January 2007 - Posts
Well, the sequal to the Xbox 360 hit from 2006, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, has a new demo. It has hit the marketplace today, rocking the cradle at a bit over 600mb.
I am downloading now, you should too!
A cool part about the "Ultimate" SKU of Vista, are the "Ultimate Extras". They are cool little things, that vary. For the official launch of WIndows Vista, they rolled an update to BitLocker as well as a free came, Texas Hold 'Em.
It is a bit different than the 48-hr free version that appeared on the Xbox360 back in August of 2006, but very cool and neat in and of itself. Check it out!
You guys really need to hurry if you want to enter the drawing to attend the Command and COnquer 3: Tiberian Wars Community Summit being held at EALA!!!
Just pre-order from EA link, and you will be entered...but hurry, its ends soon! It closes at midnight PST!!!
You can get more info from here.
Alright, I got a little bit of inside info here. Its about a new program.
Xbox is going to be rolling out a really cool program, in which you are rewarded for what you do. Inside of the next two months, Xbox will be rolling out the appropriate program. At a later date (probably to coincide with the launch) there will be a website for you to register for this program. It will be FREE to Xbox Live members of both flavors, gold and silver (rules accordingly).
The Xbox team will be teaming up with multiple partners/sponsors to support this program. The prizes you win for "doing what an Xbox360 gamer does" will vary and will be limited. So, you will have to act quick, fast and accordingly.
I was also told, that as of right now, the program will only launch in the US. It is regarded as a pilot, so the better response that we get...the more likely it is to survive, and from there...I don't know.
This really is a great program that I think many will like. Official info will be rolling out in the weeks to come. And who said playing games didn't get you anything?
Stonyarc again, is doing his thing. This time? An Xbox Live screen saver. It displays information for a given gamertag. It is definetly a cool use of the XCDP program, and something that I have yet to see.
You can find the larger screen shot here.
For more information, including some technical/software requirements, please read here.
I constantly switch between what my favorite band is...but, I really think I found a band that I can constantly like. It mixes just so many sounds, that it can never get old.
This is from Trent himself:
Posted on [12_13_2006] by trentreznor
Is it possible I am actually finished writing and recording a new nine inch nails record? Apparently so. We begin mixing in January!
Juggling fifteen all-new tracks around. Testing sequences. No leftovers from "with teeth". Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. ****ing cool.
I am hoping its a good album, but I will buy it none the less. Probably will purchase it via Zune's Marketplace.
-Masta
This just in from Turn 10, the developers of Forza. They have stated on their site, that Forza 2 will hit North American store shelves in May of 2007.
Why is there no specific date set? Che already took care of that:
Our schedule right now has us hitting Xbox certification around the middle of April and going gold soon aftewards. We want them to put the game on shelves as soon and fast as they can humanly muster. So optimistic estimates have us at retail in the first half of May -- obviously the sooner the better and that's our goal.
Source: Forza Motorsports Official Site.
Just got this word from Xbox:
Skyland from Nicktoons – first episode of the series is free for one week (until Monday 1/29 at 11:59PM PST). If they like it, the entire series is available for download now, before it has even aired on TV. This has NEVER been done before and is not available anywhere else(not on iTunes).
New Content this week
Tuesday 1/23
- Skyland (Nicktoons) - Season 1, Episode 1 free for a week
- Wild World of Spike (Spike)
- Inconvenient Truth (Par) – 2007 Academy Award nominated
- Lady in the Water in HD (WB)
- Beerfest in HD (WB)
- Wickerman in HD (WB)
Wednesday 1/24
Lionsgate Studios Launch
- The Descent in HD
- American Haunting in HD
- See No Evil in HD
- Blair Witch Project in HD
- Requiem for a Dream in HD
- Cecil B. Demented in HD
Thursday 1/26
- World Trade Center (Par)
- Barnyard (Par)
Free Episode Details
Nicktoons’ Skyland (until Monday 1/29 at 11:59PM PST)
In 2251, the earth shattered into millions of blocks that now float in orbit around its core. These blocks remained suitable for living, and life resumed on them. Water is now the most precious resource. The Sphere, a council of leaders assembled from all over the world, has installed a dictatorship that controls water distribution.
Marcus and Mila, who spearhead the pirate resistance movement, seem poised to fulfill an ancient prophecy telling of Skyland's rebirth. Shortly before the birth of their second child, Lena, Marcus and most of the pirates disappear during a major offensive against the Sphere. Mila decides to raise her children under a new identity on a quiet block called Babylonia but is eventually kidnapped by Oslo, the evil leader of The Sphere army.
Lena and her brother Mahad manage to escape, and find refuge living among the rebel pirates. They now must set off on a perilous journey to try to free their mother while Oslo tries to capture Lena, who is the key to absolute power. The battle that these 2 children lead will breathe new hope into this world…
Emmanuel Gorinstein – is a graphic designer, artist, and painter. He has directed and created hit shows such as Tarzan. Pod, Batman, and Mars.
Alexandre de La Patellière – screenwriter for the French animated movie titled Renaissance (2006).Co-wrote the French movies Les Parrains and La Jungle.
Mathieu Delaporte – wrote many TV series and full length films including, Renaissance, God Fathers, and directed/wrote the full length film; La Jungle.
Yup, that is right, there is a free piece of Video Marketplace Cotent.
John Breakwell, over at the MSDN blogs (I am subscribed to the whole MSDN blog group), has a really good breakdown of the Xbox 360's HD capabilities in regards to the type of cable you use. Since the 360 only supports HD through the component, and VGA cable, he broke it down in a chart for those two cables.
(The chart is from John's blog post)
Thanks again John. You can head over to John's blog here.
Kelly developed a cool little gadget for Windows Vista's sidebar, that shows your outlook info, if you were to use Outlook. I currently use Outlook 2007 for my Gmail account, so you know it works for the newest Office system.
I just installed it, and it seems to be running pretty well. You can find the gadget at http://gallery.live.com, or by clicking this link.
[Edit: Seems people, including myself, are having trouble and getting stuck behind the security method, and dont see "Xbox Live Vision Cam" in the hardware manager. I've told the team, and they are seeing whats up. As for now, it SHOULD still install the drivers (or use generic ones) for it to be a video (but not picture) camera. I have been able to utilize it in Windows Live Messenger for a video chat.]
I've had issues getting this to work, as have others. With Vista being a new OS, some of the drivers just aren't "there" yet. Well, I talked to my Ceesar, and he was able to talk with the product team. This is what they said:
As it turns out the driver for the "Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Vison Security Method 3" are unnecessary, and can be safely ignored by clicking the "Don't show this message again for this device" button in the "Found new hardware" wizard that pops up when you connect the camera to your Vista PC - the security interface is un-necessary for the PC. The camera will work fine even if the security interface is not installed.
To install the driver for actual camera itself, select the “Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera” listed under the Universal Serial Bus controllers in Device Manager. Then right click and select “update driver software”. The Hardware Update Wizard comes up, Then select “Browse my computer for driver software”, then select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers”. The next window shows compatible hardware listed (must make sure the "Show compatible hardware" box is checked) as: USB Composite Device. This is the correct one so all you need to do is select USB Composite Device and then select Next. The composite interface will install , then the video device interface will install and finally the security interface will try to install - but you can safely click the "Don't show this message again..." button.*
I am in Puerto Rico now, so I dont have the camera on me. Hopefully it works.
-Masta
Stonyarc is doing his deal again, bringing forth yet another cool service. This time, he has developed a Live Messenger bot, that when asked can display certain information. You can find more info on this cool new service at XUG, or you can follow the link below:
http://www.xboxusersgroup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68650
Nice work Stony