It’s finally official after all the rumors, speculations and retailers having a difficult time keeping the news under wraps. Microsoft has now officially announced a price drop for its Xbox 360 game console, which is the first since the consoles launch.

The announcement brings a $50 price cut off the Premium, 20GB system leaving it at $349.99. Microsoft is also taking the black, 120GB Elite system down $30 bringing its price to $449.99 and finally Xbox 360 Core system will be priced at $279.99 after a $20 drop.

You’ll be able to take advantage of these reduced prices at retailers starting August 8th. This price cut will be followed shortly after on August 14th with the launch of Madden NFL 08 for the Xbox, which Microsoft is likely hoping will entice additional console sales.

Xbox Announcement

Microsoft made an announcement today at Comic-Con International that they will be cutting the price of not the Xbox 360 itself, but the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Effective August 1 the HD DVD player price will drop by $20 from $199 to $179. In additional to the $20 reduction Microsoft will be extended the “Perfect Offer” from Toshiba, the maker of the HD DVD player, which gives a mail-in offer for five free HD DVD movies.

Microsoft had a couple of other related announcements regarding the launch of “300″ and “Heroes: Season 1″, both on HD DVD. “300″ will be available on-demand through the Xbox Live Marketplace on August 14th and the Heroes pilot episode along with other promotional footage will also be available for download through the marketplace.

This morning Digg’s Kevin Rose made a pre-announcement on the sites blog about the company making a 3 year deal with Microsoft to start exclusively providing ads on the Digg website, which was Google’s job up until now. “This move gives us an advertising partner with a larger organization and a more scalable technology platform to keep pace with Digg’s growth,” said Rose in the blog entry.

The Digg website sees around 17 million unique visitors a month which equates to a whole lot of page views and a whole lot of revenue and publicity for Microsoft’s ad-service product. Rose went on to express the importance and plans that Digg has to further focus on feature development and improve the user experience. He also mentioned that they will continue to work with their long-time partner Federated Media …

According to HollywoodReporter some unknown sources say that the Xbox 360 from Microsoft will see a $50 price reduction next month to try to boost up sales of the game console. The price cut is expected on August 8th to be exact, but it was not clear whether the price cut would be on the Core, Pro, Elite or all three.

Many expected some type of price reduction announcement at E3 this year, but were met with disappointment as no such announcement was made, and Microsoft is neither confirming nor denying plans for a reduction in the price coming up.

The rumored August 8th announcement date may actually have some meaning since shortly after that “Madden NFL 08″ will be coming out along with titles “BioShock” and “John Woo Presents Stranglehold” coming later in the month which would help …

Information, or “misinformation” as Microsoft is calling it, was passed around the net earlier this month that Microsoft would be releasing the first service pack for Windows Vista sometime earlier this week. Well, the week is almost out and we’ve seen no SP1 show up anywhere, and now Microsoft has released a statement regarding the issue:

“There will be a Windows Vista service pack and our current expectation is that a beta will be made available sometime this year. Service packs are part of the traditional software lifecycle — they’re something we do for all Microsoft products as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, and providing early test builds is a standard practice that helps us incorporate customer feedback and improve the overall quality of the product.

Service packs are just one example of

…

The game to have last holiday season was Epic Games’ “Gears of War” for the Microsoft Xbox 360. It sold over three million copies before 2006 was over and pretty much clubbed the poor PlayStation 3 over the head during holiday shopping mode (if you couldn’t find a Nintendo Wii). Now, after vague promises of a PC port, Microsoft has come out and finally said that there will be a Windows version of “Gears” in time for holiday 2007. The really great news is that Epic will be adding new content for the PC edition meaning that for players that have already experienced the 360 version there will be new stuff to shoot in the PC game.

The PC “Gears” will add on three new multiplayer maps, five new campaign chapters, an extra multiplayer game mode and a game editor for adding …

At the Microsoft E3 press conference held last night in Santa Monica there was lots of news about the company’s plans for “Halo 3″, set for release on September 25. First up is a new Xbox 360 console decorated in Spartan green and gold trim. While Microsoft didn’t say what the exact date of availability for the Halo 3 edition Xbox 360 would be, it’s likely to be the same day that the third “Halo” game comes out. The Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition console will include a 20GB hard drive, a headset, and a play and charge kit all decked out in the green and gold motif. There will also be two new special edition game controllers that you can pick up featuring a more space-y blue color decor.

Microsoft also showed off a new “Halo 3″ trailer directed by Neill Blomkamp, the same fellow …

We’ve been waiting for this QWERTY controller attachment for the Xbox 360 since we first heard about it last April and now we’ve finally got a price, release date and a name to go along with it.

The device has been dubbed the “Chatpad” and will come bundled with an Xbox 360 headset as part of the “Messenger Kit” from Microsoft. This kit runs $29.99 which really isn’t out of line from what we were expecting for the keyboard alone. The headset just turned out to be kind of a bonus whether you really wanted one or not. Keep in mind though that this kit is for the keyboard attachment and headset only; no controller comes with it.

Expect to see the Messenger Kit from Microsoft start shipping September 4th.

Microsoft and the Xbox 360 are receiving their first lawsuit from a Florida lawyer claiming that the game console scratches and ruins the discs, making them unplayable. The suit claims that by moving the game console from a vertical to horizontal position, or from horizontal to vertical will cause the laser that reads the discs to cause permanent damage to the discs, and Microsoft does not specify to not move the console while in use. The official complaint filed Thursday states that the scratches can also happen when the console is not moved at all.

Jeffrey M. Ostrow, on behalf of his client Jorge Brouwer is asking Microsoft to correct the problem in the game console as well as cover the costs of the games that are ruined by the problem. In order to replace a …

Microsoft announced today the planned launch of the upgraded Xbox 360 Elite in Japan on October 11th. This launch will be an attempt to drive more attention to the game console whose sales have been lagging in Japan behind rivals Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft unveiled the 360 Elite version at the end of March with upgrades including a larger hard drive, a wireless controller, HDMI and an Xbox Live Gold membership.

Microsoft is standing behind their product in response to growing complaints of hardware failure in their game console. Starting over the next few days globally, they are extending their warranty to 3 years. This warranty will cover and Xbox 360 that is newly purchased or has purchased one in the past, and is good for three years from the date of the purchase.

The extended warranty period however only applies to hardware issues identified by 3 flashing red lights on the console, which Microsoft has found and corrected issues for future Xbox’s, and covers the repair and any shipping costs. If you’ve already had your Xbox 360 repaired due to the 3 red light issue, Microsoft will also reimburse you any fees incurred for the repair.

This new extended warranty was announced through an open …

Microsoft has reached an accord with the help of the U.S. Justice Department and state antitrust regulators to address complaints from search engine giant Google regarding desktop search functionality on the new Windows Vista operating system from Microsoft. Google cited that their desktop search application does not work correctly on the Vista OS, and Microsoft is not allowed under a consent decree to take any actions to stop a rival companies desktop software from working as designed on their OS.

The changes are a “step in the right direction,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond said. “But they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers.”

A desktop search engine made by Google, Microsoft or any other company allows users to search for documents, emails or other content …

According to ZuneScene they have an inside source at Microsoft who has confirmed that there is a new Zune coming our way with a code name of “Draco”. The new Zune will not be marketed under this name which in our opinion helps keep this rumor flexible, but they do have some specs.

According to the leak, the Draco Zune will come with flash memory of 4GB or 8GB, will have video playback and Wi-Fi connectivity and is expected to be available for the coming holiday season.

via Gadgetell

Microsoft released news of a new keyboard and mouse combination targeting those that are at the computer for extended periods of time and could benefit from a more ergonomic design. The Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 bundles the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 with the Wireless Mouse 6000 together for a $150 package that should hit shelves in July.

Both components of the ergonomic desktop connect through 2.4 GHz RF-wireless connections with a USB receiver. The keyboard keys has a winged design which according to Microsoft will give your hands a more natural position while typing, and the mouse fits your hand “as naturally as a handshake”.

The mouse has a number of nice features including 4-way scrolling, an instant viewer to navigate between open windows (Alt-Tab too tough?), a magnifier to catch that small print and a both pieces have a battery life …

The Sony Playstation 3 has its processing power and the Xbox has its Microsoft but as far as sales go there is really no denying that Nintendo is the closest to the “magic formula” for selling game consoles with the Wii. May marks the fifth month in a row that Nintendo outsold rivals in console sales with 338,300 units sold compared to 81,600 Playstation 3’s from Sony and 154,900 Xbox 360 consoles sold from Microsoft.

Nintendo also has notable sales in with its handheld DS by selling 423,150 units in May, and Sony’s Playstation 2 outsold its successor again by more than twice as many with 187,800 consoles. Overall the market has seen a 50% increase in sales of video game hardware and software from last year according to Reuters, mostly attributed to the Nintendo Wii …