April 27, 2007
 | | Halo 3 will help us sell consoles, says Microsoft |
Chris Liddel - Microsoft's chief financial officer says the software giant expects Halo 3 to boost Xbox 360 sales.
Speaking in a conference call, Liddell said, "Halo 3 is clearly going to have a positive impact in two senses. One, it gives us more confidence in the number of consoles we think we're going to be able to sell next year.
"In terms of the direct impact, obviously it's a first-party product so it's reasonably profitable from our point of view, and it will be several hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue next year."
Halo 3 is due to launch in the autumn.
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April 26, 2007
 | | Live gaming to boost Xbox in Japan? |
Software giant, Microsoft Corp. is set to launch a gaming platform that ties together Windows PCs and the Xbox 360 console , in hopes of boosting PC gaming in Japan and in turn mean better business for its console
"I believe the PC gaming market in Japan has been under-developed. We hope to revitalize that market in Japan, and that will in turn create momentum for Xbox 360," said Takashi Sensui, general manager of the Xbox division at Microsoft's Japan unit.
The "Games for Windows - Live" platform will allow PC and Xbox gamers to exchange text chat messages, signing on to each system with a common username and seeing a common friends list. A more advanced version will allow cross-platform gaming so, on software that supports it, PC and Xbox 360 gamers will be able to battle each other. This latter version will be included in Microsoft's Gold membership account, which costs $49.95 per year.
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April 25, 2007
 | | Judge PlayStation 3 in two years' time |
In a chat with GamesIndustry.biz, Electronic Arts' boss Gerhard Florin says he is holding off judging the next generation consoles for 2 years. As Florin see it, in the first 2 yrs - all the consoles will do well, and though critics are suggesting the Playstation 3's price is hampering sales, EA's executive VP of international publishing doesn't believe the price tag will hold back sales in the first twelve months.
"Look at the price in two years' time, and then you can say whether it's too high," said Florin.
"Whether it's too high or not the consumer has to decide, but I don't think for the first year the price will be a problem which holds anything back," he added.
It's not just Sony's latest home console that EA is withholding judgement on. Florin believes that both Microsoft's and Nintendo's recent launches also have a niche to find and sales to exploit.
"I wouldn't make any judgments within the next two years," commented Florin.
"The first two years will clearly be an open race, everybody will do very well. I believe all three [consoles] are worth supporting in different ways."
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April 23, 2007
 | | Xbox 260 | Xbox Scene Shares a Xbox 360 hack that shows you how to install your own 120GB Xbox Drive, saving $100 along the way
With the release of an official 120GB drive by Microsoft you can now use this tool to make your own 120GB Xbox360 HDD using a Western Digital Scorpio BEVS-LAT drive (that's a cheap (~80usd for 120GB) SATA 2.5" PC/laptop drive):
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April 18, 2007
Xbox Scene points to an upcoming hack that gives Xbox 360 users full control over the axes.
Features:
* Works with Wired and Wireless controllers
* Only 7 wires needed
* Install in 10-15 minutes
* Easily Enable/Disable tilt mod without an ugly switch
* Easily change tilt threshold in all four axis
* USB Configurator for changing any settings
* FW is upgradable (not end user)
* Xilt Advanced: Full configuration of Tilt angle to Controller Axis direction
Xilt Xilt
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