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TechDigest: The recession has finally reached the stench filled bedrooms of ‘the gamer’, as gaming sales have plummeted to a nine-year-low.

It initially seemed that gaming was part of the select band of recession proof industries, as people holed away in their bedrooms playing Call Of Duty 4 as opposed to squandering money on such frivilous things as “a social life”.

But gaming sales plummeted 31% this year, down to $1.1 billion. Yes – down to. Console sales fell the most, at 38%, but this would make sence as their are, after all, only a finite number of viable gamers and this generation of consoles has been about for a while now.

Game sales also fell while the Xbox 360 actually managed to increase its sales in July.

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TechRadar: Microsoft’s new Jasper-based versions of its Xbox 360 have finally arrived, with the hope that the 65-nanometer version of the console’s graphics chip will not suffer the overheating ‘Red Ring of Death’ problems that have dogged past versions of the 360.

US tech journalist Dean Takahashi has chronicled the 360′s Red Ring of Death problems in depth and claims that Jasper-based Xbox 360s,”logically… should be a lot better.”

This is because the”graphics chip will likely consume less power than previous versions, allowing it to fit snugly into its motherboard socket. That should lead to fewer system failures due to the graphics chips coming loose.”

The new 360 graphics chip is also notably cheaper, which has allowed Microsoft to slash the costs of the console to the consumer right back for Christmas 2008.

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Edge: Last week, Microsoft’s Mindy Mount said the company expected Xbox 360 to surpass the original Xbox’s global installed base with 25 million units sold by the end of November.

Now, a report in industry mag MCV says that milestone has officially been reached.

“We’ve already surpassed the installed base of the original Xbox – which is a really significant milestone. We’ve been blown away by the appetite of people to consumer digital entertainment experiences,” said Chris Lewis, Microsoft VP of Interactive Entertainment Business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Xbox 360 hit the mark in about three years. The original Xbox took around five years to sell the same amount.

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Techradar: Microsoft has been hit with a lawsuit relating to the Xbox 360′s ‘red ring of death’ overheating problem, which claims that over half of the initial batch of Xbox 360s were defective.

The latest Red Ring of Death lawsuit filed against Microsoft claims that the company knew about the infamous RRoD problem as far back as 2005, according to a report on DailyGamesNews, alleging that Microsoft deliberately chose to hide the console’s RRoD failure rates in order to protect sales.

The lawsuit, filed at Sacramento County Superior Court under California’s consumer protection statutes, wants to see the introduction of a refund programme in California. The lawsuit cites numerous reports about the RRoD issue, in particular citing one report that goes as far to claim that over half of the initial batch of 360′s was defective.

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Electricpig: According to deep “sources”, the next generation of Xbox console, due sometime between 2010 and 2012, will enhance current generation Xbox 360 titles.

The sources, talking to Xbox Evolved, say that as well as playing on the new console, current generation games will be improved by it – with better framerates, textures and “draw” distances as well as possibly even new level downloads and new game modes for popular current generation games.

The current Xbox 360 already features a limited version of such forward compatibility – in that it upscales resolution for old Xbox games and adds full-screen anti-aliasing to prevent jagged lines/edges.

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Electricpig: Here we go again. Despite persistent rumours about Microsoft releasing a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, or integrating the format into the console itself, the firm has declared yet again that it has no plans to do any such thing.

A spokesperson told Edge Online: “As we’ve said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on. Games are what drive consumers to purchase games consoles, and we remain focussed on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”

A fair point (although it kind of ignores the fact that there used to be an HD DVD drive for the console, and there’s currently a movie download store).

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Register Hardware: Microsoft has commissioned two of the biggest names in consumer electronics to manufacture a Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360, market sources have claimed.

A joint venture between Samsung and Toshiba has been tasked with making the add-on drives for the console, an Xbit Labs report maintains. Although the drive’s technical specifications are still unknown, it’s alleged that the Blu-ray player will sell for between €73-110.
 
Exactly when – or, indeed, if – the Xbox Blu-ray drive will appear in the shops isn’t known either. But with the Christmas season rapidly approaching, and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) following it in Las Vegas in early January, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the drive could appear sometime between now and early 2009.

Microsoft claimed back in May this year that it had “no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360”.

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Electronista: Microsoft yesterday at the Tokyo Game Show set an official launch date for its New Xbox Experience.

The revamped interface is now due to go live as of November 19th and is the first major change since the Xbox 360 was introduced in 2005.

As shown at E3, the new design uses a much simpler panel interface instead of the usual blades and introduces Nintendo Mii-like avatars that represent users both in the friends list and in newer games.

Coming with the new update are new Xbox 360 bundles that add games to each of the existing trim levels.

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Electronista: Microsoft is reportedly shipping the Jasper-based XBOX 360 consoles, Jasper being a 65nm-process chip that the company hopes will reduce hardware failures indicated by the so-called “red ring of death.”

Microsoft went through a tough time in recent years with the XBOX 360, having to replace a vast amount of consoles due to an overheating issue likely related to the former 90nm-process chips.

The launch was revealed by the XBOX 360 DVD Drive Database, a site which compiles component information from users’ consoles to guide potential buyers.

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Register Hardware: Microsoft could be in the final stages of renaming one of its Xbox 360 models – or introducing a new one – if a rather sketchy snap is to be believed.

A snap of what appears to be an internal company memo has surfaced on website Cheap Ass Gamer (CAG). The memo talks about changing the name of an unnamed model, such as the Elite or Arcade, to “XBOX-Pure”.

It also states that two other console names, “Lean” and “Granite,” were considered before Microsoft finally settled on Pure.

The ‘Lean’ codename has led some pundits to speculate that Microsoft is preparing a new, skinny version of its console. Either that or its stands at an angle…

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PC Advisor: According to Microsoft, US retailers saw a 100 percent surge in Xbox 360 sales last weekend compared to the previous one.

Starting last Friday, Xbox 360 prices were cut $50 (35 euro) - 80 (56 euro), depending on the model.

“Xbox 360 is now not only the most affordable next-generation console available, but it also packs more entertainment punch per dollar than any other consumer electronics device connected to your TV,” Microsoft said.

In the first half of the year, monthly sales of PlayStation 3 have overtaken Xbox 360 for second place in the console war, which has been largely dominated by Nintendo Wii.

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Electricpig: Microsoft’s been steadily slashing the price of the Xbox 360 over recent months, but if the latest rumours are true, it’s due to hit the £100 mark (approx. 126 euro) next month.

The bargain Xbox 360 Arcade is rumoured to be getting a price cut in the US during September, pushing its price tag to just $199.

The claims, made by VGChartz.com stem from a retail inquiry it made, with the exact date of the price-drop pegged at September 7th.

Elsewhere, Ars Technica is claiming there are also price cuts planned for the Pro and Elite models.

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