XBOX 360

Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive Price Slashed By 50%





Microsoft's price cut suggests the company is unlikely to ever introduce a version of the Xbox with an integrated HD DVD player.





By
Paul
McDougall




InformationWeek





February 7, 2008 02:26 PM






Microsoft has cut the price of its HD DVD high definition video player for the Xbox 360 in an effort to boost sales.
The device now lists for $130, down from $260.
Sales of HD DVD players have slumped ever since Warner Bros.
and several other major Hollywood studios threw their support behind
the rival Sony Blu-ray high definition format. DreamWorks, Paramount
and Universal are now the only studios with commitments to continue
releasing movies in HD DVD.
Manufacturers of HD DVD players have been cutting prices in
effort to revive demand. Toshiba, for instance, recently reduced the
price of its entry level units by 50% to about $150.00 By contrast,
Blu-ray players start at about $400.00 or more.
Microsoft's price cut suggests the company is unlikely to ever
introduce a version of the Xbox with an integrated HD DVD player. It
was rumored that Microsoft would make such a move at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but the reports proved groundless.
As for the Xbox itself, sales have cooled following a brief boost from the introduction of the hit video game Halo 3.
Microsoft shipped 4.3 million Xbox 360 systems in the three months
ended December 31st, compared to 4.4 million systems during the same
period in 2006 -- a decline of 2.3%.
Anticipation around Halo 3 sparked a sharp increase in Xbox 360
sales during Microsoft's first fiscal quarter -- which runs from July
through September. Sales of the gaming system in that period jumped
100% compared to the previous year as Microsoft shipped 1.8 million
consoles during the normally slow pre-holiday quarter.

Duke Nukem Forever Confirmed for 2008


3D Realms' Scott Miller finally commits to a Duke Nukem Forever release date.


3D Realms president Scott Miller commits to a new Forever
release date after 11 long years of delays and beating around the bush.
Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions being planned.Miller confirmed a 2008 release date in an email sent to the Dallas Business Journal on Wednesday."We
haven't formally announced any platforms for Duke Nukem Forever," he
said. "But, of course hitting the big three makes the most sense (PC,
PS3, 360)."Additionally, Duke Nukem 3D was confirmed for release
on Xbox Live Arcade leading up to the launch of Forever. The game will
support online multiplayer, Achievements, leaderboards, and a co-op
mode."We're really excited about bringing classic Duke to the
360," said Miller. "We're talking to Microsoft about getting a release
slot sometime this year."In typical easy-going form, Miller
ended his comments with a caution of minor delays. "We may miss the
mark by a month or two, but I feel very confident that we're on target
this time."A teaser trailer for Duke Nukem Forever was revealed
in December 2007. The shooter was first announced for PC in 1997 before
a constant string of design changes turned the game into vaporware.

If you asked me what the most highly-anticipated (and most
joked-about) game of all time was, I would have to go with Duke Nukem
Forever. Seriously, this game has been in development since I was
around 10. It wasn’t long ago that we were teased with a new trailer
for the game, and now the game’s Art Director is claiming that they are
currently “doing a lot of polishing of set pieces, environments, and characters.”


I’m honestly not even going to get excited about this. Gamers
everywhere have felt much like Charlie Brown did every time that bitch
Lucy tried to get him to kick the football. Sorry 3D Realms, you can
kick that damn ball yourself.
Sure, I might sound a bit harsh, but I’ve seen screenshots and heard
how close they’ve been to completion more than a few times. I really
want to be excited, as Tramell Isaac (3D Realms’ Art Director) says
that all of the footage was actual rendered in-game in-engine footage.
Tell you what, you give me a playable demo and I’ll kick the ball.

GTA iV 360 packaging concept reveled




The
subtle image you see here is apparently a piece of dummy packaging that
is apparently for GTA IV. Let's be honest - it looks like the cover of
the kind of film that has an innuendo in the title followed by a
ludicrously high sequel number. Rockstar bating the tabloids? Of course
not. But they best be careful Fox News doesn't see this and blunder
into another made up 'Sexbox' news story scandal.

Website Spong
has revealed the artwork, though there's no word on the source or if it
will be the final design of the packaging come the April 29th release.
Regardless, considering the rather pathetically macho choice of
'concept', it looks pretty cool. Not exactly after the girl gamer
market though.

xbox:360 elite now costs 260 quid ...

bargain? or waste of money... since they lost the war to Bluray?

Opinion: A Wii-remote controller for 360 is a sure sign that Microsoft is giving up the console fight

There's excitement in Xbox land thanks to MTV breaking news that Microsoft is gearing up to release a motion sensing Wii remote
wannabe by the end of the year. The news is a long way short of an
official Microsoft announcement and it comes from some shady 'insider
source', which could mean anything from a high ranking Rare employee
blowing the whistle to the wildest imaginings of the latest work
experience kid.

But for the moment we'll assume it's true - that Microsoft is
releasing its own motion sensing accessory which gives a Wii remote
like experience to Xbox 360 owners. We'll also assume that because Rare
is supposed to be in charge of it, it'll be a reasonably solid design
with some half way decent launch titles.

Now, how and why does that affect the PS3? Because it indicates that
Microsoft is giving up the battle for the high end market and that it
is moving its focus to the larger, so-called 'casual' player base.














Up to now Microsoft has tried hard to portray the
Xbox 360 as suitable for this casual market, but compared to Nintendo
it hasn't had a lot of luck. Much of Ninty's success has of course been
attributed to the intuitive design of the Wii remote - pick it up and
it becomes whatever the game and your imagination want it to be.

Microsoft's best attempt to draw in a casual crowd is Uno, an online
version of a decidedly 80s card game. In terms of intuitive controls
the best it can manage is the less than stunning Live Vision Camera. So
bringing a motion sensing accessory to the market seems like a pretty
sensible move - it fills a gap that Microsoft is lacking (so is Sony in
fact because basically the Sixaxis is toss) and potentially opens the
console up to a far wider market.

However, this is very bad news for the Xbox 360's core market.
Microsoft has ever been prone to jeopardise its more serious players so
that it can stay competitive on a wider scale. Take the Xbox 360 Arcade
model for example - by persisting with models that don't come with hard
discs, the Redmond giant is still forcing games developers to design
games that do not require hard disc space. Meanwhile the rival PS3 has
no such limitation and this factor is only going to become more
noticeable as time goes on.

Plus, any motion sensing remote offering is going to be starting a
long, long way behind what Nintendo already has in its arsenal. Suffice
to say, breaking in is going to take a large amount of effort and, of
course, resources to bring an Xbox 360 rival up to the same standard.
Those resources are going to be drawn away from other Xbox 360 projects
and that means the more traditional, hardcore games are going to suffer
or simply not get the backing they need.

At the same time, the PS3 is only just reaching its boiling point -
the latter part of 2007 was pretty damn good for PS3 owners and the
rest of 2008 is set to be a real scorcher too. In comparison the 360
has already played its major hands like Halo 3 and doesn't have a huge
amount left to fall back on.

By the end of this year, the 360 will be three years old - compared
to the life of the original Xbox, that's getting on a bit - and though
game technologies may well continue to evolve, its golden years could
already be well behind it. By now, the majority of serious console
players will have made their console choice long ago, and even those
who were really holding out will probably have made a decision by the
time GTA IV launches. So Microsoft must surely be beginning to question
whether there is really all that much of the hardcore market left to
conquer. Sony, meanwhile, can continue to lure former 360 players
across the divide and focus on encouraging its huge existing PS2
install base to upgrade.

So having been at loggerheads for over a year now, is there really
any point in continuing to battle it out for a comparatively small
piece of market space? Microsoft is now at a disadvantage in terms of
console power and specs, mainly due to the sheer age of its console.
The 360 is a noisy beast that's prone to breaking and sooner or later
it's going to fall behind the PS3 in terms of game quality. But even
then it will still have a superb online content delivery system and
multiplayer network - something that the Wii definitely does not have.

Meanwhile Sony's Blu-ray victory has given it a significant
technical advantage - despite Microsoft's optimism, downloads still
aren't quite in a position to compete with it in the longer term. It
will happen one day certainly, but not in this console generation. And
Sony's own online network is rapidly gaining strength and has a
significant advantage over Xbox Live in that it's free.

So while Sony is clearly committed to taking back its core market
from Microsoft, Nintendo is sitting pretty, selling its console at a
profit right out of the box and with little else so successfully
capturing the imagination of the casual market. It is a lower tech
offering that has a bloody awful online system and aside from its own
first-party gems, the Wii is drowning amidst a sea of just dire
third-party offerings. Seriously, why should it get such an easy ride?

Someday, Microsoft will have to start winding the Xbox 360 down.
Because the 360 arrived before the PS3, its twilight years will begin
first. Although the PS2 has been going some ten years, the games
industry as a whole is still pretty young - there's no hard and fast
rule about when a console should start to shift its focus away from one
market to another. Therefore if Microsoft is serious about copying the
Wii remote and going after the casual crowd - and there is more than
enough financial incentive to do so - then it will be starting to
abandon its war with Sony. And that day might come sooner than we
thought.

Before you write in to tell how much of a Sony fanboy I am, and
that I should be fired/shot/castrated/etc (yawn), please do two things
for me. 1) Look at the headline. See where it says 'Opinion'. Think
long and hard about what that means. 2) Look at the name of this
website. See how it's a PS3 blog. Any opinion voiced here is inevitably
going to be influenced by that fact, although we do try to be a lot
less deliberately pro-Sony than a lot of people would like. Anyone who
fails to acknowledge these two simple instructions is admitting to
toying with themselves in front of old ladies. Peace out.

So, my 360 broke =(

Alique wrote:

So, my 360 broke =(

Get a PS3, it'll never brake or over heat

I've got one.

But i wub my 360 more. ='(

I no you rub your 360 but youll hug your ps3

MilanFan009 wrote:

I no you rub your 360 but youll hug your ps3

LOOL

No reason to hug it. I get into domestic arguments with it, the fact that she costs so much and only plays DVDs. Police have been called by the neighbours in fear of domestic violence kicking off.

When my 360 died however, i wrapped it up in a blanket it, cradled it in my arms and whilst rocking it gently said "please don't die, please don't die" before finally turning my head to the sky and screaming "Nooooooooooooooooooo!".

LOOOOOL

where'd you bury it? ;p

I have to send it fucking back and pay fucking £50. So no burial ceremony unfortunately.

And tbh, i'd prefer to cremate the fucker.

LoL

if its any consolation.. the exact same thing happened with JBs 360... overheated and passed away to meet the lord. ;p

try getting a small fan.. and put a cup of ice or something cold between the fan and the ps3/360, so that the air can blow on and cool the system down..

dont ask me how i came up with that idea... i just know it works. until the ice melts. after that the ps3/360 starts to heat up

If you decide to put a fan on your ps3 and Sony finds out, dont expect to get it fixed for overheating problems or repairs. Same thing with the 360.

1- how on earth are they supposed to know?

2- i didnt say OPEN the damn thing .. just use a fan to help cool it better ( this is especially good if you're gonna play for a long time )

its simple... its just cold air to help the chip from heating up

Yeah, you can get a third party cooler to stick on the back but i wouldn't have thought that would make it void of warranty.

Anyway, i think the newer built 360s are supposed to have better fans and such...

Oh, and the main thing that worries me is if i'll be able to keep the HD. Don't want to lose all my saved game data/achievement points.

good question... im not sure if that possible. unless the HD is removable, which i think should be an option, OR, they could designate every 360 owner some free online space to save/backup his HD, in case something was to happen. heck, they could charge you a very minimal fee for it if they want to.. something like 5 quid a year. not that they'd need the money, but its the tought that counts. a free online backup system for everyone. thats the next step.

maybe sony could do the same thing..

Ahead of this week's E3 video game industry trade show in Los Angeles,
Microsoft has announced a new Xbox 360 SKU, in addition to a price cut
of the current 20Gb Xbox 360 'Pro' model.


The news currently applies only to the US and Canada, where
consumers are now able to pick up the 20Gb Xbox 360 for $299, a drop in
price of $50. A new 60Gb model will launch in both regions in August,
priced $349.


We presume the price cut and 60GB will also apply to Europe,
but we'll just have to hang tight and wait for confirmation and dates,
which may come at Microsoft's keynote speech later today (8pm GMT, 1pm
ET).


It's rumoured that Microsoft will also use E3 to showcase a
remote motion sensing controller, as well as a new look 3D-style
dashboard for Xbox live users.


Meanwhile Sony is rumoured to be making a number of key
announcements at E3, including a motion-sensing controller, full
details of its upcoming movie download service and new details of its
PS3 trophy system.

Nintendo’s keynote speech will apparently focus on a range of upcoming
first party games. The Japanese manufacturer has already stated that
there will be several new titles announced that will be aimed
specifically at the hardcore gamer. It’s also believed that it will
announce an online version of the successful life simulation videogame,
Animal Crossing.


Stay tuned for coverage from E3.

The HD is removable. My housemate kept his while he sent the system back to M$.

super .. so there you go.. no worries mate

speaking of removeable HDs.. im trying to install a linux OS on my 60GB external HD... it brings a whole new meaning to portability.