Over at Softpedia, there are rumblings that Microsoft could announce the release of a new 360 model as well as a price cut for current models at E3 in July. Microsoft is likely hurting as the PS3 sold more units in May than the 360 (about 208,700 and 186,600, respectively according to the NPD) and this trend is expected to be the case in June, too .

Part of the reason for Sony’s success as of late is the recent run of PS3-exclusive titles on the system (MGS4, we’re looking at you) according to EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich:

This is likely due to the exclusivity factor as exclusive releases on Sony’s platforms have historically shown to be a better hardware driver than that of multi-platform releases. On average, PS3 exclusive games sell 45% more, throughout their lifetime, than multi-platform titles available on the PS3. Exclusive titles for the other two systems, the Wii and Xbox 360, only boast a small increase in lifetime sales over multi-platform titles.

With E3 less than a month out, we’ll know soon enough whether this holds any water or not.

[Via Evil Avatar]

Let’s face it, there’s a ton of skins out there for your consoles and electronics that are extremely ugly, bulky, and cliche. I’ve tried several skins in the past, but I was never satisfied with any of them. Then I found a product called GelaSkins. Out of all of the lame skull, flame, and flaming skull designs the market carries, finally, I found something worth checking out.

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What do you do if you want to copy something that’s already been done, but don’t want to seem unoriginal? You can always just make it more complicated, which is what Activision has done with the drums for Guitar Hero 4, to differentiate them from Rock Band’s drums.

The June issue of Game Informer has an article on Guitar Hero 4 which includes a picture of the drum peripheral, and instead of four pads like in Rock Band there are three pads and two cymbals (they both have one pedal), giving the GH4 drums an extra pad.

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Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan, is putting his cart before the horse by speculating on what the NPD report for April (which is expected for release on the 15th) will state.

He casually says that Pokemon will sell well, GTAIV will sell many copies and push more people to buy new game systems, Mario Kart Wii will drive more sales for Nintendo, as will the continually high selling copies of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band.

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Gibson Guitar Inc is claiming that Guitar Hero infringes on one of their patents from 1999. The patent it for a “system and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert experience,” but unfortunately for Gibson they never actually created that, just filed the patent. Now, with the success of Guitar Hero, they’ve realized what a great profitable idea it really is, and they want some money too. Here is a portion of the patent, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office website:

A musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers. Audio and video portions of a musical concert are pre-recorded, along with a separate sound track corresponding to the musical instrument played by the musician. Playback of the instrument sound track is controlled by signals generated in the musical instrument and transmitted to a system interface box connected to the audio-video play back device, an audio mixer, and the head-mounted display. An external bypass switch allows the musician to suppress the instrument sound track so that the sounds created by actual playing of the musical instrument are heard along with the pre-recorded audio and video portions.

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You can’t unscrew the pregnant woman.

Late last month a story surfaced about a gamer by the name of Nathaniel who sent his Xbox 360 in to Microsoft for repairs after it got the infamous red rings. However, his console had special significance because it was covered in unique signatures and custom artwork. He was at first hesitant to part with it, even if it was only to be temporary, but he eventually decided to send it in instead of attempting to fix it himself. He even took precautions like calling ahead and sending a letter with his console to ensure he received the exact same one and the marker wasn’t smudged or removed.

When he got it back, while it was his exact console like he had requested, all the signatures and artwork was gone. Despite his call, letter, and the fact that the permanent marker was obviously meant to be there, someone had cleaned it all off before returning it to him.

Fortunately for Nathaniel, however, Bungie and Microsoft have decided to do whatever they can to help. While they can’t replace the permanent marker that once covered his case, they can shower him with even more, and that’s what Bungie has done already and Microsoft plans on doing.

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There is only one thing that can stop all of the rampant fanboy-ism that is devouring the industry that I love, and I pray that I never see the day where it happens. The minute that it happens I will officially be done with video games…and that is if the industry evolves into having only a single home console. Who am I kidding, I’ll still be into video games when I’m old and gray no matter what. If interested in seeing my opinons on this and how we would see the death of the fanboy, click the jump below.

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Ah, well, I guess we won’t be seeing a Blu-Ray add on anytime remotely soon. -backflip)

You guys have heard that Netflix, Wal-Mart, and most recently Toshiba, who is the main backer of HD-DVD, are completely dropping the format, right?

Well, it looks like Microsoft is ready to put the final nail in the coffin by releasing a Blu-ray add-on for the 360 as soon as May ‘08. According to Smarthouse.au, Microsoft has pretty much finished developing the thing and it can be released to stores within around 3 months.

I just want to say that this is totally unconfirmed and from what I can tell, a completely unknown source, but it’s something I was discussing with backflip earlier today and it definitely sounds plausible to me.

I’m not going to pretend I really understand what any of this means but here we go anyway. Rumor has it that the XBox 360 will be getting two more motherboard/chipsets code named “Opus” and “Valhalla.” Put those together and you’ve got something that sounds like a really epic opera, “The Valhalla Opus.” We already have the Xenon, which was the original chipset, the Zephyr, which came in that fancy Elite you picked up, and the Falcon (Punch!), which is in the current systems with a 65 nm CPU. Plus there is the Jasper, which has both a 65 nm CPU and a 65 nm GP together, but isn’t in systems yet. Put those together and you get Jasper’s Xenon Zephyr Falcon, which is a strange bird that can breathe fire.

Digressing from sticking together 360 chipset names and figuring out what they are, these two new chipsets look to pretty much clean up on their predecessors. In fact the Opus will literally do this as it is a Falcon generation motherboard designed to fit in a Xenon case, sporting a 90 nm GPU and a 65 nm CPU. This is a bit less powerful then the other chipsets and so would probably be used simply to refurbish old or busted 360’s, which is good for the environment and for no longer having to worry about RRoD.

The Valhalla on the other hand cleans up in every other way. It is basically the unified Jasper but more powerful, more energy efficient, more reliable and cheaper. It will also do your homework, walk the dog and if you’re really desperate perform oral sex. The Valhalla seems to be the dream 360 chipset, incorporating everything you’ve been wanting and booting out everything you hated, plus allowing for a cheaper selling price. Too bad you’ll have to wait to get it, as they won’t be coming out till 2010. This really makes the Jasper, rumored to be coming out next year, look bad. It has a lame name and is in second place even before it comes out.

Whether you love the PS3 or hate it, you can agree on one thing: It’s a big piece of hardware, weighing in at 11 pounds. Sony has a track record of turning their PlayStation consoles little, and while we all knew that eventually there would be a “PS3 Slim,” it now seems the wait may be shorter than we suspected. T3, the UK tech website, has talked to a “particularly well-informed insider” in the industry that assured them of the existence of the PS3 Slim. The system is speculated to be released in fall of 2008. As expected, Sony has declared “no comment” on the whole situation.

Now, I’m not really sure what to think of this. I mean, we knew it was coming, but this soon? Both the PSOne and the PS2 Slimline were released years and years after the original versions had been released. The PS3 is still in its infancy being about a year and a half old. While it would be advantageous to people like me who have not yet had a chance to pick up a Triple, I see this as a swift kick to the balls to the Sony loyal who already have theirs.

The folks at Instructables.com have come up with a method to fixing your Xbox after it gives you the Red Ring of Death that doesn’t involve using a towel. Seeing how Microsoft extended the warranty on RRoD hardware issues to 3 years a little while back, the normal Xbox 360 users probably wouldn’t need or want to do this themselves. I’ve had two 360s go out for me and I dealt with the customer service people and made Microsoft fix it.

However, I know that there are some of you scurvy pirate types out there with “less reputable” systems that make you think “yarr, Microsoft would never fix me broken box!” If you find yourself saying that (”yarr” and all) then this article might be for you. However I should say that MEGATONik does not condone software piracy or hardware modification of any type.

So if you are electronically inclined and have the skills to work on a broken Xbox 360 and no fear about messing things up further, check it out.

FINALLY, EA has announced that they will be selling Rock Band drums and Rock Band guitars separately. The drum kit will be arriving in stores two days before Valentine’s, February 12th, for the price of $79.99, while the guitars are coming in April for $59.99. This marks the first time wireless guitars will be of use on the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band. There is no word on whether or not the company will be selling microphones yet.

Money-milking EA sure has put a steep price on their controllers, especially since the game bundle with a guitar, mic, and drum kit included, costs $169.99. If you do the math, or if you simply glance at the prices for the equipment, you’ll notice that this is a total ripoff. If you don’t already own the game, you’re better off buying the bundle. If you do and you’re looking for another instrument, I suggest using Ebay. These prices are just too bad.

While Macs may not be known for gaming (probably due to the fact that the selection of games on them is worse then the selection of porn at your local library), occasionally a big title is ported anyway. It was recently announced at the Macworld Expo that one of the most anticipated games of the year would be making its way to Mac soon - Spore. Not only that, but it will be available at the same time as on PC, instead of months or even years later once everyone has stopped caring. The game will be made to work on Macs with TransGaming’s Cider Portability Engine, which means it will only play on Intel Macs.

While it’s great news that an important title like Spore is coming to Mac on day one, it really doesn’t mean much since it’s basically just the PC version put through Cider so it works on Intel Macs too - it’s still not actually built or optimized for Mac. When all they have to do is wrap a game in the Cider Portability Engine and suddenly it runs on Macs, why isn’t every game released on Mac? It seems like there’s really nothing to it besides a licensing fee.

For those of you currently experiencing the awesomeness that is Rock Band, you may already be aware that the guitar controllers are pieces of junk. I found that out about a day or two after purchasing the game, where down strumming doesn’t work at all. After sending an e-mail, I hadn’t heard back in over a weeks time, not that I was all that perturbed to begin with. This was the case with many gamers, however, and thus EA decided to offer a free game to those who had to wait; predictions of mediocre titles ensued.

Well, in my inbox this morning, I finally received a link to a form page at EA which lists the available titles I can pick from (not to mention today I got my replacement guitar back in, and I only shipped it on Wednesday last week, and I didn’t even ask for express shipping…SCORE!). So, are there some worthwhile games to be had? Or is it a shitstorm of bargain bin garbage? Hit the jump for a full listing to find out!

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As if Sony weren’t already trying to take over every aspect of your home multimedia experience, it looks like they might be trying to take things a step further in the near future.

Hit the jump for more info.

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