course, DigiTimes was absolutely certain that Microsoft was integrating Blu-ray into future (that'd be 2008) Xbox 360 consoles too, so take this rumor for what it is: rumor.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/22/n...or-is-back-on/
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:17 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's developer account managers pledge respect to muliformat releases
In an article written for Develop magazine, Ben Board, a developer account manager at Xbox's European HQ, has been discussing the respect his employer has for studios working on rival formats.
"We don’t make decisions about your game’s content," said Board, when detailing the service his team provides to developers undertaking creating content for the Xbox 360. "We’ll give you reasoned advice, but what you do with it is up to you.
"And we’re not so blinkered to ignore that you work on other platforms too – yes, we want the Xbox version to be the best, but we know that you take pride in the quality of all your SKUs, and we won’t give you advice that undermines that."
http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...-on-rival-SKUs
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July 22nd, 2009, 16:15 Posted By: wraggster
Gearbox Software has given a rare update on the status of Aliens: Colonial Marines, assuring fans that the shooter is still in development and promising "great things afoot".
Speaking in an interview with CVG, Gearbox supremo Randy Pitchford revealed that even he is finding it challenging to remain patient for the shooter.
"I know that there hasn't been much talk about what we're doing for awhile and that more details would be very juicy. Like so many people, I've been patient for years to finally be able to play this game and now that I'm actually involved in the creation of it I can tell you that it's extremely challenging to continue to be patient as it develops," he told us.
"I want to tell all! But I can't. But I can say that we are working hard and that there are great things afoot and I know that when the time is right, Sega will be excited to share more details about the game. Until that time, I guess the only thing anyone can do is just keep pressuring Gearbox and Sega to spill more beans. Maybe one of us will eventually crack."
There had been concern over the project after rumours circulated that it'd been canned, and Sega confirmed the FPS wouldn't arrive before AvP in "early 2010". Pitchford assures fans there's nothing to worry about.
"I love Aliens and I love Gearbox Software's Aliens: Colonial Marines. I am extremely committed to the game and I'm very confident in Sega's commitment to the Aliens brand and to our game.
"I can imagine that there are a LOT of Aliens fans out there just like me that feel we've been waiting for our true Aliens game since we first saw the film and now that we know it's in development, we want it NOW!"
http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=219918
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July 22nd, 2009, 01:35 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft announced at E3 that a new South Park game would be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this year, but waited until today to offer actual details on South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!. Yep, it's tower defense.
Microsoft's Comic-Con presence will feature a playable South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, described as a "fast-paced action/strategy game that combines these lovable characters with snowball battles and tower defense tactics." The company also dated the game for October 7th, just in time for new episodes of the Comedy Central show.
The game will likely also get some serious panel time at the "Save South Park One Snowball at a Time" session, happening at the San Diego Comic-Con this Saturday at 3:30 PM. Dudes from Microsoft Game Studios and South Park Digital Studios will be on hand to tell us more about the game. Oh, we'll definitely be there, covering all that nonsense. Watch for it!
http://kotaku.com/5319591/south-park...-tower-defense
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July 22nd, 2009, 01:34 Posted By: wraggster
Raiden IV is coming to North American Xbox 360s, thanks to publisher UFO Interactive. The better news is that the top-down shooter won't be unceremoniously released. It's getting double the "limited edition" treatment.
Of course, we're not getting night vision goggles or a replica plasma beam upgrade in the box, but something a little more straightforward — an exclusive soundtrack. The amusingly localized "Ultimate of Raiden" soundtrack will ship alongside the game disc, with retailer GameStop—brace for it!—getting its own limited edition package, complete with digital artbook.
UFO says the "secret file" artbook will contain concept art, boss and enemy data, and game strategies. Clearly for the serious Raiden fan.
The game shoots up retail this September. We're sure you'll find a place for it on your list of Fall purchases.
http://kotaku.com/5319774/raiden-iv-...imited-edition
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July 22nd, 2009, 01:31 Posted By: wraggster
In an interview with Kikizo, Microsoft VP Shane Kim talks briefly about Xbox Live and the possibility of moving it into the handheld game space -- which could definitely / maybe / someday happen, as the company seems to understand the importance of mobile media for its users. While hard at work trying to devise a mobile device strategy, however, its apparently decided that its resources are best spent developing home hardware and "more inviting and innovative experiences for a broader audience, things like 1 Vs. 100, Joy Ride, Beatles Rock Band," not to mention social media and streaming 1080p HD, all of which "combine to broaden the brand perception" of the platform. Also dropped in the interview were hints at plans for "a service in Live that will extend to other platforms," which sounds an awful lot like Live Anywhere, doesn't it? Check out that read link for the whole megillah, and for the time being: if you really need an Xbox portable, give us a call. We know a guy.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/21/m...ve-anywhere-d/
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