Microsoft has told GamesIndustry.biz that new Xbox 360 consumers won't be put off by higher prices now that the company is phasing out the £179 Premium console and only offering the Arcade and Elite units.

The company bumped up the Arcade price this morning, and for those looking for a console complete with hard-drive to take advantage of digital content, they now only have the option of the £199 Elite on store shelves.

"I don't see it that way," said Chris Lewis, VP of the Xbox business in Europe, when asked why the barrier to entry will be more expensive tomorrow when the new prices come into effect, than it is today.

"The way to see it now is that we're trying to make the premium Xbox 360 experience even more affordable for people. We're giving access to the Xbox 360 Elite. Research clearly shows this, when you reach these magic price points that are very important in the consumer marketplace, when you reach EUR 249 / £199 you do open up much more volume and accessibility.

"From our point of view we've rationalised and clarified the SKU line-up and made the premium experience even more affordable for people," he said.

Raising the price of the Arcade unit was necessary due to currency fluctuations, said Lewis, adding that the company did not see it as a mistake to drop the price of the Arcade to £129 over 18 months ago, as it helped accelerate the company into a leadership position.

"We're very happy with the results, and we placed a lot of time and rigour on this. We do a lot of consumer research and we thought it was the right thing to do at the right time. We wanted to inject more pace into the business 18 months ago.

"We also doubled our investment in media, we dropped our pricing twice last calendar year to get to what we thought was the right value offering across all of the SKUs at that time whilst putting in a high-level investment in marketing and people and the organisation to get us into the leadership position we now enjoy.

"We've got no tolerance to see that performance drop. Which is why we've aligned the prices in the way that we have today," he added.

Lewis also said that more console and software bundles will be on the way for Christmas, both from Microsoft and retail partners, and the company is bullish on its success during the festive retail period.

The price cuts aren't a reaction to Sony's recent lowering of the PlayStation 3 price, said Lewis, and the company intends to remain aggressive on price in the hardware market.

"Our appetite is to continue to win, and to hold our lead and grow our lead over the competition is very central to what we have planned in and budgeted in for the year," he said

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...rrier-to-entry ...

Retailer GAME has reacted positively to today's news of the Xbox 360 Elite price drop, saying that now will be the "perfect time" for consumers to buy the console.

Microsoft announced the cut earlier today, confirming it was reducing the Elite's price to GBP 199.99 (USD 299.99 in the US). It's a move that offers consumers great value, according to Martyn Gibbs, customer and brand director of GAME.

"Whether you are looking to buy your first console or you've been waiting for a price drop, now is the perfect time to get your hands on this console. It can be enjoyed by the whole family with a fantastic range of games coming between now and Christmas and will also soon offer Sky through it as well," he said.

And with Sony also slashing of the price of the PlayStation 3 to GBP 249.99 last week, there are now great value options available to buyers, Gibbs added.

"Following the price drop on PS3 last week, the choice of great value consoles is fantastic."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...antastic-value ...

EA Games president Frank Gibeau has admitted that the future of music title peripherals is "unclear" following a relatively weak sales period for the likes of Rock Band - but he is confident that the standalone software slate for the company remains strong, and expects a positive end to the year.

Speaking in an interview at this year's Gamescom event in Cologne, Gibeau noted that EA had performed reasonably well in terms of market share so far this year, but was cautious of big price point item sales in a market that "appears to have gone soft".

"I'm really pleased where we're at," he explained, underlining that the company was "six or seven points up" in the market. "I think right now you're looking at tough comps, sure, with Metal Gear and GTA in that first quarter [last year].

"But also plastic's way down, so a lot of the music category stuff is not as robust as it's been, and it's unclear whether a lot of this peripheral activity that's happening is going to stick. USD 125, USD 115, USD 99 price points for these things - it appears to have gone soft right now in the market place.

"But for standalone software titles that are high quality, from us? I feel good about it. I look at our first half, our Q2, I feel good about our company, our line-up. We're not as exposed to some of those other issues - year-on-year our Q4 is going to be very dramatic in terms of the titles released."

Among the key titles set for release are Brutal Legend, now free to be published following a settlement between Double Fine and Activision, and Gibeau believes that the company's learned valuable lessons from the difficult time faced by last year's Dead Space and Mirror's Edge titles.

"We didn't start early enough on our marketing," he conceded of those two games. "You have to build a fan base, you have to build it early and in a credible way, which means you've got to get your assets, your concept and demos out very early on - much earlier than you would with a sports of driving game. So we started our marketing two quarters earlier this year [for our new IP]."

"The second thing is that you've got to find the right windows. You can't just launch in the middle of November on top of everything else, so we brought in Brutal in October - it feels like we found a nice clean launch window there. We originally looked at putting Dante's out at Christmas, but it just didn't feel right in terms of the products that are coming, so we found a nice window in February where we think we can really stand out. It also gives the team a lot more polish time, and we want to make sure the team has that last three months to really make the game perfect."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...pherals-gibeau ...

Microsoft tells MCV that plans for Facebook and Twitter access on Xbox Live are not yet finalised
Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has told MCV that reports claiming Twitter and Facebook access on Xbox 360 will be reserved for Gold members of Xbox Live only are incorrect.
The belief stems from a footnote in this morning’s announcement of a price cut for the Xbox 360 Elite console which stated: “Xbox Live Gold Membership will be required for Twitter and Facebook when they are available.”
However, a Microsoft spokesperson told MCV that the information is “incorrect” and that the firm “is still formulating its plans” for Xbox 360’s upcoming social network integration.
Facebook and Twitter were initially expected to come as part of Microsoft’s recent Xbox 360 ‘fall’ update but will now arrive some time later this year.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35592/Xbox...aims-incorrect ...

Operator celebrating Bank Holiday weekend by scrapping its data charges.
Vodafone UK has announced that it's axing its usual 50p flat-rate day charge for mobile data for tomorrow only, as a promotion to celebrate the August Bank Holiday weekend.

It's the second time Voda has made mobile internet access free for a day.

The deal is open to the operator's pay-as-you-go customers, as well as those who don't already have a data tariff as part of their monthly subscription. Customers don't have to register to take advantage, either.

This isn't an excuse for customers to spend all day streaming videos or downloading music, mind.


What's 'free' tomorrow is 25MB of data, which Vodafone handily breaks down as watching three three-minute YouTube clips, reading eight news stories on the BBC's site, reading and replying to 40 emails, or viewing 200 mobile web pages.

The fact that this is the second such promotion implies that first time round, it was successful in persuading some customers to sign up for a data plan afterwards.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/34165...ee-this-Friday ...

Nokia releases their first Linux mobile handset, the N900 The handset is based on the latest release of Maemo, the Nokia mobile Linux platform, and includes e.g. GSM and 3G access (with HSPA, giving datarates of up to 10Mbps downlink and 2Mbps uplink on suitable networks), WLAN, Bluetooth, camera, assisted GPS and, most importantly, a touchscreen complemented by a hardware QWERTY under a slider. The beast is powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 processor at 600 MHz, has PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support, 32GB internal memory etc.

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/0...-Linux-Handset ...

Ishopvideogame have started selling refurbed DS Lite Consoles for $89, having brought one myself a few weeks ago for my wife i was stunned that the dslite looked brand new, infact i checked it all over and there was nothing wrong, so a damn decent bargain.

Heres the details and what colours are available:






A great way to bag a Limited Edition DS Lite for a rather decent price.

More details at Ishopvideogame ...

Newly released for PSP at Ishopvideogame, heres the details:



PSP to PC Full Screen Converter, LKV7000 PSP Converter

The most innovative technique of this PSP to PC converter box is that it achieves full screen display on PC or TV Screen, solving the problem of only partial display on PC or TV screen by other normal conversion. It is purely hardware design, plug and play.
PSP to PC full screen converter, convert PSP to PC monitor, full screen display, 3D motion compensation tech applied, upscale PSP resolution from 480*272 to 1440*900.
Features:

1. PC VGA Resolution: 640x480@60Hz,1024x768@60Hz, 1280x768@60Hz, 1280x1024@60Hz, 1440x900@60Hz.
2. Component Video input resolution: 480P.
3. Video Scaler Function: Up-scales original PSP resolution 480x272 up to Maximum of 1400x900.
4. 3D motion compensation tech is applied. The converted picture is rich color and outputs at high definition without any distortion.
5. Support both standard 4:3 and 16:9/16:10 wide screen.
6. PSP and PC host can be connected to LKV7000 at the same time. Switch by 1 click between PSP and PC window.
7. Auto-save configuration and PSP game status when power off.
8. Applicable with PSP 2000 and PSP 3000.
Specification

1. Input: 1 x Component Video (connect the PSP in); 1 x VGA (Connect the PC host in); 1 x Stereo Audio L/R.
2. Output: 1 x VGA (Connect PC screen or LCD), 1 x Audio.
3. Dimension: 2.7X10.6X3.4 cm
4. Net Weight: 0.27KG
5. Dimension of Box: 25X17.5X7 cm
6. Weight of Box: 0.81KG
Interface Specification

1. Connect YPbPr interface of PSP cable
2. Connect Audio L/R cable of PSP cable
3. Connect PC audio in
4. Connect Sound Box
5. LED (Red: PC host input; Green: PSP input)
6. Select output resolution
7. Switch output picture into full screen display
8. Switch between PSP input and PC host input
9. Connect power supply
10. Connect PC Host
11. Connect PC Monitor
Contect:

PSP to PC Converter 1 pcs
VGA Cable 1 pcs
PSP Cable 1 pcs
3.5 Audio cable 1 pcs
AC Adaptor 1 pcs
User\'s Manual 1 pcs


More... ...

Newly released for PSP at Ishopvideogame, heres the details:



PSP to PC Full Screen Converter, LKV7000 PSP Converter

The most innovative technique of this PSP to PC converter box is that it achieves full screen display on PC or TV Screen, solving the problem of only partial display on PC or TV screen by other normal conversion. It is purely hardware design, plug and play.
PSP to PC full screen converter, convert PSP to PC monitor, full screen display, 3D motion compensation tech applied, upscale PSP resolution from 480*272 to 1440*900.
Features:

1. PC VGA Resolution: 640x480@60Hz,1024x768@60Hz, 1280x768@60Hz, 1280x1024@60Hz, 1440x900@60Hz.
2. Component Video input resolution: 480P.
3. Video Scaler Function: Up-scales original PSP resolution 480x272 up to Maximum of 1400x900.
4. 3D motion compensation tech is applied. The converted picture is rich color and outputs at high definition without any distortion.
5. Support both standard 4:3 and 16:9/16:10 wide screen.
6. PSP and PC host can be connected to LKV7000 at the same time. Switch by 1 click between PSP and PC window.
7. Auto-save configuration and PSP game status when power off.
8. Applicable with PSP 2000 and PSP 3000.
Specification

1. Input: 1 x Component Video (connect the PSP in); 1 x VGA (Connect the PC host in); 1 x Stereo Audio L/R.
2. Output: 1 x VGA (Connect PC screen or LCD), 1 x Audio.
3. Dimension: 2.7X10.6X3.4 cm
4. Net Weight: 0.27KG
5. Dimension of Box: 25X17.5X7 cm
6. Weight of Box: 0.81KG
Interface Specification

1. Connect YPbPr interface of PSP cable
2. Connect Audio L/R cable of PSP cable
3. Connect PC audio in
4. Connect Sound Box
5. LED (Red: PC host input; Green: PSP input)
6. Select output resolution
7. Switch output picture into full screen display
8. Switch between PSP input and PC host input
9. Connect power supply
10. Connect PC Host
11. Connect PC Monitor
Contect:

PSP to PC Converter 1 pcs
VGA Cable 1 pcs
PSP Cable 1 pcs
3.5 Audio cable 1 pcs
AC Adaptor 1 pcs
User\'s Manual 1 pcs


More... ...