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    January 04

    Xbox 360 Ultimate?!?!

    Sure, we've all heard the rumors about an Xbox 360 with a built HD DVD drive, built-in Wi-Fi, or a smaller, quieter, more effecient chipset, but what if Microsoft decided to drop the mother of all bombs on the gaming community? Introducing the latest rumor....  the Xbox 360 Ultimate.
     
    The Xbox 360 Ultimate is believed to combine all previous rumors and toss the idea of an even larger hard drive in all of our early adopting faces......
    BIG IN 2008 – Xbox Ultimate
     
    Xbox Ultimate – the gaming daddy? We’ve already had the Xbox 360 Premium and Elite. Both are, of course, fine gaming machines with the best games catalogue in the next-gen field. But come autumn 2008, we reckon both will be rendered obsolete by the Ultimate.
    This PS3-killer will benefit from almost three years of Xbox development, featuring 1080p HDMI output, built-in Wi-Fi, hi-def audio output, cooler 65nm hardware architecture and a near-silent fan.
     
    It’ll also have the ability to make the most of the by-then established Xbox IPTV service, which will mean recording TV shows to its vast 320GB hard disk and watching live TV shows via your broadband provider.
     
    But the piece de resistance? It’ll have a built-in HD DVD drive. Let Round 12 with the PS3 commence...
    Source: Stuff.tv
     
    It sounds like either microsoft is begging for more headaches, complaints, and DRM-outraged Xbox 360 owners, or it's just a buch of B.S. If this were true it would be a good thing for the HD DVD side of the format war, yet an Xbox 360 with all of those features would probably run close to $500.00! (At that price I think I'd seriously consider purchasing a PlayStation 3.)
     
     
    Xbox 360 Ultimate rumors aside, I still have high hopes of Microsoft eventually providing a solution to our Xbox Live Arcade / Marketplace DRM woes.
    1:10 AM | Read comments (2) | Permalink | Blog it
    January 01

    Xbox Live Outages

    Wow, it's 2008 already..... HAPPY NEW YEAR.
     
    With that being said, I'd like to point out the fact that over the last week or so Xbox Live connectivity has been horrific. Many people, like me, have been completely unable to sign into Xbox Live due to 'outages'. I'm completely aware that the problem is being worked on and connectivity seems to have improved slightly, however, it's been more than frustrating for Xbox Live gold members.
     
    If you're an Xbox Live Gold member, the frustrations of paying $50.00 per year to play online, download games, content, movies, etc. only to have several days, if not weeks of "Cannot Connect to Xbox Live" have got your blood boiling... What about the folks who paid hundreds of dollars for downloadable content and Xbox Live Arcade games and "upgraded" to an Xbox 360 Elite or had their consoles killed by the Red Ring of Death? The majority of those people have NO way of accessing their Xbox Live Arcade games or downloadable content while they're disconnected from Xbox Live.
     
    Recently Larry Hyrb, "Xbox Live's Major Nelson", posted a message on www.majornelson.com regarding the outages; Xbox LIVE Status (Updated). While many of us appreciate the frequent updates he provides, many Live subscribers are outraged and are demanding more. Some are not only posting rants on www.majornelson.com, they've taken their anger and angst to the Xbox.com forums and are demanding compensation for the downtime.
     
    So, how do you feel about the situation? Have the outages had any impact on you? Feel free to post your comments... I'd truly like to know.
     
     
    Here's my 2 cents on the situation:
    (Submitted as a comment to www.MajorNelson.com)
    No offense or anything Major, but I hope the big-wigs over there understand that the "downtime" has prohibited more than just online game play / marketplace downloads... I've been unable to access the majority of my Xbox Live Arcade titles and downloaded content due to the Xbox Live outages.
     
    When I upgraded to an Elite and was told there was nothing Microsoft could do to fix the DRM issue, or enable my 40+ games to work offline, I was upset.... When nobody would listen to my rational explanations as to why the "you must stay connected to live to access content" rule would leave valued customers like myself out in the cold (when ISP / Live connectivity issues arose) I became irate... I hate to say it, but maybe if enough Live members fight the system, someone may finally listen to reason and resolve this issue once and for all.
     
    So I ask you Major, is there a light at the end of this dark DRM tunnel? Will you speak with your contacts and at least inquire as to whether or not there will ever be a solution to the DRM issue plaguing our beloved Xbox 360 / Xbox Live?
     
     
      

        - Jay 
    1:35 AM | Read comments (2) | Permalink | Blog it | Xbox 360