E3 2011: Microsoft Conference

A summary of Microsoft's E3 Press Conference. Media will possibly be added later.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Live demo shown, with controller hiccups too!
- Graphics/animations look better
- Releases November 8th, 2011

Tomb Raider
- Origin story (if you didn't already know)
- Live demo, looks totally different, more cinematic
- Releasing Fall 2012

EA
- Tiger Woods PGA, Madden, FIFA, and another game will support Kinect
- Sims 3: Pets and other EA titles also using Kinect

Mass Effect 3
- Uses Kinect for voice commands
- Speak Shepard's speech choices as opposed to just pressing a button…
- Tell party members what to do in battle

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
- New trailer, clearly not in-game footage
- Uses Kinect for… everything. Seems, odd.
- All future Tom Clany games will use Kinect

A new Xbox user interface, streamlined for Kinect
- Very much like Sony's Xross Media Bar
- Will support YouTube (which Wii and PS3 have done with browsers for years)
- Bing to search Netflix, Hulu, XBL Marketplace
- Live TV support with voice controller
- Launching in Fall

UFC
- Brofest 360
- watch live events, check stats, play trivia, for an added fee of course

Gears of War 3
- Ice T live demos with Cliff B.
- Ice T's band Body Count will have a new song in the game...

Ryse
- Formerly Codename: Kingdoms
- Trailer shown
- Kinect based Roman first person combat

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
- Rerelease and remake of Halo 1
- Releases November 15, 2011

Forza Motorsport 4
- New trailer
- Releases October 14th, 2011

Fable: The Journey
- Trailer shown, pre-rendered footage
- In-game demo, uses Kinect
- Releases 2012

Minecraft
- Exclusive console debut in winter for 360 and Kinect

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
- No longer give your kids a vacation, tell them to stare at the TV
- Actually a mini-game collection
- Awful child actors not included

Kinect Star Wars
- Actually looks like a real product now
- Yet another mini-game collection basically

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
- From DoubleFine
- Uses Kinect
- Comes out this Fall

Kinect Fun Labs
- Being added to the dashboard
- Scan your body and make an Avatar
- Drawing in 3D space
- Scan in your real life items
- Goes live TODAY

Kinect Sports: Season Two
- More Wii Sports in HD
- Skiing, Tennis, Golf, Football, Baseball, something with a stage?

Dance Central 2
- Because no one wants plastic instruments, but shaking like a fool is fun.
- Import songs from the first game, like Rock Band did.

Halo 4
- Teaser trailer shown, still no personality
- "Start of a new trilogy"
- Not by Bungie
- Fall 2012

E3 10: Microsoft Conference

E3 2010 has begun! And Microsoft is here to kick of this years show yet again. Sadly, no one from VFH will be in attendance at E3 like Zach was last year, but as usual, here's a recap of this afternoon's press conference, in order of appearance.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
- New trailer shown, and then went right into live gameplay.
- And that was it, no talking, no details, just gameplay
- New deal: all Call of Duty add-ons will release on Xbox Live first for the next three years. So now you can not only pay for online gaming, but now you get to pay up the ass to play its add-ons earlier too.

Project Natal = Kinect

Metal Gear Solid: Rising
- New trailer
- Swordplay action game
- Looks as good if not better than MGS4
- Seems to use Kinect

Gears of War 3
- First gameplay shown, 4-player co-op
- Can now play as females
- Will be unveiling new mode called "Beast," but didn't say what that'd be exactly.

Fable III
- Releasing October 26
- New trailer shown

Codename: Kingdoms
- New game from Crytek
- Live action trailer
- Looks Greek/Roman themed

Halo: Reach
- New campaign trailer, in-game footage
- Space dog fights

Kinect + Xbox 360 Interface
- Browse menu in a Wii Channel like interface
- Speech controls/commands
- Use hand as a cursor, control movie playback, etc
- Works like Microsoft's Sync technology in cars

Video Kinect
- Use Kinect to video chat with people on Xbox Live and Windows Live Messanger (PC)
- Share Bing video features such as TV, movies, news, etc.
- Kinect can do face-tracking if you move around

ESPN on Xbox 360
- Yawn...
- Watch live/on-demand sports crap in HD
- Use Kinect for voice commands for replays, etc.
- If you don't care about sports, its completely useless
- Available to Gold members too

Kinect Launch Games
- Launches in North America on Nov. 4th with 15 launch titles
- No price given
- Games ship in purple cases
- Kinectimals: play with cats... looks like Nintendogs/EyePet
- Kinect Sports: exactly what you think it is
- Kinect Joy Ride: same game from last year, but now with motion control
- Kinect Adventure: on rails, coin collecting game. Upload photos to Facebook

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
- Kinect exclusive
- From Ubisoft, sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved
- Live body tracking, even clothing its tracked when removed
- If you've played Wii Fit, it's like that...

Dance Central
- Kinect exclusive
- From Harmonix
- Tracks your dance moves in-sync to music
- Will have DLC
- Coming Holiday 2010

Star Wars Kinect
- Trailer shown
- Microsoft Game Studios/Lucasarts collaboration
- Coming 2011

Forza Kinect
- Can't tell if it's a new game or a Forza 3 update
- Use hands to drive in first-person
- Head tracking to look around
- Play with and inspect cars with gestures
- Coming 2011

New smaller Xbox 360 model
- 250 GB Hard drive
- Glossy black finish, like Kinect
- Not exactly the prettiest thing...
- Built in wifi 802.11n (finally!)
- Ships today(!) for $299
- Everyone in the audience gets one, Oprah style!

Overall, I'm not as amazed as I was last year when Kinect (then Project Natal) was revealed. The reveal and potential of the device was truly shocking... but now, seeing all the Kinect branded titles showcased, it comes across as a glorified Eye Toy, and that's a PS2 accessory. Sure the voice and gesture commands for menus and movie playback look like something out of science fiction, but I'm sure that'll lose it's appeal soon after you've watch one film, and you'll grab your remote again. And no price on the device? Really? I don't think Microsoft did a bad job, but I definitely wasn't amazed like I was last year. Nintendo, you're next!

Viva la Revolut'n

Saw this on Xbox.com this morning while I was checking for the daily update, not sure why but it made me chuckle a little...

Really, Microsoft? Adding an "i" and "o" was that difficult that you'd rather this mildly educational strategy game sound like some sort of absurd urban warfare title? Have fun revolut'n....

After Thoughts: E3 2009 - Day 0

For my complete coverage of E3 from LA, be sure to check out my articles and photos on Gamers Platform, as well as my GP Twitter updates.

Well hello hello there. I'm here in Los Angeles, in the trenches, soaking in all that E3 has to offer. Although E3 hasn't officially started yet, some major stuff has gone down. What I've had the pleasure to see today are the Microsoft and Ubisoft conferences. I also got to see the city a bit, as I walked around to pick up my Nintendo pass for their conference tomorrow, and got rejected for the Sony event, sadness. Also, last night I went to Kotaku's Pre-E3 party, which was decent.

To start off, Microsoft's conference was pretty epic. They showcased a ton of great games, in my opinion, even though none of them were super shockers, but it seemed like they had a lot of good content. I wasn't too impressed with the entertainment-like features, with Facebook and Twitter and the like, but I guess it's good to have such things available. The main thing they showed off was their new peripheral/controller, codenamed Natal. It's definitely still in the works and won't be available for awhile I don't think, but something that will be interesting to follow and see how Microsoft uses it. I think they could make it their main input device in their next console, which will be interesting.

Ubisoft also showed off a lot of good stuff too. The beginning of their conference was pretty boring, unfortunately, with James Cameron going on and on about Avatar, but then they got into the games and they had a lot of good stuff to show off. Now, it wasn't all good, but they had some good titles.

Tomorrow is going to be a huge day. I get to go to Nintendo's conference, and then there's Sony's, not to mention the show floor opens and it is just going to be crazy. I'm not sure exactly what to expect, but I don't think I'm prepared. Get ready.

E3 09: Microsoft Conference

Last year's big focus of Microsoft's E3 Press Conference was the New Xbox Experience. With that mostly out of the way, let's see what we can look forward to in the coming year!

The show opened with an animated trailer for The Beatles: Rock Band, which to me was a better animated representation of The Beatles than Yellow Submarine will ever be. I'm not a big Beatles fan, but that was just awesome in terms of animation.

The Beatles: Rock Band
- Gameplay footage shown
- Instruments used on stage, 3 mics, 2 guitars, and one drummer
- Trailer shown, each song has a different stage, character models, etc.
- Full albums available as DLC
- "All You Need Is Love" Xbox exclusive, proceeds go to charity
- Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at the conference

Tony Hawk Ride
- Mr. Hawk showed off final board design (360 version)
- New trailer shown

Modern Warfare 2
- Gameplay shown right away
- Takes place in the snow, at least in the tons of footage shown
- 2 MW2 map packs will come to 360 first

Final Fantasy XIII
- 360 gameplay footage shown
- moves from cut-scene to gameplay seamlessly
- target Spring 2010 release

Shadow Complex
- Epic Games' first XBLA game
- 2.5D shooter, running on Unreal Engine 3
- Campaign over 10 hours long

Joy Ride
- Racing, adventure title that uses Avatars
- Buy cars, tracks, etc.
- Play on friends tracks that they've bought without buying it yourself

Trailers shown:
- Crackdown 2
- Left 4 Dead 2 (360 and PC)

Splinter Cell: Conviction
- Design of game has changed from initial concept
- Gameplay shown
- Objectives shown in realtime as part of the environment
- Releasing in fall, 360 exclusive

Forza Motorsport 3
- October release
- Didn't say "definitive racing game of this generation" enough times
- Impressive in-game car painter

Halo 3: ODST
- Gameplay footage shown
- Starts off weeks before the events of Halo 3
- Play as "The Rookie", separated from your team
- Visor changes (Metroid?)
- Playable flashbacks from the point of views of other ODST members
- Releasing Sept. 22nd

Halo Reach
- Teaser trailer shown
- 2010 release
- Multiplayer Beta invite included with Halo 3: ODST

Alan Wake
- Gameplay finally shown
- No explanation given though, mechanics look weird
- Spring 2010

Xbox Live Features
- Last.fm coming to Xbox Live (even Gold members!)
- Add to your Netflix queue right from 360
- Sky TV for UK and Ireland, includes live TV
- Video service relaunch as Zune Video, with 1080p available
- Live Party, watch downloaded videos over Xbox Live with friends
- Facebook on Xbox 360, includes Friend Linker for Facebook/Live friends
- Twitter also coming to Xbox Live (Yes, it's everywhere)
- All features coming this Fall

Hideo Kojima showed up... (this can't be good for me)

Metal Gear Solid Rising
- Developement underway for 360 (no mention of exclusivity)
- Teaser trailer shown
- "Lightning Bolt Action" in title instead of "Tactical Espionage Action"
- "Raiden is back"

"Project Natal"
- Camera based motion controls
- Body, face, voice recogonition, no handheld controllers
- Steven Spielberg shares his thoughts
- Some sleezy looking guy comes on stage and demoes the device
- Ball game and painting application shown off
- Peter Molyneux shows off "Milo" an interactive character (it's really awesome)

Conference ends, and for once, I'm overlly impressed with Microsoft. I wonder how Nintendo and Sony will do tomorrow.

Zune HD

Because I just realized I made mention of it in the E3 post, and noticed that I never actually posted it; and I'd rather not get angry e-mails about how I cover new iPods and not new products from competitors.

Yes, Microsoft has decided to up the anty on its Zune line in order to compete with Apple's iPod touch and various other touch screen portable media players. The Zune HD will feature a true 16:9 OLED touch display with the capability of 720p output. The device will continue the Zune tradition of including radio, although this time around it will be the first portable device capable of using HD Radio. Also, it will include a browser ... based on Internet Explorer.

Design wise, I personally think the industrial-esque design is more appealing than the bulky, matte design of early Zune models, or the overly glossy look of recent designs. I'm almost expecting this thing to be a Transformer, and I guess that's always neat to have in the back your mind when you listen to music or watch movies. But, this of course isn't Mac compatible, and I already have an iPod.

What does everyone else think? And how soon do you think will we see Microsoft pushing gaming on the Zune HD?

via Zune HD page at Zune.net

Gears of War 2 Review

Delta Squad returns in Gears of War 2, throwing you back into the roll of giant-necked Marcus Fenix and friends, who are out to shoot, bomb, and chainsaw some Locust. Developed by Epic, Gears 2 picks up where the original Gears of War left off, but has anything been improved from the first to make this sequel worth the time? Read on to find out!


First Thoughts
I’ve been excited to play Gears 2 for a while now. I really enjoyed the first game, even if it had some problems like graphical hiccups and the vehicle level, but I still played and loved the campaign. It was good enough for me to play through twice, something I normally never do. So I rented Gears 2 expecting it to be good and at first...the disk didn’t work. A minor inconvenience, but after a quick trip to the store and back I was ready to see if it would live up to my expectations.

Story
Set several months after the events of the first game, Gears 2 has humanity faced with a new threat- the Locust have discovered how to sink entire cities, and they have their eyes set on taking out Jacinto, man’s last safe haven. This time around Epic actually took the time to craft a story, which is unfortunate because the story in Gears 2 is not that good. While it does a decent job of providing a reason for shooting things and punching grubs, there really isn’t much there. It’s more of an excuse to do awesome stuff than an actual attempt at a narrative.

The worst parts of the game come from the story, with such moments as Dom (Marcus’s comrade and BFF) punching a window and grunting angrily, and the dramatic moments are awkward, which is something the original Gears thankfully didn’t have. A few new characters come and go without any real reason, and feel really under used and cheap. Why even put new guys into the story if their not going to flesh them out? Why add them at all if by the end of the game the only characters around are the old Delta Squad regulars? With that said, the one part I enjoyed about the story was that it had a satisfying ending and didn’t pull the To Be Continued trick sequels like Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 have been notorious for.

Gameplay
Being a sequel, Gears 2 keeps the originals gameplay intact, so anyone who has played Gears 1 will know what to expect. New additions add quite a few new twists, such as using grenades as proximity mines, chainsaw duels, a shield for movable cover, several vehicular levels, new executions, taking enemies as cover, new enemies, and new weapons.

By far the coolest new creatures are the Tickers, little hairless rat-like critters that make cute clicking noises before exploding kamikaze style, while bashing them with the butt of your gun sends them flying up into the air. On the weapon side there are now heavy weapons, similar to Halo 3, that slow your movement but pack quite a punch. The mortar, although a little tricky to figure out, delivers some serious pain, and was my weapon of choice when it was available. Nothing was quite as thrilling as gauging the distance to some Locust, launching a mortar, and watching 5 guys explode into a giant mess.

The controls have been tightened up a bit, so sticking to a wall and maneuvering is more accurate than before. The game is tight and responsive, while moving around feels solid and aiming is spot on. Weapons now feel quite a bit stronger, and there wasn’t a single moment where I couldn’t shoot something I wanted to. As far as handling goes, this game is near perfect. I played through the campaign on Hardcore difficulty, and despite a few segments here and there, the game was easier than the first. Taking down baddies used more ammo than the lower settings, and they dished out more damage in return, but the game was still easy. The only parts where I died involved one-hit-kills, or bad luck. Usually this meant getting swarmed by two or three Tickers at once, or being struck directly by a rocket.

As easy as Gears 2 is, the game still manages to feel challenging and provides several close calls. Even though I didn’t die often, I was hurt bad enough to make the game feel tense, where any moment I could die. That’s one of my biggest compliments towards the campaign- it kept me on edge the entire time. Rounding out the gameplay is the all new Horde mode, where you fight wave after wave of increasingly tougher and more numerous enemies. As simple as it sounds, I had a blast playing with my friend. It’s surprising how much fun Horde really is- just shooting stuff to advance waves is an almost arcadey addiction. Hopefully they will expand on this feature in future games, but as is Horde is worth the price alone.

Sound
On the sound side the effects were very good, with weapons in particular sounding much stronger than they did in the first Gears. The voice acting is still pretty good, nothing outstanding, but the voice for the new recruit Carmine was damn annoying. This was really surprising, because the guy who did Carmine’s voice in Gears 2 did Tassadar from Starcraft, and goddamn Deckard Cain from Diablo. Who would have guessed? The Locust Queens voice, however, was pretty awesome and I really liked how she acted as the narrator for several sections of the game.

I’m not much of an audiophile, but I wasn’t that impressed with the soundtrack. For some epic action it did the job, but there aren’t any tracks in particular that I enjoyed or even remember well. You could chalk it up to doing so good of a job that I didn’t notice, but there still wasn’t anything memorable about the soundtrack, and I find that disappointing.

Graphics
Gears 2 is gorgeous, much more so than the first, with some truly amazing eye candy. Gone are the days of texture pop in and dark colors, replaced by snowy mountains, burning cities, and amazing creature designs, all of which make for a beautiful game. Epic has managed to smooth out the graphical hiccups found in the original, and Gears 2 runs exceptional because of it. The frame rate is smooth and the animation well done, and the amount of detail makes this one game worth enjoying for the graphics alone. Cut scenes are also much improved, with a stronger cinematic feel and much more epic scope.

Stylistically Gears 2 carries on the hyper detailed look of the original. Characters are still massively exaggerated, so if that bothered you in the first game then be prepared for more. The awesome architecture is back as well- some of the details and designs of the environments and buildings are flat out amazing. The use of color is much stronger this time, and it’s used very well to contrast some of the darker, more destructive segments of the game.

Final Thoughts
The campaign lasted about 8 hours, which is the sweet spot for me as far as time goes. It was a great way to kill my weekend, and the game was amazing throughout. So no multiplayer review? Unfortunately no, since I really dislike competitive multi against online opponents. Too many glitches, hacks, and 12 year old boys ruin a game when it’s played online, and after seeing this video video I feel glad I skipped over the multiplayer. With that said, I found that Horde mode was probably the coolest addition to the series so far, having spent an afternoon with a buddy playing around and having a blast.

Sure there were some parts of I didn’t like, and it began to get repetitive near the end, but in the end the game was superb. Bigger, better, and more bad ass than the first, I would highly recommend Gears of War 2 to anyone looking for an intense, visceral experience.

Overall Score: 9/10

Windows 7 is official

Still trying to get used to Vista? Still don't have Vista cause you enjoy XP so much? Still have Windows 2000 or lower? Well, if you answered "yes" to that last one, shame on you. For the rest of you, Microsoft has announced that its latest operating system, Windows 7, which had be percieved as a codename until now, will be revealed shortly.

Why such a simple name, well according to Microsoft,

"The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve,"

Makes sense to me, at the same time it reminds me of Nintendo DS. Because Nintendo had announced "DS" as a codename, but in the end it just worked so much better than say, "Nitro". However, I don't use Windows anymore, and in fact, I have never used Vista, so I can't personally comment on the quality of the operating system. However, for Microsoft's sake, I hope Windows 7 can fix everything that people have disliked about Vista. Only time will tell.

Full announcement at Windows Vista Team Blog

New Xbox Experience

Microsoft has launched a new part of Xbox.com to let people get to know the New Xbox Experience (NXE), more importantly, the new Dashboard. Here you can get a look at the new features, browse a virtual Dashboard, and watch videos about the NXE.

Xbox com - New Xbox Experience

Personally, I think it borrows too much from Apple's CoverFlow, Sony's Xross Media Bar, and Nintendo's Miis. And especially after three years in the console's life span, I think it's unfair for Microsoft to ditch the interface their core fans have gotten used to, and suddenly target the system at a totally different crowd just because the competition, in this case Nintendo, has won over the casual market. Maybe if they thought about launching a new platform, I can see them revamping their style like this, but after three years?! That's just rediculous.

Alas, I don't own a 360, so it's not going to affect me. But to those that do, I'm sorry.

Developer Murdered By Husband

"Very sad news from Redmond, Wash. Melissa Batten, 36, a software development engineer in Microsoft's Xbox division, was murdered by her estranged husband, who then shot himself to death, earlier this week."

Normally I wouldn't post about this stuff, but the loss of somebody who worked everyday to help give life to the gaming industry is something that should be known by anyone who even generally considers themselves a gamer. Melissa is listed as a development partner on Halo 3, and a Software Development Engineer in Test on Gears of War. So I'm sure most of you can agree with me when I say that while I don't know exactly what she contributed, she was a part of two of the most loved games of this generation, and her work will live on through them.

My condolences go out to her family and friends, losing a loved one is never easy, but they should know that the a large portion of the gaming community was effected by this. The loss of Melissa Batten will be mourned by many, as a person, a developer, and a friend.

R.I.P.

E3 2008 - Microsoft takes again

Thought Coverflow and Miis were enough? Oh no, Microsoft is out to steal colors as well. Just a few months ago Nintendo released two new DS colors, of which were the same used for Revolution glamor shots. Today, Microsoft announced two new colors for the Xbox 360 controller...

I wonder where those colors came from...


...2005 you say?

E3 2008 - Microsoft Conference

Holy shit, that was crazy. The Microsoft press conference just finished and they had some giant news. While we'll go further in depth later, for now here are my quick notes:

Fallout 3
-Has oblivion feel to it
-Ironic humor galore
-The pop-in from oblivion seems almost non-existent, thank god!
-VATS adds strategy and almost turn based like gameplay, target and shoot, akin to Fallout 1/2
-360 and Games for Windows exclusive DLC

Resident Evil 5
- 2 player online co-op
-Simultaneous release March 13th, 2009

Fable 2
-The game is finished currently
-Your online friends appear as orbs in your world while playing alone in single player, approach their orb and interact with it to initiate co-op with them
-Your child will grow
-Out this October

Gears of War 2
-Graphics look cleaner, slightly brighter
-Flamethrower!
-Minimalistic in-game interface
-Much bigger scope
-Shield system, both organic and non-organic shields
-Ride a Brumak
-5 player co-op mode

Xbox Live
-New dashboard update this fall
-Avatars will be added and soon integrated into games
-Live party's with up to 8 players moving chatting and playing as one group
-Primetime game shows for your group
-Geometry Wars 2 next month, did I see 4 player co-op?
-Galaga legions, first true Galaga sequel
-Portal: Still alive coming to XBLA with new levels and achievements
-Community made games coming this fall
-Live partnered with Netflix, more than doubles the current available movie content
-Share your movies and videos online with your friends

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
-Scan pinata cards with the live-camera to get new pinatas
-Releases this year

Banjo Kazooie Series
-Original game coming to XBLA
-Nuts and Bolts will release this year

You're in the Movies
-Uses live-camera to put you onscreen in minigames
-Edits mini-games into cheesy B-movies
-Share movies
-Edit them yourself
-Comes packaged with live-camera

Guitar Hero: World Tour
-Wireless instruments
-8 player band battle
-over 85 songs
-REM track pack exclusive to 360
-Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic, will launch simultaneously on GH3 with the album in stores, and will be available in World Tour at launch
-Has Van Halen songs

Lips
-Coming this holiday
-Singstar like gameplay
-Sing songs from own music collection

Rock Band 2
-84 songs, all master tracks
-Guns and Roses will debut a song from their new album on Rock Band 2 titled "Shackler's Revenge"
-Rock band 2 will have a song by Bob Dylan "Tangled Up In Blue"
-AC/DC will be exclusive to Rock Band 2 with their song "Let There Be Rock"
-RB2 will have songs by: Devo, Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and many others
-20 bonus tracks all free to download
-Most songs from Rock Band disc will be transferable to Rock Band 2
-Compatible with all Rock Band's DLC

Infinite Undiscovery
-September 2nd release

Star Ocean: Last Hope
-Spring 2009
-Trailer on XBLM

Last Remnant
-Comes out November 20th worldwide
-Also will be released on PC
-Pretty :D

Final Fantasy XIII
-It's on the 360!!!
-They are aiming for the PS3 and 360 versions to be basically the same
-At the time the 360 version is planned for release only in the west

Out with the old, In with the new

Much like the 60GB price cut before it; Microsoft has gone and cut the price of the 20GB Xbox 360 Pro in order to bring in the new 60GB Xbox 360 Pro. A smart move, especially when they're really pushing that Video Marketplace, and with Digital Distribution's ever expanding market.

Available in early August (I assume after a big shtick at E3), the new 60GB will retail for $349, the previous price of the 20GB. And the 20GB will retail at the Wii-savy price of $299. However, the $279, and reasonably shafted Xbox 360 Arcade, as well as the $449 Elite with not have there prices affected.

Personally the announcement doesn't excite me too much. If had to get a 360 I'd get an Elite, because for the money, 120GB of space is oh so worth it. Considering $500 gets you 80GB on the PS3, but at least there's slots for common memory devices (Memory Stick, Compact Flash, SD card) and not one specific 256MB card...

Info via Xbox.com

Bill Gates Retires

Today was Bill Gates' last day at Microsoft. Yep, that's right. The legend finally has retired. Whether you love or hate Microsoft I think we all owe him some thanks for what he's done for the computer industry. I'm 100% sure that I would not be here posting this right now if not for Bills' efforts to make computers mainstream. While yeah, he didn't exactly have the most honest start up, and windows is far from perfect, he made computers more usable to more people, and for that we should be thankful. The world is a far better place because of him.

Via engadget