An indepth analysis of Microsoft and Epic’s 2006 blockbuster!

Microsoft’s online service will celebrate is One-Year anniversary with a massive addition of new media. Starting on November 22, Xbox 360 owners will be able to use Live Marketplace for more than just horse armor or fake money. TV Shows from Adult Swim, MTV, and CBS will be available to purchase and download and new HD movies like Superman Returns, V for Vendetta, and Jackass will be available to rent. This follows a year of very successful offerings for game and movie trailers, as well as original content like exclusive Red vs. Blue clips.

Theres still an awfull lot of people out there with HD TVs with no cable or satellite feed. This fills a content gap for sure. The only worry is the Xbox 360‘s hard drive. 20GB seemed like more than enough when we were talking about game saves, some music, and a few demos. How long until Microsoft unleashes the 100 GB Hard Drive.?

Full details are available on Xbox.com

Tonight, Gamestop/EB are holding a super lame Gears Of War party with no demo.
All they’re showing is a single video, which might be little more than the beginning of the game.
Since we are blessed with an INTER-NET that laughs at the idea of waiting or exclusivity, you can watch the whole thing here now.

Keep an eye out over CliffyB’s shoulder for a Powermaster Optimus Prime.

Breaking: Variety is reporting Fox and Universal are pulling out of the adaptation of Bungie’s massively successful Xbox game. Citing rising costs and Microsofts unwillingness to back down on their cut of the gross or their upfront payday, the two studios are cutting financing, leaving the software giant to find a new partner.

Bungie themselves have been eerily silent about the movie. They promised a big update on their site around the time Neal Blomkamp was announced as director, but still haven’t said anything to even acknowledge that much. Weekly updates do continue to note when Bungie staff go to New Zealand to meet with WETA for pre-production. Executive Producer Peter Jackson seems more dedicated than ever, even starting work on his own Halo game for the Xbox 360.

Pre-production is rolling on according to reports, but no formal statement has been made from Microsoft or Bungie. The guiding light and motto for this whole production has been “make a GOOD Halo movie or make NO Halo movie” and I’m inclined to say it looks like the latter right now.

This does however make me thinkg Halo will miss 2007 and possibly 2008 for release. Hey Microsoft: Pay for it yourself! Then just hire a distributor! It worked for George Lucas.

Burger King will be offering 4$ X-Box and X-Box 360 games along with their value meals according to Gamespot. There will be 3 games which will be total Burger King propaganda featuring none other than the extremely creepy Burger King driving bumper cars, racing bikes and most disturbingly of all sneaking around and force feeding people Burger King food.

As if the King wasn’t a bone chilling enough character that I would put on par with your average clown when it comes to creepiness but now to top it off he wants to assault my colon by force feeding me those horrible Burgers?

I think this promotion is a great idea except that I don’t have an X-Box and I don’t get Burger King promotional items since the gut wrenching Pokemon promo of 1999. These issues shouldn’t affect most people…

As cheap and propagandaish as this may seem we’re still talking about what is essentially a 4$ game. Under 10$ including the meal. It’s hard to beat that.

Thanks to spooie for the heads up

The biggest news: Microsoft Partners with Peter Jackson. Not only is PJ producing the forthcoming Halo movie, he’s also developing a brand new game with his new Wingnut Interactive development company. In addition to the brand new game, he’s scripting a new Halo game with Bungie. A Halo game that is not Halo 3, but a brand new entry in the series.
Further, theres the long rumoured, much anticipated HALO WARS. Its an Xbox 360 exclusive Real Time Strategy game set at the outset of the war with the Covenant, back when Master Chief was actually a Master Chief of a group of highly trained SPARTAN warriors and not just a clever name. Read more direct from Bungie here.

Also, DOOM available on XBLA. Right now. Seriously. Doom 1. Full game, multiplayer, everything. Download it, play tonight.

Guitar Hero 360 is coming next year. Downloads are promised, but that white Explorer guitar is only a prototype.

For reasons unknown, Microsoft is allowing Rare to make another Banjo game.

We’ve already shown you Marvel Universe Online, but may I say this game looks like it may just cure the blues for folk like me who are bummed only 24 playable characters are in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Let’s just hope Cryptic tries to grab hold of the X-Men Legends audience with great gameplay.

Thanks to SparkStalker for links!

Here comes another shot at Sony for their criticism that the 360 wasn’t truly “high-def”.  Just as they’re announcing that many of their games have been bumped down to 720p, Microsoft announces that they’re going to start supporting 1080p.  The best news is that is that there is no new hardware to buy, it’s all supported within the console itself via the Fall update.

Update:  According to this afternoon’s article at Gamespot, Microsoft is claiming that ALL existing Xbox 360 games will support 1080p after the update.  Needless to say, that’s pretty impressive.

Strangely, the announcement is not on Bungie.net yet, but Halo has a director. His name is Neill Blomkamp. He’s never directed a major motion picture before, but he’s got a long history of TV and commercial work. Stop cringing. This is a commercial he directed:

Thats right, the dancing Citroen. In fact nearly all of his projects have been heavy on special effects and high technology. Joystiq invites you to scrutinize his resume.

But don’t take our word for it. Whats Executive Producer Peter Jackson say?

“As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring Halo’s premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,” said Jackson. “Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we’re delighted to be working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. With Neill on board, I’m even more excited by the potential of this project.”

Wow, thats press release quality quoting there!

Halo is now due for a 2008 summer release.