Wistron is reported to have phased out of Xbox 360 production and has ended its six year cooperation with Microsoft, according to DigiTimes. With Microsoft dropping its selling price of the Xbox 360 console earlier this year, it tried to push the profit pressure onto its three OEMs, Wistron (who accounted for 40% of shipments), Flextronics (40%) and Celestica (20%), by asking them to lower their OEM prices. Wistron decided to stop taking Xbox 360 orders at the end of the third quarter after trying to negotiate with Microsoft over a quarter long period. Flextronics has taken over the majority of the Xbox 360 orders, increasing its OEM production to over 60% of total shipments, while Celestica still remains as a second OEM. Sources at component makers commented that with Wistron giving up on the Xbox 360, not only can the company prevent lowering of its gross margin, which dropped to 5.49% in the third quarter, it will also benefit the company over its growth into different markets. Wistron declined the opportunity to comment on this report.

Microsoft already lets users to download retro games via Xbox LIVE Arcade, but the company is now planning to expand on its game downloads by offering users the ability to download full games from the original Xbox. With the release if the Xbox 360's next software update, which is planned for 2nd December, Microsoft will allow gamers to download from an initial selection of half a dozen Xbox games, with the first wave of titles being Burnout 3, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Fable, Indigo Prophecy and, of course, Halo: Combat Evolved. The pricing is expected to be 1200 Microsoft Points per game, which works out at about $15, and although no details about content protection were released, Microsoft is likely to prevent users sharing games between more than one account. Microsoft intends to gradually make more games available for download, although any Xbox 360 owners who are interested in this and only have a 20GB hard drive may want to invest in bigger storage.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 has seen a massive sales boost in Japan, with the system managing to outsell Sony's PlayStation 3, according to data from Media Create. The Microsoft console sold 17,673 units compared to only 3718 the previous week, fuelled by the uptake of Namco Bandai's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which debuted in the Japanese charts at number two this week. Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 17,434 units, a drop in performance compared to last week's 18,785 units. Sales of the PlayStation 2 also dropped, with 10,209 units sold. However, the latest handhelds are still the best-selling consoles in the region with the DS shifting 78,597 units and the PSP 59,714 units during the same period. And Nintendo continues to outperform both Sony and Microsoft by racking up another 37,617 sales of the Wii during the past week, helped in part by the release of first-party title Super Mario Galaxy.

In a bid to make the Xbox 360 more family-friendly than the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft is adding parental controls to the Xbox 360 Dashboard sometime in early December. This "family timer" feature will allow parents (or whoever knows the master password) to control exactly how much time gamers can spend, you know, gaming. The timer, to its credit, will give gamers warning a few minutes before the alloted time period is up, at which point the console simply shuts off. This will make running for save-points much more interesting indeed.

In related news, enforcing strict controls on when children can play video games may cause more problems than it's worth. A recent random-selection poll conducted by Microsoft of 800 families found that 45% of families create tension in the home by putting restrictions on digital content, and punishing children by barring them from their video games can lead to disturbing murder plots in extreme cases.

The Japanese sales figures for last month's console sales are in, and there's some good news for the PS3. Sony's console is now just over 63,000 units behind the Wii compared to almost 175,000 units in August (the figures for September weren't announced), which is a considerably smaller gap. The bad news for both consoles is that sales figures have plummeted from 245,653 units for the Wii and 81,541 units for the PS3 in August to just 110,415 units and 47,183 units respectively. It was better news for Microsoft, which saw its Xbox 360 sales figures rise from 11,288 units to 18,717 units over the same time period, although it still lags behind both other companies. The PS3's and 360's sales would have been helped slightly by both consoles experiencing a price drop during October, and the PS3 is expected to do well in November with the introduction of the new 40GB PS3 in Japan, along pre-Christmas sales affecting figures.

Microsoft has decided to be a little generous this month and is offering all Xbox LIVE Silver members the chance to trial four free days of Xbox LIVE Gold, from 23rd to 26th November, as part of an event being called Xtival. Silver members will have full access to complete Gold functionality, with Microsoft promising a number of bonuses including competitions and exclusive downloads. Current Xbox LIVE Gold members are also being promised a treat, although Microsoft is yet to announce any specific details. This should give all Xbox 360 owners in Europe the chance to trial Xbox LIVE Gold if they're undecided about whether it's worth paying for or not.

If you fancy yourself as something of a Halo 3 champion, then this might be just the thing for you. The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is running a Halo 3 competition from December 18th to December 22nd this year with a top prize of $1,000,000. The competition is open to all ages and requires no previous tournament experience - the downside is that it requires a fee of $275 to enter. If you're still interested then registration is now open, with the tournament being hosted in Dallas, Texas. For more details check out this site.

Just in time for the holiday seacon, Microsoft Corp. today released the long rumored new Xbox 360 Arcade console. Available in stores beginning today for $279.99, Xbox 360 Arcade console is the first Xbox 360 console to include five family-friendly games, a wireless controller, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connection to enable high-definition output if desired, and 256 MB of memory useful for storing games and entertainment content. The Xbox 360 Arcade console includes five best-selling games: PAC-MAN Championship Edition (NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.), UNO (Carbonated Games), Luxor 2 (MumboJumbo), Boom Boom Rocket (Electronic Arts Inc.) and Feeding Frenzy (Sprout Games).

Although not yet released, the existence of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Arcade package has been confirmed. The unit has been rumored to replace the Core model. Photographs confirm the $279.99 price point, and indicate that the games Boom-Boom Rocket, Pac-man, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, and Luxor 2 are indeed included on a compilation disc. Like the Core, the Arcade model comes without hard drive, but includes 256MB memory card, wireless controller, and HDMI port. The reason given for this early stock availability is human error - incorrect shipping date.

According to Dean Takahashi from San Jose Mercury News, Microsoft plans to outfit the Xbox 360 console with a new motherboard code-named Jasper. Jasper is the successor to the board dubbed Falcon, which is inside Xbox 360s currently hitting the market. Jasper will have a new version of the ATI Technologies graphics chip based on a 65nm manufacturing process. Currently, the graphics chip of the Xbox 360 uses a 90-nanometer process. With the new version, the graphics chip will dissipate less heat, be physically smaller, and cost less to produce. The new Jasper board will also have smaller memory chips. Microsoft declined to comment on the story.

Microsoft today confirmed that it is now giving holiday buyers even more value by including two free games - Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance - with every Xbox 360 console and Xbox 360 Elite, a retail savings of $90. The acclaimed Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance will both be included for the recently reduced prices of $349.99 for Xbox 360 and $449.99 for Xbox 360 Elite. Both bundles will be available at your favorite game retailer by the end of October.

It looks like Microsoft is planning to ditch the current core version of the Xbox 360 for a new model known as the Xbox 360 Arcade. It will share the same $279.99 price tag as its predecessor and will be sold with a 256MB memory card, which should allow users to save games without needing to spend at least $29.99 on a 64MB memory card. It was listed earlier on Amazon.com and the Toys "R" Us website, although it has since been removed from both, and rumours of other changes from the current core model include the possibility of five free Xbox Live Arcade games and perhaps a wireless controller as standard. The updated version of the console is scheduled to become available from 23rd October, with the Elite and Premium models expected to receive game bundles in order to make the Xbox 360 more attractive to consumers.

Although the PC version retailed nearly two weeks ago, Sierra Entertainment confirmed today that the Xbox 360 edition of World in Conflict, the award-winning action-strategy game developed by Massive Entertainment, will now ship in 2008. The game's original ship date was targeted for Fall 2007. More information is expected to be released in the coming months.

While manufacturing costs are cheaper than ever for Microsoft now that they are building them with the 65nm "Falcon" processor, there is no price cut in sight. Instead of detracting, Microsoft will be adding a few games for the avid gamer, gratis. A leaked Best Buy flyer revealed that we may soon be seeing the full versions of Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance with the Xbox 360 Platinum and Elite. This will probably boost holiday sales of the Xbox 360, considering most parents hate to buy a console for their children when the package does not even include any games for them to play.

Microsoft's new 65nm 'Falcon' processor for the Xbox 360 has been rumoured for some time now, but now it seems that Microsoft may finally have begun shipping consoles which use the new CPU. Posters on the official Xbox forums have spotted that the special edition Halo 3 consoles from lot number 734 onwards appear to have the 65nm processor, which will hopefully mean the standard Xbox consoles could start being shipped with it in the near future. With any luck, this will see an end to Microsoft's less than impressive failure rate for Xbox 360 consoles, where heat issues have been a common suspect in the so called "red ring of death". If you've just bought an Xbox 360 and want to find out if your new console is equipped with a Falcon CPU, take a look here.

After numerous problems with scratched disks, Halo 3 owners now have another problem to contend with. According to the Bungie Forums, a number of people are finding that their Xbox 360 throws out a message saying 'Cannot Read Disk' when loading maps, with some users even finding certain points of the game impossible to complete because the console freezes, despite the disk being in perfect condition. As well as this, Halo players are also reporting that they are experiencing a problem which results in them receiving an 'unsafe to respawn' error when trying to resume a Campaign after moving a hard drive between two consoles. Fortunately for Halo 3 fans Bungie is working on a fix for the second issue, although at present there doesn't seem to be any certain solution for the disk-read problem, so it may be best to contact them directly if you are affected by it.

In America, Halo 3 was met with great anticipation, and stores hosting midnight launch events soon found themselves without Halo 3 copies to sell. While Halo 3 did land Microsoft $170 million USD to very first day of launch, most of that money only came from America. In the UK, there were no such lines or hordes of excited gamers. For the first part, in fear of crowds rioting for Halo 3, the UK forbade stores to sell Halo 3 until 8AM local time. And when the stores could sell Halo 3, there wasn't much to see. While Microsoft was popping champagne bottles in celebration of the anticipated "movie-like" sales, the largest line waiting for Halo 3 in the UK topped out at around "a hand-full" of people.

Consumers report that Xbox Live is being pushed to the limits, presumably due to the high number of gamers playing Halo 3 online. Various Xbox Live users have experienced inaccurate game stats, performance slowdown, inability to access friend lists, and an inability to perform system updates. After experiencing trouble on Tuesday night, one gamer reputedly called Microsoft's help line in which a representative responded by saying that Xbox Live was experiencing network difficulties. The issue appears to be intermittent, however, as several gamers reported no problems outside of inaccurate stat data such as number of players online. Hundreds of thousands of Halo 3 owners have flocked to Xbox Live in an effort to play online since the game launched on Tuesday.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated launch of Halo 3, Microsoft has released updated statistics related to its Xbox 360 console. More than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold across the 37 countries where it is currently available. According to NPD data, US gamers have purchased more software for the Xbox 360 (24.3 million units) than for the PS3 and Wii combined (19.8 million units). There are more than 250 games available on the Xbox 360, and the console has the largest games attach rate of the current generation at 6.3 games sold per Xbox 360 owner. Xbox LIVE is currently available in 25 countries across the globe. The most popular games played over Xbox LIVE worldwide include Halo 2, Gears of War, Hexic HD, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty 2, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 3 - Advanced Warfighter, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Crackdown, and PGR3. The Xbox 360 console was launched worldwide in November 2005.

As we have seen in the past, one of the major franchises keeping Sony in the console race is Square Enix's Final Fantasy. In the past, Microsoft has repeatedly tried to buy out Final Fantasy. Fortunately for Sony fans everywhere, Square Enix has not yet yielded to the Microsoft. However, Square Enix recently promised Microsoft it's own RPG. Codenamed "Infinite Undiscovery", the game is "action-oriented, 'dynamic, compelling next-generation RPG' with a focus on real-time events."

Microsoft announced today the availability of its Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console. The console features an exclusive "Spartan green and gold" finish and comes bundled with a matching Xbox 360 wireless controller, 20GB hard drive, wired headset, Play & Charge Kit, HDMI port, and exclusive Halo 3 Gamer Pics and Theme (available via Xbox LIVE download). The Halo console retails now for $399. The Halo 3 game is not included in the package.

Sales of Nintendo's Wii games console soared to their highest this year during July as it continued to outsell both Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, shipping approximately 425,000 units. The PS3 also saw its strongest month of 2007, with sales rising from 95,000 units during June to 159,000 units during July following Sony's price drop for the 60GB model in North America. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360, which is still selling better than the PS3, saw its sales fall from 198,400 units to 170,000 units as the console continues to be plagued by reliability issues. Meanwhile the PlayStation 2 remains the second-best seller among home consoles, shipping 222,000 units during July, meaning the two least powerful consoles (excluding portable consoles) are selling best. These figures also mean that lifetime sales of the Wii have now surpassed those of the Xbox 360 as Nintendo continues to return to its former glory of the NES, SNES and N64 eras.

It seems as if there is no end to the Master Chief franchise. Microsoft recently developed an Xbox 360 specifically designed around Halo 3. £280 will get you an Xbox 360 Premium with a painstakingly detailed paint job. This console comes with a 20GB hard drive, a wired headset, a component-video AV cable, an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, an appropriately themed wireless controller, and exclusive Xbox Live content. Unfortunately, this console does not come with an actual copy of Halo 3. There is no reference as to when we can expect to see this console on store shelves.

Microsoft today announced an estimated retail price drop for its Xbox 360 family of consoles in the UK, as well as confirming the availability of the Xbox 360 Elite. On August 24, new estimated retail pricing will come into effect for Xbox 360 in the UK. The Xbox 360 Premium will be reduced by £30 ($60) to carry an estimated retail price of £249.99 ($497). The entry-level Xbox 360 Core console will also be reduced by £20 ($40) to carry an estimated retail price of £179.99 ($358). Xbox 360 Elite will carry an estimated retail price of £299.99 ($596) when it launches in the UK this Friday. Earlier this month, Microsoft slashed the price of its Xbox 360 console for the U.S. and Canadian region.

In order to be more competitive in the Australian market, Microsoft recently cut the price of the Xbox 360 Core and Premium systems. The Core system now costs AUD399.95, down from AUD499.95 which puts it at the same price of the Nintendo Wii. The Xbox 360 Premium is now AUD549.95, down from AUD649.95. Both figures include local GST taxes.