|
Week of August 3, 2008
Video: New Xbox Experience Game Installation Process
>> From xbox360fanboy.com:
[QUOTE]
Looky here kids, it's the Fall dashboard update in the hands of some uber l33t dude who "magically" has the new dashboard installed on his Xbox 360. Even better, he (or she) demos the new hard drive game installation process using GTAIV.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: xbox360fanboy.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
iXboxLive: Live Anywhere for the iPhone and iPod Touch
>> From blog.npike.net:
[QUOTE]
Xbox Live is great - there's no questioning that, but sometimes you just really want to check your Buddy List without having to turn on the Xbox, or fire up Xbox.com in a browser.
iXboxLive is your Xbox Buddy List on your iPhone or iPod Touch!
* See your select buddy list
* See what they are currently playing
* See their gamer pic
* See their gamer score, gamer reputation, and location
* See their list of recent games, including scores and last played dates
* More features to come!
[/QUOTE]
Official Site: blog.npike.net (application is available on the AppStore for 0.99usd)
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Halo 3, Xbox 360 Top G-Phoria 2008 Awards
>> From gamasutra.com:
[QUOTE]
Bungie's Halo 3 took top Game of the Year honors during the G-Phoria awards last night, broadcast by game-oriented cable television network G4.
Xbox 360 was named the station's favorite system -- which falls in line with the award distribution. Of the show's 18 game awards, only four went to titles not available on Microsoft's system: Best Graphics and Best Voice Acting for Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Best Racing Game for Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii, and, by default, Best Handheld Game for Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus.
Grand Theft Auto 4 and Harmonix's Rock Band tied for the greatest number of awards, each earning three. Amongst GTA4's distinctions was the prestigious gum-sponsored Longest Lasting Game Presented By Stride award.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
TeamXbox: Have a Merry Xbox!
>> From teamxbox.com:
[QUOTE]
We're in the middle of summer now, so most people's thoughts frequently turn to suntans, day-long jaunts to a beach or amusement park, trips to vacation destinations and just relaxing in general.
But for Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, their minds are already looking ahead to Thanksgiving, snowy nights, holiday festivities--and, most importantly, what Santa Claus will be carrying in his sleigh. Each of the console manufacturers is making big plans for the last few months of the year, when the game industry does its highest amount of business.
Hitting the Xbox 360 release list at IGN was pretty exciting--and I don't think it comes from any biases I might have working on TeamXbox. Exclusive games from the list include Too Human, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Warhammer: Battle March, Fable II, Left 4 Dead, The Last Remnant and (of course) Gears of War 2.
Just look at that list. It really is a strong collection of titles and spans the genres, from shooter to RPG to RTS. While some of those games are announced as coming for PS3, they'll be on Xbox 360 first this holiday season, so that's a big plus for Microsoft's marketing department.
As I said, it's unscientific, so it doesn't forecast anything specific for the three platforms--and, of course, it doesn't take into account the potential that any of these games might end up delayed outside of the 2008 holiday season (which we hope won't happen) or that some other games might end up appearing among the end-of-the-year releases. However, it does look like a good fourth-quarter for Xbox 360 owners, with lots of hot games to choose from. Perhaps the chatter from Microsoft's competitors and naysayers that the Xbox 360 is becoming a has-been is just fear-mongering talk, and Microsoft won't end up with a lump of coal in its stocking.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: teamxbox.com (2 pages)
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS on why FFXIII is coming to 360
>> From eurogamer.net:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft marketeer Albert Pennello has claimed Xbox 360 sales were the pivotal factor in bringing Final Fantasy XIII to the console - not any funny goings-on behind the scenes.
"I think the most obvious reason that [Square Enix] made the announcement is just looking at the success of our console. I mean, we're the leading console on a worldwide basis, we're more than double the install base on the US," Pennello told MundoRare.
"I think it's easy to assume that something is going on behind the scenes, I think the more obvious answer is we're doing really well and the game creators want their games to be where the most people and the most consoles [are], and right now that's the Xbox 360."
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: eurogamer.net
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Blow: 'Unnecessary' XBLA Hurdles Hurt Game Quality
>> From gamasutra.com:
[QUOTE]
Independent designer Jonathan Blow's award-winning Braid made its Xbox Live Arcade debut just last week, but Blow says Microsoft's certification requirements might have impeded the game's final quality.
"They removed some of the requirements for XBLA games, but there are still a lot of requirements, and I believe that, at least for a single-player game like my game, the vast majority of these requirements are unnecessary," he says.
"I put in a tremendous amount of work meeting all these requirements, when I could have put that work into the actual game, and made it even a little more polished, little bit better."
Blow says Microsoft's XBLA certification process is intended to ensure a standard of quality for all titles on the service -- "But I feel like it actually decreases the quality of games, because people spend so much of their energy on these things that users don't even really care about."
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Interviews with Team XBMC at DEVCON, AMS 2008
>> From xbmc.org:
[QUOTE]
Boxee's Dave 'Gadget Guy' Mathews recorded some short interviews with members of Team XBMC during the final day of the Developer's Conference in Amsterdam.
Forgive the incoherence - it was the last day, after all.
[/QUOTE]
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Team Xecuter about Liteon DG-16D2S
>> From team-xecuter.com:
[QUOTE]
As you are probably aware we retired from making Xbox modchips some time ago and have only made a few add-ons for the 360 here and there. However we have been barraged with requests regarding the new Liteon drive.
So we're being sent a couple and have agreed to at least have a look. We'd prefer there to be some flashing solution of course then the FW guys could do what they do best, however it looks like a read only masked rom. From what we can see atm there is nothing that looks any more complicated than the original Xbox hacking we did, so we'll see what we can do. The motivation hasn't been there for a long time but maybe this will kick us in the ass like the old days
Note: C4EVA may have made some progress so if he needs anything from us or if we will be wasting our time - just get him to drop us a line - thanks.
[/QUOTE]
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Japanese People Acutally Lining Up For Tales of Vesperia on 360
>> From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
Check Hell, because we think it's official frozen over. That right there was the line at the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera earlier this morning for Xbox 360 exclusive Tales of Vesperia. It was over a hundred people -- small potatoes for, say, a Poké launch, but shocking for an Xbox 360 title in Japan. The game and an Xbox 360 went on sale, and there was a stage event with the game's creative producer Yoshito Higuchi and producer Tsutomu Gouda, telling fans how that they created a beautiful looking Tales for the Xbox 360.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: kotaku.com | famitsu.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
8BitJoystick: Reading the Xbox System Update Tea Leaves
>> 8bitjoystick posted what he think was added to the new kernel/dash released earlier [build 6717]:
[QUOTE]
This week Microsoft released a very minor Xbox 360 dashboard update. They said that there were no new features and this was to help insure the future growth of the system and Xbox Live. Now this is intentionally vague but if you read the tea leaves a bit it might shed a light about their plans running into the fall and holiday 2008 video game shopping season.
I suspect that this most recent dash update might just add a list of new servers for first logging into the Xbox Live service. If you listen to E on the last episode of the Major Nelson podcast he said that his team at Xbox Live is getting ready to work their tails off an add servers and network infrastructure. Xbox Live does this when they expect they are going to have a big new number of sales of new Xbox hardware. They have occasionally done this around the launch of GTA IV size games to insure that the Xbox Live service does not get overwhelmed again like it did in December 07/ January 08.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: 8bitjoystick.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Inside the 60GB Xbox 360 - Bottom RAM Chips Gone
>> Benheck got his hands on a new 60GB (Pro) Xbox 360 console.
Essentially it's nothing more than a 20GB 'Pro' console with the external HDD swapped out to a 60GB model. However opening new SKUs is always interesting as they often have a recent manufacturing date. Benheck's 60GB 360 was made on June 20th 2008.
Motherboards are probably the same across all different SKUs, but the date a certain motherboard revision goes in production can differ per factory plant and production line.
So what's interesting here? ... the motherboard has HANA/HDMI, 90nm GPU, 65nm CPU, 175W PSU, the GPU heatsink with the 'addon' and the new CPU heatsink without the copper heatpipe ... so basically it looks like a normal Falcon board. The DVD drive found in this console was the new Lite-On DG-16D2S we're starting to see more and more these days.
But Benheck found a difference ... the RAM chips at the bottom of the board are gone (so the 4 chips on the top must have doubled in capacity).
  Ah, I have found a difference! This is the first Xbox 360 I have seen that does not have the bottom-mounted memory chips. I had heard on the interwebs these have been a heat problem in the past (or moreso that people fixed problems by improving their heat sink to the case) so I'm sure this will help performance as well as aid cost reduction.
News-Source: benheck.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft's Unangst On The PC, Xbox 360 Multiplayer Cost Divide
>> From gamasutra.com:
[QUOTE]
But despite the similarity, Xbox 360 users still pay subscription fees for the Xbox Live Gold multiplayer matching service, while PC gamers will not. Does Microsoft see a dichotomy here?
"What we've got is two different groups who are trying to do what's best and offering value for their customers," Unangst (Microsoft's Games for Windows head) said. "The Games for Windows team and the Games for Windows Live team looked at this and said, 'What do we need to do to make sure this adopted broadly and has value?'"
"And that's all those changes -- the UI, the Marketplace, the fact that we're not going to have the same content. On Xbox Live, I think they've done everything to continue to add value to the Gold subscription."
With same friends lists, Gamertag and a shared currency in Microsoft Points, Unangst points to what he calls a "common underpinning." On the Xbox 360, however, Unangst says the focus is more largely on "things that make sense for the console."
"So those services will evolve in different directions. You'll have different types of content that we offer."
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 System Update now Available (no new features)
>> From majornelson.com (FYI: MS owned blog):
[QUOTE]
The team released a system update for the Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE. Sometime over the next few hours when you sign in to Xbox LIVE you'll recieve a prompt to accept this mandatory update. This update contains code to 'prepare for future growth of the service.' There are no other changes or enhancements in this update...in other words no new features.
To be clear: This is not the new Xbox experience update. That will come in the Fall.
[/QUOTE]
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft: 'We're investing to win in Europe'
>> From developmag.com:
[QUOTE]
"We're investing to win in Europe," the VP of strategic marketing and Live, David Gosen, explained.
"We can do better and we're incredibly well-placed to drive success in the region. We've got to make sure we tailor our resource needs to the games we are making."
He added: "We're going to invest in more ways than we have before." That includes more cash supporting Xbox Live Marketplace and Arcade content deals, he said, plus more money to support internal and external studios.
But Gosen's views differ with Sony's on one key point - which next-gen console will rule the generation.
"We're going to invest in this region to ensure we win," he said, leaving attendees to look at his last presentation slide, which bullishly proclaimed 'We WILL outsell the PlayStation 3'.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: developmag.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
THQ Declares Traditional Hardware Cycles Dead
>> From multiplayerblog.mtv.com:
[QUOTE]
It's time to throw out the old playbook, says THQ president and CEO Brian Ferrell, because the the industry's traditional hardware cycles no longer exist.
"We used to always think of this industry as 'the cycle.'" said Ferrell. "I think the reality now is there are several sub-cycles."
THQ's leader sees at least three separate sub-cycles: 1) the handheld market, 2) what Nintendo's done with Wii and 3) the continued competition between Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. There's even an emerging sub-cycle in the online world, he said.
"It's hard now to talk about 'the cycle' -- I think we have to talk about all of the cycles," he said. "The way we think about it at THQ is we plan our business around each of those platforms, not around 'the cycle.'"
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: multiplayerblog.mtv.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
An Uncrackable Lock? - Quantum Cryptology Chip
>> From popsci.com:
[QUOTE]
Imagine an encrypted data chip so secure that even the greatest hackers in history would find impossible to crack. That chip is very much a reality thanks to the combined efforts of Siemens, Austrian Research Centers (ARC) and Graz University of Technology who have teamed up to create the first quantum cryptology chip for commercial use to ensure securer electronic communication.
The lock protects data using a random sequence of numbers from light particles. At the moment, data is protected using a key distribution system based on mathematical algorithms. But, with enough time and effort, those algorithms can be cracked. The quantum cryptographic light lock, on the other hand, takes advantage of the laws of nature by using photons--individual light particles--to create completely random codes through an optical array.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: popsci.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Rare dev: 'I don't think 360 has reached its limit'
>> From videogamer.com:
[QUOTE]
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at the Develop conference in Brighton last week, Nick Burton, a senior software engineer at Rare, has assured Xbox 360 gamers that there's plenty more to come from the console.
"You never can push them as far as they can go. The reality of the peak performance of the console is yes, you could look to a generation beyond where we are now and think, yeah, I could use that power. But the reality is in 360 and the PS3 and the latest generation PC graphics, the amount of power in the GPUs is such that you're more bound by your creativity and the aesthetic you're going for than you're really bound by polygon pushing power," said Burton. "You're probably actually more bound maybe by art authoring and the amount of data throughput that, just the amount of memory you'd need, but I don't think 360 has reached its limit."
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: videogamer.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Another Store Inventory Listing Indicates Price Drop on Sept 7th
>> Another leaked store inventory screenshot (1st one here if you missed it) found on imageshack.us suggests there will be a pricedrop of the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU to 199USD in the United States on September 7th.
Earlier rumors said that not only will the ARCADE SKU drop to 199USD, but we'll also see the 'Pro' 60GB at 299USD and the Elite at 399USD.
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Edge's Don Mattrick Interview
>> From edge-online.com:
[QUOTE]
* Lips, You're In The Movies and Scene It? Box Office Smash are also aimed at expanding Xbox's reach but they're game types that have already shown considerable success on other formats. Does this show you're not taking too many risks on the software side?
* Don Mattrick: When you say not taking too many risks, I think there's kind of a natural evolution of packaged goods, products and experiences coming to the market - this coming year we estimate there will be about 150 titles on Xbox 360, and the majority will be E-rated. And if you're into M-rated content there will be some spectacular games. I think that breadth of titles naturally expands an audience, and I also think that we're all finding our own sense of identity inside the market. We're leading in terms of hours played - a recent study showed that 18-26-year-olds are roughly spending 75 hours a week with our box, which is pretty amazing. That audience tends to be the leader, it tends to influence younger siblings in a household in terms of what's cool and what's hot in the consumer electronics space.
* What have you taken from the hardware problems Xbox 360 has faced?
* Don Mattrick: Well, I think we built a pretty amazing box. It was unfortunate that we had some hardware challenges but I totally applaud the way the company dealt with that in being up-front and implementing the warranty. It's unfortunate when anything you create fails, but consumers have appreciated the fact we've said: 'This is a mistake, and this is how we're going to fix it'. People continue to use and evangelize about the product even when faced with this challenge, and I think our team's done an amazing job with fixing it.
[/QUOTE]
Note: 75h a week, really? And I'm Bill Gates. Oh wait ... ;)
Full Interview: edge-online.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 Avatars Restricted to Non-violent Games
>> From shacknews.com:
[QUOTE]
Speaking at Microsoft's GameFest event in Seattle, Xbox Live general manager Eric Kilgore explained that while the Avatars--Microsoft's answer to Nintendo's Miis--are currently planned only to be allowed for use in titles rated E10+ and lower, that restriction may change in the future.
"We are still developing the final policies," Kilgore stated, as reported by Develop. "The final guide we have this year is to think of them in an 'E10' context. That doesn't mean it won't change--but this Fall they won't be able to blow each other's heads off."
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: shacknews.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Microsoft 'wasn't in the right place' to acquire Bizzare
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
[QUOTE]
Sarah Chudley, Bizarre Creations' commercial director, has explained that Microsoft "wasn't in the right place" to acquire her company.
Speaking to Videogaming247, Chudley said that Bizzare Creations, which was acquired by Activision last year, wasn't bought by Microsoft due to the company's "internal structure" and single platform focus.
"Obviously as the publisher they had to know what was going on, but their internal structure probably wasn't in the right place to buy things at the time," she said. "And they're a single format. OK, Xbox is doing fantastically, but who knows what's going to happen in the future?"
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
'We Make The Bullets' - EA Chief Talks Console War
>> From multiplayerblog.mtv.com:
[QUOTE]
* Multiplayer: When they're following E3 a lot of people get worked up about "How did Sony do?" "How did Microsoft do?" From EA's perspective how do you view the fact that there are three strong players in the video game console market? Is that one too many? Would you prefer there to be two? What do you make of the competition?
* John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts: The way I look at it is, first off, is having three strong platforms creators is spectacular for us. The metaphor I've used before is this: They make the war. We make the bullets. We'll sell to any of them. We're really pleased with that. And as long as that level of innovation comes about as a consequence of that competition, that's good for us.
Remember, last year we were the leading third-party developer for the Wii. We're one of the leading developers on virtually every platform. Their battle is good for us and the consumer, because the level of innovation there is spectacular. And I wouldn't limit it to the three. Remember things like the Nintendo DS. Remember the iPhone. Remember the PSP. Note that last year one of the top-selling platforms was the PS2.
What's happening is there's more platforms and more choices. And as there's more platforms and choices, there's consumers involved in our industry. And that's really what's best, all that innovation. Don't forget the PC. The PC is one of the fastest growing platforms for games - full stop. Not the packaged good at retail, but businesses like Pogo Online -- go to Pogo.com and you'll see it -- advertising models, subscription models like we've got right out the door here with "Warhammer." It's just a dynamic exciting time for the industry.
[/QUOTE]
Full Story: multiplayerblog.mtv.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Hitachi v79 unlock tool
>> A method is released from one of our members on how to unlock the Hitachi v79 in order to dump and flash with fwtoolbox...
Turorial:
1. Unrar the file
2. Burn the CD Image, I used ImgBurn....
3. Put 79 in Mode B
3. Insert the CD in the 79 and play the track, wait for it to finish...
4. Then press play again and straight away pause it, you should hear some noise
5. Eject the disk, using the eject button not the PC ( it does something different)
6. Run the the command in a command window
79Unlock h
// where h is the drive letter of the 79
7. If all went well bit 4 of (0x5BD) should be set and the drive should be unlocked
8. Drive will dump and flash with Toolbox...
9. This is a tempory unlock, (0x5BD) is in RAM and would need to be done each time you power the drive, although I've posted how to by pass this with the drive unlocked with a passkey.....
10. Has not been extensively tested but worked on 6 drives to day so far...
Thanks to OggyUK, mp3boy, Antman1 with the testing.... Also RKO Pheonix needs a mention as he unwittingly leant his 360 to Oggy today.... and Seventhson for the help early on and his fabulous blog
Let me say a big thank you, and great job!
Official Site: n/a (by podger)
Download: here
News-Source: forums.xbox-scene.com
uxrip360 0.3
>> Klewan released a new version of uxrip360 - a Linux based Xbox 360 game dumper.
What's new/fixed:
* xtract-stealth also extracts now default.xex (required for a full stealth check)
* check-stealthfiles checks a set of SS/DMI/PFI and default.xex against all implemented stealth checks
+needed to verify those marked-as-bad-stealth-by-schtrom bourne files (thx @stacker69)
* extraction of default.xex added
* full stealth check even before game partition dump starts :)
* XEX-ID code clean up, reorganisation
* Game name is now goin to get looked up :)
+the XEX Media ID is used to match against a CSV file (see below in additional notes)
+gives you the game name on verifing a iso
+gives the name on rip-a-rip's
+gives the name right a few seconds after a rip has started
* colors can be turned of with "-C" flag
* more colorful output
* autodiscover now trys to find the kreon drive with a disc inside, if you have more than one :)
* verified the VAD6038 drive with benq0800 FW
* a few compile warnings on Kubuntu fixed
* non-cmdline progressbar improved (watch out for a GUI on its way)
* a .dvd file is created after rip for those who use cloneCD or whoever needs it :)
Official Site: n/a (IRC: #uxrip360 on EFNET)
Download: n/a
Full NFO/Readme: xbins.org
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
