Xbox 360 News

• Halo: What's The Big Deal?
  Neocrisis - Halo was Xbox's staple game in the early days. It was the driving force behind the success of the Xbox. Halo 2 solidified the Xbox's spot among the top game consoles, beating out the Playstation 2 in sales across the USA. Halo 3, being the newest release, and the supposed last installment of the Halo series, has enjoyed a ridiculous amount of success. According to Wikipedia, "Halo 3 grossed $300(US) million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the US."
  
  
• E3 08: What to Look For From Microsoft
  E3 has always held a special place in the hearts of video game enthusiasts. Game announcements, hardware unveils and much more are always in the back of your mind when watching each of the three press conferences, wondering what the companies have up their sleeves.
  
  Over the next couple of days, Console Monster is going to examine the three things to look for from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's press conferences.
  
  First up is Microsoft
  
  
• 911 Call Describes Killing Over Stolen Xbox 360
  WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio has posted a video which includes portions of a 911 call in which a man reports that his roommate shot a man who was stealing his Xbox 360 and then hid his body in the basement.
  
  The 911 caller told a police dispatcher that 30-year-old Mark Burwell shot and killed 24-year-old Johnny Robert Hyde, Jr. as Hyde was in the process of pilfering Burwell's 360.
  
  Burwell, who is being held on a quarter-million dollars bail, has pleaded not guilty.
  
  
• Xbox may make a move on Wii
  timesonline writes "Nintendo's bestselling Wii may soon have a rival. Speculation is rife about a new motion-sensitive controller for the Microsoft Xbox 360. Like the Wii, this would enable gamers to control on-screen characters by moving their body rather than pressing buttons. More than 24m Wiis have been sold worldwide since its launch in 2006. So popular have games such as Wii tennis and boxing become that there has been a surge in injuries caused by overexertion or by players accidentally striking bystanders. An announcement about the Xbox is expected on www.e3expo.com - the website of E3, the Los Angeles gaming trade show. You heard it here first."
  
  
• Top 12 Games Of Summer
  Need a good reason to stay out of the sun this summer? We've got a dozen.
  
  
• New Gears of War 2 Scans
  7 scans that reveal more about Gears of War 2.
  
  
• New Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe screenshots
  Eurogamer.pt published new Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe screenshots. Check them out.
  
  
• Game Releases for the Week of July 6, 2008
  Highlights this week include Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice (PC) Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360/PS3/Nintendo DS), Unreal Tournament III (Xbox 360), and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Nintendo Wii).
  
  Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of July 6, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!
  
  
• Call of Duty 4: Larger burden on Sony PS3 than Xbox 360
  Games like Call of Duty 4 run at a framerate of 60 frames per second on both systems. But Call of Duty 4 is a game that experienced technical problems with various bottlenecks due to the varying levels of action that occur on the screen. The game was originally designed to run at 60 frames per second at 720p, but it caused drops in the framerate.
  
  The proof of this is the fact that Call of Duty 4 runs at a resolution of only 640p on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This may be "equal" in terms of what is displayed on the screen, but the FACT is that Call of Duty 4 is putting a much larger burden on the PS3 than it is the Xbox 360.
  
  Confirmation of this can be seen in the large number of games that "run smoothly at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, but struggle to run at 30 frames per second on the Playstation 3." That was a quote from Gamespot.
  
  It's simple math: The Xbox 360 can display approximately 500,000,000 polygons per second, compared to 275,000,000 polygons per second for the Playstation 3.
  
  
• Killzone 2 not so expensive after all, a comparative look at development cost
  Game development cost millions, a comparison across genre, games, and platform.
  
  
• PSXExtreme Editorial: "Why I Prefer Sony Controllers"
  PSXExtreme writes: "You know, when I first laid eyes on the original PlayStation controller almost 13 years ago, I wasn't too impressed. I thought Sony had decided to sacrifice practicality and comfort for this sleek, futuristic look. I thought the SNES still had the best controller of all time (and ironically enough, the N64 had the worst by far), and I wasn't too keen on trying out that new fandangled Sony machine. I just didn't have a whole lot of faith in that gamepad."
  
  
• MK vs DC Universe - New Gameplay + Fatalities Confirmed
  Gametrailers write:
  
  Death of Superman? Midway shares its plan for fatalities in MK vs. DC along with brand new gameplay.
  
  
• Rock Band 2 - Rumored Tracklist plus Rock Band 1 Disc Content for Free
  From an IGN editor: "Immediately upon purchasing Rock Band 2 you'll have the ability to download a huge library of songs, as well as all of the songs off of the original disc as a free download."
  
  The rumored tracklist:
  
  1) tangled up in blue (bob dylan)
  2) bad to the bone (george thorogood)
  3) we've got the beat (go-gos)
  4) bad reputation (joan jett)
  5) pinball wizard (the who)
  6) dammit (blink 182)
  7) thats what you get (paramore)
  8 ) the trees (rush)
  9) ace of spades (motorhead)
  10) chop suey (system of a down)
  11) testify (rage against the machine)
  12) spirit in the sky (norman greenbaum)
  13) ramblin' man (allman brothers)
  14) rebel girl (bikini kill)
  15) eye of the tiger (survivor)
  16) panic attack (dreamtheater)
  17) everlong (foo fighters)
  18) one step closer (linkin park)
  19) lump (presidents of the USA)
  20) come out and play (offspring)
  21) drain you (nirvana)
  22) carry on my wayward son (kansas)
  23) peace sells (megadeath)
  24) souls of black (testament)
  25) livin on a prayer (bon jovi)
  26) round and round (ratt)
  27) new kid in school (the donnas)
  28) alright now (free)
  29) today (smashing pumpkins)
  30) man in the box (alice in chains)
  31) any way you want it (journey)
  32) holiday in cambodia (dead kennedys)
  33) give it away (red hot chili peppers)
  34) white wedding (billy idol)
  35) hello there (cheap trick)
  36) cool for cats (squeeze)
  37) psycho killer (talking heads)
  38) ? (devo)
  39) one way or another (blondie)
  40) de-luxe (lush)
  41) push it (static-x)
  42) pump it up (elvis costello)
  43) master exploder (tenacious d)
  44) bandages (hot hot heat)
  45) PDA (interpol)
  46) my own worst enemy (lit)
  47) float on (modest mouse)
  48) aqualung (jethro tull)
  49) spoonman (soundgarden)
  50) bodhisatva (steely dan)
  51) suffer (bad religion)
  52) i was wrong (social distortion)
  53) american woman (the guess who)
  56) you oughta know (alanis morrissette)
  57) mountain song (jane's addiction)
  58) stop! (against me)
  59) hungry like the wolf (duran duran)
  60) alabama getaway (grateful dead)
  
  
• Wonderwallweb: Unreal Tournament III Review
  Wonderwallweb writes: "We have been waiting a while for the highly anticipated Unreal Tournament III to arrive in the UK and now it is finally here, but the question is, does this first person shooter helps our next gen console reach new heights or is this game just another dumbed down PC port?
  
  The Unreal series has been with the PC for a long time now, each version squeezing power from even the highest spec of PC's. Occasionally an Unreal game will transfer to the console market, and whilst fun, you never really get the feel of the PC original in looks and online capability. Thankfully, the console versions have changed all of this. Xbox Live handles the online part really well, and the console also churns out some amazing looking characters and arenas without breaking a sweat."
  
  
• Diablo 3 now a 'theoritical possibility' on consoles
  Despite a previous straight-out denial about Diablo 3 being on consoles, semi-contradictory reports have been leaking out in the press stating otherwise. A couple of days ago Blizzard COO Paul Sams told the Guardian he "do(esn't) know yet."
  
  
• Burnout Paradise To Introduce Planes
  Criterion is thinking about moving beyond terrestrial vehicles altogether, though, and has announced that, after it's done with the Cagney update, it'll begin working on introducing planes into Burnout Paradise.
  
  
• IGN E3 countdown
  See a LIVE countdown to Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and E3's press conferences on IGN.com.
  
  
• Why do videogame movies nearly always fail?
  TVGB: "Videogame movies go back a long time. It kind of started out with the movie Cloak & Dagger, which was released simultaneously with the Atari arcade game back in 1984, and have come a long way since then in terms of budgets, qualities and advertising, but somehow they always seem to flunk out. Why is this, really?"
  
  
• Street Fighter IV: Exclusive Anime Trailer
  Ryu and Akuma continue their fight - with a few surprises.
  
  
• How Microsoft Pwned My Gamertag
  Looks like another gamertag bites the dust. This time, BenDoverx was removed. But was it rightfully so?