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One New Xbox 360 Accessory You can’t Live Without

The Xbox 360 Messenger Kit available Sept. 4, which includes a Chatpad and Xbox 360 for an estimated retail price of $30.00, allows users to easily chat with friends or family on Xbox LIVE and Windows-based PCs. The automatically backlit Chatpad quickly connects to any Xbox 360 controller and can be easily controlled with simple thumb strokes so users can simultaneously chat and play games with ease.

Stranglehold’s PR Bandwagon, Will Any Body Care?

With more than A few Good games coming out around the same time *Cough* Halo 3 will anybody even have the cash remaining for this game?

Midway, today announced it’s multi-million dollar, global marketing campaign for the highly anticipated and award-winning , expected to release in North America for the Xbox 360 on September 5. The PC and PlayStation 3 versions will follow on September 18 and September 25, respectively. Stranglehold’s marketing campaign, Midway’s most robust campaign ever, is anchored by the pioneering integrated Fox Interactive Media campaign which includes the True to John Woo Short Film Contest, and the special, limited collector’s edition on the PlayStation 3 that features the game and a full-length version of John Woo’s critically acclaimed action film “Hard Boiled” together on the same high-capacity PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray disc. The expansive TV advertising campaign kicked off last week with a sneak peak at Stranglehold and the debut of the winning short film of the True to John Woo Short Film Contest, during the Saturdasian Invasion Film Marathon, on Spike TV.

“Our strategic and unparalleled marketing campaign for Stranglehold has produced immense awareness among consumers,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “We’ve reached outside the typical marketing campaign and tapped into new avenues to reach the mass consumer.”

The Stranglehold marketing campaign will cover all pertinent mediums worldwide and include:

• National television advertising campaign on multiple mainstream broadcast and cable networks such as Spike TV, ESPN, MTV, USA Networks, Comedy Central, and Cartoon Network.
• Outdoor advertising such as billboards, bus shelters, trolley cars and wallscapes in top markets including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles
• Sponsorship of Spike TV’s Saturdasian Invasion Film Marathon on August 18 beginning at 2pm ET.
• Aggressive online campaign to top-tier enthusiast and mainstream consumer sites including MySpace, IGN, Team Xbox, IMDB, GameSpot, GamesRadar, and Rotten Tomatoes.
• Demo on Xbox LIVE! Marketplace, PlayStation Store and PC
• National pre-sell programs at select retailers, where gamers can pre-order Stranglehold and receive Stranglehold branded items such as a shot glass, Xbox faceplate skin, and a special edition John Woo comic book.
• Dedicated web presence at http://www.strangleholdgame.com, http://strangleholdcentral.ign.com/, and http://www.myspace.com/strangleholdgame
• Special, limited edition PlayStation 3 collector’s edition featuring the game and a full-length version of John Woo’s critically acclaimed action film “Hard Boiled” together on the same high-capacity PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray disc. While supplies last.
• Special, limited edition Xbox 360 collector’s edition featuring a behind-the-scenes documentary, extended in-game cinematics with commentary, a sound design featurette, and a look at the visual style of Stranglehold. While supplies last.
• Various video vignettes and trailers on enthusiast Web sites highlighting various game modes
• Press events where enthusiast and mainstream, print and online, media can play pre-release versions of Stranglehold
• Stranglehold’s True to John Woo Short Film Contest which received over 300 entries
• Various sweepstakes with different partners including; PLAY! Magazine, GamesRadar.com and IGN.com
• Cross promotion with Genius Products in conjunction with their Dragon Dynasty DVD collection, including the recent release of “Hard Boiled”
• Sponsorships of major U.S. Asian film festivals in Los Angeles and New York

Medal of Honor Airborne Operation LIVE Jump Weekend

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced Operation LIVE Jump, a special Xbox LIVE* launch weekend for Medal of Honor Airborne beginning on September 7, 2007. The weekend activities, exclusively for Xbox 360 gamers, include a Xbox LIVE Leaderboard tournament to see who has the best skills, a 72-hour ‘Play & Win Sweepstakes’ where every hour a winner is awarded a special prize, a multiplayer showdown where you can play against the developers of Medal of Honor Airborne, and more!

Build up your skills today! Prepare to parachute into battle by downloading the game demo now available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Join the 82nd Airborne on their first combat mission in WWII and jump from a C-47 into Operation Husky, a joint allied operation on the island of Sicily.

Registration is now open and will end at 11:59pm (ET) on September 9, 2007. Terms, conditions, and official rules can be found at here.

Halo 3 Goes Gold .. mmm Duh

The wait is almost over. “Halo 3,” the final chapter in the groundbreaking “Halo” trilogy and one of the most anticipated game releases of 2007, has been sent to manufacturing.

Three years in the making by renowned developer Bungie Studios, “Halo 3” is now finished and will begin its journey to store shelves around the world in less than four weeks. “Halo 3,” which has already set new records as the fastest preordered game in history, has exceeded one million presales in North America alone. The title is set to shatter day-one entertainment sales records when it is released worldwide beginning Tuesday, Sept. 25.

“This is a huge milestone for us and a big cause for celebration at Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios,” said Harold Ryan, Studio Head at Bungie Studios. “This is the game we’ve always wanted to make and certainly the best game our studio has developed. We can’t wait for gamers to get their hands on it on Sept. 25.”

Created by legendary developer Bungie Studios and exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, “Halo 3” will set a new standard for interactive storytelling and social gaming by engaging consumers worldwide in Master Chief’s epic battle to save humankind. In November 2004, the world’s view of video games changed forever with the release of “Halo 2,” which generated a record-setting $125 million (U.S.) in sales within the first 24 hours and changed the way people think about interactive entertainment. Three years later, it remains the most-played game on Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE online gaming and entertainment network, with nearly 1 billion hours of online gaming logged to date.

More Problems For Microsoft The Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

Microsoft Corporation announced today the company is taking a precautionary measure and voluntarily providing customers with a free retrofit to the Xbox 360 Wireless Wheel.

The action is being taken after Microsoft was informed of a very small number of incidents of a malfunction in the Xbox 360 Wireless Wheel, where a component in the Wheel chassis may in rare cases overheat and release smoke when the AC-DC power supply is used to energize the Wheel. There have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage due to the component failure in the Wheel.

Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should stop using the AC-DC power supply until they have obtained their retrofit. Owners may continue to operate the Wheel using battery power.

Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should visit www.xbox.com/support or call Microsoft at 0800 587 1102 to register for the free retrofit and protect against the potential hazard described above. Instructions, if necessary, will be provided with the retrofit. We are notifying and will be coordinating our response activities with the relevant regulatory agencies such as the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. This may impact delivery dates.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Release Date Announced

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will begin deployment to retailers worldwide on November 5. Armed with more than 40 awards and honors from this year’s annual E3 Business and Media Summit including “Best Action Game” from the Game Critics Awards. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be available on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. A Nintendo DS version will also deliver the signature Call of Duty chaos of battle to handheld gamers.

Madden 08 On PS3 Not What It’s Cracked Up To Be?

What does this say about the PS3 as a gaming platform or was it that EA put more time and love into the xbox 360 version of the game? Could it be the devilment tools are that much better for the xbox?

USA Today states:

On the surface, the releases on 360 and PlayStation 3 look identical. However, when you stack them head-to-head, it’s clear which is better. Madden on 360 is fast and fluid, thanks to a sharp jump in frame rate that allows the game to move twice as fast.

PS3 owners, unfortunately, are greeted with a Madden that is sluggish in comparison. Action stutters far too often, particularly on injuries, penalties and turnovers. There’s also a half-second delay between pressing the hike button and receiving the ball in your hands. Even close-ups between play look dull when lined up against the 360’s sleeker cut scenes.

Maxconsole has the alleged response from EA technical support:

“Rob M.” from EA Sports technical support says he understands gamers “frustration,” but says that EA has been “developing titles for the Xbox 360 for over 3 1/2 years” and has only been working with the PS3 for over a year. He goes on to say it’s “very difficult to get it right the first time.” He goes on to say that that 30 frames per second is the same for all PS3 sports games, and they’re happy to point out that the same holds true for 2K Sports as well. He finishes by saying that “if you choose not to purchase the [PS3 version], it is a choice [they] fully understand and respect.”

EA SPORTS $10,000 Craftsman NASCAR Challenge

Electronic Arts today announced the start of the 2007 EA SPORTS Challenge Series which kicked off July 26 with the EA SPORTS Craftsman NASCAR Challenge in Indianapolis. The EA SPORTS Challenge Series is a series of gaming competitions taking place across North America over the next six months.

The competition is scheduled to hit 11 cities overall, giving players from across the country a chance to compete for bragging rights, cash and other prizes. Future stops along the 2007 EA SPORTS Craftsman NASCAR Challenge include: St. Louis, Mo.; Richmond, Va.; Loudon, N.H.; Dover, Del.; Talladega, Ala.; Charlotte, N.C.; Martinsville, Va.; Atlanta, Ga. The ‘In-Store’ Tournaments will be hosted at designated Sears and Kmart retail stores in each city. All Tournament play will be conducted using NASCAR 08 on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system.

“The authenticity of the NASCAR experience is what makes gamers and NASCAR fans alike so competitive when playing NASCAR 08 and now we can deliver an official competitive environment for the best NASCAR 08 players out there,” said Brian Movalson, EA SPORTS Marketing Director. “At our first two stops at Kmart and Sears stores in Indianapolis and Nashville we had eager competitors lined up out the door and enthusiasm for both the game and the upcoming races was palpable.”

“This unique partnership between Craftsman and EA SPORTS is allowing us to bring Craftsman’s NASCAR relationship with NASCAR fans to a gaming audience that is rapidly growing as well,” said Scott Howard, Manager, Sponsorship, for Sears Holdings. “We’re looking forward to bringing these exciting events to the store level at Sears and Kmart stores and to extending this partnership nationally through Xbox Live.”

The ‘In-Store’ Qualifying Rounds competitions will be held over the course of three days in each city on the published Tournament schedule. Players emerging from the Qualifying Rounds with the fastest recorded lap times will advance to the Semi-Finals to compete for a trip to Florida and the Homestead-Miami Speedway and a chance at the $10,000 Grand Prize on November 18, 2007.

Medal of Honor Airborne Demo Release Date

On August 23, parachute into combat with EA’s demo release of Medal of Honor Airborne for the PC and Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system. The Xbox 360 demo will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PC version will be available on the official Medal of Honor website.

***UPDATE Demo Release Download ***

Demo Mission: Operation Husky
A joint allied operation into the island of Sicily, Operation Husky follows Boyd Travers and the 82nd Airborne on their first combat jump on July 11, 1943. After securing and sabotaging four anti-aircraft guns, Boyd is sent to rendezvous with a group of Airborne paratroopers at the edge of the village. Here, they run into the German Heer army, who is attempting to recapture the village from the Airborne. Boyd must push to the end of this small hamlet, eliminating Germans along the way, then find a sniper rifle and eliminate the German commander. He’s successful, but not before the commander has successfully called in reinforcements.

Warriors Orochi 20 New Screenshots

In Warriors Orochi the characters from both franchises must team-up to wage war against a new, yet powerful force. Warriors Orochi ships to North American retailers on September 18, 2007 for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation 2

Warriors Orochi boasts an amazing roster of 77 playable characters from both the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors franchises, while four action-packed “crossover” storylines unveil events where characters from either series are pitted against one another. The game’s new “Team Battle System” and “Weapon Fusion” push Tactical Action to a whole new level. For the first time in KOEI’s Tactical Action games, players can create their own three-person tag team. At any given time, one warrior will be engaged in battle, while the other two are recuperating; restoring their Life Meters and Musou Gauges. Every character is categorized according to offensive ability, and with new fighting techniques, it’s up to the player to find the most lethal combination of warriors. “Weapon Fusion” lets players combine the attributes from different weapons for more devastating results.

Warriors Orochi for Xbox 360 delivers the complete experience with stunning graphics in 720p HDTV and in game Dolby Digital audio.