It's currently unclear when these offers will be available: Microsoft says on the offer page that the new version of the "Entertainment for All Plan" (which is the marketing name for these "Secretly Expensive Consoles") is "coming soon."
It's currently unclear when these offers will be available: Microsoft says on the offer page that the new version of the "Entertainment for All Plan" (which is the marketing name for these "Secretly Expensive Consoles") is "coming soon."
Game Time will have a lot of the same functionality found in other Xbox 360 streaming apps like ESPN, UFC and MLB.TV. You'll be able to watch live games, highlights and replays in HD, set a specific favorite team to follow and monitor team schedules and stats all through the app. Game Time also features the ability to watch up to two games at once, or watch a live game and catch up on highlights in a split-screen view. In keeping with Microsoft's mandate on all new Xbox 360 apps, Game Time features Kinect-enabled voice and gesture controls.
Before the debate, Xbox 360 users will be able to enjoy a concert put on by Rock the Vote, starting at 7pm EDT. The concert will feature artists Neon Trees and DJ Skee, both of which we're in-the-know about because we're not old fogies like your parents. Nope, we're totally hip.
Conceptualizing that many Xboxes is kind of hard to do, so let's put that figure into a ridiculous, arbitrary context. An olympic-sized swimming pool, for instance, holds about 424,935 Xboxes, assuming a pool volume of 88,528 cubic feet and Non-S model 360s. In order to hold all the Xboxes sold in the world so far, it would require 165 olympic-sized swimming pools, with that 165th pool having a tiny little bit of space left over for some controllers and a copy of Condemned: Criminal Origins.
To put it another way, if every Xbox sold in the world were put on one side of a giant scale, 2,156 blue whales would need to be placed on the other side for it to balance properly, assuming a median weight of 250,000 pounds per whale. That's kind of a lot of Xboxes, you guys.
Using Kinect on Xbox 360, Need for Speed: Most Wanted will try its best to keep you out of menus and in the open world constructed by Criterion Games when it launches on October 30.
In the video above, producer Chris Roberts shows off just some of the stuff you can yell at your television while racing away from authorities. The insta-modding is perhaps the most useful, allowing players to strengthen their car's chassis while being hounded by zealous coppers.
Avengers: Battle for Earth will have you and your friends jumping around and debating the correct time for clobberin' on November 9. If you want to see some of these heroes throwing down right away, there's a demo available for download in the meantime.
Today marks the rollout of the Fall 2012 Xbox 360 dashboard update for non-beta participants – that's you guys! Regular ol' Xbox 360 users should discover a mandatory update sometime today.
Among the changes to the UI and the addition of Internet Explorer for Gold subscribers, this latest dashboard refresh adds tailored recommendations based on your gaming habits, the ability to pin individual items to the home screen and enhanced searching functionality. SmartGlass support should be coming later this month, once Windows 8 arrives on October 26.
Before that, however, you can enjoy sales on Batman: Arkham City and its DLC. From today through October 22, the game is on sale on Games on Demand for $29.99 (prices vary regionally), with all DLC half off. It's joined by a half-off deal on XBLA Kinect game Wreckateer. And next week, starting October 23, Bioshock, Bioshock 2 and related DLC will be on sale.
Microsoft's Lionhead Studios, which most recently launched Fable: The Journey, has been hit with layoffs. Microsoft tells Develop that the downsizing represents less than 10 percent of Lionhead's head count and the publisher still intends to hire 100 people over the next year across its UK studios."Following the completion of Fable: The Journey, Lionhead Studios has begun work on its next projects," the statement to Develop notes. "As is common in the games industry, a smaller headcount is needed as projects kick-off and ramp up as full-production gets underway. At this time a small number of positions have been identified as at risk of redundancy and the affected employees were notified today."
Fable: The Journey and Fable: Heroes have been the latest from the studio Peter Molyneux founded, who left in March to create new studio 22 Cans.
Microsoft is preparing to update your Xbox 360's UI, but we thought it'd be good to give you a look-see at the Xbox 360 Fall 2012 dashboard update ahead of time – you know, let you get used to all the changes. And granted you're a Gold subscriber, when the update drops to the public you'll finally be able to read Joystiq on your Xbox 360 using Internet Explorer, which we're well aware has been something you've wanted for a long time. For, like, maybe six years. Enjoy!
Forza Horizon is a game for someone who knows the difference between a Lotus and a TVR, but may not know what PSI is most appropriate for slick tires on a sub-70 degree morning. It's a game for people who DVR Top Gear on BBC America, but not the Monte Carlo Grand Prix or Barret-Jackson auction coverage on Speed TV. In essence, Forza Horizon is a massive toy chest full of hyper-accurate hot wheels. Oh, and dubstep. There's a lot of dubstep.
The bundles are similar to those being offered in North America in terms of content, including a £199 250GB "Holiday Value" bundle with Skyrim and Forza 4, a £299 250GB "Kinect Holiday" bundle with Kinect Adventures, Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports, a £249 4GB "Kinect Holiday Value" bundle with Kinect Adventures and Kinect Disneyland , a £269 4GB Xbox with Kinect and Nike+ Kinect Training, a £269 320GB Halo 4 Limited Edition set, and a 4GB "White Gloss" console for £149.
Like leaf-peeping, apple-picking and umpire second-judging, Dance Central has become an autumn tradition. You can argue that it's grown a bit repetitive by this third installment, but repetition is the key to pop music. A steady beat, a memorable bass line and a chorus that'll itch in your brain until you hear it one more time are the rudiments of a hit. Can you attack a game for reflecting pop music when that's the very bedrock upon which it is built?
Each bundle is priced at $250 except for the standard and holiday 250GB Kinect bundles, which are $350. Most of the bundles have games and DLC codes packed in, including Forza 4, Kinect Adventures, Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, Fable 3, Halo: Reach and a digital copy of Skyrim.
We've called GameStop and still have yet to find an end date for this offer, but we'll update as soon as we find out.
NBA Baller Beats, the Kinect-based basketball rhythm game, sold a mere 3,000 copies in the US during its debut month of September, sales tracking service NPD told Joystiq. An odd outcome for a game that had a controversially high number of Twitter followers and YouTube views.
We weren't given the opportunity to review the game [ahead of launch - Ed.] by publisher Majesco, despite repeated requests, but we did find a unicorn that actually purchased NBA Baller Beats in the meantime.
"The game itself is well done and one of the better Kinect titles on the market," Robert Goode of the CAGcast told us. "Unfortunately, the market of athletic basketball fans who also have a Kinect and an unfinished basement is not flourishing."
And this post likely concludes our The Good, The Bad and The Ugly day of basketball stories here on Joystiq.
Starting at 9pm ET tonight, you'll be able to tune into the Vice-Presidential debate through the Election 2012 hub on Xbox Live. The same interactive features from the last debate will also be available, including live voting through the app and suggesting questions through Twitter with the #XboxPoll hashtag.
"Due to a lower demand for conventional console development, the studio has made some difficult but necessary adjustments in both its capacity and services, with the goal of matching the changing needs of today's market," North-Hearn said. "The dedicated development staff at Backbone has put together some of the studio's best work for our partners in the upcoming fall releases, Dance Central 3 and Midway Arcade Origins."
The scope of the layoffs was not revealed.
The Journey puts the player in the fur-lined boots of Gabriel, a young and adventurous Dweller, Albion's version of a gypsy traveler, who sits behind the reins of his beloved and loyal horse, Seren. Gabriel is anxious for a life of more than driving a cart through a caravan, hoping to find a life of adventure and heroism, presumably the same way the player is supposed to feel. Using the Kinect, players control Gabriel as he drives Seren on the roads of Albion. Before long, Gabriel is separated from his clan and comes across Theresa, the blind seer who has been a Fable mainstay since the beginning. Theresa tells Gabriel of his destiny and the magic he will wield.