Microsoft has announced it’s new Xbox 360 Splinter Cell Conviction Special Edition Bundle.

The package includes the standard edition of Splinter Cell Conviction, a 250 GB hard drive, as well as two wireless controllers. So It’s pretty much the same as the Modern Warfare 2 Bundle but not.

For $399 all of this gaming nirvana can be yours in April. Check out a couple more pics of the bundle below, if you so chose. And you shall.

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Microsoft’s Xbox Live Deal of the Week is cutting the price on this classic Duke Nukem shooter, Duke Nukem 3D. Taking a whopping 50% off the price bringing it down from 800 Microsoft Point to 400 Microsoft Points which translates into only $5.00. Cheap.

The deal only runs until Sunday so get your mitts on it now, it may be the last Duck Nukem game you’ll ever get to play.

Click here to add it to your download queue.

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Avid gamer or not, chances are you’ve probably stumbled across this video already. It spread like herpes at a Lindsay Lohan sex party over the weekend. In the clip it appears that an Xbox Live moderator with the Gamertag “The Pro” (real whitty) passes out bans like flu vaccines at a nursing home. Get on his bad side and you can kiss your XBL privileges goodbye for a little while.

Hit the break to check out the video.

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that The Pro doesn’t sound like anyone I’d want to stuck in a match with, but there are a couple of things to take into consideration. First, the audio is choppy and doesn’t always match up correctly. The video’s creator explains why at the beginning of the video so you have to take his word at face value. And second, the video is heavily edited. At no point are you able to hear what iTzLuPo V2 says to the moderator, you only get the moderator’s reaction.

Xbox Live’s Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse posted the following explanation on his Twitter:

So what do you think? Is The Pro a ban happy d-bag or just a misunderstood moderator?

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Today will mark the day that Microsoft fully turned the page from their generation one consoles and passed the torch to the Xbox 360 and beyond. On April 15 they will discontinue the Xbox Live service for the original Xbox console and it’s games. A move that will effect hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who still play on the first gen console. And yes this will also include original Xbox titles that are playable on your 360, sorry Halo 2 fans…you’re screwed.

Ending the service on the original Xbox will enable Microsoft to enhance it’s Xbox Live’s online experience. Paving the way for Project Natal, hopefully adding more features  and finally getting rid of the annoying 100 friend cap on your friends list (crossing my fingers).

Hit the break to read the full statement released today by Microsoft’s Marc Whitten. Feel free to fire off some comments and let me know what you think, because I care.

A Letter from Marc Whitten: Discontinuation of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox Games

Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we’ve since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten

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According to an email being circulated by Microsoft it looks like Xbox Live’s Zune Marketplace will be down tonight January 25th, and possibly into tomorrow for some scheduled maintenance. The service will go down at 10:00 P.M. Pacific Time (1:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time for you east-coasters) and may be down for as long as 24 hours. Unfortunately during that time you won’t be able to purchase or rent any videos from their library. Already purchased and downloaded movies or shows will not be effected.

Here’s the official statment included in the email from Microsoft:

As part of our continued efforts to improve the Zune Marketplace service on Xbox LIVE, Zune Marketplace will be undergoing scheduled maintenance for up to 24 hours, starting 10:00 P.M. (PT) on January 25, 2010. During that time, you will be unable to rent or purchase video content.

Your existing video library will continue to be available.

We apologize for this temporary inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

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Major Nelson has released Xbox Live’s top played and downloaded games of 2009. And not surprisingly it looks like Halo 3 was king of the hill.

There are other tid bits of interesting info to gather from the list though. Modern Warfare 2, which had only been out for less than two months before the year ended made the top three. Impressive. As a matter of fact, Activision walked away with having three out of the top five titles for the year. Although they were all Call of Duty titles.

Of course the king of Arcade titles last year was Battlefield 1943. Even if it’s launch was way less than picture perfect, it still ran away with the top honors by far. Castle Crashers and Trials HD rounded out the top three.

Keep reading to see the top 10’s in each Xbox 360 category.

Xbox 360 top live titles

• 1. Halo 3
• 2. Call of Duty 4
• 3. Modern Warfare 2
• 4. Call of Duty: World at War
• 5. Gears of War 2
• 6. GTA IV
• 7. Left 4 Dead
• 8. Halo 3: ODST
• 9. Fable II: Episode 1
• 10. Biohazard 5 – Resident Evil 5

Top Arcade titles

• 1. Battlefield 1943
• 2. Castle Crashers
• 3. Trials HD
• 4. Hasbro Family Game Night
• 5. Shadow Complex
• 6. Marvel vs Capcom 2
• 7. Magic: The Gathering
• 8. UNO
• 9. Worms
• 10. Peggle

Top Indie games

• 1. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!!1
• 2. Avatar Drop
• 3. RC-AirSim
• 4. Headshot
• 5. Miner Dig Deep
• 6. Rumble Massage
• 7. Who Did I Date Last Night
• 8. Kodu Game Lab
• 9. Avatar Golf
• 10. Aquarium HD

All rankings were compiled using a list of unique user connectivity. You can check out the whole list at Major Nelson’s blog.

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The next in a long line of glitches exploited in Modern Warfare 2 has been found. No it’s not the Javelin glitch, or the infinite care package glitch, or the bouncing claymore glitch. This ladies and gentlemen is the Ice Skating glitch.

Instead of running at normal speeds, players zip across the screen as if they are “skating”. Making it ridiculously hard to shoot or melee anyone. From doing a little investigating I found out that the glitch is actually a PC mod that was somehow migrated to the Xbox 360 version.

Keep reading to check out the video.

So far I’ve only run into these “skaters” in Sabotage matches. So if that’s your match of choice be ready. I’m sure now that word has spread Infinity Ward will be releasing a patch soon…hopefully. According to GamerGlitch there have been over sixty glitches found and exploited so far in the latest Call of Duty. Ouch!

Hey Infinity Ward, why don’t you write this thought down and  stick it in your comment box: Grow a pair and get us some dedicated servers!

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Microsoft has announced the launch date of the previously announced Xbox Live updates. That is unless you blinked. If you did then you probably missed it.

Earlier today on GamerScoreBlog Microsoft detailed some of the activities you can participate in if you’ll be attending this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. And then out of nowhere they threw in a sentence to mention the release date of their much anticipated update to their Xbox Live service.

• “The Guild,” one of the most popular online shows with a huge cult following, is back for a third season on August 25. The show is sponsored by Sprint and is free to watch. “Girls Go Geek,” a new series exclusive to Xbox LIVE, where host and self-proclaimed geek, Amber MacArthur (aka Amber Mac), will sit down with other girl gamers and geeks to dish on games, gadgets and tech. In the first episode, Amber chats with Felicia Day to get the inside scoop on life as a Web star, TV actor and gamer. Amber will also dive into the new social networking features on Xbox LIVE. The show, which debuts this August, is presented by the U.S. Air Force and is free to watch.

Microsoft is also announcing that Aug. 11 ushers in an opportunity for Xbox LIVE members to experience a new wave of entertainment with the following updates and new features:

• Movie night goes nationwide with enhanced instant streaming from Netflix: With the new Netflix party experience on Xbox LIVE, you and your friends can watch movies and TV episodes together whether you’re sitting on the same couch or live on opposite coasts. It’s now easier than ever to add movies to your instant Queue, which can be done right from your sofa, as well as experience improved video quality for a picture perfect home theatre experience.

That’s it. There’s the announcement. Tucked right in between a breakdown of Xbox Live events. You sneaky bastards…

For a detailed list of what you can look forward to when the updates roll out head to this post. It’ll be chalked full of goodies.

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In an interview with Kikizio (lucky bastards) Microsoft Corporate VP Shane Kim elaborated on Microsoft’s future business endeavours, and a hand-held port for the Xbox was mentioned. For Microsoft it’s not a matter of “if” they’ll dive into the portable gaming market, but “when”.
“For us, it’s a matter of focusing on ‘when’, because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like instant-on 1080p HD, Facebook, Twitter, Project Natal. And so we’ve chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we’re building a service in Live that will… will extend to other platforms. No question about it. So the question will be, how do we enter into that market – do we do our own device, do we create our own phone – that’s a question for the company itself – do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path, which is that path that we’re on today, etc.”

Kim also spoke of possible integrations a portable device would have with the Xbox Live service. An idea that the Microsoft team has kicked around in the past.

“We talked about Live Anywhere a few years ago. Live is the connective tissue. You’re starting to see that now – we integrate Netflix, we integrate Facebook, we integrate Twitter – because we understand that customers don’t want an island experience, they want to be connected to the rest of their lives.”

For Xbox fans this is huge. It’s a market that Microsoft has never really talked about. And it’s a segment that Sony, Nintendo and now Apple are seeing great success in.

You bet your balls I’ll be keeping you updated if any more info becomes available, so check back.

Head over to Kikizio if you want to read the complete interview. It’s worth a look.

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Now where do I pre-order your X-Xbox sir?

Check out the video below. The shenanigans start at around the 2:00 minute mark.

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Well the Xbox Live service went down at 12:00am PST and will be down for for up to 24 hours for scheduled maintenance.

According to Xbox Live’s Major Nelson:

“During this time Xbox Live and the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox.com forums will be read-only. The rest of Xbox.com will be available with limited interruptions.”

As of right now (9:20am EST) all of Xbox.com is down.

The down time will be used to help Microsoft prepare for the integration of the Twitter, Facebook and Last.FM services mentioned during their E3 press conference. Although I am really looking forward to these new additions it still blows that there won’t be and Xbox Live ALL day today…

What will you guys be doing today to keep your sanity?

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Have you ever thought to yourself  ”Self, I really don’t like having all of this money in my pocket. How can I blow it on something ridiculous?” Well here’s your answer. The new Xbox show from Sole Junkie. They aren’t endorsed by Microsoft or Nike but it does have their logos all over them!

The shoes were up for sale on eBay, but have mysteriously dissapeared. I’m not sure but maybe the recession might have something to do with it. In an interview with Yahoo! Games the creator talked about some of the feedback he was getting on the super expensive kicks:

“The video game community hates the price and the fact I may have taken a beloved iconic gaming system and butchered it,” says the sneaker creator ”On the other hand, I’ve had very positive responses from others…more than negative ones.”

Here’s the eBay auction description for the shoe:

These are an exclusive pair…only one of its kind. Patent leather back with embedded fiber optic wiring in the shape of the XBOX logo. Battery placement is in the tongue as well as on and off switch that has 2 settings: Strobe or Constant light functions. Gradient lime swoosh faded to black. The toe is painted in a surreal Tiger Camouflage with accents of lime and bright green. These are a men’s size 11.

The shoes look pretty decent, but $2,500!? Fail.

Would you fork over the cash?

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Wow Microsoft I know times are tough but you are giving away a KIA? A friggin’ KIA!?

Yes that’s right. Major Nelson posted today details on Microsoft’s E3 giveaway extravaganza. It looks like you have to already have a valid Xbox Live account to enter but who doesn’t these days? And it even looks like they are giving you cash to help pay for the taxes on your new car (take that Oprah!). You’ll win a trip to LA, a bunch of Benjamin’s, a new home theater system complete with plenty of Xbox schwag, and a 2010 KIA. Wowies!

Head over and enter to win. Good luck!

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