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  Microsoft: Xbox 360 Blu-ray Possible

  Microsoft isn’t so anti-Sony that it wouldn’t offer up an Xbox 360 Blu-ray solution if the format beats out HD DVD.

  Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson told BBC News, “Whatever format wins it is highly likely we will offer a solution.” Microsoft enjoys downplaying the PlayStation 3’s Blu-ray movie playback ability, often saying that Sony is forcing consumers to adopt a pricey feature that they don’t necessarily want. "The only debate is if you want to watch Blu-ray movies and pay the extra money for that feature. We prefer to offer the consumer choice,” he added. Microsoft currently offers a $200 Xbox 360 peripheral that plays Blu-ray rival HD DVD discs. This isn't the first time that Microsoft has hinted that it would be willing to adapt to a Blu-ray world. Xbox head Peter Moore himself said a Blu-ray add-on would be possible, but also made clear that Microsoft is still firmly behind HD DVD.

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:06 PM
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  Microsoft quiet on black 360

  Microsoft is remaining tight-lipped on rumours that a black Xbox 360 is in development, featuring a 120 GB hard drive and HDMI port.

  "We're aware of the rumours circulating on the Internet regarding a new version of Xbox 360, but we have made no official announcements and do not comment on rumours or speculation," Microsoft told Eurogamer this afternoon.

  The company was speaking in the aftermath of new information from US magazine Game Informer, whose April edition claims the hardware is real and will launch in late April for US$ 479.

  US website Engadget backs up these claims, boasting that a Microsoft insider confirmed to the website that an "Xbox 360 Elite" would pave the way for a new Premium (white) version of the console later in the year.

  It reckons around 200,000 of the limited edition units will be made, all featuring the bigger hard drive and HDMI port, as well as a matt black case, controller, headset, and a new quieter 65nm chip.

  However, absent from all of these lists is a unit featuring an HD-DVD drive or Wi-Fi capabilities, something not outside the realms of possibility in the future.

  Microsoft is sticking to its guns on this one though, as bigwigs continue to deny probing journalists a whiff of new hardware. But, with the speculated released date of the black 360 just around the corner, we expect things to come to a head rather soon.

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:08 PM
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  Jetpac Refuelled” classic shooter game makes a comeback on Xbox Live Arcade

  Microsoft just keeps games flowing. The Xbox 360 maker has just announced that the next game for the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) will be ‘Jetpac Refuelled’. Jetpac Refueled for the Xbox 360 has been developed by Rare.

  This game happens to be a revamped and much more modernized version of the 1983 classic space blaster ‘Jetpac’. In fact, in the ’80, ‘Jetpac’ was a huge hit. The ’80s classic shooter Jetpac was developed by Ultimate Play the Game, a development house that was founded by Tim and Chris Stamper.

  In Jetpac Refuelled, players must clear a path through hordes of aliens in order to refuel their ship and accumulate a fortune over the course of the game.

  Jetpac Refuelled has 128 high-definition levels, complete with achievements, leaderboards and simultaneous multiplayer action. When compared with the original ‘80s game, the new version provides gamers with everything they loved in the classic, plus 128 new levels of enhanced gameplay.

  Jetpac Refueled will be available on the Xbox Live Arcade for 400 Microsoft Points or 5$ (Rs.220).

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:09 PM
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  Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation announced for Xbox 360 by Namco Bandai

  Namco Bandai Games America, a leading video game developer and publisher, has announced a new game which will be a part of its famous Ace Combat Series. The new game, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, will be released on the Xbox 360 platform, and will soon be available online in a multi-player format via the Xbox Live.

  Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation will deliver high-definition, photo-realistic landscapes to players in this flight simulation game.

  Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation for the Xbox 360 takes air combat warfare to a new level as it boasts the new “Dynamic Operation System” where massive battles take place on a “living battlefield,” as up to six independent land-sea or air conflicts can break out any time at multiple locations a allies and enemies clash in real time.

  In Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, players can prove their supremacy on a global scale as they pilot highly detailed aircrafts such as the F-15 E Strike Eagle and the F-22 Raptor, online via the Xbox Live.

  There are a variety of different online modes such as death match and team death match style game modes. Players will also be able to team up with other players to play in co-op mode, where players combine strategy and skill to work together to take on computer-controlled adversaries.

  Since yesterday, a variety of different icons, art and decals straight from Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation have been made available to fans of the Ace Combat Series. This media, which include Ace Combat 6 Picture Packs, can be downloaded via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

  The Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation will be released in North America in the latter part of 2007, while the European release date of the game has yet to be decided.

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:12 PM
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  Supposedly, a revision to the XBOX 360 is coming. It is to be known as the Elite XBOX 360, will come in and black (black is just cooler) and is to be released in limited quantities. So if this is true, you’d better pick them up while they last. It is also going to pack in more features (but not so much to justify the higher price) than that old regular XBOX 360.

  All the acceossories that come in the box will be black, it will feature HDMI outputs and a 120GB hard drive. The Elite XBOX 360 runs cooler than current Core and Premium XBOX 360s, that could either be due to a better cooling system or the new 65nm processors but it is not confirmed to have the new processors (though that would make a good deal of sense). Those are about the only differences between other XBOX 360s on the market.

  The Elite XBOX 360 is to be sold as a third option next to the Core and Premium systems. Here is what Microsoft could have done to make the Elite version more enticing, include WiFi and the HD-DVD drive with the unit. I mean, wouldn’t that make sense. That is probably the only thing Sony did right with the PS3. I don’t want to string a 50 foot LAN cable across to my XBOX 360, okay, I could buy the WiFi module for $100 but I won’t do either any time soon. I don’t want to trip over a cable and $100 is ridiculous for a WiFi module.

  Once all the XBOX 360 Premiums are sold they will be replaced by white versions of the Elite XBOX 360. Utimately Microsoft will go back to having two XBOX 360 options, the Core system and the Elite system.

  The Core XBOX 360 costs $299, the Premium XBOX 360 costs $399 and how much is the Elite XBOX 360 going to cost, $499? Close, it will run a grand total of $480 not including taxes or other applicable charges in your area. Here’s how it works out, the WiFi module costs $100 so you can get WiFi and the Premium system for $500 or the Elite XBOX 360 for $480. What a choice, the Premium system with a smaller hard drive and WiFi or the Elite with a larger hard drive, HDMI and no WiFi. Am I the only one that thinks you shouldn’t be required to choose one or the other? I didn’t even get to the HD-DVD drive which will run you close to $200.

  Microsoft currently does not have plans to integrate the HD-DVD drive or WiFi module in any version of the XBOX 360, either now or in the future. If you ask me, it’s like they are loading a gun, pointing it at their head and hoovering their finger over the trigger. It’s assured suicide if they don’t do this at some point. It will probably come down to the last minute when they do and then they will say it was the plan all along. If they don’t start including the extras at a lower price soon then they may well find themselves losing out to Sony (and no one wants that).

   

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:13 PM
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  The black Xbox 360 may be real!

  The rumour mill has been turning for a while now regarding the existence of the Black Xbox 360, and according to recent reports it looks to be true. Sources inside Microsoft have apparently leaked information to Game Informer and engadget regarding the new Xbox 360 model. If reports are to be believed the new console is to have a larger 120 GB hard drive and an HDMI port (rather than DVI). As well as these big improvements the console should run quieter than the current model and will be called the “Elite”.

  Apparently the console will initially appear as a limited edition in black and then later in classic Xbox white for general sale. Ousting the Core model (without hard drive) it'll leave only the Premium, and Elite models. Unfortunately the Elite won't feature the HD-DVD drive, and it's said there won't be WI-FI built in which is a shame.

  If rumours are to believed the Black Xbox 360 Elite will see the light of day sometime in April, and could cost over £300. Could be an April fool though, so be warned!

  Via engadget

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:15 PM
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  XBox Live Down For Scheduled Maintenance

  Next Tuesday on March 27th, XBox Live will be down for scheduled maintenance according to Major Nelson.  This maintenance was scheduled months ago according to Major and is NOT the spring dashboard update.  That will be coming later on.  Due to the maintenance on XBox Live that means that XBox Live, the XBox forums and XBox.com will be unavailable.  The scheduled maintenance is set to take place starting at midnight and ending at 2pm.  All of the times are Pacific.  Hopefully the XBox Live service will only be down the 14 hours and come back online without a hitch, unlike last time. 

  Since a lot of people will be wondering what they are going to do during this downtime Microsoft has prepared a "Top Ten Things To Do" list to keep you busy during that time.  Simply visit XBox.com to view that list.  The last time XBox Live went down for maintenance people complained that Microsoft did not give them enough notice even though Microsoft told everyone at least a week in advance about what was going to happen.  Be sure to plan your online gaming schedule accordingly so you are not caught by surprise when you can not sign on during the day on Tuesday, March 27.

  Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:17 PM
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  [Xbox 360 Feature] 7 for '07
  

  At this point, there’s little doubt that the PlayStation 2 was the clear winner of the last generation, beating out long-time champion Nintendo’s GameCube and newcomer Microsoft’s Xbox for the title. However, as we all know Microsoft is not a company to be easily deterred, and with their latest console, they look to claim the throne for themselves this time. Key to that plan, the Xbox 360 got a head start, plunging into the market a year before the other two consoles when all was said and done (the PS3, as you might remember, suffered delays, missing its mid-year launch in 2006). That fact alone, being the first next-gen console available to consumers, certainly seems to have helped the system, as even with only a handful of truly must-have games, it still managed to sell nearly ten million units last year.

  However, now that the PS3 and Wii are both out on the market, this competition is really going to start heating up...

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 5:53 AM
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  Microsoft To Announce The Xbox 360 Elite

  Rumors have floated in the past month that Microsoft will launch a new high-end version of the Xbox 360. It’s true that Microsoft is preparing to announce the Xbox 360 Elite, a version of the game console with black plastic and advanced features. Several sources confirmed Microsoft plans to add this box to its product line.

  The new box will go on sale in limited quantities soon for $479. The details may not be precise here, but I believe it will have an HDMI connector so that you can connect at the highest speed to a high-definition TV. It will come with a 120-gigabyte hard disk drive and will have IPTV capability.

  Bill Gates announced in January that the Xbox 360 was capable of serving as a set-top box for IPTV, or Internet Protocol TV, which phone companies such as AT&T are using to offer high-definition movies and scores of channels in competition with TV.

  The Xbox 360 Elite will apparently not come with a built-in HD-DVD drive, which will remain an option for playing high-definition movie disks. In the spring, the new machine will be available in limited quantities and it will reflect a redesigned motherboard. Tina Conley, an outside spokeswoman for Microsoft, declined to comment on Saturday. How solid is this information? Some details may be wrong. I’m not looking at any press release right now that describes it all. The details will be announced soon enough.

  I’ve been waiting for Microsoft to make a move like this. The company has scheduled a motherboard redesign and cost reduction for every year, but this is the first major change to take the costs out of the inside of the Xbox 360. By the fall, the company will also implement a chip redesign, shifting from 90-nanometer production to 65 nanometer production. That will bring costs down fairly dramatically and will enable Microsoft to make the box in larger quantities by the fourth quarter. 

  Every other year, the company plans to shrink the size of its chips. It is overdue for a shift from the 90-nanometer chips that it started with in 2005 to the 65-nanometer chips commonly in production elsewhere. That transition isn’t yet complete but it should be by the fall.

  Why is it important to miniaturize a chip? When you make the width between circuits in a chip (the difference between 90 and 65), the technology gets better. The electrons travel shorter distances, the circuits are more reliable, defects can go down, yields go up, and you can fit the same chip design in a much smaller area. Since chip costs directly relate to how much material you use, a smaller chip is cheaper to make.

  Every console maker will have the opportunity to reduce the costs of its chips. But how the console makers capitalize on that decision depends on strategy.  Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan, said in an email that he believes Microsoft will launch its elite box, but he isn’t sure how it will position the other boxes, especially the Core unit. I expect the Xbox 360 with the 20-gigabyte hard disk drive will continue to sell for $399 and the Core unit, which has no hard drive, will sell for $299.

  At $479, the Xbox 360 Elite will still be cheaper than Sony’s $499 20-gigabyte PlayStation 3 and the $599 60-gigabyte PS 3. But it will match the Sony box with the HDMI connector feature. The Sony box is not yet capable of IPTV.

  It is interesting that Microsoft hasn’t added the HD-DVD drive as a permanent feature. The format war with Blu-ray is still going on, and that drive would add considerable cost. Microsoft sells it separately for $199.

  The larger hard drive on the Xbox 360 Elite will make it much more useful for downloading movies and serving as a digital video recorder, which is one of the primary uses of an IPTV set-top box. High-definition movies can take up five gigabytes or more, while standard movies take about a gigabyte of storage space. Hence, 120 gigabytes is enough for, accounting for 10 gigabytes used by the system for other things, about 22 HD movies.

  In any case, this is going to put some pressure on Sony and it will enable Microsoft to patch some holes in the technological capability of the Xbox 360. It will enable Microsoft to please the relatively small group of hardcore gamers who care about having the highest-end technology in the living room. It’s those gamers who are most tempted by the PS 3. HDMI, for instance, will enable someone to view games and movies the way they were meant to be seen in either 720p or 1080p resolutions.

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 6:03 AM
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  No Security Breach, Says Microsoft

  According to reports, Microsoft has refuted charges of a security breach on Bungie.net or the Xbox Live online video game network.
  
  Earlier this week, there were reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network, and Microsoft promised to investigate all such reports.
  

  Microsoft now says that upon completing investigations, it has found there has been no security breach on the Xbox Live network. A company spokesperson said that Microsoft would like to reassure all of its 6-million Xbox Live members that despite recent reports, the company has looked into the situation, and found no evidence of any compromise of security on Bungie.net.
  
  The company has however admitted that there were a few instances of malicious users attempting to extract personal information from unsuspecting users, and fewer cases still of use of that information to access victims' Live accounts.
  
  The company insists that these stray cases of individual accounts being compromised are typically the result of personal information being given out in some way by users themselves.
  

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 6:47 AM
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  Microsoft probes Xbox Live hacks

  Microsoft Wednesday acknowledged reports of hackers stealing player accounts on the company’s Xbox Live gaming service and said it is launching an investigation.

  Reports of account theft on Xbox Live have been making the rounds of the network’s user forums since at least December, but complaints amped up this week when security researcher Kevin Finisterre — of “Month of Apple Bugs” fame — announced that he had been hacked.

  In an e-mail interview, Finisterre said he was victimized last Thursday. “We were playing with some folks that were cheating by a known method called ‘standbying’ or ‘bridging,’ and during the game, we were told ‘I am going to steal your account,’” said Finisterre. “Sure enough, the next day, my Xbox said, ‘We are sorry, but someone else has signed on as your gamertag, and we have to log you off.’”

  Gamertag is Xbox Live’s term for a player’s username.

  “Immediately after that, I was banned from Xbox live until 3/18/2007,” said Finisterre. He called support, but got what he called “the runaround.” Several days later, when Finisterre was supposed to be able to again access his account, he logged in to Xbox Live again. “Boom, now we are banned until the 24th,” he wrote. “When I call in, they still cannot tell me anything. My account is still under investigation and that’s all I know.”

  Other Xbox gamers have related similar stories. One, identified as “St00mPPP33yYyYY,” wrote on Dec. 31 that “sumone [sic] just hacked my account over xbox live…he called bungie and gave thenm [sic] the ip and my account name.” Bungie Studios is the Microsoft-owned game developer responsible for the popular Halo series.

  Another player, pegged as “Y The Red Bar,” relayed a more recent tale. “My Xbox Live account was hacked and all credit card info was stolen and used to run up points, etc. Microsoft says, ‘Oh, well, better call your credit card companies; nothing we can do,’” Y wrote a month ago.

  On Xbox Live, gamers can use a credit card to buy Microsoft Points, in-network currency that can be used to download movies and TV shows, games and interface modifications.

  Finisterre went public after being frustrated by Xbox Live’s outsourced support and being stymied in his attempts to reach someone at Bungie who would give him a straight answer. As part of his campaign, Finisterre even posted an audio excerpt of a 36-minute-long conversation with Xbox Live support (download iTunes audio). “It is obvious that they are outsourcing Xbox Live support to … somewhere with a high population of folks that speak broken English,” Finisterre said.

  He blamed a group of hackers who go by “Infam0uS” as responsible for at least some of the account hijacking. The group’s Web site makes no bones about stealing Xbox Live identities; it currently lists seven, stolen for reasons that include “Talked s*** to JustCallMeFRESH” and “Stole from clan.”

  Microsoft did not respond directly to questions about whether Xbox Live and/or Bungie.net had been hacked — accounts stolen by virtue of a data breach, in other words — or whether other tactics were used, such as phishing e-mails or even a form of “pretexting.”

  Finisterre seemed to lean toward the latter, a low-tech form of identity theft where a criminal calls technical support, poses as a legitimate customer, and somehow convinces the representative to issue a new password or hand over the existing one.

  “Some of the forums where the Clan Infamous is talking, they state that they are basically taking advantage of dumb Xbox Live customer support. So there may not actually be some [zero-day] exploit [but] rather stupidity of the staff on hand,” Finisterre said.

  Microsoft’s only official response was to say that it is looking into the matter. “There have been reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network,” a company spokesman said Wednesday. “Security is a top priority for Xbox Live, and we are actively investigating all reports of fraudulent behavior and theft.

  “Any customer with a question about the security of their Xbox Live account should contact 1-800-4-MY-Xbox, and an Xbox customer service representative will help them understand our security policies and procedures,” the spokesman added.

  If Finisterre’s experience is any guide, that recommendation may just waste customers’ time. “I’ve stooped to calling random Bungie employees until I get someone to hold accountable,” he said. “It’s kinda pathetic that I had to go to the media to get this investigated. It’s also sad that so many other people on Xbox forums are getting blown off, too.

  “Neither Bungie or Xbox Live support has owned up to anything really, so … here I sit waiting for my callback still,” Finisterre said.

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 7:19 AM
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  Microsoft probing fraud on Xbox Live

  Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said it is actively investigating reports of "fraudulent behavior and theft" on its Xbox Live online video gaming service, which has more than 6 million subscribers.

  "Recently, there have been reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network," Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement.

  On Feb. 11, an Xbox Live user posted a message on a Microsoft Xbox forum complaining about a hacked account and stolen credit card information.

  Security is a major concern for Microsoft, whose operating system is a favorite target for hackers, and for online commerce sites such as eBay Inc., which has an entire team devoted to online security and safety.

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 7:20 AM
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  Social Engineering Blamed for Xbox Live Hacks

  Unscrupulous players on the Microsoft Xbox Live system were able to gain access to other players' accounts. The gamers reportedly used pretexting and other forms of social engineering to trick customer service staffers into revealing private information. Microsoft downplayed the attacks saying they were isolated incidents.

   

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 7:22 AM
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  Xbox Live 'hack' latest

  - Microsoft said it has found no evidence that Xbox Live accounts have been hacked, despite at least 50 reports from gamers on the Xbox Live forum claiming hackers were stealing their accounts.

  One such report came from security researcher, Kevin Finisterre, who said in an email interview that his account had been stolen last week.
  
  "We were playing with some folks that were cheating by a known method called ’standbying’ or ’bridging’, and during the game, we were told ’I am going to steal your account’," said Finisterre. "Sure enough, the next day, my Xbox said, ’We are sorry, but someone else has signed on as your gamertag, and we have to log you off’."
  
  "Immediately after that, I was banned from Xbox live until 18/3/2007," said Finisterre. He called support, but got what he called "the runaround”. Several days later, when Finisterre was supposed to be able to again access his account, he logged in to Xbox Live again. "Boom, now we are banned until the 24th," he wrote. "When I call in, they still cannot tell me anything. My account is still under investigation and that’s all I know."
  
  

   

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 7:25 AM
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  thank u for posting such useful informations...
  

  Sunday, March 25, 2007 11:22 AM
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  Thnx

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:15 AM
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  Thnx.............................

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:18 AM
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  PS3 no better than Xbox, says Microsoft boss

   

   

  He may not be the most impartial of judges, but Microsoft’s regional head of entertainment doesn’t mince his words when it comes to the PlayStation 3.

  “In the technology and gaming there’s really little in the PS3 where I can say, ‘Gosh, I wish we had that’,” Neil Thompson, the company’s senior regional director for UK and Ireland, said. “The biggest threat that Sony has for us is the brand that’s been established around it.”

  He conceded that the PlayStation’s graphics would give the Xbox a run for its money, but said that the Xbox outstripped its rival in the increasingly popular online gaming world, as well as in the number of games available.

  “You have to have a range and quality of gaming content,” Mr Thompson said. “More and more we’re seeing that the online experience is a really important factor. Sony have come up with an online world that seems to let you do just about everything except gaming.”

  Mr Thompson said that Microsoft had no plans to cut the price of the Xbox, arguing that the £279 (about 412 euro) price tag is already good value.

  
  Sony has argued that the PS3’s £425 price tag is good value considering its cutting-edge technology, but Mr Thompson questioned whether the Blu-ray drive, the PS3’s high-definition DVD player whose complexity contributed to delays of several months, would prove much of an attraction.

  “It’s two, three years ahead of the market,” he said. “People won’t want to replace their entire DVD collections, and they’ll get a better resolution with a standard DVD on an Xbox than a PS3.”

  Mr Thompson suggested that the high-definition format war, in which Microsoft has backed the HD-DVD format that rivals Blu-ray, may be rendered obsolete by advancing technology.

  “It’s nowhere near the importance of the format war between VHS and DVD,” he said. “The internet is becoming an increasingly important medium. Surely online is going to be the distribution method for much of the high-definition content.”

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:20 AM
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  Microsoft confession: Xbox Live pretexting theft

   

  Months after Xbox Live users began complaining of hacked accounts, Microsoft has acknowledged that the service's support staff is at fault, victims of pretexting calls by identity thieves.
  
  Reports of account theft on Xbox Live have been making the rounds of its member forums since at least December. But Microsoft responded only after noted security researcher -- Kevin Finisterre of Month of Apple Bugs fame -- last week went public about how his account was hijacked.
  
  As recently as last week, the company was saying only that it had "found no evidence" of a data breach and that any thefts had occurred could be blamed on users giving out personal information.
  
  That assertion changed yesterday. "A security researcher, Kevin Finisterre, discovered not a hack, but the fact that some accounts may have been compromised as a result of 'social engineering,' also known as 'pretexting,' through our support centre," says Larry Hryb, director of programming at Xbox Live, in a blog entry. "Once I realised what he was talking about -- he sent me some painful-to-listen-to audio files -- I confirmed that the team is fully aware of this issue. They are examining the policies and have already begun retraining the support staff and partners to help make sure we reduce this type of social engineering attack.
  
  "There's no other way to say it; this situation shouldn't have happened. Our customers deserve better," Hryb added.
  
  Although most users who posted comments to Hryb's blog entry were appreciative of the mea culpa, some were pessimistic about the chances that support would actually improve. "No surprise here. We've been telling you from Day One that Xbox/Xbox Live support is a joke," wrote someone identified as TH3Hammer. "You're right ... we DO deserve better, but I guarantee that it won't get better."
  
  Many more users, worried about not only account theft but also the ease with which fraudsters were able to get support representatives to spill personal information, urged Microsoft to untangle credit card accounts from Xbox Live. "It would help if we could remove our credit card information after we've used it instead of it being stored on the system (or even the console) forever just waiting to be pretexted," wrote Joergen8.
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:21 AM
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  Xbox 360 Review: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

   

  Making every attempt to one up last year’s unforgettable Ghost Recon Xbox 360 debut is the downfall of this otherwise spectacular third person shooter. The tactical portion of the game is lost in widespread firefights that fully detract from the previously barren battlefields. Yes, Ghost Recon 2 is loaded with epic moments, yet sadly, they’re completely out of place.

  Picking up immediately where the first title left off, Scott Mitchell is sent directly back into enemy territory to take part in an outstanding story of a war that crosses over into American territory to fully encompass the severity of a Mexican rebel uprising. While Mitchell returns in an overly long training segment that barely fits into the story, everything after this is stunning in its execution.

  Graphical updates are beautiful, leading into shopping districts loaded with fine details and wonderfully constructed lighting model. It’s immersive and realistic; especially when the situation escalates and the only thing in the distance is a plume smoke occasionally lit by gunfire.

  A medic that can heal anyone on the squad is the most substantial update. It eliminates the problem of becoming stuck at a checkpoint without health and being forced to fight through a difficult scenario without being hit. The downside is that the difficulty has been significantly decreased, even with an immeasurable amount of enemy fire in comparison to the first title. On the hardest difficulty, this is barely even half of the struggle it was previously.

  This also shortens the campaign length dramatically. The final chapter is the shortest though the most intense. You truly get the feeling that a nuclear device is moments away from being detonated on U.S. soil as your superiors bark out orders. Additions to the cross com interface, by far the best HUD ever devised for a third person shooter, includes the ability to view a squad members movements from their point of view. This also makes it easier to place assist devices like a drone instead of waiting for it to find its needed location on its own.

  Sadly, almost all is lost as the game forces players to go solo numerous times. The developers have nearly eliminated any drama from a showdown with an armored vehicle. Mitchell seems as capable as Rambo in some points. An intelligent concept has Mitchell losing control of his cross com, rendering him almost helpless in an open environment. Instead of having the player tactically approach the situation, a rocket launcher is provided to simply blow everything up.

  This is an awkward shift, cheapening the experience down to the level of a low-end action summer movie. At times, it feels as if you’re invincible as you bring down more tanks than soldiers. When in command of multiple troops, this is easily on par if not better than the original. Ally A.I. has been given a dramatic makeover, and aside from some minor glitches, they work beautifully in tandem with the player.

  Without A.I. online, the addictive lag free co-op campaign returns. Completely separate levels for up to 16 players are available online, and this is still the best Xbox Live experience you can have with friends. Missions are once again high on difficulty and rely heavily on a team’s communication skill.

  Infinitely customizable game modes take over the versus portion. It’s the style of game that thrives on a hosts ability to conjure up new scenarios. As with the single player run, medics can make a huge difference to a team, though typically fail at combat. Regardless of the game style, keeping a skilled medic alive is key.

  It’s hard to complain about Ghost Recon 2 given how many “wow” moments have been crammed into the campaign. You’ll be talking about them for months, but sadly, they’re not right for this franchise and grow tiring as time passes. All of the explosions in the world can’t change the level of involvement when you’re required to use your head to advance. Still, this is a gripping experience, even if it’s for a different reason than the original.

  Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood, Language, and Violence.

   

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:26 AM
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  Xbox 360 Shivering Isles Released; Mehrunes' Razor Glitch Found

   

   

  Having put well over 150 hours into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I was naturally excited to learn that the Shivering Isles expansion pack was made available a day early today, retailing for 2400 Microsoft Points ($30) and clocking in at just under 1GB.  Excited to get it before the scheduled Xbox Live downtime tomorrow, I downloaded it and started playing it about an hour ago as of press time.  Unfortunately, I've already run into a nasty glitch in the game, that affected my copy of the game at least.

  One of the last things I did in Oblivion prior to today was complete the Mehrunes' Razor downloadable quest, which grants the player an extremely powerful dagger.  Upon loading the game for the first time tonight after installing Shivering Isles, I almost immediately received the same quest notification I initially received after installing Mehrunes' Razor.  Sure enough, I checked my inventory and quest log, and all evidence that I ever completed the Mehrunes' Razor quest (the dagger itself, quest history, and even the map is now covered again as if I never explored the area) has been completely erased from the game.  Now, half of my saves created after finishing Mehrunes' Razor fail to load up at all, locking up and forcing me to reboot my Xbox 360.  The other half load properly, but they all also have no evidence that I ever completed the quest in the first place.  All saves I have prior to obtaining Mehrunes' Razor still appear to load up properly though, even if they were created in the middle of the quest itself (one of which was made as I stared directly at the dagger).  So basically, for saves that were created after the quest was completed, the game now sees Mehrunes' Razor as freshly installed and starts it all over again.

  I don't want to presume that this will happen in all (or any other) cases, because my 150+ hours with the game and/or other combination of factors may've trigged a scenario Bethesda just couldn't test beforehand. And really, the worst-case scenario is that you have to redo the dungeon again, or simply go without the dagger, so we aren't talking about a game-killing bug here. Still, based on this experience I urge any of you with downloaded content to take the proper precautions (such as backing up your saves) prior to installing Shivering Isles.

  Has anyone else installed Shivering Isles yet, and if so have you seen any similar issues?

   

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:12 AM
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  Xbox Live is Offline - MGC News Provides Some Alternative Entertainment

   

  Xbox Live is now offline for maintainence and will be so for approximately the next fourteen hours.

  What could be done with the time then? Go outside? Re-join civilisation?

  Nah, we’ve got something better for you to do. In lieu of the downtime, we’ve prepared a bumper Xbox 360 quiz, with questions ranging from the easy to the incredibly obscure. I don’t think we’ve been able to muster any prizes in time, so this one’s just for pride.

  You can start answering as soon as you read this, until 24 hours from the time of posting (so that’s 3:00am EST, Wednesday). You could of course cheat, but in the spirit of good sportsmanship, we ask that you don’t.

  You can answer the questions by e-mailing ‘editor [at] mygamercard [dot] net‘. We’ll publish the victors and answers once the contest’s over and we’ve had time to check through your answers. Start the quiz - after the break!

  Let’s get going!

  Xbox Classic General

  This first set of questions is about the original Xbox console - that’s right, the one which is quietly gathering dust in the corner of your closet.

  1. On what date was the Xbox launched in the USA?

  2. Name any three Xbox Games from the original launch line-up.

  3. What was the name of the Xbox sequel to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Black Arrow?

  4. Which sportsman featured in the title of the Xbox’s only wakeboarding game?

  5. Which game was subtitled ‘The Yakuza Missions’?

  Xbox 360 General

  Questions based around the console we all know and love.

  6. By what chemical element name was the Xbox 360 commonly known as prior to its release?

  7. What’s the only game series to have featured in both the original Xbox and Xbox 360 launch line-ups?

  8. What was the first game made available as part of the Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays program?

  9. Name all of the playable characters in the multi-player mode of The Outfit.

  10. Give the exact name of the most powerful weapon in the Xbox Live Arcade version of Doom.

  11. How many USB ports does the standard Xbox 360 console have?

  12. By what other name is footbal-sim Winning Eleven known in many European territories?

  13. Name five of the utilities available in the Xbox Live Arcade version of Worms.

  14. What animal is the player in costume as at the start of Amped 3?

  15. Which disgruntled Swede provided Joanna with intel in Perfect Dark Zero?

  Screenshots

  We’ll show you a screenshot, you say which game it’s from - simple as that.

  16.
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:16 AM
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  Xbox Live, Xbox.com offline on 27 March

   

   

  Microsoft confirmed that Xbox Live and Xbox.com will be offline and unavailable starting at midnight Pacific Daylight Time today, the 27th of March. The two services will be offline for approximately fourteen hours for scheduled maintenance.

  Microsoft have confirmed that this is not a dashboard update but to conduct some regular maintenance on the servers. Xbox 360 owners can expect to see a ‘We’re down for maintenance’ page on Xbox.com and a similar message on the Xbox console.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:18 AM
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  Loads more Blue Dragon to come

   

   

  Blue Dragon creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has revealed that the Xbox 360 RPG has a rosy future ahead of it. Speaking to CVG, Sakaguchi modestly chatted about the success of the game in Japan ("It's attaching over 45 per cent and that's really amazing"), before more or less confirming what we all knew, and what Sakaguchi himself has already hinted strongly at: that the Blue Dragon udder is to be milked further.
  
  "Blue Dragon has sold through more than 200,000 units in Japan and again it will continue to build momentum as we get into things like Blue Dragon 2 and Blue Dragon 3", Sakaguchi said. "And that's what we're hoping; to really build on the franchise. Maybe it'll take ten years." When asked whether that was confirmation of a second Blue Dragon game, the RPG guru joked, "Tonight I will talk with Shane [Kim] (laughs)." You probably had to be there.
  
  Anyway, an English language demo of Blue Dragon is intended for release in PAL regions this June or July.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:18 AM
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  360 Elite shots leaked

   

   

  If you're looking forward to getting your hands on the enhanced Xbox 360 Elite that have been strongly rumoured for weeks, check out these slightly grainy but nevertheless interesting shots of what is apparently the production line of the sexy new consoles.
  
  These shots, which turned up on a Chinese gaming forum, tgfcer.com, appear to be sneakily snapped on a mobile phone, but clearly show the '120GB' engraving on the silver plate of one of the console's hard drives.
  
  Reports are that the new console will go on sale in April, coming packed with a new 120GB hard disk drive (up from 20GB) and a will support HDMI video output, which is already supported by the PS3.

   

  This package will reportedly cost around $479, which is in the region of £243. But do you want one or is you barely-worn white 360 good enough for you? That's the question. 
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:19 AM
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  Xbox 360 Controls Minions

   

  Codemasters has released new information on their latest next-generation title for the Xbox 360, Overlord. Overlord puts you in the armor of the bad guy and your weapons are your minions. Amass an army of up to 50 minions to control with hundreds more in your reserve to do you bidding with no questions asked, complete loyalty and unmatched bravery to the point of stupidity at times.

   

  Minions are controlled in two ways: as a group or individually. Command them to do a variety of tasked such as killing sheep and brining them back, carry objects, operate machinery and get to locations you cannot. As you get more powerful as an Overlord, so will your minions. As the rob opponents, they’ll arm themselves with their axes, knives, pitchforks chef’s hats, armor or whatever else they can find.
  
  Your minions aren’t invulnerable though. They’ll bring you back gold and riches, but music and alcohol will distract them (who can blame them). The succubus can also lure them to their deaths.
  
  There are four main groups of minions distinguished by their color:
  
  • Brown Minions – The Fighters. These are the strongest minions for combat. They will pick up dropped equipment from defeated foes and use it for themselves – pitchforks, severed unicorn horns and the like are some favorites.
  
  • Red Minions – The Fire Throwers. These minions are like archers who hurl blazing fireballs to defeat opponents from a distance. Also, immune to fire, they can clear dangerous paths for the Overlord and the rest of the horde.
  
  • Green Minions – The Assassins. These minions love their stealth attacks. They’ll try to get behind an enemy, jump on their back and then stab them viciously to death – great for ambushes. They’re also immune to poisoning and can turn rubbish left on the battlefield into upgrades.
  
  • Blue Minions – The Healers. These are the smartest of the minions, and the only ones who have the ability to swim. Blue minions can also resurrect fallen minions, and get them ready to join the fight once again.
  
  This is just the tip of the iceberg for Overlord. Keep check back here at The Game Feed as more about this possible sleeper hit is announced.
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:21 AM
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  Updated Xbox 360 on the horizon

   

   

  Codenamed ‘Elite’, an updated version of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is definitely on the way.

  The major revision to Microsoft’s premier games console comes in a stunning black livery (console, controller and live headset), and sports a huge 120GB hard drive.

  Unfortunately no built in HD DVD drive or W--Fi for the updated Xbox 360, but it does come with HDMI video-output port and will run more quietly and cooler than existing consoles as a result of (rumoured) 65-nanometer chips, whose smaller transistors consume less power.

  The ‘elite’ is a precursor to a full replacement for the existing Xbox 360 and as such will probably be limited to around a couple of hundred thousand units.

  Eventually, the Xbox Elite will take the role of the Xbox Premium. Effectively, the Elite is a limited edition run in black and once it has sold out, future Xbox Premiums will have 120GB / HDMI and will have a white livery.

  Expect the Xbox Elite to cost around £330 when it makes it over to the UK, probably in late summer.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:13 PM
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  Microsoft admits to security problems with Xbox Live

   

  Microsoft has admitted to security problems with the Xbox Live online service. The system is still technically sound and has not been hacked. However programming director Larry Hryb from Xbox Live has admitted in his blog that there are social engineering problems. Security expert Kevin Finisterre found that numerous player accounts have been compromised, using classic "social engineering" tactics such as talking Microsoft's support people into redirecting an account to another console for "Account Recovery". The Xbox clan "Infamous" have published hints and tactics on their web site how to get an account redirected without knowing the password or the right answer to the security question.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:15 PM
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  Digital Revolution

   

  Sales of DVD players, MP3s, digital camcorders, games consoles and digital TVs are thriving, illustrating consumers’ gravitation towards a ‘digital lifestyle’. Nowhere is this trend more prevalent than in the Middle East, where the market is being dramatically transformed. Channel Middle East investigates the role that the regional channel is playing in the digital lifestyle revolution.
  
  With the consumer segment proving to be such a significant portion of the overall ICT and consumer electronics landscape, it was always inevitable that the two channels would overlap. Huge growth in the uptake of digital lifestyle products has seen many distributors, and classic IT resellers, searching for ways to get a piece of action. Dubai-based distributor Empa recently set up a dedicated joint venture distribution firm — called e-retail — which is focused entirely on the retail sector. The company has already bagged exclusive regional rights for Taiwan-based electronics vendor Hannspree in the same way that Jumbo Electronics looks after Sony’s products in the Middle East and Al-Futtaim works with Toshiba in the UAE.
  
  There is little doubt that gaining access to the large consumer electronics stores represents the major priority for many vendors that want their products to be displayed to a large audience. Distributors, too, know that they need to form strong relationships with these retailers in order to increase their revenues in the consumer space.
  
  Regional distributor Emitac claims it has a long history of serving the Middle East consumer electronics market and has seen the market dramatically evolve. Director of sales and marketing, Vijay Saraf, reckons it has only been more recently that the true potential of the market has been unleashed: “The power retailers, initially, for the first two or three years didn’t have a clue — or any experience of the retail business, and in fairness neither did the suppliers, so we have all grown together. But the Middle East digital lifestyle market is still maturing and developing so there are plenty of opportunities around.”
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:18 PM
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  Let the games begin - PS3 and Xbox to clash online

   

  The debut of Sony's Playstation 3 tomorrow kicks off a battle with Microsoft's rival Xbox 360 that's likely to be fought largely on the quality of video game titles and the relative strengths of the high definition disc drives the consoles support.

  But another front in the battle will also be fiercely contested - one for dominance in the world of online gaming, which Microsoft has largely had to itself with its Xbox Live platform.

  Sony's internet-enabled PS3 allows owners to connect via their broadband connections to the Playstation Network where games can be purchased, movie trailers downloaded and gamers can join online multiplayer communities. Access to the network is free, but much of the content is charged for via credit card.

  Online-only arcade games such as Flow start at US$3 ($4.25).

  The Playstation Network will have a local interface, but most of the content will be based overseas. Sony Computer Entertainment managing director Warwick Light said gamers joining multiplayer games would connect to overseas servers, but were unlikely to experience delays in game play.

  "If gaming latency is an issue for some games, we'll try and host the games in Australia," he said.

  Equipped with an Ethernet connection, PS3 owners can plug their new console into a broadband router and connect automatically to the Playstation Network. Light said the ultimate success of the Playstation Network would depend to some degree on how rapidly broadband penetration improved.

  "The point is, that for the sake of the whole country, we need to get there. We're hoping the PS3 will act as an accelerant for broadband uptake."

  The PS3 comes with a web browser, allowing users to surf the web from their TV sets. A virtual keyboard can be used to punch in internet addresses.

  Accessory makers such as Logitech are also supplying wireless keyboards that can be used with the PS3 for typing commands into the browser. Light said any web-based messaging and email service would work with the browser.

  A large part of Sony's online strategy seems to focus on adapting its successful console franchises, such as the karaoke game Singstar and the quiz game Buzz.

  "My Singstar will come to the PS3. Download songs or upload your own karaoke effort," said Light.

  "More people [in New Zealand] own Singstar that own an Xbox. Buzz is probably half as many. People have got into this stuff in a massive way."

  The Sony EyeToy video camera could be used to video conference with other EyeToy users, said Light.

  And the PSP handheld gaming device, which has built-in wireless networking, will eventually be able to connect remotely via the Playstation Network to access content stored on a user's PS3 console.

  Sony this week unveiled Home, a major component of the network featuring streaming videos and virtual characters, that will be free to access from later this year.

  A new online game, LittleBigPlanet, will follow the trend started by the online virtual reality game Second Life, allowing users to interact in a large online community.

  But Microsoft hasn't been idle as Sony has been readying its Playstation Network. It has made movie and TV downloads available through Xbox Live and in January said it would offer internet TV channels as well.

  It will also grant PC gamers running Windows Vista access to the Xbox Live realm, meaning PC and console gamers will participate in online games together for the first time.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:21 PM
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  Our 10th annual list of the most innovative companies in the world.

   

  1 Google | 1

  The masters of the universe are busily converting ad dollars into a global network of fiber lines and data centers. A plan etary computer crunching ever- larger mountains of bits is an invention of historic import. Google's power to inspire both awe and fear continues to grow.

   

  2 Apple | 2

  Tired: MP3 players. Wired: mobile handsets! And why not? Especially if the Apple crew can stuff most of a Mac into a futuristic gadget straight out of Minority Report. Cell phone + iPod + social networking = marketer's dream.

  3 Genentech | 4

  When you target specific biological mechanisms, your drugs can sidestep the one-disease rut: Avastin has been OK'd for a growing list of cancers. And since 20 new drugs are set to enter the pipeline by 2010, the chances for more multiple hits are good.

  4 Samsung | 3

  Mobile handsets have joined PCs as the focus of some of high tech's most brutal slugfests. Samsung's upmarket strategy protects margins - a tactic it has been using to batter Sony in home theater and camcorders. Too bad about that iPhone.

  5 News Corp. | 9

  Why fly capital-sucking TV satellites when you've got 90 million MySpacers glued to their screens? King Rupert is feeding the greatest frenzy of media populism since the birth of the tabloid press. Now he needs to convert it into broadcast-style revenue.

  6 Nintendo new!

  Hot graphics? Nah. What's delighting gamers - and blowing the smirk off Sony's face - is the Wii's acrobatic controller. Selling a million consoles a month gives the Pok master a happy challenge: turning a runaway hit into an enduring franchise.

  7 Salesforce.com | 15

  The pioneering purveyor of Web-based business apps keeps swiping small and midsize clients from giant rivals Oracle and SAP. Latest cool tool: a one-stop online marketing platform that ports your campaign directly to Google AdWords.

  8 Cisco | 12

  As the petabits surge, Cisco keeps outflanking cut-rate competitors and surfing the flood of online video. VoIP gear and set-top boxes contribute to '90s-style earnings growth. Now CEO John Chambers hopes to sell the world on wall-size, hi-def telepresence.

  9 General Electric | 8

  Good-bye to the slow-lane plastics division. Hello to avionics, security systems, and medical labs in a box. Edison's heirs keep doubling down on products too big, gnarly, or capital-intensive for companies that haven't been ruling Big Tech for a century.

  10 Nvidia | 21

  Three trillion operations per second make for a killer demo: hyper-real renderings of glamazon Adrianne Curry. But the new GeForce 8800 chip is alsospeedy enough to launch gaming's graphics powerhouse into totally new markets, like gene sequencing.

  11 Baidu new!

  In China, Google is just another imported also-ran. Baidu, which handles more than 60 percent of the country's searches, is teaming up with recording giant EMI to deliver ad-supported music. On demand: the biggest hits from Hong Kong and Taiwan!

  12 Toyota | 7

  How about a buff Tundra CrewMax truck - with a dashboard nav screen that also displays the view from a tailgate-mounted camera - to tow your groovy Prius? Toyota doesn't confine all that cool tech to little green geekmobiles.

  13 SunPower | 17

  Acquiring installation specialist PowerLight gives SunPower total command of the solar food chain, from R&D to rooftop. The plan is to shear overall system costs in half, enough to let sunshine compete head-on with cheap coal-fired grid power.

  14 Infosys | 11

  So much for cut-rate coding. The rajas of outsourcing are taking on R&D and computer-aided engineering. But the work is still massively human-intensive, which means battling upstart rivals to hire more than 500 new Infoscions a week.

  15 Medtronic | 16

  A chest implant that transmits vital signs to the Web for your cardiologist to view - the boomer iPhone! Medtronic's $25,000 pacemaker-like device is just the start. Look for similar innovations that treat epilepsy, obesity, and depression.

  16 Level 3 new!

  Wiring the planet with fiber optics really was a great idea - it just took a while for YouTube and friends to come up with the petabits to make it pay. Level 3 boasts 50,000 miles of prime Net backbone. Now it can start working off that $6 billion in debt.

  17 Exelon | 33

  Emission caps? Carbon taxes? No worries when two-thirds of the 25,000 megawatts you produce are atom-powered. Exelon is aiming to build the first new US reactor in a generation. Now, if Uncle Sam would kindly figure out where to stash spent nuclear fuel.

  18 Netflix | 14

  CEO Reed Hastings is either a stone-cold visionary or the Hamlet of online media. After three years of indecision, Netflix is finally serving (B-list) movies online to select subscribers. Upgrade price tag: $40 million, most of last year's DVD-by-mail profit.

  19 Verizon | 22

  Leading the telco charge against cable, Verizon's 50-Mbps fiber-to-the-home service is almost twice as fast as its last rollout. Woo-hoo! Now competition has to bring stratospheric prices - upwards of $90 a month - down to earth.

  20 Electronic Arts | 13

  The King Kong of interactive games needs big hits to justify its Hollywood-size overhead and keep itself in bananas. Speed, sports, and shooter franchises all continue to pull their weight - but just barely. Spore needs to soar.

  21 Monsanto | 25

  Frankencorn engineered for ethanol production is so 2006. Bring on the trans-fat-free soybeans! After years of fighting cultural headwinds, Monsanto is finally figuring out how to go with the flow. Climate-change special: drought-tolerant corn.

  22 Garmin new!

  GPS technology has infiltrated cockpits, dashboards, and handhelds. Now industry leader Garmin is making the crucial leap into networked smartphones, laptops, and PTAs - that's personal travel assistants. Let 10,000 localized services bloom.

  23 Amazon.com | 6

  Trying to be all stores to all shoppers, Amazon has to compete on a thousand fronts. Now CEO Jeff Bezos is bravely trying to mine value from the back end by offering to handle everything from computing to ecommerce for other businesses.

  24 NTT DoCoMo new!

  Fat and happy, Japan's wireless Godzilla keeps ramping up its technology while the rest of the mobile world battles with debt. A hundred megabits a second? Coming right up. Linux for mobile? Domo arigato. Not everything big telcos do is evil.

  25 EMC | 26

  Disney Studios' post-Pixar remodel includes two EMC CX3-80 storage networks - just the thing for stashing 1 billion 3-D textures. For the king of data warehousing, though, today's big opportunity is selling digital closet space for online video.

  26 Intercontinental Exchange new!

  Once a back-room specialty, energy trading is now center stage. As the leading futures exchange for fossil fuels, electric power, and even emissions, the ICE is hot. Check its 2006 stock chart - up 300 percent - and weep.

  27 Comcast | 39

  Someday, bitstreams will be metered like water and electricity. Until then, Comcast's fiesta of digital cable, VOD, DVR, and "triple play" connectivity rules. The challenge: fending off party-crashing telcos, satellite broadcasters, and online insurgents.

  28 BP | 31

  Oil spills and exploding refineries provide more incentive than ever for the number three oil company to move "beyond petroleum." The recent $500 million investment in an alt-energy institute is a high profile step in that direction - and less than a week's profit.

  29 Disney new!

  It's the wedding of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, Rev. Steve Jobs presiding. Disney boldly took the iTunes plunge. Now John Lasseter is sprinkling Pixar dust over its studios and theme parks. Can CEO Bob Iger devise a digital makeover for the rest of Mouse house?

  30 Yahoo | 5

  Five hundred million users can't be that wrong. Sure, Yahoo got stomped by the most spectacular upstart in business history. But big-brand advertisers, fearing Google uber alles, are pulling for Yahoo's new Panama ad platform.

  31 Boeing new!

  Burt Rutan isn't the only engineering visionary building edgy new planes. Fast, fuel-efficient, and rivet-free, Boeing's carbon-fiber 787 Dreamliner will be the first truly 21st-century sky ride when it hits the runway next year. Sorry, Airbus.

  32 eBay | 19

  The perfect Internet business model generates outsize expectations - which means mistakes cost double. Wall Street slammed eBay for bungling in China and pissing off power sellers. Good thing PayPal and Skype are finally starting to earn their keep.

  33 Flextronics | 23

  The Santa's workshop of globalization designs, builds, and ships everything from cell phones to printers - and now Lego blocks. Its hyperefficient supply chain fuels a Cambrian explosion of converging devices. And you gotta love what it does for prices.

  34 Corningnew!

  In high tech, glass used to mean fiber optics. Today, screens are the hot commodity, and Corning supplies LCD substrate to manufacturers like Samsung and Sharp. As prices for flat screens fall and volume soars, the glassmaster profits.

  35 Gen-Probe | 35

  Gen-Probe's nucleic-acid tests screen more than 80 percent of the US blood supply, flagging HIV-1, hepatitis C, and West Nile. Assays for prostate cancer are already approved in Europe. Top priority: rapid detection of E. coli and other food-borne pathogens.

  36 TSMC | 30

  Astrophysicists are over the moon about the new Sing 512-core CPU, destined to simulate the cosmos in a next-gen supercomputer. Who etched its delicate traces? TSMC. The fab-for-hire does the clean-room dirty work so chip wizards can focus on design.

  37 Lenovo | 29

  Talk about global - the world's number-three PC maker rotates its headquarters between Beijing, Singapore, Paris, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Lenovo is leveraging low-cost Chinese R&D into cool features like laptops secured by facial recognition.

  38 IBM | 18

  Its engineering ranks have been decimated by the shift to lucrative IT services, but Big Blue can still punch like a heavyweight. Proof: Linux server code, chips powering all three top game consoles, and social networking software for the suit set.

  39 Intel | 24

  The empire strikes back. AMD's ambush of the PC processor market precipitated a hail of new Intel marvels, like a supercomputer on a chip that uses less power than a lightbulb. Now Apple and Sun have Intel inside. Don't mess with smart, wealthy paranoids.

  40 Microsoft | 36

  Wanted: second career for rich, fat, nervous ex-monopolist. Desktop software is vanishing into the cloud, and as balance-sheet replacements, Xbox and Zune don't pass the laugh test. Luckily, $31 billion in rainy-day money buys time and options. (But not Google.)

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:25 PM
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  Gaming wars begin

  Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony finally released the long-delayed PlayStation3 (PS3) gaming console in SA this week. It’s an impressive machine, and plays next-generation Blu-ray discs, but consumers may baulk at the price.
   
  

  Sony and Microsoft are at war. The companies are locked in a battle for control of the living room of the future. Microsoft got a six month headstart with its launch last year of the Xbox 360 in SA. The PS3 has been delayed because of the dogged insistence by Sony that the machine ships with a built-in, next-generation Blu-ray disc player. A shortage of the diodes used in the manufacture of the Blu-ray players has meant a global shortage of Sony’s next-generation console.

  Finally, though, the PS3 is here, and ready to do battle with the Xbox 360. Is the machine good enough to make up for the delays and ensure that Sony keeps Microsoft and smaller rival

  The machine, which weighs 5kg, has a powerful graphics engine and custom-designed “Cell” microprocessor but its strongest selling point is undoubtedly its integrated Blu-ray player. Sony is locked in a pitched battle with HD-DVD — backed by Microsoft and Toshiba — to determine which movie and optical data storage format will replace the DVD. Sony’s determination to include a Blu-ray player has cost it valuable time but it may ultimately prove to be the ammunition the company needs to fend off Microsoft: the Xbox 360 does not ship with an HD-DVD player — consumers who want to play HD video have to purchase one separately.

  The PS3 has several other advantages over the Xbox 360. The premium version, the only version available in SA, comes standard with Wi-Fi, which means connecting the machine to the Internet requires no wires (provided consumers already have a wireless broadband router at home). There’s also a gigabit Ethernet port for wired connections. The PS3 has a 60GB hard drive (versus 20GB on the premium version of the Xbox 360) and it can easily be swapped out for an even bigger drive. It’s also possible to install Linux on the PS3, turning it into a powerful personal computer.

  On the downside, the PS3 is the most expensive console on the market — by a country mile. It costs nearly twice as much as Microsoft’s 20GB Xbox 360. But if one considers that it comes with a Blu-ray player and a high-speed 60GB drive the price is very reasonable. Separate Blu-ray players cost more than the PS3. The price of standalone Blu-ray players will fall dramatically in the next few years but for now the cheapest way to get one is simply to buy a PS3.

  Another negative for the PS3 is that games designed specifically for the machine are still in short supply, though it will play most old PlayStation games in compatibility mode. It will be a year, at least, before games developers start producing titles that take full advantage of the PS3’s advanced hardware. Blu-ray movies are also still as rare as hen’s teeth, though a few titles have recently gone on sale at specialist music and movie retailers.

  The PS3 will work with any TV that supports standard, analogue audiovisual inputs, though consumers won’t get the full benefit of HD images on older TVs. Those with HD TVs, especially expensive 1080p LCD panels with digital HDMI connectors, should be blown away by the quality of the images served up by the PS3.

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:30 PM
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  Microsoft Announces X06

   

  Microsoft today announced that X06, the Xbox brand experience for the games and entertainment industry, will be held on 27th and 28th September this year. It was also revealed that the glamorous, cosmopolitan and cultural city of Barcelona will be playing host to this year’s exclusive event.
  
  Europe’s top media, partners, publishers and developers will be invited to the Catalan capital to experience the incredible evolution of the Xbox 360 console and the exciting offerings it is bringing to Europe.
  
  At X06 Microsoft will unveil more plans for the Xbox 360, showcase the breadth of the next-generation line-up of games, the next wave of accessories and new world-class Xbox Live entertainment experiences along with the latest Games For Windows announcements.
  For the first time Microsoft will also welcome South Africa, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland to the event having recently announced the launch of the Xbox 360 in these countries by the end of 2006.
  
  Previous X0 events have been the setting for high-profile announcements such as the European pricing details for Xbox (2001); Xbox Live and the acquisition of Rare (2002); the unveil of the new Xbox branding (2003) and the fantastic launch games line-up for Xbox 360 (2005). This year’s event will be no exception, and visitors to the Barcelona event should expect to be blown away with exclusive news announcements and amazing next generation gaming experiences.
  
  As always, third party publishers and developers will have a strong presence, and will be using X06 as a platform to unveil major announcements and showcase forthcoming Xbox 360 titles.
  
  A highlight of the gaming calendar, Xbox enjoys this opportunity to bring gamers together from across Europe and create a unique and immersive experience for their guests. Commenting on the announcement, Chris Lewis, regional vice president, Xbox, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said: “We are really looking forward to X06 in Barcelona and believe this will prove to be an amazing experience for gaming enthusiasts across Europe. We have some exciting announcements to make and even more to show people. X06 will firmly place Xbox 360 as the console of the next generation.”
  
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:38 PM
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  We Got Next - Part One (Xbox)

   

  For several GameSpy editors, Game Developers Conference (GDC) is one of the best and most enjoyable events held each year. One of the primary reasons for GameSpy's GDC love is that the editors get to interact with some of the best talents in the business. Recently, some of GameSpy's friends in the development community shared a ton of details on Microsoft's next console system. Keep in mind that all of this information is based off of alpha development kits and current projections for the final hardware. Everything is subject to change. In the first part of our Xbox expose, I'll cover the console's hardware components and software goals. Since the final name of the next Xbox hasn't been revealed yet, I'll refer to the system by its codename, Xenon.
  

  Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:43 PM
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• CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.
  
  
• GPU - Xenon's GPU is a generation beyond the ATI X800. Its clock speed is 500 MHz and it supports Shader 3.0. Developers are currently working with an alpha 2 GPU. Beta GPU units are expected by May and the final GPU is slated for a summer release. The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease.
  
  
• System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine.
  
  
• Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X.
  
  
• Memory Units - Xenon will use 64 MB to 1,024 MB memory cards. 8 MB is reserved for system use, leaving a 56 MB to 1,016 MB for user data.
  
  
• Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined.
  
  
• Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver.
  
  
• Sound Chip - Xenon does not have an audio chip in the traditional sense. Decompression is handled by hardware, while the rest of the chores are handled by software. DirectSound3D has been dropped in favor of X3DAudio. The former was deemed too inflexible.
  
  
  Raymond's Reaction - The Xenon is an extremely impressive piece of hardware. It will allow gamers to see things like complex lighting in gameplay, amazing details through high-level shading (impeccable clouds, fur, grass, cloth, water, marble, ground, etc.), incredible textures, and new post effects (increased motion blur, heat distortion, depth of field, light blooms, etc.).
  
  While people have already been correctly speculating about the removable hard drive and the standard DVD media, I was surprised at the inclusion of the camera. I haven't heard a single rumbling about a Xenon camera prior to GDC. The optional hard drive is a bit understandable; the only gamers that care about it will buy it anyway, while casual gamers won't care about the performance and convenience gains a drive offers. The standard DVD isn't too surprising considering that HD-DVD drives will be too expensive for inclusion in a console system in 2005.