Retailer EB Games has hosed down reports suggesting that a spate of hardware defects with Xbox 360 video game consoles were straining its relationship with Microsoft.
A chat transcript published on the popular gaming blog Kotaku purportedly showed a high-ranking EB Games employee saying the retailer had $10 million worth of defective Xbox 360 consoles for which Microsoft refused to reimburse it.
"There have been threats of EB dropping the Xbox range all together," the transcript read.
The report quickly spread throughout the blogosphere and gaming forums lit up with discussions on the issue, before EB Games finally set the record straight late this afternoon.
"It's 99 per cent bullshit really," EB Games chief executive Steve Wilson said in a phone interview.
Wilson said EB Games had to recall and replace its stock of Xbox 360 units in the middle of last year, but that was an isolated "hard drive batch problem" and all defective units had been returned to Microsoft.
Also in the middle of last year Microsoft said global hardware problems with the Xbox 360 could lead to $US1 billion in repairs and extended the warranty on the console to three years. The admission came after millions of customers worldwide were forced to mail their consoles back to Microsoft for repairs.
Microsoft would not reveal the cause of the "general hardware failure" issues but said Xbox 360 consoles shipping since the middle of last year should not be defective. Gamers have termed the issue "red ring of death" due to the red ring of lights that show on the face of malfunctioning units.
Wilson said EB Games had experienced high returns due to the red ring of death issue earlier in the Xbox 360's life, but the number of defective consoles had declined since Microsoft announced the extended warranty.
"Even when we had the batch problem six months ago, we were talking about a couple of thousand units," Wilson said. "$10 million is 25,000 units - that's a ridiculous number."
Crytek GmbH will be showing off their multi award winning CryENGINE® 2 game development middleware and their Sandbox 2TM game editor at this year's Game Developer Conference on February 18 - 22 in San Francisco.
First publicly shown at last year's conference, and recently released as the technology underlying their critically acclaimed PC game, "Crysis", this engine will be shown for the first time running on multiple hardware platforms such as the PS3 and Xbox 360, to a select audience. In addition, there will be a public demonstration showing how well the fully optimized engine can perform on a budget PC which can be put together for around 600 dollars complete, including keyboard and mouse. Visitors will be able to see for themselves the extremely high quality that can be achieved on relatively inexpensive consumer hardware today using the CryENGINE® 2.
3 New Rock Band Song Packs are now available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace.
For more information on "Rock Band" be sure to check out the 360-hq games database for more information.. Just follow the links.
Rock Band Tracks (Various)
Content: "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)"* Price: 160 Microsoft Points Availability: Canada and United States Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track. *"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" is a cover version of a song made famous by Coheed and Cambria. PLEASE NOTE: Many Rock Band song game tracks are available as both a multipack and as a single game track. These song game tracks are exactly the same (unless expressly noted as a special version or remix). Be aware that it is possible to download the same song game track twice so please carefully consider your purchases. For music credits, visit www.RockBand.com. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Content: "Working Man"* Price: 160 Microsoft Points Availability: Canada and United States Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track. *"Working Man" is a cover version of a song made famous by Rush. PLEASE NOTE: Many Rock Band song game tracks are available as both a multipack and as a single game track. These song game tracks are exactly the same (unless expressly noted as a special version or remix). Be aware that it is possible to download the same song game track twice so please carefully consider your purchases. For music credits, visit www.RockBand.com. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Content: "Siva" Price: 160 Microsoft Points Availability: Canada and United States Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this song game track: "Siva"--Smashing Pumpkins. PLEASE NOTE: Many Rock Band song game tracks are available as both a multipack and as a single game track. These song game tracks are exactly the same (unless expressly noted as a special version or remix). Be aware that it is possible to download the same song game track twice so please carefully consider your purchases. For music credits, visit www.RockBand.com. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Microsoft has announced a special online entertainment weekend for the biggest sporting event of the year.
Starting Jan. 31, 2008, fans of “Madden NFL 08” on Xbox 360 will be able to participate in online activities including the chance to create your own Madden Bowl with friends, registering for a four-day Play & Win to get exclusive prize packages and the chance to play head to head against NFL stars in a Game with Fame as they hone their skills in preparation for Madden Bowl XIV.
To start the weekend off, Xbox LIVE will host Game with Fame sessions allowing Xbox LIVE Gold members to sign into Xbox LIVE at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31, and win an opportunity to chat and play “Madden NFL 08” against NFL star Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers. They can also sign into Xbox LIVE to chat and play “NFL Tour” cover athlete and NFL star Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers. NFL players will participate in the Game with Fame from Arizona just hours before they go for the win in the Madden Bowl XIV and claim yearlong bragging rights. If you wold be interested in competing with Willis and Merriman you should send a friend request to the Xbox LIVE Gamertags WillisGwF and MerrimanGwF.
The Madden Bowl is an annual event in which eight current NFL players go head to head in a “Madden NFL 08” on Xbox 360 single-elimination tournament. This year, Madden Bowl XIV will be held at the Martini Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz., and will feature eight NFL players who will compete for the chance to be deemed the league’s best “Madden NFL 08” player.
gamers who register as a Tournament Commissioner on http://www.xbox.com/maddenbowl for a four-day Play & Win Sweepstakes and then play in their tournament on Xbox LIVE will be randomly selected to receive special prize packages, such as an EA Sports 08 Game Pack or a trip for two to New York to be a part of EA Sports’ events during the draft in April. Existing Xbox LIVE Gold members may also register as a Tournament Commissioner online by downloading the exclusive gamerpic.
Turok developers remove team-kill achievement with launch-day patch.
Concerns over developer-encouraged griefing can now be quelled, as Game|Life reports that a patch will be released the same day that Turok launches in the US (Feb. 5), removing the controversial team-killing achievement from the online modes of both the PS3 and Xbox 360 version.
The patch will keep the "Grab Bag" achievement (and its parallel PS3 "accomplishment") intact, but remove the requirement that players must kill a team-member to acquire it. Once patched, the achievement will only require players to kill at least one creature, one enemy, and themselves in order to unlock.
Since the achievement only affects online play, the patch will probably have to be downloaded before any players can engage in multiplayer mayhem. We're happy Propaganda Games decided to release this patch sooner rather than later, though here's hoping eager griefers who heard about the sadistic achievement will also hear about its removal. Otherwise, there or not, the achievement may turn Turok into a TK nightmare.
For more information on Turok for the Xbox 360 including xbox 360 achievements, screenshots, trailers, news, forums, cheats and other related info please check out the 360-hq.com games database from the link below.
Finally, Rock Band fans can expand their set of peripherals without buying an entire extra $170 bundle.
Harmonix announced this morning that individual Rock Band peripherals will be available starting next month. The $80 drum controller will ship on February 12. A wireless guitar will cost $60 and be available on April 1.
Two versions of each instrument will be shipped: One for Xbox 360, and another compatible with both PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3.
On that last point, the April 1 release date for the guitar peripheral must seem like a cruel joke to PlayStation 3 owners, because that's when they'll finally be able to play "Rock Band" with four players without actually buying a second copy of the game. That's got to be an excruciatingly long wait.
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The report quickly spread throughout the blogosphere and gaming forums lit up with discussions on the issue, before EB Games finally set the record straight late this afternoon.
First publicly shown at last year's conference, and recently released as the technology underlying their critically acclaimed PC game, "
