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Filed under: News, Console wars

It was reported last month that Robbie Bach, current head of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices unit (which contains both the Xbox and Zune), sold millions in stock during the months leading up to the July announcement that the Xbox 360 warranty had been extended to three years. It was initially reported that Bach sold $6.2 million in stock between May 2nd and the July announcement. Announced today by Dow Jones (via CNN), it looks like Bach actually sold an additional $3 million that went unreported due to “an administrative error.”

Microsoft still maintains that the stock transactions, including the recently uncovered $3 million, were in no way related to the warranty announcement. Furthermore, a Microsoft spokesperson claims that the company has “followed the procedures required of late-filers and is now in full compliance.” It’s worth noting that Microsoft’s stock value saw little change after the warranty announcement — which incurred a loss of over $1 billion to the company — so Microsoft’s claims about Bach’s transactions still hold water for the moment.

[Via Joystiq]

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Filed under: News, Halo 3

Our friends at Xbox-Scene have received some new details on Halo 3 Epsilon, which was spotted on several gamercards last week. According to an anonymous tipster has informed Xbox-Scene that Halo 3 Epsilon is a downloadable version of Halo 3 with lots of gameplay options. Think of it as the Halo 3 Beta Plus. Epsilon gives you access to multiplayer fun on six maps including Snowbound, High Ground, Valhalla, Last Resort, Epitaph, and Sandtrap. In addition, players get access to custom games and the ability to fully edit game variants. Not only that, but Forge is also available, where players can edit and save map variants. Players can also enjoy four player co-op in a single level of Halo 3’s campaign. Finally, the fully functional Saved Films feature is also available, allowing players to save and edit films from all available play modes including Forge.

All in all, it’s sounds like a pretty sweet deal for those lucky enough to get in on it. We’ve been checking our inbox obsessively without any luck. We’d ask the lucky bastards playing it to tell us about it, but they’re probably sworn to secrecy on pain of death.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in]

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Filed under: News, Xbox Live Arcade

Blazing Lizard, the company recently formed by former members of Volition (Saints Row), has announced what will no doubt be one of the most earth-shattering games yet created on this planet, Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball. Yes, the game seeks to answer the centuries old questions of which group is superior. What better way to do that than with a good old fashioned game of dodgeball, right? Actually, it’s not strictly old fashioned, as teams are not restricted to one side of the court, being allowed instead to run anywhere they see fit. PvN Dodgeball is set to be the first in the Pirates Vs. Ninja series — we can only guess what other sports Blazing Lizard has in mind — and will be available via as yet unannounced download services. We’re assuming that Xbox Live Arcade is a safe bet at this point. Oh, and if by some minute chance you prefer neither ninjas nor pirates, there are three other teams from which to choose, though Blazing Lizard has yet to announce what those teams are (lawyers maybe?). Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is scheduled to arrive during the first quarter of 2008.

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[Via Joystiq]

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Filed under: News, Console wars, Xbox Live Arcade

In the first industry research column, part of a series coming to GameDaily.biz, Frank N. Magid Associates look at the current state of online gaming on the Xbox 360 as well as Xbox Live Arcade usage. In an online survey of 1800 U.S. homes, 149 were found to own an Xbox 360. Among these homes, 64% were found to play games online, which isn’t terribly surprising given Microsoft’s focus on Xbox Live as a differentiating factor between the Xbox 360 and other consoles. Much more interesting are Magid’s statistics concerning Xbox Live Arcade. While the survey discovered that 70% of the surveyed homes have used Xbox Live Arcade, only 28% have actually made a purchase. What is really alarming, however, is that a full 30% of those surveyed were completely unaware of Xbox Live Arcade. In other words, nearly a third of those surveyed didn’t know that XBLA even existed. If this percentage translates to all 360 owners, then Microsoft has some serious marketing to do.

Then again, we’re not too surprised. After all, 60% of PS3 owners don’t know that their console has a Blu-Ray drive.

[Via Joystiq]

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Filed under: News, Xbox Live Arcade, Videos

Yesterday, Microsoft released a short video showing off a little bit of Schizoid gameplay and, from the looks of things, we can sum it up by calling it color coded teamwork. From day one, Schizoid promised true teamwork where players have to rely on a friend to survive and advance through the game. The clip is short, but we get to see how the game actually works and why it’s so “teamworky”. In a nutshell, Schizoid is based on red and blue crabs that need killing, but there is no shooting in the game. Instead, you kill these evil crabs by running into them with the blue player ramming blue crabs while the red player rams the red crabs. But the catch is that the blue player can’t touch the red crabs or they die and vice versa making the co-op element oh so apparent. If you don’t understand our explanation then give the embedded video a watch. If you still don’t understand how Schizoid works then go ask 20Q how to play. He knows everything.

[Via Joystiq]

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