Gamernode: Latest Xbox 360 News

Gates says "sorry" and pledges reliability for 360...

Bill Gates knows that his 360 has had problems and promised to make his machine the most reliable game console out there in comments made to the BBC during the Consumer Electronics Show.

Gates said, "Well we certainly had to apologize to our users about the number of boxes that had to be replaced. We did that for free, for all those people, and we got a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it."

As inconvenient as it was to have my very own Xbox 360 sent in for repairs, I'd have to agree. The customer service was pretty good. Microsoft provided shipping for the Xbox to and from the repair center, and not only fixed my Red Ring of Death, they replaced my 360 with a brand new one. But in saying this, some have experienced quite the opposite.

He pledged to make the 360 game console t...

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MS: XBL was down due to server problems. Duh

Microsoft finally came clean with the goods and admitted to what everyone already knew--Xbox Live service broke during the holidays because of a massive flood of new users and holiday gamers jumping on the grid.

Albert Penello, marketing manager at Microsoft, explained:

"We had the biggest concurrent day we've ever had on Live. We had more people than ever signing up on Live, it was 9 million, then 10 million, and it literally was that a lot more people were trying to get on, sign up and play than we had expected over Christmas."

During the outages, GamerNode speculated that Microsoft probably had a skeleton crew during Christmas and didn't have enough people on board to deal with the flood of Xbox Live users. Penello confirmed our guess and said, "It's easy when we're all [at] the office ...

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Xbox 360 backwards compatibility ending

One of the many perks that the Xbox 360 has to offer is the ability to play games from its older self, the original Xbox. As of now Xbox 360 owners are capable of playing 465 titles from the original Xbox without many problems.

But at CES this week, Albert Penello marketing manager for the Xbox 360 told Kotaku that the most recent update to the list could very well be the last.

"I don't know if we have plans to do any more releases," Penello said "it feels like we kind of hit the point of diminishing returns there. For the most part, we've crossed off games that people want to play," he said, adding that "there's always going to be a notable exception here or there."

Also according to Penello, internal data shows low playtime on Xbox Live for BC games with the exception of Halo 2. So do you...

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XBL users still fired up over broken service

Comments on the xbox.com forums, regarding server problems on Xbox Live, are still coming in loud and clear from dissatisfied users who are still struggling to play their games online.

The posts on the forum range from irate customers who are threatening to switch over to the PS3 from users who doubt that a free XBL arcade game will heal the wounds.

Most of the complaining revolves around the service still being broken and the relative silence of Microsoft in explaining why and what happened during the last three weeks of spotty service.

One rant on the Xbox live forums, by Lucard Tepesh, took a swipe at Marc Whitten, XBL's general manager, in his congratulating users for breaking records associated with the mass numbers logging on to Xbox Live.

"This is rediculous!!!! (sp) Come on M/S, when ...

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Fee forced on Xbox Live Diamond members

Diamond, not as good as gold but better than silver? However the hierarchy goes, Diamond XBL members won't be enjoying their free status any longer because sometime this year a fee will be forced upon all Diamond members.

The Diamond Card program will also be wholly run on your Passport Unlimited information.

Even though the annual subscription fee of $6.95 isn't very much, any subscriptions that were privioiusly free or joined later will have a fee tagged on--which seems to always anger customers. Current Diamond Card members won't have to pay the fee until their current subsciption runs out.

According to the Xbox Live website, the Diamond Card gives paid subscribers exclusive benefits and discounts from stores, restaurants and retailers. Such stores include Ticketmaster, Cambridge Soundwo...

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Peggle confirmed for XBLA!

Released back in February 2007, a little game called Peggle from PopCap Games caught the world by storm.

PC fans have been enjoying the game for several months; in fact, somewhat recently, owners of the PC version of The Orange Box got an appropriately themed version of Peggle called Peggle Extreme to enjoy.

Don't worry console folks though, Shacknews received confirmation from PopCap that an Xbox Live Arcade version is on the way and is tentatively scheduled for a Q2 2008 release.

The game has been a phenomenon here at GamerNode, I've been playing it on and off for a few months; heck, Peggle cracked GamerNode's top 10 games of 2007 list by snatching the #10 spot. If you like what you see, nab Peggle Deluxe from Steam for only $9.95 USD.

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Goldeneye 007 coming to XBLA?

If there is one thing many N64 owners can remember from their childhood, it's flipping the switch of their black box with Rare's Goldeneye 007 inserted firmly into the cartridge slot and spending a significant period of time taking on their friends in one of the best multiplayer experiences of that generation.

Those who possess an undying adoration for the 64-bit first person shooter have been clamoring for a re-release of the classic through digital distribution (namely through Xbox Live Arcade, considering Rare is under Microsoft’s wing). But so far, they have had no reason to believe that they'd be playing it on an Xbox 360 gamepad anytime soon.

However, Xbox-Evolved is reporting that a graphically updated, Xbox-Live enabled version of the game will be available on the Xbox Live Mar...

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Microsoft says Blu-ray for 360 is possible

The latest company to possibly jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon is none other than Microsoft itself, the backers of the rival HD-DVD format.

According to BetaNews, Albert Penello, director for global marketing at Microsoft, revealed that while his company will continue to back the HD-DVD for the 360, that because of the external drive capability of the Xbox, that it would be also possible to ship a Blu-ray drive for the game machine if HD-DVD didn't survive the battle against Blu-ray.

However, Penello also stated that the numbers don't really add up as far as which next gen DVD format is leading. While more movie studios are jumping ship to Blu-ray, he noted that consumers are still choosing the HD-DVD format over the Sony format.

"Consumers are choosing HD DVD, but Hollywood isn't listening. W...

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Bioshock sequel is a prequel?

We all knew it was coming. A Bioshock sequel was bound to happen, and when 2K announced a second Bioshock game, we were wide-eyed with anticipation. Internet rumors, however, have been floating around that the second Bioshock game would actually be a prequel to its predecessor.

Rumors say that the prequel would focus on the fall of the underwater "utopia" Rapture, the original game's setting. It would take place before the 1940s, letting us play the events that took place which ultimately brought down the society through greed and corruption.

Pre-production has already started with a hopeful release of 2009, making Take Two's previous comments of turning the series into a franchise by releasing a game every two years viable. If true, the game will most likely be developed in 2K's new studi...

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No Xbox 360 ultimate edition, says Gates at CES '0...

Bill Gates is slowly siphoning his role within Microsoft to a part-time gig, which is expected to be completed in July 2008. During the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, folks were expecting a big Xbox 360 announcement from Gates since this will be his last appearance at the event.

One theory was that Gates would announce the Ultimate Xbox 360, some super and probably bulky looking version of the Xbox 360 with features that would have pushed the price to over $1000.

Unfortunately, Xbox 360 fans' hopes were dashed when Gates, instead, announced that MGM and Disney agreed to a deal with Microsoft for its content to be released on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

While its a nice deal, it's probably wasn't what fans were looking for. Perhaps Microsoft is saving the expected juicy Xbox 3...

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Xbox Live hits 10 million subscribers, yay!

Hot on the heels of announcing that 17.7 million Xbox 360s have been sold worldwide, Microsoft went ahead to announce that Xbox Live hit 10 million subscribers.

One may speculate that the Xbox Live downtime many folks experienced during the holiday season may be attributed to this new milestone; simply because a massive influx of new players being introduced every second to Xbox Live just took its toll on the servers.

Still, hitting 10 million paying subscribers is great celebration to be had especially since it was a full six months ahead of Microsoft's planned schedule.

In addition, all Xbox Live members will be getting a free Xbox Live Arcade title (the actual title has yet to be determined) due to the downtime.

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Class action suit filed over Xbox Live outage

Over the holiday season, the incredible popularity and vast userbase of Xbox Live managed to break Microsoft's service, causing intermittent outages over the course of about 10 days. Microsoft has already issued apologies, and even a free Xbox Live Arcade game as a sort of consolation for all Live members.

Well, that's not enough for some gamers. A Texas-based group of....three....has filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft over this issue, seeking compensation for damages such as Live subscription costs and attorney fees. According to the suit, Microsoft was in breach of contract and "failed to exercise reasonable care or competence in communicating information regarding the nature of services offered through Xbox Live."

The Seattle Times has the complete nine-page complaint avail...

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CES HD-DVD press conference canceled?

Alright, I know this isn't technically gaming-specific news, but I'm making it fit since there IS an HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, and frankly, I like movies and this kind of stuff interests me.

As you probably guessed from the title, a short while ago the HD-DVD Promotions Group sent out an email to all the media invited to the CES announcing that they're indefinitely postponing their press conference at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show due to the Warner Bros. Blu-ray announcement. The email stated:

"Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 p.m. in the Wynn Hotel. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We are currently discussing the potential impac...

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Stranglehold map pack is ready to go

If your trigger finger is itching to do more in your Stranglehold game, you'll be happy to hear that a new downloadable map pack is now available on Xbox Live for your shooting pleasure. 

You'll get 10 additional multiplayer maps which will be in various locales such as the Kowloon Market all the way to Chicago's rooftops. Added to this will be 21 new characters and 10 new achievements that will be worth 250 points.

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Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten's letter to the gamers

Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten just sent out a letter in regards to the recent Xbox Live issue which has been bothering many gamers over their holiday break. Rather than give a play-by-play of the entire thing, I'll just say that to make up for it Microsoft will be giving away a free XBLA title (to be determined) and let you read the rest yourself. I assume you can all read, especially if you're reading this sentence.

Dear Xbox LIVE Members:

During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of y...

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Xbox 360 sales hit 17.7M, Halo 3 sales hits 8.1M

Thanks to the holiday season, Xbox 360 worldwide sales have reached 17.7 million units. Last we heard about Xbox 360 sales was back in October when Microsoft reported they've sold 13.4 million units and its gaming division profited for the first time.

Microsoft also mentioned that Halo 3 has sold over 8.1 million copies since its September 25th debut and Mass Effect has sold over 1.6 million copies since its release on November 20th. We last heard about sales for the two games early last month, when it was reported that Halo 3 sold 5 million copies and Mass Effect reached over 1 million copies.

In addition to the two big titles, November NPD data reports that the Xbox 360 has a record-high software attach rate of 6.9.

Due to the surplus sales of the Xbox 360 this holiday, Xbox Live suffered...

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Far Cry 2, Just Cause 2 heading to X360 and PS3

Ubisoft and Eidos Interactive revealed a double-whammy today and confirmed that Far Cry 2 and Just Cause 2 will head to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Previously, only Far Cry 2 was definitely confirmed for PC, while Just Cause 2 remained platform-less.

Far Cry 2 will be set in Africa and Ubisoft Montreal is handling the game's development. They developed the entire console Far Cry "spin-offs" after Ubisoft acquired the Far Cry license back in 2006 from Crytek. A release date is expected during Ubisoft's 2009 fiscal year, which begins on April 1st.

Initial details of Just Cause 2 come from CVG; Peter Johansson, lead game designer, summed up the sequel by saying, "We identified the key areas we wanted to improve for Just Cause 2. We wanted to make better use of our huge game world, enhance the ...

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Major Nelson apologizes for XBL downtime

Major Nelson, aka, Larry Hryb, head of all things Xbox Live, issued an apology for the XBL problems many users were having during the past 10 days.

In his blog, he stated:

"You may have noticed that the LIVE service has been having a few issues over the past few days. This includes things like signing in, matchmaking and account recovery.

"Not everyone has had problems, but I know some of you have and I wanted to give you and update. While the service was never completely offline, problems like this are not acceptable.

"The entire LIVE team has been working day and night to ensure that you can have a great LIVE experience. While we're not done yet, I wanted to let you know that things are getting better each hour and that no one on the team is going anywhere until the job is done. Thanks fo...

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UT3 90% complete for the Xbox 360

According to this image of an unnamed German gaming magazine, the Xbox 360 version of Unreal Tournament 3 may be as much as 90% complete RIGHT NOW.

MaxConsole's maxtranslation skills say that the game is expected to release on Microsoft's gaming system in April of 2008. That gives Sony and the Playstation 3 just about a four-month headstart in the race to claim Unreal fans' support.

Now I have no idea exactly how accurate this claim may be, but nothing about it seems too unbelievable. Looks like 360 owners are in for quite a wait.

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Gamers demand payback for broken XBL service

The Christmas break/vacation was, for a lot of us, a time to just relax and catch up on some serious gaming time. But if you owned a 360, that experience was seriously flawed due to Xbox Live servers constantly being broken.

The worst of the XBL weirdness occurred this week as a great deal of gamers was frozen out of their accounts due to serious glitches in the system.

While some just chalked the problems up as just part of being a gamer, others have not been so understanding and are demanding that Microsoft compensate them for the downtime by offering Microsoft points or games. The typcial price of an Xbox Live Gold account is $50 per year.

Torifle, a user of the Xbox.com forums stated:

"...I understand some glitches for a few hours. Stuff happens. But to have an outage as long as this on...

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