Xbox 360 Premium takes Core place at 299?

Xboxic » Xbox 360 Premium takes Core place at 299?: "Before continuing, let us emphasize that, pending Microsoft confirmation, the information below is strictly rumor territory. However, we wouldn’t post it unless we had some good reasons for believing the info to be authentic, so here it is: the Core pack will be canceled, the Premium will drop to 299 euro, the black HDMI-supporting 360 will be launched this May, and finally Halo 3 will hit stores right before Christmas 2007. Too good to be true? Read on!

Core packGerman site Xbox-Archiv, known from before to have some good sources inside MS and be quite reliable on rumormongering, posted an article today on a bunch of things that should please most Xbox fanboys. First up, they investigated a bit on why German megastores MediaMarkt and Saturn are all of a sudden selling the Xbox 360 Premium pack at 299 euro. While wholesale price is still at around 350 euro, the included games can also be sold separately. Combined with gross purchase discounts awarded for stocking lots of Xbox 360 games besides the consoles, the total wholesale price easily drops below 300, resulting in many if not all retailers now being able to offer the Premium pack at 299 euro and still make a modest profit. Even if the new price doesn’t become official, who cares if all retailers use it?"

Fan created Halo 3 theme song

Fan created Halo 3 theme song - Xbox 360 Fanboy: "Halo fanboy at heart, Chris Orgeron and his band created what they thought Halo 3's theme song should sound like. It's a lot more heavy on the rock side of things, but still incorporates the original Halo theme song feel featuring the 'druid-like' moaning. Second thought, it seems to hit more onto Halo 2's mood with guitar in full force. Give it a listen and tell us what you think. Or are you a purist and think Bungie should just go back to an old school Halo theme song feel?"

EGM: Moore on 360 and its successor

Xbox 360 Fanboy: "In a recent interview with EGM, Peter Moore gave some insight on the future of Microsoft's next console. He stated that the production team for the 360 is currently working on its successor, and are looking at what kind of computing power will be available around 2011 and 2012. That puts the lifespan of the 360 somewhere between 6 to 7 years, which is certainly better than the original Xbox's 4 years. Moore also stated that there will be support for the 360 'as long as it sells'. So, that's a long way off, which is a good thing, as we are happy to see Microsoft's plans for the 360 look more long term than last time."

MS reply to Sony’s Home

Xboxic: "We all saw the videos and news to Sony’s revelation of their new service ‘Home’. It looks impressive, but is it what Sony should be focusing on, or would games be a better option? Naturally, Microsoft’s Chris Satchell had a thing or two to say.

“I think they’ve definitely taken some concepts that we originated like achievements, but I think they’re pushing in a different direction and we’ve sort of fundamentally got two different approaches going on here. I think theres is very much a vision that people see it and it looks cool but it’s fundamentally separate from the games - or at least what they’ve shown so far. It’s a cool world but it’s like a little game by itself. Our approach is the other way around; it’s that games are the center and that’s the star of the show, that’s what people buy the console for.”

Clearly not too impressed with the service, Satchell raise some good points about the two companies’ different aims and directions. Should the games be the centre of attention then? I personally agree; I’d much rather play a game than mess around in a virtual world myself. It was also pretty obvious that the PS3 would incorporate some form of Achievement type system at some point, given the success of the 360 idea so far.

This Week in HD-DVD: it's a drought edition

Xbox 360 Fanboy: "Again we stand before you with a heavy heart and no gifts to offer ... nothing. There's no new HD-DVD releases this week, because the movie studios are a bunch of lazy bums. We recommend saving a few dollars by driving to the movie theater this week and going to see the movie 300. It's what we in the cool crowd call 'mint'. Just be sure to stay away from the 15 gallon soda and 10 pound bag of popcorn, otherwise you'll be spending enough in one night to purchase a second HD-DVD player in no time.

* HD-DVD Movie Releases: March 13th No HD-DVD releases this week."

Games from XNA challenge ready for download

Xbox 360 Fanboy: Those four day XNA games are finished and ready for your downloading pleasure. If you remember, Microsoft's held a four day XNA Challenge at this year's GDC, pushing four development teams to the edge by requiring them to complete a XNA Studio Express game in four days. Sounds hard doesn't it? But all the teams did indeed finish as Microsoft is pleased to announce that all four games are free and available for download to play on your PC right now, if you have XNA Studio Express (it is also free). Be sure to read the game descriptions after the break, check out some screenshots, and download these four day masterpieces.

"DungeonQuest" a 3D action RPG from independent game developers Benjamin Nitschke and Christoph Rienaecker from exDream in Germany. Benjamin and Christoph managed to include two player co-op multiplayer in this expansive dungeon crawler.

"Simian Escape" from independent game developers Jonathon Stevens and Patrick Glanville from the United States, is a 2D run-and-jump game in a prehistoric setting built with the help of Torque X.

"Damage Control" is a game created by hobbyist game developer Josh Butterworth from the United Kingdom with the remote assistance of Maher "m0dus" Al-Samkari and the NeoGAF community. "Damage Control" is a four player multiplayer siege game where you must defend your base from wave after wave of invading aliens.

"AbduX" from graduate student game developer Andre Furtado from Brazil, is a zany action game that turns the tables on the classic humanity vs. aliens formula. This time, the player assumes the role of an alien and pilots a flying saucer through the countryside to abduct unsuspecting earthlings while trying to avoid detection. What's impressive about "AbduX" is how it incorporates voice recognition commands to control functions of the spacecraft.

Halo will go on after third installment

Xboxic » Halo will go on after third installment: "If you thought that the fight would finish this year, then you’ll be pleased to know that that isn’t quite true as, in collaboration with Peter Jackson, there will be two episodic gaming series coming, one set in the Halo universe. This was initially discussed at X06, but things went quiet, until now. Also, MS admit that the 360 failing on so many people could have been better handled.

All the talking took place during a Microsoft-hosted breakfast session between Shane Kim and Chris Satchell. Of the hardware problems, Kim was reported as saying:

“It’s unfortunate that people have had problems with their Xbox 360… we’ve got room for improvement on both sides of the equation - it’s a top priority for us.”

At least they have recognised the problem and have plans to deal with it. Quite reassuring for anyone who has ever had to experience the Customer “Service” of Microsoft.

Of the episodic gaming series, it was confirmed by Kim that the Halo project was further advanced than the unannounced project, but both are still in the design phase right now. The collaboration between Peter Jackson and Bungie was originally announced at X06, where it was put forward that “a collaborative effort with Bungie Studios to co-create a completely new and original chapter in the Halo franchise.” (Thanks GamaSutra.)

There is no more information at the moment as to what kind of content this will be, but it is likely to be in downloadable form, and probably for a price. Not that that will stop any Halo fanatics from buying it!

Thanks nofear360 for submitting.