Dragon Age coming Oct 20th.

Bioware’s new epic RPG will be hitting the 360, PC, and PS3 at the time!

Never fear, Jasper is here!

 

According to a flooding of posts over at xbox-scene, it appears that the cooler-running [Jasper-based Xbox] 360 consoles have begun arriving in stores featuring the highly anticipated 65nm GPU which should significantly reduce RROD failures.   A quick way to note if your new console is indeed a Jasper-based model is to check the power supply. A Jasper will use 12.1A power supplies, while all current models draw 14.2A.   Looking at the serial number can also give you an indication as it is assumed that any model made on October 23rd 2008 or later is a Jasper model.

The Witcher coming to consoles

 

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/qj/qjnet/~3/kgvA1GJPAgk/126875

About a year ago, we first heard rumblings that CDProjekt’s PC RPG, The Witcher, would be making a trip down to Xbox 360 alley. Now we finally have confirmation that the game will be heading to consoles. Not just to the Xbox 360 but to the PS3 as well.

The game’s console version – dubbed The Witcher: Rise of the Wolf – will sport a new engine, new models, and more polygons compared to the PC original. It’ll also have dynamic stuff up the wazoo: dynamic lighting, dynamic shadows, a more dynamic combat system… the works.

For the PS3 version, SIXAXIS support will be one of the game’s features. Achievements and Trophies will also be supported.

You can find out more about The Witcher’s console versions in the announcement trailer below. The one in the source link is better, but I couldn’t embed it. The vid’s got some cool sword combat sequences, but it looks like it’s all from cutscenes. We’ll have to wait a bit before we see what the new engine is capable of.

*WHINE* the Xbox 360 sucks!

So I read something this afternoon that just pissed me off.  James Rivington [submitted an article] to TechRadar.com with a different view (vue?) on the Xbox 360 sales press release that Microsoft posted a little while ago.

The press release from Microsoft UK stats:

“Gamers have voted with their wallets, and the results are in. The Xbox 360 version of ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ has sold more than 100,000 copies, or 20 per cent more than the PlayStation 3 version in the UK since the game’s release last Tuesday 29 April.”

The article is filled with negative wording like:

• “Microsoft is attempting to use GTA as a PR exercise to boast (and lie) about the Xbox 360 console”
• “We received an unbelievable and outrageous press release today from Microsoft UK”
• “Lies, all lies!”
• “The release then sees Microsoft rambling on and on, mostly just patting itself on the back about selling more copies”
• “Please excuse me briefly while I pause to be sick.”
• “It’s all a load of smoke and mirrors nonsense.”
• “This is an absolutely textbook example of a big company spouting a load of dingo’s kidneys in order to promote itself.”

Sorry, man, you come across like a fanboy pulling crap like that, and I expect more from TechRadar then to listen to fanboy rant.

You can prove anything you want with statistics.    It’s all load of ‘Dog Kidneys’

Besides that all the numbers are skewed because  no one tracks the number of units out the door of a store (IE the number really BOUGHT.. not given away or promos and such).  It’s the number of units shipped from the publisher.  So there’s no way to tell really HOW many PS3’s or 360’s are really out in the market.. let alone how many games have really been sold. 

The only thing those numbers really show is that the PS3 version and 360 are both selling well, and Rockstar is making a killing.

Beyond that, we’re all used to that kind of marketing.  It’s the same crap that Sony has been pulling all along with the PS3.  But it doesn’t matter, the PS3 has RIDGE RACER!!!!!!!!   

12/25/08 – Update:
——————————————————————-
When did this little rant turn into a PS3 VS Xbox debate?  The point was the article sounded like a FanBoy using the site to dog on the 360 (which, no matter how you look at, it blows the crap outta the PS3 in the market place) and how I dispise the ‘evil’ marketing Sony has used to convince people there shit doesn’t stink.   

This wasn’t about how the 360 is/isn’t better than the PS3.   In my replys below I’ve tried to just point out facts. 
and not step on one side or the other.

Blu-Ray on the Xbox360.. in the news again.

Yep, this time over at ['The Register: Hardware']

The report is reporting a rumor that Microsoft has ordered Xbox 360’s with Blu-Ray drives in a possible partnership with Asus.   It looks like Pegatron Technoloy will be doing the assembly of the new 360’s and we’re looking at about a 6 month turn around time.

Now Microsoft hasn’t ever confirmed or denied that it’s working on a blu-ray player for the 360, then have only confirmed they are NOT in talks with Sony over the technology.

 

[Update: 05/06/08]
According to Microsoft though, it’s not. Talking to Gamepro, a representative has been quick to step forward and deny this latest information saying that “games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and [Microsoft] remains focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”
[Site]

(It would also help if Blu-Ray wasn’t so freaking slow!!!)

However.. [SLASHDOT] is reporting (and I quote)

“Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer had admitted that Microsoft had been working on support for Blu-ray under Windows during this year’s Mix08 conference. Rumors began to swirl and many began to expect Microsoft to announce a Blu-ray peripheral for the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft came out and denied all rumors, stating that they were not exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on or in talks with Sony about integrating Blu-ray into the Xbox experience. After months of rumors and denials, the Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray disc drive is due to be manufactured soon and shipped in Q3 of 2008. Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received the winning order from Microsoft for a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360.”

Which is what *I* said a while ago, M$ wasn’t in talks with Sony.. didn’t mean they weren’t working on getting Blu-Ray to the 360, or that it wasn’t coming for the 360 but for the ‘720′ or what ever the next Xbox is.

GTA IV backlash already…

*sigh*  what’s a gamer to do when ‘news’ channels start knifing gamers in the back by preying on the fear (and stupidity) of the the non-gamer human?

So here’s a story (it’s FOX.. what do you expect?) with the nice bold headline of: [Cop Killing Video Game Makes Big Debut], by Sharita Hutton posted just this morning for the Kansas City News.

Where as nothing was said about the record sales, nor about the spammers trying to steal your pre-order copy, or anything about store (like EB) funking up your pre-order and store sale-outs… Nope this is all got to be about the violence of the GTA series.

The whole news story starts off with such a negative overtone that you wouldn’t like the game before you even knew anything about it.  However, even WAL-MART the king of ‘you will like what we give you’ is selling the game.  I guess money does talk. 

Though a couple of things about this article struck me as funny: “An online preview of the game describes the game, saying its as violent as the past three versions and more realistic, with 1080p resolution.”   

So this tells me Sharita got all her information by looking at the web site.  Didn’t FOX already get into trouble for pulling this kind of BS?   And if 1080p makes pixels look more realistic, then watch out Microsoft paperclip!  you’re heading into the real world!!!  (you know since, Computers can produce higher resolutions then the Xbox 360, or the PS3)

She also states: “the game is only for X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3 games. “

Well we know they are games.. perhaps you mean CONSOLES?    So what’s this also tells me is that Ms. Sharita doesn’t know her ass from a C Prompt.   My advice? report on what you know. You obviously don’t understand Gaming.

And reporting on a 3 year old bill, where as there have been multiple attempts on the same type of bill across America ALL of which have failed, is moot, a waste of space, and just prays on the peoples un-founded fear of technology.  

Lite-On developing BD-ROM drives for Xbox 360, sources say

aJimmy Hsu, Taipei; Rodney Chan, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 1 April 2008]

Lite-On IT is developing built-in Blu-ray Disc-(BD) ROM drives for the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console, according to industry sources. Lite-On declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

Lite-On’s shipments of the BD ROMs to Microsoft will start in the second half of 2008, the sources added. Lite-On is currently one of the suppliers of Xbox 360-use internal DVD-ROM drives.

Microsoft has decided to switch to BD for its Xbox 360 game consoles after Toshiba announced to discontinue HD DVD, the sources said. The BD-ROM drives that Lite-On is developing for Microsoft are for the next-generation Xbox 360 game consoles, the sources said.

Power supply makers also revealed that while the present Xbox 360 uses a 210-watt power supply, the next-generation game console will use a 170-watt power supply in order to reduce production cost and the size of the device, according to the sources.

Lite-On has already started steady shipments of BD-ROM drives and BD burners, the sources added.

[Via DigiTimes]

—————————————

Normally I don’t post news on the 1st.  Too many sites doing too many lame April fools jokes.   So take this ‘news’ with a grain of salt until tomorrow at least.  =)

[04/02/08]  Ok so it’s tomorrow.  I’ve checked the site.  No change or post to say that this really was a Fool.  However, I noticed one thing in the above information:  “The BD-ROM drives that Lite-On is developing for Microsoft are for the next-generation Xbox 360 game consoles” the kwyword being ‘Next-Generation’.  Since the 360 is nearing the end of it’s life span, are we seeing the first comments about the next version of the XBox having a Blu-ray drive?

 

—————————————

[04/03/08 - Update]

If you’re suddenly overcome with a feeling akin to déjà vu, go ahead and kill that speed dial to your physician. For the second time in a month, Microsoft has actually come forward to squash a Blu-ray Xbox 360 rumor. This go ’round, an alleged statement from Redmond states quite outrightly that “Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360,” and it continues on by noting that “customers who want a premium movie experience [can check out the] library of on-demand HD content” available to console owners. Still, we’ve grown accustomed to these denials by now, and while you’d think that having a pair of rumors on the matter smashed would put the issue to rest, we’ve all ideas this one isn’t quite dead and buried just yet.

 [VIA Engadget]

—————————————

Again.. Notice the wording here.  The Original article states that Light-On was making BD drives for “the next-generation Xbox 360 game consoles”
and M$ is only saying that “Lite-On is not manufacturing Blu-ray drives for Xbox 360″    So the 360 might not have a blu-ray drive.  Which would make sense since the 360 can’t USE a blu-ray disk.  They are slow, and steam at one constant rate.  In order to get any type of speed out of the load times you would need to install
parts of the game to the HD.. which, guess what?, M$ doesn’t allow on the 360.     So you can kiss BD games good bye on the 360.

but what about the 720?  That’s another story. =)

One handed Xbox 360 controller

The famous Ben Heck has just lifted the veil on its brand new Xbox 360 controller mod that allows you to play your favorite Xbox 360 games with just one hand. Unfortunately, this controller needs a couple of AA batteries to function, so it might end up being heavier than what some people are comfortable with. If the D-Pad that you see here looks familiar, that’s because it has been ported over from the PlayStation. Apparently Ben Heck is slaving away on a mass-produced version which will be pronouncedly different compared to this model.

Source: Crunchgear

[Via CoolestGadgets]

3RRoD.. Walmart style.

As most of us know, the three red ring of death is caused by too much heat being built up around the CPU.  The leading cause of this problem is having too many things around or on the 360 preventing good air-flow.

Walmart is here to help you understand this issue. 

 

This is how NOT to display your 360 at home.  =)

Hilary Goldstein, IGN 360 Editor , Bashes Xbox 360

In a recent “3 Red Lights” podcast, Hilary Goldstein, editor in chief of IGN X360, completely attacks the Xbox 360 and argues that the PS3 will ultimately win out. He begins his rant at 1 hour 4 minutes into the podcast. Quite insightful and informative for all listeners.

http://www.n4g.com/ClickOut.aspx?ObjID=108049

LInk to article:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/848/848732p1.html