Some people may consider the new 120GB Xbox 360 hard drive to be a complete rip-off a little expensive at $179 considering that you can buy a 2.5" external drive of the same capacity for under $100. And Microsoft's justification for the price? "I know it sounds expensive to a lot of consumers but we are comparable to those types of drives and also we have to go through a lot more testing and security," said Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg. Anyway, Xbox-Scene has a good guide on how you can make your own working 120GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 at a much lower price.

First you will need to get hold of a Western Digital Scorpio BEVS-LAT drive (it's not too expensive and it's the only drive that is known to work). Next you need to download Hddhacker v0.90 (built by The Specialist) and dump your hddss.bin firmware file from your 20GB Xbox drive onto a floppy disk by attaching the drive to a SATA controller (most modern motherboards should be fine), and then flash this file to the new 120GB drive. After this your drive should be ready to go. For full details on this procedure, read the guide on Xbox-Scene. This is one area where the PS3 can clearly show its superiority, as users can add their own 2.5" drive without voiding the warranty. Which reminds me, the warranty on both the new drive and the Xbox will probably be useless after doing this, so keep that in mind!



Warning: Microsoft is now blocking modded consoles from Xbox Live!, so it is recommended you DO NOT try this mod!

The folks at Xbox have updated the original Xbox list of games playable on the Xbox 360 game console. This backwards compatibility update adds some rare games such as Panzer Dragoon ORTA, Jet Set Radio Future, Pandemic's Mercenaries, Unreal Championship 2 and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee. The full list of games is here.
Note: A software emulator is required for each original Xbox game you play on your Xbox 360 console.

Katamari is a series of games with an arcade-like goal of rolling a gigantic ball, trying to attach the most stuff to it. The game was met with so much success, that various sequels, such as Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari have been released. Namco has announced that they are developing even more sequels. 'Beautiful Katamari' will have over fifty playable characters (which have the same abilities), large-as-globe maps, and network capability (possibility of massive multiplayer Katamari battles?). Namco is 50% done creating an Xbox360 and PS3 version of this game, and we should get a Nintendo Wii and DS version sometime later. The reason for the delay of the development of this game on Nintendo consoles is the uniqueness of the controller. It should not cause too large of a delay, however. There is no word as to when we can expect betas of this game, or when it will be done.

NEW YORK - April 18, 2007 - Microsoft Corp. and NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. today made video game history by announcing the first-ever Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship, presented by Quiznos. From April 25 to May 9, fans of one of the world's most beloved video games of all time will compete on the classic arcade game via Xbox LIVE Arcade on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, evolving "Pac-Man" gameplay from the local pizza parlors and arcades of the '80s to the Xbox 360 and its online gaming community with more than 6 million members. The top finalists from participating countries around the world will be flown to New York City for the finals on June 5, with the winner being crowned the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Champion by Toru Iwatani, the creator of "Pac-Man."

Since launching in 1980 in Japan and in 1981 around the world, "Pac-Man," its host of ghosts and the famous "wakka wakka wakka" sound have become global pop culture icons. This arcade game played an instrumental role in establishing the video game industry in the '80s, while the launch of Xbox LIVE in 2002 was a key factor behind the rapid growth in popularity of online gaming. Today, Xbox LIVE Arcade is the premier online destination for digitally distributed, high-definition games - with more than 25 million downloads - offering fans of "Pac-Man" across the globe a great opportunity to connect, compete and enjoy the fun through the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship.

REDMOND, Wash. - April 10, 2007 - Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie Studios today confirmed the multiplayer beta of "Halo 3" will debut to audiences worldwide via Xbox LIVE on May 16 at 5 a.m. PDT and run through June 6 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 console this fall, "Halo 3" is the highly anticipated third chapter in the groundbreaking "Halo" trilogy from legendary developers Bungie. "Halo 3" lets gamers experience Master Chief's greatest battle as he launches an epic mission to stop the Covenant, destroy the impending Flood threat and ultimately save mankind.

Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft Windows-based PCs and Windows Mobile-powered devices. With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts.

There have been rumors of an Xbox keyboard, with confirmation today. Microsoft will be launching a thumb keyboard addon, which plugs into the audio/data port of your controller. The features in short are:

• The thumb keyboard plugs into the headphone / data jack on the bottom of the controller. It comes bundled with its own headset, since it doesn't pass the signal through, and cannot work with current peripherals.
• The keyboard is backlit; the chat bubble icon in the photos will be an MSN icon.
• It will be released in the summer. No word on how much, though.
• We got a chance to check it out. The tactility is nice, but it's a bit heavy with all the rest of the weight of the 360 controller.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs for short) have recently gained a lot of momentum. Games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars continue to suck in subscribers, who enjoy the games so much they sometimes lose almost all traces of a social life to play these games. The maker of Guild Wars has shown interest in getting their MMORPG onto consoles, which would greatly expand their market. However, one of the makers of Guild Wars also says that their current focus is for the PC platform, and they currently have no plans on getting the original Guild Wars onto a console. Perhaps the sequel will find it's way onto Microsoft and Sony gaming consoles.

Regardless of whether or not Guild Wars actually follows through, they do show a market trend of moving games towards consoles to tap their rather large market share.

Anyone hoping to plug in a 120GB hard drive into their Xbox is going to have to pay a figurative pretty penny for the privilege. To replace your 20GB Xbox360 hard drive with a 120GB version will cost the end user roughly $180 USD. Most people would argue that this is an absolutely ridiculous price, considering you can get a small enclosed external hard drive with the same capacity for less than $100 USD ($120 USD when it's not on sale). Microsoft said in a podcast exactly why they are making a 120GB hard drive a $180 attachment. Microsoft claims that everything in their hard drive is designed specifically for the Xbox 360. This means that you don't have to configure anything when you install this new hard drive, it's just plug-and-play. Microsoft has also put their Xbox360 hard drives through rigorous tests several times, a claim upon which other manufacturers aren't "able to deliver" according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is beginning to get a reputation for having its console ads banned, with the latest advertisement being banned because of the image created over dangerous driving. The ad featured a street car chase but has been withdrawn from the air in the UK after a statement by the Advertising Standards Agency. "We were concerned that the ad gave the impression that reckless street car racing was exciting and fun, and considered that was compounded by the congratulations offered to the other driver at the end of the race by the other young men involved," said the ASA, and although Microsoft argued that the ad gave a note at the end informing watchers that the stunts were performed in a controlled environment, this wasn't enough for the ASA. This other banned Xbox ads, including the recent "Jump In" advert for the 360 with the invisible guns, and the "Life is Short" advert for the first Xbox which most people should remember with the flight to the coffin.

Halo fans everywhere will be pleased to know that Bungie isn't spending all of it's attention on Halo 3 and Halo 2 Vista. Classic Halo maps, such as Hang em High and Derelict, have found themselves a very nice home on the Xbox 360 version of Halo 2. The maps will cost a mere $4, as download-able add-ons available through the in-game content downloader. It's good to see that Bungie has given the maps a visual refresh, as you can see in the (very small) screenshots below.

Peter Jackson, the director of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings film trilogy, is reported to have signed a production a deal with Microsoft for the Xbox 360. The deal should see Jackson producing two interactive series for the console in episodic format, with one possibly based on the Halo series and the other being brand new. According to the head of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, the two projects are still in the very early design stages, but he also emphasised that the company is backing episodic content on the 360. There have been rumours of a deal for some time now, with speculation that Jackson could even make the next Halo game, but this was confirmed to be untrue some months back. Jackson will be developing his game series alongside new game studio Wingnut Interactive.

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007, which runs in San Francisco from March 5 to 9, Microsoft announced plans to launch a 512MB memory unit for the Xbox 360 game console. The company also said it will allow an increase in the official size limit of Xbox LIVE Arcade games from 50MB to 150MB.

The 512MB memory unit, available worldwide beginning April 3, 2007, will retail for an estimated retail price of US$49.99 in North America, according to Microsoft. The 512MB memory unit will be pre-loaded with the Xbox LIVE Arcade game "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" from developer Bizarre Creations for a limited time. The original 64MB memory unit will simultaneously drop in price from an estimated retail price of US$39.99 to US$29.99, according to Microsoft.

Beginning today, the Xbox LIVE Arcade game size limit has increased from 50MB to 150MB, giving developers greater flexibility in game design, as well as expanding the opportunity to add advanced game features while still keeping games compact, noted Microsoft.

Gaming consoles are getting more and more popular these days. That is not only because the integrated hardware is fast and games will be compatible for years but they are much more than a stupid gaming box. You can play movies utilitzing CDs, DVDs or even Blu-Ray discs, surf the net and whatnot. But what about their power consumption? All these shiny features won't come for free, do they? Now the guys from HardCoreWare come into play. They took a PS3, a Wii and a XBOX 360, fired them up with different tasks and compared the power consumption to a mid sized gaming rig. You will be surprised with what conclusion they came up with.

Australian retailers know just as well as we do that the PS3 will come to Australia and other PAL territories on March 23rd. Harvey Norman Bondi Junction decided to take advertising to a new level. In what they call "an innocent mistake", Harvey Norman took an Xbox360, a piece of cardboard, and called it a PS3. Of course, they weren't selling the "display model". Good thing too, considering they were caught by their own customers. Harvey Norman probably used an Xbox360 and a piece of cardboard to advertise the PS3 due to the lack of Australian availability of the PS3, as well as the price of getting an American/Japanese one to Australia.

The Unreal 3 engine by Epic has been getting a ton of good press, seeing as it has been included in very successful games such as Gears of War. Epic Games has confirmed two things about it's own use of Unreal 3. The first is that Unreal Tournament 2007 will be renamed Unreal Tournament 3. It is unclear as to why, considering that Unreal Tournament 2004 was technically the fourth release in the Unreal Tournament series. The second thing that Epic confirmed was that Xbox360 will also see a version of Unreal Tournament 2007.

Microsoft, having topped the holiday sales of all next generation consoles, is enjoying their popularity. Thanks to a bunch of great titles, good hardware, and an awesome online community, the Xbox series is in a much better position than it was back in 2001 when it was first released. However, Microsoft is also claiming that 50% of all Xbox360 owners never owned an original Xbox. "So there are lots of new people coming in...what we're actually finding is that our customer set is broadening, which we think is important," says Microsoft's Chris Satchell.

In the United States, the Xbox360 wiped the floor with all the other next-generation consoles, figuratively speaking in terms of console sales. The Xbox360 sold 1.1 million consoles, which beat the amount of Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 sales. However, while the Xbox360 may be the champion of the new, it has yet to beat the old. Sony managed to sell 1.4 million PlayStation 2s over the holidays in the United States. Whether or not the PlayStation 2 will continue selling this well, only time will tell. PlayStation 2 sales will likely diminish as more games come out exclusively for next-gen consoles, and next-gen consoles have less production issues (low supply, high demand).

Fenner Investments sues Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo for infringing on its joystick

It sounds too nonsensical to be true, but Texas-based Fenner Investments sued all three console manufacturers for infringing their copyright on a "low-voltage joystick port interface" (patent number 6,297,751). The patent basically states:

The joystick port interface according the present invention is a low power port which interfaces a typical 5 Volt joystick peripheral device with a lower power computer port. The low-voltage joystick port interface includes a bidirectional buffer circuit and a pulse generator which, together, generate a digital pulse signal, representing a joystick coordinate position, based on an input analog measurement signal.

If Fenner wins the lawsuits, then they will succeed in banning all three consoles from market, as they are seeking damages and an injunction against the consoles.

Guitar Hero 2 will soon find a home on the Xbox360. The game, which allows players to (pretend they can) play amazing guitar-heavy songs, such as "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, is confirmed not to be a straight PS2-to-Xbox360 port. The Xbox360 version will have all the tracks of the original Guitar Hero 2, in addition to the following, listed by the respective section the tracks are put in.

• Opening Licks: The Toadies -- "Possum Kingdom"
• Amp Warmers: Pearl Jam -- "Life Wasted"
• String Snappers: Alice Cooper -- "Billion Dollar Babies"
• Thrash and Burn: Deep Purple -- "Hush"
• Return of the Shred: Rick Derringer -- "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo"
• Relentless Rifts: My Chemical Romance -- "Dead"
• Furious Fretwork: Danzig -- "Mother"

Microsoft is continuing to develop its latest console, this time with an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) update. Microsoft itself will not be providing the content that is available, this responsibility will instead fall upon existing providers, with AT&T rumoured to be one of these. Websites first started to report this last Saturday, but it has only just been confirmed by Microsoft, and they have not yet announced which providers will to be used. If the company chooses to allow users to record the content or uses video on demand, the rumoured 120GB hard drive now seems all the more likely. The Xbox 360 was already capable of streaming high definition video from a PC, but the console will now be capable of HD TV programmes directly through a broadband connection.

Microsoft has officially sold 10.4 million Xbox360 consoles to retail stores, which is over 400,000 consoles more than they expected to sell. Microsoft is expected to announce this tomorrow night, along with their plans for "IPTV", or Internet Protocol TeleVision. Whether or not Microsoft plans on becoming a provider of IPTV, only time will tell. However, the plans for IPTV coincide very nicely with the new Xbox 360 "Zephyr", which has a 120GB hard drive for storing all that television, and an HDMI port for acting like a set top box.

There was a big surprise at the 23rd Chaos Computer Conference. A masked hacker demonstrated an Xbox 360 running a Linux and Mac OS logo on the console, followed by the phrase "coming soon". He used a copy of the King Kong game and a PCB plugged into a notebook to place the logos of the two operating systems on the Xbox 360. While giving the demonstration, the hacker did not say a single word. You can watch the YouTube videos here and here.

While there is certainly not a shortage of new and interesting ways to completely trash a dead Xbox(360), the guys at Waterjets have found one of the best. They took a bunch of dead Xboxs and Xbox360s and subjected them to their extremely precise power washers. The result? Some very pretty cutouts of Xbox hardware. The power washers handled circuitry, heatsink and case alike with relative ease, making everything from an X in the middle of an Xbox to a 360 degree hole in the Xbox360. Waterjets' work is below.

According to industry sources, plans to produce CPUs for the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console on 65nm at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing will be pushed back until the middle of 2007. In April 2006, Chartered announced that it had signed an agreement with Microsoft to manufacture CPUs for the Xbox 360 console on 65nm Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology starting in the first quarter of 2007. Chartered is already a major foundry partner for producing Microsoft's Xbox 360 CPUs on 90nm technology. Both companies declined to comment on the news.