The Seattle Times is blowing the lid of Microsoft’s new portable, positioned to compete not only against the PSP and DS, but also the iPod. This is what happens when you have this many competitors.
Endgaget provided the picture of the supposed device. While the design certainly looks like it could do the media player functions of iPod and PSP very easily, its hard to think of it as a games machine.
But, oh yes, a games machine is coming, whether this is it or not. Millions in R&D are already spent, and J Allard, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Launch poster boy is leading the charge. We’re hearing its compatible with XNA, and with WiFi standard on the unit, its a good bet Xbox Live Anywhere will play a part as well.
Major movie and music publishers are lining up to offer content to loosen Apple’s grip on the download market.
A big annual meeting is scheduled for July 27th, where the Xboy or xPod or whatever ridiculous name kids want to call it may be revealed and dated for a fall/Winter launch.
Does MS have what it takes? They’re years behind in the portable market, and the portable market is pretty well satisfied right now, even if it does lack a good all-in-one device. And will the buying public be able to stand new DRM standards that may render Apple, Sony, etc downloads incompatible with the new unit?
I don’t know, but it’ll be fun to watch, pass or fail.

Becuase I’m late and it’s the holiday, I’m gonna break you off with two 20 dollar GOTWs this week. So happy 4th of July everyone!

For all of you whining about original IPs dying out, here ya go. An original IP from the creators of the phenominal Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic. Jade Empire is a nice take on the old RPG conventions. It’s set in a mythical land not unlike Ancient China, and you take the role of one of several customizable characters, each with thier own abilities and attributes as you try to find out the secret behind your past. You’ll gain several abilities throughout the course of the game, such as magic, weapons, and th eability to change your form. Just like in KOTOR, you can choose to be a good guy or a bad guy, but soon, the choices won’t be that easy. You can also enlist the help of several followers who will add thier own might and muscle to yours. The combat system is thankfully all real time, with the ability to preform basic strikes, power attacks, blocks, dodges, and even combos.
I can’t understand for the life of me why this game didn’t take off as well as it should have, but it’s still solid. I found a copy of the limited edition at gamestop for 12 dollars! This is an excellent game for RPG fans looking for a break from the same old conventions. WIth Bioware exclusive to Microsoft, this game is a sign of things to come, particularly thier upcomming 360 sci-fi RPG Mass Effect.

Major Nelson has announced the Xbox 360 Dashboard release schedule. This comes right on the heels of his fright filled podcast, dreading not having any news for listeners.
Major Nelson is Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb, who frequently speaks of internal workings at Microsoft and about gaming in general. If you don’t listen to the podcasts already, its worth catching up on some of them. Tales of wandering into Sony’s VIP Booth at E3, interviews with Microsoft staffers, and playing Mario Kart against Tycho from Penny-Arcade in an airplane are common topics.

Peter Moore hit the nail on the head. Over 30 Thousand Joystiq readers voted on what consoles they’ll likley end up buying and the vast majority plan on getting a Wii and 360. Wii on its own scored very strongly as well.
This is hardly a scientific poll, but I’d say the PS3 has a real upward battle against the competition.
Link: Poll results: (Reevaluated) next-gen combo platters

First up, Halo: Combat Evolved is being re-issued again. Pictured is the Euro “Best Of Classics” that makes our “Best Of Platnium Hits” packaging look conservative by comparison. Ugly.

Frank O’Connor has done us the favor of printing the best protest emails from cheaters who were banned in The Bungie Waaahmbulance. And for those who don’t know how cheating works, GamesFirst has a rundown of Halo 2 Cheating.

Bungie updates several times this week. New in store is the Halo 3 Shirt, and theres also some words from Burnie from Red VS Blue.

Finally, the weekly update announced the end of Clan match, some Halo 2 Vista plans, and next to no info on Halo 3. But we do get a new Mister Chief sketch.

Missed this when it happened at E3. Space Ghost interviews Microsoft’s Peter Moore at the GameTap booth.

Our friend Sparkstalker has been suspicious of the PS3 box since it was revealed a year ago, pointing out the lack of fans, and the power supply being housed in box. I’ll let his words take over:

Looking at this image again. I’ve got to wonder how “final” this really is. It still has a 120V input. Which means all power conversion would still have to happen inside the unit. Which would double the amount of heat that the PS3 will have to dissipate. And while they’ve increased the size and added vents, to me, it still doesn’t look like enough to dissipate the heat that will be generated by the system and power supply. We’ve seen the issues with the 360, and that’s with “loud fans” and a “monsterous” power brick…

It just doesn’t add up.

Also thanks to him for pointing out how many of those inputs disappeared in the last 12 months.

Incidentally, Sony pitchman Phil Harrison (who’s mere image frightens me, to be honest) is saying they’d been developing the tilt control since 1994. Nice try.  We all know where you ripped the Dual Shake off of.
File under “in case you missed this…”

DDR hits the TV screen and the Mobile phone.

Nokia NGage still kicking, despite all efforts to ignore it.

Frankie at Bungie deflects fanboy reactions to the Halo 3 trailer.

Superman Returns… please don’t let it be teh suck.

Close up look at Will Wright’s Spore.

Super Mario Galaxy Boss Battle.

And surprisingly, Hideo Kojima would like to ditch Metal Gear Solid 4 production to work on Wii. I mean, it doesn’t surprise me he wants to develop for Wii, just surprises me he’d consider ditching the PS3 only real killer-app to do it.
And now the doors to the biggest video game show of the year officially closed, its time to declare a winner. Tell us what looked best, what looked worst, what confused you, what was most unexpected, etc. Register and post your thoughts to our forums.

E3 Rolls on like an unstoppable tank. Many of the big announcements are made, so today and tomorrow will focus primarily on 3rd parties showing off all the games they’ve been whipping their development teams to get demo ready for the last month and a half. So today is the chance for the press to play the games, try to get a few more questions answered, and meet Adam West.

An amazing thing has happened to Mario. While Galaxy grabbed the glory in the press conference and initial reports, fans are rallying around Super Paper Mario on GameCube. It looks to be as much a classic throwback as New SMB on the DS. One fan I heard even called it the Yoshi’s Island of the Cube: A game on a near defunct system that pushes the limits technically and creatively. Luckily, Cube games will still play on the Wii, so I have no doubt if this turns into a great game it will find its audience.

Since its quiter clear we all love Wii now, WiiGamer has nabbed some screens of the Virtual Console. You get box art and a screen that maps out your controller before getting into your classic game. If you still don’t believe, then theres lots of people who do. The line to play Wii is 3+ Hours. Thats longer than any line as Six Flags, folks.
Most impressive thing I’ve seen today is Sonic for PS3 and 360. I thought the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 7 years ago looked
pretty spiffy, but its amazing what a little more horsepower can do. I’m willing to forgive the less pleasurable elements of the last few Sonic games if this one can deliver.

In somewhat disheartening news, Nintendo may be finally laying down the Game Boy. N-boss Iwata says the DS is such a success they’re in no position to develop another portable to succeed the GBA.

Peter Moore rather succinctly summed up my opinion of the PS3 price: “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3. People are going to buy two (machines.) They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii… for the price of one PS3.” Kaz Hirai insists gamers are getting a deal, and that fans will stay loyal to the PlayStation. For your sake I hope that works out, Kaz. People ain’t flocking to the PSP.

Optimus Prime also showed up at E3. Why? Heh, no idea. Haven’t heard word one about Activision’s Transformer game.

Scouring the internets, I had a hard time finding anything else that was actually “news.” Its all just impressions and previews now, which is fine and good by them, but I see no reason to link 3rd party conjecture when I can’t offer my own.