The Xbox 360 Universe

4 Video Demos of Xbox Live Camera

2006-08-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/11433/Campus-Party-Crackdown-Xbox-Live-Vision-Demoed/

Uses Flash video...

New Screenshots of Elveon for Xbox 360

2006-08-07T17:43:00.000-04:00

http://www.xbox-360.fr/news/visunews-xbox360__9621__.html

Here...

FEAR for Xbox 360 Gameplay movies added on Gamespot

2006-08-07T17:41:00.000-04:00

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/fear/media.html

From movies 2 to 3

Gameplay movies.....

Insider Source: Playstation having trouble getting graphics up to par

2006-03-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

This is an insider source. It may be a microsoft xbox 360 fan website but there are rumblings from an email I got from a development lead that Nvidia gave Sony options to upgrade the RSX more than a G70 derivative but Sony refused to do that because of Cost problems. Nvidia offered more configuration options to sony to enhance the RSX but because Microsoft was releasing the Xbox 360, Sony could not afford to have the RSX as enhanced as the Xenos in the Xbox 360. Now the Blu-ray is having problems with its technological features which werent touched upon but this is about the Blu-ray fitting into a console which might be smaller than the single Blu-ray players coming out from other companies. The developer is also worried that with the advent of bigger hard drives releasing from Microsoft at the end of the year for the Xbox 360, developers and publishers might go the Valve route and have Microsoft set up full games for downloads into the hard drives if your hard drive is big enough. Sony will not have a Hard drive except as an option to buy later on because the hardware costs would be even more than currently estimated by the Sony at more than 500+ because of Cell and Blu-ray.

Another gossip the developer told me that the visuals Kutaragi has envisioned cannot be accomplished unless ofcourse Kutaragi allowed Nvidia to make the above mentioned configurations other than just being a G70 derivative. Nvidia is said to have said that if they were allowed to configure the RSX to the options they had given Sony they would have had features which would coincide with that of the Cell for instance in the Xbox 360 the memexport feature can have the GPU enslave a core (threaded) for further physics and graphics enhancement in the game. This was something Nvidia wanted to do with the RSX but due to yields Sony didnt think it would have the chip released in time. Now that the developer already has the final dev kits like most developers Nvidia has shifted all thier resources away from the RSX which is now under the ownership of Sony.

30 Xbox Live arcade titles soon

2006-02-10T00:39:00.000-05:00

Link

Virtua Fighter 5 NOT a PS3 Exclusive after all?

2006-02-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

Link

"Editor's Note.: While we're here, can we just clear up this nonsense about Virtua Fighter 5 being "confirmed" for PS3. Everyone thinks it's confirmed for PS3. It isn't. EGM magazine printed a tiny snippet casually mentioning (not even reporting as such) that VF5, "which Sega has confirmed for the PS3", and "might even end up exclusive to the console", is a "technically savvy" fighter and that players enjoyed the game's "new Dodge button" at last year's location test."

DOA4 Xbox 360 update due very soon

2006-01-31T23:52:00.000-05:00

Link

A number of bugs will be fixed like character strengths, online bugs.

Full Auto Demo is from August 2005 build

2006-01-31T23:51:00.000-05:00

Link

Case in point: why release a demo in January that seems to bear little resemblance to the final product that's shipping in only a few weeks. Well, let's first get to the bottom of the mysterious code speculation: the OXM demo and the recently released Marketplace demo are indeed the same code, and given the fact that our development process forces us to branch demo code out from the main code base, you might consider August as the real origin of the final demo code. Although minor alterations were made to address feedback from Microsoft, the main code base continued to evolve while the demo code base remained locked so that it would remain stable.

This meant elements like our ongoing car handling, weapon tuning, HUD overhaul, front end enhancements, lighting tweaks, one touch replay system, pre-race presentation, etc. were not included in the demo. But since we're dealing with a new IP, it's essential that we pushed the demo out as early as possible to ensure that gamers got a good sense of the final game.

2006-01-30T23:29:00.000-05:00

Click the screens for higher resolution. These are ingame screens

Black screens: Touched vs Real

2006-01-30T11:33:00.000-05:00

Touched:

Real:

Difference in Xbox 360 and PC version of Oblivion

2006-01-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

Xbox 360 (Xbox 360 version has HDR and Parallax Mapping which allows better looking walls and textures)

PC ( The PC version lacks Parallax Mapping thus the walls look blurred and textures are not as good as the Xbox 360 version above)

Click both pictures for the bigger version.

The Best Xbox 360 Games list on the internet

2006-01-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

ACTION

Condemned, Crackdown, Dead Rising, Frame City Killer, Monster Madness, Ninety Nine Nights, Superman returns, The Outsider, The Shadow of Aten

ACTION/ADVENTURE

Alan Wake, Demonik, Kameo, Lara Croft legend, Metronome, King Kong, Star Trek legacy, Stranglehold, The Godfather, Vodoo Nights, Wardevil

ACTION/RPG

Elveon, Mass Effect

ACTION/SHOOTER

Chromehounds, Diabolique, Dogtag, Gears of War, Gun, Lost Planet, Saint's row, The Outfit, The Siege of Khe Sanh, Ghost Recon Advanced War fighter, Too Human

ACTION/STEALTH

Splinter Cell double agent

ACTION/STRATEGY

Lord of the Rings Battle for Middleearth 2

EXTREME SPORTS

Tony hawk American Wasteland

FIGHTING

Dead or Alive 4, Def Jam 3

FPS

Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2, Castle Wolfenstien, Cell Factor, Dark Sector, Far Cry Predator, Halo 3, Medal of Honor Airborne, Perfect Dark Zero, Prey, Quake 4, Timeshift

AIR COMBAT

Blazing Angels, World Airforce

MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE

All points bulletin, Huxley, Marvel

PARTY

Everyparty

PLATFORMER

Sonic

RACING/DRIVING

Burnout Revenge, Full Auto, Grand Raid Offroad, MotoGP 2006, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Project Gotham Racing 3, Test Drive unlimited, Extreme Tokyo Racer, Ridge Racer 6

ROLE PLAYING GAME

Far East of Eden Ziria, Final Fantasy XI, Lost Odyssey, Operation Darkness, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Enchant Arm

SPORTS

Amped 3, College Hoops 2006, Fifa 2006, Fight Night 3, Football manager 2006, LMA Manager 2006, Madden NFL 2006, Major League Baseball 2K6, NBA 2k6, NBA Live 2006, NHL 2006, Tiger Woods 2006, Top Spin 2

SURVIVAL/HORROR

Alone in the dark, Posession, Resident Evil 5

WRESTLING

Rumble Roses XX

Enchant Arm screens on Xbox 360

2006-01-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

Click the pictures for larger resolution. Looks as good as Kameo

Nintendo shows off redesigned DS

2006-01-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

Nintendo DS Lite
Release Date: 2006-03-02
Price: 16800 Yen
Feature: 4 adjustable levels of brightness (ala PSP), thus the name "Lite"
Old Size: 149 x 85 x 29 = 275g
New Size: 133 x 74 x 22 = 218g

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/news/060126.html

New Scan images of Over G from Famitsu Xbox 360

2006-01-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Xboxyde and blimblim. These are from the aircraft fighting game from the developer Taito. Click the images for thier full resolution

New Huxley Screenshots PC/Xbox 360

2006-01-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

Huxley is a MMOFPS due to be released on PC and Xbox 360 late this year

Star Wars galaxies debate brewing up

2006-01-27T09:52:00.000-05:00

The community of Star Wars galaxies is currently debating a heated topic concerning major gameplay changes in the MMO game.

Click

New scan of Ninety Nine Nights from Famitsu

2006-01-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

Click the picture for the bigger resolution

Sony axes Aibo the robot, disappoints scientific community

2006-01-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

``It really is sad,'' said David Calkins, a professor of robotics at San Francisco State University. Calkins uses several Aibos to teach students about robotics by playing robo-soccer. Many other universities with robotics programs also use AIBOs as a teaching tool.

Calkins believes most people aren't aware of the Aibo's many features, such as how it can recognize its owner, let its owner keep an eye on the homefront with the camera in the robot's head, and many other tricks. ``I talk to people all the time and they say `who wants to spend $2,000 on a dumb little toy'...It didn't have to die. They just never really marketed it to bring their costs down,'' said Calkins.

Another Aibo owner, Joe Barnhart, a software engineer in Santa Clara, has six of the robotic dogs, in part because he travels a lot and can't take care of a ``biological'' pet.

``Of course I'm disappointed in Sony's decision,'' Barnhart said. He speculated that the move to kill robotics development came from Stringer because he is not Japanese and doesn't understand the importance of robots in Japanese society.

Another owner, Bruce Bender, owns 56 Aibos, which he believes is the world's largest private collection. Bender, who lives in Rancho Cordova, outside Sacramento, noted in a message board posting that although Aibo manufacturing has stopped, ``that doesn't mean Aibo is dead.''

Bender said in a phone interview that he still plans to host gatherings for the worldwide Aibo community, such as one he held in late September where 110 dogs danced together in unison. Bender believes Sony's moves wlil bring the Aibo community closer together -- at least in spirit.

``Aibo is a very small department and that is the kind of thing you cut out when you are streamlining,'' Bender said. ``It's a business decision and business decisions don't always make money. But the Aibo community will go on.''

Some owners voiced concerns about getting spare parts and batteries in the future. Sony said that it will continue selling all the Aibos it currently has until its inventory and the supply of distributors is depleted.

Sony said it plans to shift its research and development in artifical intelligence into future consumer electronics products, but offered no further details.

Click

Microsoft Quarterly Earning the biggest in company history

2006-01-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

During the quarter in which Xbox 360 launched, the company had the highest quarterly revenue in the company's history.

Click

Microsoft Plans to ship 4.5 to 5.5 million Xbox 360's by June

2006-01-26T17:57:00.000-05:00

Click here

Microsoft confirmed it plans to ship between 4.5 million and 5.5 million Xbox game consoles by the end of June, despite supply shortages in the fiscal second-quarter.

"Given some supply issues (of the Xbox 360), we got off to a slower-than-expected start," said Colleen Healy, Microsoft's director of investor relations.

Splinter cell double agent delayed on all platforms

2006-01-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

Click Link

Splinter Cell Double Agent delayed
Ubisoft has delayed the release date of the latest Sam Fisher game from the planned March launch.

Double Agent's release date is being shifted for all platforms and the game will now see a release in September 2006. The news comes in Ubisoft's latest financial results.

So why the delay? Looks like Ubisoft wants more customers for the Xbox 360 version by the time of launch and extra time to polish the game.

"In addition, the rescheduling to September 2006 of the launch of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent is meant to release the title on all platforms simultaneously," said Ubisoft. "Including the Microsoft Xbox 360 that should have a much larger installed base by that time. This will also enable to maintain the highest quality for which Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is recognised. This rescheduling will ensure the best return from the coming release as well as from future sequels of this brand over time."

Now all versions of the game will launch simultaneously in September 2006.

Source: Ubisoft

Xbox 360 Splinter Cell Double Agent Trailer

2006-01-26T15:57:00.000-05:00

Click the link below to download the trailer. It is unknown at this time if the trailer was realtime or cg

Click

40 new Tomb Raider Legend Xbox 360 screenshots

2006-01-25T16:24:00.000-05:00

Click the picture below to view a screenshot or click the link below for the 40 pictures

Click this link

New Screenshots of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II

2006-01-25T16:17:00.000-05:00

Click the pictures below for the full resolution. This is the first time you will see a console game with realtime water and surface reflections in a strategy game.

New Trailer for Saint's Row

2006-01-25T13:22:00.000-05:00

Click here

Click the link above to see the new trailer for Saint's Row. There seem to be some framerate problems but seems they fixed the bad animation issues now.

New Ghost Recon video

2006-01-25T13:11:00.000-05:00

Click the link to view the video with commentary from the game designing lead. Graphics look on par with MGS4

Click here

Xbox 360 Arcade now getting noticed by big publishers and developers

2006-01-25T05:11:00.000-05:00

Click here

we now are swamped--completely swamped--with folks that want in Arcade, large publishers and small publishers alike .... the Capcoms, Namcos, Midways, Konamis, EAs--those types of guys were like, 'Yeah, maybe one or two titles.' Now they're coming out with us saying, 'oh, we wanna do 25 titles. We wanna do 20 titles. We're starting up a division to do arcade titles.' So we have a huge amount of opportunities from the large publishers. Not just back-catalog stuff... The retro stuff is part of it, but it's also new content they wanna develop for arcade...

These are the words of the Xbox Live Arcade manager.

Information on Elder Scrolls : Oblivion Collector's Edition

2006-01-25T04:53:00.000-05:00

Click the link for more information. This is available for both Xbox 360 and PC

Click here

Full Auto goes gold

2006-01-25T04:51:00.000-05:00

A number of internet sources are now saying that Sega's Full Auto game has gone gold. This means the launch is about a month away.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Xbox 360 Multiplayer videos

2006-01-25T04:43:00.000-05:00

Click here

Click the above link for the 4 multiplayer videos of GRAW

ATI CEO Talks Xbox 360 GPU

2006-01-25T04:41:00.000-05:00

Click Link for Interview

New screens of Saint's Row Xbox 360

2006-01-25T04:37:00.001-05:00

Click the picture for full size, looks nice for a game which is 60% finished and yet to be polished and a city bigger than Vice City

I am back

2006-01-25T04:37:00.000-05:00

news updates very soon

PS3 Final Fantasy VII remake cancelled

2005-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

Speaking to EGM Square-Enix has now stated that the company is not working on a remake of the popular Playstation RPG, Final Fantasy VII. The reason being that with all their current projects they simply lack the resources for such a huge project, suggesting that to match the quality of the E3 tech-demo would require a team of at least 300 members and likely take in excess of five years to create! However Nomura Director Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children said that it could be an interesting project if they had the resources available. So there might still be a tiny bit of hope, just don’t hold your breath…

Xbox 360 screenshots of Fifa 2006

2005-09-28T12:08:00.000-04:00

Link

Click the link for more pictures and click the pictures for bigger size

Screencaps for Armored Core Xbox 360

2005-09-27T20:50:00.000-04:00

More Images for Xbox 360 version here: Link

EA to have 5 XBox 360 Titles for Launch in US

2005-09-27T20:45:00.000-04:00

Link

Games List:

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Racing)
Madden NFL 2006
NBA 2006
Tiger Woods 2006
NHL 2006

1280x720 video of Tokyo Extreme Racer

2005-09-27T20:37:00.000-04:00

Link 1
Link 2

6 new Kameo Screens

2005-09-27T20:32:00.000-04:00

Link

HD-DVD Updated member List

2005-09-27T20:02:00.000-04:00

Prominent Members only:

Bandai Visual Japan *Gaming and Video Equipment
Canon Inc. *Digital Camera and Electronics
Fuji Film *Digital Camera
Hitachi * Electronics ***
Imation Corp * Electronics
Intel * Chip Producer
Intervideo * Video Software
Kenwood *Electronics
Konica Minolta *Digital Camera
Microsoft * Software Provider
Mitsubishi * ELectronics and Industry Provider ***
NEC *Electronics ***
Paramount Home Entertainment *Hollywood Studio
Ricoh * Electronics
Sanyo * Electronics
Teac * Electronics
Toshiba * Electronics
Samsung * Worlds Leading Electronic Maker ***
Ulead * Imaging solutions
Universal Pictures Studios *Hollywood Studio
Warner Bros Home Video * Hollywood Studios
Acer * Computer and Chip maker
Altech Lansing * Speaker and Electronics
Nero * Leading DVD Writer Software
Sonic Solutions * DVD Writer Software

Other HD-DVD supporters here: http://www.hddvdprg.com/about/member.html

Blu Ray Prominent Supporters:

Apple Computers *Computer Maker
Dell Inc *Computer Maker
Hewlitt Packard *Computer Maker
Hitachi *Electronics ***
LG electronics *Electronics
Matsushitsa *Electronics
Mitsubishi * Electronics ***
Pioneer * Electronics
Phillips * Electronics
Samsung * Electronics ***
Sharp * Electronics ***
Sony * Electronics
TDK * Electronics
Thomson * Electronics
Twentieth Century Fox * Hollywood Studios
Walt Disney * Hollywood Studios
Liongate Studios * Hollywood Studios
JVC * Electronics
Benq * Electronics
HP * Computer Maker
Universal Music * Music Delivery
Zenith * Electronics
Yamaha * Electronics

http://www.blu-ray.com/

*** means supports Both formats

Xbox 360 final development kits finally arriving

2005-09-03T22:24:00.000-04:00

Final Xbox 360 Kits finally arriving

The final kits of Xbox 360 are finally arriving this week. Lets see how much better the game perform

Grand Raid Offroad coming to Xbox 360

2005-09-01T03:18:00.000-04:00

the above link has 5 pictures of an offroad game. looks awesome

Final Fantasy XI will require HD on Xbox 360

2005-08-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

Final Fantasy XI HD

The Link says it all

2080 Nintendo Games for Sale on Ebay

2005-08-22T23:46:00.000-04:00

Link

A guy is selling 2080 Nintendo games from different generations for $7000. INSANE!

Rupert Murdoch has bought IGN.com

2005-08-22T22:15:00.000-04:00

Another day and news of yet another internet purchase by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. In recent months Mr Murdoch has embarked on an internet buying spree worthy of the dot.com gold rush. Admire or despise him, Mr Murdoch is one of the world's canniest media tycoons, so what's he up to?

The latest object of News Corp's attentions is IGN Entertainment, which specialises in video games news and male lifestyle sites and would cost north of $800m to buy. Earlier this week it emerged that News Corp was also in talks to buy Blinkx, a video search engine, to add to a string of internet acquisitions which have included Intermix, operator of the social networking site MySpace.com, Scout Media, a sports internet company, and an online real estate listing company in Australia.

Link

XBOXER EXCLUSIVE: Major Xbox 360 Announcement in 38 Days

2005-08-20T07:21:00.000-04:00

EXCLUSIVE!!!!

www.origenxbox360.com

This site is registered to microsoft and it was registered on the 9th of August. behind the tree if you turn your contrast high you will see 38 Days and counting down. Check it out.

Xbox 360 Cost

2005-08-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

3 x 3.2 Ghz Processor - $100 (because its not made by MS)
ATI GPU - $100
12x DVD Player - $25
Wireless Controller Connectivety - $25
512 MB DDR3 RAM - $negligible as it comes free with ATI GPU
3 USB Ports - $15
Faceplate - $5
Turn Off/On Wireless - $10
Wireless Controller - $50
20 GB Hard Disk - $75

Total - $405 US

Premium Package - Microsoft will lose only 5$ per Console
Core Package - Microsoft will lose 105$ per Console

Calculations: 1.6 estimated Sold by January 2006
80% being Premium - 1.3 and 0.3 being Core

MS will lose 6.5 million on Hardware on Premium and 35 million on Core

Software Sales : Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo

If any of the above 3 games hits 1.2 million sales at 49.99 per game. Microsoft will make a Profit on the Xbox 360 Console

A Black Xbox 360

2005-08-19T08:31:00.000-04:00

Click the link below to see the Black Xbox 360

IGN: GC 2005: Back in Black

IGN: EA Confirms Fight Night 360

2005-08-19T08:29:00.000-04:00

August 18, 2005 - Announced at the Electronic Entertainment Exposition 2005 as a PlayStation 3-only title, Electronic Arts revealed to IGN today that Fight Night Round 3 will officially appear on Xbox 360 no later than March 31, 2006.

The pugilist simulator wowed the E3 crowds with some of the only actual in-game footage from the PlayStation 3, and everyone who saw it will remember the impressive life-like visuals it displayed.

EA said that the release date on Sony's platform is TBD. So, if EA holds firm to its planned release date of Q1 2006 (calendar Q1, that is), then Fight Night Round 3 will debut on Xbox 360 before it appears on PlayStation 3. Sony has hinted its next-generation system will debut as early as July 2006.

IGN: EA Confirms Fight Night 360

Playstation 3 Price

2005-08-19T02:45:00.000-04:00

minimum price

3.2Ghz Cell Processor - $100
Blu-Ray Disc - $200
RSX - $100
Bluetooth Wireless Controller - $50
256 MB XDR RAM - $100
4 USB Slots - $40
1 Memory Stick Compartment - $5
1 SD compartment - $5
1 CompactFlash Compartment - $5
Gigabit Ethernet 3 Compartments - $20
WiFi Enabled - $10
Bluetooth Detection - $20
HDMI 2 outputs - $20
Analog Output - $5
Digital Audio Output - $5

Total Cost: $685 Cost for Machine

Sony will be willing to lose 100$ on the machine

Estimated Cost for Playstation 3 - $599 with 1 controller

Xbox 360 priced edit

2005-08-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

Actually the Xbox 360 Core Costs 340$ because you need a 40$ memory card (64MB) to save your games, load up Xbox Live or download EMUs. Its much better if you just buy the 399 as its value is much much higher than the useless Core.

XBox 360 Priced

2005-08-18T23:57:00.000-04:00

Xbox 360 has been priced and it will come in 2 flavors

1) Xbox 360 Core ($299 US)

This version is for idiots. Why? because only an idiot will pay 100 dollars less than Complete system thinking its a good deal. This system is for parents who want to spend less for thier kids , Then thier kids complain about no Hard drive, the parents buy a HD from MS for thier Core Xbox and MS makes a profit. Simply put this is a PR move. You cannot even play backward compatible games because of the lack of Harddrives and you cannot save games unless you buy a 35$ memory card.

2) Xbox 360 Complete ($ 399 US)

This is the real deal folks. This is one of the best Console deals out there. You get a 20 GB Hard Disk in which you can download trailers, video game demos, load your music and much much more. You can even get upgraded versions of 40 GB and 60 GB Hard Disks. The Second great thing is you get a wireless Controller unlike the Core system which only has a Wired Controller. There is no hassle of having wires in between you and the console. you can pick up another Wireless Controller for about 40$ from EBGames or other gaming stores for Xbox 360. The Third great thing is you get Xbox Live Silver Service in which you cant play Multiplayer games (you need XBox Gold Service for That) and watch people play against each other , text chat with others, video chat with others (you can buy a video camera for Xbox 360 too) or download trailers and demos or buy addons for your games. the 4th great thing is that you get a Media remote for your Xbox 360 in which you can connect your Xbox through a wireles device (which comes free with Xbox 360) to a Media Center PC and watch Television, View pictures and Listen to music (with a full screen visualizer)

Notes: All Xbox 360 games support Standard and HDtv (upto 1080i) resolution

Notes 2: You can turn your xbox on or off from your wireless controller or media remote

You can preOrder Xbox 360 right now if you go to EBGames, Gamestop or Contacting Microsoft Xbox division or any recognised Electronic store.

Unreal Engine 4 already being developed by Epic

2005-08-18T04:52:00.000-04:00

LINK

Mark Rein of Epic says that they have been working on Unreal Engine 4 for 2 years for the Xbox 3 and PS4!

ATI Next Gen Roadmap

2005-08-17T22:53:00.000-04:00

AnandTech: ATI R5xxx Roadmap Inside: Value First

ATI has released thier next generation roadmap. Check the link

Oblivion Will work with NO HD in 360 but will take advantage of HD in Premium 360

2005-08-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

Click the link

Ever since Microsoft's announcement of the Xbox 360's pricing structure, gamers everywhere have been wondering if developers will take full advantage of the hard drive since it's not a standard accessory with every system. After all, why would a developer want to risk excluding a large segment of the 360 gaming market?

Bethesda, maker of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for Xbox 360, has previously boasted considerable use of the hard drive for its massive RPG. Many gamers are wondering if they can still play Oblivion if they purchase the hard drive-free Core System. We contacted Bethesda directly to find out.

"We've known since day one that there would be versions of the 360 without a hard drive, so Oblivion will still work on every 360," assures Todd Howard, executive producer at Bethesda. "That being said, Oblivion takes full advantage of the hard drive and uses it extensively, so we'd certainly recommend that everyone gets one."

This indicates that the hard drive can be tapped for more than just MP3 and photo storage. It seems developers are not afraid to utilize the hard drive for optimizing load times and streamlining their games much like the original Xbox.

Game Informer has also heard rumblings that Microsoft mandated all Xbox 360 games be playable without hard drive assistance (MMOs are excused from this requirement). It's up to the developer to choose how much hard drive optimization to include in their games from that point.

We'll unravel more on details on Xbox 360 in the months leading up to launch.

Perfect Dark Zero newer "OLD" screens

2005-08-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

Click the Link

These are new pictures from the E3 version of Perfect Dark Zero released today

19 new Project Gotham 3 Screenshots

2005-08-17T21:36:00.000-04:00

Click The Link

19 new Pictures for Project Gotham Racing 3 from Edge Magazine scans

Are you ready?

2005-08-17T07:35:00.000-04:00

The Time right now is 7:35 a.m. get ready.......

Beyond3D Forum - Console Talk

2005-08-17T01:36:00.000-04:00

These are the names who say they are neutral but diss Xbox and praise Sony all the time and are known to be sony fanboys.

Sony Fanboy Trolls in Gaming Forums: (Watch out for them List)

1) mckmass8808 (gaming-age, beyond3d)
2) Titanio (beyond3d)
3) gofreak (gaming-age)
4) WunderChu (gaming-age, TeamXbox, beyond3d) (Investigating)
5) xbox2005 (TeamXbox)

This will be edited and added later as well

Images from Liebzig Microsoft Conference

2005-08-16T16:54:00.000-04:00

Day 1:

http://www.jeux-france.com/news11794.html click the link for the pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/majornelson/ Major Nelson (Larry Hybb) of Xbox Live also has some feature pictures from the convention

Sega Confirms Condemned for Xbox 360 Launch, Full Auto Delayed to 2006

2005-08-16T16:52:00.000-04:00

Kikizo Games: News: Xbox 360 Launch Titles by Sega

Sega has confirmed that Condemned, the realistic first person combat game will ship at the launch of the Xbox 360. but the sad news is to report that Full Auto has been delayed till early 2006.

Celestica will manufacture Xbox 360 Console's

2005-08-16T16:48:00.000-04:00

Link

Celestica Inc will manufacture the new Xbox 360 Console system. The Manufacturing plants will be set up in china. This is an indication that the Console production is about to begin very soon.

Edge Magazine scan images of Project Gotham Racing 3

2005-08-15T21:49:00.000-04:00

Screenshots - Project Gotham Racing 3 Forums

Looking goooooooooood

J Allard: Xbox 360 developers be aware of no HDD in future Xbox's

2005-08-15T20:13:00.000-04:00

Gamasutra - Allard Hints at HDD-Free Xbox Possibilities

Concerned about the recent hoopla of the Xbox 360 backward compatibility questions placed by alot of xbox users, J Allard has warned developers to keep in mind the fact that future versions of xbox consoles as well as this xbox 360 console might not have a HDD (but might have some other storage form). This is suggesting that developers should be aware that future versions of xbox might not have a harddrive so they need to also have alternate ways of caching and utilising storage for Games.

Blog design updated

2005-08-15T19:21:00.000-04:00

As you have all noticed the blog design has been slightly updated and cleansed

Legend of Zelda for Nintendo Revolution Confirmed

2005-08-15T01:18:00.000-04:00

Zelda confirmed for Revolution

Director of Legend of Zelda says the next gen Link will be indeed on Nintendo Revolution. Meanwhile the wait is on for the heavily awaited Twilight Princess.

Nintendo DS price dropping by $20

2005-08-15T01:16:00.000-04:00

Nintendo DS price to drop to $130 by August 21st? - Joystiq - www.joystiq.com

Nintendo DS price is dropping by 20$ on August 21st, at the same time as the launch of Nintendogs. The previous price was $149.

Developers Crying Over Next Gen

2005-08-15T01:10:00.000-04:00

Developers Crying Over Next Gen

The Above link has another developer crying over difficulty to program next gen games:

Diablo 3 Trashed : Kotaku

2005-08-15T00:55:00.000-04:00

From the website above:

Diablo 3 Trashed : Kotaku:

"I just got an interesting update about Diablo 3. Rumor has it that the current work on Diablo 3 was canceled and that the game is going to be completely reworked.

My tipsters tell me that Blizzard North’s work on the game was, to put it kindly, below expectations. While this is mildly disappointing, it’s nice to know that Blizzard still so zealously guards their name.

This news does help paint a broader picture about the closing of Blizzard North. I’m not saying the two incidents are related, but they may be. The B North folks were all offered a relocation package to move to the motherland, home of World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Starcraft and Starcraft Ghost.

Apparently most of the crew took them up on the offer and are expected to fill the offices left empty by the recent NCSoft raid a few months back."

Video of Fight Night 3 on Xbox 360

2005-08-14T23:48:00.000-04:00

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=e32005_shann_fightnight

Playstation 3 is a single threaded processor

2005-08-14T05:45:00.000-04:00

From Gamespot:

The Cell's multiple cores open up a variety of programming models in
terms of thread assignment and resource management. The Power processor unit is
capable of processing two threads, and each synergistic processor can handle a
single thread each--for a total of 10 total concurrent threads--which introduces
a new problem of determining how to best use all the processor resources.

over here two threads in line 3 mean parallel processing at single threaded cores. Come to think of it, its not that fast being single threaded

The above is a qoute from here:
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-15015-1483-x-x-x

Gaming-Age Forums showing thier Bias towards Playstation 3

2005-08-14T05:16:00.000-04:00

A recent trend in gaming-age has been that all the new playstation 3 supporters in the forums are being supported while whenever a new Xbox 360 supporter posts something he has been banned. A recent example was me explaining that John Carmack said Cell was a single threaded processor, and i got banned after posting that. Interest take that most people disregard the Xenos being even 80% as powerful as RSX which is not true but most of the illiterate forum members at Gaming age are showing thier education deficiencies. We will see in March 2006 how the graphical comparison will shut off alot of the gaming age forum bias

John Carmack on Consoles

2005-08-12T21:49:00.000-04:00

1. he said that IBM made a mistep with PS3 Cell processor into thinking that Graphics is done and we should concentrate on CPU power for physics and AI only, which Carmack thinks is way off base. The Cell processor he suggested was made for Physics and AI and its graphics cability is not that high

2. Simultaneous release on PC and Xbox 360
3. Next Gen Console Processors in the same ballpark figure of processing power as hi end PCs
4. A code running on AMD/Intel runs at half the speed on next gen consoles
5. Multicore processors will be very difficult to program for and new games will not look as expected.
6. Carmack was leaning towards being more comfortable to develop for Xbox 360 than PS3
7. Cell is worse in game design in a number of areas compared to Intel/AMD design

This speech was at quakecon

EA to Gameinformer Mag: Fight Night 3 on PS3/Xbox360 identical

2005-08-12T17:36:00.000-04:00

EA sports has told fight night that the visual quality on the Xbox 360 version of fight night and the PS3 version of the fight night will be the same.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Confirmed for Xbox 360 in Winter 2005

2005-08-12T16:42:00.000-04:00

Koei has announced that the Xbox 360 will get an enhanced version of Dynasty Warriors 5 late this year—coinciding with the current-gen releases on Xbox & PS2. The game will officially be called, Dynasty Warriors 5 Special, but it is not yet known what has been added to the next-gen version besides a visual upgrade and the possibility of more on-screen combatants. The game is set to be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Another Analyst view on Xbox 360

2005-08-08T20:01:00.000-04:00

Another Analyst has pointed towards 2 price points.

This is what he said:

1) $299 is important so one of the two consoles will be $299
2) The more expensive Console will consist of 80% of the shipment, because thats what the buyers would want when they see the difference
3) it could come as low as 350 but the realistic price of the higher priced console is 399$
4) He doesnt tell what will be the difference
5) The Gold Xbox Live price level will be around 50$ a year but expect a slight increase
6) The most ambitious Xbox live project is the Silver free service
7) Microsoft is providing very heavy incentives for 3rd party developers for them to support thier Console 100% in exclusives
8) Microsoft has set up funds for the support and development as well as promotion for Xbox 360 among developers
9) Development dollars, sales, royalty structures
10) Qoute: "Microsoft has been very very aggressive, they are coming at 110% miles per hour. They want the key games to be there at launch"
11)

Analyst: Two Xbox 360 Launch SKUs

Major Nelson.com

2005-08-08T18:50:00.000-04:00

Major Nelson has posted his blog for this week:

http://www.major-nelson.com/blogcast/2005/mnr-8-7-05-139-mp3.mp3

Major Nelson.com

Project Offset Movie # 2

2005-08-08T15:56:00.000-04:00

1280x720 HD (73.4mb) Mirrors
File Front User Mirror 1 (thanks Fabrice Climence)
Local (last resort)

852x480 HD (50.3mb) Mirrors
User Mirror 1 (thanks Fabrice Climence)
Local (last resort)

I, for one will not be fooled again

2005-08-07T22:04:00.000-04:00

Lets look over PS2 vs Xbox :
--Xbox Gflop - 3 Gflop--PS2 Gflop - 6.4 Gflop
--Data bus, cache memory as well as all registers are 128 bits on the PS2 CPU while the XBox CPU is 32 bits
--Emotion Engine Incorporates 2 64 bit integer units, 128 bit SIMD multimedia command unit, 2 independent floating point vector units, an mpeg2 decoder circuit DMA Controllers
--PS2 could do heavier physics and 3d graphics
--PS2 Processor was itself 2 times faster than the Xbox Processor

Qoute from ArsTechnica 5 years ago

"So which machine is more powerful? Well, if you're talking 3D gaming and you mean right now, I wouldn't hesitate to give the crown to the PS2. Looking ahead to the next two or three years, the future looks much less certain. It'll be quite a while before developers are able to figure out how to harness the full capabilities of the PS2, and while they're scratching their heads the PC will be getting more and more powerful. As we'll soon see with the NV15, the PC is still advancing quickly under the old "large buckets and slightly bigger pipes" paradigm. However, the PS2 represents the true next generation of media processing, and until the PC catches up with it in terms of bandwidth and overall data throughput (read "SIMD") it can't be worthily called a true dynamic media machine. That being said, a look at the PS2 is a look into the (probably near) future of the PC. The data pipes will indeed get wider, SIMD will increase the amount of media data a PC can process, and the PC will resemble more and more the kind of media machine that Diefendorff and Duby described, and that the engineers at Sony and Mitsubishi built."

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/ps2vspc.ars/5

PS2 Computational Cluster: http://arrakis.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ps2/cluster.php
Scientific Computing on PS2: http://arrakis.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ps2/

Another ArsTechnica Qoute:

"Conclusion

As you can see from the above breakdown, with a total of 10 FMACs, 4 FDIVs, and all the other integer, branch, and load/store resources available, the Emotion Engine is a hoss. Not only does the Emotion Engine have horsepower under the hood, but its aggressively new, cutting-edge design means that it's going to take a while for developers to really learn to use all that power. It'll be interesting to see if the PC has caught up with the PS2 by the time PS2 developers figure out how to exploit this hardware to its fullest potential.Although I've stated repeatedly that the PS2's number one application is 3D gaming, neither Sony nor Toshiba (Toshiba designed the Emotion Engine, and Sony licenses it) are going to sit by and let this hardware get pigeonholed in that application space. Sony has invested big, big money (I think it's around $100 million) in developing non-game applications for the PS2. So by the time the PS2 goes stateside, we should see other types of software available for it. This device is going to be the centerpiece of Sony's assault on the world's living rooms, so you can bet they'll milk it for all they can. All in all, it should be a fascinating ride in the next few months as MS and Nintendo begin to ready their own console offerings. The PS2 has really upped the ante in terms of raw gaming horsepower, so MS and Nintendo are going to have to offer something killer in response. (Was I the only one who was unimpressed by the recently-released X-Box specs? I hope nVidia packs some amazing hardware into it, because after looking at the Emotion Engine, a 600MHz Intel offering ain't turnin' me on...maybe if it's a Willamette...) All speculation aside though, one thing is definitely for certain. As of the Japanese launch of the Playstation 2 last month, the home entertainment scene just got much, much more exciting."

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/ee.ars/7

THIS is not Dejavu! its actually happening again. With people being fooled that the PS3 will be able to render real life graphics into games, that PS3 is in real-world the new change. Maybe it will change because IBM is a processor and will promote Cell more but I personally see the same rhetoric in 1998-2001, The same 3d revolution, the same physics revolution. and I can surely speculate. wait, not speculate, im infact sure that the result wil ultimately be the same

It will be RSX vs Xenos ALONE which can enable us to know the end result, nothing less, nothing more!

What Jack Thompson said:

2005-08-07T13:27:00.000-04:00

"I have a right to point out that Electronic Arts is engaged in a knowing conspiracy with the "mod community" (what's next, "a pedophile community"?) to distribute porn to children. Any of you who don't think that is what EA is doing need to get a law degree and practice for 30 years, as I have. Then I'll be interested in your "opinions" about The Sims 2 scandal."

This man has now gone too far and the Video game publishers and developers should stand up to him to help bring this leech down.

Xbox 360 & Xbox Forums - Wow, I mean just wow. Read what attorney Jack Thompson has to say.

Major Nelson Identified

2005-08-07T03:47:00.000-04:00

Here he is folks:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericrice/27414540/

Comparison Shot between Xbox and Xbox 360

2005-08-07T01:18:00.000-04:00

Here are some new screenshots between Xbox and Xbox 360

Gaming-Age Forums - X360 Pictures from Gamecon7 (Comparison shots with Xbox)

Gamespot interview with prey developer

2005-08-06T23:32:00.000-04:00

Key Points:

1) Uses the Doom 3 Engine but it looks much better
2) The game has an indian cultural aspect to it
3) You can battle on a planet which is called the Sphere
4) According to indian culture you can leave your body and this is used in the game as your body remains suspended and you spirit moves inside doors and puzzles. You can use weapons and kill monsters too.
5) When you die, you dont restart where you left off. you go into another minigame which is a continuation, and you have to beat the monsters there in the minigame to actually go back and continue the original game. How well you do will determine your health when you return to the game.
6) You run through portals in the game, so you can be running in a metallic hall and walks SEAMLESSLY through a portal without any loading time and go into another level

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/prey/media.html?gcst=prey_di_m1_080305.asx

Gamespot has New Ghost Recon 3 Video

2005-08-06T23:22:00.000-04:00

New video has been posted of Ghost Recon, its 35 seconds in total but i am guessing its showing an ingame footage of a soldier.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Media Index for Xbox 360 at GameSpot

The Xbox Auteurs - New York Times

2005-08-06T23:01:00.000-04:00

Nice Article about Games and Xbox's from the NY Times

The Xbox Auteurs - New York Times

Try iTunes!

2005-08-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

You should head over and use Itunes podcasts, easily downloadable and organised. Good software for tech junkies!!

PlayStation 3 to run OS X? Oh, please!

2005-08-06T22:04:00.000-04:00

Article on Macworld by Peter Cohen:

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/gameroom/2005/08/ps3/index.php

You heard it here first!!

2005-08-06T22:01:00.000-04:00

http://xboxer360.blogspot.com/2005/08/rumour-control-2-versions-of-xbox-360.html

Even before Forbes made it public, I broke the news that there might be 2 versions of Xbox 360! now this is still a rumour. but it is kind of cool

Thoughts of the week

2005-08-06T21:01:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking. The Xbox 360 does have a chance of overtaking the PS3. I know its a farfetched thought but if you think about it almost all of Sony PS3 games are either from its own Sony gaming division and it has announced lesser games from japanese developers than Xbox. We will see how it goes. The interest will grow around TGS which is the tokyo gaming convention where if Sony does not announce newer games I am willing to say Xbox 360 has a great chance to get atleast 40% of the console market easily and even a shot at 50%.

Jack Thompson now goes after Killer 7

2005-08-06T18:32:00.000-04:00

Jack Thompson , the Anti- Video Game Industry lawyer is now going after Killer 7 (Gamecube, PS2) because he read an IGN article which says it has a sexual scene in it . the funny thing is. There was no "sex scene in it". It was as innocent as the scenes in any other PG13 movie of a woman moaning: Click the Link

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=676&Itemid=2

Picture of Ruby Demo running on Xbox 360

2005-08-06T18:07:00.000-04:00

Click Image for Full View:

Sony PSP Compatibility with Xbox 360

2005-08-06T17:55:00.000-04:00

Kokatu has posted pictures of Sony PSP sharing its music and pictures with the next generation Xbox Console. We also see the look of the Xbox 360 Dashboard

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/breaking/psp-on-xbox-360-actual-pics-116139.php

Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo are complete

2005-08-05T22:32:00.000-04:00

The only 2 games on Xbox 360 to get a Rating are Perfect Dark Zero (M for mature) and Kameo: Elements of Power (T for Teen). That is an indication that both games are complete and are under testing before thier tape-out sometime in september. I can confirm that either Kameo or Perfect Dark Zero will come as a bundle Title on the launch of Xbox 360. I though, cannot confirm if both will be launch bundled titles on Xbox 360

Stupidity of Teamxbox members

2005-08-05T20:22:00.000-04:00

http://condemned.1up.com/

the developer for the condemned game on Xbox 360 said:

"Even with the power of the Xbox 360, performance is clearly going to be our major hurdle to continue to overcome. Running a game at 720p on HDTV sucks up all the power you can throw at it -- and more. We'll continue to optimize, tweak and streamline wherever possible -- as long as it doesn't detract from the vision of our game."

and the teamxbox forum started to go beserk calling the developer rubbish. well thats not true. not entirely. The truth is the 3rd line of this blog from the developer, which the members completely ignored:

" Let's see... Short development cycle? No problem! Unique gameplay mechanics? Oh-yeah-baby! Brand spanking new console and tools? Bring it on! Majority of the team new to console development? No big deal!"

Captain Obvious: This team is new to console development. This team is thus new to multicore development. The only COMPLETED game to use multicore environment is actually Far Cry 64 bit edition. And developing Tri Core games are completely new for console developers. So imagine how it will be for PC developers. Its a hectic process and I will give the developers of Condemned some time to show thier game. If its still sucky by launch. I would say TeamXbox members were vindicated in thier response. Lets wait and see. its a challenge to Mr. Dave Hasle

You heard here first: 2 Price Points

2005-08-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/08/05/microsoft-xbox-launch-0805markets05.html?partner=yahootix

But Forbes is wrong in that HD is included in 399 package

Namco Needs to Work on Skin: Xbox 360 Game Love Football

2005-08-04T19:51:00.000-04:00

Namco needs to work on the grass and Skins

Click the picture below to see the bad grass and 3rd degree burns

Result of Factor 5 defection from XNA

2005-08-03T21:05:00.000-04:00

Level 5 was a staunch supporter of XNA, all of that suddenly changed after E3 where they put out a very un-developer like remark "we believe PS3 has a much superior hardware so we are moving away from Xbox 360 and developing for PS3"

Thier most famous game was Rogue Squadron on Gamecube. We find out today that the publisher of thier next game is : "Sony Computer Entertainment".

They were bought out by Sony to make this game for PS3.

Details here: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/635/635510p1.html

Rumour Control: 2 versions of Xbox 360?

2005-08-03T20:18:00.000-04:00

The first Console:

1. Xbox 360 3x3.2Ghz Custom PPC Processor
ATI GPU at 500 Mhz
DVD
VGA Compatibility, HDTV
HDD
$299

2. Xbox 360 3.3.2Ghz Custom PPC Processor
ATI GPU at 500 Mhz
HD-DVD only for movies
HDMI/DVI, HDTV for games and movies
HDD
$350

1. will come out november 4th and will drop down to price of 249$ at the Spring launch of PS3
2. will come out on the Spring launch of PS3 at $350 with HDDVD and HDMI/DVI

again this is only a rumour

Square Enix hints at FF and DQ being Multiplatformers

2005-08-03T19:52:00.000-04:00

http://cube.ign.com/articles/638/638866p1.html

Are all the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest fans out there ready to reserve that PlayStation 3? You may want to do a bit more scouting first. Recent comments from Square Enix president Yoichi Wada suggest that his company's two prized series could be taking a multiplatform route in the next generation.
Commenting to Japanese site Mainichi Interactive on August 3, Wada explained, "The market for next generation game machines will be split into 'high end' and 'low end' according to the type of user. Rather than one hardware dominating, the various machines will carve out their own share."
Final Fantasy is already known to be taking a multiplatform path, as the Crystal Chronicles and Final Fantasy XI offshoots will be appearing, respectively, on Nintendo's Revolution and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Square Enix has confirmed that the Final Fantasy series will come to PlayStation 3, although it hasn't gone into specifics.
Multiplatform development of Dragon Quest, on the other hand, would be a surprise. While Square Enix has brought offshoots of the Dragon Quest series to Nintendo's portable systems, with a DS version of Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest due shortly, the series has stayed a PlayStation thing on home consoles since the original 32-bit PlayStation system.