XBOX360 USB Pro
Archive for the ‘Rumors’ Category
August 14th, 2010 | 
Author: Xbox 360 firmware hacker C4eva has posted up something very interesting on IRC recently. Here is what he said in full:
<c4eva> 9504TEST – Hello world Slim! [ Commence utter chaos in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO ]
Obviously this is in relation to the Xbox 360 ‘Slim’, not ‘PS3′, although the extent of his latest hack will be interesting to see. Just a firmware hack or something a little more
Sounds interesting whatever it is 
Posted in 
From kotaku.com:
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The patent for Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera Kinect suggested that the device could understand American Sign Language. Well, it can’t. At least, the version going on sale in November can’t.
Responding to the claims made in the patent, Microsoft has told Kotaku “We are excited about the potential of Kinect and its potential to impact gaming and entertainment. Microsoft files lots of patent applications to protect our intellectual property, not all of which are brought to market right away. Kinect that is shipping this holiday will not support sign language.”
The original Kinect had a much higher resolution (over twice that of the final model’s 320×240), and as such, was able to not only recognise the limbs of a player as the current model version can, but their fingers as well (which the current version can’t). And when the hardware could recognise fingers, it would have been able to read sign language.
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Full Story: kotaku.com
From engadget.com:
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According to Joystiq’s source, Best Buy’s going to kick off August by lowering the prices for the Splinter Cell: Conviction and Final Fantasy XIII previous-gen Xbox 360 bundles. To just $299 – $50 off the current price point (and $100 off the launch price).
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Full Story: engadget.com
News from French Xbox website logic-sunrise.com tells us the French retailer Micromania is now checking each Xbox360 with a Halo3 DVD+R DL RW disc before buying it back from customers and putting it on the 2nd-hand market.
According to their source at Micromania this discs is coming from Microsoft itself (!?). This is a quick test to see if the DVD FW has been flashed with a custom firmware – and would avoid the 2nd-hand buyer to be banned at a later time not knowing his FW was flashed. Of course you can still flash your DVD FW back to stock FW before selling it 
Wouldn’t really detect already-banned console, but I’ll assume they do a different check for that.
News-Source: logic-sunrise.com
From kotaku.com:
[QUOTE]
The Xbox 360 dashboard, the user interface for Microsoft’s gaming console, looks like it may be getting a slight polish in November when the company launches their Xbox Live Gold Family plan.
Microsoft confirms that the November Family Center update will include a “refreshed” Xbox Live dashboard.
“Yes, the next Xbox LIVE update will include Family Center,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku. “As we discussed at E3 it will also include a refreshed Xbox LIVE dashboard, the new Kinect Hub and ESPN. This update will be available over LIVE just prior to Kinect for Xbox 360 being available in store in November. We have no additional details to share at this time.”
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Full Story/Screenshots: kotaku.com
From examiner.com:
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Microsoft has said that an Arcade version of the Xbox 360 “S” (aka Slim) was coming but hasn’t provided any hints on what it would or wouldn’t have and hasn’t given a general release date beyond later this year. Now a listing at Amazon’s German website may have let some of those details slip.
The new Xbox 360 Arcade will come with 4GB of memory according to the Amazon listing. This could be internal flash memory but the listing says “Bundle” which indicates it might be a USB thumbdrive.
The Slim Arcade is due out on August 20, 2010 in Germany.
They price the new console is listed in Euros at €148.99 which translates to $187 and change. The $199.99 retail price in the United States is unlikely to change for the new Arcade.
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Full Story: examiner.com
From seattlepi.com:
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Kinect, the upcoming motion and voice control add-on for Xbox 360, could bring in $1 billion for Microsoft in its first year, an industry analyst said Monday.
Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Caris & Co., said in a research note that the device, which is expected to sell for $150 when it’s released Nov. 4, will generate $2 billion in industry revenue, with 50 to 60 percent going to Microsoft itself.
Aggarwal expects 15 to 25 percent of current Xbox 360 owners to buy Kinect within the first year. At 15 percent, that could bring in $900 million in sales. Then he figures Kinect will generate 1 million extra console sales for about $300 million.
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Full Story: seattlepi.com
From develop-online.net:
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Microsoft is paying around $150 in total manufacturing costs for each Kinect unit, Develop understands.
A highly-positioned, trusted source had given Develop the “$150 manufacturing cost” figure on the condition of anonymity, adding that the expenses of Kinect is a topic of concern for his company.
Screen Digest games analyst Ed Barton said he was “not surprised” by the $150 manufacturing figure that Develop put to him.
Barton believes that the Primesense acquisition may come into the cost equation.
“There’s basic hardware tear-down costs,” he says, “but Kinect isn’t just a number of components, it’s also a software layer – one that is absolutely key for the whole experience.
“Kinect’s R&D costs might be sunk into the manufacturing costs, because Microsoft needed to ensure that Kinect’s basic imaging actually has a software layer that can be fed into the developer toolchain.
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Full Story: develop-online.net
From joystiq.com:
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An alleged Italian Microsoft ad, originally found on Console Tribe, seems to have revealed a slim Xbox 360 alongside a renamed Project Natal, touting a 250GB HDD, built-in WiFi (it’s the future!), and compatibility with “Kinect” — presumably the new name for Natal. The advertisement leads back to the Italian Microsoft site and the source of the page tells us that Atlas Solutions — a Microsoft-owned ad company — pushed the image automatically to the site.
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Here’s a video of the orginal ad:
Kinect? Sounds very possible since it seems Microsoft filed a patent/trademark application for that name back in April 2010 to be used for a “computer software, computer hardware or computer peripheral”.
News-Source: joystiq.com | console-tribe.com
From gamesthirst.com:
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Another big e3 rumor is coming our way, this time from the same man that confirmed Halo:Reach before it was announced at last year’s E3.
Now he brings us another inside information just before the Microsoft’s E3 conference in June 14. According to “Annoying old party man”, the 360 slim is a reality and it doesn’t end there, it will include internal Wi-Fi like the Playstation 3 and a 250GB HDD.
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Sources at fudzilla.com also say a Slim 360 is coming.
Full Story: gamesthirst.com
