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Columbia Pictures Appears Again on Xbox 360 Netflix Service – Sony to Follow Suit

Nerd Grind — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:05:27 +0000

Columbia and Sony never doled out a satisfactory answer as to why their content disappeared from the Netflix portion of Xbox Live, but Columbia Pictures has made an amends. The movie giant and much of their varied content has re-appeared for instant streaming via your Xbox 360. Sony Pictures has yet to follow suit but various sources indicate it should not be long until they do. This is a great start, however. Get to streaming guys!

Onyx Online – iPhone Application Seeks to Create Social Gaming Utopia

Nerd Grind — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:52:38 +0000

Trism developer, Steve Demeter, is readying Onyx Online for the iPhone app store. Onyx Online is being billed as the "Xbox Live" of the iPhone community. The program promises to add social media features to iPhone games, like leaderboards, achievements and forums. The service will also allow players to view one another’s profiles and scores and to compete in game-specific challenges. Onyx Online drops soon. There has been no word on pricing yet.

Netflix Offers HD Streaming on Xbox 360 Before Other Formats

Nerd Grind — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:25:14 +0000

Netflix is gearing up to offer HD streaming of their content for the Xbox 360 platform. They currently offer streaming on PCs and Macs but the service is not in high definition. The service will be available when the new Xbox dashboard hits on November 19th. HD streaming will be available to Xbox Live Gold members only.

This is, however, only a "soft launch." Only 300 titles or so will be available at the launch of the service. That number will ramp up before too long, however.

Microsoft to Release $99 60GB Xbox Live Starter Pack Next Week

Nerd Grind — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:38:37 +0000

According to Gamestop and a leaked Circuit City ad, a $99 60GB Xbox Live upgrade will be available starting next week. The bundle will include three months of Live Gold, a headset and a 60GB hard drive. The hard drive is perfect for the coming 128MB storage requirement of the new Xbox 360 UI. The company has offered no word on any other promotions that would coincide with the holiday season.

Sign Up Now to Experience New Xbox 360 UI Early

Nerd Grind — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:03:57 +0000

Microsoft is looking "for a few thousand" participants to try out their new Xbox 360 UI early. All you have to do is click here to be considered for the Preview Update. The offer is limited to Gold and Silver Xbox Live members with preference given to the Gold members. If Microsoft chooses you, your account will receive notice within a week.Then you can gloat as you gaze longingly at your new dashboard.

For those unaware, the update reconfigures the dashboard, allowing for fully customizable avatars and simplified group chats. The official release is scheduled for the end of November.

New Xbox Experience Coming in November

Nerd Grind — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:14:29 +0000

Microsoft has inadvertently announced that the "New Xbox Experience", meaning the upcoming system update, will be hitting this November. While not quite a "fall" update (though I guess ’Winter Update’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it), the update is set to completely redefine how the Xbox Dashboard works, and will have a slew of new features attached to it. While we haven’t had a chance to try it out firsthand, it looks prettier, but also a bit more complicated. And after two years on the 360’s design, it will take some time to adjust, which may or may not be a bad thing.

Xbox Live Offline September 29th

Nerd Grind — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:34 +0000

Xbox Live will be offline on September 29th, at 12:01am, according to Microsoft’s Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb. It will be offline for "up to 24 hours" for maintenance, in preparation for the coming fall update. The update will not be the complete overhaul we’ve seen much of over the last few months. Hyrb also points out that most of Xbox.com will also be offline, with the main exception of the forums, which will be read only. All this means that the 29th is the perfect day to get back on Team Fortress 2, which you’ve most likely been denying for some 360 game. Shame!

Halo 3 Beta Complete

Nerd Grind — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:28:17 +0000

Tests for the Halo 3 Beta have now come to a finish and the results proved to be very successful. More than 820,000 users played the beta and played an equivalent of 12 million hours online.

The most interesting attraction was the new saved-film feature, which gave players the ability record their games and share them over Xbox LIVE. As a result, more than 580,000 saved films created by users.

With the release date looming closer and closer, XBox has several items in store for new players, including the limited edition Halo 3 wireless controllers (AU$89.95), as well as the headset (AU$69.95).

Apple VOD

Nerd Grind — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:08:06 +0000

Apple is in the news with rumors about a supposed video rental service due out this autumn. They already offer films for download and have distribution deals with Walt Disney and Paramount, but are in talks with major Hollywood studios at the moment.

One studio exec says that the service is looking to compete with the cable companies and anyone else offering VOD into the home.

The $2.99 downloads would be viewable for 30 days and playable on at least one other device like an iPod or iPhone, but their software would prevent copying.

VOD is a growing revenue stream for cable companies and satellite operators, such as Direct TV. Online services which offer this service include Xbox Live, MovieÂlink and Unbox, but none of these has a customer base as large as Apple.

source The Financial Times Limited 2007

Pac Man. The Return

Nerd Grind — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:14:12 +0000

Pac Man the Original video game is making a comeback!

According to my super top secret sources, Pac Man will be reborn on Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service as a final tribute for designer Toru Iwatani, who is retiring. The new game, Pac Man Championship Edition, is the second and final version Mr Iwatani personally designed, and was created for the final round of the Xbox 360 Pac-Man World Championship in New York and features dance music and mazes that change shapes, the pinnacle of interactive entertainment.

Now, I have never personally played this version of Pac Man and I’ll tell you what, I NEVER will. Nothing will even come close to the genius of the original Pac Man. The 4 pixels, the crude and electronic soundtrack that looped and looped endlessly, the distinctive "whaka whaka, whaka" sound of Pac Man. I mean if you want a great game this is it. Trying to make Pac Man better than the original is like freshman art studentsÂ trying to repaint the Sistine Chapel with rollers and 3 colors. Bottom line, the original will never be replicated and if you want a come back, dust off your old Nintendo, clean off the cartage, get a nice frosty one and eat cherries like there’s no tomorrow.

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » Xbox Live

Columbia Pictures Appears Again on Xbox 360 Netflix Service – Sony to Follow Suit

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