XBox 360 Rally

The newest NPD numbers are out, and it’s lookin’ good for the Xbox 360. In the month of August, the 360 sold 276,700 units, coming in second out of the three consoles (and third overall, DS being #2) behind the Wii.

Also, two Xbox 360 titles were in the Top 20 SKUs for August: Madden NFL 08 at 896,600 units, and BioShock at 490,900 units. Two Workds, Guitar Hero II and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for the Xbox 360 were also in the top 20, as well as Madden NFL 08 for the Xbox.

You can see a full list of consoles AND games after the break.

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(Again…awesome image)

Earlier this week we reporetd on the “mysterios BioShock update” that was released, to which 2K Games didn’t really tell us what it was for. Well, now we know:

Just a few bug fixes, nothing big. It took care of some reported audio issues at the main title screen, as well as the unstable autosave system.

Yup, that’s about it. Nothing new has been added to the game, so y’all can get right over that. Now, if you don’t mind me, I have a Microsoft Tech Center to call.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, 2K Games, BioShock, Auto Update

This should be included in t3h w31rd, but I’m at school, and I’m bored shitless.

It appears that Microsoft has committed a bit of a booboo. You see, a worker in the UK discovered that, after a customer returned their Xbox 360 Premium because of an incompatible power socket, their entire stock is American! Turns out, Microsoft accidentally shipped twenty THOUSAND (that’s four zeros) US consoles to the UK.

Smooth.

You see, because the UK uses a different style of power outlet than we do in the US, this essentially makes these twenty-thousand units useless. But what I am curious about is whether or not there are 20K UK units floating around the US somewhere.

Because I would buy one — and give it away via one of our popular contests.

[NeoWin]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, US, UK, Game

Microsoft has announced that the Halo 3 wireless controllers, Halo 3 headset, and the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit will be released on September 4th.

The Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Controllers, featuring both Spartan and Brute artwork from Todd McFarlane, will each sell for $59.99. Also selling for $59.99 is the Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Headset.

The Xbox 360 Messenger Kit will sell for $29.99. It’s an interesting little device that will allow you to chat with your MSN contacts while you’re signed onto LIVE. It plugs in to the bottom of the controller and the keypad is backlit. It’ll also come with a wired headset that plugs into the chatpad, so don’t worry about not being able to use your headset while the chatpad is plugged in.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Wireless Controller, Messenger Kit, Wireless Headset, Halo 3

Last week sometime while on Bomberman Live, I got the dreaded red rings. Inconceivable I thought, I mean, I just got a nice “new” refurbished machine no more than a couple of months ago. Before that, I was running on my launch console for years. Well, I shut down the machine and turned it back on ten minutes later with no problems since then.

Forward to this week, my Bioshock pre-order arrived, woohoo, game of the century and all that, I turn it on, I play for hours and hours. The next day, I play some more hours… then… it happened.. RED RINGS! I couldn’t believe it. I tried using that new service.xbox.com page Microsoft set up, it gave me errors. I didn’t want to towel trick just yet, because the 360 does work if I let it cool off, so screw it, whatever, I just waited to give a call as soon as I woke up (which was roughly an hour ago).

Spoke to my fine Indian friend at the Microsoft call center, I always have found them pleasant even though the whole situation is a hassle to have to make the call in the first place. As I was on the phone, memories of a gamer getting a free game out of Microsoft came to mind for having to get a third 360 because of the red rings (Note: I can’t find the link to that guy’s account, but when I do I will update this post so you see how he did it too). Either way, the long and short of the conversation was:

Me: Hey, I run an Xbox web site, this is now my second time having to get a refurbished machine, and I have only had this for a couple of months now, is there anything you can offer me, a controller, a free game, something, to make sure that I do not have to give Microsoft bad press over this issue.

Them: Hold on, let me check on that *puts me on hold*

*comes back* I have Kameo, Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Viva Pinata which I can offer you.

Bam! So not only do they send me an extra 1 month of Xbox Live Card (if you have got a refurbished machine, you know this is what you get already), but now a free game. I highly highly suggest doing this yourself I am having no hopes of getting an HDMI machine, but I the free game is making me feel all happy. Now, if problems arise before I get my coffin, I will in fact just towel trick till I get the box to ship my 360 in.

There you go, get the red rings, get a free game, here is the cliff notes to do it yourself:

Call 1-800-4MY-XBOX (Screw services.xbox.com)

Say this is not the first time this has happened and you run a web site and will give bad press, tell them “What can you offer me!?” (be polite)

Pick a game, say thank you.

Now, just play the waiting game.

“Ah, the waiting game sucks. Let’s play Hungry-Hungry-Hippos!’” - Homer J Simpson

UPDATO MAGNIFICO:
September 4th, and I have already received my copy of Viva Pinata! I thought it would be inside the box or something, awesome job Microsoft! (I guess it would be more so awesome if the machine never broke in the first place, but they admit their mistakes and are definitely fixing it!)

Take a good look at the above picture. It’s from a news story at a French website called GX-Mod.com. After running the article through Google Translate, the article explains that there are new warranty stickers on the refurbished Xbox 360s being sent back from the repair houses.

As of now it’s unknown as to whether or not these stickers are showing up on the newly shipped Xbox 360s. If you’re wondering as to where the sticker is, it’s under the faceplate. If you just recently purchased an Xbox 360, or got yours back from the graveyard, take the faceplate off and let us know if you’ve got a new sticker on yours, too.

[GX-MOD.com] (Original French Page)

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Red Ring of Death, Refurbished

Are you tired of sending your Xbox 360 in to Microsoft every time you get that damned RRoD? Well, if you’re good with electronics, you won’t have to. Introducing the X-Clamp Do-It-Yourself Fix Kit.

But wait, what does this fix kit do? First, you need to understand what exactly causes the RRoD in the first place. What many people believe is that the RRoD is caused when the solder connection between the GPU and the mainboard breaks, usually after a few months. This is caused because the clamp is not providing enough pressure on the heat sink to keep the motherboard connected to the GPU. What this kit does is replaces the x-shaped clamp with a more sturdy, stronger support to keep the pressure on the soldering, which will prevent it from breaking.

It’s an interesting solution to a widespread problem. However, unless you are good with your electronics, there is little to no point in doing this. Unless you’re really fed up with shipping coffin after coffin to Texas for repairs. If you’re curious, there’s a how-to video after the break.

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Remember last week how it was announced that Borderlands will require a HDD to play by Gearbox president Randy Pitchford? Yeah, that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer!

Steve Jones, the lead programmer on Borderlands, announced on the Gearbox message boards that Borderlands will NOT require a HDD, as previously reported.

Hey everyone, my name is Steve Jones and I’m the lead programmer on Borderlands. While we are doing some amazing things in this game, the Xbox 360 version will NOT require a hard drive. The game will take full advantage of the hard drive if it is present, but again, it will not be required.

Steve Jones
Lead Programmer
Gearbox Software

So is this finally the end of the story? We know that at this very moment Microsoft requires that all games be playable withOUT the HDD, with the sole exception being MMO titles like Final Fantasy XI. However, that can always change.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Gearbox, Borderlands

For $179.99, you will get the HD-DVD player (that works not only on your Xbox 360 but computer as well), the HD King Kong movie will come with that. Now, choose three other titles such as The Departed, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, and some more not too shabby flicks (see the list of those movies here).

Now to top it all off, they still have that pick 5 movies offer with select choices on what you can pick, Print up this PDF and choose 5 additional movies.

So for $179 you are getting the player and 9 HD-DVDS!. I do not even own an HD tv set yet, but I think I will be jumping in on this offer.

Dean Takahashi with the San Jose Mercury News has been able to confirm that the new 65-nm “Falcon” processor-equipped Xbox 360s will be here this fall.

Falcon is coming your way this fall. The first Xbox 360s with it are probably on ships coming from China.

Awesome, but what does this mean for you, Joe Consumer? Well, for one the 65-nm processors mean that the Xbox 360 costs less to manufacture than they did before, which could open the door for further price drops in the future. Secondly, the 65-nm processor will run cooler than it’s 90-nm counterpart, meaning (hopefully) less RRoD reports from gamers who’ve played BioShock for a week straight.

Here’s the deal, however — Microsoft isn’t going to tell us when the new Falcon systems are on the market. Makes perfect sense, considering they’ll probably want to empty out their current inventory. But, if your 360 has indeed died, then your best bet would be to wait until the fall. That way you can maximize your chances of getting a 65-nm system.

[San Jose Mercury News]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Falcon

If you’re a big racing game fan, odds are you own the Wireless Xbox 360 Racing Wheel from Microsoft. If you do indeed own the Wireless Racing Wheel, Microsoft is now providing a free retrofit to combat, out of all things, overheating.

In a press release issued by Microsoft, the retrofit is a precautionary measure to combat overheating inside the wheel chassis, which could smoke and potentially cause a fire when the AC/DC (Who’s got big balls?) power supply is being used. However as of now, there have been no reports of fire or injury.

This is just what Microsoft needs, isn’t it? First their consoles are dropping left and right due to overheating, now they’re “offering a retrofit” (which is code for “voluntary recall”) of their wireless racing wheel for the same problem? Not cool, Microsoft. Not cool.

Press Release after the break.

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Remember how Microsoft said that all games would be playable withOUT the HDD add-on, before they said developers COULD develop games that used the HDD? Yeah, Gearbox apparently didn’t get the memo. Gearbox president Randy Pitchford has officially gone on record as saying that the upcoming Gearbox title Borderlands will, indeed, require a Hard Drive to play.

If it weren’t for where the 360 and the PS3 have gone, with big hard drives, and lots of memory, and powerful processors, there’s no way you can conceive of this as a console game.

That is what Pitchford said to 1UP about the decision to use the HDD as a storage source.

On a personal level… this is absolutely bogus. Absolutely. Bogus. But what do you think? Do you have a problem with companies developing games that will require the HDD, or does it really not bother you?

[1UP]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Gearbox, Borderlands

I got sent a fact sheet from Nyko, then corresponded back with them to make sure I had all the details right, and after further examination, I think it might be a good idea to pick up Nyko’s guitar and buy the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games separately. Here is a quick fact sheet on the new “Frontman Wireless Guitar”:

80 hours of play from just three AA batteries

Play up to 25 ft. away

If doing dueling banjo’s, it works with the original Wired Guitar Hero guitar

Has the tilt sensor and whammy bar

Very responsive fret buttons

3 changeable pick guards with some stickers included (but you know you are going to use your own)

D-Pad design is better and easier to use

Now, some clarification on that little box that looks like an amp or an effects pedal, that is basically what makes the device wireless. Seeing as how Microsoft is sort of dicks on how they handle giving out their information on how to make controllers Wireless, that little box will plug into any USB port on the 360, then you need to plug in one of your regular controllers into the amp/pedal box. Presto! Now you have wireless technology without Microsoft’s help, kudos to Nyko for figuring this out. The guitar will then transmit the keys pressed to the box which then uses the code from the wired guitar in order to communicate those key presses to the 360 (so simple!).

Now, the 3 pick guards (seen in the black, pink, and transparent) are there to help customize your guitar. Then they include the 3 stickers for customizing further. Keep an eye out on people who are going to use the transparent guard, as that is going to allow you to put your own graphics/photos underneath. I am expecting Forza 2 customizations type action will be shown once this is released.

There you have it, personally not a fan of all Nyko products controller wise, this one is actually looking to be not only well designed and durable, but possibly better than the official ones that Harmonix has put out themselves (ie more customizing + wireless). So far the release date is listed as October 1st and will retail at $79.99 so look for it.

Those Xbox message boards are always a cornucopia of information that Microsoft really doesn’t want us to know. That seems to be the case again, as Xbox.com forum goer by the name of “Post Up” has posted what appears to be the list for what we can expect in this fall’s Dashboard Update…

…which you can read after the break. Ha ha.

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We’ve all known for a while that the Xbox 360 Core is going to die. It’s just something that we knew was going to happen. However, Gamernode is reporting that the Xbox 360 Core will, indeed, be phased out. However, the Core console will live on, rebranded as the ‘Xbox 360 Arcade: Just Play’ pack.

The new Core package (since, really, this IS a Core) will come packaged with five XBLA titles and a 256MB memory card, but will still carry a $279 price tag. Also, while not confirmed, it is believed that the new Core will have a HDMI unit, but no HDMI cable.

As you can see from the image above supposedly taken from the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation… they OBVIOUSLY believe in staying in-house with their photo editing. No photoshop there. Nuh uh.

[Gamernode]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Core, Xbox LIVE Arcade, Xbox 360 Arcade