Posts with tag xbox
Posted Jul 14th 2008 3:27PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: HDTV, PVR Wire, Web, Hardware
Microsoft has announced plans to expand the internet video content available to Xbox Live users. Probably the most exciting new feature (although also the most predictable) is a
partnership with Netflix that will let Netflix customers stream video using an Xbox 360 starting this fall.
Netflix currently lets users stream selected content using a web browser or a dedicated set top box developed by
Roku. You won't need to pay any additional fees to watch Netflix videos. But you will need a Netflix subscription. Microsoft says the Xbox 360 will be the only video game console to support Netflix videos, but I wouldn't be surprised if what Microsoft is really saying is that the Xbox 360 will be the
first video game console with Netflix support.
Microsoft has also announced that customers will be able to purchase and download videos
from NBC and Universal. Titles will include
Battlestar Galactica, The Office, Monk, The Mummy, and the Bourne Supremacy. The videos will be available in high definition. Microsoft says there are now over 10,000 movies and TV shows available through the Xbox Live marketplace.
Posted May 17th 2008 2:08PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, South Park, Reality-Free
Remember when it was previously reported that the
South Park Season 11 DVD set will have tracks for the XBox 360 video game Rock Band? Well, apparently
they took it back, according to our sister site, XBox 360 Fanboy.
Xay de Matos from Fanboy speculates that the reason behind ditching the tracks is that they were never intended for
Rock Band. Rather, they were intended for
Guitar Hero (specifically
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock), the video game an entire episode in Season 11 is dedicated to. Apparently, the people in marketing didn't know the difference.
I don't understand the logic behind this decision. It's an excellent promotional possibility, so why wouldn't the makers of these video games be all over this like a fly on rotting food?
The final specs for the DVD set haven't been released, so it's possible some extra goodies will still be on it (Trey and Matt have historically at least done mini-commentaries for every episode). It's a case of wait and see.
Posted May 6th 2008 7:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, South Park, Reality-Free
It looks like some extra goodies are being included with the South Park Season 11 DVD set. Not only do you get great episodes such as "Cartman Sucks", "More Crap" and the immortal "Imaginationland" story arc (I pray the season DVD includes the full commentary of the "Imaginationland" one), but the DVD also includes a 3-song download for the XBox version of the video game Rock Band.
This marketing move makes sense on a couple of levels. First, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are big gamers so they probably got some cool stuff that other gamers only wish they had access to. They even confess their hobby on one of their DVD mini-commentaries. Second, the season includes the episode "Guitar Queer-o", which uses the predecessor game Guitar Hero as central to the plot.
Continue reading South Park Season 11 DVD to include XBox goodies
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 8:58PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Dexter
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.
Continue reading Dexter finally comes to the Xbox 360
Posted Jan 7th 2008 10:23AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, PVR Wire, Software
From the CES, Disney-ABC
has announced it will start selling shows on Microsoft's XBox gaming console via the XBox Live and XBox Live Marketplace. This includes material from two Disney Channels, three ABC Channels and material from the MGM video library.
This move is yet another step in putting a ubiquitous entertainment console in the living room. Not that this is a bad thing. Some of the content will be available in HD, despite the fact that Microsoft is not offering HD-DVD in the console. Maybe they're going Blu-ray?
Continue reading Disney-ABC will sell TV shows on Xbox Live
Posted Jan 4th 2008 12:57PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software
Once upon a time open source media center software Xbox Media Center (or XMBC) was designed to run on an Xbox. Makes sense, doesn't it? But the Xbox 360 is replacing the original Xbox, making the older gaming console a bit harder to find. And while the developers could focus all of their efforts on getting XMBC to run on the Xbox 360, it turns out the code can be ported to all sorts of other devices, including computers running Linux or Mac OS X.
Last year, a group of XBMC developers
started working on a Linux port. And now one XBMC community member has begun
creating a Mac port as a replacement for Apple's Front Row software. The software's not exactly stable just yet, and there's a good chance that if you try running it nothing will happen. But if you've got some programming chops, you could pitch in and help develop the Mac port. If not, you might just want to keep an eye on the project so you can try it out when a workable version is released.
[via
tuaw]
Posted Dec 12th 2007 10:02AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Celebrities, Chuck
Joshua Gomez, Morgan on the NBC action-comedy Chuck, loves his video games. And, when I say 'loves' I really mean 'LOVES'. He's a man who can spout philosophically about the difference between Halo and Halo 2, and can spend 12 straight hours on the couch playing Xbox. Now, that's dedication! Especially since he never mentions anything about bathroom breaks.
So, being cast as a die hard gaming wonk on Chuck was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. That, and he was able to find a kindred gaming spirit in the show's star, Zach Levi. In an article at the gaming website Kotaku, Gomez talks about the game references that are liberally sprinkled throughout an episode. He mentions that many of those references are ad-libbed because the writers aren't actually gamers, themselves.
Continue reading Big shock of the day -- Chuck's Gomez is a gaming wonk
Posted Oct 24th 2007 9:27AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd
According to a CNN article, Microsoft is going to partner with Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers
to produce a library of family games and entertainment for XBox LIVE. This will include kid-friendly games as well as video entertainment
I have to admit that I don't own a gaming console of any kind, mostly because I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from it. This sort of merger of video-on-demand and games-on-demand with a gaming console would no doubt make it harder.
Continue reading Microsoft partners with Nickelodeon
Posted Oct 21st 2007 3:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: HDTV, PVR Wire, Hardware
It's no secret that Sony and Microsoft have big plans for their Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. As video game systems, both consoles are already in millions of homes. But they each contain plenty of advanced features that make them good building blocks for complete home entertainment systems.
Sony has already announced plant to
launch a TV-tuner add-on for the PS3 that will turn the system into a PVR complete with a hard drive, electronic program guide, and the ability to watch and record live TV. Now it looks like there's talk that Microsoft may
issue an updated version of the Xbox 360 with an HDTV tuner as well.
The new unit would reportedly have an HD-DVD drive built in. Right now you need to buy an external device if you want to use your Xbox 360 to watch HD-DVD movies. Sony's PS3 has an internal Blu-Ray drive, which is one of the reasons the video game system launched at a significantly higher price than the Xbox 360 (or any other video game console in history). But with the cost of next generation DVD players coming down, it's getting cheaper to build HD video support directly into a gaming console.
Maybe one day we'll stop calling them game consoles and begin referring to them as entertainment systems. Even though I don't play games very often, for the right price, I'd be willing to buy a single box that can watch and record TV, play music, movies, internet video, and video games.
[via
Slashdot]
Posted Jul 25th 2007 12:03PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: The Simpsons, Web
So, back in May I told you about a limited number of Simpsons-style XBoxes being given away at promotional events in anticipation of the upcoming movie. If you weren't lucky enough to snag one of the yellow consoles with Homer's visage at one of these events, you can try bidding on one that recently popped up on eBay. Just bring a lot of cash, 'cause the bidding, as I type this sentence, is at $1,900.
Continue reading Rare Simpsons Xbox on eBay
Posted Jul 19th 2007 5:33PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Web, Software
Good news for Xbox 360 owners unsatisfied with the video offerings on Xbox Live Marketplace.
CinemaNow has issued an update that lets customers
download and watch movies on an Xbox 360. Up until now, the movie and TV download service was only available to PC users.
You'll still need a PC to download movies. But if your Xbox 360 is plugged into your home network, CinemaNow's Media Manager software will recognize it. That means while the movie will still be sitting on your PC, you can stream it over your network to your Xbox for viewing on your television set.
Nothing too revolutionary there, except that CinemaNow has a library of over 7,000 videos, some of which you will not be able to access from the Xbox Marketplace.
Posted May 29th 2007 2:27PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire
Why use your Xbox as a piddly little media extender for Windows Media Center when you could turn your video game console into a full fledged media center PC in its own right? That's the raison d'etre of
Team-XBMC, the makers of the
Xbox Media Center.
The Xbox Media Center can play music, videos, and pictures from the original Xbox console's hard drive, DVD drive, a USB flash drive, your home network, or the internet. But when it comes right down to it, the media center's just too cool and useful to be confined to a single hardware platform, so a group of the developers are busy porting it to run on any Linux machine. And they're
asking for help.
If you have experience programming with C/C++ and have time to volunteer, you can
contact the developers directly.
[via
eHomeUpgrade]
Posted May 11th 2007 2:49PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire
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]
Posted May 10th 2007 5:21PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, The Simpsons, Hardware
Excuse me if I salivate like Homer standing near a box of donuts, but this is awesome. I want myself a Simpsons Xbox so bad and I don't even play video games. Our pals over at Endgadget, who know more about such things, say that the new system, created as a promotion for the upcoming Simpsons movie, is an Xbox 360 Pro and not an Elite, which apparently means less GBs.
Don't bother trying to find it in stores, though, because only one hundred of these machines were created and they'll be given away at different promotional events as we get closer to the film's release on July 27.
I suppose if you want to you could always just draw a picture of Homer on your Xbox with a Sharpie. Heck, draw Homer on everything in your house and pretend you won some kind of sweepstakes.
Posted Apr 20th 2007 4:03PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, PVR Wire, The Daily Show, Web, Hardware
On the heels of news of Stephen Colbert's "Tek Jansen" cartoons being made available on Xbox Live Marketplace comes even gooder* news: both The Colbert Report and The Daily Show will have full episodes made available on the download service just a few hours after they air on television. The cost is 160 points (I don't have Xbox, but if you do, then I assume you know what that means), or two bucks per episode.
Continue reading The Colbert Report and Daily Show on Xbox Live Marketplace
Next Page >
Six shows that I am watching pretty regularly this season
Five other TV shows where Sarah Palin should appear
Brought To You By ... - VIDEOS
