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How is this "new tool" any different than the "site:" command that google has always had to search within a particular domain?

I bring this up because Google lets you integrate their search engine int your site for free and all it does is add "site:yourdomain.com" to the end of the query. I've replaced the normal search on one of my sites with google's search because it works much much better, there's no reason other sites couldn't do the same.

...if it weren't for /. I don't know where I'd SPAM!

"Main board scans from the more recent Elite consoles have shown a reinforced main board surrounding the processors, and this change is likely also reflected in newly produced units as well."

In addition the elite also has epoxy to help reduce flexing of the GPU in relation to the mainboard. http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/inside_the_xbox _360_elite.htm So far I have not heard about reliability issues with the elite, as far as I know they have been addressed. It would be nice if you could cite a source indicating a high failure rate on the elite, in particular a high rate of 3RLoD failure.

while I don't think it needs to be THAT cheap to be a success they already had a $500 price point that they ditched. IMO the extra 40GB of hard drive space (for a hard drive that you can swap out yourself with an off the shelf part) and built in WiFi wasn't really worth the extra $100 they were charging for the premium unit anyway.

If there was anyone with $500 in their pocket who wanted a PS3 they probably would have bought the 20GB model when it was still available, I'm pretty sure you can still find them lingering around stores today too.

If they want to be competitive they have to match the 360's price point... unfortunately I think if anything this price drop will cause Microsoft to follow suit, they've been hinting at a price drop for quite some time as well.

dailytech had an article last week saying that reports from the BestBuys, Eb Games etc... that offer their own replacement services were seeing 25-33% return rates.

Microsoft is claiming that this will cost them 1.1-1.3Billion

You can read a more in-depth analysis of the error on my site.

Oh and it's the "3 Red Lights of Death" not the "Red Rings of Death" There is only 1 ring and only 3 of the 4 lights glow red... to correct TFA

Gears of War is a horrible example of depth, it's fun but IMO isn't worth more then one or two plays through the main campaign. I've actually written at length about the lack of a decent online portion as well.

Condemned: Criminal Origins was available at launch and continues to be my favorite Xbox 360 title so far, single player only but the story was compelling enough that I'd love to see a feature length film from it. Dead Rising and Saints Row as sandbox games also offer plenty of interest holding depth and the kind of substance where it takes you a while to play through them, and then you can do it over again a few times and still not see everything. Dead Rising has the unique distinction of being the only sandbox game/adventure horror set in a Zombie Infested mall (at least that I know of) not to mention the story line is pretty interesting. Saints Row is a bit of a GTA rip-off but it builds on that forumula quite well and offers some unique multiplayer modes on top of it which I haven't seen before in any other GTA style games. And while their depth is arguable I'm a fan of fighting and racing games as well and I find Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, Burnout Revenge and Test Drive Unlimited quite compelling for a gamer of my tastes not just for the off line play but the online play as well. Not to mention the availability of classic fighters like Mortal Kombat 3 and Street Fighter 2 put online where I can find endless amounts of worthy human opponents who still enjoy those games is quite nice too. And while I haven't played much of them I've heard from friend who spoke highly of Enchanted Arms, Phantasy Star Universe, Viva Pinata, Lost Planet and a few others as being quite compelling.

I don't have anything against PC gaming, it's still quite a relevant platform IMO and a lot of the games I like on the 360 are PC ports: Oblivion, COD2/3, FEAR, Hitman, Splinter Cell etc. And while the benefits of these games on the PC over the 360 are definitely there I just don't play PC games anymore, I grew tired of the constant upgrades and tweaking required to get games to play and look how I wanted them to, but my reasons for no longer gaming on my PC are something for another discussion.

I see the Wii as a decent party game platform, with the exception of a few key titles I saw the Gamecube in pretty much the same light. But party games IMO are just cheap fun for when you have a group of friends and are looking for some mindless entertainment. I typically play games in lieu of watching TV as my daily entertainment, so while it's nice to have some good family fun when you occasionally find yourself entertaining guests the Wii doesn't have anything for me as a console I can play on a daily basis.

I think the point the GP was trying to make (and I agree with) is that contrary to what the article is claiming "hardcore" shouldn't be based on the types of games being purchased. IMO "hardcore" describes the amount of time someone sets aside out of the rest of their life to game.

If you only ever play Happy Feet, Cars, Open Season, and countless other cheap poorly rated franchised games but you play them every waking moment, I'd say that you're a hardcore gamer.

A casual gamer doesn't pre-order games, I'm sorry, casual implies that they were walking by the store and saw a cardboard cut out that drew them in, or played the Guitar Hero kiosk and decided it might be fun for their next party. The kind of person that maybe plays a game among friends every other week or so. The kind of person who would pre-order a game, particularly something that is far below AAA status, the kind of person who would wait in line for hours to play WiiSports and Zelda, these are not casual gamers, these are hardcore gamers.

Lets change the context... would you consider someone any less an alcoholic if all they drank was cheap mass produced beer? Uncultured maybe, but certainly not any less "hardcore". By the same measure if someone drank every night after work would you consider them a "casual" drinker? Would you consider someone who waited outside the liquor store before they opened a "casual" drinker?

I find this particularly ironic considering I just wrote an article citing reasons why the market is becoming MORE Hardcore.

I'd like to disagree... on all accounts.

"Match Making" in addition to matching you in skill also filters out anyone you've previously marked as someone you'd like to avoid. Without match making, I have to continually re-encounter those "insufferable asses" or "hyperactive children" that I've already found and identified as undesirable. And while it's impossible to filter them all out, I've found that there are a limited number of them that game the same time as me, play the same games and game modes, and are of similar skill. Once you manage to get 20-30 people on that list it becomes a rare occurrence that you encounter them... of course that all goes out the window completely if the system isn't doing the match making for you.

As for making your own matches "working just fine"... sure, if you're playing unranked. I have a group of friends, we want to be on the same team and play against another group that's similar in skill. You know... like a professional clan. There is NO easy way to do that, not even close. Basically you have to message everyone on your team to search for some specific game criteria then hope the pick the right room out of the list (and hope it's not full up by the time they get there) then if by some miracle they do manage to find the room there's a high probability that you wont all be on the same team. That is not even close to acceptable for a AAA, first party, killer app that supposedly exemplifies Xbox Live's superiority. Sorry but in a straight up ease of use and requisite feature comparison Resistance blows GoW out of the water (and I loathe Sony). Not to mention that "match making" isn't some elusive code that Bungie has in a vault somewhere, it's built right into the friggin XDK, and while it wasn't there when Halo 2 was made, it's been there LONG before GoW arrived.

The features missing from GoW aren't just annoying, it's embarrassing.

You're incorrect in that the SIXAXIS only detects tilt, it does actually detect linear movement (in-fact the tilt sensing is most likely derived in software based on the linear movements detected by the sensors).

You are correct that the SIXAXIS wont even come close to offering the motion control features of the Wii, for the simple fact that the SIXAXIS requires you to hold it with both hands... I defy you to comfortably hold the SIXAXIS like a fishing rod, or a baseball bat... how about like a tennis racket, a golf club, or a gun? Could you hold it like you're pulling a lever or pushing an object? How about holding it and punching/blocking/dipping and diving like a boxer? There is more to motion control then steering a vehicle and the SIXAXIS misses out on most of it's not a controller shape that is meant to have motion control... Just because you stick a feature on to something doesn't mean you can use that feature well... Sony's controller design seems to be just shoving new features on to an old controller design where ever they seem to fit rather then actually thinking about how it would make good sense.

The fact that the Wii-Remote has rumble and audio feedback (FEEDBACK there's a novel idea!) is just icing on the cake towards the already useful motion controller... Further that by also adding positional pointing control similar to that of a light gun... AND the fact that the nunchuck adapter adds a whole 2nd set of motion sensors meaning it can interpret you hands independently. The SIXAXIS is the virtual equivalent of handcuffs in terms of how much motion you'll actually be able to input into the console. No matter how many sensors they shove in that controller It's pretty much useless because you have to use both hands.