Xbox Live 360.com. Games and Games.

Every Portal player knows that the Weighted Companion Cube was the greatest videogame character to come along in 2007. If you are a true cube lover then you should check out the new Weighted Companion Cube plush toys Valve has set free on the world.

While the Valve Store is sold out of these plush tastic cubes there are many of them on Ebay right now but they are selling for upwards of $200. Also on Ebay was a giant Weighted Companion Cube with proceeds being given to Childs Play but the auction ended with the a final bid of $1,200!!! Act now if you want a cube to be forever part of your real life.

~Hotapplepie

Sources: Ebay Valve Store Kotaku

There has recently been talks of Microsoft making a motion sensored controller and Cesar from Teamxbox took a break from his holiday to bring the community this message:

"I should not have been talking about this until next year, but a story of a motion sensing add-on for the Xbox 360 controller forced me to interrupt my holiday break. First, let me tell you that the image floating around with supposed prototypes of a motion sensing Xbox 360 controller is FAKE.

The image in question (see above) was taken from a Gizmodo article that showed the many prototypes Gyration and Bridge Design pitched to Nintendo in 2001; prototypes that eventually gave birth to the Wii controller.

TeamXbox.com can confirm that Microsoft has been researching alternative input technologies for the last two years, including vision-based recognition such as the one used on Xbox Live Vision, as well as motion sensing technologies similar to those seen in the Microsoft Freestyle Pro and the PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS.

Particularly, Microsoft has looked at ways to improve the right analog stick input and you’ll hear more about those efforts soon.

In the long run, there’s more than a first-party tilt mod in the works and TeamXbox.com will bring you a real list of next-generation Xbox controller prototypes soon. "

Personally I have no problems with the current 360 controller, and I have my Wii to please my motion sensor needs, but if Microsoft wants to combine the two, I wont complain.

~Hotapplepie

Source - Teamxbox

Check out this cool lithograph from my current game of choice: Mass Effect.

"Talented BioWare artist Sung Kim was commissioned to create this beautiful and unique rendition of the arch-villain of the Mass Effect universe: Saren Arterius. The image also features a young Captain David Anderson. Limited to a print run of 100 prints, hand-signed by the artist, only 75 of these will be made publicly available."

A signed, limited edition lithograph for only $18 seems like a good idea. For $42 you can buy the full game and experience one of the best 360 games to date.

~Hotapplepie

Source - BioWare Store

Edit: Seems they are sold out. Sorry guys.

There are only a few days left to vote for Law of the Game in the ABA Journal's Blawg 100. The voting ends January 2, 2008, and I would appreciate any additional votes between now and then.

Click here and vote for Law of the Game.


Have a Happy New Year!

The proposed "Game Tax" from Wisconsin state senator Jon Erpenbach has gained quite a bit of attention, and accordingly, I thought it was worth addressing a few key points. First, I'm sure many folks are wondering why they should care about a tax in a state in which they don't live. The simple answer is that tax ideas seem to spread. If Wisconsin adds such a tax, it will only be a matter of time before a dozen other states follow suit. In short, the long term picture is not pretty for gamers if one state begins taxing games.

The second question is what type of tax is this? There are two likely candidates, those being the "Sin Tax" and the "Luxury Tax." The concept of a sin tax is that because the government wants to discourage a behavior and because that behavior has a proven, clearly demonstrated, and direct negative impact on society, the government taxes the item to both discourage the behavior and offset the negative impact. For example, cigarettes are taxed because they are linked to lung cancer. Alcohol is taxed because drunk drivers kill thousands every year. Video games, however, would be taxed due to an unproven link to a theoretical change in behavior for a small number of users. The link is not nearly as defined as, say, drinking to drunk driving.

The other possibility is considering it a luxury tax. The idea here is that some things are just so extravagant that people should pay extra, or from a different viewpoint, that the people who want to buy certain things are well enough off that they can afford to pay more taxes. A good example of products often hit with a luxury tax are expensive cars. The assertion here would be that video games are a "luxury item," and therefore are so unnecessary that gamers should have to pay more for them. However, given that books, music, movies, and all other forms of entertainment are not subject to such a tax, it does not follow that any aspect of the "video game" so separates the medium from other forms of entertainment as to draw the line there.

This would appear to be nothing more than another cheap shot at a scapegoated industry for the basic purpose of continuing to fill the already bloated public coffers, which serves to continue to perpetuate the problem of government over-spending. Far be it for me to dictate public policy in Wisconsin, but a video game tax is simply not a logical answer to the issue presented. I'm certain there are many other ways to fund the "keep non-violent juvenile offenders out of adult prisons" program.

[Via GamePolitics]

This post is to announce that James Collins is the Winner of our Halo 3 contest. James got a brand new Halo 3 Gift wrapped from Xbox360help team. Congratulations James & Good luck for all of you in our next contest.

Please leave a comment on this post with your suggestions for our next contest, should it be a free game? An Xbox live Gold Card? or maybe something else?