Microsoft Announced yesterday (Who the F announces shit on Zombie Jesus' bday?) that they will not only be including Instant Messenger, among several other tweaks, in a May 7th update but later this summer they will be shipping a QWERTY keyboard controller as well. Why not just add a phone to it as well and be done with it?

Full release below! 

Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the communication options on the Xbox Live social network.

Connected Experiences
Members of the six-million-strong Xbox Live community currently send more than two million text and voice messages a day and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music, or watching movies. Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate with on Xbox Live, including voice and video chat.

Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox Live will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences they can share online.

"Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox Live has really become the largest social network on television," said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox Live at Microsoft. "For our growing community of six million on Xbox Live, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music, and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice, and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox Live users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360."

Beginning the week of May 7, users of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 can text chat using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. This summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging.

Other New Features
Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including:

• A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.
• Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.
• A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access the content they seek—whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States)—from one place on Xbox Live.
• Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
• Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
• A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games.
• New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and will be easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox Live or on Xbox.com.

You may not even notice all the new features, but they are all designed to enhance your Xbox Live experience. Some of the other features in this upgrade include: 

• The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.
• When the tray icon is highlighted, a list of achievements, game icon and gamerscore for that game is displayed.
• Video trick modes are enabled for content that is being progressively downloaded from Video Marketplace.
• Playback progress bar indicates download completion.
• Improved skip forward, skip back functionality during video playback.
• Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).
• Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.
• Support for streaming WM-DRM protected content from a PC
• Folder view for video content on connected devices
• H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
• Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
• Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
• Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
• Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
• Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.
• The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file.  In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.
• Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content.
• When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game.
• Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays. The user can delete all bookmarks but this will reset all bookmark information for every video that the user has played. The bookmark database is exposed in the system/memory/system items
• When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space.
• The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item.
• The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source

While I'm not sure how comfortable holding the DS up on it's end for hours at a time will be, I'm very excited for Ninja Gaiden on the DS. And after watching this video I'm particularly fond of the music. I'm into anything that really gives you that authentic 'feudal assassin' vibe, ya know?

Check out Ryu on the 'lil screen(s) HERE

This week the Wii VC brings us two golden oldies and one I've never played or ever heard of.  Now I played the crap out of Star Fox 64. Even after I beat it I would fly my Arwing until it would no longer fly, listening to Slippy's prattle until he could prattle no more and enjoying my rumble pak until its little force feedbacking heart no longer beat. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I enjoyed when I was 12 but looking back on it, it was kinda crap.

Star Fox 64 (N64, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points):

Players take the controls of their Arwing and complete 15 missions to reach the final objective: a showdown on Venom, the home planet of the interplanetary tyrant, Andross. Throughout the adventure, players have to accomplish challenging objectives in order to reach and conquer every mission. Skim over the surface of an alien sea, weave through the concrete canyons of a futuristic metropolis or dodge planetoids the size of mountains. Between missions, players will be treated to real-time 3-D movies that progress the story of the Star Fox team of space mercenaries in their struggle against the evil ape emperor, Andross.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 1 player, 600 Wii Points):

Cowabunga! Players take control of the turtles in a half shell and rescue reporter April O'Neil from the clutches of the evil Shredder. Battle against the Foot Ninja Clan as Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael with their trademark weapons and ninja abilities. Search through five stages and dozens of areas throughout the New York City sewers, rooftops and ultimately Shredder's Technodrome to save April. Players must scarf down some pizza to keep up their energy, as they'll need it to defeat Shredder. Turtle Power!

Dragon's Curse (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points):

After defeating the Mecha Dragon in the depths of the Dragon Castle, the wounded beast casts a spell on the hero, turning him into an ugly creature. To return to human form, he must find the Salamander Cross, which can break any curse. This side-scrolling action role-playing game is nonlinear, allowing players to venture freely. Collect gold and items while upgrading equipment and powering up stats. The hero starts as Lizard-Man but, upon defeating the dragon bosses, is changed into other creatures such as Mouse-Man, Piranha-Man, Tiger-Man and Hawk-Man. Each creature possesses distinct abilities such as the ability to fly, swim, walk on ceilings or cling to walls. Players use each creature's special skills to widen your search for the Salamander Cross and bring the hero back to his human form!

As if all the screen shots and Euro magazine covers last week were not enough proof, Sega went ahead and announced that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is in fact coming to the Wii this fall.

And as far as gay-looking little puppet looking dudes flying through the skies goes, more excited we could not be.

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (April 2, 2007) – SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams™, the long awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed NiGHTS franchise that gave gamers the freedom to fly in a world of dreams and imagination. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is being developed for Nintendo’s Wii™ video game console and is scheduled to be released in Fall 2007.

“We plan to deliver a gameplay experience never before seen on the Wii with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams,” said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. “The game takes full advantage of the unique Wii Remote controller enabling gamers to guide NiGHTS through spectacularly designed dream worlds intertwined with a story about hope and courage.”

As a fantasy jester called NiGHTS, players will fly through Nightopia, a rich and vibrant world where dreams come to life. With the innovative Wii Remote, gamers will experience a heightened sense of gliding, spiraling, and looping through seven mystical dream worlds packed with high-flying adventure. Players must find inventive ways to confront the “Nightmarens” from the neighboring dark world of Nightmare using amazing acrobatic skills, freedom of flight, and other special abilities to protect Nightopia. NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is an adventure filled with courage, hope and inspiration that the whole family will enjoy this holiday season.

For those not content with just being a Guitar Hero, Harmonix, MTV and EA have teamed up to bring us Rock Band this fall!

CAMBRIDGE, MA – April 2, 2007 – Harmonix, developer of the blockbuster Guitar Hero™ franchise, MTV: Music Television, a division of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced Rock Band, an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before.  Rock Band will allow gamers to perform music from the world’s biggest rock artists with their friends as a virtual band using drum, bass/lead guitar and microphone peripherals, in addition to offering deep online connectivity.  Built on unprecedented deals with the world’s biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band will span all genres of rock and include many of the master recordings from the biggest songs and artists of all time.  Rock Band is slated for release on PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® in holiday 2007.

And apparently not only will the game feature the ACTUAL artists and not a cover band but there will be downloadable content and some artists will actually release new songs through the game instead of the usual media.

No word on if all the instruments are sold separately, together or if the game will come with all or none of them. Regardless, Rock Band takes Guitar Hero and SingStar and makes them both obsolete? Maybe.

But I imagine Red Octane knew this was coming and has something wild up their sleeves as well… 

From French gaming site JeauxFrance via Portuguese game rag Maxi Consolas comes the first images of NiGHTS for the Wii.

The game looks…about like we expected a new NiGHTS to look. Which is totally awesome. We love us some Easter pastels. 

Check out more at JeauxFrance HERE

So it only took one whole day to go from "we have no plans to make a limited edition version of BioShock" to "OK, sure let's get right on that!" due to the diligent action taken by fans over at the BioShock community page, TheCultofRapture.com

The site gathered over 14K signatures (they only needed 5K) in less than 24 hours in an effort to get the limited edition put into production.

Now the only question is what will it come with? Well, smartypants, you can vote on that too! It's the power of the internets!

Here is what you have to choose from:

- Soundtrack CD

- Artbook

- Big Daddy figurine

- "Making of" DVD

- BioShock posters

- Upgraded packaging

- Art print with team's signatures

 Head on over to www.TheCultofRapture.com and vote!

While the Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK hinted at a new NiGHTS game (presumably for the Wii) in their last issue, it appears that Swedish rag GameReactor has the out and out scoop on the whole shebang!

Well, not entirely - they never mention what console the game is for…so…who the hell knows?

Guess we'll find out soon enough. If you can read Swedish then by all means check it out HERE

Lego Star Wars games were pretty ingenious so it's with much pleasure that we bring the news of a Lego Batman game!

From Variety:

Following the huge success of "Lego Star Wars" and its sequel, Warner Bros. has signed a licensing deal with Lego to produce a "Lego Batman" game.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will fully finance and publish the game itself, as well as handle all distribution in North America.

"Lego Batman" will follow a similar template, and Warner will release it in 2008 on multiple consoles.

Check out the Variety article: HERE

OK yeah, so we knew there would be Warthogs in Halo 3 and it stands to reason that they wont be unlike the Warthogs in the past two games.

But this time Bungie has gone and revealed fictitious stats to go along with their fictitious vehicle online! Check em out!

Weight: 3 tonnes (3.25 tons)

Length: 6.1 meters (20 feet.)

Height: 3.2 meters (10.5 feet)

Width: 3 meters (9.75 feet)

Power plant: 12.0 L liquid-cooled hydrogen-injected ICE

Range: 790 kilometers (490 miles)

Main armament: M41 12.7mm LAAG (M12 LRV version)

Main armament: M68 25mm Gauss Cannon (M12G LAAV version)

Unit Replacement Cost: cR. 52000.00

Myself I preferred the M10 LAAV version but you can't beat that price of 52,000 credits! Yeah whatever.

Check out more on the 'Hog HERE