Xbox Wireless Adapter Details, Live Bundle Confirmed

Thanks to Reuters for their story confirming the official Xbox Wireless Adapter, now locked in for an October 5th release for $139. Details of this 802.11b/g device were inadvertently leaked by the FCC a couple of weeks back, and TeamXbox has a first look at the adapter, but this announcement also reveals the new Xbox Live bundle deal, as Microsoft "...will offer a $40 rebate to people who buy both the adapter and the $69 Xbox Live Starter Kit, which offers a one-year subscription to the company's online gaming service, a headset for voice communications and a copy of the game 'MechAssault.'"

Comments

Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games...

[Babbster]

Didn't they learn anything from Steel Battalion?

Actually, they did. They learned that there are people out there (myself included) who are willing to pay $200 for a good game and a good controller to provide an extremely immersive gaming experience. After all, Steel Battalion SOLD OUT. There are still people out there who would like to have the game and can't buy one from a normal retailer (the game is available on eBay and goes for well over $200). Capcom never expected to sell as many copies of Steel Battalion as, say, GTA3 or Halo. But the game apparently sold well enough that the sequel is coming stateside (with Xbox Live play) next year.

Now, I don't know how many people will buy the wireless adaptor but the truth is that the price point is competitive with other 802.11g wireless bridges. At Outpost, for example, the Linksys g-compatible model is selling for $159.99.

Oh, god no!

[Inoshiro]

Not 32 characters!

For shame, that 32-byte key will be the end of inumerable Xbox controllers!

Seriously, though, you seem to have forgotten that a bit is 1/8th of a byte, which would be 1 character you type in via the keyboard.

I'd be more worried that your keyspace will be restricted since Xbox Live!'s little keyboard will only let you enter a-zA-Z0-9 and some punctuation (instead of a full range of nul to char 255).