"Microsoft keeps giving us more for our $299, but the price is stubbornly at $299, and has been for over two years. I think that there are many people waiting for a price drop, and expect one next year," said Pachter in an interview with CVG.
He did say, however, that sales could be revived through the release of the upcoming Kinect bundle, squarely set at the Wii-only family. "I also think that the Kinect bundle is a great value at holiday, albeit at the stale $299 price point," said Pachter.

While a price cut would be welcome, certainly, it's not the only thing Microsoft needs at this point. Exclusive titles are coming few and far between, especially those that are spurring new people to purchase the console. Games like Halo: Reach, Fable III, and Gears of War 3 appeal to an audience that already has an Xbox 360 in their homes, and likely have no interest in upgrading to a fancy new slim model either. While the previous month's sales spike is a nice move for the console, expect it to dwindle as older models begin to sell out.

Kinect is the tipping point. Microsoft is taking a huge risk on the device, trying to obtain the same market Nintendo has been so successful in appealing to. While many have already put their feelings into the price point, the console bundle actually seems like a good deal, and could give the console a new awakening - if the consumer is willing to pay $100 more than the Wii, that is.

Source: http://360.kombo.com

Source: ZergWatch.com

The tools shown in this tutorial can be bought from: xbox-accessories.com (Item: XCM 360 Unlock Kit). Once obtained or you feel that you already have the needed tools, please follow the instructions below (click on photos to enlarge):

1. Remove Xbox 360 Faceplate as shown below

2. Remove the bottom left rubber from case.

3. Follow the instruction to insert the XCM opening tool to the square hole (insert it close to the edge of the hole then turn right as pictured in figure A, and turn left as it shows in figure C)

4. Push the XCM opening tool into the base grill to take off the right heat panel.

5. Push the XCM opening tool to the base grill to take off the left heat panel.

6. Take the heat panels apart.

7. Remove Microsoft Sticker/Seal

8. Undo the 4 Buckles on the Front of the console.

9. Push the XCM opening tool into the indicated holes, press hard to let the top and bottom panels pop apart.

10.  Pull apart the 2 halves of the Xbox 360 case.

11. Remove the DVD Drive eject button. (Pull out)

12. As indicated by the arrow, remove the 6 screws by using the Allen key tool provided.

13. Remove the DVD drive bezel..

14. You are Done!! (All parts shown below)

Source: xbox-accessories.com

Below I will demonstrate it step by step with some photos that might help on how to remove them safely and in about two minutes. J

I assume you already managed to open your xbox 360, if not, please check out post of “How to Disassemble Your Xbox 360”.

Let’s begin with getting a flat screw driver and the same star screw driver you already used to open your xbox 360 with. You will need the flat screw driver to remove the x-clamps and the star screw driver (or Allen key) to remove the screws on the bottom of the metallic casing as we will show you next.

Once assembled you should see your main board, heat sinks and so on. As shown in the photo below:

If so, then do the following:

1. Remove the DVD Drive.

2. To remove the main board from the metallic case, we have to first remove the front button, its being held with three black starred screws. Two are visible and one is hiding below the white light separator/spreader. To remove this white plastic separator/spreader, simply use your fingers and push its top side up, as shown below:

3. Once you removed the white thing, unscrew the three screws. To do this step, you will use the star screw driver, the same one you already used to open your xbox.

4. Once done, pull the whole board towards you, as if you are removing a flash stick from its USB port.

5. Flip your xbox and remove ALL the screws on the back side, there are 9 silver ones and 8 smaller black ones, these screws hold your heat sinks and main board to the metallic casing of xbox. To do this step, you will use the star screw driver, the same one you already used in step 3.

Note: In case you are doing this to remove the x-clamps, then after removing the x-clamps and placing the proper sized screws instead, we will no longer need the black screws mentioned in step 5.

6. Now you have to remove the white plastic that controls the air flow inside your xbox. It’s very easy to remove, simply pull it up towards you, it was designed to have a small lock to the fans, but this lock is useless when placing a small amount of force when pulling it upward. Once done, remove the fans as well, simply pull them towards you. Notice the marked locks that are meant to hold the fans in place; these also are not a problem and can be simply ignored.

7. Once done, we should have something like the photo below. Now we should have nothing in our way when we want to remove the main board from the body.

8. Remove your main board outside the body, ONLY the front side goes up, as shown below, I was using the heat sink itself to move the main board up (not recommended but that’s what we did), remember: ONLY front side goes up!

9. Now look at the bottom of the main board, you will see two X shaped clamps, these are the so called x-clamps, as shown below:

10. If we look at the x-clamps from a lower side view, we should see something like this:

Notice this v-shaped thing holding the heat sink? This is where you have to work.

11. Simply put your flat screw driver as marked in the photo below and rotate with small force (As if you want to flatten this V to a straight line), do this gently not to damage the board. It will go off easily, do the same on all eight x-clamp ends and you are done

After this, go back to our post on “How to fix the “Three Red Lights of Death/Doom (3RLOD)”“.

We hope this photographed tutorial helps and we sure wish the best of luck with your 3RLOD.

In addition, the new Xbox 360 4GB console, which begins shipping on Aug. 3 in the U.S., will be available for $199.99 (U.S. ERP). With a sleek new design, the Xbox 360 4GB console looks great and includes built-in Wi-Fi N, 4GB of internal flash memory, touch-sensitive buttons and a black matte finish.2
"Kinect for Xbox 360 offers tremendous entertainment value for the whole family," said Dennis Durkin, Xbox 360 chief operating officer. "With full body, voice and the ability to play games with your friends right out of the box, Kinect is the most unique, complete and affordable way for everyone to enjoy controller-free fun and entertainment."

With more than 15 games available at launch, living rooms will become fitness rooms, dance clubs and sports stadiums. Kinect games, including "Kinectimals," "Kinect Sports," "Kinect Joy Ride" and MTV Games' and Harmonix's "Dance Central" will retail for $49.99 (U.S. ERP). In addition to games, Kinect changes the way you experience entertainment by putting your favorite movies, TV programs, music and live sports from ESPN all in one place. Begin a movie by simply saying, "Xbox, play," or browse through a music list with the wave of a hand. Kinect also creates new ways for friends and family to have fun together. With Video Kinect,3 share a smile with friends and family, as you open a window into living rooms around the world.

"I think Kinect is a major leap forward in the gaming experience that will appeal to both mainstream and casual gamers," said Michael Gartenberg, partner, Altimeter Group, and author of the Engadget Entelligence column.

Starting today, select retailers are taking pre-orders for the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle at $299.99 (U.S. ERP) and Kinect for Xbox 360 at $149.99 (U.S. ERP). Pre-order Kinect or the Xbox 360 Kinect Console Bundle today, and at launch receive a token to download three exclusive game levels for "Kinect Adventures," the game included with Kinect.4 Those wanting more information or to pre-order now should go to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/wheretobuy.

Source: http://xbox-scene.com

I personally find that the 4GB included “useless”. This deal is a rip off since Microsoft will be selling the 250GB for a fortune. Our advise, do not get fooled by this deal. You will regret it later.

Nearly 200,000 units have been sold between the 11th and the 17th of July compared to 116K for the Nintendo DS, 64K for the Wii, 57K for the PS3 and 34K for the PSP console.

Interestingly, figures are likely to be much higher for the Xbox 360 as the new Xbox 360 Slim was launched on the 16th of July and it is likely that retailers have logged record sales during the weekend.

That said, the Xbox 360 is still lagging in third place with less than a quarter of the market, behind the PS3 at 30.5 per cent and the Wii with 45.35 per cent.

In addition, weekly software sales figures show that the Nintendo is still by far the king of game titles with 7 out of the top 10 titles worldwide.

Source: ITProPortal.com

Microsoft confirms that the November Family Center update will include a "refreshed" Xbox Live dashboard.

Yes, the next Xbox LIVE update will include Family Center," a Microsoft spokesperson told Kotaku. "As we discussed at E3 it will also include a refreshed Xbox LIVE dashboard, the new Kinect Hub and ESPN. This update will be available over LIVE just prior to Kinect for Xbox 360 being available in store in November. We have no additional details to share at this time.

Source: kotaku.com

Instead the Kinect will be released with 16 exclusive games which include sports, fitness and dancing. Also confirmed for release are Fable 3 and a very interesting looking Star Wars game which has yet to be named. Follow the link to Xbox.gamezone.com for a full article on some of the Kinect’s features.

The price of the Kinect has not been confirmed but it is likely, according to retailers such as Amazon and Gamestop that it will be selling for around $150. The pricing structure has been said to be very important, especially due to the current economic environment. What do you think about the compatibility issues surrounding the Kinect? Let us know.

Source: OnlyKent.com

As reported from VG247, Microsoft has informed everybody that they can now sign up on various MS pages which will ensure that you can be one of the first people to know official pricing for Kinect, as soon as it is announced by Microsoft.

The first option is to ”like” Microsoft’s Xbox for all Facebook page – which you can do so here. The second option is to text the words ‘KINECT’ to 30360 and you’ll receive a notification from Microsoft as soon as the price is announced.

Considering that Walmart has already put their Kinect bundle online – it looks pretty likely that the official retail price will be $149.99 – what do you think?

Source: Product-Reviews.net

We at x360me.com think its way over priced, just as overpriced was that wireless adapter. It is simply not logical for an accessory to be equally priced as the console you are getting it for.

Love them, hate them, or be completely indifferent toward them, but in every case Achievements have become a permanent fixture in modern gaming since the launch of the Xbox 360. And in a new Xbox Engineering Blog post, Xbox Live and platform architect Vince Curley gives a detailed explanation of how the Achievements system works, as well as divulges some surprising facts behind their creation -- including that the now-infamous "Achievement unlocked" toast and sound effect was a last-minute addition that almost never existed.

Curley explains that although a key aspect of Xbox Live is the consistency you see across all games, they still wanted to give game leeway in making their own unique presentations, which is why the Achievement "toast" almost never came to be. "Some people argued that gamers wouldn't want the toast popping up in the heat of battle and that game designers would want to use their own visual style to present achievements," Curley writes. "Others argued for consistency and for reducing the work required of game developers. In the end we added the notification popup and its happy beep, which turned out to be the right decision, but for a long time it was anything but obvious."

Curley also recalls how the Achievement system was not "well understood" by developers early on, partly because Microsoft failed to give enough early guidance. "Because of this, early implementations of achievements were inconsistent and not as good as they could have been," Curley writes. "Some games did the minimum required: 5 achievements which were tossed out for basically just starting the game. Some games made the achievements way too hard or too easy. Our developer support team has done an amazing job of providing guidance, including creating a 21-page, 8,000 word whitepaper on best practices for achievements."

But the majority of Curley's post is dedicated to explaining the highly technical details behind how the Achievement process works, including how gamers can unlock Achievements even when offline and they'll still show up on their Gamertag profiles the next time they're online. Do be aware, though, that when we say "highly technical," we mean it: "Since the launch of Xbox 360, game information has been defined using a Game Development Kit (GDK) tool called XLAST, the Xbox LIVE Authoring and Submission Tool. XLAST writes the game information to an XML file called an XLAST file," Curley explains, and that's just the beginning of a lengthy explanation that involves flow-charts and chunks of actual code used for examples.

Still, if you have a mind for this kind of stuff, it's a fascinating look at just how much it takes to make that little "Achievement unlocked" toast appear on your screen each time.

Source: 1up.com

French site Logic-Sunrise has posted screenshots of what appears to be a beta version of a new Xbox 360 dashboard, which includes a new visual style and the (curious) inclusion of a "Natal Tuner" application. Keep in mind that these screenshots are unofficial, particularly since the screens make use of the placeholder name for what has now become known as "Kinect". Of course, these screens could be from a build of a new Xbox 360 dashboard that predates the announcement of Kinect as the technology's official name.

Source: TechDay.co.nzd

As reported from VG247, the US retailer is providing a Kinect bundle for $199. If you needed any further proof that the standalone price for Kinect will be $149, then Walmart’s bundle is probably all you need.

For $199, you’ll get a Kinect kit, a choice of a Kinect game and also a $30 eGift Card at Walmart. It is not a bad deal for the $50 extra when you think about it.

There will be six games to choose from, they include: Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventure, Dance Central, Kinectimals, Kinect Joy Ride or Harry Potter: Deadly Hallows. You can also choose an additional game with the bundle for an extra $59 – bringing the total price to $258 with two games.

What are your thoughts on this? It seems a bit odd that Walmart has put this online despite the fact that Microsoft are yet to officially confirm pricing.

Are you interested in this bundle or not? I’m sure there will be a lot more bundles to choose from closer to the November 4th Release. Visit Walmart’s page here.

Source: Product-Reviews.net

Wish we will see more official bundles from Microsoft. Such as my own fabricated bundle below.

Bundle Contents (Price: $399):

• xbox 360 s
• The new Call of Duty game
• A Kinect game
• Kinect controller

Sounds like a hot deal to me

Microsoft has said that an Arcade version of the Xbox 360 "S" (aka Slim) was coming but hasn't provided any hints on what it would or wouldn't have and hasn't given a general release date beyond later this year. Now a listing at Amazon's German website may have let some of those details slip.

The new Xbox 360 Arcade will come with 4GB of memory according to the Amazon listing. This could be internal flash memory but the listing says "Bundle" which indicates it might be a USB thumbdrive.

The Slim Arcade is due out on August 20, 2010 in Germany.
They price the new console is listed in Euros at €148.99 which translates to $187 and change. The $199.99 retail price in the United States is unlikely to change for the new Arcade.

Source: examiner.com

Littlewoods, which also sells under the Additions direct and Very brands, also offers a 10 per cent off when you open a Very account - which may come handy when buying games - and the possibility of delaying your payment well into next year.

At £174 (use discount code ZZ388 for the £25 discount) plus £4 for delivery, the Littlewoods' price is £11 less than the next cheaper offer by grocery giant Tesco.

However, the latter comes with 378 Clubcard points which might be redeemed against up to £17 worth of offers.

The new Xbox 360 boosts a completely redesigned, sleeker chassis with a black gloss finish, with onboard 802.11n Wi-Fi, five USB ports, low noise, native Kinect support, better cooling and no chances of getting RRODed ever again.

The console should be out on the 16th of July in the UK and is already guaranteed to be a massive seller.

Source: ITProPortal.com

Global supermarket behemoth, Tesco has unveiled the first cut-price offering of the upcoming Xbox 360 Slim, the latest games console from Microsoft.

Already out in the US, the slimed down 360 is due for release in the UK this coming Friday (July 16th) and has been available for pre-order on our British shores for a number of weeks at its £200 RRP. Tesco, however, has decided to reduce its per-unit profits and offer the latest Xbox console for just £189 ahead of its launch which coincides with the start of UK school’s summer holidays.

As the retail giants state ‘Every little helps’ and Tesco is living up to this motto offering clubcard holders double points on the cheapest available 360 Slim worth more than £12, or in gaming terms, a good chunk towards a new title.

With pre-order made before July 15th promised delivery on the July 16th launch day, Tesco is looking to bump customers up from the older Xbox 360 Elite, which is marginally cheaper, to the new, quiet, smaller, 250GB hard drive packing Slim model.

With such a small price difference between the Elite and the Slim (£40), customers tempted to splash out on the newer model could see the older 360 consoles sold at a loss in the near future as Microsoft try to reduce stock levels.

Source: T3.com

Due to an inability to acquire five Xbox 360 S models and five PS3 slims; we ran the test using four identical Xbox 360 S consoles and one Xbox 360 Premium (old) model. The consoles were partnered with four PS3 slims and the original 160gb PS3 fat. This allowed for a fat versus fat and multiple slim versus slim. For the games, we had to do it out of pocket, so we grabbed six copies of Madden 09 and ran three pairings and then one pair of slims and the fats. The tests conducted consisted of game simulations running until one system or another overheated (or shutdown in each test).

The slims took the longest despite being in closed cabinets. We had to conduct the comparison in closed cabinets to simulate entertainment centers because all six consoles ran fine through the first two work days with not a single console freezing, shutting down, or malfunctioning.

After putting the consoles in barely ventilated cabinets, the tests finally “heated up”. In every slim model tests, the PS3 models shutdown first. This occurred multiple times as we tested each pairing three times. This doesn’t mean the PS3 models are faulty by any means. It simple means they’re designed to shutdown at a lower temp or possibly they heat up faster. Even after multiple tests in identical situations with high temp exposure, not a single console showed any sign of damage after rebooting. The “fat” models however were a much easier test in terms of time and results. The PS3 160gb won this test in under five hours. Sadly the 360 Premium (fat model) was under able to reboot as we got red ring and boxed that one up.

The fat model results are not a real big surprise. We’ve known the issues the original Xbox 360 SKUs have had since 2005. The new models however continue to surprise with improved reliability and the ability to handle heat much better than their predecessor.

Source: GoFanboy.com

Maybe it's a bit harsh calling these 'lies', but when a feature is announced for a system at an event as big as E3, I expect at least an announcement that it won't make it into the retail system at launch. Not even mentioning them is as good as pretending they never existed in my eyes. Ok, let's get started.

Lie 1 : Minority Report Dashboard Control

At the original Project Natal announcement, control of the current dashboard was available using various swiping gestures. You could swipe right,left,up and down to navigate the dashboard. I thought this was a great idea as the current dashboard would lend itself very well to this kind of navigation. You can see an example of this in the video below, at about the 3:10 mark.

Imagine my disappointment when were shown the new 'kinect dashboard' at this years E3. A seperate minidash will be integrated into the current software. You may even have to use a regular xbox controller to access this minidash, and once you do you'll be able to use Kinect to navigate. Now that wouldn't be so much of a problem, if the minidash was similar to the current dashboard. Instead, the new Kinect dashboard is virtually the exact same to the one you'd find your Wii. It displays various boxes across the screen, which if you point your finger at for a couple of seconds, you can access. This is a far cry from the super cool navigation we saw last year.

Lie 2 : Object Scanning

Another amazing feature that Kinect promised back in 09 was the ability so 'scan' objects using the device, which could then be used inside whatever game you happened to be playing. A great idea in theory, and could have added a lot of depth to the Kinect platform. Unfortunately, when E3 2010 came around, there wasn't a single mention of this feature and when asked about it in interviews, Microsoft employees remained vague about the issue. Consider it MIA.

Lie 3: Voice Recognition

Ok, so Kinect still supports voice control. You can still stop and star movies on a whim by simply speaking such phrases as 'xbox play movie' and 'xbox pause movie'. However, the system's ability to differentiate between various people's voices seems to have gone the way of the dodo, right along with object scanning. Another feature that, while not earth shatteringly crucial, could have provided many exciting experiences on the xbox 360.

Lie 4 : More than 2 players

The first video trailer for Project Natal clearly showed a family of four sitting down ( something I'm not even sure works with Kinect. I've heard rumors that it doesn't, but Microsoft are saying otherwise. We'll have to wait and see ) playing some sort of game show title on the xbox. A recent announcement from Microsoft stated that 'up to two players' can use Kinect at any one time. This isn't the worst blow ever and it's something I can live with, but they shouldn't have advertised more than two players in the first place if they didn't know for a fact they could nail it.

Lie 5 : Milo and Kate

This is the big enchilada, the greatest lie ever told! Well not quite, but , in the gaming industry at least, it's certainly up there. Milo and Kate, when it was first demoed at E3 2009, seemed like it was years ahead of it's time, possibly because it was. The game showed a woman interacting with a small boy on her television screens in the most amazing of ways. She could converse with the child, it understood her, it could see her concern or excitement, she could trade items with the boy. It was like nothing the world had ever seen before. What's more, it represented a host of brand new opportunities for the xbox 360. Imagine Mass Effect utilizing this system, the possibilities were endless.

On year on, and we have no idea whether this game is in limbo or out, what features are still in the product, or if it even still exists at all. Some Microsoft spokesmen are saying it's not an actual game, others are saying it is. It wasn't present at this years E3, except, according to Peter Molyneux, to a select few celebrities. You would think Microsoft would be showing Milo and Kate to as many people as possible, as it was certainly the most impressive piece of Kinect software that had been shown so far.

So there you have it. Whether you consider these lies, omissions or anything you'd like, there's no denying that Project Natal is but a shadow of its former, E3 2009, self.

Source: GlimpseDog.com

Originally priced at $69.99, Xbox 360 owners can now purchase the accessory at new low price of $59.99, a savings of $10. Purchasing the official 16GB flash drive does not require any set up to get acknowledge on the Xbox 360, just plug it in and you’re set.

But if $59.99 is still an unreasonable price, why not just get an after market flash drive?

Source: JustPushStart.com