Xbox 360 First Gaming System to Reach 10 Million in U.S. Console Sales This Generation

Xbox LIVE tops 12 million members globally as Xbox 360 console sales hit more than 19 million worldwide.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 14, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million, more than any other current-generation console.       Read more...

Undertow Free of Charge Next Week on Xbox LIVE Arcade

The Heroic Map Pack is upon us and thanks to the good folks at Bungie, I had an opportunity to go hands-on for several hours with the three new and individually unique multiplayer maps for Halo® 3.

Spending five to six quality hours with the new content will teach you a lot, not the least of which is despite the fact Halo 3 has been available for two-plus months now, Bungie members can still take us behind the woodshed for a good sound thrashing.

Standoff is a balanced, symmetrical map.

Playlist Notes
Veterans of Halo 2 will remember that new maps necessitated a separate Matchmaking playlist option. The refined Matchmaking service in Halo 3 makes this unnecessary, so you can stick with your favorite options confident that the new maps will receive a healthy rotation. That said, a separate playlist will exist for those that want to play the new maps exclusively.

It's also worth noting that you can expect all Matchmaking playlists to undergo a shift in game types and map rotations shortly after the Heroic Map Pack releases.

Symmetrical Chaos of Standoff
If ever there was a map perfectly balanced for classic four-on-four action, it's Standoff. This moderately sized, African desert-themed map sports two identical bases separated by a shallow ravine (the natural chokepoint for action) and surrounded by pathways tailor-made for Warthog and Mongoose tactics.

Time for some "Capture the Flag."

Each base has three entrances: a front door, back door, and a lower-level tunnel that can be unlocked by triggering a switch inside the base. Atop each base also stands a machine gun turret capable of devastating infantry crossing the middle of the map, and, just as important, the viewpoint allows you to spot enemy movements from one end of the map to the other.

While Slayer and Team Slayer matches are great fun on Standoff, its symmetrical, two-base design makes it ideal for four-on-four Team Objective games.

The Foundry Experiment
Bungie's answer to all Forge-loving fans is the Foundry. This vast warehouse-based map is (initially) filled with giant boxes, ramps, stairs, and all manner of objects and weapon placements for a balanced out-of-the-box experience. However, aside from the ceiling, floors, and the walls of the warehouse itself, nearly every single object can be moved, taken away and replaced. Even the internal walls separating the two "bases" can be knocked down if you're so inclined.

The Foundry is perfect for Forge enthusiasts.

The Foundry is a Forge map through and through. It is the quintessential Halo 3 playground, just waiting for a gamer's creative genius to transform it into something unexpected and clever. For example, a couple of Bungie developers spent a scant twenty minutes converting the Foundry into a gravity-hammer powered soccer field, complete with giant soccer balls, cones, enormous open-ended crates that filled in for goals and even man-cannons that simulated corner kicks. This wildly unique variant proved endlessly entertaining and really only scratched the surface of the capabilities of both the Forge system and the Foundry map.

The Heroic Map Pack also comes complete with a host of new items to use when editing a map with the Forge, such as stairs, giant walls, energy-shield walls, man-cannons, and, yes, even the aforementioned super-sized soccer balls. While Foundry is certainly prime pickings for these items, they're available across every map, both new and old.

The action gets intense pretty quickly.

One Big Rat's Nest
If Standoff is geared towards smaller skirmishes and Foundry is inspired by the Forge, Rat's Nest represents the Heroic Map Pack's answer to large-scale combat. Set in an underground bunker inspired by the Crows Nest level in the Campaign mode of Halo 3, Rat's Nest is simultaneously vast and compact.

Rat's Nest is a large underground bunker.

Its outer edges favor Warthog (there are two per team) battles and Mongoose raids around a wide track (one side of which features a spectacular outdoor vista) that allow for quick strikes on an enemy base. Infantry can cut through the middle of the base through a series of multi-leveled interior courtyards, hallways and industrial-themed rooms, the most central of which contains by default the always popular sniper rifle and a devastating machine gun turret mounted well above the battlefield. Perhaps more than any other map, Rat's Nest inspires two styles of play as vehicle combat and infantry firefights exist equally but (for the most part) separately.

Lots of firepower in this level.

The Heroic Map Pack offers three unique and distinctive experiences. From the compact, perfectly symmetrical Standoff to the Forge-happy Foundry and the big team-inspired Rat's Nest, every map fills a desired niche and most importantly, adds more life and variety to the already inspired multiplayer experience of Halo 3.

The Heroic Map Pack will be available for download on Xbox LIVE Marketplace Dec. 11th, 2007.

A Fistful of Features in the December 2007 System Update

It's that time of year again. The December 2007 system update brings a bevy of improvements to your Xbox 360® console. Interested? Read on.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace
Xbox LIVE® Marketplace leads the list with another facelift and more content for your downloading pleasure. Video Marketplace has been renamed to the Video Store, which is joined by the Game Store on the Marketplace blade. The Clips category has been expanded and renamed to Shorts. Categories have been juggled around a bit, with Spotlight and New Arrivals appearing front and center (well, left, but you know what I mean). You'll notice the "twist" interface in many places now, to help you find items more easily.

The new face of Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

As you may have heard, there's now a new category of downloadable games, Xbox Originals. These are original Xbox games, just like what comes on a retail disc for the original Xbox console, now available for download with Microsoft Points. You can find Xbox Originals games, Xbox LIVE Arcade games, and game demos in the Game Store.

Additionally, full-screen video previews are now available, and the Play Now button on the download screen is now available for all content.

Xbox LIVE
Xbox LIVE also has loads of new features. Check this out:

• Inside Xbox. Where available, there's a brand new news feed on the Xbox LIVE blade called Inside Xbox. Select this button to view the latest news about Xbox, games, and Xbox LIVE. To accommodate the new button, Friends and Messages have been combined into one button on the Xbox LIVE blade.
• Personal Profile. Gamer profiles have been expanded to include the member's real name, location, and bio. Use this area to let people know more about you. Don't worry, it's all optional. You can reveal (or not reveal) as much or as little as you like.
• Friends List. On your friends list, a highlighted friends row expands to show more info about them.
• Friends List Sharing. You can now view other people's friends lists. Open a person's profile, select the Personal Profile tab, then select View Friends. Your friends list is automatically visible to everyone if you're over 18 (friends only if you're 13-17, and no one if you're under 13), so be sure to check your privacy settings (or Family Settings) if that's not what you want. You can do that right now on Xbox.com, if you prefer.
• Messenger. You can now add messenger contacts from your console. Also, our younger members will be happy to know that Messenger is now available for child accounts where the owner is age 13 or older.

Family Settings
A new family timer joins the robust set of console controls in the Family Settings area of the System blade. With the family timer, parents can set a daily or weekly time limit for console playtime.

Timer notifications in-game.

For example, a parent can set the timer to a limit of two hours of play per day for the family. As the two hours come to a close, a notification pops up warning the child of the remaining time, so they can finish up. When time is up, a Family Timer screen appears, prohibiting further play.

At that point, the child can shut the console down, or hand the controller over to the parent to extend playtime (ask nicely, kids) or suspend the timer altogether. The next day, the timer resets and a new two hours of play are available for the day.

Also improved in Family Settings is support for international movie ratings for video downloads, and videos streamed from PC.

Games
The Games blade has also received a facelift.

Find all of your downloaded games in your games library.

• Xbox LIVE Arcade and Demos have been moved under a new Games Library area, alongside Xbox Originals and XNA Creators Club games. You can think of the Games Library area as the spot for all of your downloaded games.
• The Friends Playing Now feature, which used to list only Xbox LIVE Arcade games, now shows all game types. Want to find friends playing a certain game? Head to Games Library and select Friends Playing Now.
• When you send Tell a Friend messages (available after selecting a game in the Games Library), the resulting message includes a new button to go directly to that game in Xbox LIVE Marketplace so you can easily select and download the game.
• Xbox LIVE Arcade fans: we heard you. Trial games no longer show up on your profile. No more zero-gamerscore trial games on your played games list! (This applies to games loaded after the update; unfortunately, previously-played trial games will still be listed.)

Media
The Media blade hasn't escaped rearrangement, either. The Music, Pictures, and Video areas now remember the last storage device you chose (for example, console or disc), so it will automatically display that device's contents the next time you enter the area. To switch to another source like a portable device or PC, press X on your controller.

This change has also affected how you connect and disconnect from your PC using media sharing software like Windows Media Player 11 or Zune. Instead of selecting a PC that will be the connected PC from then on, you can now just switch by pressing X, just like any other source. This also means that you no longer use the System blade to disconnect from your PC. (This doesn't affect your connection to Windows Media Center. For that, connecting and disconnecting methods remain the same.)

Video
The Video area on the Media blade has the following improvements:

• You can now sort movies and TV shows by title or download date, view a list of TV shows by series, and access game videos and trailers in a single list. The "twist" interface has also been added to this area.
• The Video area can now display video suggestions from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
• New shortcuts:
  • Press Start on the controller or Play on the remote to play a highlighted video without going through the menus.
  • Press right and left bumpers to skip chapters, and right and left trigger to rewind and fast forward.
• Video support now includes AVI and MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile.

Accounts
For many of you, I've saved the best for last. Two long-awaited account functions have been added with this update: Windows Live ID switching and child account promotion.

Windows Live ID switching: Did you sign up for Xbox LIVE with a Windows Live ID that you no longer use? Want to use Messenger on your console with a different Windows Live ID? No problem. You can now move your Xbox LIVE account to a different Windows Live ID. There are a few things to consider before moving your account, so check out Switch the Windows Live ID for Your Xbox LIVE Account for full details.

Child account promotion: Until now, Xbox LIVE accounts that were created while the member was under age were still flagged as a child account even after the member turned 18. These accounts can now be "graduated" to a full-fledged adult account, removing Family Settings and lifting child account restrictions. The promotion is fully voluntary, since you have to perform some account maintenance as an adult. For more information, see Promote Child Account to Adult.

Both of these functions can be accessed by pulling up your gamer profile and selecting Account Management. Child account promotion is only available on child accounts where the owner has reached the age of majority.

More Info
Truth be told, this list is just the tip of the iceberg. There were over 300 individual changes in this update, many of which were improvements in performance and support in various areas. For more info about this update, see the official press release.

And have fun with the new features in the update!

Xbox LIVE is 5IVE Play & Win Sweepstakes

Published November 6, 2007

As part of the big fifth birthday celebration, we're kicking off a huge Play & Win Sweepstakes where you could score some great prizes just by playing online.

Just register your gamertag before midnight (ET) on November 15, 2007, to be eligible to win. You can score an entry into the sweepstakes by playing a multiplayer Xbox 360 game on Xbox LIVE between 12:01 A.M. ET and 11:59 P.M. ET on November 15.

Five First Prize packages: VIP Accessory Kits consisting of the following:

• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
• Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit
• Xbox LIVE Vision Camera
• Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit
• Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote
• Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter
• Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
• Xbox 360 Memory Unit (64MB)
• Limited Edition Xbox 360 Aluminum Carrying Case (lock combination: 360)

Five Second Prizes:

• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player

Five Third Prizes:

• Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

Five Fourth Prizes:

• Xbox 360 Wireless Headset

Twenty-five Fifth Prizes:

• 12-Month Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription

Twenty-five Sixth prizes:

• 1600 Microsoft Points

You must register for your chance to win!
Register your gamertag before the end of the promotion on November 15. Check out the Play & Win rules for full details on the sweepstakes, including more info on how to register and participate, as well as detailed prize information.

The Play & Win promotions from Xbox.com are an easy way to jump in and interact with the Xbox LIVE community. It's easy to enter and you could win some great prizes. Look for more exciting Play & Win promotions in the future!

It is right around the corner! Enjoy!