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April 2006 - Posts

All Aboard the Blogger Bus

posted Friday, April 28, 2006 3:36 PM by johnporcaro
"I don't want to cause no fuss, but will you board our blogger bus?" We're trying something new this year for E3.  One of the most frustrating things I've had to deal with as a blogger at events like E3 is finding a spot to get online and upload Read More
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Gears of War Site Debuts

posted Friday, April 28, 2006 3:34 PM by johnporcaro
Just saw that the Gears of War team has their community site up!  Emergence Day is coming soon! Cliffy B writes:  Dear Gearheads, As I write this, the team is hard at work putting together the rollercoaster cinematic experience that is Read More
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One Thousand Achievements

posted Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:25 PM by Bastelyon
Historic questions have been asked over the ages. How many bricks are there in the Empire State Building? How long did it take to build an Egyptian pyramid? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? Well we’re about Read More
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Business is fine, thanks for asking...

posted Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:00 PM by johnporcaro
This afternoon, Microsoft shared updates about our division on the Q3 earnings conference call.  For a full update go to http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earn.mspx.  For more information on the overall Microsoft press release or to listen to the Read More
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What'll Set Crackdown Apart From Other Sandbox Games?

posted Thursday, April 27, 2006 11:15 AM by cesarmenendez
Dave Jones: "In a word: interactivity."  Check out an interview on Xbox.com with Dave Jones, head of Real Time Worlds, talking about Crackdown: multi-player, character evolution, weapons, downloadable content. Also, OXM's video-cast has Read More
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Rise of Legends Goes Gold

posted Wednesday, April 26, 2006 10:27 AM by johnporcaro
So they signed off on the code, and sent it to manufacturing.  The games should be available in the US on May 9.  You can download the demo if you can't wait to get started. Find out more about this new title, and its developer Big Huge Games, Read More
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Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Gets Gold-Plating

posted Wednesday, April 26, 2006 9:00 AM by johnporcaro
Highly-anticipated “Rise of Nations” sequel descends upon North America on May 9 Read More
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Too Human Screen Shots

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 6:17 PM by johnporcaro
Perrrty.  ByteSector presents The Too Human Experience. (Thanks TeamXbox) Read More
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Free Xbox Live Gold Week

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 4:36 PM by johnporcaro
There have been some questions about the upcoming Free Xbox Live Gold Week, sponsored in the US by Verizon, and in Europe by adidas.     We haven’t formally announced anything about the US plans yet, but we plan on releasing more information Read More
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Football fans unite - Xbox Cup has launched!

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 3:02 PM by stacik
Across the pond they call it football (or, “the beautiful game”) over here we call it soccer – no matter. World Cup Fever is spreading, and to celebrate all the excitement and glory of this once-every-four-years event the Xbox Global Partnership team Read More
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MSN Spaces Bloggers Wanted

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 3:01 PM by johnporcaro
Have an MSN Spaces blog? Going to E3?  We want to know! Join Hazumi, Trixie, Fourzerotwo, Col Hartman, and others, and share your blog with Xbox.com readers!  Send mail xlmail@microsoft.com, and we'll share the blogger love. Read More
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Building a City in 3 Weeks

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 3:00 PM by johnporcaro
Xbox.com just opened up their E3 site, and they featured an interview with April McKee, Senior Global Events Manager.  April is a goddess in our hallway.  It's her job to manage all our involvement at E3 (and our other global events).  Read More
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TooHuman.net Debuts Site

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:08 PM by johnporcaro
The guys at TooHuman.net have been hard at work on a site redesign, in preparation for news and announcements at E3.  For all the news on this upcoming game, bookmark (or subscribe)!  Mocheeze writes: We have finally launched the new design Read More
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Rihanna on Xbox Live's Game With Fame

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 11:39 AM by johnporcaro
Just in case you thought the life of an Xbox marketer is all fun and no work, I thought I'd add to that stereotype by reporting on the whereabouts of our co-worker, Kerstin.  While Cinthia and Cesar were in Australia last weekend, Kerstin was in Read More
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Major Posts Aussie Desktop Photos

posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 11:14 AM by johnporcaro
The Australian marketing team got back some of the official photos, and Larry put links to the large files so you can use them on your desktop.   I put second one on my PC.  Love it!  Very summer-y.  I also added one more, if Read More
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PDZ Demo and New Content on Marketplace

posted Monday, April 24, 2006 6:20 PM by johnporcaro
The “Perfect Dark Zero” demo will soon be available, and several updates will soon be made available. From the media alert: Included in the free auto-updates are eight new bot personalities, making these artificially intelligent enemies even more treacherous. Read More
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Incoming! Water Balloon Fight Video

posted Monday, April 24, 2006 2:15 PM by cesarmenendez
Yep, this is pretty much how it went down: Thanks, Diet Zeek! Read More
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Perfect Dark Zero Playable Demo and New Downloadable Content Explode onto Xbox Live Marketplace

posted Monday, April 24, 2006 9:00 AM by johnporcaro
Free trial version and exciting new downloadable content coming soon Read More
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Kotaku: "Xbox 360 Is Made of People!"

posted Sunday, April 23, 2006 6:05 PM by cesarmenendez
Best. Headline. Evar. Kotaku's "Anonymous Writer #2" writes a hilarious piece about the logo photo opp:  waterballoon fight down under: It’s people. Xbox 360 is made out of people. They’re making our console logos out of people. Next thing Read More
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So Long, And Thanks for All The Fis. . . Waterballoons

posted Saturday, April 22, 2006 4:08 PM by cesarmenendez
Just waking up from a long night with all the gang down here. Wow. We did it. We broke the world record. Me and 2,900 other gamers. Oh yeah, and there were some cheerleaders. They just begged me to get their photo with me. Yep, I totally didn't just make Read More
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Flashmob Recreates Banned TV Ad

posted Saturday, April 22, 2006 10:22 AM by johnporcaro
Oh... me like.  Xbox360fanboy posts a link to this brilliant flash mob film, caught on tape last week.   From Xbox360fanboy: Sal "The Man in the Orange Hat" Picataggio,  loved the "banned" (for viral marketing hype purposes) subway Read More
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Xboxic Throws a Balloon or Two

posted Saturday, April 22, 2006 10:05 AM by johnporcaro
Xboxic's Curry posts some great photos and commentary. This was completely frigging awesome. Took a while to set up, but when hell broke loose it went loose completely. The idea was simple: to be an official world record attempt there had to Read More
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Xbox.com.au Cover the Water Balloon Challenge

posted Saturday, April 22, 2006 9:57 AM by johnporcaro
Xbox.com.au covered the event, and sent their XboxSnaps team to photo the event.  Some of my favorites: Read More
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Australia and Xbox Break World Water Balloon Record

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 9:31 PM by johnporcaro
Looks like they did it!  They broke the world's record!  About 50,000 water balloons, the same number of Xbox 360 consoles that have been sold in Australia since the launch on March 23, 2006, were thrown by participants. The previous world Read More
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Photos From Coogee Beach

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 9:19 PM by johnporcaro
Major Nelson posted a bunch of photos from the event. Read More
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Australia and Xbox Break World Water Balloon Record

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 9:00 PM by johnporcaro
About 50,000 water balloons are thrown to celebrate the record-breaking launch of the Xbox 360 console in Australia. Read More
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Listen Live to Australia's Nova969

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 5:31 PM by johnporcaro
Radio Station Nova 969 is webcasting LIVE from Coogee Beach right now.  Fun to listen in as they describe the thousands of people wearing Xbox Green tee shirts...  http://www.nova969.com.au/novaMain.aspx     Read More
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Halo 2 Volume Two Soundtrack Mash Mixer Contest

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 11:25 AM by johnporcaro
Sumthing Else Music Works launches the Halo 2 Volume Two Soundtrack Mash Mixer Contest to celebrate the upcoming release of Halo 2 Original Soundtrack Volume Two (in stores on April 25th). The contest runs on the Global Gaming League (GGL) online Read More
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Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit Now Available

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 11:18 AM by johnporcaro
Like we said last week, the Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit is now available in the US, for about $29.95.  Read the media alert for more information. Read More
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Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit Now Available

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 9:00 AM by johnporcaro
New Accessory Improves the Wireless Gaming Experience Read More
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Sumthing Else Music Works Launches Halo 2 Volume Two Soundtrack Mash Mixer Contest

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 9:00 AM by johnporcaro
Register Now To Remix Halo 2 Volume 2 Music Tracks And Win Special Prizes Including Signed Guitar By Music Producer Nile Rodgers Read More
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Cesar Down Under: Day 2

posted Friday, April 21, 2006 12:09 AM by cesarmenendez
Another tough day today, friends. We went to the Xbox office here in Sydney, and got to listen to Alan Bowman talk about Xbox 360 in Asia, including Australia. Curry over at Xboxic does a solid writeup of Alan's talk. Speaking of Curry, Read More
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Seattle Seahawk Alexander Makes Cover of Madden 07

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 6:35 PM by johnporcaro
"Touchdown, Seahawks!" (Thanks, IGN) Read More
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Put Your (Kameo) Skin in the Game

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 6:26 PM by johnporcaro
Since the media alert on the Kameo design contest went out this morning, we've gotten a few questions, and we've seen some of your comments.  Is Microsoft going to sell these?  How much do I make if they do?  |No, we're not going to sell Read More
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Xbox 360 Staging World Record Breaking Water Balloon Challenge

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 6:00 PM by johnporcaro
More than 50,000 Water Balloons to Be Thrown to Celebrate the Record-Breaking Launch of the Xbox 360 Console in Sydney, Australia Read More
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Digg These Crysis DX10 Screens

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 4:45 PM by johnporcaro
From IGN (via Joystiq via Digg) Read More
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The Man Behind MyGamerCard.net

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 4:27 PM by johnporcaro
The gamercards we link to on this blog come from work done by Jason Young, from MyGamerCard.net (get your own!).  He's part of the Xbox Community Developer program.  K1lla did a quick interivew that I found interesting.  Here's Read More
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Thanks, Adam!

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 2:52 PM by johnporcaro
Adam, from the team that brings you 10.net and channel9.msdn.com (and his own frosh-design blog), helped clean up our blog banner a bit.  It was a little rasterized...  Thanks!  Read More
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Unleash Your Inner Pummelweed

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:58 PM by johnporcaro
Rare's giving you a chance to create designs that the whole world will play.  From April 19 to May 24, 2006, visit xbox.com to electronically submit an originally designed “skin” of one of the elemental warriors or Kameo herself.  Finalists Read More
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New “Kameo: Elements of Power Design Your Skin Contest” Challenges Fans To Unleash Their Inner Artist

posted Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:00 PM by johnporcaro
Ever wonder what “Kameo: Elements of Power” would play like if Pummelweed was dressed like a roller-skating ninja? How about if Kameo had metallic skin and bat wings? Read More
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All The Waterballoon Fanboys In the House Say Yeah!

posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 8:40 PM by cesarmenendez
(yeah!) A few hours ago, the first wave of us touched down here in Australia. In less than two days time, I'll be throwing water balloons at a bunch of Australians - plus at least one guy from Brooklyn, and another dude from Holland. Now, I know what Read More
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More on the PGR 3 Downloadable Speed Pack

posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:28 PM by johnporcaro
You all knew about this a week ago, thanks to Major Nelson (I'd link to his past post, but, uh, it's temporarily gone missing).  But we just sent out the "official" media alert, so I thought I'd pass the news along.           Read More
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Project Gotham Racing 3 Barrels onto Xbox Live Marketplace with the Downloadable Speed Pack

posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:00 PM by johnporcaro
"Project Gotham Racing 3," the high-octane racing title for Xbox 360, delivers exciting new cars to the racetrack, including the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Read More
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How Hardcore is Too Hardcore?

posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 10:30 AM by johnporcaro
CNet AU interviews MGS GM Shane Kim, who says Xbox 360 owners can expect more family friendly titles and peripheral-based games as Microsoft aims to take its console into new gaming markets.  Slashdot, in its inimitable way, headlines the story Read More
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Europe Xbox Head Chris Lewis Interview

posted Wednesday, April 19, 2006 9:48 AM by johnporcaro
Looks like Peter's not the only one with a handful of "no comments."  Despite the fact that some would rather see all execs and marketers joining all the lawyers at the bottom of the sea :) , I'll link to the article done by Spiegel Read More
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Water Balloon TV Spot

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 8:50 PM by cesarmenendez
James Mathison, host of Australian Idol gets hit with a Water Balloon in this Australian TV Spot. Enjoy. Read More
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PMS Clan Visits Xbox Offices

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 8:07 PM by cesarmenendez
I have a difficult job sometimes. Like last Friday, the PMS Clan came to visit. I had to hang out with these super-fun, lovable girls, all of whom could whoop up on me in DOA4.     We actually had a great meeting - John, Tony, Major Nelson, Read More
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Some Homework...

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 5:54 PM by johnporcaro
Bungie posts a crossword puzzle by GameJunkieJim, to test your Bungie IQ. Read More
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Men At Work (from the land down undaa)

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 5:11 PM by johnporcaro
When we learned the details behind the big water balloon fight coming up in Australia this weekend, we just couldn't stand to be left out.  So Cesar and I petitioned the powers-that-be, and got permission to send a few community folks down to Read More
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April Momentum

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 4:00 PM by johnporcaro
As the industry gears up for E3, Microsoft is preparing to unveil the next wave of premium game content and online gaming services for Xbox 360, and there are more surprises just around the corner. Read More
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Peter Moore Interview on 1Up

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 3:57 PM by johnporcaro
By now, many of you have seen the links to the video 1Up just posted, Peter Moore Gets Candid. Sounds like it was taped back at GDC. If you haven't seen it, check out Part One and Part Two. Check out the video. Now, if you're still hanging out, you can hear me rant a bit (it's been building up for a while, but I'll try to be brief). More after the jump. Read More
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Are You Ready for some Paintball?

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 3:30 PM by johnporcaro
This weekend, you're not going to want to miss the CSTV Collegiate Nationals, being sponsored by ours-truly, Xbox 360.  Starting Thursday, April 20-23, 2,000 young athletes competing in a four-day series of high-endurance sporting events, in Reno, Read More
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Oblivion on Windows or Xbox 360? YES!

posted Tuesday, April 18, 2006 12:45 AM by wolf
I’m not shy to admit that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has pretty much sucked away huge chunks of my life. I mean, I like to think that I’m pretty normal when it comes to amount of time I play games. I sneak in an hour here or an hour there when my Read More
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How Well Do You Know Your Xbox?

posted Monday, April 17, 2006 4:48 PM by johnporcaro
Remind me to stay away from on10.net gals.  I would have gone about 2 for 7.  Yikes.  Major left with his dignity (mostly) in tact. How well would you have done?   Read More
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Props for SNL Digital Short "Laser Cats"

posted Monday, April 17, 2006 3:02 PM by johnporcaro
Of course we all wait anxiously for each new "SNL Digital Short."  Did you catch last week's Laser Cats?  "In the future... cats developed the ability to shoot lasers out of their mouths."  Apparently, warriors relied on Xbox 360 Read More
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Feeling Stressed? Pause to Play

posted Saturday, April 15, 2006 10:29 AM by johnporcaro
You don't need a corporate press release from a global software corporation to tell you to take some time out every now and then to play some games.  But then, you're not the average gamer.  But I bet you know someone who sneaks off to their Read More
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If a Clown Says Xbox 360's In Stock, Then It's in Stock, Dangit!

posted Friday, April 14, 2006 11:20 AM by cesarmenendez
A friend in LA sent this to me. Read More
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Xbox 360 Presents The Fray

posted Thursday, April 13, 2006 4:07 PM by johnporcaro
Like the Fray?  Well guess what?  They've been named the Xbox Live "Artist of the Month" for May, so you'll see more of them soon.  You'll be able to check these guys out in prestigious venues and intimate settings.  You'll even Read More
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Microsoft to Host Cyber Games through 2008

posted Thursday, April 13, 2006 4:01 PM by johnporcaro
You all probably saw this already, but it's pretty cool that we're doing a formal sponsorship of the Cyber Games for the next few years.  These types of events are becoming more and more important as professional gamers gain exposure and credibility.  Read More
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Microsoft Sponsors World Cyber Games' Global Events Through 2008

posted Thursday, April 13, 2006 10:00 AM by johnporcaro
World's largest video gaming competition to feature Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. Read More
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Feeling Stressed? MSN Games and Work-Life Balance Expert Say, Pause to Play

posted Thursday, April 13, 2006 6:00 AM by johnporcaro
Online casual gaming initiative encourages much-needed relaxation through periodic mental breaks. Read More
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Paramount Pictures' First-of-its-Kind Program with Xbox Integrates Movie Content within the Gaming Environment

posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006 2:02 PM by cesarmenendez
Campaign Launches with “Mission: Impossible III” and “Nacho Libre” HOLLYWOOD, CA, April 11, 2006…… Paramount Pictures and Xbox have pioneered the first-ever Xbox Movie Showcase cross-platform marketing program between a movie studio and Microsoft’s Xbox Read More
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Put Nacho Libre on Your Xbox 360 Blades

posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:46 PM by cesarmenendez
Today we issued a release with Paramount Pictures announcing that you can get content from Nacho Libre or Mission: Impossible III via Xbox Live. You'll be able to get HD movie trailers, exclusive theme packs, and graphics.   Also, Read More
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Xbox 360 Presents The Fray

posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:00 PM by cesarmenendez
House of Blues to produce summer tour dates for year's most promising new band Read More
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Aaron Greenberg on VGM Daily Podcast

posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006 11:55 AM by cesarmenendez
Aaron Greenberg, Xbox Live Group Manager, is featured on today's edition of VGM Fusion's Daily Podcast. In the interview, Aaron fields some sharp questions, covering Xbox Live, the Camera, rumors of Goldeneye on Xbox Live Arcade (sorry, Read More
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Quick Charge Kit Coming Next Week

posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006 2:42 PM by johnporcaro
It's official.  The Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kits are on their way to retail, and I'm told they'll begin appearing on store shelves as early as next week.  April 18 is the official "MSD" (Microsoft speak for the targeted date we tell retail Read More
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