Can't say we're all that surprised given other sightings, but one anonymous tipster has sent us pics from a local Walmart of the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite in a shiny white package with a back-of-box chart that neglects to mention the Pro models, essentially striking it from the records. It's still scanning at $399 for now, but having seen multiple retailers' print flyers -- including Walmart's own -- quoting $299, the computers very well may be updating just after some official Microsoft announcement, which wouldn't surprise us at all if it happen sometime this week, just ahead of the PS3 Slim launch. Peruse the pics in higher-res format below.

Update: As several readers have pointed out, the back-of-box chart shows the Elite as having standard, presumably non-HD cables only, and there's no mention of bundled HDMI cables anywhere. Also of note is the wording for Xbox Live has changed from "Silver Membership" to "Free." Before you go thinking the premium Gold membership is going away, however, there's a superscript '4,' and if it's like the older box, it leads to a longer explanation on the Xbox Live's tiered plans -- not to mention there's an ad for buying into XBL Gold just under the chart.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/xbox-...ro-on-the-box/ ...

Admittedly, when we saw Game Informer's survey that pegged Xbox 360's failure rate at 54.2 percent, we were thinking that was a bit steep of a number, possibly bumped up a few digits from some possible sampling errors. So when we were gearing up to read Microsoft's statement responding to the data, we fully expected some harsh rebuttal of the number. Turns out we got disappointed. A spokesperson for Redmond pointed to its superior entertainment value, its "best warranty in the industry" and its "constantly improving design, manufacture, and performance." At no point is there a dispute or even direct reference to the findings, which is really something that could've helped public perception on a nagging issue. How about taking a page from Fujifilm, eh Microsoft?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/24/m...e-rate-report/ ...

id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead has said he believes Microsoft will be the first out with next-generation of hardware.

"Somebody’s going to do it, and - to me - probably the player who's in the best position to do so is Microsoft, because I do think they’ve recouped a lot of the costs of their console," Hollenshead said in an interview with VG247.

"Maybe they’ll push the [Xbox 360] to year six - maybe seven - but I've got to believe that they're already planning the transition now, and they have their eye on the ball as to what it is, because I think they see that there are some weaknesses that they can exploit with what's going on at Sony," he added.

The biggest problem facing the games industry at the moment, said the CEO, is the global recession. As such, each platform holder is faced with "major disincentives" to start another console cycle.

At some point though, he predicted, "the PC is going to gain substantial competitive leverage by virtue of superior technology" which consoles will no longer be able to compete with.

That is when the industry will be forced to handle the next console transition, he speculated. Even though the PlayStation 3 install base "is still a problem for Sony", and the price points for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are atill above what can be considered mainstream or mass market.

Hollenshead also spoke about his company's recent purchase by Zenimax - an event which he said saw id acquire a publisher as much as Zenimax acquiring a developer.

There are issues with independent game development - especially for id, he said, largely caused by the decreasing number of companies in a position to work with the developer.

"Most of the publishers that were out there all had titles or teams that were internal that were in sort of our competitive area of shooters, so that created natural conflict," he explained.

"Also, the declining number of companies that we could work with - just because of companies going out of business or being bought, acquired, merged, etc - was becoming a concern."

Not that Hollenshead thinks id's situation applies to all independent developers, but he does believe it's become increasingly difficult for them to achieve a "mega-hit" alone.

"If you want a huge mega-hit, that's not a million seller," he pointed out, "it's a ten million unit seller. And to make a game that sells ten million units not only requires a lot more development time and effort to be put in the game - it requires other financial considerations as well.

"You've got to spend tens of millions of dollars - I mean, it's anyone's guess on how much Microsoft spends marketing Halo - but I have seen hundred million dollar figures bandied about. So you've got to spend huge money marketing a title. And when you take all these things into account, an independent, internally-funded developer is almost too much to ask for."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-gen-hardware ...

Wii Sports Resort has landed at the top of the latest UK chart for a second time around after sales of Ashes Cricket 2009 more than halved, while Activision Blizzard's Wolfenstein has made its début chart entry at number two.

After enjoying number one success for two weeks, virtual cricket proved less popular than the real life Ashes this week as the Codemasters game sank two positions to number three, with sales falling 56 per cent.

Activision Blizzard's resurrection of the classic Wolfenstein did much better however, with first week sales that almost matched those of the MotionPlus bundled Wii Sports Resort. The shooter tailed behind the Nintendo title by just 2000 sales.

The publisher's new game now gives it three titles in the UK top ten, with Wolfenstein joining Call of Duty: World At War, which saw price promotions increase sales by 36 per cent this week, and Prototype, which moved up one place to number 10.

Nintendo shared this accolade with three games of its own in the top ten - alongside Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii further proved their resilience taking the number four and seven positions respectively.

Ubisoft Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood dropped two places to number six this week, with a sales drop of 26 per cent, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 fell to number eight following a sales drop of 24 per cent.

Fellow EA Sports title and former number one Fight Night Round 4 re-entered the top ten at number nine, although sales were still down 5 per cent on last week, while Madden NFL 10 dropped all the way from number eight to 20, with sales down 43 per cent.

The full UK all-formats chart from Chart Track for the week ending August 22 is as follows:

01 Wii Sports Resort
02 Wolfenstein
03 Ashes Cricket 2009
04 Wii Fit
05 Call of Duty: World at War
06 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
07 Mario Kart Wii
08 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
09 Fight Night Round 4
10 Prototype

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...atest-uk-chart ...

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company is steadily increasing its headcount to be ready for the launch of the next round of videogames consoles.

The French publishing giant is determined to make sure that it is at the forefront of the market whenever new technology is released, despite the risks involved in putting that investment together.

"What we've seen is that there are still lots of opportunities in this industry, and we have to get ready for the next generation of consoles," he explained. "I know each time I say that, everybody says that we don't know when they will come... but what we've seen is that when you don't actually have enough creators to make the games when the new consoles start, you can't take the time or have enough energy to use the capacity of those consoles.

"So the goal is really to try to be there with a good team that's capable of using all the potential of those new consoles."

Ubisoft has unveiled two new super-studios in the past year or so, one in Singapore set to grow to 400 people and one in Toronto with a 700-person capacity - a strategy that's contrasted with the likes of Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony and THQ, companies which have all shed staff and trimmed down in the past nine months.

"For sure, it's a risk," he went on. "What I've seen all the way in this industry is that without risk you have less success. You have to take risk to have a chance to succeed.

"I believe that this industry will continue to grow fast, and that it will be a very large industry. I think it interactive entertainment will grow in picking up the businesses that are around, like the movie industry did a long time ago.

"That's why we believe it's time to invest, because it's the right time to continue to expand the brands we're creating, and to make better games. Because we wanted to come here this year with another level of quality.

"On some products last year we were not as happy as we wanted, so this time we've been investing more to make sure that everybody will be happy with the games that we launch."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...oles-guillemot ...

Apple has confirmed that its new operating system, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, will be released on 28 August.
Snow Leopard is Apple's biggest operating system update since the firm moved from the "Classic" OS in 2001.
Apple said the new operating system (OS) is almost half the size of previous versions, freeing up to 7GB of drive space once installed.
Snow Leopard is currently the number two best seller on Amazon.com and will retail at £25 in the UK ($29 in US).
The release had been slated for September but the firm announced the revised release date on Monday.
The new version updates on the old 10.5.7 Leopard OS and Apple say that its "support for 64-bit processors makes use of large amounts of RAM, increases performance and improves security while remaining compatible with 32-bit applications".
"Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we're happy to get it to users earlier than expected," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.
Apple's main thrust has been on improving the OS performance, rather than creating new features for the user.
The OS will also come with built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 that Apple says will allow users to employ Snow Leopard's mail, contacts, and calendar applications while accessing Windows-based network services.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8218446.stm ...

Research group expects 60 per cent sales leap in the US
The new slimline PS3 and its price cut could boost sales of the console by 60 per cent in the US, NPD reports.
The firm made the statement to Information Week, but warned that price alone won’t see Sony narrow the gap between the PS3 and its rivals, citing the need for big game releases.
"The $299 price point is important to getting to a point where the next segment of price-conscious consumers can jump into the market and it most certainly will re-energize sales of the platform," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
“We would expect to see in the range of a 40 per cent to 60 per cent unit sales increase when September sales are reported.
“Content is still the key motivator of a hardware purchase decision. Other systems might too take a price cut, so there's a lot playing into which system tops sales any particular month.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35540/US-N...S3-sales-surge ...

Theiphoneblog carries a nice article on the reason Apple rejected the Google Voice application even though it doesn't violate any terms and services. The article goes in depth over the issue of controlling the hardware (Apple) vs controlling the software (Google & Apple so far) and how Apple doesn't want Google to take over a critical part of its phone. Just like Google is going into the OS business to make sure it gets never cut out, Apple is also building a huge datacenter to — they guess — take over some online cloud computing business of their own and be less dependent on Google for these services.

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/0...rol-the-IPhone ...

Today Nokia unveiled its first netbook that runs Windows and packs an Intel Atom processor. The Nokia Booklet 3G is the first Nokia device to feature a full-sized keypad and a 10-inch display. Recombu.com has listed the specs, which include an SD card reader, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G, HSDPA (3.5G), Wi-Fi, an HDMI port for HD video out and a front facing camera for video calling. According to Nokia the Booklet will provide 12 hours of battery life.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/...-First-Netbook ...