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Week of June 1, 2008
Microsoft Talks Games for Change
>> From 1up.com:
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Microsoft is putting a lot of its eggs in the indie development basket, announcing during its February keynote at the Game Developers Conference that it will allow games created using its XNA Game Studio development program to be shared with (and sold to) other gamers via Xbox Live. We've already seen part of that program in action, via the seven trial games temporarily released following the keynote (while a recently-launched private beta test of the XNA Creators Club is in progress), but Microsoft is also encouraging use of XNA Game Studio with student developers via the newly established Game Development track in its annual Imagine Cup technology competition.
Though otherwise allowed to go in any direction with their games, the student development teams were bound by one highly specific guideline: the games must promote the message of creating a sustainable environment. Following several months of competition (the contest began last September), the list of participants was whittled down to just six finalists: Team BAAM! from Germany, Team Drunk Puppy from Belgium, Team ECOThink from France, Team Gomz from Korea, Team Mother Gaia Studio from Brazil, and Team SiSS from Germany. The winner will be announced at the Imagine Cup finals, which is being held in Paris, France from July 2-9.
* 1UP: Tell us a bit about the partnership with Games for Change and what you hope to accomplish with this initiative.
* Satchell (chief XNA architect and general manager of the XNA group): Well, you know about the Imagine Cup ?we have 100,000 students a year in 100 countries take part in these programming challenges. This year, Xbox and Games for Change teamed up to have a game-focused track that would not only be about creating games using XNA Game Studio, but also socially responsible games about the environment, and really gaming that teaches about a sustainable environment. So that was the partnership; we've partnered with them before, but this time we kind of wrapped it into this competition format and supplied the technology infrastructure to say, "Hey, go make your game but make it about this social issue." And today, we've been looking at the results of that partnership, and I'm blown away by what these students have created.
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Full Story: 1up.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Analysts warn of 'struggle' for Xbox 360 in Europe
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
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Senior industry analysts have voiced concerns over the future of Microsoft's Xbox business, labeling the US firm's attempts to market 360 to casual audiences "disastrous", and predicting that the console will "start to struggle in the market" over the coming year.
"When you look at an installed base basis, the Xbox 360's going to come in third place when all's said and done," said DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole. "The concern I would have with a company like Microsoft is, one of these days they're going to have to make a profit on this business otherwise why are they in it?"
Nick Parker, MD of Parker Consulting and an analyst for Screen Digest, argued that 360's failure to succeed in key continental Europe territories pointed to a fundamental image problem. "The trouble with Xbox 360 is it hasn't managed to shake off this urban, irreverent adult male feel; so it hasn't gained traction in the more casual gaming markets of mainland Europe such as France, Spain and Italy, where it's stalled," he said. "And there are already rumours of Xbox 360 being delisted from certain retailers."
Cole argued that, despite Microsoft's perceived failure to appeal beyond its core audience, it was still possible for publishers to do strong business in 360's bread-and-butter areas. "If you're doing a first-person shooter title, you're clearly going to want to be on Xbox 360, and that's for years to come," he offered. "[But] their efforts at marketing outside of the first-person shooter crowd have been disastrous."
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Lian Li Xbox 360 case is just weeks away
>> From bit-tech.net:
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We've asked about it relentlessly for the last few tradeshows and every day in between and finally Lian Li confirmed with us today that its Xbox 360 replacement case is just weeks away.
The case should offer extra air cooling in addition to a quieter 120mm fan - you can choose what you want to run it at. The whole front is a grill to let the air in, so you'll also be able to see the controller connectivity lights clearly too - although we do still wonder about the access to the little buttons that eject the drive and resync the wireless controllers. Quick swapping the SATA is also out of the question - you'll have to whip your hard drive right out of its plastic casing: this is, after all, the full daddy of recasing.
Lian Li has also made some improvements to the cost too - it doesn't think people will be going in and out very often, so it has substituted things like the more expensive thumbscrews for flush ones and made the side panels just a plain sheet of aluminium instead.
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Full Story: bit-tech.net
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Nielsen: Xbox 360 Most Popular Among Younger Gamers
>> From gamasutra.com:
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A recent study conducted by Nielsen Media Research revealed that the Xbox 360 is the most popular next-generation console amongst 10-26 year olds, its users turning on the console an average 28 days per month, each average lasting 74 minutes.
Though the average time spent during PlayStation 3 sessions, 72 minutes, wasn't that much less, users only turned on the Sony console an average 21 days per month. Users spent time with the Wii an average 20 days per month, but only for about 53 minutes each session.
The study also found that among users aged 27 and up, the PlayStation 3 was the most popular, with users spending time with the console 28 days per month for an average 52 minutes per session. The older users turned on their Xbox 360s only 19 days per month for an average 55 minutes per session.
The Wii fared even worse with the older demographic, with users turning the system on only 12 days per month for an average 47 minutes each session.
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS: Xbox Live Users Ready For Socially Conscious Games
>> From multiplayerblog.mtv.com:
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XNA isn't just for up-and-coming game developers hoping to make the next "Halo."
Microsoft wants its free development toolkit to be used by people to create socially conscious games.
I spoke with XNA General Manager Chris Satchell at Microsoft's Expo Night at the 2008 Games for Change festival. The event, held earlier this week at Parsons School of Design in New York, showcased the work of students who used XNA to create games about global warming, malaria prevention and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, among other social causes.
"When look at Gen X and Y, that's a big age range playing games at the moment, but they're also very concerned about social issues," Satchell said, echoing his keynote about how XNA can help change the world of games. "I think if you speak about issues people are passionate about, and if you do it on a medium that they like, like gaming, then you've really got the ability to influence them going forward."
Can social change games have as much impact as something like Al Gore's Oscar-winning, global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"?
"Absolutely," Satchell said. "As we get more proficient as creators telling these socially aware stories and game concepts, I really think there's no reason why people can't speak through a narrative just like another medium could."
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Full Story: multiplayerblog.mtv.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Xbox 360 doesn't violate Alcatel patent, says jury
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
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A federal jury has found in favour of Microsoft, deciding that its Xbox 360 console does not violate a 1993 patent owned by Alcatel-Lucent SA.
The most recent trial was the third of five scheduled between the two companies over alleged patent infringement.
Alcatel-Lucent sought USD 419 million in damages. Microsoft had been seeking USD 11.5 million in damages, alleging that Alcatel-Lucent infringed patents of its own.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS Says They're 'Not Happy With Ability to Find Content' on Live
>> From multiplayerblog.mtv.com:
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"I think that we are not, I would say...happy with the ability to find and discover content as easily as we'd like for consumers to be able to do that," said Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's product management director for Xbox 360 and XBL, to MTV Multiplayer last week.
"I think a lot of that is we built Xbox Live Marketplace for a few hundred items and now we have 17,000 items," said Greenberg. "We built a small store and we filled it with lots of lots of stuff. We're feeling some of these growing pains and [the new policy] is one of those tradeoffs we've had to make."
Earlier this year, Microsoft was searching for a program manager to become "part of the Xbox LIVE team that's responsible for creating a completely new way for mainstream audiences to enjoy the Xbox and LIVE." Speculation pointed to Microsoft designing a revamped interface for XBL.
While Greenberg wouldn't admit such a XBL revamp is in the works, he said there are changes coming to reconcile some of the interface issues.
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Full Story: multiplayerblog.mtv.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGABox
>> XCM announced a new VGA box:
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XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGABox
* Supports PC video display resolutions up to UXGA (1600 x 1200 @ 75 Hz) or HDTV (up to 1920 x 1080)
* Supports 480i, 576i 480p,576p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p
* Transfer pictures from GameCube, Playstation 2, Xbox, PSP Slim, Wii, Xbox 360,Playstation 3 consoles that can be displayed on a PC monitor (up to 1600 x 1200) or HD TV (up to 1920 x 1080)
* Supports SDTV, HDTV, XGA, SXGA, and UXGA video formats.
* Works on both PAL & NTSC systems.
* Plug and play installation.
* Connects compatible YPbPr devices to your VGA monitor with Integrated YPbPr to RGBHV converter
* Applications: TFT LCD monitor, CRT monitor, Set-top box, Display projector
* Works on LCD TFT monitors
* Video output: VGA
* Automatic video source mode detection (film/graphic)
* Motion-adaptive interfiled de-interlacing
* Uses the power from your USB port, no extra power supply needed
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Official Site: http://xcm-usa.com
Official Reseller: http://extreme-mods.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Replacement Xbox 360 Heatsink by Thermalright Spotted in the Wild
>> FaSMaN sent us this information:
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I was browsing Vr-zones latest set of photos from Computex 2008 and spotted what appears to be a replacement heatsink for the 360. It's made by Thermalright.
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Note: Thermalright says they will release this TR-360 heatsink mid August and more details will be released soon.
News-Source: vr-zone.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
Rumor: Opus Xbox 360 Motherboard is Now Shipping
>> From 8bitjoystick on seattlepi.com:
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I've gotten word that the "Opus" Xbox 360 motherboard is now shipping and will be included in the repair and refurbish (RnR) operations at Xbox. This means that folks who have their 1st generation "Xenon" Xbox 360 die on them with the Red Ring of Death (or a Core Digital error as Microsoft internally call it) might get a new motherboard. This is a newer "Falcon" generation chip set with a cooler 65 nm CPU but no HDMI port.
Also work on the "Jasper" Xbox 360 is going well and is on track to be out first week in September.
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Full Story: seattlepi.com
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
MS: Live Arcade cull will force developers to focus on quality
>> From gamesindustry.biz:
[QUOTE]
Microsoft has said that the decision to delist under performing Xbox Live Arcade titles will force developers to focus on better quality games.
Director of product management, Aaron Greenberg, has also told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes developers will still be willing to experiment with niche or new concepts, rather than adopting safe gameplay in order to receive a high score and stay on the service.
"I really don't think we will see that at all, in fact many unique style games typically get stronger reviews because they stand out from the pack," he said.
"If anything you will see developers take more time, make use of the new additional storage space and focus on game quality now more than ever to ensure the title is well received."
"This program only applies to Xbox Live Arcade, Community Games created with XNA do not go through the same submission and certification process and since they are developed by community members are less likely to have review scores assigned to them like Xbox Live Arcade titles," clarified Greenberg.
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Full Story: gamesindustry.biz
Discuss this news item on our forums: forums.xbox-scene.com
XBMC for Xbox 2008-06-01 SVN rev13360 build - T3CH
>> T3CH released a new SVN compile (rev13360) of XBMC for Xbox (XboxMediaCenter(info)).
This T3CH-compile is a complete snapshot of what is in SVN at the time the build was compiled, with just a few small additions.
Special Notes and Noteworthy/XML/Script changes:
* I've removed "Nuka1195 & Dataratt's AOL Videos Plugin" and updated "Nuka1195's XBMC-Addons Installer" to 1.1
* I've also removed "PM3 Red Theme + PM3 Blue Theme by Jezz_X".
* Repeat: It's that time again. Time for what? Glad you asked! Time to tell all your friends and colleagues to NOMINATE XBMC for Sourceforge Community Awards 2008. Yes, it takes a Sourceforge Account, but is Team XBMC not worth the time it takes for you and friends to do this? And remember, nomination is just the first part! LATER you will need to tell the same friends and colleagues to VOTE for XBMC in the categories you selected. I suggest these two categories:
+Best Multimedia
+Project Most Likely to Change The World
Now, Spread The Word!
For the full changelog (all added/fixed/changed/updated stuff) since the 2008-05-18 SVN Rev13120 build click here.
Keep in mind this is a SVN snapshot of the current development tree. It's not an official (stable) point release. Use only if you know what you are doing.
Official XBMC Site: http://xbmc.org (manual and FAQ)
Official T3CH Site: http://t3ch.yi.se (release RSS feed)
Download Binaries: n/a (built with XDK) | Download SourceCode: here
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