In rumor news that could probably be filed under the sub-category "too good to be true", word on the street is that Microsoft is planning a huge New Xbox Experience blowout later this month. A five hour long G4TV "console re-launching" event that's said to be full of new Xbox 360 game announcements.
According to forum poster Dodece over on VG Chartz.com, Microsoft will hold their five hour long New Xbox Experience re-launching event on September 25th beginning at 7:00PM eastern and unleash an all out media blitz. Rumored to be announced during the event is news regarding free Halo 3 DLC, new Mass Effect DLC, the first of two chunks of GTAIV DLC and info regarding Portal. Also, during the event, six Xbox Originals will be released for free. There is also mention that MS will announce a Sirius Satellite Radio partnership, a new music download service and something called "Mad Lib" of which isn't explained. As if that wasn't enough, Microsoft will be announcing twelve new game titles exclusive to the 360, all of which are codenamed, but the rumor source confirms Assassins Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, a new Conker title, a new Rare shooter and two new Halo games are in the mix. Phew!
Sound too good to be true? Yeah, sounds that way to us as well. Then again, if Microsoft wanted to march into the holidays with their guns a blazing, holding a five hour long 360 media frenzy would generate a bunch of buzz. Try not to get your hopes up though.
Over the past few months, we've been hearing all kinds of conflictingreports regarding the Xbox 360 exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content and its release date. All of which has led us to question whether the DLC will release later this Fall, sometime next Spring or later in 2009.
Thankfully, Eurogamer had a chance to chat with "sources close to Rockstar North" and learned that the DLC is still on track to release sometime this November. Just as Microsoft promised. Sadly, we are still in the dark regarding what will be included in the DLC or its pricing, but seeing that MS reportedly spent $50 million on it, we doubt it'll be cheap. We're starting our own rumor based on our own speculation which is based on absolutely no facts and predict that the GTAIV DLC will end up costing a whopping 1600 Microsoft points. Tell your friends, you heard it here first!
As info for all things other than the Xbox 360 arrives fresh from the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft took the opportunity to tease Grand Theft Auto IV gamers with the upcoming exclusive downloadable content. "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in the field of digital entertainment."
While the obvious assumption is "news from Liberty City" points at an Autumn launch for the first episode of the content, the "news" referenced in the quote could be a solidified release date for the long-awaited content. Take-Two previously noted that the DLC is expected to arrive during Fiscal Q109 -- which for Take-Two falls between the beginning of November 2008 and the end of January 2009 -- but Microsoft has stood firm on a 2008 release for Episode One.
Looky here kids, it's the Fall dashboard update in the hands of some uber l33t dude who "magically" has the new dashboard installed on his Xbox 360. Even better, he (or she) demos the new hard drive game installation process using GTAIV. From the looks of things, the process isn't quick (copying gigs and gigs of data never is), but does actually copy over ever single megabyte from the disc. Though, you'll need the disc to load the game. Pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the Fall update game installation process.
Hop, skip or sprint over to Amazon.com's Gold Box deals page if you've been putting off a Grand Theft Auto IV purchase and feel the need to run over pedestrians, do drugs and have promiscuous "love making". Amazon.com's current Lightning Deal is non other than GTAIV where, for the next few hours or until supplies exhaust, they're selling the game for a rather satisfying $44.99 or another way to put it, 25% off retail. Pull out the plastic and get your buy on.
It's Sunday, it's time for a weekly deals roundup, so let's get to it.
This week, Best Buy has GRID on sale for $50, is giving away free movie cash with the purchase of Hellboy II or Wall-E and is giving out a free copy of the Aerosmith: Greatest Hits album with the purchase of ANY Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game or bundle. Circuit City has 4000 MS point cards for $45, LEGO Indiana Jones for $43, GTAIV for $55 and are giving away a free guitar strap with any Guitar Hero: Aerosmith purchase. Finally, just like Best Buy, Target is handing out a free copy of Aerosmith: Greatest Hits CD with any Guitar Hero: Aerosmith purchase. As always, feel free to share any deals or discounts you have to share in the comments below.
Posted Jun 23rd 2008 1:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Today is a monumental day in Grand Theft Auto IV history, a historic date that'll be scrapbooked by gamers the world over (even though scrapbooking is so 2002). Today's monumental occasion is none other than the release date of GTAIV's first patch, huzzah! The patch has already been released as a title update and will be insta-downloaded the next time you plop in GTAIV while connected to Live. Curious to know what's all getting patched? Hit the break to real the full list of GTAIV patch updates and fixes. Now pass the scrapbooking glue.
In its historic 1000th issue, Entertainment Weekly made a point to name the new classics of the last 25 years. While EW took everything from movies to tech to task, writers Geoff Keighley, Wook Kim and Gary Eng Walk clawed through the last 25 years of gaming to list the industry's most important releases. Two Xbox-exclusive titles landed in the top 25 of the 50 title list, at number 11 the classic 2001 Xbox launch title Halo: Combat Evolved from Bungie and ranking in at number 20 was Epic's Gears of War.
What are the most important titles in your gaming life and how do you think this list stacks up as a collection of gaming's new classics in the last 25 years? The full 50 title listing can be found after the jump.
Eachweek, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.
Throughout the ages in the world of game design, the idea of collecting random items was developed to artificially extend the life of a game. Why only include a five-hour campaign when you can stuff that length with two hours worth of collecting junk, right? Until the advent of the Xbox 360 such collect-a-thons had no business in our games, but for those of us addicted to Achievement Points it has become a necessary evil in our war to 1000 points.
This week in Points>Life we're taking a look at some recent offenders on the Xbox 360 and attempt to show you where all those knickknacks, trinkets and gems are hidden. Sit back, it's going to be a bumpy and boring ride to Collect-a-Thon city!
Hey Canadians, thinking about getting your father into gaming? While our dads can barely program the VCR, yours may possess the keen insight to pull off a 100-hit combo in Ninja Gaiden II. Best Buy and FutureShop have a few special promotion bundles available just in time for Father's Day that you may want to take a look at.
At Best Buy, purchasing an Xbox 360 Elite package will allow you to choose from four pre-selected bundles that groups such titles as Grand Theft Auto IV with Tomb Raider Anniversary or Lego Indiana Jones with Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy to name a few for $449.99 CND.
Purchasing either the Premium ($349.99 CND) or Elite ($449.99) consoles at FutureShop will net you your choice of GTAIV, Ninja Gaiden II, Lego Indiana Jones or The Bourne Conspiracy.
Full details on Best Buy's offer and a clipping from the FutureShop bundle after the jump.
No matter how much retailers, Microsoft or general sales figures have correlated Grand Theft Auto IV's stellar sales success with new hardware sales, the ever knowledgeable video game industry analysts just aren't buying it.
In a preview of May's NPD sales, the analytical crew over at Lazard Capital Markets and Wedbush Morgan securities are reporting that GTAIV's tremendous software sales in May did not result in a "meaningful increase" for either the Xbox 360 or PS3 as was previously expected. "We do not believe the recent release of GTA IV has generated meaningful incremental demand for the Xbox 360 or PS3 platforms" commented Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets, suggesting that an actual hardware price cut would generate a more noticeable increase in demand.
Sounds to us like GTAIV wasn't the big console seller that Microsoft wanted to be, which is too bad. Though, we have a hunch Rockstar is more than happy with the truckloads of cash GTAIV has dumped on their lap.
Now that GTA IV has been out for enough time to have gamers get a good handle on its workings, one would think that it'd be the time to release good news about the $50 million worth of content that was supposed to lure gamers to the 360 version. Instead, the exclusive DLC episodes will hitting in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 (which actually begins in 2008). Specifically, the new release window for the DLC is November 1st 2008 to January 31st 2009, and funnily enough that's about all the specifics there is on it. See, this is where there should've been an announcement of good news! And with this fall being as full as any other in the industry just how popular will a GTA IV DLC purchase be then?
Being knee-deep in big news yesterday blinded us to the fact that Rockstar Games has finally updated their Social Club page to include multiplayer stats.
Now, criminal masterminds in Grand Theft Auto IV can hit the website and check out detailed leaderboards and statistis for the each of the 14 basic multiplayer modes.
While some bugs are still being ironed out, the Social Club update is an important step to growning the GTAIV community as it awaits news on the highly anticipated downloadable content, exclusively coming to Xbox Live Marketplace this fall.
Now, go back to car jacking. It's been like 7-seconds since I heard a siren.
Having already announced that the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV was the week one sales winner in the UK, Chart-Track has now told Eurogamer that the game also heavily boosted sales of the Xbox 360 console. Since Grand Theft Auto IV's launch last month, sales of the Xbox 360 are up 18% over the Playstation 3 in the UK. ChartTrack also notes that sales of the Xbox 360 have increased 47% over the month prior to GTAIV's launch, whereas PS3 sales have seen an increase of only 8%. Furthermore, a full 57% of all copies of GTAIV sold in the UK were sold for the Xbox 360, leaving 43% for the Playstation 3.
It's not all sunshine and roses for the Xbox 360 though, as the Playstation 3 still holds the lead in overall UK sales for 2008 thus far. As it stands, there still remains a 10% gap between the consoles, though it's worth noting that the gap stood at 20% before the launch of GTAIV.
[Via Joystiq]
Update: Ahem, the numbers are for the UK, not all of Europe.
Eachweek, X3F tips gamers to the tricks of the trade of Achievement hording in Points>Life. Every week a new achievement is unlocked to help you continue your unhealthy obsession with the Xbox 360 meta-game.
This week on Points>Life we're giving you nothing! Well, actually what we're doing is going back and recapping the tips we've given you and added a little postmortem comment. After releasing each feature the X3F Army shared best practices on other methods to obtain similar achievements.
This week we go back to the last eight weeks of tips and tricks, so if you're new to Points>Life ... today is your day!
Over the past few months, we've been hearing all kinds of 
Hop, skip or sprint over to Amazon.com's Gold Box deals page if you've been putting off a 
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In its historic 1000th issue, Entertainment Weekly made a point to name the new classics of the last 25 years. While EW took everything from movies to tech to task, writers Geoff Keighley, Wook Kim and Gary Eng Walk clawed through the last 25 years of gaming to list the industry's most important releases. Two Xbox-exclusive titles landed in the top 25 of the 50 title list, at number 11 the classic 2001 Xbox launch title 
