David Hingtgen Posted March 27, 2007 Posted March 27, 2007 The green "on" light (also used to indicate # of controllers hooked up), will turn to red in certain patterns to indicate specific errors. The most common failures will cause most or a total "ring" of red lights.
David Hingtgen Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 The Bioware forums are all abuzz over whether this is legit/viral marketing for MassEffect, or a very well-done fan trailer: I'd be *very* surprised if this is fan made.
bandit29 Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 (edited) well its official : new xbox 360 http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158254 For $479.99, here's what gamers will get (in black -- see picture): # Xbox 360 Elite console. The console is equipped with a premium black finish and three powerful core processors capable of producing the best in HD entertainment (up to 1080p), 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound, HDMI output and DVD playback with upscaling capabilities right out of the box. # Xbox 360 120GB hard drive. The 120GB detachable hard drive allows gamers to save their games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, levels, demos and other content available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.3 The hard drive is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $179.99 (U.S.). # Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black). This award-winning, high-performance wireless controller, now in black, features the Xbox Guide Button for quick, in-game access to friends and music. It has a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries. It is sold separately for an estimated retail price of $49.99 (U.S.). # Xbox 360 headset (black). Now available in black, the headset lets gamers strategize or trade taunts while playing games and send voice messages to friends on Xbox LIVE. # Xbox 360 HDMI cable. New to Xbox 360, HDMI allows consumers to get HD video (up to 1080p) and multichannel surround sound, all from one cable. (Editor's Note: The component/composite cable already included with the Xbox 360 is also in the Xbox 360 Elite box). # Xbox LIVE Silver Membership. With this, gamers can chat with friends online, collect achievements and gamerscores, send and receive voice and text messages, and access Xbox LIVE Marketplace content such as game demos, HD movies and TV, as well as the best in downloadable games from Xbox LIVE Arcade. # One-month subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold. An Xbox LIVE Gold Membership provides a complete online entertainment experience. Those who subscribe to this premium service can engage in competitive online multiplayer matches, tailor their matchmaking via feedback and accomplishments, chat with more than one person at a time, and take advantage of unique privileges in the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Xbox LIVE Arcade. Additionally, for consumers concerned with how they will get save files from their existing 360 hard drive onto the new 120 gig -- the 120 gig HDD accessory, which retails for $179.99, has a cable and software built-in that will connect the HDD to the console with an HDD attached to it and transfer the files from one HDD to the other. People won't have to use a memory card to transfer the files and then re-download all of their old Arcade titles. Edited March 28, 2007 by dejr8bud
Chowser Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 Well, 90nm processor, guess I will wait since my 360 is running fine. I hope the new units will come with the cable to do the transfer since I'd rather not d/l everything again.
David Hingtgen Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 The cable's kind of pointless for a lot of people, who'd like to trade in their old one, to get a new one. Not many people will buy the new one, transfer, THEN see what kind of money they can get for the old one. Darn, not the new cooler core. (That's actually the least of my concerns--I mainly want a quieter drive, and a new controller---maybe they've finally tweaked the molds a bit so the D-pad doesn't suck so much) (I can't do the controller mod if I plan to trade it in)
wolfx Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 Further officiating http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360....htm?WT.svl=nav
Chowser Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 I'm keeping the old one, it'll go into the basement for my son to use, the noise won't bother him down there. I really don't even need the Elite since I'm not doing much d/l'ing. The 360's 20 gb HD is mostly full of music. I still need to figure out how to get the 360 to talk to the new VISTA PC, it's got 500+ GB of music/movies/etc, I think my router is blocking something. They see each other, but they refuse to talk. But if the Elite comes out in the fall with the cooler processor and quieter drive, then I'm getting one for the living room. I was saving for this for April, guess I will just go buy another gun or something.
David Hingtgen Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 I'll probably wait for the cooler-running one, though I *really* would have liked to have a quieter one for Mass Effect, since I'll be putting a lot of hours into it. Of course, maybe ME will be an inherently quieter game---some seem to run the DVD full speed all the time, some can go almost silent for a while. All depends. I would gladly give MS like 50 bucks to take my 360 and just give it the latest BenQ drive they're using now. PS---I think I found the LCD technology I'm going to wait for: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=788306 Now, they just need to bring it down to 26/32in, and I'm sold. I'm guessing that won't be a Samsung-exclusive technology for long---the first company to give me that in a "bedroom-sized" screen gets my money.
CoryHolmes Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 I'm most interested in the HDMI connection, since my TV will only display 1080p over an HDMI cable.
Apollo Leader Posted March 28, 2007 Author Posted March 28, 2007 (edited) Based off the fact that you can get even larger USB hard drives for under a $100 (I got a 160 GB hard drive that I can plug into a USB port for under $100 last May), I would think that this new drive could be sold closer to $100, but it is a proprietary design with its own unique functions and production run numbers. As for the Elite itself, though they would have been taking a hit, I would think the Elite should have been sold closer to $400 while the Premium and Core systems would have finally gotten at least a $50 drop in price; this would have put the Core at the same price as the Wii. If the 120 GB drive comes down closer to $100, I think I would strongly consider it. But for now, I think my 20 GB drive will do. Edited March 28, 2007 by Apollo Leader
Mechafan Posted March 28, 2007 Posted March 28, 2007 I agree the pricing is too high especially for the hard drive alone. I am in no rush for the Elite; my TV does not have a HDMI port. I’ll get the 120 GB drive later maybe. I figured out a way to get my videos to play on a USB drive anyway. I finally got TVersity working and I can now stream most of my videos to the 360 if need be.
Apollo Leader Posted March 30, 2007 Author Posted March 30, 2007 New Halo 2 maps in April! Turns out they can be used by either 360 or original Xbox owners after all.
Mechafan Posted March 30, 2007 Posted March 30, 2007 I wonder if they will be free after awhile like the others.
Mechafan Posted March 31, 2007 Posted March 31, 2007 (edited) Gears of War update with VGA fix and new versus type. Epic Games has announced that a title update is coming soon as it is going through the certification process. A post in the official Gears of War forums revealed that the update will include a brand new multiplayer gametype: The next title update for Gears of War is currently going through the certification process. We'll have more detail about the update next week but I can tell you that in addition to fixing a whole bunch of glitches, and providing 720p for VGA users running at 1280x1024, it will contain a brand new multiplayer gametype called Annex. Some folks who got to play it a few weeks ago said they think it is our best multiplayer gametype yet but I'll leave it for you fans to decide what you think for yourself when it shows up soon on Xbox Live. More details next week. As to what to expect from this new multiplayer game type, its name suggests it could be a territory based game mode. Epic clarified it will be free. Edited March 31, 2007 by Mechafan
wolfx Posted April 1, 2007 Posted April 1, 2007 Hmmm....interesting http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/23/microsof...3-euro-launche/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/23/microso...-europe-launch/
Mechafan Posted April 2, 2007 Posted April 2, 2007 From what I have been reading the audio in the Elite is only HDMI 1.2. That means no Dolby TrueHD, which is a lossless multi-channel audio (PCM) format. Also on the output video format, Xbox 360 Elite will perform a handshake and select the appropriate RGB/YUV settings over HDMI. You cannot select it yourself. Another reason to keep my current 360 and skip this one. Microsoft could have been did this. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=827835
wolfx Posted April 3, 2007 Posted April 3, 2007 Crap. I am getting paranoid now. My friend's 360 whichg is 3 months old has ROD-ed. This dispels the fake sense of security that any box manufactured after April 2006 is safe from it. >_<
Fort Max Posted April 4, 2007 Posted April 4, 2007 I spent two days with my best mate and his 360 this week playing Crackdown, Gears of War, Lost Planet and Prey and godammit I need one now. I can't belive how much I missed having new action games since buying a Wii. Crackdown and Lost Planet are my favourites I think and Gears of War I didn;t really play for long enough to get the hang of it but I loved the "you're in a movie" feel of it and how amazingly well the cover system works. I'm not even gonna bother waiting for the Elite.
Apollo Leader Posted April 4, 2007 Author Posted April 4, 2007 Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 came out yesterday! I picked my copy up along with an extra guitar. A word of warning, though. There are aparently two different models of the same basic guitar; one with the possible foot pedal expansion port near the power cord and one with the port next to the headphone jack. The one with the port near the power cord apparently has been having the issue of the whammy stick being not as responsive as it should. The one that came with my game is this model and even before reading up on Joystiq about this I noticed that I was having some difficulty puting it to use. I think pushing it back to its starting position seems to help so if I can get around this I'll keep it, but its possible I might take it back at some point. Other then that, lots of fun! For those wanting to quickly and easily get the Van Halen achievement, play Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box on easy. It's well over 500 notes long and is pretty easy to play.
yellowlightman Posted April 6, 2007 Posted April 6, 2007 Did any of you guys pick up Earth Defense Force 2017? I grabbed it last night and I've been plesantly surprised. It's decidedly budget, but a huge step above the other D3 games I've played. Lots of weapons, destructable cities, fun co-op... worth the $40.
Mechafan Posted April 10, 2007 Posted April 10, 2007 Spring update coming May 7. Source link. Instant Messaging Comes to Xbox 360 Redmond , Washington —Your Xbox Live® friends list is about to get a whole lot bigger. Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live™ Messenger on Xbox 360™, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft® Windows®-based PCs and Windows Mobile®-powered devices. With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts. "Xbox Live has really become the largest social network on television." —Jerry Johnson, Microsoft Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the communication options on the Xbox Live social network. Connected Experiences Members of the six-million-strong Xbox Live community currently send more than two million text and voice messages a day and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music, or watching movies. Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate with on Xbox Live, including voice and video chat. Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox Live will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences they can share online. "Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox Live has really become the largest social network on television," said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox Live at Microsoft. "For our growing community of six million on Xbox Live, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music, and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice, and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox Live users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360." Beginning the week of May 7, users of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 can text chat using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. This summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging. Other New Features Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including: * A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list. * Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat. * A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access the content they seek—whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States)—from one place on Xbox Live. * Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores. * Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores. * A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games. * New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace. * Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete. The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and will be easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox Live or on Xbox.com. You may not even notice all the new features, but they are all designed to enhance your Xbox Live experience. Some of the other features in this upgrade include: * The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard. * When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game. * Integrated support for the new Xbox 360 text input device. Note that this device includes a new wired headset. * Playback progress bar indicates download completion. * Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native). * Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable. * Added H.264 video support: Up to 10 Mbps peak, Baseline, Main, and High profiles with 2 channel AAC LC. * Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 5 Mbps peak, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC. * Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices. * Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file. * Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content. * Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters†allowing you to quickly skip around video content. * The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file. In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters†exist in the file. * Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content. * When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space. * The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item. * The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source
Chowser Posted April 10, 2007 Posted April 10, 2007 Three weeks, that's it? argh. I'm on vacation from the 25th till the 12th with no high-speed internet..... ARGH!!!! What a rip! Anyone want my Crackdown with Beta invite for $45 shipped? It's still sealed.
Apollo Leader Posted April 10, 2007 Author Posted April 10, 2007 Three weeks, that's it? argh. I'm on vacation from the 25th till the 12th with no high-speed internet..... ARGH!!!! What a rip! Anyone want my Crackdown with Beta invite for $45 shipped? It's still sealed. So you're on vactation during the time the Beta is up and running? That sucks. Crackdown is supposed to be worth playing and at least you'll have 10 days to get a preview of Halo 3 goodness so keep the game I say.
Apollo Leader Posted April 10, 2007 Author Posted April 10, 2007 Did any of you guys pick up Earth Defense Force 2017? I grabbed it last night and I've been plesantly surprised. It's decidedly budget, but a huge step above the other D3 games I've played. Lots of weapons, destructable cities, fun co-op... worth the $40. Yeah, been meaning to give that a rental. Looks fun.
Apollo Leader Posted April 12, 2007 Author Posted April 12, 2007 First three song packs for 360 Guitar Hero II are out... and that these song packs are 500 points ($6.25) apiece and you only get three songs per pack, that means one might potentially have to spend approaching $100 to be able to play the original Guitar Hero on the 360. Someone REALLY dropped the ball on this one. I for sure am keeping my PS2 GH indefinitely...
bandit29 Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 EB Trade-in program for 360 Elite version expires Apr 27th http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158787 EB Games Doing 360 Elite Trade-In, Expires April 27 You may not want to eBay that machine just yet. By Patrick Klepek, 04/17/2007 With Microsoft gearing up to introduce yet another Xbox 360 SKU into the marketplace, it's no surprise retailers are starting to buff up their trade-in policies on Xbox-related merchandise, in order to entice more people to make the upgrade. EB Games and GameStop have been suspected of offering such a deal, and today 1UP confirmed with several retailers that exactly such a deal has gone into effect at their stories. Here's the breakdown: Xbox 360 Premium (with all the original accessories) nabs $250, Xbox 360 Core (again, with all the accessories), $200, original Xbox (ad museum) $50. This isn't necessarily the most profitable route for current Xbox 360 owners, however. eBay prices seem to be hovering more towards the $300 range when the auctions are all said and done, so you have to ask yourself whether is the convenience of avoiding all the hassles of online auctioning is worth the $50 that EB Games and GameStop won't provide. The offer doesn't last forever, though; the retailers told us the promotion expires on April 27th -- next Friday. The actual SKU will be released two days later.
David Hingtgen Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 Anyone getting a 360 elite? They went on sale today. I'm waiting for a 65nm version.
eugimon Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 Anyone getting a 360 elite? They went on sale today. I'm waiting for a 65nm version. That's what I'm waiting for as well.
Chowser Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 (edited) Thankfully, I didn't see any at Gamestop while I was in there today. I too am waiting for the 65 nm version. Edited April 30, 2007 by Chowser
yellowlightman Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 No need for HDMI, a barely full hard drive and a hatrid for black consoles means no Elite for me.
GutsAndCasca Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 Correct answer would be for the smaller chipped 360's assuming they would actually run cooler. Ah, 360, if only your hardware wasn't the most problem prone of any console released to date. Least the PS problems surfaced past years. Friend bought a 360 2 weeks ago...3 red rings after 1 week playing Halo and Gears for no more than 2 hours a day. The replacement one from Wal-mart? GOW stutters and freezes all the time. Disc plays fine in other 360's that aren't having problems. So it's going back for a 3rd replacement in 2 weeks. Good hardware marred by poor quality. Unacceptable to me but apparently a lot of people accept it. Just like the original PS1..people just took it and bought another. I didn't accept it. As soon as mine displayed red-rings of death I got it sent in for repairs and had it sold on ebay by the time it arrived back at my house. I'll never buy a microsoft vid-game system again. (After having two faulty xbox ones, I find the matter reprehensible.)
Fort Max Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 Anyone getting a 360 elite? They went on sale today. I'm waiting for a 65nm version. Maybe, it depends on how soon I take the plunge into Xbox land and whether or not that coincides with a UK release. I would like the larger HD, VOD is supposed to be coming to the UK soon with this new thing (to me) called IPTV which I just read about in a magazine this weekend.
TheLoneWolf Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Haw! The Elite's are already breaking down and some people are getting the red rings of death! http://news.spong.com/article/12415?cb=541 I'm definitely gonna wait for the 65nm version.
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