Microsoft is getting ready for Kinect that will be out on November 4th with its annual fall update. For a few lucky people, they are recieving their updates a lot earlier than most others. The additions to the dashboard are mostly those covered at the past E3 like ESPN support, Zune music, a lot of chatting features and finally a Netflix search, but like always, the biggest part of the updates are always the new UI. (In this case, the menu seems to be reorganized. Not as drastic as the first update.)
Some other things that it includes is viewing movies with friends, a better avatar editor and a web browser.
Just kidding about the new web browser. The 360 still doesn’t have one of those.

Discussion: Here
Source: Here

It seems engadget recently received some leaked photos of what seems to be Xbox prompts in the AT&T U-Verse technical support; and engadget also says “Our source claims the Xbox is presently being tested internally with friends and family of AT&T employees, and that it’s likely only a couple of months away at this point.” Of course I assume this will only be available to paid gold subscribers and also could have been a factor in the raised gold prices, but it will only be available to users with AT&T U-Verse in their home already. What do I say in response to this? Turn off your xbox and turn on the cable box/dish!

Source: Engadget

Ok, maybe it doesn’t hail from Cybertron with a cool little emblem on it, but it’s still pretty cool.

“We’ve just made the Xbox 360 Wireless controller even better with a brand new version that includes a transforming D-pad.  The engineers have come up with an ingenious solution with a d-pad that can go from a plus to a disc with the twist of the wrist.” -Major Nelson

I’m guessing this was an issue? I don’t know, maybe it is more important then RRoD? Well either way I’ll definitely pick one up for my customary LED & pic 16F688 modding pleasures. The new controller will only be sold with the Play & Charge kit coming out this November 9th, for $64.99 and will include some other modifications such as different concave analog sticks and a new button color scheme of gray.

Source: Major Nelson

“Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.” -Major Nelson

Due to new features sprouting up this upcoming holiday season Microsoft has decided to increase subscription fees for Xbox Live Gold subscribers (who may or may not even use the features), however ‘loyal’ customers who have been emailed about the changes can purchase their next year of Xbox Live Gold at $39.99 and then thereafter will be changed what the current rate is at the time of renewal. The new features responsible for the increase so far seem to be mainly the ESPN service and Kinect Video. Price changes:

Source: MajorNelson

One of the most fantastic gaming devices/ services I recognized from this year’s E3 conference was “OnLive”. OnLive is a play on the word, “online”, and for fully-justifiable reasons. With OnLive, any compatible device that can connect and run the OnLive client with at least a download rate of 5mb/s will be able to play HD gaming content wherever they have internet access. The content is streamed through the client to whatever independent device that is compatible with the service and then is able to play HD content on that device. 

At E3, the game shown off as a working title was Borderlands, an exceptional first-person shooter MMO game. The device that the game was played on was none other than Apple’s new iPad, a device known for being “just a large iPod touch”. 

Microsoft has been questioned for a long time about making a hand-held gaming device and have dodged questions. Now, it seems that they are at least a little bit closer to providing such a device. Now, however, it seems any device capable of creating a method of input, like the iPad’s touch screen or perhaps a USB peripheral gaming controller (not mentioned, but to be expected) will be able to stream HD gaming content that looks just as great as the modern gaming generation as played on Xbox 360 – but seemingly limitless. 

This type of technology truly brings to question the concept of the future of hand-held devices and battery power consumption standards. For me, personally, I look at this type of technology and see visions of the 90’s when Sega Channel was still pumping.

Submitted By: DarkPacMan77

Source: FPSTime

A few images have surfaced on the neogaf forums which could be the first occurrence of a RROD type error in the new slimline Xbox 360 consoles.  The message reads “The Xbox 360 is shutting down to protect the console from insufficient ventilation.”, but based on the picture, it looks like this 360 has plenty of room to breath.  While this is obviously a measure put into place to prevent a catastrophic failure, an error message like this could pose a major threat to game play continuity. 

E3 2010’s now officially behind us, and there was a ton to talk about. Between Nintendo announcing the 3DS, Sony showing off the Playstation Move, and Microsoft announcing the ’slimline’ XBox360, it was easy to overlook the actual games. Two have me very excited, though: One that was shown during Microsoft’s press conference, the other was actually released before E3, but its released was somewhat overshadowed by the big show.

Child Of Eden: The ’sequel’ of sorts to the cult-classic Dreamcast (and now XBLA) title ‘Rez’, Child of Eden is a game that’s not so much about the challenge of boss battles or time trials, but a game about the experience. You ‘conduct’ the action on-screen, making amazing beats that are accompanied by beautiful HD visuals. It’ll work with Microsfot Kinect, Playstation Move, or a regular controller, so there’s no reason you should miss out on Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s upcoming masterpiece.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: A full-fledged Metal Gear Solid, MGS: Peace Walker takes place several years after both Metal Gear Solid 3 and MGS: Portable Ops. In this installment, Big Boss is recruiting soldiers for Outer Heaven, which he considers a ‘paradise for soldiers’. Extremely lore-heavy, and remarkably well-directed for a handheld title, Peace Walker doesn’t disappoint, and any Metal Gear fan would be foolish to miss out.

Many thanks to our friends GameTrailers and G4TV for the great video clips. What games caught your eye at this year’s E3? Let us know by stopping by our forums!

Every Xbox owner dreads the sight. Those red rings scream heat, failure, and most importantly a month or so without your precious console. Through a leaked specification sheet provided to Joystiq, it is shown the power button on the new console is only capable of only showing green lights. Is Microsoft running out of red LED lights? Our guess is they are trying to leave the RROD image behind and move forward to an era where this dreaded image is moved away from there console, and users will focus on the failures of the PS3.

“Live today; prepare for the future of technology, Tomorrow.”

   A possible Italian ad for the new Xbox 360 Slim was brought to our attention by crait. Not sure if it is real or not, but we will find out soon.

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Halo has been a franchise that many say has arguably changed modern first person shooter video games. No, the idea that mankind must fight in an epic battle for survival against a merciless alien race is NOT quite the most original idea in itself, but the combat mechanics that made the series stand out ARE. In a recently-released documentary from Bungie, the crew explains their ambitious goals for the upcoming Halo game, Halo Reach. In the documentary, Bungie makes several claims that they have ten times more colliding particle calculations to play with, higher fidelity character models, an all-new cast, and much larger firefights in a “sandbox” mode. The big picture is that they will have roughly four times the amount of polygons which means you’ll get more customizable Spartans, environments, weaponry, and vehicles. And on that note, they claim to have the goal of adding twice the weapons, twice the characters, twice the vehicles etc. For those of you that are Halo fans, Halo Reach seems to be “the game” tha

t will deliver “the experience” that you’ve been craving to find.

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