Category: Xbox Live

Halo 3: 5 Million Served

Paul

halo3excites.jpg
So Mass Effect sold a million. For a broken RPG, those are good numbers! Actually, for any game, those are good numbers. They’re nothing on Halo 3’s though. That thing just will not stop selling. Microsoft have announced that the game has sold more than five million copies since launch, which for a console that can’t have more than 15 million units in the wild is as good an attach rate as anyone at MS HQ could be hoping/praying madly for.
[Gamedaily]

[Via Kotaku]

Wow So many people like Halo 3, I’ll have to try it out sooner or later!! I do love Halo 2 and Halo!! So Halo 3 has to be good!!

First look: the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update

Paul

The details of the Xbox Fall Dashboard update have been available for a few days, but now that the update itself has been released, we can take a look and see if this is worth talking about or if it’s just another incremental improvement to the Xbox 360 experience. After waking up a tad on the early side to download the update and give it a good going over, we’re happy to report that there are several welcome changes that are indeed exciting.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the entire dashboard is snappier. It used to be a laggy experience to zoom around your content, but now it feels crisp and fast. The first thing you should do after downloading the update is to check out the new home blade. Your friends list and messages are now on the same line to make things easier, and above that you have the “Inside Xbox” section that allows you to get system and gaming news. Right now, you’ll see Major Nelson introducing the update and walking you through some of the features in two short videos. I was worried that the Inside Xbox content was going to overpower whatever section it was in, but this layout makes it easy to ignore if you don’t want to see the news—and easy to find if you want to see what Microsoft would love to sell you this week.

[Via Ars Technica]

I am quite curious about this dashboard update. If you like the Xbox 360 go check out the full article and see screen shots there!!

Fall Xbox 360 update touches on social networking

Paul

With under a fortnight to go until Microsoft looses the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update on us, we’re still learning even more about what it will entail. The latest tidbit touches on the oh-so-zany social networking craze, as gamers will soon be able to browse the friends lists of their pals in order to connect with old buddies or get all up in the digital grill of complete strangers. Starting on December 4th, the default setting will enable your Xbox Live friends to browse your list at will, and if that just doesn’t set well with your conscience, you can hit the read link for instructions on how to spoil some fun prevent it.

[Image courtesy of Xbox]

Wow, this looks like they are going into the social network, I hope it can make it do some really cool things. I hope to find out later on!!

Xbox 360 Arcade is Official

Paul

Microsoft’s long rumored Xbox 360 Arcade is now official. It’s everything we knew before: $279, wireless controller, HDMI, and five arcade games (Pac-Man Championship Edition, Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy). No hard drive, but there’s an included a flash memory storage unit to save your arcade games on. It’s a logical system that we predicted was true since almost a third of Xbox 360 owners don’t know about the Arcade portion of Live. With this new SKU, even if people don’t buy it, they’ll at least know what the Xbox Live Arcade is.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 22, 2007 — Just in time for holiday, Microsoft Corp. today released a new Xbox 360® console that delivers games and content to everyone in the family for an incredible value of $279.99 (U.S. estimated retail price)*. Available in stores beginning today, Xbox 360 Arcade console is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games, a wireless controller, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to enable high-definition output if desired and 256 MB of memory useful for storing games and entertainment content. At $279.99, the Xbox 360 Arcade console will include five best-selling games: “PAC-MAN Championship Edition” (NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.), “Uno” (Carbonated Games), “Luxor 2” (MumboJumbo), “Boom Boom Rocket” (Electronic Arts Inc.) and “Feeding Frenzy” (Sprout Games).
“As families gather together this holiday, it’s the perfect time to launch a new low-priced, high-value Xbox 360 that plays games, TV shows and music for everyone to enjoy,” said Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “In addition to offering an incredible all-in-one package for families to get right into the fun, the Xbox 360 Arcade system features the industry-leading Family Settings, which allow parents to control what their kids are watching and playing — and we know how important that control is to families around the world.”
Karen Dodge, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer at Toys “R” Us, added, “We are excited to offer this new gaming experience to our customers — children and families — who can now enjoy the fun of Xbox 360 together. Many of this holiday season’s hottest items provide Internet connectivity, and with the online entertainment options available through Xbox LIVE®, Xbox 360 Arcade offers families a great mix of online content and traditional gaming in one console.”
The news of Xbox 360 Arcade comes as part of a broader initiative by Microsoft to bring the Xbox 360 experience to families everywhere. Microsoft also announced today that it is significantly expanding its catalog of high- and standard-definition family fun content that is available on demand direct to the consumer’s living room. This includes the addition of everyone’s favorite characters such as “Bugs Bunny” and “Daffy Duck” from Warner Bros., which will be delivering the first ever “Looney Tunes” cartoons for download on Xbox 360, starting today. In addition, Nickelodeon is adding three new shows to its already large library of more than 300 episodes of TV shows on Xbox LIVE, Microsoft’s premier online gaming and entertainment service, with the inclusion of “Blue’s Clues,” “The Backyardigans” and “iCarly.” “SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam™” (THQ Inc.) and “SHREK-N-ROLL™” (Activision) games will also be available exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade, the place to download games for Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE, adding more fun for everyone in the family.

279$ isn’t bad for a system like that. I would get one now!! 🙂 I will wait to see if anyone offers any price cuts first for the Holidays, I’m sure it will be on sale somewhere!!