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Xbox 360 premium console upgraded to 60GB, price drop for old 20GB model

Microsoft is giving consumers more gigabytes for their buck. The company today announced an Xbox 360® console with triple the storage space of the original console, but for the same price of $349 (U.S.) estimated retail price.

Available in retail stores in the U.S. and Canada starting in early August, the upgraded Xbox 360 will include a 60GB hard drive for storing the growing wealth of digital entertainment available for the console, including music, movies, television shows, and game content. In addition, Microsoft today dropped the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 console in the U.S. and Canada to just $299 (U.S.) (ERP) while supplies last, a savings of $50.

"We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management at Microsoft. "No one device offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 can deliver, and now you'll have three times the storage to manage all that great content."

While this is certainly good news for potential American Xbox 360 owners, a permanent price cut is what's higher on the need list. 

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Square Enix Ships iPod Game

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese videogame maker Square Enix Co Ltd said on Tuesday it had launched its first game for Apple Inc's iPod, broadening its target hardware to the top-selling media player.
Square Enix, known for such blockbuster titles as "Final Fantasy" and "Kingdom Hearts," began offering the "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" role-playing game this week in Apple's iTune store.
The game goes for $4.99 in the United States, 4.99 euros ($7.84) in Europe and 600 yen ($5.60) in Japan.
Unlike some iPod games, which are modified versions of mobile phone games, "Song Summoner" was developed exclusively for iPod and is designed to take advantage of the machine's functionality.
A game player picks a song stored in the iPod and the song determines the types and abilities of the fighters in the game, or "Tune Troopers."
There is no sales target for the game, a Square Enix spokeswoman said.
Shares in Square Enix slipped 1.5 percent to 3,280 yen in late afternoon trade in Tokyo, outperforming the Nikkei average which fell 2.5 percent.

Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Reshuffling at Microsoft Gaming

A key Xbox marketing leader is leaving Microsoft amid executive shuffling in the company's gaming business.
Jeff Bell, corporate vice president of global marketing for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, is leaving the company at the end of the summer to pursue other interests after only two years at the company, Microsoft said Thursday. Summer in the U.S. typically means the months of June, July and August.

http://feeds.pcworld.com/~r/pcworld/latestnews/~3/310713527/article.html


Now the question is, what does all of this imply?
A new strategy for Microsoft's gaming business?

Itagaki leaving Tecmo and a mess ensues

Tomonobu Itagaki, executive producer of Team Ninja, a Tecmo owned Studio, has left Tecmo, and not on the best of terms. According to Kotaku he is suing Tecmo for failing to pay him promised bonuses for completing Dead or Alive 4. Adding insult to injury he released a press statement revealing some of the grounds for quitting and suing them for 148 million yen:

[quote]Before the start of development on DEAD OR ALIVE 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me “if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.” ...

...To All Game Fans
I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. NINJA GAIDEN 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last NINJA GAIDEN I will create. I will also never be able to make DEAD OR ALIVE 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans.
However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so.
I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future.
[/quote]

Tecmo were quick to respond with a statement on their homepage:

[quote]Our company getting sued by this employee is huge problem... the reasons for making this lawsuit public are self-centered. What's more, this employee is filing this suit for himself and making it seem like he alone is responsible for the development of the game titles the rest of the Team Ninja staff had poured its heart into.

Team NINJA is currently working on a line-up of new titles. All of Team NINJA is starting to work together on interesting new game titles.[/quote]

To top it all off, Tecmo has issued yet another statement reassuring the public that Team Ninja will continue work as normal.

[quote]

On June 3, 2008, Tomonobu Itagaki, Executive Producer of Tecmo, LTD.(Tokyo, Japan) owned development studio Team NINJA, submitted his resignation. Due to the fact that he had recently filed a legal complaint against Tecmo, LTD., there was no choice but to accept his resignation. His resignation is effective July 1, 2008.

The legal complaint is in regards to a claim to an incentive bonus linked to a past project. The parties could not reach an amicable resolution to this matter and Itagaki chose to seek a legal remedy. Tecmo, LTD. will let the court decide the outcome of this case and will seek a true, fair, and quick resolution.

Most importantly, Tecmo, LTD. would like to assure its loyal fans that Team NINJA, known for its top selling and critically acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises, is intact and, as a matter of fact, have several new projects already underway. Team NINJA is, more than ever, committed to producing compelling and cutting edge games in order to maintain its reputation as a high quality developer and to continue to receive the support of its loyal fans.[/quote]

sources:

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Bioshock coming to PS3

We've heard rumors of it for months and now it seems that the most recent one circulated by 1UP's Quartermann is indeed on the money: BioShock is coming to the PS3. The news will apparently drop in the July issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.

All we know at this point is that the game may get some graphical improvements, it's due in time for the 2008 holiday season and that the port is being headed up by new BioShock creative director Jordan Thomas, a designer on the original. Check out the July issue of EGM for screens and some more info.