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:

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.

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.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment has inked a deal with Sesame Workshop in order to publish a series of games for videogame consoles based on the long running children’s television show.

While Sesame Street was, for a time, featured in a slew of games, the last title to be issued featuring Sesame Street content was back in 2001, in a title called Sesame Street Sports that was developed by Bonsai Entertainment.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment SVP of Marketing Russell Arons stated:

There's a big open hole in the market. This is the first generation of parents who grew up as gamers. Unlike prior generations where people weren't sure of the value of video games, these are people who know there's value and fun for the whole family.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms are expected to be targeted with the new games.

Created by a dozen Cal State San Bernardino students, Vector Force is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The arcade-styled shooter took two years to create and involved over a dozen students in all, who worked on the project under the tutelage of Professors Art Concepcion and David Turner. Student Mark Chapman took on the role of the game's designer.

Concepcion likened the game to “a stamp of legitimacy of our computer systems game development program."

He added:

If students are allowed to choose the project and be involved in the design and decision of what the project will do, they will rise to the challenge of hard work.

Vector Force can be purchased for 80 Microsoft points. A demo is also available.

Cal State San Bernardino students are already at work on their next task, a videogame called Mythic that is being developed in conjunction with students and faculty from Rim of the World High School and Riverside Community College. A $300,000 National Science Foundation grant is funding the new project.

PlayStation 3 parental controls are confusing and subpar when compared to the Xbox 360 writes an IGN columnist.

While the 360 uses ESRB and MPAA ratings to restrict videogames and movies (Ed: confirmed by looking on Xbox.com), the author writes that doing so on the PS3 is confusing, because Sony implemented a number system, “Over on the PlayStation 3, you assign a number. What does the number mean? Who the hell knows.”

Well, while it is confusing, the PS3 manual features a chart that correlates numbers with ESRB ratings: parental control level 2 corresponds with the ESRB’s Early Childhood (EC) rating, 3 with Everyone (E), 4 with Everyone +10 (E10+), 5 with Teen (T), 9 with Mature (M) and 10 with Adults Only (AO).

Limiting Blu-Ray disc playback is a little easier. From the manual: "When playing a BD with parental control settings, restrict playback based on the age you have set."

The author agrees that this is rather straight forward, “For Blu-ray discs, you can set a number anywhere between 0 and what seems to effectively equate to infinity. It sounds like you can just treat this as someone's age, which at least sort of makes sense, but that doesn't apply to games.”

Regular DVD restriction is a little more confusing. Says the IGN author, “DVDs have had this same confusing system for a while now, where you can choose a number between 1 and 8, but on its games front, Sony has gone with a system that spans from 1 to 11.”

We would have to agree that having two different numbering systems is a bit confusing. In both cases however, the lower the number, the tighter the restrictions.

GP: Having little reason to enact parental controls, this was all relatively new territory. Obviously the IGN editor did not take the time to read the manual, but this is common among consumers.

Did Sony make their parental controls too difficult for the average person to understand?

Any parents out there have similar problems or confusion limiting PS3 content?

The United Arab Emirates has banned THQ’s game Darksiders reports gaming site GamesLatest.

The site notes that such bannings are not usually accompanied by a detailed explanation; instead an explanation typically offered is that a forbidden commodity “contradicts with UAE’s customs and traditions.”

The game, developed by Vigil games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, involves demons and has players take the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

In the game’s setting, War is accused of breaking a scared law and “inciting a war between Heaven and Hell.” Following a battle between demons and angels that the demons win, War is “brought before the sacred Charred Council” and indicted for his crimes and has his other worldly powers removed. While being hunted by Angels, War returns to Earth in order to search for the truth, to find those responsible for deceiving him and to battle the forces of Hell.

God of War and Grand Theft Auto IV were also banned in the UAE in recent years.

Videogame console thefts have risen dramatically over the years, according to data released by the FBI.

A USA Today story indicates that reported cases have risen 285% over three years, to a number of 42,615 such incidents in 2009. That number is even more astounding when factoring in that overall property crime numbers, which include theft of electronics, dropped from 10.0 million in 2006 to 9.8 million in 2008.

The FBI produced the numbers at the behest of Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who wanted to see the data after complaints from constituents about electronic thefts.

Weiner’s take on the growing problem, “It's the omnipresent, miniature electronics crime paradox: Even as crime goes down, when you have more electronics, you have more theft.”

Laptop computer thefts grew from 96,834 in 2007 to 128,280 in 2009, a gain of 32%. Cellphone snatches were down over the same period however, dropping 5% to over 106,000 stolen in 2009.

University of Massachusetts-Lowell Criminologist Larry Siegel added, “Criminals are rational. They steal things that have high value, are easily transportable and easily sold.”

Left Behind Games plans on bringing its brand of Christian-infused videogames to the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360.

Left Behind is teaming up with LifeLine Studios to develop a title called Bible Adventures for both consoles. The new effort will draw content from Left Behind’s Charlie the Church Mouse series, which is currently available on the PC. Bible Adventures will “educate young children by teaching them academic lessons vital to early childhood development through Bible stories.”

Left Behind CEO Troy Lyndon added:

Parents and kids already love the Charlie Church Mouse Bible Adventure games for the PC. Our strategy is to follow Nintendo's example by including up to 18 story animations and mini-games, providing significant value for our customers. We expect our financial projections to grow exponentially as we transition from a PC game developer to a Wii & Xbox developer.

Left Behind games is also known as Inspired Media Entertainment. In October the company announced a pilot effort to sell its religious-themed PC games in Texas-area Wal-Mart stores.


|Image via Kerusso|

The latest “celebrity” to be subpoenaed by Erik Estavillo? None other than Microsoft Chief Bill Gates.

Estavillo sent us a copy of the subpoena, dated November 30 and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The subpoena is related to a lawsuit filed by Estavillo earlier this month, in which he targeted Microsoft over the “red ring of death” affecting his Xbox 360.

The subpoena instructs Gates to bring “documents pertaining to the true and relative number of actual Xbox 360 units that have been fixed by Microsoft over the past 3 years.” Estavillo is also seeking statistical data showing the true number of Xbox 360s that experienced the RROD (or other break-downs) and data on the actual number of people banned from Xbox Live for “piracy” over the period of 11/28/2008 through 11/28/2009.

GP queried Estavillo on what might be the basis of his next lawsuit. He responded that he doesn’t plan to sue anymore companies, and that we could “quote him on that.”

For his most recent lawsuit against World of Warcraft maker Activision Blizzard, Estavillo subpoenaed actress Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode member Martin Lee Gore.

While it might not mean the end of the traditional air raid siren, New York State is currently testing a plan that uses networked videogame machines to send emergency alerts and warnings to the state’s population.

The alert system is just one component of New York State’s Empire 2.0 initiative, which is designed to make the state’s government more “transparent, participatory and collaborative,” reports Information Week.

New York State Deputy Chief Information Officer Rico Singleton thinks the plan to alert the populace via videogame consoles is a natural, “considering the amount of time our youth spend on video games.“

Other Empire 2.0 measures include monitoring Facebook in a bid to spot and stop potential suicidal behavior, using Second Life to train 700,000 Homeland Security first responders and publishing Senate bills online where members of the public can comment on and mark up proposed legislation.

Joystiq’s latest Law of the Game column takes a look at the intertwinement of professional plaintiffs and class action suits.

The article was written in response to a pair of recent news stories: a possible class action suit against Microsoft over Xbox Live bannings and Erik Estavillo, the banned Resistance: Fall of Man player, whose latest lawsuit targets Microsoft and Nintendo.

Author Mark Methenitis denotes a professional plaintiff as someone whose livelihood depends on suing people. He adds that plaintiffs who are gamers are more prone to demonstrate similar standing, versus attaching their suit to a statute, making them a perfect entry point to class action litigation.

Of course, class action lawsuits “tend to be larger and thereby more profitable, especially to a law firm on a contingency fee basis.”

Methenitis thinks it “unlikely” that we will see fewer lawsuits as time progresses, but tells us not to worry too much about game industry companies that are targeted, as they “have substantial legal teams to deal with these kinds of suits.”

He finishes:

What should concern consumers would be a series of victories against gaming companies. If plaintiffs are successful, then there are two potentially larger problems facing the industry: are companies becoming more dishonest and predatory, and should we be concerned about the continued viability of those studios with substantial legal settlements against them?

Datel, who expressed disappointment over a recent Xbox 360 firmware upgrade that eliminated the ability to use its third-party memory cards with Microsoft’s console, has responded with a lawsuit.

The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California U.S. District Court, alleges that the October 2009 Xbox 360 update, and subsequent lock out of Datel products, was designed to “to exclude competition from the Xbox 360 aftermarket for controllers, and to force consumers to buy Microsoft's own controllers.”

Datel claims that Microsoft informed them that the lockout of Datel products was an “unintentional effect” of the software update, but notes that Microsoft told G4TV that, “Unauthorized MUs are not tested for compatibility or certified for safety and compliance standards and thus could damage -customer's Xbox 360 consoles.”

Datel also says that Microsoft has changed the 360’s authorization protocols and Security Integrated Circuit process to prevent all Datel accessories, even a currently unreleased 360 wireless controller, from working with the console, stating:

In fact, it is Microsoft's anticompetitive conduct, including tying and predatory design, such as the erection of technological barriers to third party accessories and the disabling of otherwise functional third party accessories, not consumer loyalty or esteem, that primarily drives Microsoft's accessories attach rate.

The lawsuit asks that Microsoft be adjudged to have violated federal anti-trust laws and that the Redmond, Washington company “be preliminarily and permanently enjoined and restrained from disabling or erecting technological barriers to Datel accessories and add-ons for the Xbox 360. Datel is also seeking damages and to have its attorney fees paid.

The full complaint can be viewed here (PDF).


|Via Seattle PI|

Last week we reported on the story that a U.S.  law firm was accepting submissions as part of a precursor to a possible class action lawsuit on behalf of users banned from Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.

AbingtonIP had put up a form on its website asking those affected by the ban for more information. The firm called the timing of Microsoft’s ban “convenient,” as it happened just before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and may ultimately have resulted in an increase in subscriptions to Xbox Live.

A Microsoft Spokesperson is quoted in the Financial Post reiterating that the company is well within its rights in enacting the ban, “Piracy is illegal and modifying an Xbox 360 is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use. Microsoft is well within its legal rights to ban these users from Xbox Live.”

Marc Whitten, General Manger of Xbox Live, told VentureBeat that the estimated number of Live members banned was way off and defended his company’s actions:

It’s a cat and mouse game. These were people that were pirating software. We try to keep sanctity of life from a safety and anti-cheating perspective and we protect our partners. We didn’t release the number. I cannot explain to you why people would think it was a million people. It wasn’t a million people. Check the veracity of that claim. It was one news source. I think we do a really good job understanding what people are doing on the system. That applies to intellectual property (piracy) and how we treat the community in terms of harassment.

A law firm that specializes in consumer class action lawsuits is probing the recent purging of Xbox Live accounts in what may be a setup for future litigation.

Inc Gamers noticed that AbingtonIP currently has a form on its website asking those affected by the ban—and who were not refunded a prorated sum for their time remaining on Xbox Live—to send in pertinent information. The law firm writes, “Microsoft has chosen to use one of the most indiscriminate 'weapons' in its arsenal in an effort to combat piracy -- as a result, use of this 'weapon' has resulted in a great deal of collateral damage -- many people were affected who had nothing to do with piracy.”

AbingtonIP calls the timing of the widespread ban “convenient,” in light of the pending, post-ban release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and thinks the ban may have resulted in a boost to Xbox Live subscription revenues. If the ban had been enacted before the release of MW2 and Halo 3: ODST, the law firm supposes that sales of both games would likely have been “greatly diminished.”

Erik Estavillo, the Resistance: Fall of Man gamer who sued Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) over being banned from the PlayStation Network has targeted the remaining two major console makers in a new lawsuit.

Microsoft Corporation and Nintendo of America are defendants in a federal complaint, which was filed November 18 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

Microsoft is being sued for a “red ring of death” affecting the plaintiff’s Xbox 360 console. Estavillo notes that as he is disabled, he cannot afford to pay the “well over $100” fee to fix the console, nor can he afford to purchase a new one. He feels “that Microsoft should have to bear the burden that is now put on the shoulders of this disabled plaintiff.”

Estavillo is seeking $75,000 from Microsoft, due to the “undue stress” he has undergone since the 360 broke and the “sadness he will have in the mean time of finding one he can afford.”

The same complaint targets Nintendo over a Wii system update. Estavillo claims that update 4.3 disabled his Homebrew Channel, which he used to unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii. Plaintiff states that the only way to unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii is to purchase Super Mario Galaxy, which will unlock a single character in the former title. “In essence, Nintendo is forcing customers to buy another game to unlock one character in a different game.”

Damages to the tune of $5,000 are sought from Nintendo, for interfering in plaintiff’s “pursuit of happiness.” An injunction is also being sought to prohibit Nintendo from “deleting, blocking or prohibiting the Homebrew Channel and Ocarina applications.”

Estavillo says he suffers from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia and Crohn’s disease, all of which lead to his leaning on videogames “heavily” for happiness.

Estavillo plans to file a lawsuit in state court as well, which he wrote will “pretty much” be identical to the federal suit.


|Image from Flickr|

A Buffalo Grove, Illinois boy called 911 after his parents took away his Xbox console as punishment.

The boy hung up, reports The Chicago Tribune, but as a matter of routine, an officer was dispatched to the home just in case. The boy apparently admitted to making the call and asked a cop whether his parents were within their rights taking away his game system. A police officer assured him that they were.

A Police Commander told the paper that he did not know why the boy was being punished. Police further advised the boy to listen to his parents.

A survey commissioned by CNET UK asked gamers to weigh in on the failure rate of the current generation of game consoles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Microsoft’s Xbox 360 came in first (last?), with 60% of the respondents indicating that their 360 had failed at some point. Sony’s PlayStation 3 broke for 16% of those who took part in the poll, while the Wii stopped working for just 6%.

Even worse news for Microsoft, of those who did report their 360 breaking, 32% said the console broke twice and 19% claimed it stopped working three or more time. One unfortunate respondent indicated that their 360 failed six times.

The 360 failure rate fell to 34 percent for respondents who had purchased a console since January 2008.

Of those with broken 360s, 72% percent returned their machine to Microsoft for fixing, while 15% chose to toss the 360 or try to fix it themselves.

All in all, 1,128 people took the poll, with 591 owning a Wii, 562 owning an Xbox 360 and 473 possessing a PS3.

CNET notes that the poll has its faults—those surveyed do not constitute a random sample—but adds that since console makers do not release such information, this is about the best we can go on.

GP: What about you, how are your consoles holding up? My launch 360 red ringed once (under warranty) and my original PS3’s Blu-Ray drive failed once (also under warranty) but the Wii keeps on ticking, although it hasn’t been plugged in since February.

Microsoft has once again taken out its ban stick, this time in an effort to prevent modified Xbox 360s from accessing Xbox Live.

A story on GamesIndustry.biz estimates the total number of banned accounts at around 600,000. Total Xbox Live accounts number over 20 million. Modded console owners will still be able to use their 360s offline.

The BBC (thanks beemoh) has reaction from one of the banned gamers, a 25-year old gamer dubbed “Raz.” Raz had his 360 modded in the back of a shop for £75 (approximately $125.00 U.S.). He estimated that the ability to pirate and copy games “saved” him about £600 (approximately $993.00 U.S.) and that he copied 30 or 40 games in all.

Ironically, Raz then had the temerity to complain about the high price of games:

I still think they should lower the prices. There are 16-year-old kids out there, they don't earn money so they go screaming to their parents saying, 'Can you buy me this game?

So Raz, are you going to buy another Xbox?

To be honest, I've contemplated whether to move to PlayStation 3 or buy another Xbox. I wouldn't do it again [chip the 360] but I really don't know if I'm going to get the Xbox again now."

It's always fun reading the Xbox Forums after such a widespread ban.

Following up on news earlier in the week regarding the next Xbox Live update locking out unauthorized storage devices, Datel, a manufacturer of such devices, has responded.

A Datel spokesperson told CVG that such a lockout would prevent “customers from exercising their freedom of choice.” It appears that Datel has no more information on the proceedings than anyone else who read Major Nelson’s blog, as they stated “If the Major Nelson blog is to be taken at face value then we're disappointed...”

The Datel mouthpiece added:

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.

As part of its next Xbox Live Update, Microsoft will cripple the use of any unauthorized, third-party 360 storage and memory devices.

The news was announced on Major Nelson’s blog and has more than a few 360 users upset, as third-party devices are less expensive than Microsoft’s first-party offerings and have worked fine with the 360 up until now. A 4GB Max Memory Card offered from Datel sells for about $49.99, while Microsoft’s official Xbox 360 Memory Unit has 512MB of storage and sells for $29.99.

Some comments on Major Nelson’s blog praise Sony for the open architecture of the PlayStation 3, as any hard drive or USB storage device can be utilized. Xbox Live user Southpaw asked if “Microsoft made cars we could only buy Microsoft gas and drive on Microsoft roads?”

Major Nelson weighed in this morning on the 15^th page of comments, saying “It took some time, but I have read all the comments here. Some interesting points that I'll be sharing.”

While this could be a way to affect 360 modders and/or hackers, what are your thoughts? Buyer beware for using a third-party device or a bad move by Microsoft in alienating its fan base?

The listing/delisting saga of the purported Sara Palin-autographed Xbox 360 continues as the scribed console has reappeared on eBay once again after another brief disappearance.

As noted previously, following about a month-long hiatus, the 360 was relisted on the auction site after the seller, David Morrill, made a few concessions in the listing and altered the payment method. According to the item’s listing history, eBay delisted the console again on October 5 because “listings with the apparent, primary purpose of expressing the seller's personal views are not permitted.” Morrill took down the story of how he acquired the ex-VP candidate’s autograph in order to comply with eBay’s policy.

eBay also told the seller that a second reason for the recent delisting was a miscategorization of the item. Morrill had the item listed under Collectibles > Pinbacks, Bobbles, Lunchboxes > Pinbacks > Campaigns, Elections, Politics, but eBay stated that the 360 was not actually any of the previously listed items. Morrill moved the item to Collectibles > Autographs > Political > Other. Morrill now feels that “all listing requirements have been met.”

The price remains the same—$1.1 million U.S.

Thanks to GP reader Phillip for the heads up.

The perfect holiday present for the Republican in your life is only a few clicks and $1.1 million dollars away as an Xbox 360 signed by former Vice-Presidential candidate Sara Palin has made its way back on to Ebay.

The marked console first appeared on Ebay in early August, and was delisted soon after for (then) unknown reasons, though there was speculation that Palin’s first name was misspelled in her signature, lending an air of illegitimacy to the auction.

Reappearing at the original price of $1.1 million, the 360’s seller, David Morrill, stated in the auction listing that the original auction was pulled due to “Insufficient description of the item or no photos of the item,” and because “Pay Pal is unable to process a payment of this size.” He remedied the first issue by uploading additional pictures and information and tackled the second problem by using another payment processor.

Thanks to the multiple GP readers who sent this in.
 

While some of its games and RROD’s can certainly get a gamer’s heart pumping, a former game developer for Rare has created a way to use Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to examine human hearts for defects.

Simon Scarle leveraged his extremely unique background of game development and electrocardio-dynamics research to modify a chip in the 360 so that it delivers electrical heart data instead of graphics.  The process results in the rendering of a model heart that allows doctors to see any defects or conditions, all this done five times faster and ten times cheaper than similar processes that require super computers reports Time.

Scarle, currently a computer scientist at the University of Warwick in England, told the magazine:

I can see this ... being most useful for students and early-career scientists to just quickly and cheaply grab that extra bit of computing power they otherwise wouldn't be able to get.

With 84 bids down and seven days of auctioning left as I write this, a limited edition Xbox 360 which celebrates the release of The Beatles Rock Band is selling for $7,400 on Ebay.

The sale of the beautifully customized console will benefit Doctors Without Borders. From the auction listing:

Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison personally selected the charity as the beneficiary of these proceeds.

Kotaku reports that the charitable auction is the first in a series.

If the console auction is too rich for your blood, purchasing the DLC bonus track All You Need is Love on Xbox Live (about $2) will help out Doctors Without Borders as well. All proceeds go to the charity an purchasers will be entered into a context to win one of the limited edition consoles as well as a
Rickenbacker 325 replica guitar controller.
 

Usually, it's the PC crowd that gets dissed by game publishers. But in the case at hand Valve is doing right by computer gamers while Microsoft seems intent upon squeezing the last nickel out of Xbox 360 owners.

At issue is Crash Course,  a bit of DLC for the popular zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. Valve, which doesn't charge for DLC, plans to give Crash Course away to PC players. Meanwhile MS will be nicking 360 gamers $7 for the download.

Not that he has any explaining to do (although MS does), but Valve's Chet Faliszek told Eurogamer why it's happening this way:

We own our platform, Steam. Microsoft owns their platform. They wanted to make sure there's an economy of value there...

Via: The Consumerist