With Chris busy at CES I figured I'd throw up this nugget just in from Microsoft: they are going to be releasing an external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 this year. No specific release date or price point was mentioned in the press release, which also touches on Windows Vista, Windows Live plans and other Micosoft products.

Building on Xbox 360 leadership in high-definition experiences, the company announced plans to deliver a new Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive in 2006. The new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies and will provide consumers with even more choices for experiencing high-definition content, in either physical or digital form.

In other 360 news, a Fight Night Round 3 demo is now available through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Microsoft today officially confirmed Xbox 360 pricing, and after all the rumors it's not surprising to see that Microsoft is indeed going with a HDD-less 360. You'll be able to pick that one up for $299 (it comes with one controller), while an Xbox 360 with a 20 GB hard drive, a wireless controller, a headset and a remote will cost $399. Microsoft also announced the HDD comes preloaded with music, gaming videos and other media, though it didn't specify any of this content. As for the release date? That's still just "Holiday 2005".

Microsoft also announced the price points for over a dozen Xbox 360 accessories, including stand-alone wireless controllers ($50), detachable 20 GB hard drives ($100), headsets ($20) and Xbox 360 faceplates ($20), which allow users to customize their machine. Those hoping to take advantage of the Xbox 360's oft-touted high definition graphics will either need to purchase the $400 bundle or buy separate component cables (which will sell for $40) along with the basic system. The lower-end package will ship with standard AV cables.

According to EuroGamer's article about the announcement the UK versions will be £209.99 and £279.99 while the rest of Europe is paying a premium with a direct USD to EURO conversion (€299.99 and €399.99)

The FileShack HD footage has begun! As we upload new titles they will be added to this list below! We're of course doing the HD footage for the Mercury members to start out but we'll be adding the slightly lower resolution videos (with an HD sample) for everyone else later on in the night. But hey we're hoping you guys sign up and support us doing cool stuff. You can expect more footage every day of the show but for now enjoy the Xbox 360 helping! Dont worry we've got Playstation3 stuff coming too... and of course PC games!

- HD or Lowres Gears of War (holy crap!)
- HD or Lowres Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion
- HD or Lowres Project Gotham Racing 3
- HD or Lowres Lost Odyssey
- HD or Lowres Ghost Recon 3
- HD or Lowres Kameo
- HD or Lowres Xbox 360 montage #1 (Includes Quake4!)
- HD or Lowres Xbox 360 montage #2
- HD or Lowres Xbox 360 montage #3 (includes Perfect Dark Zero!)
- HD or Lowres Xbox 360 montage EA Games
- HD or Lowres Call of Duty 2
- HD or Lowres Dead or Alive 4
- HD or Lowres Need for Speed : Most Wanted
- HD or Lowres NBA2K6

Oh and for the two most common questions:

- PS3 HI DEF coming too!
- PC as well!

All sorts of fun facts coming out of Microsoft's E3 2005 Xbox 360 press event. Story will be updated as they come in.

• Xbox 360 will have limited backward compatability. Only the most popular Xbox games will be supported, through an emulator.
• Square Enix is releasing Final Fantasy XI on the 360, with Live support. First of several Square Enix games on the platform.
• More than 160 games are in development.
• During a 90 day launch window Microsoft hopes that between 25 and 40 Xbox 360 games are released.
• You can buy movies and music online through the 360
• All games must support 720p, a 16:9 aspect ratio, anti-aliasing and 5.1 multi channel sound.

Microsoft went on the record today by announcing many details concerning its next-gen Xbox, currently codenamed Xenon. Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Chief XNA Architect J Allard covered a lot of ground, focusing on what he calls the "HD Era."

"In the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor," Microsoft's J Allard said. "New technology and emerging consumer forces will come together to enable the rock stars of game development to shake up the old establishment and redefine entertainment as we know it."

Allard described new concepts that will be implemented: Gamer Cards, a profile of key Xbox Live information for each gamer; the Marketplace, where gamers can buy and shop for different in-game content such as skins, vehicles, or maps; Micro-transactions, small-priced items that players can acquire through the Marketplace for as little as .99 cents; and Custom Playlists, allowing developers to no longer have to code in the feature into their games, it's already there for use.

The full press release can be found here. For more information about the next-gen Xbox, read the lead story of last night's Late Night Consoling.

A week from tomorrow is the release of Phantom Dust for the Xbox, a sci-fi action/combat game that will sell for $19.99. I was lucky enough to have some questions answered by the lead director, Yukio Futatsugi, who was eager to tell me what makes his game so special.

Shack: What's the story behind Phantom Dust and who is the main character?
Yukio Futatsugi: It's a Sci-Fi genre combat game in a post-apocalypse world between warriors with psychic powers. The players, seeking the reason why their world is in ruins and why their memories have been lost, fight with other psychics and monsters. The surface of the earth is covered with particles referred to as "phantom dust", which has the power of erasing the memories of the people on earth. In place of losing their memory, people have gained "skills" that are the power of thought made concretely manifest. Earth is ruled by strange monsters, and the remaining people are living in hiding underground. The psychic warriors use the skills to fight with the monsters.

Read the entire interview here.

We don't usually single out console games but hey we are the first to bring you this unofficial gameplay video from Dead Man's Hand, the new Wild West shooter from Human Head Studios (Rune). The Windows Media Video format movie runs for four minutes showing various locations and characters. This Xbox only game is currently scheduled for an early December release.

Your gaming soap opera for the holiday. The group that was threatening to release a hack for the Xbox unless Microsoft released a signed Linux boot loader has followed through with their threat and released a public proof of concept. The published hack does not allow for the use of pirated games but the revealing of the exploit allegedly makes it fairly trivial for an experienced programmer to modify the hack for naughty uses.

Group representatives reject claims they are encouraging piracy and accuse the software company of failing to protect its game developers' intellectual property. A signed boot loader won't allow the console to run pirated games, whereas the exploit they have developed will. Free-X say piracy is not something they wish to encourage.

If this turns out to be legit which more than a few people believe it is, this is pretty darn significant.

Well, here's your big console news of the day.. it looks like someone has finally figured out how to load Linux onto an X-Box without having to use any special "illegal" mod chips. They use everyone's favorite buffer overflow exploit to execute their own code due to a "bug" that exists in a few X-Box titles. The game used in particular is Agent Under Fire, although the "bug" exists in several titles according to the author. From XBoxhacker:

This "exploit," "hack," or "bug" as some are calling it stems from a seemingly, at the time of this article, simple "hack attack" known as a buffer overflow. Essentially overfilling the cup which is the memory process management of the operating system and slipping in your own piece of code right under its nose without it ever realizing

You can read about this on XBox-Linux and XBoxHacker.

GameSpyDaily has an interview with David Hufford discussing XBox Live and a bit about the online plans for the XBox which shipped with an ethernet controller. Thanks Blues

Normally console news is saved up until Jason's Late Night Consoling post, but this is pretty big news (and several people have already been emailing us). Seamus Blackley, co-creator of the Xbox and considered the project's father by many, has quit Microsoft. According to Blackley's spokeswoman and Microsoft, he has left for a new venture. What this venture is will not be announced for another two weeks. News of Blackley leaving comes just a few days after Microsoft announced it had cut the sales target for the Xbox by some 40 percent, due to dissapointing sales outside the U.S.

In other news, Nintendo has announced a price cut for the GameCube in Europe. Though it hasn't even launched yet, the Cube will now be 199 Euros (about $177) when it launches May 3. Previously the GameCube was going to cost 249 Euros.

Making up for their Xbox price cut interview, the Official Xbox Magazine UK site also has a list of games which will launch when Xbox Live (Xbox internet gaming service) starts later this year. You guys can look forward to MechAssault, Whacked!, Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon and NFL Fever.

If you want to read a really fluffy interview about the Xbox price cut in Europe, you can do so here at the Official Xbox Magazine UK site. Everyone is positive! And things are great!

Following the news that the price of the Xbox would be cut in Europe, comes news that the same thing will happen in Australia. Like in Europe, customers who bought it for the original price will be given two games and a controller.

There's a Hunter: The Reckoning interview on HomeLAN Fed. Scot Lane answers a bunch of questions about this upcoming Xbox action horror title. Q&As are about things like the playable characters, monsters in the game, gameplay elements, why Xbox only, current status of the game and more.

Bloomberg.com has a story about the Xbox sales in Japan and Europe (thanks EuroGamer). Basically, they are bad. The president of Electronic Arts even says "Microsoft has had its teeth kicked in". Perhaps if MS wouldn't screw Europe (and Australia too I hear) on the price of the console it would sell better (around $410 instead of $299). Of course, Microsoft says everything is just peachy

``We're off to a great start in every region,'' O'Rourke said in an interview. ``We went into this with eyes wide open, knowing we would have a successful launch, but it would be measured in different metrics.''

HomeLAN Fed has a Monsters vs Humans interview, chatting with Mark Jordan of Metro3D about this upcoming online FPS for the Xbox. Interview topics include the storyline, the playable characters, type of enviroments and settings in the game, the various gameplay elements, multiplayer options and of course more.

As promised, we now have an Xbox controller roundup from Jason. He takes a look at the differences between the US and Japanese Xbox controller, and for good measure a 3rd party controller is thrown into the mix as well. He compares the controllers using Halo, Jet Set Radio Future, Dead or Alive 3 and Wreckless.

As I was one of those who complained about the size of the American controller (see my Xbox system review) I jumped at the chance to import the Japanese one. Now that I’ve had some time to play with it, I am pleased to present my comparison of the two. I’ve also thrown in Interact’s Xbox PowerPad, simply because I have it here, and because it’s actually larger than Microsoft’s original Xbox controller. So let’s get too it, shall we? [...]

Computer & Video Games has posted several new screenshots from the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer game which is coming out on the Xbox soon.

Gamespy has posted an interview with Microsoft's David Hufford who reveals plans for the Xbox controller S, a smaller controller for the console. This one will cost $39.95 when it's released early May, and it's actually not totally identical to the Japanese controller.

GameSpy: Will the new pad ever be bundled with the Xbox?

David Hufford: We're not planning on that now. We've seen high satisfaction for the current Xbox Controller that comes with the console, and we're sticking to that plan.