Halo Waypoint now live on Xbox Live

Starting Saturday, Nov. 7, Halo Waypoint will begin previewing new Halo content on Xbox Live. The new virtual home for all things Halo launches today on Xbox LIVE, and will be the “exclusive destination for full-episode previews of Halo Legends beginning Saturday, Nov. 7. Halo Waypoint promises daily updates featuring developer interviews, trailers and screenshots, exclusive video footage, community activities and the latest Halo news.

In addition, Halo Waypoint includes a career system that tracks players’ accomplishments across multiple Halo games and gives them new ways to show off their in game exploits. Players who participate in Halo Waypoint will be rewarded with a variety of Bungie-created Halo 3: ODST Avatar Awardables for attaining specific Achievements in the game. Rewards vary from T-shirts to full sets of ODST armor. These awardables are retroactive, so if players have already unlocked the requisite Achievements, the awards will be ready for them once they enlist in Halo Waypoint.

Turn on your Xbox 360 and log on to Xbox Live to learn more.

Microsoft CEO’s vague comment fuels Blu-ray on Xbox 360 rumor

Was it a slip of the tongue or baiting when Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft - in an interview with tech site Gizmodo - said something a bit odd about Blu-ray support on the Xbox 360? What is even more bizarre is Microsoft’s PR department doing its worst to deflect or deny what Ballmer said, adding a little bit of fuel to a rumor we’re going to have to read about for the next 3 - 6 months.

Allright, i’ll bite.

In the interview Gizmodo asked Ballmer about the possibility of adding Blu-ray support of some kind to the Xbox 360, to which he replied:

“Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories.”

A follow-up by Gizmodo with Xbox division PR flaks yielded this response:

“Our immediate solution for Blu-ray-quality video on an Xbox 360 is coming this fall with Zune Video and 1080p instant-on HD streaming. As far as our future plans are concerned, we’re not ready to comment.”

Maybe Microsoft could say “no we are not doing that” instead of pretending that they might. And is it me or is Steve Ballmer the Joe Biden of the tech world? How many times can he misspeak before sites stop immediately slapping up headlines like “Ballmer Confirms Blu-ray Add-On for Xbox 360” and causing a general ruckus? That’s what I want for Christmas, at least.

Datel responds to Xbox 360 memory device lockout

If you own an “unauthorized” third-party device like a memory unit for your Xbox 360, it may not work for you thanks to Microsoft’s plant to block them in the not-too-distant future. In a post on the Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb’s blog, it was recently revealed that the next update (which will add support for twitter, Facebook and Last.fm) will lock-out unauthorized storage devices. Ain’t that a bitch? When they say unauthorized, what they really mean is unlicensed and unapproved by them. If you own an Arcade version of the 360 and don’t have a hard-drive or if you just like to back up your data on other versions of the console you may be forced to go out and by “officially endorsed” Microsoft memory devices.

Obviously companies like Datel, which has found success in selling its third-party Xbox 360 accessories at top retails like Target and Best Buy, are not pleased. A Datel spokesperson, speaking to CVG, said that locking out its devices would prevent consumers from having a freedom of choice and added that the company was “disappointed.” Here’s further comment from Datel, taken from that article and found over at GamePolitics:

“We are following this issue and awaiting the outcome like everyone else. Everyone is looking for ways to make their cash go further at the moment and we believe that Max Memory offers a good value, high capacity, alternative to the official Memory Unit.”

When this update goes live Microsoft had better be prepared for the deluge of Max Memory owners that will probably go ape shit crazy on them. When that happens we’ll let you know.

Video game hardware, software sales mostly flat in Sept.

While some might applaud the new batch of sales numbers for the month of Sept., they show that the sector, like many others in the world during this still shaky financial times, is feeling the bite just like everyone else. It is hard to imagine what hardware numbers might look like if Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft hadn’t slashed the prices on their respective home console systems. Even with those price cuts, NPD data for the month showed a meager 1 percent gain over the same period a year ago, with total videogame related sales in the U.S. of around $1.28. Again, if not for cuts, it would have been more downward trending for the sector. Still it’s hard to ignore that compared to August, sales were up considerably in Sept.

On the hardware front, the one relevant console that did not get a price cut, the DS (which includes the DSi and DS Lite), was at the top of the heap moving over half a million units in the month. The good news for Sony - if there really is any in a month that was mostly flat - is that it managed to beat out the Wii and Xbox 360 in the month with 491,000 units. The Wii was close by with almost 463,000 units and the Xbox 360 managed to move nearly 353,000 units. The PSP moved right around 190,000 units in Sept., - which we assume includes both the old model and the new PSP go. Finally, the PS2 managed to move 146,000 units.

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Popular Mechanics test drives Project Natal

Popular Mechanics takes Microsoft’s motion sensing control scheme for the Xbox 360, Project Natal, for a test drive and likes it apparently if you believe this article. In it Seth Porges gets a little too excited about the possibility of controlling his games controller free, testing out a racing game and a full-body Breakout-like game.

While Natal is still pretty interesting Microsoft needs to get past the gimmick phase and show the real power of this system with some key franchises that will get players excited. A racing game is a start but i’m really concerned that will see more silly little applications like a “full body Breakout-like games, than serious ones. Check out the article and the video at the link above and judge for yourselves.

The Age of Empires III: Complete Collection announced

Microsoft Game Studios today announced that a new Age of Empires III compilation package is coming to retail nationwide. Dubbed Age of Empires III: Complete Collection, the package includes the original game plus two expansion packs, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties and Age of Empires III: War Chiefs, developed collaboratively by Big Huge Games and Ensemble Studios for the PC.

The Age of Empires III: Complete Collection will be offered at the estimated retail price of $49.95 (€54.99). It kind of makes me sad to think that the next Age of Empires game definitely won’t be developed by either Ensemble Studios (who have been broken up into different little start-ups) or Big Huge Games (purchased by 38 Studios).

Microsoft to make Xbox 360 retail announcement tomorrow?

According to MCVUK, Microsoft is set to make an official announcement on discontinuing the mid-range Pro Xbox 360 line, and price cuts for the Elite and Pro systems. Of course, with all the gossip, speculation and evidence in the form of Target, Wal-Mart and other flyers dating a sale on August 30, Does Microsoft really have a choice? I mean, sure the company could just be quiet but it would look even sillier than it does now.
This is officially the second worst kept secret of 2009 - right behind the PSP Go.

These product adjustments come ahead of the official launch of Sony’s PS3 Slim console on Tuesday, September 2 – a move that, Microsoft hopes, will take away any momentum Sony could have gained by cutting the price of its PS3 and revealing a new slimmer SKU.