Entries tagged with xbox 360 - Channel 10

Microsoft Demos Game Playing on Windows Phone 7 Series, Xbox, and PC

Sarah Perez — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 GMT

At TechEd Middle East, Microsoft's Eric Rudder showed the potential of Windows Phone 7 Series when he demoed a game that could run on the mobile phone, Windows PCs, and the Xbox 360. The game, in this case Indiana Jones, was created using Visual Studio which allows developers to share 90% of the game’s code across the three platforms: Xbox, Windows, and Windows Phone 7. The additional 10% of the code changes required are to implement features unique to each platform – like touch sensitivity and accelerometer support for phones or mouse support on PCs, for example.

What’s even more amazing, perhaps, than the cross-platform support was that Rudder was able to continue playing his game on the Xbox from where he left off on the mobile device. Amazing!

You can see a video of Rudder’s demo here.

Using Xbox 360s in Hospitals

Sarah Perez — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:28:00 GMT

We’ve already heard about some less-than-typical use cases for the Xbox 360 when New York state announced they would test the units for use as emergency alert systems. Now, here comes another bold idea: Xbox as a tool to feed medical records to in-room displays. Microsoft Researchers are looking into the devices’ potential for use in this area, with senior researcher Desney Tan leading the way. The gaming machines could be used by patients for entertainment purposes (as they already are sometimes today), but they could also be used in lieu of PCs when doctors needed to access the medical records of the patient. Imagine: the doctor walks in the room and pulls up a patient’s scans using the Xbox 360! The benefit to using the Xbox instead of a PC is primarily cost – at $199 per unit, the machine is cheaper than a netbook and definitely cheaper than a standard PC such those used in hospitals and doctors offices today.

Tricks Behind Natal

Larry Larsen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:50:00 GMT

Scientific American has a video including interviews with Director of Incubation Alex Kipman about Project Natal and talk about some of the challenges and methods they use to detect the user. One of the 'tricks' to Natal is that is is not concerned so much with the body parts as much as the joints that connect those parts. It also accounts for the type of clothing that you are wearing. See the video for more.

Playfire: A Growing Network for Gamers

Sarah Perez — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:32:00 GMT

Playfire, a social network for gamers, lets you track your scores and rankings on services like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP, and others while also engaging in discussions with fellow gamers, viewing game-related content like photos and videos, building your own virtual game collection, and more. Originally launched early last year, the company is now boasting 250,000 members with 100,000 added in October 2009 alone, reports TechCrunch. (The site itself says they have 245,000+ gamers, however). Playfire also recently took in additional funding which the company plans to use to expand their development team and accelerate their growth, notes the article.

Once logged in, users can track over 40,000 game titles, meet fellow gamers from around the world, join groups, take quizzes, and build a free website for their clan or guild.

If you haven’t checked out Playfire before (or it’s been awhile), you may want to take a look. The company revamped their homepage earlier this month with a fresh design that loads faster and makes accessing the various parts of the website much easier than before.

Playfire is free to join – there are no “premium” features you have to pay for. It’s just your typical niche social networking site. Interested gamers can sign up here for an account.

Xbox to Become Emergency Alert System

Sarah Perez — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:32:00 GMT

According to an article in InformationWeek, state authorities in New York are testing out a new system that would deliver emergency alerts over online gaming networks in addition to TV and radio. This system, designed to reach the younger demographic of users who often spend more time gaming that watching TV, will use the internet connectivity provided by console platforms like the Xbox 360, PlayStation, and Wii, to broadcast warnings about natural and man-made disasters in real-time.

New York State Deputy CIO Rico Singleton shared this news at the recent Interop technology conference in New York City, but wouldn’t go into further details about the service besides saying that it was currently in the testing phase.

There’s no time frame on when the new service will publicly launch, but assuming it works out, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other states adopt the technology as well.

Xbox Saves Lives!

Sarah Perez — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:44:00 GMT

OK, well…not exactly. But the popular game console is making its contribution to medical science these days. Dr Simon Scarle, a researcher in the University of Warwick’s WMG Digital Laboratory, wanted to study cardiac arrhythmias using simulations which typically involve booking time on a dedicated parallel processing computer or spending thousands of dollars on a parallel network of PCs. However, Dr. Scarle, who formerly worked as a software engineer at Warwickshire firm Rare Ltd, part of Microsoft Games Studios, was very familiar with the Xbox 360’s GPU and figured that it could be used to do much of the same processing as the parallel network of PCs could do.

As it turns out, he was right. His research has now been published in the journal Computational Biology and Chemistry under the title: “Implications of the Turing completeness of reaction-diffusion models, informed by GPGPU simulations on an XBox 360: Cardiac arrhythmias, re-entry and the Halting problem.” (Whew! That’s a mouthful!)

But basically it boils down to this, yes, the Xbox GPU can be used by researchers to save money on running these types of simulations. And if they can save money, then they can do more with the funds they’re given. More research could lead to better science. And better science, especially in medical matters such as those that Dr. Scarle studies, could have a direct impact on patients’ lives. So you see, you could almost say the Xbox saves lives…right?

(via/img credit: Physorg.com)

Track the Hottest Video Games on Twitter

Sarah Perez — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:38:00 GMT

How hot is the new Beatles’ edition of Rock Band? A new site called TweetMyGaming can show you. This dedicated, real-time Twitter tracker aggregates all the tweets about video games and displays them on its main page in a live-updating feed. You can see what games others are searching for at the moment or you can use the search box to search for a particular game instead. In a sense, the experience is similar to using Twitter’s own search engine (search.twitter.com) except that you don’t have to refresh the page to see new results.

Another cool feature of the site are the data graphs for popular games which let you track Twitter mentions over time. You can configure the charts to display the mentions for the past 24 hours, past week, month, or all-time. Click on the chart and the page will update to display the real-time feed for that game’s keyword or hashtag as well as a sidebar displaying the top links associated with that game. This links sidebar needs a little tweaking though, since a search for #halo3 pointed me to the “hot link” called bit.ly – Twitter’s own URL shortener! Looks like TweetMyGaming needs to learn how to parse some URLs.

The site will also point you to related games and places you can buy or rent the game you searched for. The site is powered by game news site GamerDNA, so there are links to the game on that site as well.

You can check out TweetMyGaming for yourself at www.tweetmygaming.com.

Xbox 360 "The Beatles: Rock Band" Limited Console

Sarah Perez — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:37:00 GMT

To celebrate the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band, the new game that brings the group’s music to a standalone edition of the popular Rock Band franchise, Microsoft is putting up a special edition Xbox 360 console up for auction. The case for this Xbox is covered with beautiful hand-painted illustrations rending the game’s opening cinematic and all the proceeds from the sale will go to benefit Doctors without Borders. The charity, which delivers emergency aid to people in more than 60 countries, was actually chosen by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with John Lennon and George Harrison's widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.

At the time of writing, the current bid stands at $7400 but Beatles fans still have plenty of time to place a bid themselves – the auction will continue for a week.

In addition to the console, Microsoft has also released the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” as a downloadable song through Xbox LIVE for 160 Microsoft Points. Proceeds from the song also go to the same charity and your purchase will register you to win one of the limited edition Beatles Xbox 360 consoles (yes, there are more than one!) and a Rickenbacker 325 replica guitar controller.

Xbox 360 Elite Price Dropped

Sarah Perez — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:43:00 GMT

As of Friday August 28th, Microsoft slashed the price for the Xbox 360 Elite mode to $299, which is $100 less than what it previously sold for. The cut is an attempt to attract new buyers and it will also help simplify the product mix as the Xbox Pro model will be phased out at the same time. The Pro model will sell for $249.99 while supplies last and then it will be no more. Afterwards, only the Elite and the Arcade models will remain which will make it a lot easier for buyers to determine which one they want. The Arcade will continue to stay at the entry-level price point of $199.99, attracting the cost-conscious shoppers. Meanwhile the Elite model will appeal to those wanting the “full Xbox experience.” If you’re not sure which Xbox is right for you, you can refer to this handy online comparison chart of features. Just ignore the middle column since that’s the one which will be gone soon.

Xbox LIVE Update Has Arrived

Sarah Perez — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

The highly anticipated Xbox LIVE update is now available to all users. The next time you sign into Xbox LIVE, you’ll be prompted to accept the mandatory update. If you haven’t already heard (where have you been?!), this is the update that will deliver the slew of new features originally announced at this year’s E3 Expo. Those features include updates to Netflix (queue management, movie parties, etc.), a new avatar marketplace, Xbox parties, user ratings, games on demand, and more. (For a complete list of features, see this post.)

One thing to note is that Xbox’s integration with social services like Twitter, Facebook, and Last.FM won’t arrive until later this year. Also, the new Zune Video Marketplace will ship later this fall when the new Zunes go on sale.

Want to Test the New Xbox LIVE Update?

Sarah Perez — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:16:00 GMT

At this year’s E3 Expo, Microsoft announced an upcoming update for the Xbox LIVE service which will introduce a number of changes and new features, including integration with social networks like Facebook and Twitter, Netflix improvements, and updates to the Xbox LIVE service itself.

Now, thanks to the Xbox 360 System Update Preview program, you can sign up to be a part of the group that will get to test out the newest features before they go live for everyone. To do so, just fill out the "Xbox LIVE Update Preview Sign Up" survey found here on Microsoft Connect. You’ll have to answer a handful questions about where you live, your home network, your ISP connection, and few others so the Xbox Team can help pick out a good cross-section of users to be invited to the test.

According to Major Nelson, they’re looking for multiple thousands of participants, so your chances of making it in the test program are good. If you’re accepted, you’ll be notified via email within a week.

For more details about the updates included, see below:

Netflix Updates

Queue Management: You’ll soon be able to add movies to your queue from the Xbox interface
Movie Parties: Gold members will be able to organize Netflix viewing parties where avatars gather together in a virtual theater to watch a movie together. Here, the avatars can interact with each other – that is chat, or even throw popcorn at each other.
Enhanced Playback: Playback has been optimized to be smooth even if your bandwidth fluctuates.
Friends Info: More info is displayed in the Friends Channel and in the Guide to show you what your friends are doing.

Avatar Marketplace

More clothing and props from the top brands and game franchises (like “Halo”) for your avatar. (Note that only limited content is currently available in the preview.)
Props – You can now equip your avatar with animated items they can carry around and interact with.
Awardables – The ability to earn Avatar clothing and props as rewards within games has been added.

Games on Demand

24 x 7 access to an online library of popular full game titles on Xbox LIVE whenever you want them
Purchase Options – Full Xbox 360 games can be downloaded using Microsoft Points, direct debit, or credit card.
Game Manuals – Game manuals for Games on Demand titles can be viewed, downloaded or printed on Xbox.com.
Games on Demand titles are linked to your Xbox LIVE account, so you can delete and re-download anything you have already purchased to the same console or another console.

User Ratings

You can now rate every game on the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace using a 5-star system.
You can easily find the games that everyone's been raving about by visiting the Top Rated games in the Browse All category of Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace.

Xbox LIVE Parties

Party Reconnections – If you are accidently disconnected from your party, Xbox LIVE will automatically reconnect you.
Streamlined Party Invites – Invites are now just one click away! No need to click through multiple screens to get all your friends together.

Video Display Options

It’s even easier for you to watch in the highest resolution possible on your TV using an HDMI connection.
Display Discovery – Makes sure you can see and hear your entertainment in the highest resolution and sound quality possible with the option to override and select audio and video formats independent of the information your television sends to your Xbox 360 console.

Other Improvements

Gold Member Veterans – Xbox LIVE Gold members get to show it off with a stamp on your Gamer Card that tells people how long you've been a Gold member.
Indie Games – Xbox LIVE Community Games has been renamed Xbox LIVE Indie Games.
Achievement Browser – The Achievements browser is now easier to read. You can now also launch a game directly from the browser.
Achievements Tracking – A new view inside the profile panel which includes a summary of Achievements earned across all the games played, and shows of all your completed games.
Streamlined navigation, including new entry points in the dashboard for Active Downloads, redeeming codes, recovering Gamertags and more.
Voice Messages – No more blank voice messages! When recording a voice message, a warning will pop up if no audio is detected.
Friends List Sorting – Find and sort your friends by activity, Gamertag or online status by pressing the Y button while viewing the friends list in the Guide.
Memory – Time stamps now appear in the memory area, which particular handy when managing saved games.

Account Management

Subscription Notification – If your Xbox LIVE subscription is about to run out, you will now be notified when you sign into Xbox LIVE.
Updates for Invalid Windows Live IDs – If the Windows Live ID you provided has expired, you will now be prompted to update it the next time you sign into Xbox LIVE.
Account recovery is faster and more reliable.

For more photos from the update, check out Crunchgear’s online gallery here.

Jobs You'll Want: Project Natal is Hiring!

Sarah Perez — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:31:00 GMT

Project Natal, the hot new interactive gaming environment, made its official debut at this year’s E3 Expo to the amazement of the crowd. Natal represents the next leap forward in gaming as it uses full body motion to control your Xbox games. With a sensor bar similar to that which comes with the Wii, a Natal-enabled Xbox will actually be able to “see” the players and the movements they make with their arms, hands, legs, feet, and head…and those movements are translated to their on-screen avatars or the object within the game – like, for example, the steering wheel in a racing game.

Although Natal has no official name, pricing or release data yet, development kits are already being sent to partners. In other words, this is no vaporware…it’s the real thing.

If that’s the sort of thing that intrigues you, then you’ll definitely want to check out the job listings available on the Project Natal team. Currently, there are open positions for game designers, design engineers, infrastructure architects, and more. Don’t hesitate, though – hot jobs like these aren’t likely to last! If you’ve already missed out on your ideal job, then you can sign up to receive job updates for Natal when future positions become available.

Playtest Labs : Get your gaming voice heard

Laura Foy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:00 GMT

Have you ever been playing a game and thought to yourself, "I just wish I could speak with the developers and let them know that this part of the game could be so much better!"? Well, now you can. Microsoft has launched PlayTest- where you can play games, give opinions and get free software. I stepped behind the scenes and behind the fake mirrored walls to show you the ins and out of life in the Playtest Labs.

Silverlight on Xbox 360 demo at Cannes

Ben Waggoner — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Some of you have asked me about Scott Guthrie's twitter mention of the Xbox 360 Silverlight advertising demo at Cannes. So, yes, Silverlight 3 is coming to the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. We're mainly discussing this in the context of advertising at this point.

We've got some more info up about it at the (reliably interesting and informative) Silverlight Team Blog.

There's plenty to read there, but here's the overview:

On Tuesday, June 22nd at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2009, Microsoft announced it will bring Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recognized rich media technologies including Silverlight to Xbox LIVE within the next year. By extending support to technologies like Silverlight, Xbox LIVE will offer advertisers and creative designers scale and reach with their campaign creative assets, enabling them to build and deliver interactive, interconnected experiences that are unlike anything else on television, and extend these experiences across multiple screens – the TV, the PC, and Mobile.

Games On Demand Announced for Xbox 360

Sarah Perez — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:01:00 GMT

Along with the other announcements at E3, Microsoft also revealed a new game download service called Games on Demand which will arrive on the Xbox 360 in August. Using a credit card, you’ll soon be able to purchase full retail games right from the console, saving you a trip to your local game store.

When the service launches, there will be 30 titles made available immediately, including Mass Effect, Oblivion and Assassin’s Creed. Afterwards, new games will be added on a weekly basis. The games will be sold at retail prices.

(pic via engadget)

Project Natal Revealed: Full Body Motion Control for the Xbox

Sarah Perez — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:42:00 GMT

At the E3 Expo, Microsoft unveiled something called “Project Natal” which is a whole new way to interact with your Xbox 360. Like Nintendo’s Wii, Natal lets you control a game using motion, but unlike the Wii – very unlike it, in fact – you don’t hold any sort of controllers or sensors in order to do so.

Instead, the bar that sits above or below your TV has a camera, sensors, and a microphone within its casing. In other words, it can see you and your movements. It even does facial and voice recognition and lets you swipe through screens by moving your hands (how “Minority Report” is that!)

Although Project Natal has no official name, pricing, or release date yet, development kits are being sent out to partners now.

You can see Natal in action in this video and check out more screenshots here.

Vuze Integrates with Xbox 360

Sarah Perez — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:26:00 GMT

There are many legitimate and legal reasons to use BitTorrent technology. No really, I assure you there are! For example, did you know that the Revision3 Internet Television Network, makers of a number of hot web shows including Diggnation, Tekzilla, Hak5, Systm, and more actually make their shows distributable via BitTorrent? That’s a perfectly legal and valid reason for using the technology – one that’s being promoted by the company wanting you to view their content, no less. Unfortunately, use cases such as this are often overlooked when people talk about BitTorrent. That’s why it’s important to remember: BitTorrent doesn’t ~~kill people~~…err…steal things…People steal things - but the BitTorrent technology itself isn’t inherently evil or illegal.

OK, disclaimer out the way, here’s the big news:

The BitTorrent client formerly known as Azureus and now called Vuze is available in a new version which integrates with a number of platforms, one being the Xbox 360. With the latest version of the Vuze client software (ver. 4.2), Vuze can now act as a media server that can directly transfer high-def video straight to your console. Even better, the software automatically converts file formats if it detects that the original file cannot be played on the receiving device.

For this to work, your PC needs to be powered on with Vuze open and your Xbox needs to be on the same network as the computer. All the videos you drag to the Xbox 360 within the Vuze Sidebar will then appear under the Videos section in the main Xbox 360 menu. You can also use RSS feeds to subscribe to your favorite content so it’s always available.

You can download the new Vuze software from here for free. Tons more legal content can be found on the Vuze HD Network.

Share Your Xbox Avatar on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo

Sarah Perez — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:47:00 GMT

A company called Digital Outlook has developed a social media toolkit that will allow Xbox gamers to share their personalized, customized Xbox avatar creations on various social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Live Spaces, and more. The new toolkit will also allow those avatars to be shared in the form of e-cards, too. Called “Free Your Avatar,” the kit is now available right on the Xbox.com web site where you can either enter in your gamertag or build an avatar from scratch right there.

Besides just permitting the export of avatars to other services, gamers can also further customize the image by choosing from various backgrounds and props. When finished, the avatars can then be exported to a wide range of social networks including MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and Live Spaces. They can also be used as your Live Messenger display picture or exported as wallpaper for your mobile phone, including the iPhone. You can even enter in a custom size for your creation if any of the preset sizes don’t work for you.

You can try Free Your Avatar now here.

Hulu Coming Soon to Media Center via SecondRun.tv

Sarah Perez — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:39:00 GMT

Forget paying $30 for PlayOn, if all you want is Hulu on your Media Center PC, it looks like there will be yet another option soon. A new third party extension called SecondRun.tv is coming soon which will let you browse and watch Hulu video on any machine that runs Windows Vista Media Center. According the developer, the plugin is already fully functional, he’s just ironing out a few kinks. He also noted that he plans on testing it on Windows 7 and media center extenders, as the goal is for it to work on extenders (He has 2 Xbox 360’s, so you know he’s motivated!). He said that it will probably work on extenders now, though.

To find out when it gets released, keep checking the http://www.secondrun.tv site – it looks like it will be very soon. It also looks like this plugin will be beating Boxee to the punch, whose Windows version of their software is still in alpha.

Stream Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and More to Your Xbox 360

Sarah Perez — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:19:00 GMT

A Windows utility called PlayOn has just left its beta phase and is now available for everyone to try. With this installed, you can stream video from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, as well as video from TV networks like CBS, CNN, and ESPN right to your Xbox 360. Of course, if you’re primarily interested in Netflix, there’s no need to get a special utility – the recent update to Xbox adds Netflix streaming as an option on the dashboard. However, being able to stream from Hulu and YouTube is the sort of thing that makes you sit up and take notice.

To use PlayOn, you just install the software to any networked XP or Vista machine (they don’t specifically say “Windows 7” but I’m going to give it a shot this weekend – let me know if I shouldn’t!). The software, once installed behaves as a DLNA/UPnP media server and browser that pulls RSS feeds from content providers, and presents them to DLNA-compliant networked media devices. In other words, the PC software pulls in the media streams from the web sites and services and then sends them over your home network to your Xbox.

The only downside to PlayOn is that it’s not free – after a 14-day trial, you can purchase the program for $30.00. A little steep for these budget-conscious times, especially considering that there’s already a free plug-in for Hulu (install XBMC plus the XBMC plug-in for Hulu) and Xbox already does Netflix. That means you’re paying mostly for YouTube and the miscellaneous TV networks. That may or may not be worth $30 to you – it’s a personal decision. However, there is something to be said for having it all in one easy-to-manage software package. And at least the $30 is a one-time fee. Hmmm, maybe I just talked myself into it.

(via LifeHacker)

Missed the Big Day? Watch it on Your Xbox or Zune

Sarah Perez — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:14:00 GMT

It seemed like the entire world was watching the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday, but if you weren’t one of them, you probably now feel like you missed out on some serious history-making in action. Don’t worry, though - you can get caught up easily using either your Xbox or your Zune. (Or both!)

For Zune Owners

You can download Obama's Inauguration speech through C-Span - Podcast of the Week audio podcast or CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 Daily video podcast. You can also visit the Obama Inauguration feature page in the Zune Marketplace that offers links to Inauguration music playlists, videos and podcasts.

For Xbox Owners

Xbox LIVE is offering a special series of downloadable content available through the Spotlight Channel – for this week only. Here, you’ll find videos of President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, swearing in as the 44^th President of the United States, his speech and other Inauguration Day content.

On Inside Xbox, you can find out what Xbox 360 community members what Obama to address. You can also watch highlights of the inauguration and other video content provided by MSNBC.

(Thanks to Technologizer for the Obama-ized Xbox image. Nice one!)

Blog About Your Xbox 360…or Better Yet, Let Your Xbox Blog for You

Sarah Perez — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:17:00 GMT

360voice is an online community for Xbox 360 fans and gamers. It lets you create a blog that highlights your gaming history, activity, and achievements. But it’s no ordinary blog! Instead of having you type out the information you want displayed, 360voice takes the data from your Xbox Live gamercard and transforms it from a snapshot of your gaming experience into a blog format from – get this! – the perspective of your Xbox. Seriously! It's your Xbox is the one doing the blogging – or at least it appears that way.

I have no idea how they do this, but the Xbox comes across as having a real personality. The blog format is conversational, with your Xbox raving about your excellent game-playing skills. Or lightly ragging on you when it's deserved. The entire thing is automated, too. You don’t have to do a thing.

Here’s what a sample blog post looks like, excerpted from Fshguys’s blog:

Fshguy is awesome! Just plain radical even... I say that because we played some games. Did you know our gamerscore is 123,031? He made some progress on Viva Piñata, and wished it would never end, but it did and that was sad.

Oh, remember the challenge that Fshguy was competing in? Well, it's over. Fshguy didn't manage to get the win... but I guess number 62 is better than number LAST!!... wait... maybe we are last? How many people are in this thing? Can I count? You know, sometimes someone else just has better cheat codes than you do -- I mean, that's the only explanation for a loss in this challenge!!!

What’s even funnier is when the Xbox gets on your case about giving up:

…He opened up Left 4 Dead, KUF: Circle of Doom picking up 1 achievement, and then the lightweight went to bed. Freakin' wuss.

That's just plain hilarious!!

If you want to set up your own Xbox blog, you can do so by signing up here: http://360voice.gamerdna.com.

CES 2009: Chatting with Robbie Bach

Nic Fillingham — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:11:00 GMT

One of our favourite people to talk to at CES is EDD President Robbie Bach. We caught up with the Xbox Chief again this year to recap the highlights of 2008 and some of the exciting new products coming in 2009 like an update to Ford Sync, a live version of 1 vs 100 on Xbox Live and two new Halo titles. Add to that a new Netflix queue app for Windows Mobile (that you can watch on your Xbox 360) and of course the highly anticipated Windows 7.
Let us know what CES 2009 announcements you're most excited about in the comments section.

Xbox 360 Car

Sarah Perez — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:44:00 GMT

You’ve heard of Xbox 360 mods, but have you ever seen anything like this? A gamer modded his car with Xbox 360 components including game controllers and an Xbox console soldered into the dash. According to the photo’s description on flickr, the car actually has two 360’s, two projectors, and two flat screens inside. Hopefully, the gamer doesn’t play when driving! Yikes! Still, the end result is a pretty sweet looking ride.

New Microphone for Rock Band Now Available

Sarah Perez — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:45:00 GMT

There’s a new microphone for Rock Band out now called M.I.C., short for the ever-so-creative “microphone with integrated controller.” Like it sounds, this microphone offers Xbox controls built right into the mic itself. Although you might think that having buttons on your microphone would be an inconvenience during gameplay, a handy switch at the bottom will deactivate them from accidental presses. But whenever you need to make adjustments or choose a new song, you can quickly switch them back on – no need for a regular Xbox 360 controller. With a nearly 10” cord, this mic gives you plenty of slack and the price ($59.99) makes it a worthwhile buy for any serious Rock Band gamer. You can check out more details or purchase this official accessory from http://rockband.gameshark.com.