With all of the 360 SKUs available, it can be a little confusing trying to keep track of them all. One helpful thing to keep in mind though: The cheapest of the models can now be found in Japan, as the Core there will be cut on Nov. 1 to around $243. Furthering hopes of the 360 topping its 6,161 sales last week, the standard model has gotten a similar treatment.
Forget about rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Microsoft is slashing prices on them. You want three chairs for $20? Done. You want four for $25? You got it. You want to pay 34,800 yen ($304) for your standard Xbox 360? Then it's yours! ... What's that Japanese consumer? ... You just want some chairs. ... Oh, OK, sure. No problem. Chairs it is.
Cheapy D's army of frugal Fannies bring word that this week's Best Buy flyer (beginning Oct. 21) reveals Heroes on HD DVD is free with the purchase of an Xbox 360 HD DVD player. So, if we're grasping this properly, if you purchase the Xbox 360's HD DVD player from Best Buy you'll get King Kong (still bundled in), Heroes, and five free HD DVDs. The five free movies offer has also now been expanded to Europe. If the Xbox 360 HD DVD unit ends up being true, this ridiculous HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war might actually be heating up rather than ending. All we know is that the consumers who wait for this mess to end are the ones who'll "win."
Here's a surprise: Life would be a lot easier for EA if they didn't have to port all of their games to so many different platforms. In fact, they'd be happier with just one. Gerhard Florin, EA's head of international publishing, told the BBC, "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible." Well, count this as one of the many times when we're happy we're living in reality, rather than an alternate, EA-crafted dimension. We probably don't have anything to worry about though, Florin says he thinks dedicated consoles could be around for "up to 15 years."
The way we see it, everyone is better off having consoles competing, pushing each other to do better. But out of curiosity, do any of you feel differently? Would you rather have just one box that handled all of your gaming needs?
You may think that the guys handing consumer relations for Microsoft have it easy (discounting, of course, the occasional bout of scarlet unpleasantness). But we're not sure we could handle the kind of scrutiny they put their new employees under. Take this poor sap who was allowed to work from his home ... as long as he'd agree to a portal in his living room.
Selfish as we are, we're less concerned about Nelson Rodriguez's plight than we are about the implications. Think about it for just a moment: Microsoft in bed with Aperture Science? Can that really be good news for anyone?
We were perusing pictures of the 150 chocolate PS3s that Sony created for Italian event Eurochocolate when it occurred to us: Video game consoles are some of the few items we use in out day-to-day life that we're really glad aren't actually made out of chocolate.
Think about it. After the first time you played Lair then looked at the calendar and saw how long it was until Metal Gear Solid 4, would you have really been able to resist just eating the PS3 whole? Can you think of any Wii game that could be described as "better than eating a block of chocolate, a bar of chocolate, a rope of chocolate and an analog stick of chocolate"? And what about the 360? Can you imagine how tough it is to get melted chocolate stains off of an entertainment center?
When the Wii started its march to dominance and began trouncing the 360, it was kind of sweet. It was like a come-from-behind underdog story where the camp for fat kids managed to beat the camp for rich athletic kids in the big softball game simply by working hard and believing in themselves. But now, it's almost become a little sad. The rich kids all lost their scholarships and waistlines and started working at Citgo, while the fat kids grew progressively fatter thanks to crap like Carnival Games and teasing the masses with incredible-looking titles that they will, sadly, not play in their lifetimes.
But according to Michael Pachter, the formerly rich and athletic kids may have won a round last month against their portly nemeses. The video game analyst believes that the 360 will have beaten the Wii 450,000 to 425,000 when sales numbers for September have been added up. It's sure to be a nice boost for the dethroned pretty boys, but since last month also marked the release of Halo 3, they perhaps shouldn't get too comfortable at the top.
Update: Rare ain't talkin'. "There's always rumors going around about different games we may or may not be doing but we'd prefer not to comment on rumors at this stage," the developer told GamesIndustry.biz.
Our favorite kind of rumors to post are the ones that make perfect sense to us and this nugget from Indian gaming site Game Guru is just such a rumor. Apparently, the author's "sources" are telling him that Rare is hard at work on a sequel to Perfect Dark. Apparently, in this chronological follow-up to the N64 title, Joanna Dark is, well, darker, and the game has a new built-in morality system to match.
Though completely a rumor at this point, this makes a lot of sense. With no Halo (save for the RTS) title, Gears of War 2 is going to need a little help holding up the tent pole. As far as action titles go, we're not sure there's a more logical successor than Perfect Dark. And hey, maybe this one will even be fun!
They say that if you don't talk to your kids about drugs someone else will. What you may not know is the exact same thing holds true for video game consoles. For example, Microsoft still hasn't announced that they'll be phasing out the Core 360 to replace it with its sleek, cooler cousin, the 360 Arcade. Meaning we have to get our info ... from strangers. Exhibit X (or is it Y yet?) is this retail stand-up captured by Gamespot, that makes mention of (shock!) the 360 Arcade!
All the features are the same as the ones you've heard rumored: five free games, 256MB memory card, a wireless controller, etc. What there's no mention of is the system's price. But, since the other details have held up, we'd bet the $280 we've heard before is spot on. Now, Microsoft, would you kindly announce this thing instead of forcing us to learn about the Arcade on the street?
Jasper is both the name of the of the next Xbox 360 chipset, and an old prospector heading to the rocky hills of Utah, planning to strike it rich on "The durned richest haul you've jest about evar seen! Yeehaw!" Which one comes to mind first when you hear that name?
Basically the hurricane-like string of Xbox 360 chipset names continues. First we had Zephyr, then Falcon, and now sometime next August, Jasper. What does Jasper bring? We're glad you asked. According to Dean Takahashi at the Mercury News, it brings exciting things like ... a 65nm graphics chip from ATI, and smaller memory chips.
This isn't all that exciting, since the current Falcon chipset uses a 65nm processor already, but it means that Microsoft is still working on bringing production costs down. Which could also translate to even cheaper Xbox 360s next holiday season ... meaning 2008, three years after the introduction of the system. We're all for cheaper prices, but we like added value too. Zephyr brought us HDMI, why can't Jasper bring us something. At least milk and cookies.
MTV's Multiplayer blog has posted answers to frequently asked questions regarding the corporate fustercluck (MTV/EA/Harmonix) published rhythm game Rock Band. We could bother to put the question and the answer, but if y'all can't figure out what the original question was you can hit up Multiplayer:
No other hardware combinations have been announced yet beyond the standard (guitar, drum, mic) bundle. And yes, the bass guitar is just a second guitar controller which you probably have lying around ...
... because Harmonix will keep an "open platform philosophy" and games will be compatible with third-party controllers "that conform to the various platform controller standards."
If you're short on guitars but want to play head to head, the online play will be both cooperative and competitive.
Now, we don't have insta-access to Rock Band like MTV's Multiplayer blog, but we can try to get some questions answered too -- we're scrappy like that. So if you have some lingering Rock Band questions (and there are plenty good ones still left), leave 'em in the comments and we'll try to get some answers. And automatic name calling to the people who ask questions already answered by bullet points above.
Just after the news that the 360 would be getting some bundles this holiday season, rumors of a Halo 3/360 bundle are starting to crop up. In some of the most concrete proof so far, a poster on elotrolado.net showed off what he claimed to be one of these bundles, purchased in the town of Mijas in Spain. It's a 20GB system with an HDMI port (but no cable). According to a depicted receipt, the purchase price was 350 euros, or approximately $540 in US dollars.
We have no clue if these pics are authentic (our sketchy sense is most definitely tingling), or if this bundle will be coming stateside. Surprising absolutely no one, Microsoft is staying mum on this for now. But with four 360 SKUs on the market, doesn't this seem like a bit of overkill?
Jesse Divnich, an analyst at prediction market simExchange, believes the rumored $399 40GB PS3 will have little impact on the sales of Xbox 360. He says the new Xbox 360 bundles and "teh Haloz 3" will keep momentum going on the console for a while. Although he does believe there will be a slight dip in October sales as consumers wait for the new bundles which won't release until late in the month.
Divnich believes the buzz around the Xbox 360 is high enough now to deflect any effects if a cheaper PS3 is introduced to the market. Divnich says, "The cheaper price point will only be drawing customers who already planned on purchasing the PS3 but were deterred by the price." We'll get a better feel for the real impact of a 40GB model once Sony officially announces it for the North American market and see how it does at retail.
According to a press release IGN received from D3 Publisher, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords will release on Xbox Live Arcade Oct. 10. Although no specifics were given on price, the game is expected to cost 1200 MS points ($15) based on previous leaked info.
Although the 1200 MS price point may be a little steep compared to what we're used to paying for an XBLA game, considering the game normally costs between $20 - $30 on various other platforms (DS, PSP, PC), it doesn't seem unreasonable -- and the HD is a nice perk. If you haven't played the acclaimed puzzle/RPG hybrid, or are looking forward to playing again on a bigger screen, it appears the wait is almost over.
They're here, they're pretty ugly, get used to it. The new colored Xbox 360 controllers are now available to purchase for $49.99. We really couldn't say it better than X3F when they pointed out these are the perfect "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl" baby shower gift colors. Sadly, the powder blue controller we were hoping for and saw at E3 won't be in North America just yet, but you can always import it from Japan starting November 1. And just remember, if you hate all these colors, you can always make your own.
[Update: Though Toys R Us yanked their pre-order page, that didn't stop those scamps at X3F from nabbing a screenshot and the box art!]
Listings have started to appear on various retail websites like Toys R Us and Amazon.com for the "Xbox 360 Arcade Console" releasing Oct. 23rd. The system is allegedly the replacement for the Xbox 360 Core as we know it.
Rumors regarding the new model began springing up last month. The latest informationrumor had it that the new version of the Core would come at the end of October and would have an HDMI port, wireless controller, 256MB memory card, and five XBLA arcade games (Boom-Boom Rocket, Pac-man, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, and Luxor 2) on a single disc at the Core's $279.99 price. All signs point to this Xbox 360 Arcade Console being the Core's replacement.
Wii Fanboy is giving away Crash of the Titans and console skins
Bungie jumps: Takahashi, Croal, and Totilo on the Joystiq Podcast Roundtable
Itagaki talks pint-sized Dragon Swords
Joystiq at TGS
All the Halo 3 news that's fit to print, and some that isn't
Listen to the Joystiq Podcast (because your ears can't read)
Posts with tag xbox360
Here's a surprise: Life would be a lot easier for EA if they didn't have to port all of their games to so many different platforms. In fact, they'd be happier with just one. Gerhard Florin, EA's head of international publishing, told the BBC, "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible." Well, count this as one of the many times when we're happy we're living in reality, rather than an alternate, EA-crafted dimension. We probably don't have anything to worry about though, Florin says he thinks dedicated consoles could be around for "up to 15 years."
When the Wii started its march to dominance and began trouncing the 360, it was kind of sweet. It was like a come-from-behind underdog story where the camp for fat kids managed to beat the camp for rich athletic kids in the big softball game simply by working hard and believing in themselves. But now, it's almost become a little sad. The rich kids all lost their scholarships and waistlines and started working at Citgo, while the fat kids grew progressively fatter thanks to crap like Carnival Games and teasing the masses with incredible-looking titles that they will, sadly, not play in their lifetimes.
They say that if you don't talk to your kids about drugs someone else will. What you may not know is the exact same thing holds true for video game consoles. For example, Microsoft still hasn't announced that they'll be phasing out the Core 360 to replace it with its sleek, cooler cousin, the 360 Arcade. Meaning we have to get our info ... from strangers. Exhibit X (or is it Y yet?) is this retail stand-up captured by Gamespot, that makes mention of (shock!) the 360 Arcade! 
Jasper is both the name of the of the next Xbox 360 chipset, and an old prospector heading to the rocky hills of Utah, planning to strike it rich on "The durned richest haul you've jest about evar seen! Yeehaw!" Which one comes to mind first when you hear that name?
