Microsoft has been under some heat ever since documents revealed that the company was aware of the Xbox 360 design flaw that made game disks susceptible to scratches during play. Microsoft Xbox users often complain about the console’s tendency to put the ring like scratches (picture above) in their games and so far Microsoft has been very elusive on the subject. Microsoft has just recently responded to the allegations by stating that they have put a warning that the console should not be moved during play and that such a move would make any console put scratches in a disk. Microsoft has further stated that they did put a clear warning label that must be removed before play.

[Source: Edge]

Five weeks. It has been five weeks since the last time the Sony Playstation 3 sold more than the Microsoft Xbox 360. For the first time ever, the Xbox 360 beat out the Playstation 3 for the entire month of September in Japan. And that trend seems to continue. For the week ending on October 12, date coming from Media Create Co., have shown that the Xbox 360 has once again beat out the Playstation 3. For week of October 6 to October 12, the Xbox 360 sold 7,763 units compared to the PS3′s 5,734. Xbox’s recent success can be attributed to the recent price cut of the Xbox 360. Although the Xbox 360 is doing well against the Playstation 3, both fail in comparison in sales to the Nintendo Wii, which continues to sell strong worldwide.

- Geoff

[Source: GameDaily]

PC

• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (Limited Edition also available)
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (game only)
• Nancy Drew: The Haunted Castle of Malloy
• Everlight
• Dark Horizon
• Etch-A-Sketch
• Can You See What I See?
• Sniper: Art of Victory
• Exodus From The Earth

Nintendo DS

• Bleach: Dark Souls
• Prey The Stars
  
• Pop Cutie: Street Fashion Simulation
  
• Imagine: Babysitters
• Crash: Mind Over Mutant
• Imagine: Fashion Designer New York
• The Legend of Kage 2
• Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals

Wii

• Line Rider 2 Unbound
• Game Party 2
• Crash: Mind Over Mutant
• 10 Pin Alley 2
• NBA Live 2009: All-Play
• Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune

PlayStation Portable

• NBA 09: The Inside
• My Spanish Coach
  
• NBA Live 2009
• Midnight Club: LA Remix
• Cake Mania Baker’s Challenge

PlayStation 2

• NBA 2K9
  
• Crash: Mind Over Mutant
• NBA Live 2009
• NBA 09: The Inside
• Cake Mania Baker’s Challenge
• Avatar – The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno

PlayStation 3

• Fracture
  
• NBA 09: The Inside
• NBA Live 2009
• NBA 2K9

Xbox 360

• Fracture
  
• Guilty Gear 2: Overture
  
• NBA 2K9
• Crash: Mind Over Mutant
• NBA Live 2009

- Geoff

[Source: ArsTechnica]

PC

• Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization
• Command & Conquer 3: Deluxe Edition
• The Settlers VI Gold
• EA Sports 08 Collection
• Medal of Honor 10th Anniversary Edition
• Everlight
• Flight Simulator X Gold Edition
• Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
• Mount & Blade
• Battlelord: King’s Bounty
• Nostradamus
• Line Rider 2 Unbound
• LEGO Batman

Nintendo DS

• Disgaea DS
  
• Kirby: Super Star Ultra
• Di-Gata Defenders
• Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
  
• Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
• Nancy Drew: Hidden Stair Case
• My Little Pony Pinkie Pie’s Party
• Drop Cast
• SimCity Creator
• Shaun the Sheep
• My Japanese Coach
• Dinosaur King
• Barbie Fashion Show: Eye For Style
• LEGO Batman
• Time Hollow
• My SAT Coach: Princeton Review
• Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
• Pipe Mania
• Margot’s Word Brain
• Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge

Wii

• De Blob
• Wario Land: Shake It
• SimCity Creator
• Samba De Amigo
• Brothers in Arms: Double Time
• Twin Strike: Operation Thunder
• Rebel Raiders
• Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
• Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2009
• Pitfall: The Big Adventure
• LEGO Batman

PlayStation Portable

• Buzz Master Quiz
  
• LEGO Batman
• Pipe Mania

PlayStation 2

• LEGO Batman
• SingStar Pop Vol.2
  
• Onimusha: The Essentials
• Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2009
• Pipe Mania
• Dragon Ball Z Trilogy
• Warriors Orochi 2
  

PlayStation 3

• Baja: Edge of Control
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
• LEGO Batman
• Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2009
• BUZZ Quiz TV

Xbox 360

• Baja: Edge of Control
  
• LEGO Batman
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
• Warriors Orochi 2
• Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2009

- Geoff

[Source: ArsTechnica]

- Geoff

[Source: Gametrailers]

- Geoff

[Source: Gametrailers]

- Geoff

[Source: GameTrailers]

PC

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• Crysis: Warhead
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
• American McGee’s Grimm: Beauty and the Beast
  
• Pure
• Line Rider 2: Unbound
  
• Discovery
• Cooking Academy
• Hell’s Kitchen
• The Settlers VI Gold
• The Price is Right

Nintendo DS

• Dragon Quest IV
• Drawn to Life: Sponge Bob Squarepants edition
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Line Rider 2: Unbound
  
• Di-Gata Defenders
• Animal Paradise
• Igor
• Red Bull BC One
• My Secret World
• Unsolved Crimes
• Happy Cooking
• Imagine: Fashion Designer New York

Wii

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  
• Rebel Raiders
• TNA! Impact
• Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf
• Igor
• Zoo Hospital
• Littlest Pet Shop

PlayStation Portable

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Yggdra Union
• B-Boy

PlayStation 2

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  
• Speed Racer
• Namco Classic Fighter Collection
• Naruto Ultimate Collection
• Pac-Man Power Pack

PlayStation 3

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Armored Core: For Answer
• Pure

Xbox 360

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Battle Fantasia
  
• Armored Core: For Answer
  
• Pure

- Geoff

[Source: ArsTechnica]

There is so much that one can do with their XBox 360. But everybody doesn’t know about these tricks and secrets about their Xbo 360. Here is an article by Alec Meer of Tech Radar listing the 10 secrets and tricks that Microsoft won’t tell you about.

10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft won’t tell you

1. Connect your Xbox 360 to two screens at once

If you’ve got one of the component/composite dual video cables – the one that comes in the box with most 360s – you can have your console display its gamey goodness on two TVs simultaneously. The trick is to flick the cable’s switch to Standard Definition but hook up the composite (yellow) cable to one screen and the component (the red, green, blue) cables to another. It won’t be high-def, but it could be handy if you’re staging a mini LAN party and want to set up a display for bored spectators to point their eyes at.

2. Play your own music in original Xbox games

That you can fire up your own MP3s during a 360 game is common knowledge (and re-soundtracking moody horror games with the Benny Hill theme tune never stops being funny), but it doesn’t work if you’re playing a title from the original Xbox. There’s a way around it – start playing your album or playlist before you load the game, and it’ll keep on playing once you do fire the title up. The game’s own music won’t be muted, however, so if you can’t do that in its settings you’ll go mad from the weird cacophony.

3. It can write its own blog

Ah, the internet – founded upon crazy men making crazy things for free. Such as a blog supposedly written by your 360, based on what you’ve been using it for. It monitors your Live account and automatically generates entries about what it’s been up to that day (or what it hasn’t been up to – expect many posts about neglect if you don’t turn it on for a while). The tone is very much American geek, but it’s a fun record of your own gaming habits, and of keeping an eye on what your chums are up to. Get set up at www.360voice.com.

4. Play Xbox 360 games online for free – without a Live account

That you have to pay a subscription for online gaming, something that’s free on other consoles and on the PC, is perhaps the 360′s greatest bugbear. Stage your own form of peaceful process by playing online without paying a penny. You’ll need XLink Kai, a free app you run from a PC on the same network as the console that tricks the 360 into thinking the internet is a LAN.

So it’ll treat remote opponents as though they’re in the same room as you – and you don’t have to pay for local multiplayer. Clever! One snag – Microsoft has set the 360 to boot out anyone with a ping higher than 30ms, so you’ll have to be selective about who you play with. Local chums are best, not your Chinese penpal.

5. Interact with your Xbox 360 music

Hit X whilst playing a music CD or file (whether from the 360′s hard drive, an MP3 player you’ve plugged in, or streamed from a PC) and you’ll enter Psychedelic Wonderland. Well, some artful visualisations, anyway. Grab a controller or two (or up to four, as it happens) and start moving thumbpads and pressing buttons to interact with the crazed shifting colours. There are actually some fairly elaborate controls – read the full manual at http://www.llamasoft.co.uk/x360manual.php. Good at parties, this.

6. Connect your Xbox 360 to a wireless network without an official adaptor

The good news is you don’t have to drop £50 on Microsoft’s offensively overpriced Wi-Fi adaptor. The bad news is you’ll need a laptop with W-Fi to do it. Head to Control Panel – Network Connections (In Windows XP) or Network & Sharing Center – Manage Network Connections (in Vista). Select the Local Area Connection and the Wireless Network Connection at once, then right-click and hit ‘bridge connections’.

Disconnect then reconnect to your wireless network, run a network cable from the laptop’s Ethernet port to the 360′s, and you should be good to go. Unfortunately, you may have to remove the bridge (repeat the above process and you’ll see the option) whenever you want to browse the net with the laptop.

7. Play music from your iPod

Not a secret as such, but Microsoft doesn’t exactly shout about the fact it plays nice with a device made by uber-rival Apple. Hidden in the depths of the Marketplace, you’ll find a teeny download called ‘optional iPod support’. Once you’ve grabbed that, plug in your iPod (iPhones aren’t supported yet, sadly) and head to the Media Blade. You’ll see your pod appear there, and can now browse its music by album, artist, genre or whatever. It’ll also charge via the USB port, usefully.

8. Reset your Xbox 360 video settings

Remember this one if you’re in the habit of carrying your console to chum’s houses and hooking it up to different displays. It can end up trying to output the wrong signal, so you can’t see anything or get a flickering screen. Fortunately, there’s a fairly simple fix if this happens. Remove any discs from the tray and turn the thing off. Then turn it on using a gamepad. As it boots, hold down the Y button, then hit and hold the right trigger. The video settings will reset to default, and you’ll stop your sobbing.

9. Play any media file, plus online videos on your Xbox 360

Free app Tversity neatly sidesteps the pointless video/audio restrictions Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo alike slap on their consoles, making them able to play any format. Again, you’ll need a PC on the same network, but it’s a simple matter of installing the program and having it scan the folders you keep your media in. It’ll replace the standard network file-sharing system Windows uses, but behaves pretty much the same way at the 360′s end. As well as that, it’ll convert unsupported files on the fly – though you’ll need a pretty beefy PC to do this with large video files, otherwise you’ll be waiting ages. You can also add online video URLs on the PC’s end – including Youtube – and then access those from the console.

10. Use any HDMI cable and still get digital surround sound

Though the newer 360s have an HDMI output for optimal video quality, they’ve built the ports in such a way that you can’t have the standard component/composite video cable, with its crucial optical audio output, plugged in at the same time as HDMI. Instead, you’re supposed to drop a frightening amount of money on the official HDMI cable with audio adapter. Balls to that. See the big plastic box at the end of the standard video cable that connects to the console? Wedge a knife or screwdriver into the join and twist to pop it off. The result looks messy, but is small enough to plug in alongside a standard, cheapo HDMI cable.

- Geoff

[Source: TechRadar]