Whoa! - Microsoft announces Xbox into Xbox 360 Connection Kit
Microsoft revealed a new Xbox 360 accessory, dubbed the Xbox into Xbox 360 Connection Kit, that solves both its backward compatibility and original Xbox save game issues. Code-named Mea Culpa, the $10 cable - coupled with dashboard updates for both systems - uses the USB functionality of the original Xbox controller ports to connect the aging black box to your shiny new Xbox 360. Similar to connecting your 360 to a Media Center PC, you can play any original Xbox game and access all of your original hard drive saves, downloaded files, original Xbox Live Arcade games, etc. - though you can't back any of them up, so there's still no respite from impending hard drive death. Also, any game that requires analog button presses (such as Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) or a custom controller (Steel Battalion) still won't work. However, Microsoft estimates its new backward compatibility ratio will prove better than Sony's PlayStation 3, which apparently will support only games that were written to strict certification specifications...
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Last year, it was the 
Many gamers aren't thrilled that the first downloadable content for the 360 edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a set of cosmetic armor for that noble steed you acquire on the main quest. Two sets of armor that won't actually protect your horse from damage will set you back $2.50. Microsoft's dubbed it "pimping your ride" but it's more like pimping overpriced software add-ons. Now, if they charged $0.50 or less for the purely cosmetic stuff and offered bonus quests and towns to visit for a few dollars apiece, that would be a horse of a different color. Meanwhile, players with the lower-priced PC edition are laughing as they enjoy mods to 
If you bought a Pelican Power Brick battery charger for your PlayStation Portable, unplug it now. It's been recalled due to 143 reports of overheating including one case where there was fire damage. If you're not sure you have it, check the Model #: PL-6018. Manufacturer Electro Source LLC is offering several replacement choices, including PSP AC adapters, car chargers, screen guards, carrying cases and other accessories as well as some Xbox and PS2 game controllers. You can mix and match to total the product's $20 value. Get more details at 
Microsoft keeps delivering new and mostly free content via Xbox Live Marketplace. There's now a playable demo and a trailer for Tomb Raider: Legend, plus the long-awaited patch for Kameo that lets you play co-operative mode with a buddy via Xbox Live. The Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter demo has also streeted, and there are also: 
The rumors were true: Microsoft is buying Peter Molyneux�s Lionhead Studios, the makers of Fable, The Movies and the Black & White series. And, yes, Molyneux will join Microsoft. Now, if only they could license the Oblivion engine and do the now inevitable Fable 2 as an end-to-end world you can explore instead of a series of mostly outdoor "rooms" connected by vast load times...
I haven't reported news about my employer since 
If you'd like to try some Nintendo DS games before you buy, Nintendo and Best Buy have teamed up to provide downloadable demos for Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, Meteos, Pok�mon Trozei, Tetris DS and True Swing Golf. Demo stations are slated to appear in stores this week, which means... the employees you ask will probably have no idea what you're talking about. If experience is any teacher, they'll even deny it and send you off to a competitor - only to have it arrive the very next day. If and when you're lucky enough to 
Wow, that was fast. First 360 gamers were complaining that $2.50 was too much to pay for a couple pairs of horse armor in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Then we heard that PC gamers were getting charged $1.99 for the same download. Now Bethesda Softworks has rigged a deal with EB Games and Gamestop to give away free armor when you buy the PC edition. No word on whether Xbox 360 users might get a similar deal, but it's unlikely since there is no promo code system for Marketplace - at least not that we've seen too date. All they could give is Microsoft Points, which you could then spend on something else. That said, you can probably expect to see the armor eventually marked down or offered for free, if you're patient...
With a few notable exceptions, Macintosh computers have lagged behind their PC brethren in the gaming space - until now. Apple has released Boot Camp, new Windows XP loader software for its Intel-based MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis. Unlike SoftWindows emulation and those kludgy Pentium PCI cards of yore, this solution creates a true dual-boot Mac and Windows computer, complete with Apple's easy partition setup, switcher software and drivers for most everything you'll need except the iSight video camera and Apple Remote. This means you'll have a Mac that, finally, is fast and reliable enough to run modern PC games such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, F.E.A.R. and Half-Life 2 at pretty good frame rates. You can 
Blizzard continues its stringent Terms of Use enforcement for World of Warcraft, this time banning 5,400 accounts and suspending 10,700 more. The majority were due to farming of gold and other items using bots in place of actual gameplay. And here's the interesting part: Many of the accounts closed were due to tips from other players. Blizzard insists they investigate each incident carefully before banning accounts, but the numbers speak otherwise: Such a large number suggests the time spent on each report is relatively small. So be careful out there. That gamer you piss off might take vengeance by accusing you of illegal activities - and if you're lucky, you'll escape the next ban list. That said, if you have been illegally farming and didn't get banned this time, you might want to quit while you're ahead...
Microsoft has clearly given up trying to prevent "ship now, patch later" syndrome from permeating the 360. And with the recent slew of timely bug fixes and updates like the new one for Project Gotham Racing 3, perhaps this is a good thing. The PGR3 autoupdate adds tournaments, the ability to share and save custom routes, an option to make everyone race the same car or car class, voice identification, wheel support and a new 50-point achievement for passing the tournament qualifying round and then entering the first race. There are also 12 new cars. including the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper SRT-10 Coupe, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, Lamborghini Gallardo SE, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII FQ-400 and Pontiac GTO. You'll pay $5 for the pack, or $0.75 each if you'd rather buy a la carte. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a freebie.
2K Games is getting flack for MLB 2K6 freezing on the 360 - and rightfully so - but there are luckily some workarounds to get you back in the game. Simply stop using your 360's hard drive or clear the HDD cache by fully loading three different games to the title screen before hitting the diamond. What, did the test team completely forget to check the game with a hard drive?! This is the flipside of "ship now, patch later" syndrome: Publishers rush out games, particularly seasonal sports titles, and if you're lucky they're actually playable. You may recall 
First came the news that Half-Life 2 add-on packs would be released as $20 "episodes," both at retail and via the 
The first high-def DVD players have arrived, with Toshiba's HD-DVD beating Sony's Blu-Ray to market. The players are a reasonable $500 - well, reasonable for a new video format. Blu-Ray is expected to start at $1000, althouth the PS3 will likely be a lower cost option. HD-DVD movie choices are limited at launch: The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby, The Phantom of the Opera and Serenity for now, with Apollo 13 and Doom due next week. The early buzz is that sound and picture quality shame standard DVD, but only if you have high-end digital outputs (DVI or HDMI). Analog outputs such as component are locked at lower resolutions to prevent piracy of the high-res video stream. The exception seems to be non-copy-protected regular DVDs, which can be upconverted to higher resolutions - but since they're lower quality to start, you're not going to see huge improvements...
Bethesda's second expansion to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is priced more reasonably at $1.88 on Xbox and PC, but you get only slightly more than 
I've only reported a few major milestones from my company, Big Fish Games, since 
Halo 2 fans who found the original soundtrack album lacking might enjoy the newly released Volume 2 soundtrack. It contains 12 tracks in a more sequential arrangement, better capturing the flow of the single-player game. You can 
Sony's 
Only time will tell for sure, but it seems the Nintendo Revolution couldn't face geekier name-calling if it had been named Eugene. The Big N's crack marketing commandos have named the next-gen console the Nintendo Wii. The official explanation is that it's pronounced "we" and symbolizes the coming together of gamers holding the system's rectangular motion-sensitive controllers. Any name that requires this much explanation isn't likely to become a runaway brand success. Even among its target market, it sounds a bit too touchy feely. In fact, some have already dubbed it the Ennui (N Wii). In other news, the system will support DVD-sized optical media as well as smaller GameCube discs, though it apparently requires a DVD attachment to watch movies on it. And don't expect hi-def, since Nintendo has been backing away from it. Bored now...