TVSquad

Too many anguished nights have I spent watching Showtime's Dexter, wondering aloud, "Why can't I control Dexter's actions through my Xbox like so much Lara Croft?", and I know you have too. Believe it or not, we freaks are in luck, because it looks like there's going to be a Dexter video game. Finally! Another few months without it and I would have killed someone.

Okay, I think I have reached my sarcasm quota of the day, so let's get serious here. Dexter is a fantastic show and I have watched it faithfully through its run so far. However much I enjoy it, I cannot imagine it becoming a video game, let alone playing it. The show is built around blood, self-tortured deception, and internal monologue.

It seems we're hopping all over the weekdays recently to make room for more giveaways. Oh come on, who's complaining? Anyway, today we've got something a little different. How about winning a copy of The Simpsons Game, which just came out in stores on November 1st? We've got one copy for the following three platforms: Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. All you've got to do is leave a comment below mentioning which platform you want this game for (out of the three mentioned) before next Wednesday, November 14, and we'll pick three random people, one for each platform.

Some other details:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating what platform you want The Simpsons Game for (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS or Nintendo Wii).
• The comment must be left before November 14, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected in a random drawing, one for each platform (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite or Nintendo Wii).
• One winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Xbox 360 (valued at $59.99), one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo DS (valued at $29.99) and one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo Wii (valued at $49.99).
  

Click here for complete Official Rules.

Windows Vista has been available to the public since January. And while there are some nice upgrades including visual candy in the Windows Media Center Application, media center extenders that worked with your old machine won't work with Vista.

A media center extender is basically a box running software the lets you access content from your Windows Media Center in another room. So far, the only v2 media center extender has been the Xbox 360. If you're not a video game fan, you've been out of luck.

But Microsoft has finally announced that three companies plan to release new v2 media extenders. Linksys, D-Link, and Niveus all plan to launch devices that will act as media center extenders. The new platform allows increased functionality including:

• HD video
• Wireless networking
• Expanded support for audio and video codecs including DivX and Xvid

It's not clear yet whether all three companies plan to release devices with all three new features. There's also no word on pricing, or even what the new devices will look like. They'll "be unveiled later this month in a variety of innovative form factors and price points."

[via Chris Lanier]

It looks like Sony's got some big (and possibly desperate) plans for the Playstation 3. Not only has the company slashed $100 off the price of the 60GB PS3 gaming console, but Sony is also introducing a new version with an 80GB hard drive.

So what's the extra storage for? Sony tells Newsweek's LevelUp blog that it's part of a plan to let users download and play online games -- and also to download high definition video content.

Microsoft has already been selling HD video downloads for the Xbox 360 for the better part of the year. And seeing as how Sony kind of has its own movie studio, there's no big surprise here.

Few details are available regarding the planned video download service. But given that Sony announced its PS3 price cut and new model just days before the E3 convention, it's probably a safe bet that there'll be some news before the week is out.

[via Zatz Not Funny]

The Xbox 360 Spring 2007 update rolled out this week. There's been a lot of attention given to the integration of MSN Messenger and support for 1080p MPEG4 and H.264 video. But it looks like the media extender capability's been tweaked (a little) as well.

If you think of your Xbox 360 first and foremost as a way to access content on your Windows Media Center PC, and secondly as a gaming device, you might want to boot into the media extender interface very time you press the power button. Now you can.

Of course, when it comes right down to it, this isn't that exciting. If you have a media center remote, you could always have just pressed the green button to load the media extender when your Xbox 360 powers up. But if you're a bit old fashioned and like walking over to the box to turn it on, now you can.

[via Aaron Stebner]

Looks like Microsoft wants to give you a good reason to buy that new Xbox 360 Elite with the 120GB hard drive. So they're pumping up their offering of HD video content available on Xbox Live Marketplace.

New content from Paramount, New Line, and Warner Brothers will include Braveheart, World Trade Center, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Snakes on a Plane, and Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

There will also be new content from A&E, National Geographic, Totalvid, and anime from ADV Films.

While there's been a lot of talk these last few days about the AppleTV, the truth is you can only purchase programs with VGA resolutions from iTunes, while Xbox Live offers up HD content (with a hard-to-follow pricing scheme based on "points.")

Orb has been a great utility for streaming audio, video, and pictures from your PC to pretty much any machine with a web browser. We've already told you about how you can use Orb to (sort of) turn your PS3 or Wii into a media extender.

But what about an Xbox 360? This week, Orb added support for that console as well. Sure, the 360 is already designed to be a media extender. But it's always nice to have choices, right?

With the PS3 and Wii, you have to use Orb's web interface. Xbox 360 users just have to make sure their console is connected tot heir LAN. Then all you do is go tot he media tab in your Xbox 360, select the media type you want to play (music, video, or photo), click "computer," and select the PC you want to stream content from.

[via EngadgetHD]

Move over Xbox 360 (well, at least make room for some competition), Sony appears to be working on a video download service for the PS3. In an interview with 1UP, Sony exec Phil Harrison strongly hinted that a video download service was on its way.

Asked whether Sony users could expect a service like Xbox Live Marketplace, Harrison responded "we have a hard drive, we have a commerce engine, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we will have that on the network very shortly."

Sony pushed the PS2 as more than a video game console due to its inclusion of a DVD drive. The goal was to make it a multimedia center. The PS3 steps up the game with the inclusion of a Blu-Ray drive, a hard drive, and network interface. But to be honest, this is the second time Sony has played second fiddle to Microsoft. First, they launched the PS3 a year after the Xbox 360, and now, three months after Microsoft launches its download service, Sony's is still in development.

[via Engadget]

Here's a cautionary tale about all that crap that PC makers load onto a computer before shipping it to retailers.

A user over at The Digital Lifestyle forums reports that he went and purchased a new HP Pavilion M7775 PC runnings Windows Vista, figuring he'd be able to use his Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender. After all, that's what he'd been doing with his old PC running Windows Media Center 2005.

Back in January, One Voice Technologies launched a public beta of the latest version of their Media Center Communicator software, which allows you to control your Windows Media Center with voice commands. The main feature of the update was Vista compatibility. But it turns out that One Voice was holding back on us, and this week they announced a major new feature: Xbox 360 support.

Media Center Communicator v3 for Windows Vista will let you control up to 5 Xbox 360s acting as media center extender for a computer running Windows Vista. You speak into a microphone (which may even be built into a remote control) and your Xbox 360 will play, pause, fast forward, or rewind a television recording, music file, or display photo slideshows.

Because you can name each Xbox 360 on your network, you can stand in the living room and tell your system to start playing slasher flicks in the bedroom, scaring the bejesus out your significant other.

(S05E12) Well, The Apprentice has hit an all-time low. In tonight's episode, the Gold Rush and Synergy teams work on a task to promote the Xbox 360. I mean, working in the porno industry, and with 360 other people! I can't believe what they are going to... oh, excuse me I have a phone call.

Hello? Oh, hi Anna (Anna Johns, vivacious head blogger at TV Squad). Yes, I am talking about this week's Apprentice and their entry into the world of pornography! What? Xbox360 is a video game console made by Microsoft? Really? Gee, I didn't know. I mean, with the 'X' at the beginning I only assumed that . . .Hmm? Have I played any video games at home lately? Well, I did have an Atari 2600 in my youth; gosh, how I loved playing Combat! Yes, yes, I need to get out more. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Sorry.

Ahem.

And now, onto the bangers and mash we affectionately call The Apprentice.