Well it is official; Microsoft has discontinued the HD-DVD Player ad on. As you may have heard all six major studios are have now moved to Blu-ray format exclusively. Along with Netflix, Best Buy and WalMart. So watch for the prices to drop and you might be able to pick up the connection for a steal. But will you have the movies to watch them on the addition, probably not.

Official statement after the jump.

As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD. Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market. As we stated earlier, we do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace. HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own.

Exclusive gameplay video trailer from Ubisoft:Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is the last chance for gamers to rescue America’s sexiest city from an escalating terrorist siege that will impose heart-pounding action from beginning to end. The best are back and this time winner takes all.
The highly-anticipated sequel to the recipient of numerous awards, including 2006’s Best First Person Shooter and Best Online Game, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will push the top-selling franchise to new heights with new gameplay features and groundbreaking co-op and multiplayer modes.

Read the entire entry »

COD4 3 New Maps
This spring you will be able to down load a map-pack of 3 new maps. I was hopping for more, but 3 maps are better then nothing. Also Infinity Ward goal of these maps will be and are to be something totally different then what we have been playing now! When I know you will now.
What IW has been working on is the Map updates and the general updates patch that Arnnet talked about in an earlier article (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)
As for an exact release date of the maps and patches all Robert Bowling of IW had to say was “Right now we have 3 maps for release. We are aiming for spring; we do not have an ETA. We are working on something good to go and then we will worry of the exact date.” So needless to say we are all anxious for the Map Pack. Just get them done!

Junkyard129

Gears of War

Got this hint from fellow gamer Galone, that the new teaser video for Gears of War 2 is out. Check it out and let us know what you think. This game is do to be released November 2008

Watch it here

COD4 Interview

In my continual efforts to find information for upcoming games and download updates for current games. I came across a great interview with Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling to talk about what went in to developing COD 4.

In this interview they cover many different aspects of the games that I didn’t even think of. Plus he answers questions of others questions that we have all had (exp: how many maps are going to be downloadable, he never really stats the number of maps that will be on the DLC), you will like what he has to say, take a look.

Read it here

Have you thought about what other potential weapons may be available for CoD4 or even that may be getting developed for future use? Well I came across this youtube video that adds one more idea to the mix. Check it and let me know what you think. Good job zak1234000, very cool.

Do you get to the point where you are just so tired of the all smack talking of Xbox Live? I have to tell you that sometimes it really drives me crazy. I myself go online for the fun and friendships that I am glad to have made over the years. And then there are those few immature individuals that just really enjoy trying to get under your skin. There attempt to dismantle you and frazzle your game play. I do have to say some times it really does work and screws me up. My blood starts to boil and I really start to get mad.
Also lets look at another thought on just conversations in a room. Have you tried to have a conversation in a room lobby and it seems like everyone is talking at the same time and you cannot hear a thing or get a world in edge wise!
Lets look at one more thought, maybe you are on a squad that requires plans and strategy ideas to win the game, yet you cannot talk about because prying ears may be listing.
OK so what do you do, well one idea is to mute everyone on the other team right when they come into your room, just get it over with. Highlight their names hit the “A” button, and then go to their main page, scroll down and MUTE them! Assuming that you are in a room with your friends already and you are at the point that you really do not need to talk to anyone on the other side.
Now lets look at one more possibility. You are happy with yours friends list and you are just “done” with everything else that comes with communicating with others. Not saying that others are neither good nor bad. It is just that when you get on to Xbox and your ready to play, you are very content having conversations with your current friends list.

What you want to do is go to you personal setting page ( press the big xbox button in the center), then click onto you picture profile.
Then click on Edit Profile…

Then scroll down to Privacy Settings and click on this…

Next click on Voice and Text…

And last scroll to the Friends Only tab…

And now you will only hear and talk to your friends. Also some of the benefits are in games that have extras, for exp; Call of Duty 4 has a perk called Eavesdrop, with your privacy setting at friends only, Eavesdrop is worthless to players playing against you.

So know you have the option to hear or not to hear that is the answer!

Today we have 2 options for Hard Drives in the 360, either the 20 GB Drive that comes with the Premium or Console System or the 120 GB Drive that is packaged with the 360 Elite. If you have the 20 GB and are looking to purchase the larger Hard Drive offered by Microsoft you are going to shell out about $179.00 wherever you go. If you have limited space on your drive and are scratching your head about how to solve the problem, here’s your answer!

You can add a Hard Drive to your system through one of the available USB ports on the Console. This drive will add another dimension to your 360 setup. First of all, you can store tons of music, thousands of photos and even videos from your personal collections and view them on your High Definition Television. It is pretty straight forward and anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of buying a 120 GB Drive with the Microsoft logo on it. Better yet, you can take the drive with you anywhere you go and access those files on any PC in the World! You can’t do that with your 360 Drive!

First of all, Marketplace content can ONLY be stored on your Microsoft 20 GB or 120 GB Hard Drive that plugs into the top of your console. Therefore if you have music or videos on your drive that weren’t purchased from the Marketplace, you can clear them off your Microsoft Hard Drive to free up room for Marketplace Content, such as game downloads, and exclusive Live content.

I chose to go with a 2.5″ 160 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive. This is a laptop hard drive and I chose this size because the drive is small enough to run off the 5 volt power bus in any USB port, this eliminates the need for a power cord to your new Hard Drive. Thankfully, Microsoft made sure that their USB ports all have sufficient current at 5 volts so a single USB port will suffice.

You can purchase these drives at any electronics store or your local computer store. They can be purchased in a case or you can purchase the drive and the enclosure separately and put the whole thing together. I purchased the drive for a mere $50.00 because someone returned it to the store, and picked up a $20.00 case that featured USB 2.0 and eSATA ports for connecting. If you decide to do it this way make sure your HDD and your case have the same connections inside, for instance, the drive is a Serial ATA (or SATA) and the enclosure has to have the same Serial ATA (SATA) connection inside to mate up with the drive. Next, put everything together, usually a simple phillips screw driver does the trick.

You will have to format the drive with your PC if it doesn’t come with software or pre-formatted. If the drive comes with software, run it and plug the drive into the PC’s USB port and you should see the drive show up under the “My Computer” tab in the Windows Start Menu. Now, if you are running Windows Vista, XP or 2000 your native drive is formatted in the NTFS format, for the 360 you will need to format the new drive in FAT32 format or the 360 will not recognize the drive. Remember that FAT32 file systems are only recognized up to 32 GB, so when you partition your new hard drive, partition it into multiple 32 GB volumes. Partitioning can be done with Partition Magic or through Windows.

In Windows XP click Start, then click Run, in the box type “diskmgmt.msc” (minus the quotes) and it will bring up a list of drives, select the new hard drive and partition a new volume in FAT32, remember you can place multiple volumes on a single drive. If your new drive is 120 GB make four 30 GB volumes, once the formatting is done you are good to go, just start putting music, photos, and videos on the drive and you are ready to plug them into the XBox 360 and view them on your High Def System. For Windows Vista click Start, then in the Search Box type “diskmgmt.msc” (minus the quotes) and follow the same instructions for Windows XP.

Next to the 360 Elite and on Top

This will work for any Hard Drive of any size as long as the file system is formatted in FAT32 format, just remember most 2.5″ drives can run off the USB power inside the port, while 3.5″ or ancient 5.25″ drives need an AC power adapter to power the drive.

This setup allows me to have 80 GB of music, 10 GB of photos and , 8 GB of video stored with over 60 GB still available on the Portable Drive and my 120 GB Microsoft 360 drive has about 45 GB of Marketplace content on it with almost 75 GB free for future content downloads. All together, this setup provides me with 160 GB of personal storage and 120 GB of Marketplace storage for a total of 280 GB available for the 360. That is over 1/4 of a TeraByte, and if you have your expensive surround sound and high def system hooked to your 360, now you can view and listen to your music, photos and personal vids in High Def Surround Sound.

Arnett Out!

COD4 Great Video

Came across this great video from CharlieOscarDelta.com, had to put it up on my youtube page. Check it!

Ghillie in the Mist Watch it now!

COD4 Sound Track

Well if you are as much of a Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare fanatic as I am. Check out the sound track! You can listen to it on Call of Duty’s 4 Modern Warfare Sound Track -My Space page.

Give it a shot Listen Now