The Microsoft Daily

The Social Networking Wave is slowly catching up with every single electronic device out there. Twitter and Facebook are the 2 most widely used Social Networking Applications.

Microsoft has announced that the next Xbox 360 Update will include applications that bring Facebook and Twitter to your X360 Dashboard. The interface looks totally slick and full of small small animations.

Have a look at few screenshots below of what you can expect out of the new update. (continue reading…)

Global Entertainment Phenomenon “Halo 3″ Recores More Than $300 Million In First-Week Sales Worldwide Xbox 360 Console Sales More Than Doubled; Nearly 3 Million Gamers Play Online Via Xbox LIVE

LONDON, 4th October 2007 — Interactive entertainment will never be the same, with the launch of one title that has changed the way the world thinks about video games. “Halo® 3″ has captured the attention of consumers worldwide and has made history as one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that “Halo 3″ has officially become a global phenomenon, garnering more than $300 million in sales in the first week alone. The critically acclaimed Xbox 360® exclusive, which was released in Europe on Wednesday 26th September, is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

Initial reports from retailers worldwide show console sales have more than doubled compared with the weekly average before the launch of “Halo 3.” With games like “Halo 3,” “BioShock,” “Mass Effect” and “Project Gotham Racing 4,” Xbox 360 has the greatest line-up in the history of video games and the only console where consumers can play all of the year’s biggest blockbusters.

Read the Rest here : http://kotaku.com/

Awesome ! Im happy to see Halo once again becoming the Crucial Point for the XBox Sales ! Now only thing is need is a X360 !

On September 17, 2007 while the rest of India was dreading those weekly Monday blues, we had an exciting event to attend. Microsoft India would be organizing a press event surrounding its much-awaited Xbox LIVE online gaming and entertainment network in the country. The event took place at Taj Lands End located in Bandra, Mumbai.

While it is already available in over 25 countries worldwide, India was left out of this for nearly a year now since its launch. We were awaiting this day with much anticipation as we couldn’t wait to get connected via Xbox LIVE using our Xbox 360 console.

Present at the event was Mohit Anand, Country Manager- Entertainment and Devices Division Microsoft India. He took the audience (which was quite scarce by the way) on a round trip of Xbox LIVE, explaining all the possible things that gamers could enjoy using this service.

So what are the activities that one can do on Xbox LIVE. Well, for starters the Xbox LIVE network connects you with over 7 million members across 26 countries that now includes India.

Here is some of the content that you will soon be able to access via Xbox LIVE:

Music videos

Movie trailers

Playable game demos

Multiplayer games

New Game levels

New Game characters

Weapons

Read More Here : TechShout.com

Mohit Anand, Country Manager of Microsoft India, has announced the availability of Xbox 360 Elite in India. The highest SKU of Xbox 360 will retail for INR 35000 which is approx equivalent to 875 USD. Microsoft India has tied up with Indiatimes to sell Elite to all its customers.

On the side news, we have got some information that “Take Two” Interactive’s, “Bioshock” will be delayed by almost one and a half months to all asian countries including Japan and India. Bioshock will be available only during last week of September 2007, thus coinciding with the much hyped game Halo 3.

Links :
Indiatimes
AeroXp.org

Today, Microsoft announced extending it’s global Xbox 360 warranty coverage to three years, effective immediately.

The company said that any Xbox 360 customer who experiences a general hardware failure indicated by ‘three flashing red lights‘ will now be covered by a three-year warranty from the date of purchase.

A press release issued by Microsoft said that it has conducted extensive investigations into the problem. That the company stands behind its products, and takes responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console experiencing the ‘three flashing red lights’ error message within three years from the time of purchase free-of-charge, which includes shipping costs.

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The Xbox 360 modders strike back against Xbox Live !!

In the latest game of cat and mouse, Xbox 360 firmware modders have developed a new drive software version that “defeats all current and some future Xbox Live detection attempts.”

This new release comes less than two weeks since Microsoft started banning Xbox 360 consoles that play copied discs on Xbox Live. “As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to Live. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules,” a Microsoft employee wrote on the banning measures.

Microsoft added the ability in its latest spring dashboard software to detect the running of copied game software. To counteract this new anti-piracy measure, modders released updated disc drive firmware prior to the Xbox update introducing various features, such as disc jitter, in an effort to further the exploit. Such efforts were ineffectual, as consoles running the updated firmware were still being banned.

The latest new firmware released earlier this week appears to have finally masked the playing of “backups” from Xbox Live detection. As noted in by Xbox-Scene, the new firmware boots only purposefully created “Stealth Xtreme” backups.

What the new firmware will not do is re-enable Xbox 360s already banned from Xbox Live to hop back online. For consoles already caught running copied software, it’s game over.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 now able to sniff out illegitimate copies of games

More than a year has passed since the release of the Xbox 360 DVD-ROM firmware hack to allow the play of backup games and bootleg copies. Those with hacked firmware had the ability to play copied games, mostly burned onto dual-layer DVD recordable discs, even online Xbox Live.

For a while, it seemed that such firmware modifications were undetectable by Microsoft – but that appears to have all changed with the latest Xbox 360 system software released last week.

Word came from the Xbox 360 hacking community that the Spring Update may have the ability to detect those who were playing copied games. More specifically, the system software would be able to determine the legitimacy of the disc in the DVD drive, not necessarily targeting any specific method of modification.

So all those who enjoyed Gaming for that 1yr, can now wait for sometime and wait for another hack to come And for those having a Modified Console and still are not banned, don’t play Online for sometime

via – DailyTech

Starting tomorrow more than 6 million members of Xbox LIVE can instant message with people on PCs and mobile phones, one of the hundreds of enhancements coming with the Xbox 360 Spring Update Beginning May 9th, Xbox LIVE, the most interactive gaming and social network available, is once again expanding with the arrival of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360.

This new feature, available as part of the Xbox 360 Spring Update, will connect people across Xbox 360 consoles, Windows PCs and Windows Mobile devices. Xbox LIVE members will be able to socialize with people on their unified friends list, including their contacts from the more than 260 million Windows Live Messengers across the world. With Instant Messenger, Xbox LIVE members will have the ability to :

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Xbox 360™ just keeps getting more entertaining. Microsoft Corp. today announced that TV series and movies from A&E Network, ADV Films, National Geographic and TotalVid.com will add to the more than 1,500 hours of downloadable entertainment content already available on Xbox LIVE® in the U.S.

Further capitalizing on the success it has seen with Xbox LIVE, one of the leading distributors of high-definition gaming and entertainment content in the living room, Paramount Pictures, for the first time on Xbox LIVE, will offer its feature films for download in high definition. Available titles will include “Braveheart,” “Team America: World Police,” “World Trade Center” and “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous with their availability on DVD, starting with “Sublime” and later “Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.”

“With more than 300 games expected by year’s end, an Xbox LIVE community of more than 6 million people and a growing catalogue of premium content from some of the biggest names in entertainment today, Xbox 360 is an incredible value,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “Adding partners and content like this helps reinforce the console’s position as the center of connected entertainment in the living room.”

Microsoft Corp. today announced the upcoming availability of Xbox 360™ Elite, a new model of the video game and entertainment system that includes a 120GB hard drive, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, a high-definition cable, and a premium black finish for the console, wireless controller, and Xbox Live® headset.Xbox 360 Elite has enough space for a library of Xbox Live Arcade games and thousands of songs, as well as downloadable high-definition TV shows and movies available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The new 120GB hard drive also will be sold as a stand-alone accessory to give current Xbox 360 owners greater choice and flexibility in their games and entertainment experience.

Additional Xbox 360 Elite accessories, such as the black Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, Xbox 360 Play & Charge Kit, and the Xbox 360 Rechargeable Battery Pack, will be available separately. The Xbox 360 Elite and its accessories are expected to begin arriving in U.S. stores on April 29.

● Xbox 360™ Elite @ Xbox.com
● Channel 10: EXCLUSIVE VIDEO! First look at the Xbox 360 Elite
● Major Nelson Blogcast about the Xbox 360 Elite