Hitting store shelves today is “Crackdown”, the first of 2007’s highly anticipated new games for the Microsoft Xbox 360. Developed by Scottish game company Real Time Worlds and from the mind of the same programmer that created the original “Grand Theft Auto”, “Crackdown” lets you explore the futuristic crime-filled streets of Pacific City and attempt to bring law and order to its frightened citizens.

You can roam all across the massive city and carry out mayhem using a wide array of weapons and vehicles but “Crackdown” has some new tricks that you won’t find in any “GTA” games. For starters there’s a co-op player mode that lets two gamers get involved in the action. There’s also the ability for your character to develop their skills to make them stronger, faster, tougher; the more you play, the better your character gets. And …

Rumors have been flying again about a new Xbox 360 from Microsoft, with some added information this time.

Engadget recently reported on some of the latest rumors regarding the Xbox 360 citing information from GamersReports. Supposedly someone has some “inside info” from Microsoft in Australia about a new Xbox that will be debuting down under donning a new black look that houses a 120GB hard drive.

Along with the bigger drive, the black Xbox is also expected to have an added HDMI port, but no rumors about integration with a Zune Phone, or at least not yet. Pricing for the Xbox is expected to be around $750 in Australian money, and GamersReports also talk about a launch date as early as March as apposed to an expected later date of April in order to thwart the PS3 launch coming up this March from …

On January 18th, Bethesda announced another expansion to their incredible game, Oblivion. Oblivion is of course known for its machine busting graphics and open-ended game play.

Bethesda says that there is about 30 more hours of gameplay in the expansion. The expansion allows you to explore the realm of Sheogorath, whom you of course remember as the Prince of Madness (I hear he is terribly fun at parties).

“We’re thrilled with the response that Oblivion has received to date and feel that Shivering Isles will offer a whole new and different experience to anyone who played and enjoyed Oblivion,” said Todd Howard, executive producer for The Elder Scrolls.

The game allows you to use your existing character from Oblivian and Knights of the Nine to explore …

An overlooked news item during the CES was Bill Gate’s announcement that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 would be getting a live IPTV service. Rumors are also circulating that the Xbox 360 might also get DVR capabilities and other upgrades to compete with Apple TV in a fight for the living rooms of America and the world.

The TV service will be provided by merging Microsoft’s existing Microsoft® TV IPTV Edition software platform with the Xbox. The service should be available by the holiday season of 2007.

Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division said, “Both Xbox 360 and Microsoft TV IPTV Edition by themselves deliver unique and exciting entertainment experiences today, but IPTV on Xbox 360 is truly a solution that is greater than the sum of its parts and will enable even more exciting experiences to delight consumers, …

The PlayStation 2 and the Xbox 360 had a pretty good year with game sales. This news comes on the heals of PlayStation 2′s surprising sales showing.

Of course Madden topped the charts as usual. Of some surprise is the number of Super Mario Bros. games sold for the Nintendo DS. The Super Mario franchise continues to shine and Mario apparently ages very well. Another interesting sales figure is for the Brain Age title. Not a game so much as a series of brain teasers and mental exercises developed by Japanese neuro-scientist Ryuta Kawashima, the title’s strong showing gives us evidence that video games do make you smarter!

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The gaming industry did well in 2006, however the real king of the consoles may surprise you. You know that the Wii beat the PlayStation 3. You also know that the Xbox 360 beat the Wii. But who beat the Xbox 360? The PlayStation 2.

Yes, the best selling console of 2006 appears to be the six year old PlayStation 2. Why did a ancient (in gaming terms) console outsell all the brand new rigs? It’s probably the availability of excellent games and the often overlooked economics aspect.

Sony has an incredible lead in game sales. Four of the top 10 games sold in December were for the PlayStation 2, including the number two game, Guitar Hero, which sold over 800,000 copies. The PlayStation 2 also had the number one …

Fenner Investments is suing Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft over the design of their game console controllers. Fenner, located in Texas, is claiming they hold the patent entitled “Low-Voltage Joystick Port Interface.” The suit claims that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are causing damage to Fenner by their infringement of the patent in their respective controllers.

It appears that Fenner is claiming to own the patent on joysticks or ports that connect joysticks to another device. If this is the case it may have a far reaching affect on game hardware manufacturers.

It should be noted that Fenner recently also tried to sue wireless makers such as Nokia and Cisco over another patent entitled “a method and apparatus for managing a communications network for mobile users.” That suit was dismissed.

Sony and Microsoft were also recently …

At CES 2007, Sony Corp. said it met its goal of shipping one million PlayStation 3 game consoles in North America in 2006. Sony did not say how close it came to shipping 2 million units world-wide in 2006. The PS3 has not started selling in Europe yet. It is scheduled to go on sale around March of 2007.

The PS3 has been plagued by production problems mainly from a shortage of blue laser diodes which are a necessary component to the Blu-ray players included on the high-tech console. Rumors have circulated that Sony may dump the Blu-ray format because of the ongoing component shortage issues.

Nintendo, with its much lower tech (and some argue much more fun) approach is expected to have sold 4 million Wii’s in 2006. Microsoft said it expected to sell …

Today Microsoft announced that it is extending the warranty of their Xbox 360 game console from 90 days to 1 year. This applies to new purchases as well as to those who have previously purchased the game console.

Xbox owners that have already had repairs done on their game console that were within a year of the purchase will automatically get a refund if they paid for the repairs. There is no need to fill out forms or contact Microsoft, reimbursement checks will be automatically sent and should be arriving in about 10 weeks according to Microsoft.

Microsoft says that the extension of the warranty for US and Canadian customers is to make it consistent throughout the world. The 1 year warranty will also be consistent with rival game consoles Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation. Nintendo also offers a …

Starting today Xbox 360 owners with Xbox Live Silver or Xbox Live Gold will be able to download a free system update for their Xbox game console that will provide more than 85 new features. Xbox states that if you are not currently signed up for Xbox Live you can sign up free and get the update through your console and a broadband connection. No hard drive or disc drive is necessary. This is the sixth update that has available for the Xbox Live service.

One of the biggest features in the new upgrade is the move up to 1080p resolution to improve the resolution of both games and HD movies. Along with the HD upgrade, they have also added the ability to stream WMV files from a Windows PC to the Xbox to view from the game console.

Other significant features include …