Japanese Retailers Phasing Out Xbox 360 Hardware and Software

Japanese Retailers Phasing Out Xbox 360 Hardware and Softwareby Zach Pint Hardware sales for the Xbox 360 in Japan have been dismal at best, so it comes to no surprise that some retailers are beginning to pull the hardware and software from their shelves.Geo, a Japanese retailer, is cutting back on the Xbox 360, as well as the electronics retailer, Yamada Denki. Staff at Yamada Denki have “confirmed that the company is removing hardware and software from the majority of its stores nationwide, and is selling off its remaining stock at a heavy discount,” according to Edge Magazine.Only 72,721 Xbox 360s have been sold in Japan this year, which brings the total number to 1.5 million. It’s kind of surprising that these measures took so long to be put into affect after seeing those numbers.

via Japanese Retailers Phasing Out Xbox 360 Hardware and Software.

RAGE takes up 22gb, if you choose 360 install

There is a rather large install of 22GB coming your way if you choose to install RAGE on your Xbox 360′s HDD.

via RAGE takes up 22gb, if you choose 360 install.

The Graphics of ‘Avatar’ at home!

Report: The Next Xbox Can Render Avatar Graphics

Brian Ashcraft — No, it won’t be wall-to-wall digital blue people. Well, I hope it won’t, because, man, I did not like Avatar.

However, AMD, the tech company responsible for Xbox 360 graphics tech, said the next Xbox will be able to render graphical detail on par with James Cameron’s sci-fi opus.

AMD won’t confirm it’s working on the new Xbox, but, according to the Official Xbox Magazine, AMD said the new Xbox will launch with that level of graphics.

What’s more, AMD’s Neal Robison added that the upcoming A.I. will enable every pedestrian in, say,Grand Theft Auto have their own personality and react to situations differently.

This sounds like AMD talking up whatever they’re working on. Fingers crossed it actually pans out, because words like these can come back to haunt you.

Kotaku is following up with Microsoft and will update this post should the company comment.

Source: Report: The Next Xbox Can Render Avatar Graphics

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I’ve got to call BS on this one.   Real time rendering of Avatar graphics with enough horsepower
to give everyone in GTA a personality?    Don’t think so.. not at the price point Microsoft is going to
need to be at.  

Of course.. Sony said the same thing.. and it was true..  if you watched it as a movie. 

Xbox LIVE has not been LULz’d

Even I’ve seen some posts about people claiming that LIVE has been hacked.   and even though I asked for proof, nothing was provided.   So.  I can only believe that it’s Sony marketing people saying LIVE has been hacked in order to shift blame.  
anyway.. according to Major Nelson from Xbox.  He tweeted on 6/17: 

   I am seeing concern that Xbox LIVE is compromised. So far All we’ve seen is a random list of emails. Nothing indicating a breach.

 

So where has Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and many others have been hacked.  We’d not seen LIVE go down..      Yet.     Me thinks it’s only a matter of time.

Halo Anniversary to include Kinect.

WHY?  I don’t know.  But according to the news feeds it will.

Fable: The Journey debut trailer and footage

Fable: The Journey debut trailer and footage.

I REALLY hope this isn’t all the game… it looks like a rail shooter that you can flap your arms too.    =/

Hey Lionhead?  i’ve got one for you..  try FIXING FABLE 3 BEFORE
worrying about Fable 4.      Can’t  BELIEVE I paid for DLC that BREAKS the main game.  WTF!?

Microsoft Ditches XBLA Size Cap

via 1UP RSS feed by Steve Watts on 9/24/09

Though it’s been a non-issue for the last several months, Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade has still ostensibly had a file size cap, until now. IGN reports that the company has finally done away with arbitrary file size rules. This is no surprise, since several games have broken the size cap, most recently with a stand-alone Red Alert 3 pack that came it at a whopping 2GB. We seemed to see a slow scaling back of the limits on XBLA titles. After Symphony of the Night broke the 50 MB limit, Microsoft moved it to 150 MB. Then Portal: Still Alive broke that at a full gig, and since then the size restrictions haven’t seemed to be in play.That doesn’t mean developers can make a game any size they want, however. Microsoft’s Scott Austin says that the file structure of XBLA games only allows them to go up to 2 GB. That’s the new limit, and there doesn’t seem to be any room for expansion beyond it. It does bring up the question, though: if 2 GB was always the technical ceiling for file sizes, why create file caps in the first place?

$5 for a Yule Log?

Yeah.. OK.. So over the holiday a new app as introduced as a community game.   It’s a ‘simple’ program that shows fire in a fire place and has some random sound effects to make you believe that it’s a roaring fire right there in your TV.

First I’ve got to give props to ‘SniperED007’ for the coding.  Fire isn’t an easy thing to visualize and code.  let alone adding the little details like realistic smoldering embers and flickering flames.
(though the fire itself could still use some work)

Why this turns into a WTF post is because Sniper (or MS) is CHARGEING $5 for this!!  WTF!

you can’t even move the viewing angle.  Why would I pay $5 for something I can get free off the net, or just watch on TV?  you can/could buy a VCR tape with the same thing!!!!!

But then again at least 8 people bought the $1000 app off the IStore for their Iphones..   Makes me wonder how many people have bought this.

 

 

Microsoft in Second Life…

Xbox out, Nintendo in

by Tateru Nino Apr 30th 2008 @ 7:00AM

Filed under: News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

http://www.massively.com/2008/04/30/xbox-out-nintendo-in/

Close to one year ago, we stumbled onto a new Microsoft island in Second Life, called Microsoft Xbox. The island was brand-new, and was still closed to the public, and there was a lot of speculation as to what it was for. This was fueled by talk of Microsoft having explored the idea of Second Life running on the Xbox platform, but the facilities specification for the system isn’t adequate for running the virtual world, as-is.

Microsoft stayed mum on both topics, declining to comment on either the island or its Xbox investigations, and time dragged on. While the island eventually vanished without fanfare, it appears that Nintendo Island has just appeared on the Second Life grid. Still closed to the public, and with nothing built there yet, but with the likes of Atlus getting into the act, and an increasingly strong representation of Japanese industries in the virtual world, a Nintendo presence in Second Life makes a lot of sense.

The Hookers, The Xbox, and everything…

News.au has an [interesting article] about a pretty freaking smart 13 year old in Texas that stole his fathers credit card, called the credit company to extend a line of credit, and then took himself and a few pals on a $30,000 shopping spree that ending up with them in a hotel playing Halo with a few $1000 a night ladies of the night.. LOL!

What gets me is this Kid told the prostitutes that he and his friends where ‘little people’ from the circus and since state law doesn’t allow discrimination they had no right to refuse them!   LOL!!!!

on top of that, then the police asked why a 13 year old would want escorts he informed them that he thought it was what you did when you win won a World of Warcaft contest!!

So right there my friends proves that video games don’t cause violence.. it causes 13 year olds to hire hookers and play Halo!  Even at 13 I would have known when to put the game down..LOL

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And I should have known that this story was fake when a 13 year old would choose HALO over a hot chick willing to give it up.  [GameRush] has reported that this whole thing was a fake and myself and a few other sites (like G4) got just as duped.