Microsoft’s Kim: No Blu-ray Drive Coming for Xbox 360 (again)
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From homemediamagazine.com (): <BR><I> Microsoft has nothing in development for any type of Blu-ray Disc add-on for the Xbox 360, said Microsoft Game Studios head Shane Kim, head of Microsoft Games Studios, during a roundtable at the company’s 360 Spring. “I know Blu-ray provides some visual boost for people who want a physical HD format, but we’re not seeing that format taking off, in general,” Kim said. “The DVD format is still doing well. Eventually, the price of Blu-ray players will come down to $150 and the value proposition of a $300 or $400 PlayStation 3 as a game console and movie player will be impacted.” “Video Marketplace helps us to speak to the more casual gaming audience,” said Kim, who added that he believes Microsoft chose the right strategy for distribution of entertainment via Video Marketplace. “There’s a lot more to our brand than just hardcore games.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: homemediamagazine.com ()
Moore: Leaving Microsoft ‘broke my heart’
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From gamesindustry.biz (): <BR><I> EA Sports president Peter Moore has spoken of his pain at quitting his former role as Xbox boss, revealing: “It broke my heart leaving Microsoft.” “I thoroughly enjoyed working at Microsoft, [but] there was a real yearning for getting back to what we as Brits living in America call home, which is the San Francisco Bay area,” he said. “And you get to the point in your life where you say, do I live where I work, or do I work where I live? For me, I would rather live in the Bay area – nothing against Seattle – and there’s only really one job I would have taken to leave Xbox and that’s president of EA Sports.” Presiding over his new multiformat empire, Moore must now embrace all systems. “My goal is to grow EA Sports, and I need the PS3 to continue to gain momentum, I’ve got to readjust my brand on Nintendo Wii, I’ve got to look at what we do on PC,” he offered. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: gamesindustry.biz(1) () | gamesindustry.biz(2) ()
Xbox 360 First System to Reach 10M in U.S. Console Sales This Generation
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From the press release: <BR><I> Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million, more than any other current-generation console. “This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.” This announcement comes on the heels of one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, “Grand Theft Auto IV,” on April 29, 2008. Gamers eager to experience “Grand Theft Auto IV” online helped boost Xbox LIVE global membership to over 12 million this month. Fueled by an unparalleled combination of access to friends and family, the best online gaming features, and the best entertainment content, the Xbox LIVE service has doubled in membership in only one year’s time. “Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership,” said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC. “Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base — 12 million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations.” Xbox 360 leads with the industry’s highest software attach rate, more than any other console this generation, and is home to the best-selling games. With the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV in April, Xbox 360 is now the home to more than 16 platinum titles that have sold through one million units or more including hits like “Halo 3,” “Madden NFL 07” and “Madden NFL 08,” “Gears of War,” “Guitar Hero II” and “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” and “Call of Duty?2, Call of Duty?3 and Call of Duty?4: Modern Warfare?,” giving Xbox 360 two times more platinum-selling titles than the Wii and a 16:2 lead over the PlayStation 3 in game titles topping one million in sales.Games not only sell better on the Xbox 360, they play better, too: Xbox 360 has 91 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher, compared with just 22 titles for Wii and 50 titles for PlayStation 3. </I><BR><BR>
‘Gay’ Player Name Banned By Xbox Live
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From consumerist.com (): <BR><I> Reader Grant says that his gamer tag “theGAYERgamer” was recently banned by Xbox Live. He hoped that a call to customer support would sort things out but all he received was a confusing explanation from an Xbox Live supervisor. According to the supervisor, it wasn’t that she found the name offensive, but it was the “greater Xbox community” that found it offensive. We think you deserve a better explanation than this. Despite what this Xbox Live CSR told you, we’re not convinced that it’s the “greater Xbox community’s” job to classify offensive material. At best it sounds like this “supervisor” was trying to pass the buck. At worst, it’s downright homophobic discrimination. Would “theHETEROgamer” also be banned? </I><BR><BR> Full Story: consumerist.com ()
Microsoft Says no new Slim Xbox 360s in 2009
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From engadget.com (): <BR><I> Sounds like that rumor about a new, smaller Xbox 360 coming next year might have a shorter life than a red-ringing console. Specifying the release of “slimmed down SKU in 2009”, Microsoft representative let us know today that “While we don’t normally comment on rumors like this, we can tell you that we have no plans to release a new console in 2009”. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: engadget.com ()
New Jasper Xbox 360 Probably Shipping First Week of September?
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From seattlepi.nwsource.com (): <BR><I> I had a tip off today that August 22nd is when Microsoft is scheduled to finish the first batch of “Jasper” motherboard powered Xbox 360. This are going to use a newer cooler 65 nm GPU as well as a 65 nm CPU. They are expected to hit the stores on the first week of September 2008. I can’t totally vouch for the source of this particular tip off but it seems to jive with what I’ve heard elsewhere. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: seattlepi.nwsource.com ()
Steve Ballmer dodges eggs at Hungarian University
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From engadget.com (): <BR><I> Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was recently forced to duck for cover under a barrage of (three) eggs during a speech he was giving at a Hungarian University. Apparently, the disgruntled egg-tosser was angry with Ballmer for “stealing billions in Hungarian taxpayer money,” which he demanded that Ballmer give back “right now.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: engadget.com ()
Shane Kim ‘Confident’ 360 will Last 7 Years
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From computerandvideogames.com (): <BR><I> Microsoft is “confident” that the Xbox 360 will live out at least a 7 year life-span, accommodating all three games in the Too Human trilogy, Microsoft Game Studios boss Shane Kim told CVG. “We said from the beginning that we expect the Xbox 360 to have a long tail,” he said. “Clearly we didn’t do that with the original Xbox, which was a strategic decision we made. Admittedly, we don’t have any experience doing this, but we’re pretty confident 360 will have a long tail.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: computerandvideogames.com ()
Xbox 360 Fails To Sell In India?
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From contentsutra.com (): <BR><I> As far as India is concerned, the xBox is the x’ed Box, if this report () from CNBC-TV18 is to be believed. The console has apparently been such a dismal failure in India that Microsoft is reportedly winding up operations in several Tier-I cities. MS’ Entertainment & Devices Division (EDD) has also withdrawn the marketing budget for India, and Ashim Mathur, Marketing Head for the division has planned to leave the company. Mathur has denied any such development, and the company has, expectedly, given CNBC-TV18 a standard response, that everything is going according to plan. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: contentsutra.com () | moneycontrol.com</a
Rumored Spring08 Update Touts ‘Motion Sensor’ Features, Game Installs, …
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From kotaku.com (): <BR><I> If Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year, the Spring system update for the Xbox 360 should be right around the corner. Today, an alleged and wholly unconfirmed list of changes included in the “Q2 2008” update was sent to us, supposedly forwarded from an internal source. The full list features about 80 new feature additions, tweaks and changes but was purported to be incomplete and subject to change. Some are simply interesting as curiosities, such as an option to purchase Xbox Live memberships for charities and the addition of a Media section for audio delivered through feeds, such as podcasts. Others sound more feature robust, such as Windows Live Mail integration and an expanded “Inside Xbox” with news, weather, entertainment, help and community features. Perhaps the most interesting additions are “Calibration options for motion sensor devices” for the Dashboard and “Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading” for Games. </I><BR><BR> Full Story: kotaku.com () (incl. full rumored changelog)
New chess match for Microsoft, Yahoo
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From moneycentral.msn.com (): <BR><I> Like a high school relationship, talks between Microsoft and Yahoo — called off earlier this month — have resumed. On Sunday, Microsoft said that it is “considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo.” Yahoo responded by saying that it is “open to pursuing any transaction which is in the best interest of our stockholders.” </I><BR><BR> Full Story: moneycentral.msn.com ()
Xbox Live BanHammer Specialist on ‘theGAYERgamer’ GamerTag
Xbox Scene :: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
From stepto’s blog () (FYI: MS employee): <BR><I> I’ve gotten some questions today regarding a recent name change my team issued against the gamertag “TheGayerGamer”. As I have mentioned before, the community brings content that may potentially violate the terms of use to our attention via the complaint system. For text and profile complaints we actually review every complaint against the Code of Conduct and Terms of Use to determine whether the complaint is accurate. We DO NOT take action based off the number of complaints, or how often people complain in a given day. All complaints we get into the system against a Gamertag or content are reduced to one so that our agents merely review the content against the terms of use. Whether it’s one complaint or 20, we will look at it the same way. That’s the metric we use and that we have publicly communicated that we use. And the Terms of Use clearly disallow content of a sexual nature: “[a member may not] Create a Gamertag or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members. This includes comments that look, sound like, stand for, hint at, abbreviate, or insinuate any of the following: profane words/phrases, sexually explicit language, sexual innuendo, hate speech (including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or religious slurs), illegal drugs/controlled substances, or illegal activities. Emphasis mine. We recieved a complaint on the Gamertag and determined that it did indeed contain sexual innuendo. Now granted, there could be an argument that the text is not pejorative to homosexuality and should therefore be allowed. But there is no context to explain that. Gamertags are visible to everyone and it would be hard for me to defend to a parent of a young child who saw it that the name did not contain content of a sexual nature. We view these situations objectively during our review under the terms of use. To answer the question another way, yes “TheStraighterGamer” or “TheHeterosexualgamer” would have gotten the same treatment and would have been found to be in violation and forced to be changed. We’ve actually done that to tags like that before. Racism, hate speech, bigotry, homophobia, all these things have no place on Xbox Live and are in violation of our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct. My team works hard reviewing the complaints every single day and taking action on them where appropriate. We also work very hard to be present in our LIVE community actively playing and looking for bad behavior so we can take action when we see it (for some proof of this you can check the Xbox Forums each morning for people complaining about their suspensions and that they were only ‘kidding around’!) The good news is that I have said before complaints as a % of our total users still remains a tiny tiny fraction. But be sure if you see bad behavior to let us know via the complaint system! </I><BR><BR>
