if its coming out on Black Friday I'm definately preordering then. I hate those crazy psychotic crowds with a passion. plus, last year when I went to Best Buy for some of their deals I found out that they went from person to person outside in line before they opened and sold them whatever they wanted before they even stepped foot in the store. of course this meant everything good was sold to the 1st 15-25 people in line.

I am still banking on a November 15th release date.

Yea leave black friday for people looking for deals on games.

Yeah, I still see Nov.15th as the release date...I don't think it would be that "smart" for a Black Friday release...they just better have a LOT to sell.

Also, as for transferring saves...yep, that does suck, not sure why they didn't do it. But I'm sure I was going to sell most of my XBOX games anyways. I'll keep Halo/Halo2 and a few others...which are basically good LIVE games.

Wasn't there an interview somewhere where a MS rep said something like 'look to Xbox's past to figure out when we will be launching the 360'. To me that would definitely indicate that the 360 would be launching on the 15th as that was when the original system launched.

I wish I could remember where I read that.

new pic up on http://www.origenxbox360.com

While it doesn't mean too much, I found this blurb on ign...
http://gear.ign.com/articles/647/647322p1.html

Funny enough, this isn't the first time I have heard that November 4th date, although I can't say where.

I am still putting my money on the November 15th launch though.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11246

Wealth of new Xbox 360 information is revealed

EuroGamer.Net 21:59 01/09/2005

Everything from hardware to the new dashboard discussed and uncovered

With the launch of Microsoft's next console only a few short months away, the firm's developer group boss Chris Satchell has revealed a host of new hardware and functionality information about the system.

Speaking to our sister site Eurogamer.net in London this morning, Satchell discussed the working of the system at great length, answering in-depth questions about the hardware, the operating system, the new Xbox Live functions and so on.

The following is a runown of the things he said that haven't previously been revealed, some interesting things you may have missed in the recent past, and the answers he gave to specific questions.


Interface/Functionality


The console can be switched on and off wirelessly using the Media Remote control or the wireless game controller.

You will definitely need a hard disk to play Xbox 1 games.

Wherever you are - whether it's a game, film or piece of music - you can pull up the Guide (remember it from GDC?), which is a bit like a universal Start Menu, that allows you to look for friends, adjust playback and options, and even sort through people you've played against recently - listing them by reputation or what-have-you.

The pages of the Xbox 360 user interface are called "blades".

The Live blade is the default if you have a Live account, and shows you your gamer-card including a selected image (or photograph), your gamertag, the number of games you've played, your Gamerscore (more on that in a second), your achievements and your reputation.

More on Gamerscore - each Xbox 360 game gives out certain points based on accomplishments, and as well as being able to view a list of your individual achievements ("Finished level 10," etc) you are also given a total based on this. Xbox 1 games will not contribute to these stats.

The Game blade allows you to manage stuff like save-games, as well as accessing demos and trailers (standard and high-definition versions).

The System blade offers greater control over your individual settings. You can specify, for example, that you prefer to invert the right analogue stick camera control and this will then be picked up on in any game you play.

Likewise, the System blade allows greater control over family settings. Microsoft thinks this is very important, Satchell said, and will therefore allow all manner of controls at a system or individual profile level. You can choose to allow specific people or the whole system access to certain games, DVDs (based on ratings - apparently "99 per cent" of DVDs now supply that information direct to the console), and areas of Live. Online, you can opt to ban certain friends, voice messaging, video messaging (if the camera is available), downloadables or just control online play.

If you yank the hard disk off the top of the Xbox 360 when it's in the middle of doing something, it will not corrupt it beyond repair or damage the File Allocation Table or anything like that - the hard disk uses a "transaction model" so that if you interrupt a transfer the data simply isn't present and the space is presumably reallocated when you next save data to it.

The "ring of light" around the power button highlights which wireless controller is being used, highlighting player one's activity in the top-left quadrant. When the console is laid on its side, it senses this and starts using the top-left quadrant as you see it with the console laid flat. What's more, the ring of light motif is spread throughout the Xbox 360 interface, so you can see which player pulled up the "Guide" page as you're watching a film or playing a game and, in the words of Satchell, "slap him".

Cross-platform development between Windows and Xbox is being actively pursued - in the future, Microsoft hopes that people will be able to play games against each other using either platform.

On the issue of cooling - Satchell said he thought the system had three fans (he said he wasn't sure but thought it was three, so we'd open to correction on that one), and we couldn't hear them at all as he spoke. When you play a DVD, it powers down to just one fan. It's "a lot" better than the "wind tunnel" alpha kits, he said.


Xbox Live


Transferring your Xbox Live account to Xbox 360 will be part of the initial set-up procedure when you first plug in your console, and existing users have "Gold" membership.

People buying the Xbox 360 GBP 279.99 package - the higher-end one - get a 30-day free trial of Gold membership on Xbox Live. Actual pricing has yet to be announced - although some would beg to differ.

Your "reputation" stat is based on your activities online. Rather like an eBay rating, people who have encountered you can rate you positively or negatively, and this is reflected in your reputation.

Xbox Live will allow you to play in various Zones - there will be causal, pro, family, and underground (where "anything goes") and perhaps more - and these will allow you to go for whatever kind of experience you like.

Marketplace is also accessible through the Live blade. As you know, this is where you can download premium content and, in the future, content created by users and sold to other users via a micro-payment system. Marketplace does not require you to insert individual game discs to see content available for those games.


Multimedia


DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control, unlike Xbox 1.
DVDs will play back in progressive-scan, with the Xbox 360 up-sampling to prog-scan in the case of DVDs that don't support it.

When ripping music to the hard drive, album information is now stored on the HDD, with a huge amount there by default and more available from an online source - presumably something like CDDB, which will be familiar to people who rip their own CDs already.

The Jeff Minter-created visualisation tool for music accepts input from all control pads and the video camera, allowing you to create various effects on-screen.

iPods are detected by default, as are PSPs, and by our watch it took about 2 or 3 seconds for the Xbox 360 to notice they were there. With an iPod plugged in you can play music direct through the Dashboard software, with visualisations, or you can play a slideshow of photographs.

For now, you can play music and access photographs on the PSP, but you can't do video yet. That may happen, but Satchell joked that Sony wasn't exactly giving them a helping hand there.

Interestingly, you can actually have that slideshow draw photographs from another external device, so - as in our demo - you could play music from an iPod while using a slideshow of photos from a PlayStation Portable simultaneously.

All of these devices will be supported by default, and any firmware updates that are necessary - Microsoft is hoping for very few - can be made available via Live.

You can also plug in a laptop or PC (or not plug it in - if you're using wireless networking) and play content direct from that. This is through Windows Media Player Extender, the software for which is pre-installed on the Xbox 360. In our example, Satchell first streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II apparently captured on his home TV.


Official Peripherals


RGB video output will only be possible if you purchase the GBP 17.99 cable separately - regardless of whether you paid GBP 209.99 or GBP 279.99 for your Xbox 360 console.

Video cables from Xbox 1 will not work with Xbox 360.

The wireless networking adapter plugs into the USB 2.0 port on the back of the console and is "like a small pack of cigarettes" in terms of size.

The camera is a separate peripheral that will plug into one of the USB 2.0 slots and will be released next year - date TBC.

While the Media Remote will be bundled with Xbox 360's GBP 279.99 offering, this will apparently only be for a limited time based on available units. We'll get more details on that when we can.

You can plug in a keyboard but this is for text input only - including in massively-multiplayer games. You can't use it to play games and that was a design choice.

If a third-party peripheral manufacturer or publisher wanted to let more than four players play on one game, Microsoft would be happy to help them create a peripheral to do that.


Offline Content


Microsoft also plans to have kiosks available - presumably in game stores and other public locations - where you can download content. Whether this will be to the detachable hard disk itself or a memory card is a detail that wasn't clarified.


Chris

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11228

Rumoured Xbox Live Gold pricing details emerge

Ellie Gibson 10:37 01/09/2005

Microsoft heavily encouraging annual subscriptions, according to leaked figures

Online reports are indicating that Microsoft is planning to encourage 12-month subscriptions to the Xbox Live Gold service for the Xbox 360 with a pricing plan that offers major discounts for long-term commitments.

French website XboxLive.fr claims to have stumbled across the US pricing bundles for the Xbox 360 Live service, with similar details being reported on the website of major North American retailer EB Games.

According to the reports, a Premium Gold Pack will be priced at $69.99 and will get you a 12 month subscription, an Xbox Live headset, $20 off an Xbox 360 game and 200 Xbox Live marketplace points. Plus, subscribers can play Billiards in the Xbox Live Arcade.

For those who don't need the extras a 12 Month Gold Card will be made available, offering a year's subscription only, for $59.99.

If that sounds like too much commitment, the 3 Month Premium Gold Pack is just $39.99. It includes - as you might have guessed - a three month subscription, plus a headset, $10 off a game, 100 marketplace points and access to Xbox Live Arcade game Joust. A straight 3 Month Gold subscription is $19.99.

And finally there's the 1 Month Gold Card, priced at just $7.99. Of course, those who don't want to pay at all can stick with the free Xbox Live Silver subscription - but this will only let you log on to use the marketplace and chatrooms, and you won't be able to play games online.

Microsoft was unavailable for comment so we've really no idea if this is the real deal or a hoax - but the same details have recently appeared on the Electronics Boutique website, only they've priced the 12 Month Gold card at $49.99 instead of $59.99.


Chris

WalMart to the rescue! They'll sell bundles that let you pick which games you want:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09...s_6132378.html

Of course...it's still a BUNDLE, thus you'll be spending $620+ on it. (Although, it is still the BEST BUNDLE option) GameRush is the best bet...you can reserve JUST the system. I did

Remind me again why we'll want the camera?

I guess it's the closest thing to giving someone a virtual mushroom bruise.

I can just think of all the asshat people using that camera


But really...I think they are going to use it like a camera on a PC with chat and stuff.

So you can look at a picture of my nutsack when I scream "OWNED, I ROXOR!" in the voice communicator after I beat you silly at Perfect Dark Zero multiplayer.

Speaking of PDZ, looks like co-op made it into the game if that's going to be the box art.

http://www.dwl.xbox-scene.com/pictur.../page10-11.jpg

It's the "and stuff" that will raise a lot of controversy.

are we just going to be able to buy the box itself, i don't want some bundle crap.

yeah thats great its the "and stuff" that is going to freak parents out when they see they're 16 year old daughter getting naked for her boyfriend that left for school and then both of them playing halo 3

okay maybe not but you guys get my idea

Fifty-players on a deathmatch!
Wicked.

AWESOME! Very immersive!

nice art

is it wrong to want to have sex with a video game lady? i think i'd like to take on ATI's Ruby and Mrs. Dark.

those games have warped my fragile little mind

Exactly.

SeXbox 360 anyone?

maybe they'll be a DVD TALK SeXBox 360 Thread in the adult section

Good thing the wireless controller has force-feedback.

Oh, I said too much. Sorry.

Nice.

I can see it now, strip halo deathmatches. Just make sure the girl:guy ratio is in your favor before jumping into a game.

I'll just be excited to have a camera for EyeToy like minigames.