The year head-start in the next-gen console race for the Xbox 360 has always seen as a major boon for Microsoft. Late to the party during the last console cycle, Microsoft leapfrogged its competitors this time around by releasing the Xbox 360 in November 2005. Nintendo and Sony released the Wii and PlayStation 3, respectively, in November 2006.

But while Nintendo and Sony trumpet sales in the hundreds of thousands--Nintendo says it sold through 600,000 Wiis and Sony has yet to give official numbers--Microsoft is looking towards sales of 10 million Xbox 360s by the end of this year's all-important holiday season.

The figure is nothing new. Five months before the Xbox 360 launched, Peter Moore boasted that Microsoft would sell 10 million Xbox 360s in the console's first year on market.

More than 17 months later, Microsoft appears to be sticking to that lofty number. Speaking at the NASDAQ analyst conference in London, Microsoft CFO Christopher Lidell talked about his company's future. While touting the upcoming launch of the Vista operating system, he said, "We also believe we can sell 10 million Xbox 360 units by the end of the Christmas season," according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the company's first quarter financial report for the period ending September 30, 2006, Microsoft revealed that it had sold 6 million Xbox 360s worldwide. In order to reach 10 million sold, Microsoft would have to sell more than 1 million Xbox 360s per month between October and December.

Selling 10 million units before the competition is more than just bragging rights for Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this year said the number could very well determine the winner of the next-gen console war.

Speaking about Sony's delay of the PS3 to this holiday season, Ballmer told Fortune, "In every other generation, the first guy to 10 million consoles was the number one seller in the generation. Did we just get an even better opportunity to be the first guy to 10 million? Yeah, of course we did."

via gamespot ...

Hi
I made a automated 3.01 FW Installer for the latest devhook

All you have to do is to install Devhook, install the Installer and put the 3.01 Update Eboot in the root of your memory stick.
Make sure it's called Eboot.PBP and run the installer.

The installer has several advantages:
First, you don't have to extract the PSAR File anymore, the installer will locate the PSAR file in the update and do the necessary steps for you.

Second, the files will be moved to the dh/301/ folder, so you no longer need to move them by hand

Third, it creates the F1 folder so you don't get the blue screen of death.

All is done on the memory stick, no flashing is involved.

To finally start 3.01, start Devhook and make sure Firmware is set to 3.01 and reboot.
Enjoy!

This installer is based on a modified version of PSAR Dumper by PspPet, Dark_AleX and Team Noobz
proper shout outs to them

This is totally legal, it doesn't contain any (c) files.
It doesn't work without the 3.01 update (cause it retrieves the (c) fw files from the update )
It currently only works with 3.01 Update.
But I'm working on a version that will support all updates

Tested on 1.5 by whazilla and me and I got word that it doesn't work on 2.71SE, will have to look at it ...

The Wii's strong debut has been wellspring of recent good news for Nintendo, most recently with a near-sellout in Japan. However, some analysts felt that the "new-gen" console's success would come at the expense of the Mario factory's bestselling DS handheld. The logic was that, consumes with limited budgets would have to choose between the two this holiday season.

Such worries do not apparently weigh on the brow of Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president. "Some analysts say the largest rival of the Wii is the DS," he told the Reuters news service. "But if you take a look at DS sales in the United States in the Thanksgiving week or DS sales in Japan in the week of the Wii launch, there has been little impact."

By the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2007, Nintendo now believes it will have sold 6 million Wiis and 20 million combined units of the DS and DS Lite. It currently predicts its annual profit will total 145 billion yen (around $1.26 billion), an increase of over 60 percent, with annual sales rising 45 percent to 740 billion yen (approx. $6.44 billion).

Iwata told Reuters that he believes there's a chance that Nintendo will top its already rosy outlook. "'Confidence' could be too strong a word, but there is an emerging possibility," said Iwata regarding Nintendo beating its forecast. "We had come up with the current earnings forecasts before we sold even a single unit of the Wii and when we were not so sure about the cannibalization effect between the Wii and the DS."

via gamespot ...

Tony Pearce, MD of mobile content provider Player X, has warned that poor quality mobile phone versions of PC and console titles could damage the existing videogame franchises.

Speaking in an interview with our sister site, MobileIndustry.biz, Pearce said one of the issues with mobile games based on well-known brands is that, "The customer is probably going to be disappointed in the quality.

"In a way, I respect the fact that Grand Theft Auto hasn't been launched on mobile yet - because today, it wouldn't do the game any justice," he continued.

"In the next two years, when you get a really good quality handset coming out - and they're starting to come out now - then you can start doing conversions between a game console and a phone that won't harm the license. But at the moment, I think it could be dangerous to the brand."

According to Pearce, many mobile phone owners aren't gamers in the traditional sense - and are therefore more likely to recognise franchises such as Monopoly and casual games like Tetris than a brand such as Splinter Cell.

"Our focus is to really look at brands that have longevity, and are well known and established in their own right. We have done some real videogame brands, but unless you put some marketing behind it and unless people are aware of it on the deck... Well, they'll always just go for Tetris," he argued.

Player X has lined up a range of casual games for its 2007 mobile line-up, including titles based on TV brands such as Family Fortunes and The Price is Right.

However, Pearce explained, the company is also looking to focus on other areas of mobile content in a bid to meet consumers' changing demands.

"We will follow what the customers want, and you can't just stick with games any more. You have to offer new and exciting content, to the public and to the operators, and video, mobile TV - that's exciting," he said.

Via GiBiz ...

News from Be3f:


Download at the release thread Here --> http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44879 ...

Via PSP117

Hello all, new version of Portal 117, and its worth getting....its had a cleanup since its last version, and its been improved even more.....

The version contains-
95 Games
25 Applications
Flash Cartoons
All demos directly downlaodable
Video Downloads
75+ wallpaper downloads
35+ RSS Channels video and audio
20+ Links on Links Page
Portal 117 Live




Instructions-

1. After Unziping folder place Portal 117 Folder in D:\PSP\COMMON to make D:\PSP\COMMON\Portal 117

2. On your PSP Browser type file:/psp/common/portal117/portal117.htm

3. The main portal page should load up, from here you can select Portal 117 Live, Games, Apps, Videos,Demos, Wallpapers, RSS and Podcasts and Links, i would suggest adding the main page to your bookmarks or setting it as your home page.


Credits
Benh at PSP Fanatic and Dcemu
Blackrave @ Dcemu
power7714 at the PSP Demo Center
Wilko and Ollington

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

luLy just made a homebrew LUA game named NDS-Killer.
What you do?
You move a Nintendo DS around the screen to make it get hit by objects such as knives to scratch it up and damage it. The more you get hit, the more points you get.
Some objects will fix the NDS, which, of course, you can't allow.

Here are some other features:

• Highscore
• Multiplayer (you need a highscore of 150 to start it)
• No Lua-Player needed
• Options

Now, don't take this game serious, it was made for pure fun, like he says himself:

Have fun crushing NDS.

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Via luly ...

Die Hard D has updated the Bible Tool portal for firmware users 2.0 and up (2.71 for flash calendar), and 1.50 users, of course, using other ways to make use of a web browser.

v1.0 caused some discussion when it was released, so let's not bring that debate here now.

So, what's new?
There's a new feature called Capture Mode.
Some bug fixes.

That's about it. It's good to have the Holy Bible with you wherever you go, even though it's quite big; 46 MB unpacked.

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Via QJ ...

Dark Alex posted this news/release:


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