Xbox 360

To end a successful beta program on a good note, Microsoft announced today that Halo 3 will be released on September 25. Along with the final installment of the epic trilogy, Microsoft will release limited edition 360 controllers sporting some gorgeous designs.

Over 820,000 unique players logged in to play the Halo 3 multiplayer beta, racking up more than 1400 years worth of gameplay. That sounds like a success to me.

We all knew it was coming. Now it's finally official. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 Elite, formally know as the Zephyr, will be available in the US on April 29 for $479. The new version of the console will sport a sleek black finish, a larger 120GB hard drive, and HDMI output capabilities.

The larger hard drive will allow you to store more media from the Xbox Live Marketplace on the console and you'll finally get up to 1080p of HD output with the HDMI support.

It should be interesting to see how well the Elite will do against the 60GB version of the PS3.

Even before the game hit shelves, the senior designer on Crackdown told Computer and Video Games that he'd like to work on a sequel. During an interview in the latest issue of CVG, Stephen Iannett mentioned some ideas for Crackdown 2.

We've learnt some lessons and if we did do Crackdown 2... I'd love to see it happen.

I think again it comes to how you can really choose how you approach the missions, and I'd really like to turn the contrast up on that. I'd really like to look at giving the players so many options at how they can do it.

[Realtime Worlds ponders Crackdown 2 @ CVG]

Several news outlets are reporting the NDP sales figures for January. Wii took first place by a considerable margin with 436,000 units sold. Xbox 360 came in second with 294,000 sold. PS3 came in third with 244,000 sold. The figures have not yet been verified by NDP.

Besides selling more consoles than anyone else, Nintendo is also continuing to enjoy remarkable sales performance with DS, which sold 239,000 units last month.

Microsoft aims to increase their cumulative sales to 12 million by the end of June.

[January: Wii Triumphs; 360 Up; PS3rd @ Next Generation]

Here's the new TV spot for Crackdown. It looks like it was inspired by Scared Straight.

Bungie's weekly update included this Halo 3 teaser image, which contains an interesting piece of information. Aside from being visually stunning, the teaser image includes the words "Fall 2007", officially defining a more specific launch window.

The teaser is available as a desktop wallpaper in four different sizes.

• 1024×768
• 1280×768
• 1280×1024
• 1600×1200

Xboxic realized that fall is going to be a great time of year for Xbox 360 gamers. Several quality like Half-Life 2 and GTA IV will be released for the console. Halo 3 just tops it off.

The weekly update also reveals the multiplayer controller layout. Hit the jump for the whole thing.

If you're without a Halo 3 Beta invite, you're not alone. Although it may seem like everyone you know got one, including your grandma, thousands of loyal Halo fans are feeling your pain (including me). Remember, you can still give in to that shameless Crackdown sales scheme, which may not be a bad idea given my first impression of the demo.

Regardless of your ability to participate, you'll still be interested to know that Bungie has posted an FAQ that includes some scrapes of information regarding the program. Still no information about when the beta will begin or how long it will last, but Bungie did say that the function of the mysterious "X" button will be revealed. Bungie admits "it won't be all that surprising. Just cool."

Bungie is doing you a favor by designating an "A-hole" button, which allows you to mute annoying players quickly. The feature was implemented perfectly by Valve games like Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, but Xbox Live gamers have had to put up with whining jackasses unless they wanted to take the time to mute them using the guide.

So now, you simply press a button (back button, for the moment anyway) and up comes the score list with everyone’s tag on it. The right stick lets you highlight the miscreant and you can then instantly mute them for the rest of the game.

[Bungie Weekly Update @ Bungie.net]

Microsoft and Old Spice have teamed up to reward gamers with games, t-shirts, downloads, and more for unlocking achievements. The Old Spice Experience Challenge gives you sixty days to increase your gamerscore by 1500 points. Registration begins on February 12.

Here are the prize packages:

• Level 1 (Gamers who have an annual gamerscore between 0-4,999 at time of entry): Game Picture, Dashboard theme, Contra for Xbox LIVE Arcade
• Level 2 (5,000-9,999 annual gamerscore): Level 1 Package, 100 Microsoft Points and a contest T-shirt
• Level 3 (10,000+ annual gamerscore): Level 1 Package, 200 Microsoft Points, contest T-shirt and Fusion Frenzy 2

If you finished Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter wanting more, it looks like you'll get it, but not much else. Eurogamer's first impression of GRAW 2 is "spookily familiar."

The sequel's story, which picks up just 24 hours after the first one ended, will still follow Captain Scott Michell as he works to bring the same violent Mexican rebellion to an end. Only this time, the rebels have made their way into the United States.

It's Wednesday. Hump day. If you rely on a new Xbox Live Arcade title to make it through the week, then you're fresh out of luck. There is no new release this week, but Microsoft did announce ten new titles that will eventually make it to the Arcade. They also began a trivia contest to test your knowledge of the Xbox Live Arcade library.

Looks like Microsoft might be picking up the pace to keep up with Nintendo's rapidly growing collection of classic titles on the Wii Virtual Console.

There is a lot of talk about how the initial shipment of Crackdown will include an invite to the Halo 3 beta. It seems like a plot to encourage sales, but if you've played the Crackdown demo that went on Xbox Live last week, you may agree that the game might be good for more than just an invite. You take on the role of an Agent, a genetically enhanced supercop with several special abilities. Your goal is to restore order to crime infested Pacific City through the use of brute force. Your agent's abilities will improve throughout the game, allowing you to jump farther, run faster, and throw larger objects.

The demo allows you to roam one of Pacific City's islands, run entirely by a single gang. To start, you pick one of three agency vehicles. The supercar (my first choice) is very fast and has excellent handling. Its low profile design causes other vehicles to slide over it and fly into the air after a collision. The Agency SUV easily rolls over vehicles and other obstacles. The Agency Truck Cab plows though obstacles. I'd only recommend this one if you're planning on causing a lot of collateral damage.

If you recall, Silicon Knights received some very rough criticism about the state of Too Human at E3 2006. They had a playable demo on the floor that suffered from low frame rates, camera problems, and an overall unfinished look.

During our video interview, the game's producer mentioned a number of things that sounded very cool, but the team hadn't been able to implement them in time for the show.

After E3, Silicon Knights went silent.

Microsoft recently changed their policy regarding shipping for Xbox 360's in need of service. They no longer provide a box or pay for shipping. Instead, they require that you obtain your own box and foot the bill. One man's response to that poor case of customer service is The Big Box Project, an effort to collect donations to fund the acquisition of a 40-foot shipping container. The cause has already collected over $725.

I want a 40 foot solid steel shipping container with nothing in it but my poor little xbox 360. It's a box they want, it's a box they'll get... it just might be a tad bigger than expected.

Earlier this month, Bethesda announced that a new Oblivion expansion will ship in spring. The package, called the Shivering Isles, will include over thirty hours of new game play. The announcement indicated that a PC version would be distributed by disk, but no mention was made about an Xbox 360 version. Bethesda has now confirmed that the expansion will be available for download over Xbox Live for the Xbox 360.

Bethesda president Vlatko Andonov indicated that the success of previous Oblivion downloads influenced the decision:

The enthusiastic response we've received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we're excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion.

[Oblivion expansion to get Xbox Live distribution @ Gamesindustry.biz]