Gameinformer magazine recently took a survey of videogame failure rates. The Wii came in at about 6% while the Playstation 3 had a fail rate of roughly 10%. The Xbox has always been notorious for the “red ring of death” and so not surprisingly, it was the highest coming in at over 54%. We’re guessing that the survey interviewed a lot of new Xbox owners who have not yet had the pleasure of going through the Xbox replacement process. The new consoles with the Jasper motherboard may have also helped. If the survey had been conducted only on Xbox owners of more than 3 years, we’re pretty sure the fail rates would have been much higher. Despite the high frequency of the RRoD and Microsoft’s poor customer service, fans are not deterred as only about 4% of people actually indicated that they would not be buying another Xbox 360 due to the high failure rate.

[Source: Joystiq]

A recent job posting from Microsoft seems to suggest that they are looking for a seasoned veteran to help develop the next generation of the Xbox.

“The LIVE Engagement Team is looking for a LIVE Community Director to manage its LIVE community strategy and execution across a range of properties, from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile. This senior position will play a vital role in the community space as the LIVE Engagement team builds and program’s Microsoft’s next-generation, LIVE-enabled casual and social gaming platform across the Web, the console, mobile and beyond.”

Microsoft is apparently very keen on the idea of integrating their Xbox with the PC and even Windows Mobile. Microsoft is most likely trying to take advantage of the fact that the Windows platform is nearly universal in order to boost the presence of the other two.

[Source: ARStechnica]

As of August 8th, Halo 3 has become the first Xbox title (both original and 360) to sell over 10 million copies. Of course if you’re reading this blog you probably won’t be very surprised. Halo 3 had excellent reviews and the original halo was instrumental in building up the popularity of the Xbox Live network. The game opened to over 3 million sales in just its first week alone and even now, after 2 years, it still commands a respectable 30,000 sales weekly. In fact, the only reason some analysts are projecting slower sales in the near future is due to the release of Halo 3: ODST.
BTW: Halo 3 is the latest of only 35 games in all of history to sell over 10 million copies; the number 1 being Wii Sports which straddles atop the list at an astounding 45+ million copies sold.

[Source: VGChartz]

The panels at Comicon have been very tightlipped regarding the Gears of War movie which is currently going through pre-production. They have confirmed one thing however; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will not in the film to ANY degree. Producers cite the reason for not casting the one human being who looks like a real life embodiment of Marcus Fenix as being the Doom connection. The notoriously bad movie tends to stand out because it is in a very small section of video game movie adaptations and despite the Rock’s decent acting prowess, even he could not save the film from horrible reviews. So the Rock is out. We still hope they’ll cast Michael Clark Duncan to play Cole though!

- So it has finally happened! UFC 2009 the game has finally hit the shelves and yours truly was one of the first in line at the midnight release at a local Gamestop. Plenty of people were awaiting lined up outside the door. Well as soon as I got it home I tore into it and loaded it up. The opening little movie sequence is worth checking out it definitely hyped me up even more to finally get in the cage. I went right into an exhibition match, I am a Rampage Jackson fan so naturally I picked him and of course I had to do a rendition of the Rampage V.S. Griffin fight so that was the match up. I was kind of disappointed there was no entrance animation for walking to the ring with your music blaring and the lights dimmed, but eh that’s just a small gripe. Bruce Buffer does his Read the rest of this entry »

The price of the Microsoft Xbox Hard Drive 120 GB has dropped to to half of its original price. The 120 GB hard drive debuted with the Xbox 360 Elite system and the price for the hard drive alone was $150 but now Circuit City (probably in a move of grave desperation) has lowered it to $79.96. In case you still don’t know, Circuit City has been on the brink of bankruptcy for a while now and even with the loan from Bank of America has not been doing too well through this holiday season. The Xbox 360 hard drive is probably one of the best deals the store currently offers so if you’re looking to add to your 360, now is a great chance.

[Source: punchjump]

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]

Gears of War 2 might have sold very well after release but it was quickly toppled from its initial first place on Xbox Live as people went back to Halo 3. Apparently the fall didn’t stop there as Gears of War 2 has further slipped past World at War and Call of Duty 4 to the 4th place. There might be a small boost in playtime from the downloadable pack Combustible (seen above) release but overall things are looking a little disappointing for Epic. It remains very unlikely that Gears of War 2 will be able to reclaim the number one spot again from Halo 3 save for the right hand of god himself.

[Source: Xbox360fanboy]

A grim reminder of the power of video games, Daniel Petric, a boy from Wellington is currently going through a trial for the murder of his parents. Back in 2007, Petric who was 16 at the time had sneaked out of his house to purchase a copy of Halo 3. When his parents found out, they took it away from him and locked the game in a box along with his father’s handgun. Petric eventually gained access to the box and took the game along with the handgun. He then walked into the living room and told his parents to close their eyes as he had a surprise for him at which point he shot them both. His mother was killed while his father was only saved because Petric’s sister and husband had come to the house to watch the Indians’ game. Prosecutors are saying that they will not seek the death penalty due to the boy’s age but if convicted he will spend a good portion of his life behind bars.

[Source: Blog.Cleveland]

A couple in Florida are going to be having a Halo themed wedding. The wedding will be backed up by Full Sail University and will probably draw the world’s biggest crowd of nerdy wedding crashers. When Desirai met John, she probably knew John’s Halo obsession would prompt some changes in her life. She once took dramamine so she wouldn’t get motion sickness from Halo 3 Campaign binges. This wedding would definitely be unique but Desirai comes from a very traditional Cuban family and has not brought up the plans with them yet. The couple is currently deciding on a fixed date (the school wants them to have the wedding during a gaming convention while the couple wants it on a Halo themed date.) Stay tuned for more updates.

[Source:multiplayerblog.mtv]