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Every current console game has warnings in the manual for seizures and most have warnings for repetitve stress injuries. I can see blood clots being added to the list.

Microsoft also recommends some healthy gaming methods that should be followed.

I don't expect to see a surgeon general's warning on game boxes anytime soon.

Where is everyone getting this $15/month number? Xbox subscription Offers

Xbox Live Starter Kit
MechAssault (full version)
Xbox Communicator voice headset
12 months of Xbox Live service - $69.99

Renewal: After 12 months, automatically renews to an annual subscription at $49.99 or the then-current rate.

"Market saturation" I think that you can.


Sorry to troll but gamecube is way better anyway.
Don't beleive me? Compare yourself:
Nintendo
xbox The only real plus is the internal drive makes things convenient.

But at $5 for a memory card for GC it's not that big of an issue. Besides that, Zelda's wind waker is worth it anyway. ;-)

I love my GCN and will never own an X-Box, but to keep things in perspective you should see that MS has a different spin
on the year. What they don't tell you is how my new console, the 3Dudeboxcubemegastation, has outsold all others by 999999999% and I am now the the leader in 3rd party titles too. Damn, I love marketing :P

A product's value is whatever it was most recently traded for. A product's price is whatever the guy who's pushing it chooses it to be. That could be set based on a random number generator, it could be a number restrained by cash flow, maybe theories that one's product will lead to sales of another product from which they will profit (even if they're selling at a loss), or just a number set usingGiffen Good strategies.

However, no matter how you slice it, playing any market, including the market of life itself, is a zero sum game.

Here's the Halo 2 Documentary (warning, requires WMP 9). Go 2:05 into the movie, and they'll show you a cinematic of a UNSC marine hugging a Covenant Elite. WTF? The marines are supposed to be killing the Covenant, not hugging them... sigh.

'We stayed in the access business for a while, and then we decided it wasn't for us.'

I can't seem to recall another situation where Microsoft willingly stayed out of a tech market. Which is why I burn time with Microsoft Flight Simulator using a Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick on Microsoft Windows XP, and type this message with a Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse.
And although my home theatre's dvd player is Panasonic, I tend to use my XBOX Gaming Console as a CD player.

There were so many great games this year, but the more and more I thought about them, I realized most of the games I thought about were in fact based on a franchise.

The first one that came to mind was Prince of Persia which basically re-invented itself from the classic PC platformer, so it wouldn't qualify, even though I consider it to be an original game...

But to answer with what you're looking for, I guess Top Spin would be the only game I can think of that is not based on a franchise. Even that one though you can argue is based on Sega's Tennis 2K series.

Kung Fu Chaos - hands down the best original game this year. It has not only pick-up-and-play party value but advanced moves for more skilled players, hilarious commentary and visually stunning (some times just plain beautiful) levels, even with the cartoon-like style the characters are based on. The replay value is great (I spent a good part of summer getting five stars on all the levels and mini games) and the multiplayer is fantastic with a surprisingly well programmed AI for the 3rd person camera, a track-like change of setting throughout the levels (this is no wimpy Super Smash Bros. Melee) and most everything can be picked up and thrown as a weapon. Just Add Monsters worked in countless little details as well, all to fit the "bad 70's kung-fu movie" theme: simulated scratched, faded and dusty film; comical stereotypes; droves and droves of ninja henchmen; you can even see the wires when characters jump over large gaps! Top drawer.

I got the demo in Xbox magazine and thought is was really cool... that was the first I heard of it... Of course since E3, I have been anxiously waiting for Crimson Skies, Project Gotham, Counter Strike, Rainbow 6 3... With no live support it will be pretty hard to get my money for a game of this type especially when all these heavy hitters are around...

I buy games for multiplayer nowadays... either on live (shooting games) or split screen (hockey / sports)... shooting games belong on the internet now..

They are suffering from the "can't compete against the hyped games" syndrome... And had they waited until spring to relaease this, they would be competing against the mother of all xbox games...

When this thing sells for $20 I will certainly pick it up... but now, I ma trying to justify buying counterstrike and project gotham 2 when I have bought: ESPN Football, ESPN Hockey, Rainbow 6 3, Tony Hawk Underground, Amped 2 and Crimson Skies in the past 3 months....

Actually, I can tell the PS2 games list at EB is not complete...this is a more complete list. Hmm, probably EB doesn't have a complete listing of XBox Live games either...XBox Live Games. Sorry for posting those half-right links before.

Counterstrike regularly boasts more than 100,000 players at peak times. Live stats can be found here.

It would also be interesting to see simultaneous online numbers from these games: Sony's Everquest having more than half a million players; Lineage has over two million players in South Korea.

However, good for Microsoft. Xbox Live has some really good games on it at the moment, most notably Crimson Skies.

the very thought of linux or bsd trying to install itself on a VIDEO CAMERA just makes me laugh.

Linux has finally become sentient. It decided that if everybody and his brother wants to install it on a video GAME, then a video CAMERA would be the next logical step. It's just trying to be helpful and save you some time.

So, which forthcoming Rare titles are you looking forward to?

CONKER, CONKER, CONKER! (info)

You can purchase new music using the unit's built-in LCD display and hear it 'instantly'. No PC required.

It's always amazed me how high tech gadgets are marketed as being "not computers" when that's exactly what they are! Things like the "Earthlink Mailstation" that allows you to "check your e-mail without a computer". I'm pretty sure I've even seen advertizing for TiVo claiming that it wasn't a "computer". Amazingly, Joe Blow consumers seem to not even think of gaming consoles as computing devices! I realize that this is done so as not to scare away the technilogically illiterate, but I still reserve the right to incredulity every time these claims are made! Seriously, without computing technology how do people think these things work? Little men with pointy shoes and long beards reaching to their knees inside the case?

I have Xbox (and Xbox Live). Sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but there is a point at the end.

One of the upcoming games I am most excited about is Project Gotham Racing 2. This is a street racing game that is going to make full use of xbox live.

PGR2 is going to be always on the internet. While you are playing in offline singleplayer mode, your lap times/scores will be uploaded to a server. When you play a track you can see the worldwide best times. You can also race against other users.

The coolest thing is you can download other racer's ghosts (ie: a replay of their race) and race against them.

I think it is those kinds of feaures that introduce gamers to online gaming. I wish MS would have allowed a modem though. Modem connections would be fine for uploading and dowlonading in the background. The only place a modem would suck would be on FPS type games.

This person has obviously not had his article peer reviewed by someone familiar with Microsoft's online offerings. If he'd bothered to go te the Xbox Live! calendar he'd see that there's more Mech Assalt content listed as coming, contrary to the claim: "In fact, just about all the games with downloadable content on Xbox Live released to date, have released their last known downloads, with no known plans to release any more. This includes Microsoft with MechAssault."

I find it odd that this person mentions Counter Strike as the best online game recently, yet doesn't mention that it's coming to Xbox in November -- Live! enabled. They also decry the best features of the live service, persistant stats and friends lists, as "not worth the money." Later on in the same article, the author states, "While the anonymity factor can be fun, sometimes, it's always more fun when you get a groove on with people you know. Team based games are more fun when you know your teammate(s). Even one-on-one games against each other are more fun when you know your opponent."

So which is it? Is it worth it to have an online identity that follows you, or is it not? If it wasn't worth the money, why would you say that having persistant friends and less anonymity was great?

The most obvious typo is "Midnight Run II" in the list of sports/racing games. I'm assuming they meant Midnight Club II, but this is just another example of some poor fact checking and peer reviewing going on with the article. Yes, it's good to have fresh content on your website, but you should resist the urge to post it before the content is actually fact-checked and complete.

The entire piece comes off as more on a reason why the author things PC online gaming should be the only way to go, yet it does not address the much higher rate of cheating with PC online games (and other PC online gaming cons), while contradicting itself in several places.

"Instead of having all the goodies that come with repeated play be unlocked through tasks, how about releasing some of those things dependent on how many hours you spend playing a game?"

Whee! Time released gaming! Another slashdot discovery! Gosh, what would we ever do without you people!?

And that's only one. Cripes, it's like we missed the last 5 years of gaming around here or something...

I see the future and it looks like this: a bootable Linux CD with my choice of applications, and a USB dongle with my /home. Need new software? Download a new ISO, burn it. Take any PC (office, home, cybercafe), insert CD, boot, insert dongle, work/play.

If more people start doing things like this, you're more likely to find that more PCs are locked down rather than allowing you to do it. Then again, the basic idea is no different than what we did when we were using Apple IIs and so on, using a floppy to store our data and a floppy for our applications, many of which had to boot from the floppy. Sure, with CDs and USB keyrings you can store a lot more data and applications than you could on single floppies, but it's really not a new way of doing things.

I predict 12 months before bootable Linux CDs become a completely standard model for games and application distribution, and 24 months before Microsoft attempt an imitation.

Microsoft already does it, right here, with a stripped down version of WindowsXP on the hard drive, minimal data storage on the drive, and the primary applications distributed on DVD. Boot from the DVD and you don't even see the OS' GUI. Moving to an OS that boots from a CD would just be moving back to their previous attempt

check here, here, or here for further reference.

Thank you for playing.

> One major problem: CD-ROM drives are waay slower than harddisks.

> Remember when people used to do "minimal" installs of games to harddisk and have > most of the game content on the CD?

> Doesn't really happen much anymore because the loading times are unbearable.

does it really?

In other words, this would only be feasible if there was a gaming PC with standardised hardware which couldn't be upgraded

Go buy a game console.

Gamecube
PlayStation
XBox

Here you go.

I wasn't aware though that platinum hits were only for games that sold over 350,000 copies and not a million. So maybe some I named weren't million sellers then.

Phantom Dust - 3rd person action shooting game with Live multiplayer and customizable characters with a choice of 300 abilities.
Magatama (Demon Fang Spirit) - 3rd person slash 'em up being worked on by the lead programmer of Final Fantasy VII.

I regard Amped as one of Microsoft's inhouse successes too. Even if you prefer 1080, you have to accept that Amped is a serious contender for the title of best snowboarding game of all time. IMO, it is the best, but not everyone agrees.

Later.

7. SERVICE OPERATION AND EQUIPMENT Xbox Live may only be accessed with an unmodified, except for Microsoft authorized repairs and upgrades, Xbox video game console. Any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute or use for other purposes either the hardware or software of this system, is strictly prohibited and may result in termination of your account and/or your ability to access Xbox Live via your Xbox, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft. Microsoft may take any legal action it deems appropriate against users who violate Microsoft's systems or network security, and such users may also incur criminal and/or civil liability.

Microsoft reserves complete and sole discretion with respect to the operation of Xbox Live. Microsoft may, among other things: (a) restrict or limit access to Xbox Live; (b) retrieve information from the Xbox used to log onto Xbox Live as necessary to operate and protect the security of Xbox Live, and to enforce this Agreement and (c) upgrade, modify, withdraw, suspend, or discontinue any functionality or feature of Xbox Live or any game from time to time without notice, which may involve the automatic download of related software directly to your Xbox video game console, and which software may prevent your Xbox from accessing Xbox Live. Microsoft has no obligation to maintain any content or services, and has no responsibility or liability for the deletion, loss, corruption or failure to store any messages, software or other information or content maintained or transmitted by or through Xbox Live.

Go see it here.
It will feature music and lyrics obviously, like a real karaoke machine, but it will let you copy your own MP3's and WMA's from your PC, more or less rip out the voice from the song, add your own lyrics and upload them to your Xbox. New songs will also be available on Xbox live.

Add to that the possibility of uploading pictures on the box and viewing them on your TV screen, and you've got a really good product.

Yes, yes they did. Note that your current subscription will be automatically renewed unless you call to cancel, and that it's not listed there but the Starter Kit is going to increase to ~$70 in price.

Microsoft even supports it, for less money than some of the "hacking sites". Me, I want two of these for Xbox Linux.

I'm not certain what service Microsoft is hooking up with (I have to believe it's the CDDB), but Microsoft's Music Mixer is going to add exactly the kind of functionality I believe you're looking for in terms of automatically titling albums/tracks when ripping new discs to the hard drive.

It is also apparently going to add the ability to import MP3s from the PC to the Xbox which is even more interesting to those of us who have already ripped our collections into that format and don't want to sit around for hours re-ripping them onto the Xbox.

Microsoft HAS released a keyboard adapter. Its free with the exception of $7 for shipping and handling. It allows any USB keyboard to work. I don't see why a USB mouse wouldn't work with it, as long as the game supported it.

What game genres are you interested in? Fighting games? Soul Calibur 2 will be best on XBox. Sure, you don't get link, but you will get the best audio and graphical experience on the XBox, and the XBox controller is better suited to a fighter than the GameCube controller. As well, Team Ninja is quite dedicated to the XBox, so you'll see plenty more Dead or Alive XBox-exclusive titles. Speaking of Team Ninja, if action is your thing then you can't miss Ninja Gaiden. And don't forget the upcoming Crimson Skies. That should be a killer title. If you're into Japanese-style RPGs, how about Sudeki or True Fantasy Live Online? Also, Knights of the Old Republic just shipped, and is quite good (yes, it's more PC-style, being from Bioware, and it will be available on the PC later this year, but it's nice to sit on a comfy couch and play it on a big TV with dolby digital audio). How about shooters? Rainbow Six 3 will be first on XBox. Ubi Soft screwed up the naming, here. The console version of Rainbow Six 3 is different than the PC version of the same name. However, it will be first and best on XBox. XIII will also make it to XBox (though it'll be everywhere). Stealth games? How about Starcraft: Ghost? If you're into NHL sports games, EA's franchise is on the 'Box but Live-less. Sega's franchise is also there, but with online play. And Microsoft has their own hockey title in the works, also with live play. If you're into platformer/action games, two new Rare titles are coming soon: Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Voodoo Vince. And let's not forget the venerable Conker (the single player quest will be mostly the same as it was on the N64, but the game has an all-new multi-player aspect).

On the Cube side of things, there's really nothing I'm looking forward to. The new Mario Kart should be fun, but if it's anything like Mario Sunshine it's not going to be worth the money. The first game I really enjoyed on the Cube (also the last one I thoroughly enjoyed) was the latest Zelda. That one was good. Nothing else has really grabbed me (Metroid Prime was annoying as hell, Mario Sunshine was a rehash of Mario 64, Rogue Leader a rehash of Rogue Squadron). I recently picked up Skies of Arcadia used, and it's decent, but it's little different than it was on the Dreamcast. As well, since I just picked up KOTOR for the Box, Skies of Arcadia is going on the back-burner.

And just to round things out, I don't own a PS2, and perhaps the only title that may make me consider buying one would be Gran Turismo 4. However, GT3 wasn't enough to make me buy a PS2, so I can't see GT4 being sufficiently better to warrant buying a PS2. I'm still happy playing GT2 on my PSOne.

"Granted, Apple has a monopoly on their OS and hardware, but there's a reason for that; they believe that the whole computer should be package, not a bunch of parts."

Funny, so does Microsoft.

"The software included in the Xbox product is licensed to you, not sold." It's on page 20 of the Xbox manual. This exploit involves the dashboard which is MS property even if it's on your Xbox. It is not yours to do with whatever you would like.

Other nice parts of the manual state that your warrenty can be voided if your system is damaged by a virus. I asked MS about this once and they couldn't give me an answer beyond "don't worry about it". Unfortunatly, my experience with MS products says I should worry about it.

Of course, even beyond all that is the fact that every time you activate a connection to Xbox Live, it checks the XBL software and updates it if there have been any changes. It would be a trivial matter for them to use this feature to either incorporate a check to detect/disable the hack and /or implement a security fix to do the same even if the hack isn't already in use.

The moral of the story? Probably not a good idea to use Xbox Live if you intend on using this particular exploit.

The secondary moral? Microsoft really was thinking ahead when they decided to go with their own closed service for "all" (quotes added to acknowledge XBConnect, Gamespy Tunnel and the rest which use the system link functionality to get people hooked up over the net) online games.

Actually, you're wrong.

See www.xbox.com, Microsoft's official XBOX site?

Notice how the logo is done. All the letters the same height! WOW!

What does that mean? It means they're all caps! Holy shit!

Just because Microsoft is so stupid they've decided to make the ASCII and JPG version of their logo in different case doesn't mean you have to be that dumb.

$50,000 in schooling and english teachers still can't get people to use case properly.

As of 30 May 2003, the prices of both Xbox and Playstation 2 in Australia dropped to AUD 329, from AUD 399 previously. (You can get a Gamecube with Metroid Prime for under AUD 300. Of course, the 'Cube isn't marketed very well and has struggled here.)

That said, most of the shops here would sell you a console with a big pile of stuff bundled in: Gamecube plus Metroid Prime; PS2 plus movies; Xbox plus Halo (still), Amped (still) and discount vouchers.

Why won't they be available earlier? I recently saw a limited edition XBox in stores over here (Austria). It has the same transparent green colour as the two S-controllers that come with it. See for yourself. If they can sell the controllers in Europe why would they wait for five months before offering them in America? The limited edition looks like an okay deal, but as long as they don't offer live over here I will stick with my GameCube.

Just saw that Ireland has the same offer. Enjoy the same page as before, but this time in English.

Why won't they be available earlier? I recently saw a limited edition XBox in stores over here (Austria). It has the same transparent green colour as the two S-controllers that come with it. See for yourself. If they can sell the controllers in Europe why would they wait for five months before offering them in America? The limited edition looks like an okay deal, but as long as they don't offer live over here I will stick with my GameCube.

Just saw that Ireland has the same offer. Enjoy the same page as before, but this time in English.

We all realize that Agent Under Fire is a $20 game right?

It's a Platinum title.

Xbox.com/007agentunderfire/

Try it, with Opera - set to identify as Opera.

Now everything that's missing is that the game can be used with a "snowboard controller" such as the playstation one or the the xbox one

Sure, they're not usb yet, but that is a smaller problem...

Great to see a snowboard game for Linux. I am very excited.

Microsoft does what, exactly?

(This is a much better example than the one in the story .. )

If you think that's bad, try xbox.com

Opera users won't see the front page (or anything at all) if their identifier is set to Opera. Change it to IE and hey presto it works.

What will stop Microsoft from buying all or investing in the game companies to kill competition?

What stops Sony from doing the same?

i know they are desperate and only a year ago their was a total of 7 games for the xbox and that was it.

There were 14 games available on launch day and many more now.

are actually paying developers not to release games for the competition.

Right... no one else does that.

Sega is gone and Nintendo might be next.

Exactly where has Sega gone? They still do what they have been best at... games. Nintendo is a very wealthy company.. they are not going anywhere.

What really sucks is the drm signed code that is required to run a game. This makes ms the gatekeeper.

Sony and Nintendo also limit who makes games for their platform.

If they were smart they would make it free for anyone to write games for it and then use the signed code feature on the xbox-2.

You sir and the people that have moderated this up are geniuses.

I wonder if we're ever going to get to a point where "this is the hardware. You have 10 years to do something cool with it"

The DVD kit for XBox comes with a remote.

Buy an XBox to play games in a social context. Without needing five billion hardware upgrades every 6 months.

The DVD kit for XBox comes with a remote.

Buy an XBox to play games in a social context. Without needing five billion hardware upgrades every 6 months.

How many kid-appropriate titles does xBox have? Zero.

Apart from ports of games such as Cel Damage, XBox has a few kid-friendly titles such as Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (T-rated, but still deemed appropriate for my 6-year-old cousin by his quite protective father).

For kicks, I then clicked on Support (http://www.xbox.com/support/xboxlivesupport.htm) and then "Get an Xbox Live Starter Kit." (http://www.xbox.com/LIVE/connect/starterkits.htm) which tells me (mid-way down the page) that:

• "
• Xbox Live Subscription Code
  This is your passport to 12 months of Xbox Live service! You'll enter this code when you are creating your Xbox Live account."

Hope this helps.