The console market is like a Baseball game.

Game Informer recently interviewed Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. As part of the interview, Greenberg declared that Microsoft is not worried that the recent price drops of their competitors’ systems will affect overall Xbox sales.

This year, both Sony and Nintendo lowered the price of their current-gen systems to $299 and $199 respectively. In addition, Microsoft pruned down their console offerings to just the  Arcade Edition at $199 and the Elite Edition at $299 (not counting special editions or bundles). This means that all three major consoles will be in the same price range for the first time, and just in time for the 2009 gift-giving season. Microsoft, however, believes that the superiority of their product, and the quality of the services offered on top of the console itself mean that Xbox will still come out on top of the sales charts.

Greenberg told Game Informer, “I believe this generation Microsoft has really diversified the business model and the economics of the industry today is that our business about not just hardware, but also software and services.” He went on to say that even if they don’t dominate this season, they will still have the most total sales for this generation, comparing the market to a baseball game, “…it is not about just winning one inning, but instead being able to win the game by consistently delivering across all nine innings.”

Sometimes the very best gaming deals for consoles are the “Greatest hits” series; when a great game gets long in the tooth and doesn’t command retailer shelf space and the hearts and minds of the gaming populace any longer, publishers will often reinvigorate it by making it a “greatest hits” title.

Microsoft calls them “Platinum Hits”, and today added five titles to the “Greatness is Earned” banner: “Grand Theft Auto IV” (Rockstar Games); “Street Fighter IV” (Capcom); “Left 4 Dead” (Valve); “Saint’s Row 2” (THQ); and “Star Wars–The Force Unleashed” (LucasArts).

That means a couple of things for you. Most important, of course, is that these games are now $19.99.  However, many retailers are offering “Buy 2, get the third free” right now on the Platinum Hits series, meaning you can pick up three great games for about $40. That deal is going on through October 31st.

This is a good chance to pick up on any of these titles that you may have missed the first time around. Good things come to those who wait.

It seems to be a bad month for the integrity of game journalism.  One week ago we wrote about what an embargo date is, how they work in theory and what happens when they’re broken.  In that case nothing happened and sites that broke the embargo were essentially “rewarded” when the publisher lifted the embargo prematurely and legitimized the practice.  We didn’t like it then, because it screws other journalists and publications who choose to play fair and honor embargo dates.

Not more than a week later,  it is happening again. Microsoft specified that the embargo for the very popular Halo 3: ODST would be lifted on Saturday 20th at 12:01 AM EST.  If this sounds specific to you, that’s because it is–it gives every site a fair chance to publish at the same time and let readers evaluate who’s review is worth listening to before deciding whether or not to buy the game.

For Halo 3: ODST, the site GoGamingGiant published nearly twelve hours early.  While not the absolute first site to break the embargo, their review quickly got linked and picked up a major amount of traffic from the popular gaming aggregator News4Gamers. (more…)

Xbox Live recently released a ‘do not do’ list for indie developers who would like to include Live avatars in their games. Some might call these restrictions stifling or censoring, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Live avatars are Xbox IP, and they do not belong to the players or the community. I’m surprised that Xbox Live even allows this type of partially moderated use of their IP as it is. Also note that this is not “here are the few things that you are allowed to do”, it is instead “here are the few things that you cannot do”. With that in mind, all of the rules really boil down to three basic tenets of avatar use. I’ve categorized the rules below. You can check out the original post to the developers community here. (more…)

The Gamerscore Blog has been a steady source of information regarding the Xbox and Microsoft LIVE service since October of 2005. Today Microsoft’s Global Games Online Community Manager Tony Hynes posted that the blog has been retired permanently.

According to today’s post, there are many places to find important Microsoft gaming information, and this is part of an effort to consolidate those sources.

…we’ve created a variety of vehicles to communicate directly with you and keep you informed of everything new for Xbox. … we’re doing a little housekeeping.  We made the decision to retire Gamerscore blog, and focus our community outreach through Xbox.com and through the Xbox dashboard.

Hi Felicia. I'm kind of a big deal. You busy this weekend? Love, @primesuspect

Felicia Day always struck me as something of the perfect girlfriend type of girl. She’s cute, funny, talented, smart, a gamer, and if I am reading the cards correctly – soon to be makin’ it rain. Microsoft has picked up an exclusive lock on the long-anticipated second season of the runaway web comedy hit “The Guild“, which is created by, written by, and stars Miss Day. Her hair is amazing.

The first season of The Guild was financed mostly by viewer donations. It stands at over nine million views, and the success probably had no small part to play in Felicia’s appearance in the Joss Whedon web short “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog” opposite Neil Patrick Harris. I’m better looking than him.

While Microsoft has secured broadcast rights for Season 2, Felicia retains exclusive IP rights to the property, while securing an up front licensing fee. Yes, she’s leasing The Guild to Microsoft. Felicia, I give amazing backrubs.

Microsoft will be showing season two of The Guild, along with other independent webshows such as “Red Vs. Blue”, “The Jace Hall Show” and the first season of The Guild. They plan simultaneous release on the Xbox Independent Video channel, Zune marketplace, and MSN video. After four weeks, each episode will also be available on Watchtheguild.com, which is where the originals aired. I am super affectionate, too. I’m cuddly and I make a great boyfriend!

This continues the trend of media being available on many platforms, and once again solidifies the internet as the platform of choice for independent, high quality media. The barrier to entry for independent artists gets lower and lower every day. Congratulations, Felicia Day. I am an amazing and thoughtful gift giver and if you want to go out on a date, shoot me an email.

Well for those of us who didn’t get into the early test program, today is the day that we get access to the NxE. The NxE stands for “New Xbox Experience” and is the replacement for the venerable Dashboard interface that debuted with the Xbox 360 in 2005.

I fired up our 360 this morning at 7am and was greeted with the Dashboard, until I tried to sign in as myself. That’s when I was prompted with the system update window.

After a reboot or two, and a very fast download (I’m used to PS3 and Wii system updates taking 5-10 minutes), the NxE was ready in about one minute. I was prompted to accept a new EULA and then was greeted with the new Avatar creation tool.

If only I looked this cool in real life

Okay, I’ll just up and say it: They completely and boldly ripped off Nintendo with this. Let’s not mince words – these are Miis. This is just like two years ago when everyone said “Gee, Sony has completely ripped off Nintendo’s motion control idea for the SixAxis!” It’s true. Nintendo was revolutionary and now the others are playing catchup.

This isn’t a bad thing, however. You have the ability to customize your Avatar quite a bit, and they end up looking a little more hip than a Mii, and you can take a snapshot of your Avatar to use as a gamerpic. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

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Why yes, this IS a giant bug-eyed cat chasing a knight riding a baby deer through a sawmill. Name another game that features situations like this. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Castle Crashers is what happens when a bunch of guys like me get together to make a game. That’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at after spending a few hours playing this game with my cohorts… err, kids.

I’ve always been a fan of games with twisted humor. Psychonauts is one of my all-time favorites, for example. Games that have you laughing out loud while you play are almost always a surefire win. If one takes a game that can make me laugh out loud, and then adds a heaping helping of perfect controls, amazing graphics, replayability, depth of character customization, and RPG elements, I’m basically in with no more questions asked.

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The 360 is getting a much needed transformation from Netflix this Wednesday at Midnight.  All Xbox owners will be required to update their consoles to receive a major new update. With it, they will be able to watchhigh definition movies, and stream content from the enormous Netflix library.  Xbox 360 owners can also navigate categories like games, photos, and videos through a dashboard populated with new “avatars”. With the new perks also comes a new name; the update is referred to as the “New Xbox Experience” or NxE. (more…)

Okay so I admit that this showed up a little late today, but that’s okay. So what if it’s my first gaming roundup for the new gaming channel on Icrontic? So what? You’ll read it anyway, right? 

Alright fine. I fail. Here’s the jazz:

• OH HAY. THEY FIXED THE HALF LIFE 1 ENGINE. I mean seriously? But hey, it’s news.
• Sweepstakes of the day! Xbox.com is giving away a million MS points (probably not all to the same person). Just register, do the stuff, and win. You know the drill.
• Europe Wii owners rejoice! Mega Man 3 and Phantasy Star IV are now available on Virtual Console for European gamers.
• Release date for the hotly anticipated Street Fighter IV? February 17, 2009 on PS3 and Xbox 360 according to Capcom.
• We love Left 4 Dead around here, that much is clear. A cool blog post on the tech behind the “filmic” effects.
• Casual of the day is Popcap’s Alchemy. Thank me later.