Which of my Live friends have my games?

Info on a cool Xbox 360 fan site that will organize your Live friends list by game, and by achievement points. Makes it easy to see which of your friends have the same game you do, and how your achievements in each game stack up against the list of your friends.

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Xbox modder gets home detention

Los Angeles store owner that peddled illegally modified Xboxes sentenced to six months of home detention, ankle bracelet and all.

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40 Percent of Players Are Addicted to World of Warcraft

An expert in computer, Internet and video game addiction believes that 40 percent of the more than 6 million subscribers suffer from a clinical addiction to the game and wants warning labels on the game boxes similar to the Surgeon General's warnings on cigarettes. TwitchGuru has the interview.

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So You Think You are a Gamer!
The Ultimate Game Quiz

Sega's Kick Ass Chinese Arcade

This is the future of arcades.. Last May, Sega opened super slick arcade Player's Arena in Shanghai's Vegas-looking New World Castle department store. The 12,000 square game center features wall-to-wall cabinets, UFO catchers, etc.

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Major Nelson Show #186 (WMA) The one about the HD-DVD player
This week’s show:
E3 Cancelled? Being modified
Interview: Xbox 360 HD-DVD Player
Community Interview: The founder of Gamertagpics.com
Name the GameTM
…and much more! "
WMA Link

Wii Priced at $229

Apparently IGN posted an article with a little too much detail. But basically the Wii will hit North America in mid-November with a $229 price. The price alone makes it extremely competitive with the technically superior, but pricey, PS3 and Xbox 360. It's going to be an interesting Christmas!

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EA Unveils Next-Gen NBA STREET, Teaser Trailer
"Electronic Arts announced today that the newest iteration of NBA STREET, the critically acclaimed and culturally defining streetball videogame franchise, is scheduled for release in spring 2007 under the EA SPORTS BIG brand. The game is in development in Vancouver, B.C. by EA Canada, the studio that also is home to the industry-leading NBA LIVE and NCAA March Madness basketball videogame franchises. "
Teaser Trailer

SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run Launch Trailer
"SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run takes the Spy Hunter franchise where it's never gone before–on foot. Featuring action superstar Dwayne 'THE ROCK' Johnson as government super–spy extraordinaire Alex Decker, players for the first time ever can step out of the Interceptor and straight into 3rd person action, utilizing THE ROCK'S physical prowess to take down enemies with intense melee combat moves. "
Watch Trailer

F.E.A.R. Demo Imminent

A member of the CheapAssGamer forums took a screenshot of his friends list when he noticed that one of his friends had been playing the F.E.A.R. demo. Later in the thread the friend replied by saying that due to his job he had gotten a hold of the demo and that it would be packed in with next month's issue of the Official Xbox Magazine.

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Microsoft's Xbox Piracy Spreading

Software piracy on Microsoft's new video game player Xbox 360 is rapidly spreading in Korea, casting a dark shadow over the company's fledgling game business. Since its launch last November, Microsoft had been proudly saying that the new high-tech game player is invulnerable from such hacking attempts.

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IGN Removed Rumor - Portable GameCube in the Works?

IGN posted an article on the usual Wii rumors (price $229, launch date Nov 2 or 12). More interesting one given by mysterious sources that IBM was in the process of shrinking & slowing down the Wii's Broadway chip for a "future Nintendo handheld". THEN THEY YANKED IT! ""At the request of our sources, who do not wish to go to jail this week"

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Microsoft shows off HD DVD drive for Xbox

Microsoft on Monday offered the first glimpse of an external HD DVD drive built for the Xbox 360 game console.

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Dead Rising Review (Xbox 360) 8.7
"Dead Rising is a game that takes the tried and true survival horror genre and turns it on its head. It melds brand-new gameplay ideas – and there really are a ton of new ideas to enjoy – with a B-movie style storyline that does an admirable job of keeping players engulfed in the strange goings-on in the Williamette Parkview Mall."
Read TeamXbox Review

Madden NFL 07: On The Field Int
A thrilling in depth look at the play mechanics for offence & defence.
GameTrailers.com HD Video

How you'll control the HD-DVD player from the Xbox360 Dashboard

In yesterdays show, I mentioned that I'd post photos of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD Dashboard interface and how you'll be able to control two drives. Those images are now posted over at the Gamerscore blog Note: these are not final and subject to change.

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Neverwinter Nights 2 Multiplayer Beta Test

Welcome to the sign up form for the closed public beta test for Neverwinter Nights
2 for PC. Neverwinter Nights 2 is an extensive role-playing game that employs a rich single-player experience, a toolset for creating custom adventures, as well as a multiplayer component where adventurers can team up and explore the world of Faerun as a team!

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Microsoft Flight Simulator X Demo (2 Days away)

The demo will feature the location of St. Maarten in the Caribbean and include 2 airports and 3 missions of progressing difficulty.


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Another Console Price Drop PS2 $109.00
PlayStation 2 - Wal-Mart

QuakeCon 06: John Carmack's keynote [now online]

"John Carmack's annual QuakeCon keynote address. It was comparable to his down to earth speech presented last year when he focused on next generation console gaming. This year, he focused on multi-processor support in games. Sit back and relax and prepare to be blown away by the genius mind of the QUAKE creator himself, John Carmack."

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New Crysis Videos

New videos of Crytek's upcoming Crysis, mirrored at bluealien.

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Best of QuakeCon 2006

GamerNode traveled to Dallas this week for QuakeCon 2006--and here's our take on the best the "Woodstock of Gaming" had to offer.

Watch Video

The Game Industry Skills Shortage

Console developers are discovering that it is not as easy to find skilled talent for their proprietary hardware as it is for standardized (basically, DirectX) PC game development. And none have experience with next-generation hardware that is needed today. Game dev programs in schools are outdated and aren't helping.

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Pioneer Launches The First Surround Sound System For Xbox 360

Pioneer Electronics AsiaCentre today premiered the first surround sound system for Xbox 360 with the introduction of a 5.1 channel surround sound speaker system officially licensed for the video game and entertainment system.

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Teen drives into career using video games

Coleman, 18, honed skills for Busch Series by PlayStation, Xbox games

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So this is how they sell us video games?

Here's the video shown to all new Gamecrazy employees. It's pretty ridiculous.

Dead Rising XBOX 360 Demo FAQ - All Weapons, Drink Mixes, and Cool Stuff!

"Some people simply download this demo, play it for the 15 minutes and say "That sucked", then delete it from their hard drive. So I made this little guide to shine some light on all the things you can do in this demo, and also to help anyone who is looking for something. Enjoy."

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Xbox 360 water ballon record - official ad

The official 1minute ad of the Xbox 360 world record water balloon challenge which was held on Coogee Beach (SYDNEY), NSW AUSTRALIA. Held in April 2006, 2849 people threw 51386 water balloons.

Colin McRae kicks up DIRT as genre-leading series goes next-gen.

DIRT: Colin McRae Off-Road™ is today revealed as the title* for the next generation of the genre leading, 8-million+ selling rally racing series. Codemasters also confirms the game will launch for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC simultaneously in 2007.

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Rumor: New Strikers Wii Bound

Since its release in the states last December, Super Mario Strikers has sold more than 500,000 copies, effectively making it a sleeper hit and likewise a prime candidate for a Wii sequel.

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Sony: The Old Games Saves May Be Used On PS3

The backward compatibility is an important issue for those who plan to witch their old PS2 with the upcoming gaming console from Sony, Play Station 3. After months of rumors and speculations, Sony has finally decided to reveal how the PS2 saves will be transferred to the new gaming console.

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E3 rollback a blow to booth babes

And what of the fate of scantily clad Booth Babes, the underemployed Hollywood actresses and models who had counted on E3 for a solid week of work? "Who will be sending them to college now" Petrol123 worried on GameSpot.

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TVersity Announces Support for the Xbox 360

TVersity Inc., the pioneer in delivering Internet and home media to televisions and mobile devices, today announced support for the Xbox 360. "We are very excited to allow owners of the Xbox 360 to overcome some of the inherent limitations of this device", said Ronen Mizrahi, President of TVersity Inc., "With TVersity they can, for the first time, access audio files in formats not natively supported by the Xbox 360 (like Vorbis and FLAC), play Internet radio stations of their choice, and access podcasts and photo feeds (from photo sharing sites like Flickr) -- All this without requiring a Media Center PC!"

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EA Shuttering Servers, Ending Support For Online Play

According to Game Informer, EA has begun the process of ending online support for a number of older sports and racing titles. The article states that this information was sent to press on August 4th, with support ending for many titles on August 1st.

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QuakeCon 2006 - Wednesday

Footage from setup and the line at QuakeCon 2006. This video is official QuakeCon media.

Hands-on: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

IGN takes a hands on look at what is being called the "Battlefield Killer" for PC. Be sure to watch the game footage videos. This title supposed hitting the Xbox 360 as well.

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John Carmack Keynote Highlights

id Software's John Carmack gave his annual keynote address at QuakeCon yesterday and PlanetQuake4.net and GameSpy have writeups. Among other things, Carmack mentioned that id's next game will be a 3D action game though they are "are branching out into different directions" with the project.

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Halo 3 has pretty graphics for everyone's TV set

Bungie did another interesting weekly update, this time they describe making Halo 3 both compatible with high-tech HD screens as well as the good old 4:3 sets. In closing Joe Staten says we're going to have some Halo movie news next week.

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Dreamcast on your wrist!

Dreamcast wristwatch that is. Play Asia is offering a watch that is shaped like a little Dreamcast with a pop-up GD-ROM lid that reveals the watch face. Only hardcore Sega fans need apply...pre-orders are going for $129.

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120 page Halo 3 Script?!

Is it the real deal or a fan fiction? Take a look for yourself.

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Microsoft claiming that this year will be an “Xbox Xmas.”

“We’ll have an installed base of around ten million plus before they launch,” a bullish McGill told MCV. “We had a terrific E3 that showed what a great future Xbox 360 has, that we’re the only place for the breadth and depth of choice for games and it dispelled a lot of the myths around PS3.

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What is error code 80070003 ?

"With all of the new content that has been released on the Xbox Live Marketplace, I noticed that some people are getting the cryptic and mysterious �Status code: 80070003� as pictured above. "

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Fresh Madden 360 Videos
4 new Madden video from IGN, I definately need to subscribe again so I can see the high resolution videos
IGN: Madden NFL 07 Trailer, Videos and Movies

Sign up for Neverwinter Nights 2 multiplayer beta testing

You can now sign up for Obsidian Entertainment & Atari's PC RPG closed public beta test of Neverwinter Nights 2. This beta test will comprise the multiplayer game mode only...

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Things I Think John Carmack Said at QuakeCon 2006

"Sluggo fishes out his Carmack-to-English dictionary and does his best to decode the legendary programmer's QuakeCon 2006 keynote." Carmack gives a few vague hints about id's next game project ("I didn't develop Megatexture to make a corridor shooter"). Might be something along the lines of STALKER. Video of the keynote included.

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Lord of the Rings Online: New footage

Turbine's MMOG take on Tolkien's Middle-earth universe steps out the hobbit hole in a fresh gameplay movie. About five minutes worth...

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First Pictures Of XBOX 360 / PGR3 Bundle In The Wild...

A tipster sends word that he has seen the new Xbox 360 PGR3 bundle in person. Apparently the bundle, which includes a copy of PGR3, three months of Xbox Live and 1,250 Microsoft Points, will come with any purchase of an Xbox 360 core or premium pack for free.

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Targeting the Middle East's booming PC gaming market

The video game market in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 13 per cent through 2010 to reach a USD 13 billion market size, and computer gaming will account for a sizeable percentage of this massive market.

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Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars Stage Show Demonstration
You can see the world premier of the Command & Conquer 3 : Tiberium Wars trailer at Gamespot. The video also includes a 10 minute interview with C&C3 executive producer Mike Verdu conducted at this year's E3
GameSpot Video

Game controllers as keyboard/mouse

Triggerfinger has developed software that turns any game controller into a replacement for a keyboard/mouse for a media PC, laptop/mobile and Game Console.
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NEW: FIFA Soccer 07 Screens for Xbox at GameSpot

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New Sonic The Hedgehog Screenshots
Sonic The Hedgehog for next-gen platforms is expected to ship on multiple platforms in conjunction with the character's 15th anniversary in 2006. The game will be developed under the direction of Yuji Naka, award-winning developer known for creating the hugely successful SEGA franchise.
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Big N and MS get sued

The suit comes courtesy of Anascape Ltd, a Texas firm that is accusing Microsoft and Nintendo of breaching a whole slew of patents. The offenses include patents for "Variable Conductance Sensor," "Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor," and much more.

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Tokyo Game Show 2006 - Biggest Yet?

"E3 has winded down but there is one more big gaming show to come. This year's Tokyo Game show is rumored to be the biggest yet. Scheduled in late September, there are already 143 exhibitors with a total of 1710 booths. That already beats lasts years totals at the show with another month to go." I can understand why why E3 is down sizing from business stand point, but from a gamers view but I really enjoyed the spectacle E3 generated.

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Crackdown HD Movies and Screens
"Crackdown pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Gamers will enfor" Read More

Is the PS3 simply being written off?

Pastime of the week for this particular part of the summer silly season seems to be coming up with new and interesting ways to cast doubt upon Sony's prospects in the next generation console race. Here is a look at the hardships both Sony and Xbox face.

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E3 Lite?

Big players like EA, Microsoft, and Sony will be folding up their plans for the next gigantic booth, complete with jumbo screens, for what the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) describes as a more intimate setting for about 5,000 people.

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Dead Rising Demo Now Available on Xbox Live Marketplace

Xbox Live members can now download a demo for 'Dead Rising.'
This demo is not available in Mexico, Germany, Australia, New Zealand or Asia.

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What's Wrong With Console Design?
"In terms of hardware design, game consoles have lost their sense of identity, argues Eric-Jon Rossel-Waugh. Next-Gen takes a critical look at the history and current state of console design." next-gen.biz

NHL 07: Xbox 360 Preview Video
NHL 07 knuckles-pucks it's way onto your next-gen console.
GameTrailers.com Player Window

DS Becomes Fastest Selling Japanese Console

According to a report from Japanese newspaper Kyoto Simbun, the Nintendo DS has become the fastest console or handheld ever to sell 10 million units in Japan, taking just 20 months to reach the milestone, an extremely impressive feat for the Kyoto-headquartered firm.

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Madden NFL 07: Hall of Fame

The full list of legends inside the new game. August 3, 2006 - When Madden producer's talk about their game, they always throw out a few legends who will be included like Barry Sanders or Y. A. Tittle. But with over 140 greats featured in the 07 version, fans want to know exactly who they'll be able play as, knocking defenders on their ass as Earl Campbell or trying to relive the Immaculate Reception as Franco Harris.So here it is, the list of legends... IGN: Madden NFL 07: Hall of Fame

Activision: 360 To PS3, Current-Gen To Wii?

Talking as part of its analyst call following its results today, Activision execs have talked about the effort that's currently going into building games for the PlayStation 3 and Wii, implying that many companies will be using current-gen SKUs as the basis for their Nintendo Wii launch titles.

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Almost $1 Million in COD2 Maps Sold

Unlike Oblivion's Horse Armor addon, micro-transactions are a success for at least one game. The Call of Duty 2 $5 Skirmish Map Pack was downloaded 105,000 times and generated $368,000, the $10 Invasion Map Pack invaded 66,000 360s and raked in almost half a million dollars.

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Video games used to help Buffs study the game

The Colorado Buffaloes have been using a new tool to help them improve their play offensively on the field before fall camp starts next week -- video games.

During the off-season, players were introduced to a computer simulator program that runs every aspect of the Buffs' offense and tests them on their assignments and reads. The game also plays out different actions of their opponent, from specific blitzes to a series of speeds.
If they fail the tests, they do it again and again until they pass.

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Exclusive: Quake Con Call of Duty 3 Screenshots

Straight from QuakeCon, get 'em while they're hot! 8 Brand new screenshots for Call of Duty 3.

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No Gears of War Demo Before Emergence Day - Xbox:
"Following the mayhem after today’s BIG announcement, Mark Rein, Vice President and co-founder of Epic Games, has confirmed that there won’t be a demo of Gears of Wars, at least not before the game’s release. "

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PGA TOUR, EA Extend Partnership by Six Years

"The PGA TOUR and Electronic Arts today announced an exclusive six-year extension of their longstanding licensing agreement that centers upon the highly successful Tiger Woods PGA TOUR video game franchise. "
PGA TOUR, EA Extend Partnership by Six Years - Xbox

New NBA 2k7 screens - Xboxyde
2k Sports reveals 3 more in-games screenshots of the 2007 version of their NBA franchise, and it looks almost done.

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Ubisoft to Support Wii with Seven Launch Titles

"Ubisoft today announced that it is in development with versions of Far Cry, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, Monster 4x4 World Circuit and Open Season for Wii. In addition, the studio is bringing an all-new racer codenamed GT to the system."

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Stranglehold Delayed, New Screenshots

Midway today released new screens and announced a new ship date for the highly anticipated, 3rd person action game, Stranglehold. Looks awesome!

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Forbes: The 17 Best-Selling Videogame Franchises

Together, the 17 franchises on the best seller list account for more than 867 million games sold worldwide over the last 25 years--enough that if you stacked them on top of each other, it would make a tower 13,683 miles high. That's enough to give you Pac-Man fever.

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Gears of War launch date announced!

Microsoft Corp. today announced what anxious players have been eagerly awaiting: Emergence Day 2006. Available exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the highly anticipated title Gears of War will be available in North America on Nov. 12, 2006.

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New maps for Battle for Middle-earth II

EA has released three new premium maps over Xbox Live Marketplace.
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Is Sony fighting a losing battle?

Sony could even go from first to worst. In a research note published on its website, DFC commented: "While it has always been clear that Sony's dominant market share was destined to decline, there now appears to be the distinct possibility the PlayStation 3 could end up third in market share behind both the [Microsoft] Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii"

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