XBox 360 Rally

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven (or simply Mafia) was one of my favorite computer games for a long time. It was one of the first post-GTA games to truly get the open world feel down, and it’s storyline could still stand up against anything you could throw at it.

So, when rumors began swirling in early 2003 that the developers were hard at work with a sequel, well you could imagine my excitement. Then we didn’t hear anything the rest of that year. 2004 came… and went, as did 2005 and 2006. 2007 was almost added to this list as well, but two reports stirring now are making it seem more and more likely that we may hear something as early as today.

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*sigh*

I thought these damn SKU rumors were going to die after the Elite. Then the Halo 3 SKU was unveiled, and again, I thought these SKU stories would finally die.

I am a very stupid and gullible man.

Rumors have begun spinning regarding the Xbox 360 “Ultimate”. Apparently the Xbox 360 Ultimate SKU is being designed to act as a broadband-connected PVR device that will also include a 320GB Hard Drive. The DVD Drive is also rumored to be replaced with a fancy, newfangled internal HD-DVD Drive.

Now, as an Xbox fanboy, I have but this to say: NO MORE SKUs!

[Stuff.tv]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Ultimate, HD-DVD

There is a bit of a rumor swirling over at Xbox Family News, who today is reporting that, according to their source, Project Gotham Racing 4 may be getting delayed sometime in the near future. If this is indeed true, one would almost have to look back at the stories from a few months ago that had Bizarre complaining about the storage space of DVD-9 discs, even though I personally have a hard time believing that PGR4 would surpass the 7.95GB limitations.

Considering PGR4 is one of those games that I’ve been giddy for since before E3, this would be a real disappointment. If true.

[Xbox Family News]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Bizarre Creations, Project Gotham Racing 4

The servers are melting. Paco spilled his cola on the keyboard. JW’s out back trying to wrangle the horses. In short, we’re all kinds of FUBAR, so we may not be able to update as much as we’d like today.

Sorry, peeps. We’ll be back soon.

Ars Technica is the Wall Street Journal of the technology blogging world — they don’t have the largest readerbase in the world, but they are always reliable and carry themselves with dignity.

Ars Technica is reporting (as rumor) that Microsoft is set to include HDMI in all it’s models, starting “late August or September.” It’s also expected, [story writer Ben] Kuchera says, that the new crop of consoles will feature the long-awaited 65nm processors and quieter DVD drives.

Outside of a small marking on the box, Microsoft won’t be making a deal of this. The HDMI-featured 360s won’t have any fanfare when they are released, as Microsoft has opted instead to just slide the new models out the door quietly.

Now, while this is but a rumor (a well-founded rumor), this has already convinced me to hold off on buying a new 360 until, at the earliest, the end of September.

[Ars Technica]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, HDMI

Last week there was a rumor that we didn’t cover (because I never heard of it) that stated that Best Buy would no longer be stocking the Xbox 360 Core system. Now Joystiq has received a tip from an anonymous source (who is surely more reliable than our Bothan spy) that has told them that Target will also soon be axing the Xbox 360 Core.

That image above (taken from Joystiq), is the clearest image they have of what looks like the word “Discontinued” on the Xbox 360 Core.

Now, I’ve been a long-time defender of the Core. I think it is a good console for someone who may not have the financial means to invest in a Premium console, but still want to get in on the fun. If Microsoft is, in fact, axing the Xbox 360 Core, then that may alienate an entire segment of their fanbase that would then only have the Wii as their means of gaming on a budget.

Also, that picture absolutely sucks.

[Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Target, Xbox 360 Core

There has been a lot of controversy regarding a recently posted rumor regarding SEGA’s possible Tokyo Game Show line-up. Now, I was originally very defensive of this piece because of who sent it in. He, a long-time go-to guy named Rob, has sent me exclusive tips for four years, and until this most recent one, they were ALL accurate.

Regardless, after the link had been posted by reader “Cedge”, I immediately contacted Rob via GoogleIM.

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“Next generation consoles like the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 do not offer the sufficient power (to assure the quality of gameplay Crytek demands for Crysis)” .. ahh.. a quote I remember so well, said by Bernd Diemer (Senior Game Designer) at Leipzig just one year ago this month.

Now it seems, after an interview with CVG, the CEO of Crytek Cevat Yerli changed Crytek’s stance with this quote, “Crysis could be on the 360 or PS3.” Of course he makes no mention of this happening and even states that there are no plans for Crysis on consoles currently. So this is just pure gossip. Still, a good excuse to check out a brand new video put out yesterday by EA, though Far Cry sucked ass and a half, that doesn’t mean that one can’t enjoy one of the most beautiful looking games made to date:

[See Xbox360Fanboy's Timeline of Crysis on Consoles Rumors]
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Crysis, Crytek, Xbox 360, PC Gaming, EA

A site that is new to me, Xbox Family, has posted a news flash on games that will require the hard drive. I am not sure how to take this, as they list no source on the issue. All links I could find about the subject link back to the XboxFamily.com site as the source. They have an image of an icon that says “HARD DISK DRIVE REQUIRED” .. however that image has been available since the release of “Football Manager 2006,” a game that did in fact require a hard drive to play (see this Ars article from Feb 8, 2006 with the image). However, that was a UK release, so for the states, we were in later months blessed with Final Fantasy XI, which also required the hard drive.

Next to add more fuel to all this, was the very recent Call of Duty 4 concept box art, that did have an icon that said “Storage Required,” however, Infinity Ward confirmed that storage will not be required. It does beg the question though, why would they have that image available in the first place, as it is different that the image that was used on Football manager (header image to this post shows the Football Manager box art icon on the left and the Call of Duty 4 concept box art icon on the right for comparisons).
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Bizarre Creations has made a news post up debunking a rumor that has spread through the internets, of a problem with them fitting some of their level designs onto a DVD9 disc. It was very easy though to read into what was said by one of the Bizarre staff members, Ben:

“You won’t see different times of day per city because this involves recreating all the textures again (one for day and one for night). Whilst this wasn’t a problem for our dev team, it was a problem fitting all this data onto a single DVD.”

That was posted on the 27th, so with four days of buzz behind this statement on the internet, which is basically equal to a hundred human years, they finally took the time to reply yesterday:

“We’ve never had to cut content to fit on the disc, and we probably never will.”

That is the short answer, but basically he goes into how before creating the game itself, they already know the medium they are working on, thus the game is created with the factor of how big a total file size can be. As I re-read his post over and over and over, it does leave me with the feeling that working with the DVD medium can be a pain, but he never does say anything to that effect, maybe its just me, I suggest reading the full reply after the break (nice big image included that does really get you to appreciate the beauty of this title):
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President Fumiaki Tanaka of Konami Digital Entertainment stated at Konami’s analyst meeting, “As we are aware of the popularity and hardware-driving power of this software franchise, going forwards we are open to taking this franchise across to other platforms.” (via Kotaku)

Gamepro sat down with Microsoft’s Shane Kim, who pulled out this lovely quote speaking on Metal Gear, “If you look at it from an economic standpoint, third parties have to support more than one platform. That’s their business model. Titles are just getting way too expensive. How much do you think that Konami is spending on MGS4? So economically they’ve got to leverage that the best that they can. So it’s really up to the first parties to create the content that’s going to differentiate the platforms and that’s where we think we have the competitive advantage.” (Via Gamepro)

And finally, I understand that Hideo Kojima has stated that Metal Gear Solid 4 is a “PS3 Exclusive,” .. however, this is Konami’s call, not Kojimas.

My personal prediction, there will be a Metal Gear game on the 360, even if it isn’t “Guns of the Patriots,” Konami has a good relationship with Microsoft and to back what Shane Kim stated, this is just being realistic, Konami needs to make their money back on the production of the game for the PS3, there is not enough PS3’s in existence to ensure that they make as much money as they should with this franchise. Either way, bets are on it is only exclusive for a year. As a final note, jeebus, I get tired of this coming to 360 then not coming to 360 every other week, but on the other hand, I guess if people weren’t so vocal about this the companies wouldn’t know how much 360 owners want this on their system.

NOTE: If this turns out to all be smoke that is being blown up my ass by lazy Wal-Mart employees, I will be royally, ROYALLY pissed!

A picture says a thousand words, doesn’t it? Here is an actual in-store flier from Wal-Mart, and you can plainly see the Xbox 360 console with the big numbers “$349″ above it. That is, in fact, an Xbox 360 Premium Console selling for $349 at Wal-Mart. But this is no sale, oh no. See the red? That’s the famous Wal-Mart “Rollback” logo, meaning that this is the NEW price of the Xbox 360 Premium!

But as of now, Microsoft hasn’t returned my many e-mails regarding the matter, so I, JW, have taken the news into my own hands, and have begun calling EVERY SUPER WAL-MART I CAN FIND, searching for answers. Little by little, the puzzle is starting to come together!

INFO GATHERED (All info gathered is subject to change with more inquiry)
Xbox 360 Elite will rollback to $399, Xbox 360 Premium to $349, and Xbox 360 Core to $299
Rollback will take effect “sometime this week”, possibly as early as Sunday.

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It was only last week that we were reporting the rumors of a price drop slated for August 1st, and now it seems like we may very well be seeing another price drop, slated for August 8th.

Several websites, including Xbox-Scene, and The Hollywood Reporter are now reporting that, according to an insider at Microsoft, there will be a $50 price drop on the Xbox 360 on August 8th.

While I have yet to receive a reply from Microsoft regarding the matter, it’s hard to comprehend that they’ll acknowledge what can, at best, be described as a rumor. But we also have to keep in mind that these rumors have persisted for months, gaining new steam on the heels of the Sony “price-cut” that sent their sales up 135%.

The timing also bodes well for Microsoft as a whole. A price-cut in the early part of August will, I believe, swing some of the momentum towards Microsoft. When you account for the fact that games such as BioShock, Madden NFL 08 and the Xbox 360 exclusive (SCORE!) Halo 3 are all on the horizon, this could give Microsoft a hell of a push going into the Holiday season.

[Xbox-Scene]
[The Hollywood Reporter]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Rumor Mill, Price Drop

Rumors have persisted for a long time about an Xbox 360 price drop. Michael Pachter (what does he do? Seriously, he’s like Mel Kiper! You see him once a year (around E3), and he’s a ghost the rest of the time) even went so far as to tell us to “expect” a price drop for the Xbox 360.

Well, apparently we can “expect” those price drops sooner rather than later. According to several “internet reports”, a major (although as yet unnamed) Canadian retailer has confirmed that the Xbox 360 is set to receive an official $100 price-cut on all SKUs. What that means, in short, is that the Xbox 360 will officially become the cheapest console on the market.

Xbox 360 Core - $199 (includes memory card)

Nintendo Wii - $249

Xbox 360 Premium - $249

Xbox 360 Elite - $399

Playstation 3 - $599 ($499 for 60GB SKU)

At the time of this writing, Microsoft has yet to respond to my inqueries. But rest assured, loyal readers, I’m not going to rest until we’re given an answer to this.

[MaxConsole]

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Price Drop, Rumor

Before I begin, let me just tell you that there is a lot of bad news for the Xbox 360 today. A lot. Just warning you now, so let’s get this show on the road…

I think it can be said that we all are well aware of Microsoft’s persisting and frustrating issues regarding the design of the console. I, even the most staunch and stubborn Xbox 360 fanboy, can not help but acknowledge that Microsoft has a hell of a problem with the continued Red Rings of Death issue. Microsoft has come up with a possible way to stop these Ring of Death issues with a complete redesign of the console, codenamed “Falcon”. But while most of us didn’t expect to see this new, redesigned Xbox 360 until sometime in late 2008, it appears as though Microsoft has accelerated the design process.

A memo leaked from one of the Chinese manufacturers states that the plans to begin setting 65nm processor chips in the mainboards of the consoles have already begun. This means that we’ll be seeing the new ‘Falcon’ 360s on store shelves sometime in or near September, which is good, because I’m tired of my Xbox 360 crapping out on me. And I’m sure you are, too.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Ring of Death, Falcon