EVERYTHING Xbox 360

[TheApprentice]

New extended Resident Evil 5 trailer.  Has a lot of gameplay footage in it.

One word:  god-DAMNNNNN!!!   (OK that might be two words )

Can you say 'FO SHIZZLE!!?'

lol agreed
It came out on the Playstation network...
It fricking awesome!

[Arcmanov]

Very interesting article here on what makes the whole PMC (Private Military Contractor) machinery tick.
I posted this here because the rise of the PMCs serves as a backdrop to the upcoming Army Of Two game from EA.

Very eye-opening interview with a former Navy-SEAL.  I certainly learned a thing or two from this.

Oh yeah, and I'm getting this game too.  Launches on November 15th 2007 for Xbox 360 (and PS3, so don't fret Apprentice ).

[TheApprentice]

^lol thanks for the additional info...

But I not too interested in this title strangely....Is just that the shooter genre gonna be so saturated then...
i.e. Haze, UT3, Medal of Honor Airborne, Call of Duty 4...

Might appeal to me more later on though...

[woodyear99]

360 price drop?

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/archives/walmart-toys-r-us-ads-confirm-50-xbox-360-price-cut.php

[TheApprentice]

^yea

don;t blame microsoft though...

Since PS3's price drop its been selling like crazy...

+ people lose alot of faith in microsoft over failing 360's....
A small price cut might entice them to buy the 360 along with the extended warranty....

(but neither of those could cater for the suffering u have to go through when sending in ur 360 for repair)

[woodyear99]

Yeah I know d pain

[chinarakinda]

CHIPMAKER NOW MAKING 65nm 360 CPUs, PLANNING 45nm CPU?
Singaporean manufacturer began pumping out cooler chipset last quarter, hints that a smaller version could be en route.



Last month, Microsoft announced one of the costliest console problems in game-industry history. Following rising numbers of reports of Xbox 360 hardware failures, the company announced it would take a $1.08 billion charge to replace or fix any 360 that suffered the "red ring of death" for up to three years after its purchase. The extension was retroactive, meaning it applies to all consoles sold since the 360's November 2005 launch.

Microsoft wouldn't identify the exact cause of the red-ring failure, which is widely believed to be caused by the 360's CPU overheating. The console uses a customized chip based on three IBM 3.2GHz PowerPC cores made with a 90-nanometer manufacturing process. The chip's high processing power causes it to run at a high temperature, which requires the console's notoriously noisy fan to cool. Modders have also discovered additional heat sinks in refurbished 360s, bolstering the overheating theory.

The 360's cook off days are numbered, though. Last year, Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing announced a deal with Microsoft to make CPUs for the 360 by using a 65-nanometer process. The smaller size means more chips per production batch, which cuts manufacturing costs. It also makes for a smaller, more energy-efficient CPU--one that generates less heat and is less likely to burn out.

Microsoft promised the first batch of 65nm CPU-equipped 360s would arrive sometime this year, with recent reports pegging them as coming in the fall. As part of a recent earnings conference call, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing confirmed that it began manufacturing the chips last quarter--raising the possibility they could arrive even sooner.

More interestingly, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing president and CEO Chia Song Hwee strongly hinted that 360s would be getting even smaller, cooler CPUs next year. During the conference call, he was asked by an analyst about the level of interest from electronics manufacturers in 45-nanometer process chips, which will begin arriving in the second half of 2008.

"On the 45[nm] engagement, we have a pretty wide spread of products and customers relative to where we were at the similar stage at 65[nm]," said Hwee. "So from video-game-device type of products to baseband to wireless communication type of devices, we have customers engaged in those areas." When asked again about the 45nm chips, Hwee said that, "We have customer interest in products in CPUs...that go into video game devices."

Source: gamespot.com

[TheApprentice]

Is Your 360 A Winner? Check



So there are two kinds of 360 on the market. There are the ones without the new heatsink. These have a tendency to...die horribly. And there are those with the new heatsink, which seem to work a lot better. Which one have you got? Ben Heck can help you, with his highly scientific methodology. First, get a camera. Then put your camera on top of an overturned 360. Then take a picture. If you can see your DVD drive, you're fresh outta luck. If you can't see it, you've got a new heatsink in there and your luck reserves are in good shape.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/highly-scientific/is-your-360-a-winner-check-285576.php

[woodyear99]

Hehe I didn't have to do that check :p My system let me know with 3 red lights on the front
Hmmmm......must......play........halo......3.......

[TheApprentice]

Face it: the Xbox 360 isn't quite up to snuff. The design is flawed, leading to an abnormal number of machines konking out. Since Microsoft won't reveal the details of what exactly is causing the problems, Japanese news source Nikkei had a thermal design expert analyze the 360's heat radiation system. Two Xbox 360's were used for the investigation: one purchased in 2005, and the other that was repaired in May 2007. Their findings?


• The temperature gap with room temp was 22 degrees C. "When designing consumer products, it is common to seek a temperature gap of around 10 degrees C between exhaust and room temperatures," the thermal design expert said. "The 22 degrees C is quite a large gap..."
• The cooling fan was half of desktop PCs — apparently to reduce noise.
• The expert pointed out, "The heat sink on the graphics LSI is so small, I wonder if it can really cool down the board." The reason for this? Apparently, Microsoft had to downsized graphics LSI heat sink so that the DVD drive could be placed above it.
• In five minutes after booting up a game, the graphic LSI heat sink temp rose to 70 degrees C. In 15 minutes, the temperature for the microprocessor heat sink stabilized at 58 degrees, but the graphics LSI heat sink reached 80 degrees C. If the room temperature was high (like 35 degrees C), the heat sink could possibly hit 100 degrees C. What's more, if the vents were clogged with dust, the temperature could also increase.
• The console repaired in May 2007 did not have a new heat sink placed in it.
This is bad design. Really, really bad.
Fragile Part of Xbox 360?

http://kotaku.com/gaming/japan-explains/why-xbox-360s-heat-up-and-crap-out-286202.php

[shivadee]

you really think...after pre testing it in Japan before US release....with the time and knowhow to remove bugs and fix issues like this ....they LEFT those flaws there without knowing about it? C'mon ppl.
Advertising....FREE advertising.

[TheApprentice]

The rampant speculation, the endless images of circulars, the bogs of "insider emails" are all correct: The Xbox 360 is getting a $50 price drop starting this Wednesday, Microsoft announced tonight.

As of Wednesday the Elite will be $449, the Halo Limited Edition Xbox 360 (when it hits) will be $399, the standard will be $349 and the core will be $279.

The price drop is meant to be timed to the upcoming release of Madden 08, said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, as a way to grab up all of those Playstation 2 Madden fans who haven't yet upgraded to the Playstation 3.

"Madden is the number one selling game, and we felt like that was the right title to lead with," he said. "We know Madden will bring a lot of PS2 owners into the store and that's a specific reason for this timing. We feel we have the showcase platform for Madden this year and with this drop we hope to be the home for those gamers this season."

Greenberg said that the decision to time the price drop with the release of Madden has been in the works for a very long time and that the 360 price drop has nothing to do with the recent PS3 pricing flux.

"We've had this on our plans for a long time, an extremely long time," he said. "We did not make this decision even heading into E3, this is all based on before hand. We had the first media briefing (at E3) so we could have been the first to announce it, but it was never on our calendar. The benefit of pre-planning, of having this time, outweighed being one-upped, perhaps, at E3."

Greenberg pointed out that the 360 has been the same price for 21 months, the longest any console has maintained their launch price.

Too bad Microsoft didn't drop the core down a bit more and make it competitive with the Wii. I think $249 would have made things very interesting for Nintendo.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/it.s-official/microsoft-drops-xbox-360-price-286600.php

[woodyear99]

Hmm maybe now I can take another chance with the rings of death :p hopefully get one with that new heatsink everyone raving about....

[Redlum08]

Hmm maybe now I can take another chance with the rings of death :p hopefully get one with that new heatsink everyone raving about....

That's one of the reasons I am sure they can afford too, since the 65nm chip is less expensive. CowSquad's new Core runs cool, so we speculate it is running on the new 65nm chip, plus apparently he says there are more holes in the heatsink.

[Arcmanov]

Now check THIS out.

Wii-mote on the 360......nuff said.



Playing Halo 2 no less.  Allow the video to load completely, and then prepare to be amazed. 

[BloodWar]

Yo ghost recon 2 demo out on xbox live yet? i suppose it would be out before on psn, i think its been out a week on psn. I never played the first one but after playing demo DaMn! ok have fun cya xD.

[Redlum08]

Yo ghost recon 2 demo out on xbox live yet? i suppose it would be out before on psn, i think its been out a week on psn. I never played the first one but after playing demo DaMn! ok have fun cya xD.

Umm.....apparently you've been under a rock or something, GRAW 2 (FULL GAME) has been out on Xbox 360 for MONTHS!! and people have been playing it on Live for MONTHS! PS3 just getting is late, what a shame...

[BloodWar]

oh well so what im definitly getting this one it owns so how is the full game is story good? i havent played first part so i dont know much about it. Oh and btw extra multiplayer maps exclusive for ps3 yay!

[Redlum08]

Price drop: Those price drops will certainly make thing interesting over the course of the next couple months, especially with Mass Effect, Halo 3 and Madden on the way. I am still undecided as to which console to buy first (clearly i ent limitiing myself to just 1) but i would feel alot better about the 360 if they would get those new chips installed pronto!

GRAW2: exclusive maps only stay exclusive for a few months then everyone can get em, it sucks imo. Story in GRAW2 kinda not important since basically you looking at a war.. i mean, the story will be the war more than anything else. I seriously doubt you gonna miss anything by not playing the first one, in fact, i think as a new player you might be better off playing only the second one and totally ignoring the first. I say this because from what i have read, not many significant improvements were made (not many were needed) so just grab a copy of the second one.. of course the fact that you gettign PS3 versio nmeans yo uhave to wait soo, hard luck.

Wiimote video: call me impressed... simply impressed.

I agree, fact is Xbox 360 has the upper hand with multi platform games due to the 1 year jump they have on the PS3. Graphics wise they are the same, Exclusive these days means a month or two later those same maps if not more will be out on Xbox Live for download. Honestly, I think they are already installing the 65nm chips as there are rumors of a 45nm chip that they are working on. So wait another month, I would say go with the Xbox 360 Laertes, besides we need another Trini to play Gears of War with. LOL

[Arcmanov]

Looks like HDMI connectivity may become standard on all new 360s.

Details.....