Digital City Podcast

The success of the Halo franchise has been incredible. So much so, it was only a matter of time before we'd see a movie. Microsoft plans on releasing a seven-part series spanning from its origins to the game's third installment, titled Halo Legends.

The announcement was made at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego. The series will be available for download via Xbox Live this fall. According to Blu-ray.com we can expect to see this on Blu-ray sometime in 2010, so there will finally be a disc labeled Halo that will play on the PS3 for all the Halo fans.

However, since the Xbox 360 doesn't support Blu-ray, it makes you wonder if Blu-ray is in the 360's future? Or maybe the next-gen Xbox? Regardless, you kind of have to to hand it to Microsoft for wanting the fans of the Halo franchise to truly experience this mini series on the best media that's out today.

Episode 50 of the Digital City, where we discuss Microsoft's plans to take on Apple in both smart phones and tablet PCs; the rumor of an HD refresh of the Nintendo Wii console; and AT&T's Microcell device for improving cell phone reception in your home through a $150 gadget (that they'll be happy to sell you).

Also noteworthy, this is our very first show in our new prime timeslot of 3pm EST on Mondays, rather than the old Friday afternoon slot -- so set your Outlook calendar reminders appropriately. Plus, if you're a fan of Dan's critically ignored blend of jazzy indie rock, as the Apple commercials say, "there's an app for that."

Related links:
>>Microsoft to take on the Apple tablet?
>>Is an HD Wii in the works?
>>FYI: the Digital City video podcast is moving to Mondays, 3pm EST

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Microsoft official confirmed the worst-kept secret in games: the Xbox 360 is receiving a price cut on its top-end Elite system starting Friday. In other words, the long list of leaked catalog circulars weren't fakes. What this means is that the 120GB hard-drive-toting Xbox 360 Elite that used to be $400 will now be $300--the same cost as a PS3 Slim.

The Xbox 360 Pro, with its 60GB hard drive, will drop to $250 instead of $300, and will keep being sold until it vanishes off shelves. Kudos, by the way, to Microsoft for actually lowering the price on a soon-to-be-discontinued model, as opposed to the fate of the PS3 Fat. The updates are official on the company's Web site.

Great value, or just fair?

(Credit: CNET)

The Xbox 360 Arcade, however, will continue to cost $200. While that's somewhat fair, considering it's technically the cheapest next-gen console on the market, it's a bad deal. A hard drive, however, is an absolute necessity. The 360's proprietary 120GB hard drive costs $150, so you're effectively saving 50 dollars on the purchase of an Elite. If the 360 had a removable standard hard drive like the PS3 does, we might be singing a different tune on the Arcade.

This only makes the sound of that ticking clock over at Nintendo headquarters even louder. Will the Nintendo Wii reduce its price this holiday season? According to Nintendo's Yasuhiro Minagawa, the company still has no plans to do so. This doesn't mean, however, that a similarly priced bundle with a Wii MotionPlus and possibly a new game (Wii Sports Resort?) isn't in the plans.

Now that the 360 and PS3 are cheaper, the landscape of gaming is shifting in terms of value. We commented on this in terms of handheld systems, but it's also true in terms of the Wii. It can no longer be called a budget system by any stretch.

Realistically, Nintendo probably won't lower the price until one of its rivals makes its fully fledged system even cheaper than a Wii, and that's not likely to happen soon...or ever.

The other question is, has the PS3 leapfrogged the 360 in terms of console value, even with the new Elite price cuts? The Slim consumes less power, has Blu-ray, and is already based on hardware that came out a year after the Xbox 360 hit store shelves. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 has held the fort with a console that still lacks built-in Wi-Fi, a feature available on the Nintendo DS.

So, which is it...a $300 Xbox 360 Elite, a $300 PS3 Slim, or a $250 Wii?

Or, a $200 Xbox 360 Arcade?

As first outlined at the E3 video game industry trade show in June, Microsoft is readying an update to the dashboard software that runs on Xbox 360 game consoles, as well as the Xbox Live online service.

While it's not as radical a change as the fall 2008 dashboard update that added avatars and Netflix streaming, there are a lot of improvements to current features, as well as a few new ones. The dashboard update will be available for 360 owners on August 11th, but we were able to download an early version for a test drive.

Included were notable features such as the Avatar Marketplace, for buying (via Microsoft Point micro-transaction) clothing and accessories for your avatar, and the Netflix Party Mode, for watching a streaming Netflix movie along with online friends.

Missing from our early download, however, were the much-anticipated Twitter and Facebook apps, as well as the Games on Demand service for Xbox 360 games. Currently only older original Xbox games are available (also not available -- any of these Five classic adventure games that need to be re-released as digital downloads).

Click through to the gallery below for our walkthrough of some of the new Xbox 360 dashboard features.

Inside the Summer 2009 Xbox 360 dashboard update

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> Laptops, games, and more--every week on the Digital City video podcast.

Episode 34 of the Digital City, where we discuss our predictions for the E3 video game trade show. Note that there are two versions of the show available now, the traditional audio stream, and our exciting, new video version -- check out both below.

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Photos: E3's Wackiest Moments

With all the buzz about Amazon's new Kindle 2, you'd think this revamped e-book reader was the most advanced piece of technology this side of designer babies. After all, for $359, you get a color screen, Wi-Fi and full-function Web browsing, video playback, 60GB of storage, and a reasonably usable keyboard.

Oh wait, you don't get any of that stuff. No, that's what $350 can get you if invested in even a low-end Netbook, such as the new 10-inch Acer Aspire One. Not only is there a wide range of PC software available for buying and displaying e-books (and tons of free content as well), when you're done with all that highbrow readin', pop open a Web browser and rot your brain with some Hulu videos.

Unlike the closed-loop system on the Kindle (it generally only works with e-books from Amazon, and Amazon e-books only work on the Kindle and the related iPhone app -- although there are some Kindle conversion tools out there, and Amazon will convert your personal docs for Kindle use at 10-cents a pop), at least you have a variety of different software and content provider options with my proposed $350 Kindle alternative.

Microsoft's Reader app will also read out loud to you in a Stephen-Hawking-style voice.

We'll be the first to admit, none of these options are as seamless or easy to use as the Kindle (especially with its always-on wireless digital download store), and companies like Microsoft and Adobe aren't exactly known for building great software user experiences.

We tried installing and using a couple of e-book reading software packages on our Acer Aspire One, with mixed, but not wholly unsatisfactory results. First up was Microsoft Reader, which uses .lit files, available from several online e-book retailers (although not Amazon). Originally released in 2000, the software has a dated, inelegant interface, but displayed our e-book files cleanly. Like the Kindle, Microsoft Reader also has a built-in text-to-speech feature, although the results are just as robotic.

Not only will Rockstar's DLC be available on the Xbox 360 February 17, but Microsoft will allow free access to Live Gold functionality for players of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV and the upcoming expansion The Lost and Damned.

You've got to give it to Microsoft, what better way to get people online to play a game that's almost a year old and pump them up for the next installment from Rockstar? Grand Theft Auto IV is a great game. I can see the servers taking a huge hit Feb. 17; maybe I'll see you there.

This free access expires February 22, so I suggest you get your game on soon. Wishful thinking, but what would make this sweeter is a Feb. 16 (Presidents' Day) release; ah, I'd play all day.

Tampa authorities will utilize Microsoft's Surface touch-screen device, along with other technologies, as part of Super Bowl Sunday security, according to Ars Technica.

For well over a year now, more than 60 federal, state, regional, local, and municipal authorities have been working with the E-Sponder technology partnership to plan security details for Super Bowl XLIII, one of the only major sporting events that receives national security status.

Beginning this week and continuing past the final game whistle, E-Sponder will connect on-site and remote authorities, allowing them to remotely track all activities in real time with mapping, as well as 3D displays, two-way radio integration, and immediate communication.

Together with Infusion Development's Falcon Eye technology, the Tampa Incident Command staff will use the E-Sponder portal to visualize all aspects of Super Bowl goings-on.

The Microsoft Surface device will display a Microsoft Virtual Earth map of the entire region, tracking events and incidents in real time using its large display and multi-user, multitouch, and interactive capabilities, and also allowing it to communicate with remote devices and PCs.

With a quick hand gesture, the map can zoom in and display a 3D image of the city, including detailed views of buildings and streets and real-time resource tracking.

Still semijetlagged from Las Vegas, one of the very first items on our to-do list was to install the now widely available Windows 7 beta on a Netbook.

From off-the-record conversations with PC makers during CES, we heard that Windows 7 played well with systems powered by Intel's Atom CPU--which is something we generally can't say about Vista. (Although it's also worth noting that Vista, while making for a somewhat sluggish user experience, actually performed reasonably well in benchmark testing on Sony's new Vaio Lifestyle PC minilaptop, which combines an Atom with a more appropriate 2GB of RAM.)

We quickly installed the 32-bit version of Windows 7 on a typical Netbook. The installation went smoothly, and the OS seemed to run well at first glance, but our wireless card wasn't detected initially. We eventually got that sorted out, and ran our iTunes benchmark test for a quick speed comparison (our test system had an Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an 80GB 5,400rpm HDD).

As the iTunes test is CPU focused, we weren't totally surprised to find similar scores, with XP completing the test in 743 seconds, and both Vista (with graphics options set for Vista Basic) and the Windows 7 beta hitting 760 seconds. (Note: lower scores indicate better results.)

While our quick benchmark testing did not show a Win 7 advantage, we can say that in anecdotal use, the Windows 7 interface responded quicker and hung less frequently than Vista, where just opening the Start Menu or My Documents folder can be a slog. We're cooking up some additional tests right now, and will report their results shortly.

It remains to be seen if Windows 7 is really a viable candidate for Netbooks (although Microsoft is purportedly working on a Netbook-specific build of the new OS), but if it is, this may finally give Microsoft the excuse it needs to retire the long-serving XP operating system. In the slide show below, you can see some photos of Windows 7 up and running on our test Netbook.

Test drive: Windows 7 on a Netbook