DirecTV remote can control your 360

Instructables stumbled upon a nifty little trick getting their DirecTV universal remote to work with the Xbox 360. After a few simple steps and about 5-10 minutes of cycling through codes, they were able to power up the Xbox and even get some DVD playback functionality out of it. The cool thing about this is that it opens the door to the possibility of other universal remotes being programmed to work with the 360. For example, DirecTV isn't available in Canada, but Shaw Cable has a similar service with its own set top box and universal remote that can manage every component of your home theatre, and if it can be configured to control the Xbox 360, that would be very convenient indeed. Full instructions and brief video after the break.

1.) Change your remote to av1, making sure it's not pointing at a receiver that would react to the input. Press and hold mute and select until the av1 switch blinks twice.

2.) Press 991, then 2, followed by the power button.

3.) Press the up button 30-50 times, with a small delay between each until the Xbox 360 turns on. Note that the light above av1 will blink after each press.

4.) Once you reach the proper code that turns on your Xbox 360, press select to finish configuring the remote. Now you have a working Xbox 360 remote.

Xbox 360 Fanboy

GRAW 2 Marketplace Demo "Coming Soon™"

Ubisoft sent out emails this morning with a few morsels of information to make us fanboys out there starving for more. They gave word that there will be a demo for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 available on Xbox Live Marketplace in the very near future. No word yet if the demo will be either single player or multiplayer, although in a perfect world it would be both. News0r presupposes that the demo will be available before the end of January, which isn't too much of a stretch, so hopefully we'll be taking headshots on tangos before dying of hunger. So, if you could have only one or the other, what kind of demo would you want, Single or multiplayer? Xbox 360 Fanboy

Gears update is nothing special

Many of our readers noticed the mysterious Gears of War update yesterday. We spent the day trying to find out what it fixed to no avail. So, we did what we usually do, we slept. Upon waking, a tip from a helpful reader was waiting in our inbox. Epic's Mark Rein has spoken, and it was merely a compatibility update (most likely to coincide with the Japanese release of the game). So there you have it folks, no nerfed weapons, no bug fixes, just more compatibility. Now that that's out of the way, maybe we can start talking about some real changes. Xbox 360 Fanboy

Price Drops of PS3 in Japan

It seems that the PS3 is not only stalling here in the states but, back in Japan as well. Kotaku is reporting that PS3s are stacking up on shelves. Retailers are taking matters into their own hands and offering temporary price cuts of up to 10,000 yen ($82). I wonder how long till we see similar measures taken here in the US. One, thing is clear something needs to happen soon to jump start lagging sales. As much as I hate to say this, it's starting to feel like the Dreamcast all over again. GameDrift

Crackdown Demo Available Now for Download

Microsoft Game Studios and Realtime Worlds released today the highly anticipated demo of Crackdown, which is available now for download (1.24 GB) on Xbox Live Marketplace. Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Gamers will level up their Agent’s strength, agility, firearms, explosives and driving skills while scaling the fully vertical world of “Crackdown.” Crackdown Demo Available Now for Download - Xbox

Gears Tops Nominees for Interactive Awards

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has pulled the veil back on the finalists for this year’s Interactive Achievement Awards, with Gears of War snagging 10 nominations out of 30 categories.The Epic-developed blockbuster Gears of War, which recently went triple platinum since its launch in mid-November, garnered nominations in categories including animation, art direction, voice acting, online gameplay, graphics, action game of the year, console game of the year and overall game of the year. Next Generation

Tretton: PS3 will be "difficult to cost reduce"

In interview with Sony Computer Entertainment America chief Jack Tretton in the latest issue of Game Informer revealed some troubling news for consumers waiting for a lower-priced PlayStation 3. When asked point blank whether price drops for the PS3 will be "as soon or as drastic as they were for the PlayStation 2," Tretton responded with a curt, "No."

For reference, the PS2 was reduced from $299 to $199 in the United States on May 14, 2002, 565 days after the Oct. 20, 2000 release date. Using this data and Tretton's above answer, we can expect that the PS3 won't come down in price until at least June 4, 2008.

The reason for the shallower pricing curve? According to Tretton, the increased investment in R & D and hardware makes the system "a lot more difficult to cost reduce" than the PS2. "There's a heck of a lot more under the hood and it costs us more money to make it," Tretton told Game Informer. Despite this, Tretton doesn't seem to think the system's price will hurt its position in the marketplace. "I think the consumers that get their hands on a PlayStation 3 clearly see the value and not only want to buy one for $599, in some instances they're willing to pay ridiculous prices to buy one on eBay," Tretton said. (Oh really?)

Well, Joystiq readers are pretty big video game consumers, last time we checked. Do you think the PS3 can remain competitive at its current price until mid-2008? If you don't have the system yet, will you be willing to wait that long for a lower price? How much would you be willing to pay for Sony's power-packed system? Joystiq

Kojima Has 'Strong Interest' in X360

Stopping short of saying that he would bring MGS4 to the 360, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima (pictured, photo courtesy MTV) said that he has a strong interest in Microsoft's console. He also would like to develop on the PC and the Wii. GameDaily BIZ

Google eyes in-game ads acquisition

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, a deal could be announced as early as this week.

"We are always considering new ways to extend Google's advertising program to benefit our users, advertisers and publishers," said a spokesperson for Google.

"In-game advertising offers one such possible extension among many others," said the company.

The deal would follow Microsoft's purchase last May of Massive Inc, a firm that has numerous gaming partners including 2K Sports, Codemasters, Eidos, Konami and NCsoft .GamesIndustry.biz

RAWR! New Turok Xbox 360 screens :: DESTRUCTOID :: Hardcore gaming blog

You might remember Turok as an almost successful independent comic book of the 90's (which I have autographed somewhere in my closet) or a game that sold N64 systems alongside Goldeneye (before we all decided veloceraptors are lame). Its return to the console was announced back in May with a decent amount of hype for it's Unreal 3 engine adoption, but then we heard absolutely nothing else and forgot it was coming. These new high res images will serve a good reminder -- the game looks better than ever. It looks like Crysis with really shiny dinosaurs! Here are more new Xbox 360 screenshots for you to savagely devour (or poop on). The game is scheduled for release sometime this year (it's 10th anniversary) and the game is also slated for the PS3. Are you excited about Turok's return? DESTRUCTOID