Xbox 360 Ειδήσεις {News Topic}

[xrest]

pali kala pou feugw gia ameriki...axaxa

[Wolfidis]

pas ameriki ali8eia?

[xrest]

nai sas apoxeraitw,irthe to plirwma tou xronou.mexri telous xronou lele

[Socratis_g]

nai sas apoxeraitw,irthe to plirwma tou xronou.mexri telous xronou lele

 

Το Insomnia μην το ξεχάσεις!! Παρέχεις καλές nfo εδώ. Οπότε όπου κ να είσαι θα τα λέμε

[privateer]

Microsoft Sees Increased Profits, Slight Loss For X360 Division

 

Microsoft has announced its first quarter results, with overall revenue up 11% to $10.81 billion and profit of $3.48 billion, while the Xbox 360-containing EDD division saw a small loss of $95 million on revenue of $1.03 billion.

 

However, this smaller loss compared well to the previous year, which saw $606 million in revenue and a larger loss of $173 million, with increases "primarily driven by Xbox 360", as 900,000 Xbox 360s were sold in the quarter ending September 30th 2006.

 

The company also revealed that Xbox 360 has sold 6 million consoles worldwide life to date and "achieved record cumulative attach rates for software and peripherals in the United States", while Xbox Live passed the four million member mark during the quarter.

 

The Entertainment and Devices Division (“EDD”) products include the Xbox 360, PC games, CPxG (consumer software and hardware products), TV platform products for the interactive television industry, and Mobile and Embedded devices (principally Windows Mobile software platform and Windows Embedded device operating system).

 

Microsoft's financials explain: "EDD revenue increased during the three months ended September 30, 2006, which was launched in November 2005. Xbox and PC game revenue increased $319 million or 107% due to higher console volumes and higher Xbox video game revenue driven by the launch and by more software title releases."

 

But it's also noted: "EDD operating loss in first quarter of fiscal year 2007 decreased primarily reflecting the increase in revenue, partially offset by a $268 million increase in cost of revenue primarily related to Xbox 360, increased sales and marketing expenses related to recent and upcoming product launches including Xbox 360 and PC games, and increased development costs associated with new and upcoming products, including Zune" - Microsoft's portable music and potential video game player, which is also part of the EDD.

 

Microsoft also commented, as part of its results, on the continuing progress for its next-gen console: "We believe that the functionality of the Xbox 360 console, games portfolio, and online offerings are well-positioned relative to forthcoming competitive consoles. We also believe launching in advance of competing consoles will provide a strategic advantage for the long-term success of Xbox 360."

 

Looking forward, it was explained by the firm: "In fiscal year 2007, we expect revenue to increase due to the increased availability of Xbox 360 during the entire fiscal year, including the second holiday season after its launch. We expect to introduce Zune in fiscal year 2007 [before June 2007]."

 

The company's overall second quarter estimates are for revenue of $11.8 billion to $12.4 billion, with operating income of $2.9 billion to $3.1 billion, in the quarter ending December 31st.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11441

[xrest]

Call of Duty 3 Info

 

Today I got the rather unique opportunity of playing the multiplayer and single player modes in the upcoming World War II title Call of Duty 3. The event took place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole and featured around twenty-four 360 booths with the awesome Call of Duty 3 inside them and all of them were set up ready for me and my grubby little mitts.

 

I arrived and simply choose my booth and started on the campaign mode of the game and so begins my hands-on. Now firstly we had to choose difficulty and the one of the guys from Treyarch said that I shouldnʼt do Veteran as itʼs a lot more difficult, of course I didnʼt listen and started on Veteran. Thirty seconds later I was on Hard and then sixty seconds later I was on Normal. The Veteran on CoD2 is somewhere between Normal and Hard on CoD3. If you want to play through Call of Duty 3 on Veteran then be prepared to tear your hair out around every corner and scream with disgust as you are killed for the 348,828,983 time.

 

I finally opted for Normal and started on ʽThe Islandʼ. Up came the loading screen and thatʼs when I truly realised I was about to play what is arguably one the most anticipated titles of 2006. The level starts with you behind a tank grappling a BAR, you watch on your left and right as scores of Americans charge and are quickly mown down by the enemy turrets, whatʼs more you find your cover blown(the big tank that is) to little itty bitty pieces within thirty seconds of starting.

 

Going forward with your BAR weapon, you face a good twenty Germans coming from every angle, all of them intent on killing you. After picking off each of the Germans you then advance through a blown up bunker and on to your next checkpoint, which sees you yet again fighting against countless Germans. Luckily the team AI seems to have been given an upgrade, for one they donʼt go out in the open saying ʽIf I canʼt see you, you canʼt see meʼ. Your team mates do come in handy in situations like this where you are outnumbered 50 to 1, they will throw perfect grenades which can knock out German turrets or squads of charging Nazis, they will also go ahead of you which wasnʼt seen in CoD2 often and they will sometimes do all the work for you, I mean I never complained.

 

Further on in the level you find yourself emptying houses that have been encamped with Germans. Now the PPSh was a great gun for situations like this but sadly you can no longer use it, but do not fret, as there is another gun which will please your blood lusting appetite, it's German and is called the FP42 (I think, Iʼm not one for pens and papers so I might have got it slightly wrong). The FP42 despite having quite a harsh kickback is still one hell of a powerful gun and a room of six Germans is nothing against this baby.

 

Once youʼve cleaned out a few more houses, dodged a few tank shells and German bullets you finish the first part of ʽThe Islandʼ and on comes the second stage. The second part of the level starts with a Scottish general claiming that the French are good for kissing and thatʼs about it (that got a few chuckles round the room). You then take control of your soldier with the Scotsman whispering that ʽwe must be quietʼ and round the corner we find a German taking a piss break. Now donʼt shot him as that will alert the vast amount of bad guys waiting just yards from you, instead you have to use your melee and smash his head open, if like me your not good at aiming then you might have to take few whacks at his head before he finally succumbs to the pain and dies in a pool of his own blood.

 

Now there is a new melee system implemented into the game, for example you can kind off lock horns with your guns and push people over cliffs and it just adds that little bit more realism to the game. Anyways on with the game, so you kill the pissing German and you go on to face … ummmmmm ….. Oh I know this, donʼt tell me, donʼt tell me… ahh yes thatʼs right, more Germans. One by one you take down the Germans and once theyʼre all dead you will find a little treat round the corner, why itʼs a Jeep and one which you, yes you can drive. Now the handling feels like a McClaren F1 and has the speed of a Koenisegegsgeesgeg, okay so I may have exaggerated on that one. The Jeep of course has pretty basic handling but your first drive will see you dodging quite a few tank shells, mortars, Germans and you will also have the pleasure of running a few Nazis over (It does feel ever so sweeeet).

 

By the time I had finished the drive-by shooting section, one of the Treyarch guys started a nice little info speech and one bit of info really got me listening. The guy from Treyarch explained that the different uniforms were worn by real people in a field and then they were scanned by the same scanner which looks for flaws in the foam at the bottom of the space shuttle. I mean jeeeeeesuz when he told me that, I realised just how much work had gone into this game and in a sense made me appreciate it that little bit more. He then went ahead and set up the first multiplayer server and I got to play a new multiplayer gametype in a 10 vs 10 server (which can go up to 12 vs12 online or via system link).

 

The new gametype is simply entitled ʽWarʼ and I will try to explain it as best I can. In war you start with two flags each and the middle one neutral, now to take control of an enemy flag you cant simply go to their base and take it (like BF2) you have to work your way through the flags, so if you get the middle one you can then proceed to the next flag and then if you get the final flag the game is over.

 

They did explain that the Sniper was a lot harder to use to compensate for sniper whores and sure enough you canʼt breathe for as long and itʼs a lot more twitchy and harder to use which may push a few snipers away from the new guns. Each time you die you can respawn as either a Medic (he heals people if you didnʼt know), Rifleman (M1 Garand), Light Assault (Thompson, Stens), Heavy Assault (BAR etc…), Scout (Sniper), Anti-Armor (BAZOOOOOOOOOOOOKA) and finally Support which have a little trick up their sleeve in that they can call in artillery strikes. We also got to use the various vehicles including the bike and sidecar (which is terrible), Jeep (both US and German) and Tanks.

 

Now I was standing next to one of the guys from Treyarch and of course Iʼm a sniper whore so I went Scout, but the weird thing was I managed to get about 6 kills in a row, all of them from the Treyarch guy next to me. I wasnʼt spawn camping as they have made spawn camping next to impossible as they have put loads of spawns on any one map. It got even better when the other Treyarch guy (I should really have got their names) made me and his colleague switch teams as I was sniping too many Nazis and the Nazis kept losing. Of course I went on to help the Germans to no wins, the Allies won every single battle but even so it was a really good laugh.

 

Now graphically the game looks amazing, in part due to the Space Shuttle scanner but also the fact that so much time had gone into this game when they were given such a short time to make it. Explosions look even better, you get more flying debris and one of the best aspects in my opinion is that when you zoom in with your weapon part of the background blurs. Now youʼre thinking ʽwhy?ʼ Think about it though, when you aim, your vision is more concentrated which means you will only see the clearest directly in front of you simply because youʼre concentrating so hard and so the outer skirts of your vision will slightly blur. Try it with a real gun, youʼll be surprised.

 

Audio wise the game is more immersive than ever before. Not only do you have louder more resounding gun shots and mortar explosions, you also have new death sounds, like when you shoot someone in the neck youʼll hear the blood gurgle in their throat (nice or what). One other thing I noticed which was pretty nice is that when you turn your gun (or head) the volume will change on individual speakers. So if youʼve got your left ear pointing at the firefight your left speaker will be blaring away and your right as quiet as a mouse. It's little things like that, that make the game feel undeniably awesome.

 

I only got to play one mission and two levels on the Story and two levels on the multiplayer, but from what Iʼve played I think this is without doubt Gears of Wars biggest competitor. The game is more intense, more realistic, funner, itʼs simply a better game and considering how good CoD2 was you really couldnʼt wish for anything more. This will be one hell of a game and you will be bonkers to miss out.

 

[Daredevil]

Microsoft: 6 Million Xbox 360s Sold

 

As part of its quarterly earnings report issued late Thursday, Microsoft disclosed that it has sold a total of 6 million Xbox 360 video game consoles since the product debuted nearly one year ago. Losses in the Xbox division were also lowered to $96 million from $173 million a year ago.

 

As of July, Microsoft had sold a total of 5 million Xbox 360s. Still, the Redmond company expects to ship -- not sell -- a total of 10 million consoles by the end of this year. This figure has remained firm, even with increased competition this holiday season from Sony's PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, both due out next month.

[Stormwatch]

Blue Dragon New Video (Μάχες)

 

http://www.xboxyde.com/news_3743_en.html

 

[privateer]

Blue Dragon

 

[The_Sheep]

First HALO 3 news

 

New Weapons

Spiker: the weapon of choice for Brutes.

Spartan Laser: An anti-vehicle weapon.

Nail Grenade: sticks on walls and emits nails into the air. (Resistancesque)

 

New Vehicle

Moongoose: The ATV that was supposed to be in Halo 2. It carries 2 people and it doesn't have any weapons so it's mainly a means of getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, but players can fire while in it.

 

New multiplayer features

Man Cannon: launches you into the air. You can still be fired at and you can fire back. It sounds like the jump pads from Unreal and Quake Arena. Though the cannon part could mean that you are a weapon if you collide with someone physically.

 

The X-button will have a special use which Bungie will not reveal. I'd wager it's for stealing the opponent's weapon in close range. Bumpers are now used to reload both weapons independently. Nice touch.

 

 

 

more

 

http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2006/10/halo_3_details_1.php

[privateer]

[papatrexas!]

Γιατι τα γραφικα του μου θυμιζουν Halo 2;

[nzeppos]

Μπα όχι, ένα video του Halo 3 που είχα κατεβάσει από το XBL είχε πολύ καλά γραφικά (όχι ότι ήταν και GoW). Πιο πολύ φοβάμαι ότι θα έχει το gameplay των Halo 1 και 2. Και τους ίδιους εχθρούς...

[privateer]

Γιατι τα γραφικα του μου θυμιζουν Halo 2;

 

On graphics

"A lot is still missing in this build. Weather- and water effects are missing, and most of our HDR isn't in there yet. We're still at alpha stage, but when everything is in place, Halo 3 will be the best X360 has to offer." --Brian Jarrard

 

"We definitely have another strategy than Epic Games when it comes to graphics. We'll never engulf our game environments in lots of details like that. GoW looks absolutely fantastic, but we want to avoid compromising Halo's unique visual style. That's why we're making a clean, sharp game as opposed to one with insane amount of details." --Brian Jarrard

 

(Multiplayer) scans of the magazine

 

 

In the just-redesigned December issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (subscribers should have it any day now) a handful of editors took Halo 3's multiplayer game hands-on.

 

The result? A 17-page cover story and a three-week series of stories on 1UP called "3 Weeks of Halo 3."

 

Before all of that information ends up in your hands, though -- here's a small taste of what to expect from both EGM and 1UP over the next few weeks:

What are these new Brutish weapons? What's a Spike Rifle...or a Spike Grenade?

The Mongoose (the once-scrapped ATV from Halo/Halo 2) is back: Who wants to ride Brokeback?

Halo 3 will have three retail SKUs: standard, collector's edition, and Legendary. Guess which one comes with a helmet and four discs of content?

Adding bumpers to the 360 controller means there's some extra real estate for Bungie to play with. Now the left bumper reloads your dual-wielded weapon and the right bumper is the normal reload. What does X do, though? Mum.

Starting weapon: Bungie thinks they have the "perfect" starting weapon in Halo 3. It's not the pistol, the battle rifle, or the SMG...and it's pretty familiar. How does the new Assault Rifle play?

One of the new maps, Valhalla, is being called "the new Blood Gulch" -- but this isn't another coat of new paint on the Combat Evolved classic. This is, from-the-ground-up, a brand-new map. How is it?

What if you could save your own movies from Halo 3's single- and multiplayer gameplay and then rewatch them? In Halo 3, you can.

 

Stay tuned to our 3 Weeks of Halo 3 hub page for lots more Halo 3 in the coming weeks!

 

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3154702

[privateer]

 

:shock: