HQ NETWORKXbox One | Xbox | C64 15,296 HQ Network UsersHQ Network: 15,296 | Members OnlineGuests: 3244 |Guests OnlineMembers: 0

  Active Topics  | Achievements  | Cheats  | Downloads  | Feedback  | Forums  | Games  | Hardware  | My Profile  | News  | Reviews  | Tutorials  | Leaderboards  | Videos

Xbox 360 News

Catch up on everything Xbox including the latest Gaming News, Release Dates, DLC, Xbox Live and Modding..

Browse All News |  Write for Us |  Most Popular |  Browsing: 194 SEARCH XBOX NEWS:      
Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox 360 News Selector

Activision responds to Harmonix

Activision responds to Harmonix
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007

Sony stays out of IP dispute
Activision has issued a statement responding to Harmonix' claim that the company was deliberately blocking the release of a controller compatibility patch for Rock Band.

As reported earlier, Harmonix alleged that Activision was blocking a patch that would allow the PS3 Guitar Hero III controller to be used with the game Rock Band.

"We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band," Activision replied in a statement.

"Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision."

The terms of the company's response suggest that Activision is possibly seeking a licensing agreement from Harmonix, although no mention has been made regarding the amount of money the company is asking for.

For its part, SCEA is staying out of the row, referring to it as an intellectual property matter that must be resolved between Harmonix/MTV and Activision.

Activision, meanwhile, is facing a class action lawsuit from gamers unhappy that the Wii version of Guitar Hero III outputs only mono sound despite having stereo sound and Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound advertised on the game's packaging and manual.

News-Source: GameIndustry

Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

Microsoft Releases Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator

Microsoft Releases Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tagged: Gaming, Hardware, Xbox 360,

Microsoft Releases Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator to Help Speed Content Production and Lower Development Costs.

New tool streamlines development and testing process for HD DVD content, accelerates advancement of next-generation interactivity, including experiences powered by Microsoft HDi technology.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 13, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator, enabling film studios and disc authoring companies to model the behavior of HD DVD disc content, including encoded video and HDi interactivity, in a virtual environment before committing to burning a single HD DVD disc. This comprehensive tool is among the first commercially available, software-based solutions of its kind, eliminating the need for expensive hardware or time-consuming and costly trial-and-error processes for testing HD DVD titles, helping to ensure that titles ship error-free.

The enhanced content and rich interactive capabilities of HD DVD increase the need for an efficient way to troubleshoot coding to maintain the highest-quality consumer experiences. The emulator uses a combination of available hardware (the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player) and specialized emulation software to ultimately enable playback of near-final assets from a network storage share, portable hard drive or optical disc. This allows focused testing of the layout, the menus, and the behavior of the interactivity functionality of a title. Detailed log reports from the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator deliver valuable tracing information to help quickly and easily pinpoint problems with advanced interactivity code that otherwise could take hours of manual debugging.

“We are committed to supporting and advancing the HD DVD ecosystem, and the new Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator reflects these efforts by providing developers with the software-based tools they need to efficiently deliver the highest-quality content,” said Jordi Ribas, general manager of HD DVD at Microsoft. “Microsoft developed the Emulator to help save studios and postproduction houses time, resources and costs involved with the creation of HD DVD content, and let them focus on what really matters — pushing the envelope with the format.”

Sessions using the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator are designed to complement existing workflows so that tests can be run at various stages. The tool offers several choices for how to run a session: directly from a network storage share, from a USB drive connected directly to the Xbox 360 console, or from an optical disc in the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. While the tool enables the testing of content playback on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player specifically, it effectively eliminates layers in the testing process for other HD DVD players as well.

Validated by the Industry’s Leading HD DVD Production Houses.

As part of the development process, Microsoft implemented a beta program from July through November of this year, involving more than 40 participants, including Deluxe Digital Studios, Enteractive GmbH, Imagion AG, Memory-Tech Corporation and NetBlender Inc. Participants found that the tool significantly decreased the number of hours and reduced the costs associated with the production process, freeing up time to refine and improve content.

“The authoring process for HD DVD is more complex and expensive than the process for standard DVD, and as with any new technology, it can require a lot of time and resources,” said John Harrington, CEO of NetBlender. “In the process of working with the new Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Emulator, we were able to cut the number of test discs needed per month from roughly 200 down to 50, saving more than 100 work hours per month. This positively impacted our business essentially overnight. We estimate we will recoup the low cost of the tool in less than one month’s time.”

Setting up the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator simply requires establishing a connection to Xbox LIVE, navigating to the Download Games menu, and adding the Emulator software to the hard drive of the Xbox 360 console. The one-time licensing fee is $2,999.

As scenarios for next-generation interactivity continue to expand and evolve, streamlining the production process for HD DVD titles frees up resources that licensees can use to focus on refining and improving content — maximizing the potential of HDi to create compelling user scenarios. The Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator is available for sale immediately at http://www.thisishddvd.com/emulator.

More information on the Xbox 360 HD DVD Emulator and HDi License Program, as well as a downloadable case study of NetBlender’s use of the emulator, is available at:
- thisishddvd

Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

Strange Xbox Signal Suspected of Jamming Wireless LANs

Strange Xbox Signal Suspected of Jamming Wireless LANs
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tagged: Gaming, Hardware, Xbox 360,

Microsoft's popular Xbox 360 game console can create a strong and strange signal on wireless LANs, according to IT staff at Morrisville State College.

It's not clear whether the signal disrupts the college's WLAN access points or students' wireless notebooks. There is some anecdotal evidence, however, that it at least affects other radios in the same 2.4GHz band.

Morrisville IT staff typically use Bluetooth headsets, which run in the 2.4GHz band, with their cell phones when they troubleshoot problems on the spacious campus. "We had problems syncing our headsets to our phone where this signal was strong," says Matt Barber, the college's network administrator. A phone user had to physically touch the headset to the cell phone to make the initial connection, he says.

There may be effects on the WLAN that the equipment itself, from Meru Networks, is circumventing, according to Barber. Part of Meru's WLAN architecture employs software that gives the access points more control over wireless-client transmission behavior than does the software of some of Meru's rivals. An access point near a radiating Xbox may be compensating for interference by in effect guiding a wireless laptop to send and receive when open spectrum is available, essentially dodging around the Xbox signal.

Working with Meru, the small IT staff is planning to test soon the effect of multiple Xbox consoles in a dorm with a large number of active notebook clients.

Network World has asked Microsoft to comment on the Xbox signal phenomenon, but the company was not able to reply before this story was posted. We'll update this report as soon Microsoft provides information.

The latest version of the Xbox, the Xbox 360 Elite, went on sale earlier this year with a 120G-byte hard disk and a high-definition video interface.

Morrisville is a small college in rural New York state, taking its name from a nearby town. In summer 2007, the college deployed a campuswide 802.11a/b/g WLAN based on equipment from Meru.. The plan was to replace those access points with Meru's new, two-radio devices that added support for Draft 2 of 802.11n, the IEEE standard that boosts throughput from 22M to 25Mbps to at least 150M to180Mbps. That replacement was just completed, creating the first large-scale deployment.

During the fall, Morrisville IT staff, working with Meru engineers and IBM, the network integrator, detected an unusual signal in the 2.4GHz band. "We wanted to look at the [radio frequency] environment in our dorms," Barber says. "We always thought we'd run into some strange stuff [there] in the 2.4 range."

The signal was discovered using Cognio Spectrum Expert, from Cognio (recently bought by Cisco). Spectrum Expert is RF-analysis software packaged with a WLAN adapter card that slots into any laptop PC. (See our April 2007 Clear Choice Test of four WLAN protocol analyzers.) Among other capabilities, Spectrum Expert identifies sources of radio energy in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WLAN bands, and identifies the cause, such as a brand of access point or a microwave oven.

"The signal really stood out," Barber says. "In some places it was so strong we thought it might be affecting the air [that is, the radio environment] around it."

The Cognio software, however, was baffled by this new signal: "Unknown emitter" was the classification. The signal shows up in the Cognio display as a kind of green-blizzard effect, covering a large swath of the 2.4 band, Barber says. That means the signal "is jumping all over the spectrum band," he says. In contrast, a nearby Meru access point shows up in the same scan as a strong, stable yellow-red glow, almost like a sun. The green blizzard is shot through with red dashes, which show, Barber says, that the signal at moments nearly rivals the access point in strength.

The mystery signal baffled the IT staff and Meru until Barber had a brainstorm: He brought in his own Xbox 360 and plugged it in, and turned on the Cognio spectrum analyzer. Presto: The same signal appeared.

Barber says the signal seems be created by the console's embedded 2.4GHz radio, which is used to communicate with the handheld wireless controller -- the gizmo with the buttons that manipulate a game running on the console. The Xbox also takes an optional Wi-Fi adapter, in the form of an USB dongle, to connect to a WLAN access point.

Barber says his "best guess" at this point is that the embedded radio, not the USB adapter, causes the signal. The signal is created even if the Xbox console is shut off: Just plugging its AC adapter into an electrical outlet seems to trigger the radio to look for -- and keep looking for -- a companion wireless controller. "It's even worse when you have multiple Xboxes in an area," Barber says.

At one point, IT staff wrapped the console in a static discharge bag, the material used, for example, to wrap and protect consumer electronics gear from static damage during shipment. The same properties make it act like radio "blanket" to muffle a transmission. Sure enough, the Cognio software showed a significant drop in the Xbox signal's strength.

The next step is more systematic testing. "We want to get several consoles together with a bunch of WLAN clients, to create a busy [RF] environment, and do some measurements," Barber says. "Are we seeing frames being dropped in the air, or people getting disconnected?"

Answering that question may be a bit more urgent, with Christmas looming, and the likelihood of still more brand-new Xboxs and other wireless entertainment products turning up in January when students return.

News-Source: www.pcworld.com

Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

Bionic Commando Dev All GRINs

Bionic Commando Dev All GRINs
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tagged: Gaming, Xbox 360,

Bionic Commando developer GRIN reveals to Next-Gen the opening of a new studio, and the amount of creative influence that Capcom Japan will have on GRIN’s highly-anticipated grappler.
In the US, GRIN, developer of the PC versions of the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games, isn’t the most well-known studio. But with 190 people across four locations and a decade under its belt, the Sweden-based game maker is a formidable industry player.

GRIN revealed to Next-Gen earlier this week that it is expanding further with the opening of a Gothenburg, Sweden studio. According to GRIN CEO and co-founder Bo Andersson, about 20 people are lined up to begin work in Gothenburg, and the self-sufficient studio is expected to grow to about 50 staff in total. Doors will open on January 7.

“The new studio is working on a very, very big Hollywood sci-fi brand” for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, hints Andersson. “It’s a real triple-A thing.”

The founding of the Gothenburg studio comes just after GRIN established a beachfront Barcelona studio earlier this year. “Sometimes staff there have this problem of getting sand between their toes during lunch breaks,” a rep from GRIN joked.

With a QA office in Jakarta, Japan and headquarters in Stockholm, perhaps a Stateside presence would be the next step for GRIN.

“One country at a time,” Andersson laughs. “But we have been looking at the US, not only because there’s a lot of talent there, but because of the exchange rate. It starts to become quite beneficial to actually be in the US rather than Europe, which is quite interesting. We already have a collaboration with a partner in Canada, so that’s not too far away.”
Bionic Commando

GRIN’s catalog of games includes the aforementioned GRAW games for PC, as well as the 2003 car combat game Bandits: Phoenix Rising and the 2001 racer Ballistics. But it’s GRIN’s current project, the re-imagining of the classic game Bionic Commando, that has gamers’ attention.

"We step up to the challenge of Bionic Commando with both fear and respect.”“It was the chief of R&D over at Capcom Japan who actually approached us with the opportunity,” Andersson explains. “It was a very direct contact, and very exciting because we didn’t see it coming. They basically called us up and said, ‘look, we have something we want to talk to you guys about, so can we come over?’”

After Capcom gave a presentation of the brand at GRIN’s office, the studio decided then and there that Bionic Commando was a good fit. The developer’s Stockholm location is currently developing the game.

“I think they were just looking at our attention to detail in regards to not only our technology, but our gameplay,” Andersson says.

With such a revered franchise with a big fanbase, he admits that there is a bit of extra pressure to execute flawlessly.

“It’s excellent. I love to work with big fanbases,” Andersson laughs. “It’s a great challenge. We stepped into the Ghost Recon brand on the PC side, where we had to deal with those crazed fans. So we’re kind of used to that pressure.”

But he acknowledges, “The pressure is larger when you deal with such a renowned publisher as Capcom. Still, we love stepping up to the challenge with both fear and respect.”

NEXT: Capcom Japan's creative influence

News-Source: Next-Gen

Read More... | 7525 bytes more | Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

Court Case May Freeze Manhunt 2 UK Release

Court Case May Freeze Manhunt 2 UK Release
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tagged: Gaming, Xbox 360,

Despite winning an appeal to have Manhunt 2 classified, Rockstar’s game won't be making its way to UK retail any time soon if the British Board of Film Classification decides to take the case to the High Court, the ratings body has warned.
While the Video Appeals Committee voted in favor of Rockstar’s bid to get the controversial Manhunt 2 classified in the UK, the BBFC has told MCV it will need to study the report of the VAC proceedings before deciding whether to grant the game a rating.

“If we spot anything problematic, we may decide to take our case to the High Court as a judicial review, which would lead to Manhunt 2’s release being frozen in the UK,” said BBFC spokesperson Sue Clark.

“Our main concern is to ensure a lawful outcome. It needs to be the right decision within the UK’s legal framework – which will be the right decision in the public interest.”

News-Source: Next-Gen

Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

Intel Touting its Chips for Future Consoles

Intel Touting its Chips for Future Consoles
Published by: wes213 on Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tagged: Gaming, Xbox 360,

Leading chip maker Intel has spoken to platform holders about the possibility of using its advanced technology in the next generation of consoles.
Intel believes that advancements in silicon chip design over the next decade will open doors to new ways of interacting with machines, and the firm has been courting console platform holders, reports Business Week.

According to Intel, its chips can perform in excess of 1 trillion calculations per second, and could even lead to pure motion control replacing physical controllers if adopted for use in future generation videogame consoles.

"We imagine some future generation of [Nintendo's] Wii won't have hand controllers," said Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer.

"You just set up the cameras around the room and wave your hand like you're playing tennis."

IBM currently supplies Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft with processors for their videogame consoles. Having been trumped by IBM this time round, Intel appears intent not to miss out on the market opportunities that will arise from the coming of future generations of consoles.

News-Source: Next-Gen

Discuss this article in our Xbox 360 Forums

[ Page 958 of 1306 ] - 7836 Articles

McAfee US
Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1

Latest Xbox 360 News

Xbox 360 NewsExplore the World of Ink Painting in Realm of Ink: A New Developer Playthrough
A new developer playthrough for Realm of Ink (@realmofink), the action roguelike from Leap Studio, Maple Leaf Studio and 663 Games, has been released. The video reveals the gameplay mechanics, the s..

JSAUX’S Black MODCASE for the ROG Ally Is Avail..

Barton Lynch Pro Surfing Update v1.07 is LIVE o..

RuneScape developer Jagex joins CVC Capital Par..

Paper Ghost Stories: Third Eye Open coming to X..

Xbox 360 News | Submit News

Xbox 360 News Archive


   Monday, March 18
 Discover the Sound of Life in The Lullaby of

   Thursday, March 14
 Xbox360WWII-based strategy epic Classified: France '
 Night Slashers: Remake confirmed for XBOX, Pl

   Wednesday, March 13
 Xbox360Highwater is coming soon for Xbox X|S, XB1, P

   Tuesday, March 12
 Xbox360Terra Memoria is set to launch on Xbox Series
 Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland releases in M

   Monday, March 11
 Xbox360Sonic X Shadow Generations hits Xbox One, Xbo

   Friday, March 08
 Xbox360Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator out now f
 Sci-fi adventure 'Sky of Tides' announced for

   Thursday, March 07
 Xbox360Planet Zoo: Console Edition arrives on March

   Wednesday, March 06
 Xbox360MLB The Show 24 launches later this month on
 FLIPGO: A portable dual monitor that you can

   Tuesday, March 05
 Xbox360EARTHLOCK 2 Reveals New Details On Desert Shi

   Monday, March 04
 Xbox360Reverse-city builder, Flooded Out Now on Xbox
 REVEIL launches this week on Xbox Series, PS5

   Friday, March 01
 Xbox360Realm of Ink's Developer Walkthrough Reveals
 Legion Go Gets a New Storage Bag from JSAUX
 The House of Tesla announced for Consoles, iO

   Thursday, February 29
 Xbox360Watch the New DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Tra

   Tuesday, February 27
 Xbox360Early 2024 physical release confirmed for Bla
 The Zebra-Man! is heading to Xbox, PlayStatio

   Monday, February 26
 Xbox360Manic Mechanics lands in March on Xbox One, X

   Friday, February 23
 Xbox360Martha Is Dead: The Terrifying Game That's Ge
 Hex Gambit: Respawned hits Xbox X|S, XB1, PS4

   Thursday, February 22
 Xbox360Towerful Defense: A Rogue TD confirmed for XB

   Wednesday, February 21
 Xbox360Dark Atlas: Infernum launching on Xbox, PlayS
 WWE 2K24 launches in March for Xbox X|S, Xbox

   Tuesday, February 20
 Xbox360Goons: Legends & Mayhem: Meet the Cat Goon!
 TEVI launches digitally on Xbox Series X|S an

   Monday, February 19
 Xbox360Dead Tomb is now available for Xbox and Ninte

See All Xbox 360 News | Xbox 360 News Archive

HQ Network Affiliates

Xbox One Games
Xbox One X Games
MrModChips.Co.Uk
Xbox360RepairService
Commodore Cardboards
Play-Asia.Com
Xbox Achievements
Xbox One Forums
Xbox Series X|S News
Xbox 360 Cheats
Xbox Cheats
Xbox 360 Achievements
ConsoleWizard.Co.Uk
Xbox 360 Cheats
View All HQ Affiliates
Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1