SplaTT's Blog

Halo Wars

Halo Wars looks really cool...check out the trailor for a sneak peak...

nice :)

Create your own XBOX 360 game

According to this post at ActiveWin.com, Microsoft have announced that they will be releasing "XNA Game Studio Express", on August 30th this year. Basically, XNA Game Studio Express is a free tool for creating games based on Microsofts XNA platform.

To quote their post..."XNA Game Studio Express will be available for free to anyone with a Windows® XP-based PC and will provide them with Microsoft’s next-generation platform for game development. By joining a “creators club” for an annual subscription fee of $99 (U.S.), users will be able to build, test and share their games on Xbox 360™ and access a wealth of materials to help speed the game development progress."

Cool...

MS Press release

It's nearly time

How long have you been waiting???

Less than 12 hours to go until the Xbox 360 is available in Australia :)

Xbox Live Gamer Card

So the Xbox website has been updated in time for the US launch of the Xbox 360 in a few weeks and they finally released the Gamer Cards...and i figured i should put down my playing as "recreational" as it certainly isn't "underground" or "pro" anymore :(

Guess its time to start playing again :)

Xbox 360 integration for xbox.com

Nice...check out this post that explains what the "coming soon" update to xbox.com and the new "My Xbox" section will let you get access to if you have an Xbox 360.

Thnx to Major Nelson for pointing this one out.

Xbox Live screen

Major Nelson (aka Larry Hryb, the Xbox Live Director of Programming) has a great shot of the Xbox Live screen on his Flickr site from the soon to released (in the US) Xbox 360.

He also has another shot that has what looks like to be the iPod Nano hooked up to an Xbox 360 as well.

Xbox Live wins Emmy award

And the Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media goes to...Xbox Live.

Posted by Mick (SplaTT) Stanic at 6:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Xbox Live pricing for Xbox 360

Microsoft have announced the pricing structure for the Xbox Live service on the soon to be released (in the US) Xbox 360 gaming console...and it looks pretty good...

No word on the Australian pricing of the new console or the Live subscription costs...or even a launch date yet :(

Follow the lime green rabbit

www.origenxbox360.com...its registered to Microsoft and counting down to something...

Inside XBOX 360

Another great look into the inner workings of Microsoft from Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows...this time he looks "Inside XBOX 360" and interviews Jeff Henshaw, the Executive Producer for Xbox Digital Entertainment at Microsoft.

XBOX 360 dashboard screenshots

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows has some nice, clean screenshots of the XBOX 360 Dashboard.

   

While you are over at the site, check out all the other "MS" stuff that they keep an eye on. Its been one of my favourite sites for keeping up with Microsoft technologies and products for a long time.

XBOX 360 faceplate competition

Can't believe i didn't notice this earlier...too busy in podcast land...

Major Nelson (Larry Hryb, Xbox Live Director of Programming) announced a competition ten days ago where you get to design your own XBOX 360 faceplate, and the winnerwill get his limited edition faceplate that Microsoft created for the E3 2005 XBOX 360 launch event.

The entries are being posted up to a Flickr group and you only have until the end of the month to enter.

I better go and fire-up Photoshop... :)

XBOX 360 pictures

Engadget has scored some images of the new XBOX 360 console...very perty...

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OK guys...i love the comments you all leave...but...i will be killing/editing all comments that have swearing or foul language in them.

Certain words are included in "filters" that IT departments put into the machines that allow peple to access web sites at work and at home. If the machines pick up those words, the site is not allowed through...therefore poeple can not view this site.

Thats the way it goes...sorry.

:) SplaTT
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Halo 2 RSS Excel Workbook...cool....

For those Halo 2 fans out in the blogosphere, Addicted to Digital Media points out this great Halo 2 RSS Excel workbook that Samuel Radakovitz hads put together.

Very well done...it just goes to show what sort of user following a great game can develop around it.

Make Master Chief fly in Halo 2....

Sean Alexander over at Addicted to Digital Media points out this great video that shows you how to make Master Chief fly...I don't know whats cooler...the fact that you can do this, or the fact that someone went to all the effort to work it out and then make this video...must try this later... :)

$9,000,000 worth of Halo 2 sold in Australia in 1 week...

According to this news item on the Australian XBOX site, first week sales of Halo 2 in Australia totalled just over 104,000 units for a grand sum of $9 million dollars. Its nearest competitor in the game market had notched up around 38,000 less units sold in the same amount of time.

Not only did Halo 2 generate amazing sales in its first week, but it also had a huge impact on XBOX Live subscriptions as well...XBOX Live sales increased 10 fold in one week...WOW

Microsoft wins...Bungie wins...the gamers win... :)

The case for in-game advertising....

"Shrek 2": $108 million opening weekend
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban": $93 million opening weekend
"Spider-Man 2": $88 million opening weekend
"The Passion of the Christ": $83 million opening weekend
"The Incredibles": $70 million opening weekend
"Halo 2": $125 million the first day

The above figures are in US dollars and are for US / Canada sales or screenings only...add in worldwide sales and the figures for Halo 2 get even larger.

What does all this mean from a marketing perspective??? Having been involved with marketing/communications based companies and technologies for quite a few years now, and being a gamer (the urge comes and goes ;), i have noticed a lot of us in the digital marketing / communications space have been talking about in-game advertising...or "advergaming" for quite a while now. Well, along with the appearance and acceptance of networked consoles like the XBOX and the PlayStation (and the money they bring), we are starting to see the technology for "advergaming" finally come about.

In my various roles over the years, such as when i managed Next Online (the interactive arm of Next Media - who at the time was Australia's largest game magazine publisher) and we co-sponsored the first Australian Game Developes Conference right through to having meetings with Microsoft in Redmond early this year in my current capacity at Singleton OgilvyInteractive..."advergaming" is not only a communications channel that i feel pretty strongly about, but one whose time is nearly here...and (going out on a limb here) I think it would be reasonable in describing it as one of the next major advertising/marketing channels (along with Digital Signage) to hit consumers.

Check out these articles over at the Clickz Network for some good info on exactly what its all about and a story on two in-game advertising providers.

Halo 2...bah....finished it...

Finally... after about 16 hours of game play, we finished the co-op campaign version of Halo 2.

What do i want now???..Why Halo 3 of course...

:)

Halo 2 came and rocked...whats next???

So Halo 2 finally arrived and it has so far beat all the expectations that Microsoft and many gamers had set on it...News.com reports that in the first 24 hours since its launch it has sold 2.38 million units in the US and Canada alone....thats somewhere around the range of $US125 million dollars that was taken in...or just over $US86,800 of sales every minute of every hour for the first 24 hours...WOW...i can't wait to see what the Australian sales figures are like...

So what games are on the cards next for the XBOX that i want to get my little hands on???

Check out Tron 2.0: Killer App...anything that lets me race a light cycle has to be a cool game...and its Live enabled as well....hehehehehe

If you are into RPG's, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age looks like a definate must buy.

The XBOX goodnes continues...

Halo 2 is here...

Finally...

We all went down to Pitt St Mall in the centre of Sydney for Midnight Madness and it was pretty cool...

We met up with Frank and Mark and lined up to be in the first 100 people in Australia to buy Halo 2. Master Chief was walking around along with the XBox girls and a couple of hundred other people. The free swag just kept coming...glowing badges, lanyards, key rings, hats, tshirts, bags, posters..oh yeah...and Krispy Kreams.. :)

We cued up for about 2 hours leading up to midnight and it was a great chance to catch up with Frank and Mark and just to talk about all things Halo and XBox.

After we got our Limited Edition Halo 2's, we left the mall and we headed back to my place to experience the joy that is Halo 2. And its going to be a long day. Between 3 or 4 of us (depends who can stick it out) we plan to finish the story line of Halo 2 in one sitting. The fridge is stocked with geek food, the 42" plasma is warmed up and the 5.1 surround sound system is cranked up. Sleep...bah....in the words of Pitr from User Friendly.."Sleep...she is for the weak..."

So it its 4.30 in the morning and we are sitting here playing the campaign in split screen mode and it is pretty cool..you can find photos at my Flickr site where i have set up a "Halo 2 set"...should also have a video up in the next day or two as well...more later...

:)

So whats happening tonight???...duh....the Halo 2 launch...

days

hrs

min

sec

The clock has ticked over....less than 24 hours to go till the launch of Halo 2...

The day is all set....pick up 42" plasma screen early in the afternoon...stop at supermarket and buy drinks and snacks for all night halo 2 session...set up Plasma at home (plug in the XBox and the Media Center PC and drool at how good it looks on the big screen)...meet the guys in the city for pre-Pitt St Mall dinner and drinks (if anyone who reads my blog cares to join us, you can leave a comment here and i will get back to you with the details)...head on down to the Pitt St Mall for "Midnight Madness" at around 9pm...find Frank and any one else we know...have a bit of fun for a couple of hours....post some photos to the moblog and Flickr...score some free stuff....go in and check out the band in the VIP area when they open up the doors (yep...finally got a ticket to get into the band area)...buy a plain copy of Halo 2 (pick up the pre-order Limted Edition one later in the day from my local game Wizard shop)...grab the guys and head back to my place...and...play some Halo 2 till the sun comes up...or at least until we all feel to tired to keep playing or the nighbours complain about the sound of Halo 2 from my sound system...

Yep...its going to be good day... :)

Halo 2 launch....1 day to go....

The clock is counting down....

T minus 2 days till Halo 2 launch

The initial reviews are in...everyone is giving Halo 2 the thumbs up and one magazine has even given it a 10/10 score...the first time it has ever given that score to a game.

Is it all hype...November 9th (the Halo 2 launch day for those of you from another planet) is getting closer...and we will shortly know if what we are all hoping, and what the magazines are all saying is right....is Halo 2 is the best console game ever made???

;)

Win VIP tickets for Melbourne Halo 2 launch..in 3 days...

If your in Melbourne, and you are hanging out for VIP passes to the launch of Halo 2 at Myer Melbourne on the evening of November 8th and the early morning of the 9th, what better way than to show your skill than in the original Halo at the "ACMI HALO playoffs" on Sunday 7th November and battle it out for tickets...

Go on...it should be a blast....you might even get to play against a couple of MS staff like Matt...

Halo 2....4 days to go...

Where will you be...

Check out a cool Halo 2 countdown clock here. I tried running it here, but the flash file is just a little to big for my liking to include on my main page... :(

More Halo 2 video goodness as well....check out this Halo 2 ad made for the US cinema

XBox 1 milllion live players TV ad,,,

I can't believe we don't get some of the great XBox ads some other countries get...

Check out this ad on the US XBox site that was made when XBox live hit the one million player mark afew months ago...nice... :)

More Halo 2 stuff....links to Halo 2 TV ads....

Someone found these on one of the Bungie servers, and i'm pretty sure that they are ads for the US market. We have not seen any Halo 2 TV ads in Australia yet, but this one is pretty kewl as its done like a movie trailer...

Watch either the WMV or the MOV file...

Halo 2 marketing kicks in...in a big (and i do mean BIG) way...

Can't believe i missed this.

The venerable huge Coke sign at the top of William Street in Sydney, is doing its part to help save the world. The marketing / PR guys working on the Halo 2 launch, have secured the rights with coke to use the second big billboard as a giant Halo 2 ad. Remember...just one of these billboards is about 30 to 40 feet in length. :)

Now like i said....thats big...

Get your leave form for Nov 9th :)

This is brilliant....a leave form pre-filled in for November 9th for you to hand in to your boss...anf for those of you on another planet, Nov 9th is the day they launch Halo 2 for the XBOX :)

Note: The pop-up blocker in XP SP2 caught this in its little web...

November 9th 2004...where will you be??

I don't know about you, but a couple of thousand other people, including myself, will be gathered at gaming shops around the world taking part in the festivities that will surround the world-wide launch of Halo 2 for the XBOX by Bungie Studios.

The crowds at the Sydney launch should be huge...oh yeah...disclosure time...the PR firm who looks after XBOX in Australia, Pulse Communications, is part owned by the same company who owns the company i work for...but it doesn't look like i'l be able to get tickets to the VIP area... :(

With 1.5 million pre-sales in the US alone, Halo 2 will be no doubt be the largest event for the XBOX since its launch. The midnight launch concept brings back memories of the Windows 95 launch, which was huge... i remember people lined up at computer and electronic stores waiting for the doors to open...and yes...i was one of those geeks lined up as well.

Halo 2 has been getting a pretty PR wrap leading up to the launch, even 60 Minutes in Australia ran a story a few weeks ago about the size and dollar value of the video game industry and Halo 2 got a good wrap. Check out either the video (WMV) or the transcript.

Have a look at the Australian Halo 2 site or the Nt American / European / Latin American version and get ready to not sleep for a day or two...i've already organised to borrrow a 42" Plasma or LCD screen from a supplier for a few of days...a couple of the guys and myself will be at the Sydney launch event and will then be heading back to my place for some gaming madness...hopefully the neighbours won't mind the sounds of slaughtering vibrating the walls through my Dolby surround system :)

A tale of three gamers...

A lazy Monday (public holiday in Sydney)...an Xbox...beer...three gamers...a geek who likes to mess with video...enough said...watch the video...

Three gamers (5.2MB WMV)

xbox video conferencing screenshots

This is one of the best pieces of information that Microsoft announced at E3 about the XBox....the video chat feature is a long time coming and according to these articles at gamespot and G4tv, we will have to wait possibly 12 months to see it outside of Japan.. :(

I wonder....if I got someone to buy me one in Japan and send it out to me whether it will work or not...hmmmm...

Its been a pretty quite week for post's, but i have been busy working on GeekDinner.com

finally.....xbox live and messenger integration...

At last...they turned it on this morning....the wait has been killing me...XBox Live integration with MSN Messenger 6.2

Not only can you see when your friends are online, but you also get a whole range of MSN Alerts as well....tehs is what you get...

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Game Invitations
Get game invitations, plus reminders about your upcoming tournaments and competitions.

Friend Requests
Receive new Friend Requests or find out when other gamers invite you to join their team or tournament.

Logon
Get a message when anyone on your Friends List logs on.

Xbox Live Service Message
Receive important messages about your Xbox Live service, such as scheduled maintenance and system updates.

Xbox Live Downloadable Content
Find out about new content for your favorite games as soon as it�s released.

Xbox Live Game Release
Get announcements about hot new games for Xbox Live.

Xbox News and Events
Find out about Xbox Live events, such as the XSN Sports World Championship.
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The down side....for the moment it only works with US and Canadian Passport logins....grrr.....(luckily, i have been running passport account with a US address for the last six months :)

This is the begining of the integration into xbox of all the cool toys....started with voice chat.....then they announced video chat on trial in Japan...now messenger....and the good stuff can only keep on rolling...well done Microsoft....

Huge xbox announcements at E3

Microsoft announced some "HUGE" xbox news the other day during the pre-show events at the E3 computer gaming expo in LA. Connected Home Magazine has a good breakdown of the news as well.

First up....EA Sorts and Microsoft have ended whatever was going on that was stopping EA Sports titles being available on XBOX Live.....up unti now, the "network enabled" games had only been available on the Sony PlayStation....

Second...a release date for Halo 2.....November the 9th.....they also realesed a new video showing some amazing game play...

Third....and the biggest news of all.....they announced the coming launch of a "VIDEO CHAT" capability to be released in Japan for trial purposes.....this is huge news....the obvious jump to adding video chat has been a long time coming and will revolutionise the use of the XBOX and change the perception of gaming consoles for ever......at the current price of an XBOX, the costs of an ADSL connectiona and a USB webcam.....i'll be buying one for my mum....

You can keep upto date on new info at the XBOX E3 site...they also have some guys blogging live from the show using Windows based Smartphones.....lots of pictures and videos to keep you enthralled for hours....

Microsoft's Xbox 2 iPod killer?

Found this (amazing if its true) post on Engadget.....if this is true...oh my.....

Could Microsoft be preparing to drop a potential bombshell with the Xbox 2? We don't know anything for certain yet, but check out this tantalizing bit of gossip we received in response to our post earlier today about the Xbox 2 and whether or not it's going to sport a hard drive:

"Regarding the Xbox 2 hard drive, I was snowboarding in Whistler, B.C. from February 19 - 26, 2004. We were in a bar called the Amsterdam Cafe in the village one night and J. Allard, the head of Microsoft's Xbox division was in the bar with some friends. I recognized him from a recent Business 2.0 article and we started talking. (He bought my friends and I a round of drinks he called "Hey Zeuses" - they were Red Bull and tequila and they were nasty.) Anyway, we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here's the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer. Basically, the idea was to come up with an MP3 player that was as good or better than the iPod that would also serve as the hard drive for the Xbox 2. And he said they planned to sell them as a loss leader at $100 each."

If this is true (and let's be clear that we haven't gotten any independent confirmation of this), it would be huge, although we're still a long way off from the Xbox 2 going on sale and a lot of things could change between now and next year.

[Via Engadget]

xbmc....kewl....

Spent the weekend down in Canberra preparing things for a friends upcoming wedding (suit fitting, talking about the venue, speeches, etc) and while i was there i helped him configure up his network so he could use all the features of the XBox Media Center.

As soon as i arrived back home (after the 3 hour drive), i spent the evening getting it set up on my 1st xbox (the 2nd one is used for XBox Live, and yes, their is a reason the 1st Xbox isn't used for Live).

XBMC (as its a called) is a very kewl application...its allows you to play a multitude of media file types (audio, video and image) through your XBox with an interface that looks very similar to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004. It also has a nice little feature which allows you to enter in your weather.com city code (Sydney = ASXX0112) and you can see your three day forecast on your TV through you network connection.

I cannot wait to get a copy of the XP Media Center OS and get it setup and working....I don't quite understand why you cannot buy the OS as a standalone but are required to be a PC with it all pre-installed...i suppose that way MS can guarentee the machines hardware is optimised....the other big issue is that XP Media center is only available in the US and Canada.....just like the SPOT watch service...grrrrrrr

I have heard (reliable source ;) that we should be getting XP Media Center realesed in Australia pretty soon....fingers crrossed....until then, i guess i will just have to make do with the XBox version....

Live.....at last....

Allright.... i finally went out and got an XBox Live pack.....very, very kewl.....(and yes....i've spent all day on it...ok..)

Took a while to get the Netcomm 802.11g bridge to work (opening ports and locking down IP's), but its finally going....I've been playing some MotoGP (a demo came with the Live pack), Mech Assault (memories of playing battletech on the Tesla system at the Intencity arcade in Parramatta - damn shame they closed it down, it was by far the best VR setup in Australia), and Links 2004.

I have also signed up for the Road 2 Longhorn XSNsports.com golf tournament put together by Jeff Sandquist....playing golf with a bunch of geeks....online....hehehehe...

If anyone out there wants to add my gamertag to their friends list its"TTalpS" - SplaTT was taken :(

game on.....

XBox communities have value...but not just onXBox Live...

Keeping in the area of the xbox inspired post not long ago, Amanda Murphey (from over at ATG.Blog), posts about finding an interesting article on the xboxsolution.com web site about the online relationships developed on the sites forums....their is hope for the web yet....

meetings in game-space

Ok...this is really cool idea...

Golf has always been a popular way to help you develop and grow your social network with business associates and even just friends....

Now, with the advent of gaming consoles, like the XBox, being connected to the "internet", suddenly playing a round of golf is taking on a whole new meaning.

Imagine playing a game of social golf not in real life, but in "game-space". Game-Space is that magical place you go when you fire up your gaming console / PC and enter a world only available on though that device and the net. This is causing flashbacks to conversations about the value of virtual reality from years ago - something about distributed virtual worlds.

Check out Jeff Sandquist's blog for info on a recent gathering for a game of golf....

xbox

So i bit the bullet and went out and bought one.......i am now the owner of a Microsoft XBOX.....and not a bad little gaming system it is. Good graphics, good sound (especially when hooked up to me Dolby 5.1 system) and the three games i bought aren't to bad. Amped (snow boarding game) and Halo (FPS) came with the XBOX and i bought Shenmue II (RPG)...which ir pretty kewl.....the whole Shenmue thing (which started in the Sega Dreamcast) allows you to interact with nearly everything in the gameplay environment. Tlak to strangers, open doors, play darts, work, eat, buy drinks from vending machines, play arcade games...all sorts of stuff. The biggest problem is going to be at 3 in the morning all week because i have been playing games.......

The next two games on the list are....Splinter Cell (going out to buy it after i finish this blog) whch is being recommended to me by everyone, and then next weeek.....The Matrix game...

Which reminds me....can't wait till Friday next week....we all have tickets to go and see Matrix after work...by the game for the XBOX in Friday, watch the film Friday night...and then play the game all weekend....

Gotta go and buy Splinter Cell now...more later