As Microsoft continues to try and get its Xbox 360 to market in China, an executive for the company outlined why Kinect may be a valuable asset in its push and how MS plans to combat piracy in the Asian country.

Simon Leung (pictured), Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Chairman and CEO for the Greater China region, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, first noted why China is such an attractive region, if it wasn’t already apparent, stating that China would soon be the world’s largest PC market, while it's already tops in the mobile phone and broadband categories.

Leung indicated that China is becoming a growing adopter of cloud computing, which could help protect Microsoft, as Leung stated, “… you cannot pirate a cloud application.”

Asked about selling consoles in China, Leung responded: Read More

The man known best as Major Nelson in the Xbox Live community was the bearer of bad news today: Xbox Live subscription costs will be going up in November of this year. The news was met with a mixture of disdain, anger and apathy. Starting November 1, 2010, a 1 year subscription will cost $59.99, a $10 increase over what a 1 year subscription currently cost consumers. Price changes will take place in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In addition to that, he issued the following short statement to multiple web sites:

"When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game," he wrote in an email. "When taking into account for inflation… and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers."

A full breakdown of the numbers can be found below, but Major Nelson emphasized that those who renew before November can extend that yearly subscription at its current price. Breakdown below: Read More

While console makers might think that new motion sensing technology will extend the life of their respective products well into the future, some publishers have their doubts. Ubisoft is one of those companies, apparently. Speaking to GameIndustry.biz, Ubisoft's Managing Director Alain Corre said that he doesn't expect Sony's Move or Microsoft's Kinect will be able to extend the life-cycle of current generation home consoles by much.

While Corre acknowledges that there may be some short term benefits from both technologies, he doesn't see that extending past the 24 month mark. He also admits that both technologies will help draw in consumers that are more casual because of the nature of the games that will be available at launch and beyond.

"Now, will it prevent them from releasing brand new technology in the next five years? I don't think so," said Corre. Corrre also said that console makers may already be working on new hardware. Read More

Gamespot is reporting that Microsoft is mass-banning individuals who are playing illegal copies of Halo Reach on Xbox Live. This report is based on a Microsoft policy document obtained by website MaxConsole. The story began earlier this month when a group of modders managed to grab an early version of Bungie's last Halo game via Microsoft's virtual marketplace. While this group of modders did not intend to release the game (allegedly), it ultimately ended up on file-sharing sites.

Now Microsoft is cleaning the barn; anyone caught playing the unauthorized version of the game will be banned. The language in the policy document is bad news for anyone that gets banned, because apparently it is permanent - though whether that ban is specific to Gamertag or system is not known. The most important thing from the document is the following: Read More

It was a different scene today at the Shenzhen, China-based Foxconn plant, which employs over 300,000 workers who assemble everything from iPhones to video game accessories. Today Foxconn held a rally designed to promote living and loving life and to generally boost the morale of workers - who only a few months ago were as unhappy as a worker can be in a plant that expects the average employee to work 80 hours of overtime a week.

Just a few months ago morale was so low that more than a dozen employees committed suicide, prompting the company to install safety nets on the top of its buildings. But more importantly, it made the company face the reality that productivity has to be balanced with the well being of its employees. Read More

As the gaming world continues to evolve further into the era of true interactive gaming, one child psychiatrist thinks it’s time for a new ratings system that informs consumers about a game’s ability to contribute to exercise.

Paul Ballas guest-authored a Wired article on the subject following an introduction to, among other things, Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect technology at this year’s E3 Expo. Ballas thinks that if videogame developers focused their efforts on creating games that also provided a cardiovascular workout, “there is a real chance of striking a blow against childhood obesity.”

To that end Ballas outlined the type of content descriptors he would like to see:

Similar to Food and Drug Administration-mandated labels on food, an exercise rating system could estimate the calories burned by the average person in an hour of gameplay. The label could range from Sedentary for lean-back, button-intensive shooting games to Active for games with a calorie-expenditure rate comparable to playing basketball. Read More

Earlier this week Game Politics reported that Microsoft's Kinect would be able to recognize sign language - at least according to some patents that were unearthed. Today a spokesperson for Microsoft denied the story, or at least support for sign language in its motion sensing technology for Xbox 360 coming out this fall.

So why would a patent point to such technology if it didn't exist? Because it does exist, but support for it was apparently dropped to keep the cost of Kinect low. A source with understanding of Kinect's development told Kotaku that it was dumped "because the version of the hardware that'll be available later this year isn't as capable as was originally intended."

In other words, the technology isn't as powerful as it used to be because Microsoft decided to use cheaper components- Specifically, the camera which now has a lower resolution. Read More

Good news for the hearing-impaired—Microsoft’s new controller-free technology appears like it will support the use of American Sign Language (ASL).

In a U.S. patent application, as noticed by SlashGear, Microsoft lays out the basic framework behind Kinect.

One section, illustrated in an image on SlashGear, shows a person making sign language gestures that Kinect can understand.

More: Read More

While Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is made in China, it still isn’t available for legal purchase there, nor is Sony’s PlayStation 3 or Nintendo’s Wii, but the Redmond, Washington-based company isn’t giving up hope.

Microsoft executive Zhang Yaqin told the Shanghai Daily (subscription only) that the company still hopes to receive approval to sell the 360 in China, but that “… it all depends on the government.” There’s still no set timetable for launch and the issue involves “several government bureaus,” which, of course, only adds multiple layers of bureaucracy.

Last month, Kotaku investigated why game consoles are banned in China. A Niko Partners researcher told the publication, “The government thought that was the best way to protect Chinese youth from wasting their minds on video games, after a parental outcry.” Read More

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft has emerged as the winner in a patent infringement lawsuit involving the Xbox and multiplayer gaming. The court battle, which has dragged on for six years, has been dismissed by a Detroit judge. The case was dismissed on July 20 by U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman (Hochstein v. Microsoft, 04-73071) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Michigan (Detroit).

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 against Microsoft by inventors Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tennenbaum and patent holder Harold Milton Jr. It alleged that Microsoft's Xbox 360 device violated a patent filed in 1994 covering "two or more people play video games together without being in the same location." The judge ruled that the patent only covered "game systems that are electrically connected" and that such a connection doesn’t include the type of link among players used by the Xbox. Read More

While skeptical of how well Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller-free technology will work with disabled gamers, a leading advocacy group still sees it as a step in the right direction.

After witnessing the unveiling of Kinect at E3, AbleGamer’s Steve Spohn initially said that the technology would be “largely useless” to the disabled gamers reading his website, as the “entire point of Kinect is to get you and your friends off of the couch and more active while playing video games.”

After some reflection however, Spohn labeled Kinect’s voice command ability “more mentionable than the motion detection itself,” adding, “voice commands are a form of accessible technology enabling me to play more complex games and to use remote controls.”
Read More

Maybe videogamers really are skewing older—a 52-year old Florida man invaded a home Tuesday night demanding an Xbox 360.

Allan Crosswell (pictured) was armed with a pipe, which he threatened to use when he stormed the home, unless he was outfitted with Microsoft’s console. The residents were able to wrestle Crosswell outside, then locked the door and called police who arrested the man “without incident.”

Perhaps Crosswell was just really impressed with Microsoft’s E3 showing? Sadly, the man also had the option of picking up a current generation 360 at quite a significant discount.

Microsoft’s motion control technology for the Xbox 360, previously known by the codename Project Natal, will be officially marketed under the name Kinect.

The news was leaked by USA Today ahead of a pre-E3 event held by Microsoft last night. The article also detailed a range of games that are in development to leverage Kinect technology, including a Rare-developed sports game entitled Kinect Sports. Kinect could be available as early as this November.
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Canadian Xbox Live users can now help support the Children’s Miracle Network non-profit by purchasing special items offered through Xbox Live.

The Mission 4 Miracles promotion serves up picture packs, themes, the ability to play games with celebrities—such as professional golfer Stephen Ames—and a game, Avatar Golf. All proceeds from the sales of these items will be converted from points to dollars and donated to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Another cool aspect of the drive, via Market News, will see donations routed by postal code, so a gamer in a specific location of the Great White North can be assured that he or she is helping out a local branch of the charity. The Children’s Miracle Network funds 14 hospitals in Canada.
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An in-development game that has players exploring vaginas and other orifices of the human body may be a little too hot to handle for Xbox Live Arcade.

Zombie Cow is currently working on Privates for the Xbox and PC platforms and is creating the title with funds from the UK's Channel 4, which plans to market it as an educational title reports Seattle PI. Zombie Cow’s website describes the title as, “a funky little game about tiny little condom-hatted marines going right up peoples’ rude areas and shooting all the nasty chompy things that tend to live there…”

An Xbox spokesperson sent the website a note indicating that the title had not been submitted for review as of yet, but that XBL guidelines “prohibit the publication of strong sexual content.” Zombie Cow’s Dan Marshall indicated that the game is based on the British government’s Personal, Social and Health Education guidelines and is “… essentially aimed at teenage boys.”
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Perhaps violent game critics should refocus their energy on dangerous hardware instead of software.

Asylum has the story of a gamer—with the Xbox Live handle XxAdamWestxX09— who was playing a round of Modern Warfare 2 when his Xbox 360 decided to strike. The console, possibly in legion with a neighboring Apple laptop, coiled its headset chord around a chair, causing the gamer to smash his head into the nearby Mac when he tried to get to his feet.

The gamer received a forehead gash which required six stitches to close.

Be careful out there gamers!

Political cartoon site TobyToons offers the above illustration as a means to explain President Obama’s continued attacks on videogames and technology.

Just last week the President lamented the current state of technology, stating, “With iPods and iPads, Xboxes and PlayStations, information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment.”

This follows Obama taking a shot at the Xbox in a 2009 speech, where he stated, “I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.”


Thanks Rodrigo Ybáñez García!

Research agency Millward Brown has released its annual list of the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (PDF).
 
The top five overall in the BrandZ Top 100 are probably not too surprising; Google tops the list, followed by IBM, Apple, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Nintendo checks in at number 32 and Intel is at number 48, while Sony is number 94.

The report also broke out a section specifically for videogames. It was noted that the category was down 3.0 percent in year-over-year results, a shift blamed on the economic downturn. In a bid to spur fan-boy debates perhaps, specific game machines were also ranked by brand value, with the Wii taking the top spot, followed by the Nintendo DS, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2.
Read More

In a bid to drum up metrics on gamers that are comparable to those kept on users of other more traditional media, Nielson Games recently conducted a study of Xbox 360 owners that play the game 1 vs 100.

Working with Microsoft for the pilot study, the company placed watermarks in Season 2 of the game, which allowed the researcher to retrieve specific audience data over a 13 week period from November 2009 through February 2010. The study utilized two versions of 1 vs 100; the live form of the game and an Extended Play version that allows players to brush up on the game.
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A Chinese factory that provides computer parts and Xbox 360 controllers to Microsoft, and other U.S. companies, has seen the conditions of its workers scrutinized in a scathing report issued by The National Labor Committee (NLC).

The NLC report focused on the KYE Factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong and offered a laundry list of complaints. Among them, workers earn an average of 65 cents an hour (52 cents per hour after deducting for food), workers average 68 hours of work per week, and that workers are prohibited from “talking, listening to music or using the bathroom” during working hours.

Additionally, the factory was said to have a preference for hiring 18 to 25 year old women, as “they are easier to discipline and control,” and also hires “work-study students,” or 16 and 17 year olds who work mandatory 15-hour shifts six or seven days per week.  Workers also share lodging in “primitive” dorm rooms that house up to 14 people.
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Yet another examination of parental controls on the current crop of consoles has resulted in the Xbox 360 being labeled the best of the bunch.

A Game Informer editor created a scenario for his wife tasking her with adjusting parental controls for a pair of fictional teen boys on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. The wife was chosen because of her lack of hands on time with the game machines.

A sampling of the article’s commentary and grades for each console are featured below: Read More

Taking Xbox Live smack talk to another level, a Hamden, Connecticut man has been arrested for using the online service to threaten a witness.

23-year old Anthony Hayward was arrested in New Haven last year for allegedly having drugs and a stolen gun in his car, reports the Hartford Courant. Freed after posting $75,000 bail, Hayward logged into his Xbox Live account last December in order to type threats to someone that is apparently a witness in Hayward’s drug/gun case.

The witness received a message that said “Rats Die Slow,” and Hayward also referred to the person as a “dead man walking.”

For these threats, Hayward was charged with harassment, intimidating a witness and tampering with a witness. He was arraigned on Tuesday in Milford Superior Court and held on $50,000 bail.

While political attack ads are common place, in the U.S. anyway, it’s still a bit out of the norm when publishers take each other in their marketing programs and today we offer two such examples for your perusal.

Remember the ill-received F.A.G.S. video designed to tout Modern Warfare 2? It decried grenade-spam in the game and featured Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. Well, EA has created a spoof of the F.A.G.S. video designed to highlight its new release Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Sponsored by F.R.A.G.S. (Friends Really Against Grenade Spam), the spot has its own MLB hurler—New York Yankee CC Sabathia—and takes dead aim against MW2.

Sabathia offers that, “In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 grenade spam isn’t going to prove quite as effective as one might find in competing games of this particular genre, not with destructible buildings, adrenaline pumping weapons and more vehicles than you can count.” Read More

Educators in the United Arab Emirates are attempting to push fledgling game developers towards making more socially conscious games and now one school will be able to create such applications using one of the most powerful game engines available.

The Khaleej Times reports that American University in Dubai has inked a deal with Crytek in order to use the developer’s CryEnginge as a basis for developing Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC “edutainment” titles. UAE teachers are trying to get students away from creating violent action games in order to “create content that imparts values, culture and critical thinking skills to digital natives.”

Dr  Basel Dayyani, Associate Professor of IT at the American University in Dubai on the movement: Read More

If an earlier eBay auction of an Xbox 360 purported to have been autographed by Sara Palin was too rich for your blood another Microsoft console owned by a female politician is now up for sale on the auction website.

The 360 in question was actually a key component in the resignation of ex-Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon (D), who was charged with taking gift cards intended for charity and using them to buy videogame systems for her family. Dixon resigned in January of this year.
Read More

Microsoft has updated its Xbox Live Code of Conduct with terminology that now allows gamers to include their sexual orientation in their Gamertag.

Gamers are now free to label themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender or Straight, in a move GayGamer called “fantastic.”

In a letter announcing the change, Microsoft’s Mark Whitten wrote:

Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms.

More from GayGamer on the change:

This is something we have been fighting for here on GayGamer for a long time and it's gives us a wonderful feeling to finally see it come to fruition.

Congratulations to Microsoft and Xbox Live for stepping up to the plate and listening to the concerns of an important and oft overlooked section of the gaming community. Bravo!

Thanks Andrew!

As the U.S. military turns more and more to PC-based military simulations as a less expensive solution to real-world exercises, an article on Wired examines whether game consoles might eventually replace PCs as the training platform of choice.

While they can lack horsepower when compared to their PC brethren, consoles are attractive to Army officials for one reason—price. Consoles can cost a couple of hundred dollars, while a high-end PC can run into the thousands.

It seems, though, that Microsoft themselves may have created a roadblock to the more widespread use of Xbox consoles within the military. The Wired article features feedback from the Chief Technology Officer of U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation, who claims that Microsoft refused to sell him consoles in 2006.

Roger Smith said the Xbox-maker gave him three reasons for the refusal: Microsoft feared a low attach rate for the consoles sold to the military, the military could have drained supplies of the console and Microsoft did not necessarily want their console associated with the Army, as this could “taint its reputation.”

A Microsoft spokesperson answered that the military was free to team up with an existing developer (as was done in the case of THQ’s Full Spectrum Warrior) or they could leverage XNA Game Studio development tools and create their own games.

It turns out that Smith may not even be interested in using the Xbox anymore, as he stated, “Our initial enthusiasm when Xbox and XNA were new products has cooled.” So it appears the PC will remain the training base of choice for at least the near future, leveraging a more open architecture and an ability for greater performance.

We will have to find a new nickname for professional plaintiff/serial suer Erik Estavillo, as he is dropping all his lawsuits.

Estavillo wrote that his medical conditions, particularly symptoms related to panic disorder and Crohn’s disease, contributed to his decision to abandon the cases. He indicated that the long wait for cases to be heard was starting to get to him, causing his doctors to advise him to walk away from the lawsuits in order to improve his health. Estavillo also provided us with some individual reasons for dropping each case, mostly due to those being sued making improvements or fixes which seemed to appease Erik.

Estavillo had sued Sony over being banned from the PlayStation Network following Resistance: Fall of Man online gaming sessions. He had alleged that Sony was ineffective at stopping players under the age of 17 from playing the game and that banning him from the network amounted to theft, in regards to his PSN pre-paid points. Estavillo wrote that a signup page for PSN appears to have been added, which requires a parent or master account to add a new account to a PS3, addressing his concern of younger kids playing the game.

Erik has also sued Microsoft over a red ring of death on his Xbox 360 and Nintendo over a Wii system update that rendered his homebrew channel unusable. Estavillo said he just learned that Microsoft is not charging 360 owners to fix a console that received a RROD and that he has found many websites that would easily allow him to re-install the home brew channel if he so chose to do so.

A suit against World of Warcraft maker Activision Blizzards had alleged that characters in WOW walked to slow, thus enabling the game’s publisher to continue to reap monthly subscription fees as it took long periods of time just to travel in the game. Estavillo notes that now, it appears that WOW avatars walk much faster in Ghost mode.

Another factor in dropping the suits was that Estavillo could not afford to pay the process server fees needed to serve the people he had subpoenaed for some of his cases. Those subpoenaed by Estavillo had included Bill Gates, Winona Ryder, Depeche Mode’s Martin Lee Gore, Lady Sovereign and Krayzie Bone.

Estavillo will also drop his most recent case, which targeted a variety of gaming and popular websites for libel.

A class action suit filed against Microsoft alleges that the Xbox Live operator engages in point fraud in reference to incomplete or partial downloads from the service.

Plaintiff Samuel Lassoff filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on January 19, which also alleges breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. The complaint claims that Microsoft “received and retained money paid by the plaintiff in response to incomplete and or partial downloads of digital goods and services.”

Lassoff, upon reviewing invoices of his Microsoft Points purchases, found that he was a “victim of Microsoft Point fraud,” and attempted to contact Xbox Live customer support on the phone, with no response. He also spent time with his credit card company in an attempt to fix his account. In all, Lassoff estimated spending a total of “over 15 attorney hours over several days” to rectify his accounts.

The complaint warns that “unless restrained by this court,” Microsoft will “continue to engage in the unlawful, unfair, and/or fraudulent business acts or practices” alleged within the complaint.

The complaint seeks compensatory damages for plaintiff and other Class members, pre and post judgment interest, punitive and exemplary damages and a reimbursement of costs and expenses incurred by the action.


|Via InformationWeek|

Illegal beta copies of Namco’s blood-soaked Splatterhouse game are up for sale online for the price of $675.00 each (shipping included).

Worthplaying discovered the illegal wares for sale on the collector site ASSEMbler, where a user named dulledblade posted a series of pictures in an attempt to prove the legitimacy of the copies. Dulledblade claimed to have pulled the betas off of four nonworking Xbox 360 test kits and instructs that the games have to be played on an Xbox 360 development kit (XDK), which he also sells, for $1,150 each (once again, shipping is included). Package deals featuring an XDK and a copy of Splatterhouse are also apparently for sale by the same user.

Worthplaying notes that the brazen seller did very little to hide his identity; using his Gamertag on his Xbox-Scene postings and putting his location down as Michigan.

Splatterhouse was originally in development by BottleRocket Entertainment, but was later assigned to an internal team at Namco. The game is due out sometime this year for both the 360 and the PlayStation 3.