Xbox 360, OXM on Adam's turf, and will the first Xbox die a slow death?

1. Yeah, I missed last week.
   
2. Xbox Next = "Xbox 360"? (And other Xbox 2 news)
   
3. Game announcements of note
   
4. OXM re-tooled
   
5. What'll happen to Xbox Now?
   
6. New Halo 2 content on the way?
   

1. Yeah, I missed last week.
   
   
   
   • Apologies for not posting last week, even with some significant industry happenings. I was tied up with South by South West (SXSW) happenings, which you can read about here, here (and a little bit here).
     
   
   
2. Xbox Next = "Xbox 360"? (And other Xbox 2 news)
   
   
   
   • Lotta rumnors looking to give credence to this as the name for the new Xbox. Time'll tell, but it's looking a bit obvious as of now.
     
   • Also, it may be, with IBM doing the brains behind all 3 next-gen consoles, that all three may be sharing a version of the same architecture. Check out articles on TeamXbox.com and Anandtech.
     
   
   
3. Game announcements of note
   
   
   
   • March, April, and May are freakin' amazing on the Xbox front. However, Ubisoft's recent announcements are pretty exciting, because they lay out a strong continuing Xbox Now line-up, and explicit next-gen titles.
     
     
     
     • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Lockdown
       
     • AA Rise of a Soldier
       
     • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 mission pack
       
     • World War II Squadron (working title)
       
     • 187 Ride or Die
       
     • And1
       
     • New chapter of Brothers In Arms (the new standard in WWII shooters)
       
     • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 3 (for current and next generation consoles)
       
     • Peter Jackson's King Kong (for current and next generation consoles)
       
     • Prince of Persia 3
       
     • Splinter Cell 4 (for current and next generation consoles)
       
     • Killing Day (working title) (next generation consoles)
       
     • An additional unnamed title for Xbox
       
     
     
   
   
4. OXM re-tooled
   
   
   
   • The Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) has tweaked its layout, and added some features. What they'll tell you about is their tightening up of the layout, and the addition of the "Spartan Central" (all things Halo) and "The Business of Xbox" (self-explanatory column). What they don't tell you is the number of adverts in the mag has obscenely skyrocketed (I've never had to flip so many pages without getting to useful content.
     
   • As an aside, I'm a fan of game journalist Geoff Keighley, who's doing the new Xbox column, even if he is muscling in my tying industry happenings to our giant black box. Besides, his monthly can't keep up with my ... slightly more often than monthly column. Ahem.
     
   
   
5. What'll happen to Xbox Now?
   
   
   
   • One of the things Geoff Keighley said is a concern about the current Xbox may slow up, with Microsoft moving full production to Xbox next. A lack of first-party support is usually followed swiftly by a lack of third-party support, causing all consoles but Sony's to go the way of the Dreamcast. Of course, I think Keighley wrote his column before the Ubisoft announcement. Heh.
     
   
   
6. New Halo 2 content on the way?
   
   
   
   • After a Halo 2 expansion pack was revealed on the Korean version of xbox.com, an updated listing at EBGames.com seems to confirm the existence of a planned Halo 2 "Expansion Pack". Unfortunately, though the XP (hmm ...) was confirmed by Bungie.net, the thing (allegedly to be available via retail or Xbox Live for $19.99), won't be the rest of the single-player game we were shorted. Looks like it'll be a bunch o' multiplayer stuff, which (while still freakin' awesome) isn't the rest of the GAME I ALREADY BOUGHT!