A lot of folks have been asking for something like this and today we announced details on the Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack. For $US 99.99, you'll get four Xbox LIVE Gold Memberships for the price of two. The Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack includes:
Up to four individual Xbox LIVE Gold memberships for the price of two – (US) $99.99.
Family Center – a single, easy to use, destination for Family Settings and account management, accessible on the Xbox dashboard and on Xbox.com.
The primary account member has the ability to purchase and dispense Microsoft Points to other Xbox LIVE Gold Family Pack members.
Activity monitoring reports viewable on Xbox.com to help encourage discussions about safer more balanced gaming and entertainment habits.
Simplified billing that applies all purchase charges to the primary account holder’s billing account and the ability to authorize purchases, helping to manage the family’s entertainment budget.
Viewers of Microsoft's E3 media briefing reacted to the reveal of the new, slimmed-down Xbox 360 in peculiar ways. For instance, tech writer Anand Lal Shimpi apparently reacted with excitement -- not because he couldn't wait to add the new model to his collection, but because he couldn't wait to completely dismember it.
You can check out the pictorial fruits of Anand's labor over on his site, and glimpse some of the technology that powers Valhalla. The highlight of this teardown? We finally get to see the single chip (teased by the motherboard we had Ben Heck look at earlier this year) that houses the 360's CPU, GPU, and eDRAM, which can all be cooled by a single, more powerful fan. When you turn on your new 360 and it doesn't sound like a pair of jet engines, you've got this little guy to thank.
Here is a list of upcoming content scheduled for the Xbox LIVE Marketplace* Please see the blog post I’ll make for each of these for pricing and/or regional availability.
Microsoft surprised all of us today -- not by announcing a redesigned Xbox 360 system -- but by giving them away to everyone attending their E3 press conference. While we promise to give these new systems away to you soon, we wanted to give you a closer look at the new hardware (shipping to retailers today!).
We're touching the new, slimmer Xbox 360right now at the Microsoft E3 event, and we've got more details on the console and its hardware. The new Xbox has touch-sensitive on/off and eject buttons and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi. There are ports for optical audio, A/V, HDMI, ethernet, and a custom port for the Kinect connection, as well as five USB ports. Only the standard A/V component cables come with the system (the same cables that come with the current model), so the HDMI cable is still separate. The power supply is all new and much smaller, and the console itself is "whisper quiet," with just one large fan instead of two, placed specifically on the side of the console to improve acoustics. The system makes a little chime when you flip it on as well, and the disc drive still sounds the same when it spins up.
The hard drive is 250GB, and there's a tab on the bottom that you can pull out to replace it if necessary. Transfer software is built into the system this time, so all you have to do is plug one end of the cable (available for $19.99) into the system, the other end into the hard drive, and then transfer away -- no disc needed. The case is black and glossy, smaller and thinner than the white version. The console will come with one standard wireless controller, backwards compatible with previous versions of the hardware, of course. All of the accessories are black, including the chatpad. It feels lighter to hold than the original Xbox -- not that you'd be moving it around much.
We're continuing to prod and poke at the new hardware -- stay tuned for more details on the new Xbox 360 as E3 continues this week.
Update: Oops! It looks like USA Today jumped the gun on the announcement and has since pulled the piece from its site. Stay tuned for Microsoft's official unveiling later.
USA Today has spilled the proverbial beans on Microsoft's Natal project -- not only has the paper confirmed the Kinect product name, but they've posted a few of the games in the pipeline for the system. Here we go:
Kinectimals features over 20 different virtual pets, including lions, tigers, and cheetahs, to play with or raise.
Kinect Sports will offer sport games to play: "boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis." For each one, you will make motions to play the games.
MTV Games will release Dance Central, where you can cut a virtual rug.
And there will be more games announced later featuring both Disney characters and Star Wars characters, in conjunction with Disney and LucasArts, respectively.
Marc Whitten even namedrops Nintendo in USA Today's piece, but he says that without a controller, Kinect will be "fundamentally different." We'll keep our eyes open for these games all this week, so stay tuned.
No matter how you feel about Serious Sam's brand of first-person mayhem, you've got to admit the marketing behind the HD remakes has been brilliant -- and this latest video for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter is no different. It's the second promo to feature the "House of Sam," a place where folks can worship His divine shotgun; where those afflicted with Krundle Blindness -- an inability to see things in high-def -- can be be cured. Mostly, it's a place of magic.
Click the play button on the trailer above and allow His divine presence to wash over you. Bathe in polygonal splendor and be healed, brothers and sisters. And remember: never attempt to treat your ailments with skunk meat.
We admit it: This latest trailer for Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 resonates with us in a big, big way. How could we not be on board with a video that shows how nearly every character from the first four books has been transmogrified into Lego form? That's like a sure-fire recipe for nerd ambrosia.
So, Lego Harry's good at flying on brooms, Lego Hermione is good at puzzle-solving and Lego Ron is good at ... being a good friend? We guess?
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup (the video game) now a thing of the past, EA has announced the next iteration in its long-standing soccer series: FIFA Soccer 11. The next FIFA will introduce "Personality+," a feature designed to highlight individual abilities and create a unique identity for each player in the game.
The feature relies on a deep database, which houses grades for each player across 36 attributes and 57 traits. Developer EA Canada will also employ new models and body types, as well as a new passing system, dubbed "Pro Passing."
FIFA 11 will ship this fall for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PS2, Gizmondo, Virtual Boy, ColecoVision and mobile platforms ... Did we miss any?
DICE has finally dated its upcoming co-op-friendly Onslaught mode in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on Xbox 360 and PS3: June 22. It'll be available that Tuesday for $10 on PSN and 800 on Xbox Live -- European PS3 owners will have to wait an extra day, until June 23. Oh, and if you're a PC user, scratching your head and wondering why you aren't getting the DLC, you should probably read this.
Onslaught mode allows up to four players to engage in objective-based missions cooperatively. If you'd like to know more, check out our hands-on from last month.
EA's Bright Light is working on the next Harry Potter game, but the studio evidently has got something else in the pipeline as well: Spare Parts. It's a downloadable title for XBLA and PSN about robots working together to rebuild their spaceship, according to EA's E3 lineup announcement.
In this cooperative "online action adventure," robots Mar-T and Chip collect "upgradable action parts" to enhance their abilities, according to the official description, so they can survive long enough to find the necessary parts to repair their ship before Lord Krung and his Super Huge Mega Laser destroy them. Along the way, they hope to rescue other robots.
Spare Parts kind of sounds like a robotic Metroidvania crossed with Toe Jam & Earl, based on EA's description. We'll learn more during E3!
Click image for a rundown of the pre-order bonuses
Anxious to wade through the wastelands of Fallout: New Vegasthis fall? It's already got a plethora of pre-order bonuses available through select retailers. Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, Amazon and Steam are all vying for your pre-purchase dollars through custom in-game bundles, featuring armor, guns and some useful items.
Head past the break for a description of each and check out the gallery below for shots of the bonuses in-game. Enjoy your additional decision-making process!
"I want to go to the baseball stadium, and then the image gallery"
As hinted by the ESRB -- and predicted on our Xbox E3 Bingo card, Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi, two of Sega's standout games for its dearly departed Dreamcast, will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360. But they're just the first Dreamcast titles.
Sega announced that those two games will be available this fall in North America and Europe, calling them the "first two classics" to be released as part of Sega's plan to republish Dreamcast games on PSN and XBLA. The games will include improved resolution, surround sound, and modern amenities like online leaderboards, Achievements, and Trophies.
We're going to spend the rest of the day fantasizing about the release of our favorite Dreamcast games. For example, all of them.
We don't think Square Enix appreciates the genuine toil that goes into producing a high-quality photoshop. That one we made yesterday, of the guy diving into the moon? It will never be relevant for anything ever again. The publisher recently announced that the Feelplus-developed, side-scrolling action title formerly known as Moon Diver will come to the U.S. PSN and XBLA under the moniker Necromachina. (How are we supposed to make a photoshop out of that? It is virtually impossible.)
Accompanying the announcement was a fast-paced gameplay trailer, which is posted after the jump. It looks awfully slick, with sharp 2.5D visuals and old-school action-platforming -- but even from this very first trailer, we can already tell it's going to be punishingly difficult. We'll get a chance to test that hypothesis when we get our hands on the game at E3.
Warner Bros. announced a new Mortal Kombat game this morning, and Seven of Nine is nowhere to be found. The game, called simply Mortal Kombat, appears to be a return to the classic Mortal Kombat 2/3 style of gameplay -- extremely quick, 2D fighting -- which has been given a fresh coat of 3D paint and a very noticeable 60 frames-per-second framerate. It also features a man being sliced open at the groin with a spinning hat.
It adds a new tag team mode for up to four players, allowing teams to play through a "co-op arcade mode" or compete online against other pairs of e-murderers.
The game is being developed by Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios (the former WB Games Chicago) and is slated for launch on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011.
Details have been pretty scant on Rock Band 3 so far, despite the best efforts of some. That all changes today as USA Today dishes on the game's 25-key piano peripheral, some of the new features and even a partial song list, which we've got after the jump (Smash Mouth, guys? Ballsy.) along with some on-video ivory tickling.
USA Today also fleshed out the "Pro" mode Ars Technica had the scoop on last month. As expected, the mode will endeavor to teach actual musical technique, either with the new keyboard, a three-cymbal upgrade for the drum kit or a hybrid controller/"full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster" made by Fender. Mad Catz is making a miniature Fender Mustang Pro controller for the mode too, but we're not going to miss the chance to play on instruments that don't make us look like sweaty giants.
Oh, Mega64, is there any code you can't crack? First it was the mysterious Kojima teaser last year and now, the comedy troupe ponders on that mysterious new keyboard-like icon in the Rock Band 3 logo. They even find some similarities between Rock Band 3 and F3AR -- er, sorry, FEAR 3.
It's some very high-brow deductive reasoning, as indicated in the classy image above. Head past the break to check out the video courtesy of IGN -- "solved 4 good," indeed.
We speculated that the live-action Alan Wake teaser that surfaced last week was promoting a new commercial or web short. It turned out to be a slick music video for "WAR," a song by Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall -- and one of the licensed tracks to feature in Remedy's atmospheric action game. The video features Alan Wake as portrayed by actor Ilkka Villi, who's basically the Milli Vanilli companion to voice actor Matthew Porretta.
Head past the break to see Wake freak out to musical accompaniment, ponder his mysterious manuscript pages ... and wonder why the world's worst cameraman is stalking him and his wife through a field.
[Seen Above: The first image from the upcoming Alan Wake DLC, "The Signal."]
Today we announced details on the Fable III SKU’s that will be available later this year. Here are the highlights:
Fable III will be available in Standard and Limited Collector’s Editions for Xbox 360. The Standard Edition will retail for $59.99/£44.99/€64.99 Limited Collector’s Edition will retail for $79.99/£59.99/€84.99. The Windows version will retail for $49.99/£39.99/€54.99, and will also be available for download exclusively on Games on Demand on Games for Windows – LIVE.
We know how it is. You've had your eyes on the Splinter Cell Conviction Xbox 360 Elite bundle for weeks now. "I want it!," you say, "But it's so expensive." You're in luck, because it looks like Sam Fisher did some 'negotiating' with Dell and got the company to knock a full $75 off the price, making it a cool $324.99. It's worth noting that Dell seems to have the bundle details incorrect. The bundle includes two wireless controllers, not one, and a 250GB hard drive as opposed to a 120GB model. It also does not include an HDMI cable, an accessory Microsoft stopped bundling with Elites some time ago.
If $325is still a bit too steep, you can also grab the Xbox 360 Elite Spring bundle, which includes Halo 3: ODST, Forza Motorsport 3, one wireless controller and a 120GB hard drive for just $269 ($30 off the usual price). Act now and you'll still have time to get in on the Halo: Reach beta. Lest you haven't heard, it has jetpacks.
Effective today, May 3, the Xbox 360 received a price reduction in Spain. The Arcade model was cut by €30 to €169 ($223), while the Elite experienced a €20 drop to €199 ($262). No other European countries seem to be experiencing a similar price drop.
Following up with Microsoft in the States, the company's official comment to Joystiq was that "the limited promotional price of Xbox 360 Arcade in Spain does not reflect an official price drop." The company's statement continues, "We work closely with retailers to determine the best approach for our products on a region-by-region basis."
Look, we can sit here and tell you about the flashy pimp duds and other Saints Row 2 Avatar items available on Xbox Live Marketplace right now, but we just can't get beyond the inclusion of the pictured hot dog suit. Even at 400 ($5), we're tempted.
Not only is it a great way to support one of the delicious staples of the American diet, but it also means you don't have to play Saints Row 2, go the Mall area and pick one up from the "Let's Pretend" store just to satiate your hot dog dress wear needs. Hooray for cutting corners with cash!
If you’re just getting into the Splinter Cell series, or you are looking for a refresher, grab the free Splinter Cell Starter Kit PDF file. This PDF file, which is normally only available only to press, was too good not to share. In fact, it’s kind of like a really good game manual/franchise backgrounder.
After chatting with Ubisoft, they agreed that everyone in the community would probably like to see it and asked me to post it. Enjoy this walk down memory lane / background on Sam Fisher and company.
Let's go back a couple of years, to E3 2008. At the Microsoft Press Conference, the company drops the news that Square Enix has agreed to release Final Fantasy XIII simultaneously on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There is much cheering and/or weeping and gnashing of teeth, depending on which side of the console wars you are on.
Two years later, in April of 2010: Final Fantasy XIII is released on both consoles simultaneously. And the most recent NPD report says that while the Xbox 360 version sold a respectable 493,000 copies, the PS3 version sold 828,000 copies -- almost twice as many.
We'll let you guys sort that one out for yourselves. Do remember where the consoles were at in both places -- back in 2008, the Xbox 360 had an early lead on big software (LittleBigPlanet was Sony's biggest game of the show), and these days, PS3 sales are doing much better. But we will say that, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, this is Final Fantasy's biggest launch ever, and that XIII has topped the first-month sales of XII by 48%. That's a lot of l'Cie.
David Gosen has left his post as Microsoft's VP of Strategic Marketing for EMEA territories, two years after being brought on to help expand Microsoft's foothold in Europe. The former I-Play CEO and managing director of Nintendo Europe plans
"to explore new opportunities outside of the company," according to MCV.
Chris Lewis, the VP of interactive entertainment who will now oversee the European marketing team, suggests that Gosen has fulfilled his objective while at Microsoft.
"The Xbox marketing team and Live business in EMEA has made great progress over the last two years," he said, "during a phase of consistent investment and innovation." The last we heard, Xbox 360 sales had crossed the 10 million mark in Europe alone. And now Gosen must answer the call of another brand that needs expansion in Europe. There's the Gosen-signal now! Gosen to the rescue!
We’ve just released a system update for the Xbox 360 over Xbox LIVE.
As previously announced, this system update contains support for USB Memory storage devices.
Sometime over the next few hours when you sign in to Xbox LIVE you’ll receive a prompt to accept this mandatory update. If you are signed into LIVE already, you may be signed out and asked to accept the update and you’ll be back online in a few moments.
Read the FAQ on Xbox.com which may answer some of your questions.
Post your comments here, or drop by the Xbox forums to share your experience with this new feature.
(Hint: If you are away from your Xbox 360 this weekend, just click the below link and add the free item to your download queue. Then, when you return home it will automatically start to download.)
Are you late to the Xbox Live game? If you've been delaying the jump to Gold membership (which you can try for free right now), this might be what you've been waiting for. The kit includes a 12-month Xbox Live gold subscription card (retails for $49.99), the Xbox Live Text Messaging Kit that includes the chatpad and a headset (normally $29.99), and Project Gotham Racing 4 (retails for $19.99). Normally all of that would go for about a hundred bucks, but Amazon has the pack for $52.54 with free shipping (it usually lists for $69.99).
It's a great deal if you're needing to jump back in or renew, and you pick up a game and a chatpad in the process. We wish they'd included something sexier than PGR4, especially because you'd have to be nuts to pick that up for $19.99. But at this price, it's practically a freebie.
GameStop has leaked information about those official Xbox 360 USB hard drives we've heard about (first rumored and then officially), and they ain't cheap. According to the confusingly similar GameSpot (who saw the prices temporarily listed on GameStop's website), there will be both 8GB and 16GB drives available, the smaller for $39.99 and the larger for $69.99. According to Major Nelson, we'll see them in stores in May.
Of course, the system update will also allow you to use any USB drive (not just the official Xbox-branded ones), but before you get visions of 1TB of storage plugged into your Xbox, remember that there's a 16GB limit on each of two possible devices, so you can have only 32GB total. Fortunately, an unofficial 16GB flash drive is about half of Microsoft's price over on Newegg. You may have to tweak things a little bit, as the official drives are meant to be "plug and play," but it can't be that complicated. The GameStop listing is down for now, but we'll see these drives officially in just over a month or so anyway.
Xbox 360 'Valhalla' model torn down, new hardware exposed originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
on Xbox Live -- European PS3 owners will have to wait an extra day, until June 23. Oh, and if you're a PC user, scratching your head and wondering why you aren't getting the DLC, you should probably read this.
Snag the Splinter Cell Xbox 360 Elite bundle for $325 originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Fri, 14 May 2010 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Xbox 360 receives 'limited promotional' price cut in Spain originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 03 May 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
David Gosen has left his post as Microsoft's VP of Strategic Marketing for EMEA territories, two years after being brought on to help expand Microsoft's foothold in Europe. The former I-Play CEO and managing director of Nintendo Europe plans
"to explore new opportunities outside of the company," according to MCV.
