TOKYO -- Microsoft plans to launch a cheaper version of its Xbox 360 games console in Japan a week before the PlayStation 3 is due on sale.
The Xbox 360 core system, which is already on sale in other markets, will go on sale in Japan on November 2, the company said Friday. The console doesn't include several components that are present in the full system, such as a hard-disk drive and a headset, and as a result it will be cheaper. It will cost $256, about half the price of the PlayStation 3.
Initial versions of the core system will also have two popular games bundled with it: PGR 3-Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ninety-Nine Nights (N3). These games and three other titles will also be re-released on the same day under the banner "Xbox 360 Platinum Collection" for about $24--a competitive price compared with games for the rival PlayStation.
UK - 7th September 2006 — If you love your friends, enjoy spending time chatting to them, playing games , downloading exclusive content and listening to music with them - then you’ll really love Xbox Live™. The great news is that Xbox® is feeling extra sociable this month and offering European gamers a chance to experience Xbox Live™ for over a week, absolutely free, from 20th to 29th September, 2006. The free week of Xbox Live is sponsored by Windows Live™ Spaces.
Xbox Live is the world’s premiere, fully connected gaming service with more than three million members. It lets you find your friends, play with or against them through a broadband internet connection wherever they are and chat with them through a headset as you play.
Yesterday we were tipped off by an employee of a major publisher who claimed that the Xbox 360 failure rate—at least within his studio—has been much higher than Microsoft has stated failure rates to be (around 3-5%). The employee suggested that the failure rates were actually as high as 30-50% among the 300 or so consoles they received. He also noted that Capcom's Dead Rising seemed to be making the problem worse, with many of the consoles getting much hotter than usual.
Although our source wished to keep his company name out of it, the bigwigs at Microsoft apparently sniffed it out as an Electronic Arts employee. Responding to this employee's letter, a Microsoft representative told GameDaily BIZ, "We can confirm that the letter was neither endorsed nor approved by Electronic Arts. At this point we have no reason to believe that the claims made in the letter are based on factual data as opposed to being just an individual opinion."
At Gamefest earlier today, Microsoft held a panel on their current and upcoming plans for accessories for their Xbox 360 console. Rob Walker, the hardware unit product manager for the company, spoke to the panel and gave some very interesting tidbits and hints about their future plans (and also threw some digs at Nintendo and Sony's controller plans). Walker began by looking back at what Microsoft has released so far, including wired and wireless controllers, the 20 GB hard drive, controller charging kits, A/V cables, TV remote controllers and more. He also touched upon current and upcoming third party accessories from companies like MadCatz, Logitech and more.
Walker then went into the future and talked about things that are on the immediate horizon (i.e. this holiday season) that have already been announced. Microsoft's Xbox 360 racing wheel is a big upcoming product, promising true force feedback support (if you plug in the power cable) and support for current and upcoming titles like Project Gotham Racing 3 and Forza Motorsport 2. Also in the works is the Vision camera which will allow people to have video chat with each other along with features like taking a picture of your face and adding your face to an in-game character, complete with facial animation (no games that support this feature have been announced yet). A wireless headset for voice communication is also due for release this holiday season, as is the much anticipated HD-DVD disk drive add-on. Walker didn't reveal anything new about this accessory that hasn't been revealed before (still no specific price point) but it will still only be used for movie playback and will still hook up to the Xbox 360 via the USB connection. During the Q&A session following the prepared remarks, Walker said that they are still discussing what will happen if the movie companies decide to move to HDMI inputs being required for HD-DVD for keeping copyright protection for their movie disk.
Microsoft has announced that starting August 14th, and ending September 22nd, gamers will be able to get a free game with their purchase of an Xbox 360. When a system, either Core or Premium, is purchased a gamer will be able to pick from Project Gotham Racing 3, Kameo: Elements of Power, Perfect Dark Zero or Dead or Alive 4.
As part of Gamasutra's visit to Shanghai for this week's ChinaJoy game exhibition, we've discovered that Xbox 360 game piracy appears to be spreading notably in the country, with at least one vendor offering Xbox 360 titles such as Hitman: Blood Money for around 30 Chinese yuan ($3.50).
This development has occurred after an incident in March 2006, in which hackers managed to flash changes to the BIOS on the Xbox 360's Optical Disc Drive which allowed non-authenticated (copied) games to be played. Further information on the hack surfaced in late May, when other parties appear to have released a public version of the exploit, and Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog published an official response to the problem.
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