Would Xbox 360 Live may cost double?

“I don’t foresee a scenario where we’re going to double the price of LIVE any time in the next couple months”

You may have heard rumblings around the net that Microsoft's Xbox 360 LIVE monthly and yearly subscription may double in price in the next few years. Videogame analyst/financial/inside guru Michael Pachter suggested the company's $50 Xbox LIVE membership fee, which players pay to access special features, could double in the next couple years.

Michael Pachter was quoted: "You can't hook a guy into Xbox LIVE Gold if he's playing on a PC," said Pachter. "That's the other problem. You really want to hook every gamer who has a 360, you want them to buy all their games on 360, play everything multiplayer, pay $50 a year, so that in a couple of years, it's $100 a year. That's going up, we all know that."

Microsoft’s spokesman David Dennis made some very interesting comments in a post-NPD conference call. The man with two first names David Dennis states: "I don't foresee a scenario where we're going to double the price of LIVE anytime in the next couple months," said Dennis.

According to that statement, it's feasible that a price increase for Xbox 360 LIVE can happen as early as the first of next year. The fact the Dennis mentions the next couple of months makes me think, he either misspoke and meant a couple of years or he knows something that he is not telling.

To throw my two cents into the pot--with the advent of 1080p HD Streaming arriving on Xbox 360 in the near future there has to be a huge cost associated with such a feature. Sony is currently making a killing charging a premium for Blu-ray movies. I can see Microsoft increasing the cost of LIVE to cover the cost of 1080p streaming and at the same time adding a premium value to their service. It makes sense for Microsoft to go this route--plus many will still pay to play. Microsoft logic behind such a feat would be "why not", we have an establish game library and everyone that owns a 360 has a pretty sizable friend list. We have Games on Demand, 1080p HD streaming, Facebook, Tweeter and Netflix. Why wouldn't someone pay a $100.00($8.33 per month) a year to access these premium features?

I would not pay a $100.00 a year to play with friends would you?

What happens when you smash a PS3 Slim into a Bravia HD TV?

I have experience pain before it was called a ruptured appendix, but this madness that Sony has done hurts me more than six rupture appendix mixed in with a little water boarding. The guys at Sony Australia, who apparently have thousands of Bravias lying around chillin, loaded a catapult with a PS3 Slim and launched it straight into the sexy beautiful black Bravia.


Well, fortunately for everyone, that's exactly what Sony Australia is gonna do. The video is actually a teaser for their upcoming offering, where 25,000 PS3 Slims will be given away upon purchase of "qualified Bravia LCD" TVs from October 22nd until the 20th of December.

NPD September: PS3 on Top surprise surprise

The combination of a new hardware model and lower price made PlayStation 3 the best-selling home game machine in the U.S. for the month of September 2009 for the first time ever, the NPD Group reported today. Sony was able to sell 491.8K units 32.4K units short from unseated the Nintendo DS with 524.2K units.

Total sales of videogames in the U.S. were $1.28 billion dollars, up 1% from last September.

U.S. Hardware Sales, September 2009:

Nintendo DS 524.2K

PlayStation 3 491.8K

Wii 462.8K

Xbox 360 352.6K

PSP 190.4K

PlayStation 2 146.0K

Top 10 Software Sales, September 2009:

1. Halo 3: ODST (360, Microsoft) 1,520,000


2. Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo) 442,900


3. Madden NFL 10 (360, Electronic Arts) 289,600


4. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS, Nintendo) 258,100


5. The Beatles: Rock Band (360, MTV) 254,000


6. Madden NFL 10 (PS3, Electronic Arts) 246,500


7. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360, Activision Blizzard) 236,000


8. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, Square Enix) 212,500


9. Guitar Hero 5 (360, Activision Blizzard) 210,800



10. The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii, MTV) 208,600

Socom: Confrontation Gets Cold Front PS3 DLC

SCEA Software Product Marketing Manager Scott McCarthy announced exciting news of a Cold Front DLC Pack for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation on PS3.

According to Scott McCarthy: We are very happy to announce the COLD FRONT DLC pack for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation.

Loaded with new features and content, this pack brings a brand new snowy Eastern European area of operations into play with two all new maps and three classic SOCOM maps for 16 to 32 players. The classic maps are drawn from some of the most popular SOCOM maps of all time, each built from the ground up for the PS3!

Kit yourself out in snow gear and fight your way through blizzard conditions, joining a team of mercenaries or a squad from one of the world’s top Special Forces regiments including the Russian Spetsnaz.

Try your hand at Arms Run, a new game mode that features dynamically placed missile launchers that must be activated or destroyed, depending on which side you’re fighting for.

Employ the new thermal vision scope weapon attachment to track your enemies’ heat signatures – vital in the dark and useful in daylight for picking out white camouflaged adversaries. In addition, we have new primary weapons to make use of and new attachments.

The pack will include:

• New Russian / Eastern European Area of Operation
• Snow setting complete with snow effects, new snow gear and camo for both the Special Forces and Mercenaries, and thermal vision
• New ARMS RUN gameplay mode
• 5 New Maps: Uprising, Entrapment, Blizzard, Night Stalker, Vigilance
• All new mercenaries characters with new looks and new VO.
• New Special Forces squad, the Russian Spetsnaz
• Gun turrets emplacements
• New music
• All new character specialization/progression system
• Allows players to pick a primary and secondary specialization and unlock new equipment exclusive to those specializations
• New weapons, including: 3 new weapons, 6 enhanced versions of weapons available as part of the new weapons specialization system, 2 new weapon attachments (including the thermal scope), 5 enhanced versions of weapon attachments also available as part of the new weapons specialization system.
• 2 new grenade launcher ammo types (flash and smoke)
• New Trophies
• This pack will be available for download via the Playstation Network for $14.99.

Microsoft Bricks Unauthorized XBox 360 Storage Devices

Microsoft's Major Nelson has issue a warning that next week's XBox 360 update will see the blocking of unauthorized storage devices such as the XBox 360 Memory Unit 512MB or XBox 360 Max Memory Card 2GB. This makes no fucking sense Microsoft, I currently used my Xbox 360 Memory Unit to store my profile and game saves just in case I happen to go to a friends house.

Major Nelson states:

"When Preview Program members start receiving the Xbox 360 system update next week, one of the changes is that unauthorized Memory Units will no longer work with the Xbox 360.

If you’ve moved your profile or saved games onto one to “back it up,” you’d better move it back onto an authorized Xbox 360 storage device prior to taking the update.

If you continue to use an unauthorized Memory Unit after the update, you will not be able to access your stored profile or saved games."

I do not understand this move and the purpose of it, will try to contact Microsoft for details.

Via:[PS3news]

250GB PS3 Slim Now Available for Pre-Order in November

SCEA has officially announced a stand-alone (not part of a bundle) 250GB PS3 Slim model. This latest PS3 SKU more than doubles the storage capacity over the $299 120GB PS3 Model, and for only $50 more.

One day following the 250GB PS3 Slim’s announcement, it’s already become available for pre-order at least one major online retailer.

The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com has begun accepting pre-orders for the upcoming 250GB PS3 Slim. Releasing November 3rd, the 250GB PS3 Slim is priced competitively at $349.99. This latest PS3 model will help keep up Sony’s momentum since it released the 120GB PS3 Slim back in early September.

Microsoft: Sony PS3 Sales will never catch up 'For Entire Generation'

Microsoft: Xbox 360 Will Outsell PS3 'For Entire Generation'

Let the shit-talking begin: Microsoft Xbox 360 director of product management Aaron Greenberg threw some serious blows(more like an Haaadooouken)in an interview with Game Informer, calling Sony's anticipated leading September PS3 sales "a short term bump."

"It is not a real concern to us," said Greenberg, acknowledging the likelihood of Sony's top slot sales numbers and adding "This is frankly not a real surprise to us or the analysts that follow this industry."

"What I can tell you is we remain confident that Xbox 360 will not only outsell PS3 for the full calendar year, but for this entire generation. It is similar to a game of baseball, it is not about just winning one inning, but instead being able to win the game by consistently delivering across all nine innings."

Microsoft has had a very strong performance over the past three quarters--it's the only console with year-over-year unit increases in a bad economy--it would indeed take an act of God for Sony to pull ahead in annual sales by the year's close. But as Greenberg says, it's the big picture that matters, and for the moment, Microsoft owns US sales by a unit ratio of roughly 2 to 1

There is one statement that Aaron Greenberg makes that really bugs me, Greenberg states: that success comes down to "much more than just hardware sales...it's about the entire ecosystem and investing in the future." Which is true but Sony has been investing in their gaming future ever since December 2004 and Nintendo a lot longer. Microsoft venture into Gaming is still relatively short compared to Sony and Nintendo. Sony may never catch up to Xbox 360 but they will slowly chop away at Microsoft 360 lead.

Uncharted 2: 3rd fastest-selling PS3 game "Ever"

These latest figures provided by VGChartz confirms that the amazing sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the 3rd fastest-selling PS3 game in the U.S. The only two games to have beaten it are Metal Gear Solid 4 at two and Grand Theft Auto IV at No.1.

Sales in other countries of the game are as follows, 47,000 units were shifted in Japan on its first day, with sales expected to reach 60,000 - 65,000 by the end of the week. There are no specific sales data for Europe, but week once sales should achieve around 400,000 - 500,000 sales.

Mass Effect 2 "kinda,sorta,maybe" coming to PS3

According to Polish gaming Web site Polygamia, Watamaniuk presented two games during the event, one of those being Mass Effect 2. In that section of his presentation, Watamaniuk said the sci-fi RPG was set to hit three platforms: the Xbox 360, PC, “and probably PS3.” Polygamia writes that the man realized his mistake and shortly began backpedaling, saying that the studio doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation. In other words, they don’t comment on stories like this.

God of War III demo out Nov 19 in Japan

The Japanese version of Infamous is being pack with an extra little surprise, Sony is giving out demo codes to download God of War III Japanese demo from the PlayStation Store.

The demo will be available on November 19, about a month after Infamous’ October 15 release date in Japan. Codes can be redeemed from November 19 to February 2010.