Hot on the heels of the Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard Update leaking from GameSpot, they posted and removed images of an Xbox 360 controller with a full qwerty keyboard placed between the handles.

This is no doubt coming in anticipation of Live Messenger support, but it may also encourage development of my social elements in games, like MMOs.

UPDATE! The keyboard is now official. It will be bundled with its own headset since it will plug in the headset jack, and the keys will be backlit. No word of price or release date, though its expected in the summer.

This video (leaked from GameSpot) shows off some of the new features coming our way, and even mentions a date of May 7th. Marketplace will get its own blade, integrating Friend lists with Windows Live Messenger, and new download options are on the way.

In a post thanking fans for supporting 4 years of groundbreaking machinima, Rooster Teeth’s Burnie Burns has announced that Red vs Blue: Blood Gulch Chronicles will be complete at the end of season 5 with the 100th episode.

Before we all start gnashing our teeth at the loss of the series that invented “shisno” as a racial epithet, Burnie specifically mentioned that this would only be the last episode of “Blood Gulch Chronicles” and not the last RvB ever. I can’t imagine them throwing away the series completely unless it was demanded by Microsoft or Bungie, who own the Halo franchise their series uses as backdrop. Its possible they’re merely finishing up in preparation of a new series using Halo 3…

The worst kept secret in gaming is now official.

Xbox 360 Elite is black with an HDMI port and 120 GB hard drive standard. It’ll be released April 29th for $479.99. Black extra controllers, battery packs, and charging cables will be available at the same price as the current white accessories. The 120 GB hard drive will be sold seperately for $179 and will include a cable to transfer your saves info from your old drive to your new one.

Gamestop will likely offer you $8 for your old Xbox 360.

Engadget has more info and press photos of the newly black box and controllers.

WIRED Magazine has just released their annual list spotlighting the best and brightest companies in tech.

The Wired 40 this year puts Nintendo on the list for the first time at an astounding #6. Microsoft, unstoppable juggernaut of the industry they are, barely made the list at #40. Don’t feel too bad for them: Sony didn’t make the list at all. Google and Apple retain their 1 & 2 spots from last year.

Bonus: a lenticular cover featuring The Office‘s Jenna Fischer.

Kotaku reports on an article in the April issue of Game Informer which has specs and a picture of a new black XBox 360 model. This new model will feature a 120gb hard drive, an HDMI port and HDMI cable for a retail price of 479$, which is 80$ more than the price of the XBox 360 Premium console.

Game Informer has stated this is not an April Fool’s fake story, however it should be pointed out the image they supplied for the article is merely a black debug Xbox 360, used by developers and the press.

Microsoft has not yet made any official statement about the authenticity of this article.

Thanks to forum member Luchador138 for the heads up.

Yesteday there was somewhat of an uproar over Maxis developer Chris Hecker calling the Wii a “piece of shit” and “two gamecubes duct taped together” and implied that Nintendo doesn’t care about games as art.
Here is Super Mario Galaxy, shown today.

Now Hecker apologizes. Does a Mario game need to look any better than that? I mean, thats beyond all my wildest expectations for Mario! Really delivers on Wii being more than just a funny controller.
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I just got a very nice email from the Xbox Live Rewards program. You may recall this little promotion being set up so that Xbox Live gamers can get a reward for spending so much time bulking up their gamer scores. Prizes included copies of Fusion Frenzy, downloads of Contra, and Microsoft points. I had trouble getting through the registration when the site went Live, and given my low gamer score, I kinda gave up on it. I wasn’t alone, and now they’re sending out consolation prizes for putting up with these technical difficulties

The email in my inbox tonight included all the rules for participation and registration and they admitted to having problems, and to make up for it, they included codes to redeem for a free download of Robotron and Joust from Live Arcade. Thats pretty generous considering I just was going to sit the whole thing out.

Anyone else who had problems get this email? Leave a comment below.

Full email after the jump.
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