Crispy Gamer News

Remember back when the word “Xbox” didn’t have “360″ attached to the end? It’s been a solid three years since Microsoft’s last original Xbox system rolled off the assembly line, but thanks to some backwards compatibility on the 360 and a respectable availability of used hardware and software, the system has still managed to live on in the secondhand market. Now, though, it looks like the largest gaming retail outlet has decided to pull the plug on the ‘box.

As a part of its most recent marketing update this week, GameStop stores have started notifying customers that it will no longer be accepting hardware, software, or accessories for the original Xbox console, starting on February 9th. There’s no word so far as to how long after the 9th the company plans to continue carrying its used stock for the original Xbox.

The news shouldn’t come as too big of a shock to gamers, as even Microsoft apparently gave up on the original system, even going so far as to stop dishing out backwards compatibility updates for the Xbox 360 in November of 2007. Instead, now the company has decided to simply let 360 owners download complete titles from the original Xbox era via the LIVE Marketplace. With both Microsoft and now GameStop choosing to leave to original Xbox in the past, will the rest of the gaming community follow suit and look more towards the future of the Xbox franchise? Only time will tell.

Tor Books has launched Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell, just in time for the holidays. The new novel is the latest in the New York Times bestselling series based on Microsoft and Bungie Studios’ Halo video games. The Halo novels, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (Tor 2006) and Halo: Contact Harvest (Tor 2007) became instant bestsellers, along with the three previous novels.

In Halo: The Cole Protocol, Buckell take us through the first desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, when the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe.

The 368 page paperback is available now for $14.95 at most major book sellers nationwide.

It seems like a lot of 360 owners got a rude awakening this week, as various forums were lit up with reports of sweeping bans from Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service. While most of the posters seemed stunned by the action, a common thread from many of these posters involved them having played “backup copies” or “early copies” of games like Gears of War 2, and using modified 360s to do so.

Well, if these guys had any doubts as to why they were banned, Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, decided to clear things up over at his official blog:
(more…)