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Who The Hell Is Buying All The 360 Faceplates?!?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Xbox 360,
Now this I just don’t get. While perusing the aisles at our local Target,Gamestop, and Electronic Boutique, it has become apparent that people are just simply Xbox 360 fiends. The reason we have come to this conclusion is simple - the $20 USD faceplates are selling like crazy. We were sure that these things would be a hard sell due to the fact that all they do is change the look of the front of the console, and that fact alone meant that it should maybe sell for half of its set retail price.
Looks like we were wrong. People are willing to drop good money on making their console silver, or brown camouflage. Amazing.
Gallery: Who The Hell Is Buying All The 360 Faceplates?!?
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Peter Moore is an clearly trying to pull a fast one on us. Seriously, trying to blame the Xbox 360 shortages on overeager retailers taking too many preorders is ridiculous. But here’s the quote:
‘It’s difficult,’ Moore said. ‘A lot of retailers, I think, stretched their allocation. Individual retail store managers said, ‘I’m going to take a fly that I’m going to get 200 Xbox 360s on day one and take the preorders accordingly,’ and they only got 100 or 150. Well that’s 100 or 50 disappointed people. We have to manage that.’
So are the retailers to blame for taking unlimited pre-orders before they knew what their allocations would be like? Sure, but that’s their job. On the other hand, an argument can be made that Microsoft knew that demand would be high, and chose to spread themselves too thin anyway. Pre-order numbers were coming in early enough that Microsoft knew there weren’t going to be enough to go around. People were pre-ordering back in July. Yet, Microsoft has kept production steady in order to ensure brisk sales throughout Q4.
Of course, there’s the other answer. The more time that passes, the cheaper the hardware will be to produce. Why make five million consoles that you have to take a $75 bath on now, when you can stretch that out over several months and reduce the cost on the consoles released later? I also take issue with the “... and they only got 100 or 150” comment. The only stores that got that many were either Microsoft’s “launch partners”, or were in California or New York.
Gallery: Questions Surround Xbox 360 Shortage
Xbox 360 Zero Hour Construction Images
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Xbox 360,
So Microsoft is hard at work getting their airplane hangar ready for the Xbox 360 Zero Hour launch party. In fact, we were just sent these images to prove it. We have a couple more after the jump.
Click to continue reading Xbox 360 Zero Hour Construction Images
Gallery: Xbox 360 Zero Hour Construction Images
We’ve been speculating for a while now that people with non-HD TVs might actually end up getting the best gameplay out of the Xbox 360, depending on how the hardware handles the rendering. Why? Because with all the extra work being done to output at 720p, we figured that holding a steady framerate might be tricky, or even impossible.
Turns out we were half-right. Already one of the Xbox 360 launch titles has been “caught” putting out a 1024x600 screenshot, far less than the 1368x720 needed to qualify for 720p, becuase Bizzare Creations couldn’t get the game to a stable framerate at full-res. The half-right comes in because the hardware apparently scales the game up to 720p automatically (probably the same thing they’re doing for backwards compatability). So running your games in 480i probably wouldn’t yield any performance benefits.
The good news, if there is any, is that launch titles frequently aren’t using the full power of the hardware, which is usually starting to become truly tapped in about the third year. Odds are, Bizzare just didn’t have the time to fully optimize the game, giving a lower-res presentation. And the fact is, most people will never notice.
Gallery: Project Gotham 3 Breaks Xbox 360 Spec Rules
Official: Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible Game List
Posted by Oscar M. Cantu Categories: Corporate News, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Xbox.com has finally published its list of titles that will be backwards compatible when the Xbox 360 launches. More games will be added as time goes by, however, you will need a software emulator to play them. This means that anyone who purchases a core system will need to shell out the extra dough for the memory card at the very least in order to play their old favorites. Interestingly enough, not all of the best sellers are backwards compatible - a quick glance at the list reveals that games like Project Gotham 2, BurnOut 3 (and Revenge), MechAssault, and FIFA 2005 will not be playable out of the gate. Bummer. At least that copy of Yourself!Fitness that you never got around to using is compatible.
Check out the full list after the jump.
Click to continue reading Official: Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible Game List
Gallery: Official: Xbox 360 Backwards Compatible Game List
Official Xbox 360 Launch Title List
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, Xbox 360,
Microsoft has finally released an official list of the launch games that will be available on or before November 22 - right in time for the launch of the Xbox 360. From the looks of things, you have the opportunity to pick up 18 games - 11 of which involve some sort of sport. Check out the full list after the jump.
Click to continue reading Official Xbox 360 Launch Title List
Gallery: Official Xbox 360 Launch Title List
OS GamerCard: Xbox Live Stats Widgets
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
This widget displays your gamer card, or anyone elses gamer card for Xbox Live on Xbox 360. This includes information on your Avatar, Gamer Rep, Gamer Score and Zone. This will also display the most recent games the player has played, though clicking on them will not take you to the comparison page at the moment because Dashboard cannot open URLs with special characters in them. You can however click on the Avatar to be taken to the players profile page.
You will need a Macintosh with 10.4 or greater to run the Dashboard version or a Windows/Mac OS computer with a copy of Konfabulator 2.1.
Read More 
| One South Clan
Gallery: OS GamerCard: Xbox Live Stats Widgets
So Xbox.com is now allowing people to create their Gamer Profiles along with their Gamer Cards in preparation for the Xbox 360 launch. One thing to note is the Gamer Zones you are able to choose from. They are as follows:
Recreation
It’s not whether you win or lose, but that everyone enjoys the game.
Motto: “Kick back, relax, be considerate, and have fun.”Pro
You aren’t going to settle for anything less than first place, but you respect the game and your competitors.
Motto: “Play clean, play hard, play to win.”Family
You want a zone you and your kids can enjoy. No mature language, no trash talk, no super-competitive egos.
Motto: “Fun for the whole family!”Underground
If you aren’t afraid of trash talk, the Underground is for you. Not for the faint of heart.
Motto: “Take no prisoners!”
Being the babies that we are, we chose Pro, fearing that the Underground community would devour us alive leaving us crying for Mommy. Nonetheless, the zone you choose when you set up your account will be part of the system used to match you up with other gamers on Xbox Live, so choose wisely. To grab a peek at our Gamer card, check out our profile. Oh, and if you see us online, be gentle.
Read More | Xbox Profiles
Gallery: Xbox.com Gamer Card Registration Open
At X05 this year there were a virtual ton of Xbox 360 related announcements. One of particular interest is that one from Bungie and Tecmo. You see, the companies announced that a female Spartan straight out of Halo would be a playable character in Dead or Alive 4. Recently some images were released, which you can check out after the jump.
Click to continue reading Halo Meets Dead or Alive 4 on Xbox 360
Gallery: Halo Meets Dead or Alive 4 on Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Installation Images
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Features, PC, Screenshots, Xbox 360,
So, check it. We just picked up an Xbox 360 for Windows controller the other day - you know, the one that is the exact same wired 360 controller that will be available for the Xbox 360, but at a price of $5 more because it comes with Windows XP installation software? Yeah, that’s the one. Nonetheless, we figured we would give you all a peek at exactly what your extra $5 gets you as we snapped images of the controller along with the installation process, which you can check out after the jump. By the way, we tried out the controller on Half-Life 2 and Battlefield 2 - no dice. The games need to be updated to add support for the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows. I expect that will happen fairly soon. For now, enjoy the photos.
Click to continue reading Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Installation Images
Gallery: Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Installation Images
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