Major Nelson has a blog post up detailing some of the announcements around Halo: Anniversary. http://majornelson.com/2011/08/26/news-from-halo-fest/
Also checkout the official HaloWaypoint site dedicated to the upcoming Halo: Reach Title Update (TU) http://halowaypoint.com/tu
First, sorry for how late into the summer this update is. I originally planned on sending this out June 7, the day after Microsoft’s E3 conference, but work, vacation, work, and lack of time spiraled this into an after July 4th update.
Quickly, a couple application notes, a few months ago Netflix was updated with some basic Kinect control, so you can now speak and wave at Netflix for your movie fix and in mid-May Hulu Plus was added to the Xbox Live application lineup. So crack up that internet pipe and enjoy even more movies and TV shows streaming through your Xbox.
Okay on to the main event:
Microsoft held their Press Conference on June 6th, opening of this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). As most expected there were no earth shattering surprises, just big talk about how the Xbox 360 has become an entertainment system and how Kinect continues to change the way we play games.
This Fall (most likely early-mid November when Microsoft tends to do their Fall update) the Xbox dashboard will get another facelift. The new design has a Windows Phone 7/ Windows 8 tile style UI. The change will bring a more natural left/right panning flow, as the full dashboard experience is being optimized for controller free motions, along with even richer voice control options.
YouTube and the UFC channel will also be coming to the ever growing Xbox application list as well.
Another cool feature demonstrated was Live TV right on the Xbox. There were no specific providers/partners detailed, but the demo showed a couple watching “Castle” on ABC.
A much needed dashboard feature will appear in the form of Bing search. With Kinect you can tell the Xbox what you want to search for and Bing will give you all the results from Xbox Live Marketplace, to music and videos found in Zune, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Live TV. It was not made clear if you can do a search without the Kinect voice commands.
Check out the new dashboard look along with a sample search for “Xbox: Bing XMen”
Something that should make the multiple console owners or traveling gamers happy is Cloud saves, which “provides access to one’s profile and saves from any console, at any time with the option to save to XBL servers instead of a memory unit or hard drive”. Very happy to finally see this coming to Xbox.
Another interesting feature being added is “beacons”. You can set a beacon indicating what games you are interested in playing, so when friends come online they can tell what you would like to play even if you are doing something else. So even though you might be watching Netflix you can set your ‘beacon’ to Halo: Reach letting them know that they can interrupt your movie to come play Halo: Reach.
On with Game Announcements:
Probably Microsoft’s worst kept secret of 2011 became official with the announcement of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. The HD version of the Xbox game that started it all will be available exactly 10yrs following its original release on November 15th, 2011. MS also officially announced Halo 4 coming Fall 2012, claiming the start of a new Trilogy.
Lots of Kinect goodness is coming our way in the form of The Gunstringer, Kinect Star Wars, Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports Season Two, Ryse, Fable: The Journey, and especially those with younger kids, Disneyland Adventures, and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster.
Other games will also offer some Kinect integration as optional features to use to enhance your gaming experience. Mass Effect 3 can use Kinect Voice Recognition to manage the dialog wheel and managing squad mates in battle. Forza Motorsport 4 will have optional head tracking and for the casual race car driver, Kinect steering control. You can play controller free or with the standard controller.
You can also help Microsoft improve your Kinect experience by downloading and trying out Kinect Fun Labs. Fun Labs is a free download that contains some fun little “gadgets”.
For more on games coming to the Xbox 360 checkout the Xbox Blockbuster Games link.
Official Links:
Back in June I made this post about determining when your Gold Account expires. Well of course as the Kinect launch approached, Microsoft had to go and redo Xbox.com. So now the steps are similar, and in the end quicker.
Just sign in to Xbox.com and chose Accounts from the My Xbox list. 
Now your membership info is displayed right on your Account page. Enjoy!
Welcome to a few new Xbox 360 owners following this wonderful holiday season!
Best of 2010? Let me start with a short list of my favorites of 2010 (in no particular order)
Do I need Xbox Live? If you can connect your Xbox to the Internet, do it! Get an Xbox Live (XBL) account, either a Free (previously called Silver) Account or a Gold Account. You only need to have a Windows Live account to get connected. A Gold membership costs $60 per year, or a Family Membership will only set you back $99 and allow 4 separate accounts Gold membership benefits. Using a XBL account (either type), allows the Xbox software to stay upto date, get Title Updates (patches) for games, access to downloadable content (DLC), the XBL Arcade and some other odds and ends. Certain applications like Twitter, Netflix, Facebook, and ESPN do require Gold access to use.
Free Microsoft Points? Last month Microsoft started a new rewards program http://rewards.xbox.com/ to help give back for doing things on your Xbox and xbox.com. Just need a XBL account to join up.
Got Kinect for Christmas? Use the Kinect ID feature to automatically log you into your Xbox profile (and XBL account). From the Kinect Hub select Kinect ID and then your Xbox profile. You will have to stand in a few different positions, but once it’s done… Turn on the Xbox, wave your hand, and wait a second while it recognizes you…. Done.
If you have access to XBL and Kinect Sports, Microsoft released some free DLC for it here.
Need a storage boost? The Xbox 360 supports USB flash drives to be used as additional Memory Units (MU). You can use almost any flash drive 1GB or larger, but the Xbox will only use a max of 16GB. What would you put on the extra storage? Anything from DLC, to making your XBL account portable by moving it to the USB flash drive.
Best way to stay up to date? Well besides waiting for my sporadic emails once every 3-5 months, twitter has become the best source.
List of my recommended Twitter feeds (Xbox related anyway)
@majornelson – Xbox Community Manager. Caution: he tweets a lot, not always Xbox related
@xboxsupport – Xbox Support Group. Got an Xbox support question send them a tweet
@xbox – Microsoft’s official Xbox Twitter feed
@xTEC4 – me, it’s mostly Halo related, but will tweet out some good stuff once in a while
My Xbox Live Gamertag: xTEC4
With the holiday shopping season fast approaching, here are the top titles that coming your way on the Xbox 360, including a few big ones for right after the new year.
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September 07, 2010 |
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| September 07, 2010 | Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions |
| September 07, 2010 | Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2 |
| September 14, 2010 | Halo: Reach |
| September 28, 2010 | Dead Rising 2 |
| September 28, 2010 | Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock |
| October 05, 2010 | NBA 2K11 |
| October 05, 2010 | NBA Elite 11 |
| October 12, 2010 | Medal of Honor |
| October 19, 2010 | Fallout: New Vegas |
| October 26, 2010 | Fable 3 |
| October 26, 2010 | Rock Band 3 |
| October 26, 2010 | Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 |
| October 26, 2010 | The Sims 3 |
| November 09, 2010 | Call of Duty: Black Ops |
| November 16, 2010 | Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood |
| November 16, 2010 | Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit |
| January 25, 2011 | Dead Space 2 |
| March 08, 2011 | Dragon Age 2 |
| March 22, 2011 | Crysis 2 |
| April 05, 2011 | Gears of War 3 |
Here is a little youtube video showing off Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7. Looks pretty cool. I can get so many more achievables! Bleep Bloop.
Microsoft announced their first batch of Mobile Gaming to be offered at launch for Windows Phone 7. Read the full details here: Windows Phone 7 Marks a New Era in Mobile Gaming
Here are the key highlights when gaming on your Windows Phone 7
Bringing More to Your Mobile Gaming
Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7 unlocks a world of games and fun and directly connects you to a global community of more than 25 million active Xbox LIVE members. Windows Phone 7 is the only phone that seamlessly integrates Xbox LIVE and provides unique mobile gaming experiences:
PS: Microsoft please find a new catchy name for Windows Phone 7
PSS: Don’t reuse the KIN name.
The other day one of my friends told me they wished they know when their XBL account was going to expire. They were really looking forward to Halo: Reach and COD: Black Ops, but when budgeting for the coming fall gaming season he wished he know if he needed to renew his Gold account too.
I gave him a inquisitive look and said, “It’s super easy to check, as long as you know your Windows Live account tied to your Xbox Gamertag.”
Really its super easy? Yes it is.
Simply go to xbox.com and sign in with your Windows Live account.
In the upper right hand corner you will find the My Xbox drop list. Select My Account.
Now select Membership Level and bask in the glorious information you are provided.
You can see your current LIVE status, how you payed for your current account (when its Gold) along with options to modify your current membership.
You can see that the last time I extended my Gold account, I used a Prepaid 12 + 1 month card. My current LIVE expiration is on 11/11/2010, and if you have saved Credit Card information if Automatic renewal is ON.
Here is a word of advise, about 4-6 months before your Gold account expires, start watching the web for deals. Online stores like Amazon, Buy.com, and newegg.com have them for $35 most of the time, and once in a while you can find even deeper sales. Last year during the summer Best Buy had the prepaid 12 Month cards for $25, so definitely shop around.
Also remember that this November the new Family Membership for $99, which will allow 4 gamertags to subscribe to Gold services.
Definitely a show grabber at E3 last week the Nintendo 3DS could make it way into your hands by March, so says Reggie Fils-Aime
“The reason we haven’t announced a launch date or pricing is that, first, we wanted to get reaction here,” Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told Industry Gamers, “Secondly, we’ll be making individual market decisions in terms of what’s happening in Japan, what’s happening in the Americas, what’s happening in Europe. The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011.”
Lets hope so. I have done more repairs to my son’s DS then I care to count. I told him last week to hang on till after Christmas and hope for an early birthday present.
November will see the launch of Kinect and to keep the whole family involved Microsoft is adding a Xbox LIVE Family Pack.
For $99 you can sign up 4 separate accounts to Xbox LIVE. The primary account is in charge of the MS points and can distribute them to the other three managed accounts.
There will also be a Family Center added to the dashboard and xbox.com to allow easy access to Family Settings and account management.
Check out the official Press Release.