"It’s time for us to sack up and tell you what’s what regarding online co-op.

 

So you were probably wondering why we didn’t want to commit to two player co-op online over Xbox Live. We certainly got plenty of mail asking, no, demanding that we make it happen. Of course we were working on it, but we were also working on something better. Not two player co-op. Not three-player co-op, but up to four player co-op. Online. On Xbox Live, or sure, System Link if you prefer.

 

That is correct – up to four player co-op in Campaign mode on Xbox Live or System Link."

- Bungie.net

1. NCAA Football '08
2. Xbox 360
3. Memory Card (64MB / 512MB) or Hard Drive (20Gig / 120Gig)
   Xbox 360 Transfer Kit, Xport 360 or XSATA.
4. Windows XP or Vista PC
5. Updated Roster Files.

   

    - Jay

"With the recent departure of Univeral and Fox, Microsoft is now shopping around for new partners. According to Variety, Microsoft is focusing their partnering efforts on Warner Bros. and Paramount, although nothing is definite yet.

Other rumors have Microsoft funding the entire movie themselves. Either way it looks like this movie is going to get made one way or another."

    - http://www.halothemovie.org/  (Nov 11th, 2006)

 

If you're familiar with the Xbox ActionRepaly, you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say "PowerSave". However, if you've never played with the Xbox AR, or have never even heard of it, you're probably saying "WTF is a PowerSave?" Well, it's not the 'pick up where so-and-so left off' game save that you may expect. PowerSaves are unique game saves that have been 'enhanced' to allow gamers to start off with special abilities, extra ammo, health, levels, and some even enable little extras that game developers never expected you to have access to.... Yeah, kind of like the infamous "Hot Coffee" cheat for Grand Theft Auto... but trust me, after all of the ruckus those PS2 codes and the Xbox save caused, I won't be doing anything like that again.

Game Title:	Power Save Description:
Avatar: The Last Airbender	Start With Max Cash
Bust-A-Move Bash!	All Characters & 500 Stages Unlocked
Call of Duty 3	All Campaigns Unlocked
Cars	Start with Max Points
Driver: Parallel Lines	Start with $99,999,999
Elebits	Ranked S on every Stage, All Elebits, All Stages, and more!
Excite Truck	Stars on All Races
FarCry: Vengeance	All Maps Unlocked
GT Pro Series	All Gold Medals All Cars
Legend of Zelda: Twighlight Princes	All Swords, Shields, Max Health & Rupees
Mario Party 8	All Mini-Games Unlocked & 9999 Carnival Cards.
MARVEL Ultimate Alliance	Max Cash, Level & Everything Unlocked
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon	Max Koins in Krypt (Profile Kode AAAAAA)
Need for Speed: Carbon	Start Career with Max Cash
Pokemon Battle Revolution	Start with Poké Coupons, All Current Items & All Colosseums
Rampage: Total Destruction	All Monsters, All Levels & Maxed Stats
Rayman: Raving Rabbids	Story Mode Complete.
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition	Max Cash, Super Health & Ammo
Scarface: The World is Yours	Max Dirty / Clean Cash & Balls
SiMs 2: Pets	Max Simoleons
Sonic & the Secret Rings	Everything Unlocked
Spider-Man 3	Start With Max Upgrade Points
Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab	Max Z Points & Gallery Complete
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz	All Stages Unlocked (Gold Crown 1-10)
Super Paper Mario	Final Boss Battle
Super Swing Golf	Start with 99,999,999 Pang
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition	Start With Max Cash
Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07	Start with Max Cash
Trauma Center: Second Opinion	XS Rank & Everything Unlocked
Wario Ware - Smooth Moves	All Mini-Games Unlocked
Wing Island	Begin with Max Cash
World Series of Poker 2007: Tournament of Champions	Begin With Max Cash

   

    - Jay

The QWERTY keyboard for the Xbox 360 known as the "Chatpad" FINALLY has a price and release date!

• Chat on Xbox LIVE with ease featuring dedicated keys to letters and characters.
• Don't hamper your style—the Xbox 360 Chatpad attaches seamlessly to your Xbox 360 Controller.
• Backlit buttons allow you to accurately type words even in dimly lit environments.
• Messenger Kit includes the Xbox 360 Wired Headset for the ultimate communication bundle.

 Also, the Player's Pack Red & Black editions for Rainbow Six: Vegas are available on Xbox Live Marketplace for FREE!! Get 'em while you can... who knows how long this will last!!

• Caught in a Mosh (as made famous by Anthrax)
• Balls to the Wall (as made famous by Accept)
• Electric Eye (performed by Judas Priest)
• Los Angeles (as made famous by X)
• Police Truck (as made famous by Dead Kennedys)
• We Got the Beat (as made famous by The Go Go's)
• (I Think I'm) Turning Japanese (as made famous by Vapors)
• Seventeen (as made famous by Winger)
• Because, it's Midnite (performed by Limozeen)
• Hold On Loosely (as made famous by .38 Special)
• No One Like You (as made famous by Scorpions)
• Only a Lad (as made famous by Oingo Boingo)
• Ballroom Blitz (as made famous by Krokus)
• The Warrior (performed by Scandal)
• What I Like About You (as made famous by The Romantics)
• Wrath Child (as made famous by Iron Maiden)
• I Wanna Rock (performed by Twisted Sister)
• I Ran (performed by Flock of Seagulls)
• Round and Round (as made famous by Ratt)
• Metal Health (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
• Holy Diver (as made famous by Dio)
• Heat Of The Moment (as made famous by Asia)
• Radar Love (as made famous by White Lion)
• 18 and Life (as made famous by Skid Row)
• Bathroom Wall (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
• Lonely is the Night (as made famous by Billy Squier)
• Nothing But a Good Time (as made famous by Poison)
• Play With Me (as made famous by Extreme)
• Shaken (as made famous by Eddie Money)
• Synchronicity II (as made famous by The Police)

Oh yeah, 1 more thing..... I plan on throwing a "Guitar Hero party" very soon & I need some ideas. I'm thinking about having plenty of 'adult beverages', a few snacks, Guitar Hero II on the big screen, another copy hooked up on the PC monitor with headphones for people to get a little practice in, a PS2 hooked up outside on our patio with Guitar Hero 1, and prizes for the best Guitar Hero II players.

Any ideas / suggestions are welcome! (Thanks)

   

    - Jay

Today Microsoft says "our bad" and extends the Xbox360 warranty to THREE YEARS!!! Check out this open letter from Peter Moore to the Xbox community. (I've highlighted the important parts.)

Open Letter From Peter Moore

To our Xbox Community:

You’ve spoken, and we’ve heard you. Good service and good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we’ve not been doing a good enough job.

Some of you have expressed frustration with the customer experiences you have had with Xbox 360; frustration with having to return your console for service after receiving the general hardware error message on the console.

The majority of customers who own Xbox 360 consoles have had a terrific experience from their first day, and continue to, day in and day out. But when anyone questions the reliability of our product, or our commitment to our customers, it’s something I take very seriously.

We have been following this issue closely, and with on-going testing have identified several factors that can cause a general hardware failure indicated by three flashing lights on the console. To address this issue, and as part of our ongoing work, we have already made certain improvements to the console.

We are also implementing some important policy changes intended to keep you in the game, worry-free.

As of today, all Xbox 360 consoles are covered by an enhanced warranty program to address specifically the general hardware failures indicated by the three flashing red lights on the console. This applies to new and previously-sold consoles. While we will still have a general one year console warranty (two years in some countries), we are announcing today a three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message. If a customer has an issue indicated by the tree flashing red lights, Microsoft will repair the console free of charge-including shipping-for three years from the console’s purchase date. We will also retroactively reimburse any of you who paid for repairs related to problems indicated by this error message in the past. In doing so, Microsoft stands behind its products and takes responsibility to ensure that every Xbox 360 console owner continues to have a fantastic gaming experience.

If we have let any of you down in the experience you have had with your Xbox 360, we sincerely apologize. We are taking responsibility and are making these changes to ensure that every Xbox 360 owner continues to have a great experience.

This will take a few days to roll out globally, and I appreciate your continued patience as we launch this program. I’ve posted an FAQ that should address some additional questions, and we’ll update it over the next few days.

I want to thank you, on behalf of all of us at Microsoft, for your loyalty.

(Source: Xbox.com)

Now that's awesome news! They basically said; "Oops, our bad... we're sorry and we'll fix it!" I find this move to not only be a nice way for Micro$oft to show they care about their customers and support the Xbox 360 100%, but it's also a nice subtle "middle finger" waving at SONY! (SONY never seems to admit when a problem is their fault; they seem to let problems fall back on the consumer, or blame 3rd party accessories.) Now, let's do something about the price of downloadable content and the whole 'lock the content to the original Xbox 360' crap!

P.S.

Here's the URL to the "Warranty FAQ" Mr. Moore spoke of:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/resources/warrantyfaq.htm

   

    - Jay

I went to the theater last night with a bunch of friends to watch the Autobots wage their battle to desroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. (sorry, I couldn't resist.) It was a GREAT movie!!

  

    - Jay

My first set of cusom cars......

I even spent a few hours 'painting' a car for a local radio show...

Some cars that proved that I have no talent....

Let's see.... What else has been keeping me away from posting?!?! Ahh yes, being out of the country.

Working from the UK offices:

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time in the Datel UK office. The 8 hour flight combined with no sleep and a +5 hour time zone change made my first day or so rather difficult. Once I straightened out my internal clock, and got 12 hours of sleep, it was great!
I always enjoy getting the opportunity to visit my UK co-workers. I love chatting with the engineers about [inside information], and seeing how everyone deals with the high pressure / fast approaching deadlines.... The stressful workday makes a pint of Stella or Guinness at the pub taste extra refreshing!

When not at the pub or in the office, I found myself watching an unusual amount of English television. I'm not quite sure why, but I accidentally turned on channel 4 one evening and found myself horrifically fascinated by the UK version of Big Brother. Instead of paying a monthly fee to view the live feeds on a website, folks in the UK just turn on channel 4 and watch the ‘uncensored’ antics of the housemates.  (To anyone in the UK right now reading this; I, like many of you, cannot stand those ditzy little twins!)

If I wasn’t watching Big Brother, I was always able to find something just as odd to watch… The best show I had the privilege of watching was called “Keith Allen is Going to Hell”. It was an uncensored “documentary” about religion… Well, it was more like a show about an atheist comedian who flew from the UK to Topeka Kansas to argue with the family, friends, and congregation of Fred Phelps. (If you don’t know who Fred Phelps is, you’re probably better off.)

What else have I been up to? Ahh yes... I've been busting my butt trying to finish up content for a new product that we're about to launch for the Nintendo Wii... When I say 'busting my butt' I really do mean that. I spent 32 hours STRAIGHT at the office last Thursday / Friday just trying to make the deadline. I'll explain what it is, what it does, as well as post a video of the product in action very soon.... that's all for now. It's time to get some sleep, then it's back to the office bright and early for product testing!

Tomorrow night I'll be relaxing in my local movie theater watching Transformers.... If it's a good movie, I'll probably see it again on Tuesday at the iMax theater in Tampa!

     - Jay