Following up on news earlier in the week regarding the next Xbox Live update locking out unauthorized storage devices, Datel, a manufacturer of such devices, has responded.

A Datel spokesperson told CVG that such a lockout would prevent “customers from exercising their freedom of choice.” It appears that Datel has no more information on the proceedings than anyone else who read Major Nelson’s blog, as they stated “If the Major Nelson blog is to be taken at face value then we're disappointed...”

The Datel mouthpiece added:

We are following this issue and awaiting the outcome like everyone else. Everyone is looking for ways to make their cash go further at the moment and we believe that Max Memory offers a good value, high capacity, alternative to the official Memory Unit.

EA Sports President Peter Moore has labeled the videogame industry’s current reliance on disc-based media as a “burning platform.”

Speaking at the PLAY Digital Media Conference, Moore also thinks Microsoft will be the first console manufacturer to go all digital, reports IGN, even though such a move is years away. Speaking on digital distribution he stated:

As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.

While Moore added that it could take up to a decade for physical media to disappear, he asked:

The important question is, what does the next console look like? Does it actually have a disc drive?

As part of its next Xbox Live Update, Microsoft will cripple the use of any unauthorized, third-party 360 storage and memory devices.

The news was announced on Major Nelson’s blog and has more than a few 360 users upset, as third-party devices are less expensive than Microsoft’s first-party offerings and have worked fine with the 360 up until now. A 4GB Max Memory Card offered from Datel sells for about $49.99, while Microsoft’s official Xbox 360 Memory Unit has 512MB of storage and sells for $29.99.

Some comments on Major Nelson’s blog praise Sony for the open architecture of the PlayStation 3, as any hard drive or USB storage device can be utilized. Xbox Live user Southpaw asked if “Microsoft made cars we could only buy Microsoft gas and drive on Microsoft roads?”

Major Nelson weighed in this morning on the 15^th page of comments, saying “It took some time, but I have read all the comments here. Some interesting points that I'll be sharing.”

While this could be a way to affect 360 modders and/or hackers, what are your thoughts? Buyer beware for using a third-party device or a bad move by Microsoft in alienating its fan base?

Usually, it's the PC crowd that gets dissed by game publishers. But in the case at hand Valve is doing right by computer gamers while Microsoft seems intent upon squeezing the last nickel out of Xbox 360 owners.

At issue is Crash Course,  a bit of DLC for the popular zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. Valve, which doesn't charge for DLC, plans to give Crash Course away to PC players. Meanwhile MS will be nicking 360 gamers $7 for the download.

Not that he has any explaining to do (although MS does), but Valve's Chet Faliszek told Eurogamer why it's happening this way:

We own our platform, Steam. Microsoft owns their platform. They wanted to make sure there's an economy of value there...

Via: The Consumerist

Xbox 360 maker Microsoft is playing defense against a lawsuit filed in a Wisconsin court by a disgruntled gamer who claims that his console scratched game discs.

The Madison Record reports that plaintiff Jason Johnson's suit is proceeding after Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack denied Microsoft's motion to dismiss the case. Although Judge Stack threw out two counts, he ruled that two others may proceed. Johnson is seeking $50,000 plus costs. From the newspaper:

Johnson is suing the company for alleged defects in its X-Box 360 video game console. Johnson alleges the company sold the product knowing it scratched video games and made them unplayable...

 

Johnson is seeking damages from the Washington-based company's alleged violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, negligence, breach of implied warranty and strict product liability.

According to the newspaper account, Microsoft's attorney argued that the suit should be dismissed because Johnson didn't personally buy his 360; the system was a gift from his wife. That's a pretty silly argument and Judge Stack apparently thought so too.

When more than half of what you're manufacturing fails, that's not a good way to win friends and influence customers.

But that appears to be the case with Microsoft's Xbox 360. A survey of 5,000 Game Informer readers indicates that the Xbox 360 dies at a 54.2% rate, compared to 10.6% for the PlayStation 3 and 6.8% for the Wii.

Game Informer also rated MS poorly on customer service, with turnarounds on repairs taking several weeks longer than for Sony and Nintendo.

GP: While those numbers may seem shocking, I actually find them surprisingly low. I've had three Xbox 360s go on me; two were Red Rings failures and the third was the very common disc-read failure. So, my failure rate is... 100%.

Via: The Consumerist

Times are tough, so why not blow your last few bucks on virtual threads for your Xbox Live avatar?

Designer Michael Connell spoke to Kotaku about his new line of fashion for XBL. While some of Connell's designs pay homage to the popular Steampunk style, he also gives a nod to the down economy with "Recessionista" clothing:

I was thinking about making a statement, if you will, that even though this time of global recession, everything isn't bad." Connell said. "And in the 30s, in a time that was really bad, much worse than it is today, it wasn't all bad. There was fashion that was quite interesting. And this fashion wasn't the couture that was happening at the time...

 

[I hope] to kind of show that there are good things and we've been there and we'll get out. Clearly these are subliminal messages, but this is what I was inspired by. If you design a collection I think the most important thing is there needs to be heart and soul and direction.

paidContent is reporting that Yahoo may soon sell off its Yahoo Games unit in an effort to cut costs.  HotJobs, Yahoo Small Business and Yahoo Personals are already on the sell list.

Yahoo Games averages 19.2 million unique visits per month and partnerships with PopCap, Gogii Games and Big Fish have helped to create a portfolio of hundreds of games. Yahoo’s fantasy sports business would not be included in the fire sale as it is part of Yahoo Sports.

While Yahoo doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation, paidContent’s sources say two potential buyers have already come calling.  Who might be interested in acquiring Yahoo Games?  Speculation runs from IGN Entertainment to Best Buy and GameStop but MSN Games and AOL are seen as the best candidates.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Yahoo have worked out a deal to merge their search engine businesses in a direct challenge to Google's dominance.

Via: GameDaily

-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Correspondent Andrew Eisen...

President Barack Obama's admonition to parents to "put away the Xbox" has drawn a response from Microsoft.

Obama made the remarks on Thursday evening during a speech he delivered at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. Here's what the President said:

To parents, we can’t tell our kids to do well in school and fail to support them when they get home. For our kids to excel, we must accept our own responsibilities. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences, reading to our kids, and helping them with their homework...

...and here is Microsoft's response, as reported by the Associated Press:

We agree with President Obama that it’s a time for families to work together so that kids use media in ways that are safe, healthy and balanced. Xbox 360 is the only console gaming system that has a timer feature allowing parents to set time limits for their kids, as well as parent controls to enable parents to set limits on what their kids are playing and watching.

A recently-released Xbox Live Community Game (MS recently announced that these will soon be called Indie Games) features President Obama as a side-scrolling, 2-D brawler.

Angry Barry is available for 400 points on Xbox Live. We didn't spring for the game although we did check out the free demo.

Hillary Clinton makes an appearance in the game and the screen shot at left appears to feature Sarah Palin. From the game's XBL page:

Angry Barry is a sidescrolling, political parody, 1-2 player 2D beat 'em up in the tradition of many classic arcade games. Take control of Barry as he tries to take over the Presidency of the United States!

Larry Hyrb, aka Major Nelson, is currently in Baghdad.

The Director of Programming for Xbox Live tipped readers to the surprise 10-day trip in a blog post on June 7th:

I am a few hours away from stepping on a plane for the first leg of my journey to Baghdad, Iraq for the Iroq-Band competition taking place next week. I am honored to be asked to support the event, and I am looking forward to meeting many of service men and women that are Xbox LIVE members...

 

With all of the travel and security involved in this trip, my online time... will be extremely limited... I want to warn you that I’ll be unusually quiet (which I am sure won’t bother some of you) during my radio silence. 

Major Nelson arrived in Iraq on Wednesday. Despite the heavy security of a war zone, he has been providing numerous updates via Twitter. Some of his recent tweets give the flavor of the experience:

It takes you back when the staff where we are staying have sidearms and automatic weapons.

 

Taking a scenic tour of downtown Baghdad aboard a Blackhawk heli.

 

Apparently I slept through a mortar attack last night. No one was injured.

 

Seems like Xbox 360 is everywhere on this base. The only thing they don't have is LIVE due to the poor connectivity.

 

Most popular games on the base? Rock Band, Halo, COD (any of 'em) and all sports games.

The pic at left is from the Major's ride-along with a Blackhawk sortie over Baghdad.

In a surprising turn of events, development has ceased on Rendition: Guantanamo, apparently forever.

The sudden announcement was made earlier today by Scottish firm T-Enterprise and comes following a day of backlash in the wake of media reports about the alleged terrorist background of Moazzam Begg (left), a key consultant to the project.

In a statement released earlier today, T-Eterprise director Zarrar Chishti blamed press coverage  by U.S. media:

Unfortunately, much of the speculation regarding the game itself made by various publications and websites has been inaccurate and ill informed... [The game] was never designed to be “propaganda” or “a recruiting tool for terrorism”. Neither was it designed to glamorise terrorism as has been reported.

First and foremost, the main character was NOT Moazzam Begg... T-Enterprise is against all forms of terrorism... Furthermore, Guantanamo was to be a mercenary run institution and so there would have been NO American military personnel killed within the game...

 

I would now like to refute all suggestions that the game was in any way linked to Al Qaeda. T-Enterprise has never had and would never have a link to Al Qaeda in any way, shape or form... The game was simply designed to be an action video game that adults could enjoy.

However, as a direct result of the extreme reaction that the game and its popular misconceptions have provoked, T-Enterprise has decided to pull out of the project and will not be completing Rendition: Guantanamo.

Damaging press coverage included a blog post by Tom Joscelyn of the conservative Weekly Standard which indicated that Moazzam Begg had strong ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The publication referred to Rendition: Guantanamo as "Al Qaeda's Xbox Fantasy Game."

Conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh also attacked Rendition: Guantanamo yesterday on his radio program, calling the game "disgusting." Noting that Rendition: Guantanamo was being developed for the Xbox 360, Limbaugh linked Microsoft to the project:

This is something that Bill and Melinda Gates -- they have their Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and so forth -- they should be made aware and held accountable if this is something they allow to go forward.  Military families all over the country are just going to be outraged by this.  They have risked their lives to capture these terrorists, and the game dishonors the sacrifice that they've made for our country.  

The game is obviously political...  it's a game played from the standpoint of a detainee and how unfair he's treated and how hopeless his life is and all is lost unless he can escape.  There's already a firestorm of conversation about this that's percolating out there now.

Xbox Live has had a rocky relationship with its gay and lesbian users in recent times, but there are signs that things may be improving.

Gay Gamer reports that Stephen Toulouse, who polices the XBL community, recently met with members of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation:

I can't talk about what we discussed specifically except to say that we provided them with a lot of information about what we do today, why we do what we do and how we do it. And then we asked them the question, 'How can we do this better?' And we have some ideas. Here are some ideas. That dialog was super, super helpful. I think it was a great engagement. Justin and Jeffrey who came out from GLAAD really appreciated the effort that we're putting into it - and had great ideas, like they brought up some stuff we hadn't thought of.

We'll plan to say something about [GLAAD and Xbox LIVE policy] in the future.

Via: Kotaku

U.K. newspaper Telegraph reports that a veteran graphics designer employed by the Xbox side of Microsoft's house has sued the company for £45,000.

Jamie Durrant, 38, claims in the suit that he was harassed for an extended period by coworkers who indulged in name calling and nasty notes. Durrant worked with Lionhead for more than a decade until MS acquired the Peter Molyneux studio in 2006. His design credits include AAA titles Fable, Black & White and The Movies.

The Telegraph also notes that Xbox has seemingly had difficulty coming to grips with Xbox Live users who self-identify as gay.

Of his situation, Durrant told the newspaper:

I have never hidden my sexuality from the office and I felt this could be targeted at myself. This was not the first time there was homophobic content in the office. Previously, I had tried to deal with it myself. This time, I did not feel that I could.

I was very surprised that Microsoft did not have any policies relating to this sexual orientation harassment... I feel like they're making out that I'm the one with the problem and not the homophobic aspects of the company.

Durrant's situation notwithstanding, Microsoft earned a perfect score from U.S.-based gays rights group the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in 2008.

A woman who identified herself as a lesbian in her Xbox Live profile has reportedly been banned from Microsoft's online gaming venue.

The woman, known only as "Teresa," told The Consumerist:

My [Xbox Live] account was suspended because I had said in my profile that I was a lesbian. I was harassed by several players, 'chased' to different maps/games to get away from their harassment. They followed me into the games and told all the other players to turn me in because they didn't want to see that crap or their kids to see that crap.

As if xbox live is really appropriate for kids anyways! My account was suspended and xbox live did nothing to solve this, but instead said others found it offensive...

Microsoft does nothing to stop this or prevent it, but instead sides with the homophobes...

Microsoft, which in September received a perfect score from gay equality group Human Rights Campaign, has struggled with the gay identity issue on Xbox Live.

Most notably, in 2008 XBL banned the gamertag "Richard Gaywood," even though it was the user's actual name.

The great debate over used game trades rages on...

Sure, GameStop execs support used game trades; it's a huge piece of their business model.

But it's especially nice to see a member of the game publishing elites step up and support the consumer's right to choose.

Along that line, gamesindustry.biz has a multi-part interview with MS exec Chris Lewis, who comments thusly on used trades:

I'm a fan of the [gaming] ecosystem overall. I can see the positive in [used game trades], because I can see that what you then get is more and more people touching, playing, experiencing a game that they may not otherwise have access to.

I think you've got to try and extract some positive from it, and that's undoubtedly a good factor - a positive swirl of ecosystem that results. Clearly it's a reality, and certain retailers are very focused and spend a lot of time on it. It's good business for them.

 

I think things like premium downloadable content, and that kind of thing, will ultimately play a part in used games - and that's not me saying that it's a great way for us to try and minimise that. I think it will be a great enhancement to the way that people experience games. If some additional content is available via the Xbox Live service, for instance, that further enriches the game experience and might encourage folks to hang on their games for a bit longer.

GP: For showing a pro-consumer attitude on used game trades, we'll toss Chris a white hat...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's West Coast junket touched down in Redmond yesterday for talks with Microsoft.

Mass High Tech reports that Patrick (left), a Democrat, discussed the video game business with MS Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie.

While the Guv described his meeting with Ozzie as "very encouraging," the Microsoft exec apparently pulled no punches:

Ozzie suggested Massachusetts needs to reinvent its high-tech image.

“The famous Route 128 tech highway — people are thinking of that image as being in the past,” said Greg Bialecki, state undersecretary for business development, who accompanied Patrick on the trip. “How do we talk about a new conversation about what we are doing today?”

 

The [Massachusetts] regional gaming cluster already includes companies such as Turbine Inc., 2K Boston, Blue Fang Games LLC, Harmonix Music Systems Inc., Demiurge Studios, Tencent Holdings Limited, 38 Studios LLC, Mad Doc Software and Crate Entertainment...

 

Patrick said West Coast tech execs tell him Silicon valley has a greater “spirit of collaboration,” and “also the ability to start and fail and start again.” To keep entrepreneurs from heading west, Massachusetts will have to emulate that culture...

The Guv is on a mission to bring high tech companies - including game industry firms - to the Bay State. Patrick's other West Coast meetings this week include stops at Facebook, Google and Electronic Arts.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) will meet with Microsoft, Electronic Arts and other, unspecified video game publishers during a West Coast trip next week.

The Boston Business Journal reports that the Guv and several top economic advisors will meet with non-gaming high-tech firms as well, including Google and Cisco. Patrick's group is expected to visit with about 50 companies in all.

While the main purpose of the trip is to head off potential layoffs in Massachusetts, Patrick hopes to persuade game companies to set up shop there as well.

GP: Gov. Patrick might have a better chance with the game companies if the state legislature hadn't nixed a proposed tax break measure in 2008.

UPDATE: The Belmont Citizen-Herald has more on Gov. Patrick's trip, including comments from Massachusetts' Undersecretary for Business Development Greg Bialecki:

We do not have a national video game publisher and the governor will make the case that there is enough local video game development talent that a recognized video game publisher like a Microsoft or EA should be locating here in Massachusetts as well.

With recently-announced layoffs pummeling the gaming side of Microsoft's house, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is urging MS to cut visiting foreign workers before sending American citizens to the unemployment line.

Reuters reports that Grassley forwarded his request via a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer late last week. The Xbox 360 manufacturer employs thousands of foreign national under the H-1B visa program.

Grassley's comments to Microsoft include:

I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan...

 

Microsoft has a moral obligation to protect these American workers by putting them first during these difficult economic times.

The full text of Grassley's letter is available on his Senate website.

President Barack Obama's status as pop culture icon extends to Xbox Live as well as, seemingly, everywhere else.

Joystiq notes that the Obama inauguration was featured on XBL last evening:

Log into Xbox Live tonight and the first thing you'll see is ... a photo of President Obama from today's inauguration. Indeed, the spotlight of the Spotlight channel is today's ceremony, including video of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden being sworn into office, the 44th President's inaugural speech and more.

Even the Movies and TV Shows categories have taken on the theme, featuring the likes of The West Wing and -- wait a second -- Mars Attacks? Yes, the Tim Burton camp-fest is inexplicably among the inaugural offerings...

Indeed, the Obama features are still up this morning.

Obama, as GamePolitics readers will recall, was the runaway choice among Xbox Live users in political polling conducted by the online gaming venue during the run-up to November's election (see: Xbox Live is a Blue State).

The Obama campaign also created a stir with its groundbreaking in-game ads, which were seen only on Xbox Live. The XBL ad story was broken on GamePolitics, BTW.

Included in the current inaugural theme is a segment introduced by Major Nelson which features XBL users offering their opinions as to what the new chief executive should prioritize. Aside from the woman who wanted Bruce Springsteen named "secretary of rock" and the guy who demanded a college football playoff system, the answers showed that the XBL crowd is both thoughtful and well-versed in current affairs.