Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360

How many of you are stoaked about the Grand Theft Auto IV release next month. While I’m sure that there are plenty of you that just don’t get into the GTA games, this is easily one of the most-anticipated titles of the year. In celebration, Microsoft has cooked up a special limited edition Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360.

On the inside these systems are Xbox 360 Elites, however, for once it isn’t what’s on the inside that counts. If you manage to get your hands on one of these awesome consoles you’ll be treated to custom GTA box art on the sides, along with a cool looking faceplate. It also comes with a slew of accessories such as a wireless controller with keyboard, headset, remote and more. My favorite part is that all of the accessories are housed in a cool briefcase.


So how do you get your hands one one of these sweet 360’s? We’re not exactly sure. It’s a limited run of 500, so you can bet it won’t be easy to acquire one. We’ll let you know if we get more info on it. [complex]

Halo Xbox laptop

When I leave town for a few days, my DS is always there to keep me entertianed. However, there are times where I wouldn’t mind having my 360 along for the ride. I’ve packed it up and taken it with me a couple of times, but it’s really not that fun. The man to turn to for your portable Xbox 360 needs is Ben Heck. This isn’t the first portable based on the 360, however, he’s updated his design for the the Elite version of the console.

If I had half the modding skill that this guy does, I’d be content. He’s managed to pack the entire Xbox 360 Elite into this awesome Halo-themed 17-inch notebook. This thing is packed to the brim with everything you’re going to need including WiFi and an Xbox Live camera.

While I’d love to have something like this in my possession, I couldn’t imagine the amount of money one would have to pay for a custom build like that. Looks like I’d better hone my soldering skills and fire up the old Dremel if I’m going to get one.

Blu-ray For XBox360

If you’ve followed the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray format war, you may have noticed that people are declaring a victor. While HD DVD isn’t dead yet, it might as well be. This of course means PS3 owners everywhere have something to gloat about when talking to their Xbox 360-owning friends. For now at least.

Apparently Microsoft has seen this outcome as a possibility, and knowing that they don’t want to be left behind, they’ve been secretly talking to the Blu-ray camp for some time. While their talks aren’t exactly of adding a Blu-ray player to the 360 just yet, they are trying to partner with them to integrate a piece of software called HDi, which is a key part of HD DVD’s interactivity.

This certainly indicates the strong possibility of adding a Blu-ray accessory in the future, but until HD DVD rolls over and dies, I wouldn’t expect much of a change. Besides, Microsoft is more concerned with the fact that it plays regular DVDs, as that’s what most people are watching anyway. [xbox]

New Xbox 360 Failure......

New Xbox 360 Failure Rates Still Around 10 Percent

Site 8bitjoystick, the same people who seem to have broken the news that Bungie was splitting from Microsoft, claim to have scored an exclusive tell-all interview with an Xbox 360 designer regarding the console's notorious stability. Most of the piece really just confirms that which was already suspected (reasons for the RRoDs, early Xboxes failed around 30% of the time, etc) but what caught our eye was the insider's estimated failure rates on new, smaller and cooler-chipped Xbox 360s seem to still be around 10%.[8bitjoystick]

Free Xbox Live Game : Undertow

That free Xbox Live Arcade game Microsoft promised in compensation for the extended service downtime? It's going to be Undertow, a game that popped last November. We feel for the poor developers who worked on this game, seeing as it's being given away as a consolation prize.[Gamerscoreblog]