GamersVue

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.

Well it’s been an interesting couple of days, with the leaked list of XBL updates slated for spring to Microsoft flat out saying they one this generations battle with Sony…    let’s see what’s going on shall we?

[Xbox360 Fanboy] as posted that Stubbs the Zombie (Wideload games) and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (Midway) are coming to XBL as Xbox Originals slated for release to XBL on May 19th (2008)   The [Xbox360 Fanboy] is also reporting that Microsoft expects the 360 to have a 7 year life span (better then the 10 year PS3)
so that leaves us with 4 years.. so in about 2-3 years we should see the next 720.
but it won’t be next year according to [Engadget]. 

According to the [SeattlePi] website along with a metric butt ton of other blogs and sites, the Xbox 360 have just barely beat out the PS3 in unit sales, mostly becasue of GTA sales.  Of course this really is only in America.  The XBox hasn’t sold well at all in Japan, and for some reason our European friends like the PS3 over the Xbox. (which I still do not understand)

Now [GameTap] is saying that the Microsoft now holds the crown for the first ‘10 million sold’.  According to Don Mattrick (the Xbox ‘boss’) 

“History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry,”

Well I don’t remember that myself personally..but 10 million isn’t bad. drop in the bucket next to the Wii.. but not bad.

the weird thing about this is that there are 12 million LIVE subscribers.  Now if you’ve sold 10 million, but have 12 million subscribers.. how is that possible?

Well here’s something you don’t see everyday.  According to the [Reuters article], Rockstar is suing the Chicago transit Authority for pulling GTA4 bus ads down early.

Hmmm, looks like Rockstar is pissed that Titan Outdoor LLC violated it’s $300,000 contract by not running the GTA 4 posters for the full time of the contract.  However, the juicy bit here is that is seems the ads where pulled after a FOX News affiliate asked why the ads where being allowed to run after the wave of violent crimes in the Chicago area.

Now I’m let wondering, when do we follow what a news affiliate says?!  it’s already been proven that gaming does NOT make you violent, as long as the ads are/were still using the stylized cartoonish look then who cares?

it’s just a game people, the movies SAW and Hostel had SO MUCH more violence and graphic violence then GTA, yet no one bitched about those movies.

Does it really matter that you are watching a movie VS directing it?

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]

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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?

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[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]

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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. =)

SE2 labs One integrates a variety of the best components out there, including high-definition DVD players, audio components, video components, gaming systems, control devices, cooling systems and more. And the system is even available with displays, speakers and other peripherals for the most complete home entertainment setup available today.

OH yeah, and it includes the Xbox 360 for only 25k! 

Anyone out there want to buy this thing for me to test and write a review about?  

…  please? ..   with sugar on top?

Check out the web site for a full list of goodies ‘The One’ has in store for you all in one box!

Written by Alexis Morgenstern   

Xbox 360 motion controllers may not be that far off. Looks like Microsoft may be working with motion control developer Gyration to bring the technology to the Xbox 360, according to an article at XboxFamily.com. Gyration worked on early prototype motion control technology with Nintendo. Gyration has also developed a Windows Media Center Universal Remote, which uses “In-air cursor control using Patented Gyroscopic Motion-Sensing technology.” Talk or mention of motion control is not new to the Xbox 360 platform, however, XboxFamily.com’s article noting Gyration shows things could be well in development.

There’s been attempts on getting the Wii Remote and motion technology to work with the Xbox 360 by home brew devs. One example is from Xilt. The homebrew mod from Xilt allows you to rig up a Xbox 360 controller to add motion control to the Xbox 360.

With Microsoft’s Xbox 360 being the only current generation gaming console missing motion technology in a controller, it’s a good possibility that it’ll happen. Especially seeing how motion control gaming has been adopted and successful on the Wii. Motion control on the Xbox 360 has been bat about earlier this year, with the former Xbox 360’s Peter Moore and Microsoft’s Chris Satchell sharing thoughts on it. There’s been no official announcements from Microsoft on motion control on the Xbox 360.

[Via XboxFamily.com]

Orginal Post on 12/27/07

Every year I like to think up (and this year post) my predictions for the next year.

1) BioShock will turn into an MMO.
    Think about it.  Being able to run around killing splicer’s while earning enough money to buy better plasmids?  All the while picking up bits and pieces of items to craft them into new weapons, armor and ammo?   All in an underwater city that was seemingly built as an MMO in the first place?   The ability to explore areas shut off from you the first time around? It would be sweet.  Could even do the game like HellGate: London (only done right.. see #9)

2) Blizzard will announce that the next Gen MMO game they are making will be the ‘World of Starcraft’
    The only big sci-fi MMO out there is EVE.  Of course there’s Star Wars Galaxies and Tabula Rasa, but that’s not saying much.  So the world is in need of a good Sci-Fi MMO to take the place of Earth and Beyond. (..!.,   EA)
  
    Starcraft has just as much or more of a following then the Warcraft series and has just as deep of a story and background.  WoW has already has and continues to embrace Diablo like a brother (sockets?  come on) and has some cross over story lines between the Diablo and StarCraft games; Blizzard is also readying up Starcraft II to enter the market.   So, to me, it makes total sense to have a World of StarCraft.

    Now what would REALLY be cool is the ability to merge the three games together so that WoW is the beginning  WoD (that’s World of Diablo) is the middle and WoS is the ending and your character can port back and forth between times.

    Of course, the announcement could be nothing more then the release of Diablo 3 (wasn’t that HellGate?) But the World of StarCraft would be MUCH cooler.
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    Update: 06/28/08
    Well Blizzard has annouced Diablo 3 about 3 odd hours ago.  This is the major announcement for this year
    however there’s still that top-secret project they are working on…

3) Nintendo will continue not to be able to create enough Wii’s for demand and within 6 to 8 month it won’t matter.  People will finally give up paying extremely high prices for a system that has very few good games when they can buy an Xbox 360 for cheaper then some of the package deals and get a library of better games.

4) I call 3 ‘hot’ titles for the Wii this year, the rest will suck.

5) Sony will continue to lie to their customers and survive on the fanboys throwing huge amounts of money at the feet of their God.  But no one will care because the PS3 has RIDGE RACER!!

6) The Xbox360 will continue to dominate the online play aspect of console gaming.  The PC will continue to mock LIVE.

7) The industry will begin to understand that most gamers don’t care that they can show off their photos on their console.  We want to play games.

Mobile gamers will finally realize that Cell phones are NOT good gaming platform.  PDA users will continue to look around clueless.

9) HellGate: London will be used as a model to teach new game developers how NOT to just concentrate on the game play and worry about the interface aspects of a game also.  (GREAT game.. Horrible interface..)

10) Some Jerk somewhere will kill someone over something and blame it on a video game. 

11) Rock Band will completely take over and destroy the Guitar Hero market.

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Want to hear my prediction on a specific game coming out? 
    Just comment to this thread and ask! (all posts are moderated)

[EDIT - Cleaned up some grammar and did a rewrite in a few places to clear things up]  (Never said I was a good writer. :P  )