In what's seen as the first step towards a worldwide price cut, Microsoft has slashed the prices of the Xbox 360 gaming console on the Japanese market by margins that go up to 30%. Now the Xbox 360 Arcade is cheaper than the Nintendo Wii. And many analysts, like Colin Sebastian from Lazard Capital Markets and the ubiquitous Michael Patcher from Wedbush Morgan, are saying that prices are set to fall in the rest of the world just before Christmas in a move designed to spice up the appeal of the Microsoft console over its competitors. Well, I beg to differ. Cutting prices might lure some late adopters to the Microsoft-made device and... [read more >>] September 5 is the date when Microsoft will officially cut the price of the Xbox 360 line of consoles in North America, following the cut in Japan earlier in the week. The interesting thing in the press release that details the price cut is that it puts the emphasis on the Xbox 360 Arcade and on the way it offers the promise of social interaction. It reads "Imagine if friends and families had the ability to instantly watch movies from Netflix, live out their musical fantasies through "Rock Band 2" (Harmonix/MTV Games) and "Lips" (iNiS Corp./Microsoft Game Studios), star in their own Hollywood classics with "You're in the Movies," ... [read more >>] Microsoft is announcing that the Xbox 360 gaming console is set to receive a significant price cut on the Japanese market. Prices will be lowered by as much as 30%, which means that the Xbox 360 Arcade package will end up costing less than the Nintendo Wii. If you're looking for concrete prices, Reuters is reporting that for an Xbox 360 Arcade package you can now pay the equivalent of 183 dollars, which is around 8,000 yen. For comparison purposes, the Nintendo Wii is priced at 25,000 yen, which amounts to 231 dollars, while the PlayStation 3 is the priciest of the three, with buyers paying the equivalent of 368 dollars for a Sony... [read more >>] When game developers begin to talk about limits and maximum potential, hardware developers know it's time to create something new, powerful and shiny enough to keep the software boys busy for another 5 to 10 years. So when Rod Fergusson, who is the senior producer of the Gears of War 2 game, recently stated that he thought the Xbox 360 was nearing the limit of its graphical capabilities, you could almost hear the cries of the poor engineers working for Microsoft at the New Console We Are Not Talking About division. The senior developer was talking to Gamasutra as part of an in depth interview when he specifically said that "with t... [read more >>] 15:01. The LucasArts logo is very cool, with the little yellow guy throwing the light saber right at you and then going for a bit of Force lightning.15:03. Ahhh, loading times, how I hate them! Give me the Force!15:10. Force training is interesting, but the throwing mechanic seems a bit complicated. I suspect most throwing properly in the game will be done with low accuracy and with just a general idea of where you want the thrown object to go. The camera surely does not help and the inversion mechanic is somehow wrong.15:20. The idle animations of the apprentice are very nice. Too bad he says nothing interesting while playing around with h... [read more >>] Rumors are bad, bad things. On the one hand, they make you interested and excited regarding supposed products which look like the Holy Grail of gaming, while on the other hand, they set you up for the almost inevitable disappointment which follows when the said products fail to become concrete gaming realities. But there are those rumors which seem so genuine that you have to take a closer look at them.Now it seems that Microsoft might be planning a surprise release for this holiday season. In a nutshell, we're talking about a 199 dollar-Xbox 360 Arcade console which has a motion tracking controller included, along with a few demonstra... [read more >>] A few months after release, GTA IV seems to be creeping back into public attention. Not so long ago, Take Two announced that it would be porting the game to the PC and we recently saw some screens of the PC version of the game, which look downright amazing. And now Microsoft is trying to reassure Xbox 360 gamers that the much promised DLC is really arriving during the fall of 2008.Microsoft has sent a press release from the Leipzig Games Convention saying that "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in t... [read more >>] A new super chart is born, aiming to track the worldwide success and sales of videogames. The NPD Group, which tracks sales for the North American market, has joined forces with GfK Chart-Track Limited, which hails from London and focuses on Europe, and with Enterbrain from Tokyo, which provides data on the Japanese market. The new product they have created is called Top Global Markets Report and it will provide unit sales, share, dollar sales and other stats on the videogames that have a global outreach. John Pinder, who is the managing director of GfK Chart-Track Limited, said, "We are excited to be working more closely with NPD and Enter... [read more >>] It's not really the biggest surprise of all times, but at least it is an official confirmation from Microsoft: the original 20GB Xbox 360 console triples its storage capacity to 60GB, keeping the same recently lowered price: £199.99.The new console will be available in stores across the UK starting the 15th of August, offering three times more storage space for your Rock Band DLC and other XBLA titles - therefore being a very smart addition made by the manufacturing company, since it will increase their profits, too. But, in the end, it's a win-win situation, so we must admit we're happy with that!"No one device offers the de... [read more >>] Fable 2, the much talked about Peter Molyneux game, has a clear release date. It will be launched in North America on October 21 while Europe will get the game on October 24. Microsoft reps say that they are taking pre-orders for the game now and offered the details regarding the Collector's Edition of Fable 2.The game concept is pretty simple. You take the role of young hero in a fantasy world and make choices to turn that character into a heroic champion, a villain or anything else you can think of. Lionhead has added elements such as marriage, children, a real estate market and more options for character development in the game.Thos... [read more >>] | 
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