For the love of all that's holy, not again ...

1. YAARG! (Yet Another Alternate Reality Game!)
   
2. More Money You can Spend on an Xbox 360
   
3. Halo Triple Pack
   
4. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 tech details
   
5. New trends in special editions
   
6. Gears of War updates
   

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NEWS:
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1. YAARG! (Yet Another Alternate Reality Game!)

It was bound to happen. After the ilovebees alternate reality game for Halo 2, there was the ourcolony.net ARG for announcing the Xbox 360.

Now, there's www.origenxbox360.com, is a new website registered to Microsoft Corp, that's a got a backward-counting timer working its way to September 27, and a bunch of apparent references to Alice in Wonderland. There's a tree, a sillouette of a rabbit, and (recently) a hole in the ground.

Now, even though I tried to get into the ourcolony.net thing, I was getting sick of it. This, however, looks a little more interesting, a little less annoying, and a little more literary.

An interesting sub-game within the ARG is origen360.org, which, unlike the .net (which is a version of the .com site), keeps changing up its content. It's been a googlefight between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a Google seach for the terms "Oriental" and "Generation", and other stuff. Though right now it seems to, uh, mirror the .com and .net sites.

2. More Money You can Spend on an Xbox 360

I mentioned recently Microsoft's announcement of the pricing and contents of the Xbox 360 packages, with the Core package running $299, and the Premium package running $399.

Not content that folks will be spending enough money on the 360, EBGames has announced 2 bundles, which add the games Perfect Dark Zero Limited Edition, Dead or Alive 4, Kameo: Elements of Power and Project Gotham Racing 3.

• Xbox 360 Core Bundle ($599.93) -- Adds to the Core system an extra wired controller and a Memory Unit (the Core system doesn't come with the hard drive)
  
• Xbox 360 Ultimate Bundle ($699.92) -- Adds to the Premium system an extra wireless controller, a Play & Charge Kit (for the extra controller), and a echargeable Battery Pack (for the included controller).
  

Evidently, GameStop decided EBGames's offerings are for financial lightweights, and have offered alternative bundles. All bundles include the titles Perfect Dark Zero Collector's Edition, Project Gotham Racing 3, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dead or Alive 4, Call of Duty 2, and a 1-Year Product Replacement Plan.

• Gamestop Core Bundle ($699.91) -- Adds to the Core system an extra wired controller and a memory unit.
  
• Gamestop Silver Bundle ($799.90) -- Extra Wireless Controller, Play & Charge Kit, and Rechargeable Battery.
  
• Gamestop Gold Bundle ($899.88) -- Extra Wireless Controller, Play & Charge Kit, Rechargeable Battery, Xbox Live 12 Month Card, and Kameo.
  
• Gamestop Ultimate Bundle ($1199.83) -- Extra Wireless Controller, Play & Charge Kit, Rechargeable Battery, Xbox Live 12 Month Card, Kameo, GUN, Quake 4, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Condemned, and Madden NFL 2006.
  
• The Omega ($1999.69) -- 3 Extra Wireless Controllers, Play & Charge Kit (1?), Rechargeable Battery (1?), Xbox Live 12 Month Card, Wireless Network Adaptor, Memory Unit, Fuego Faceplates (plural?)Kameo, GUN, Quake 4, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Condemned, Madden NFL 2006, Amped 3, Ghost Recon, NBA 2K6, NHL 2K6, Ridge Racer 6, Top Spin 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Tiger Woods 2006, and Frame City Killer.
  

A couple of observations:

• GameStop owns EBGames, so WTF?
  
• What geniuses at Microsoft missed the opportunity to market the Xbox 360 at, uh, $360?
  

3. Halo Triple Pack

Somebody help me with the financial incentive for getting Halo, Halo 2, and the Map Pack together for $59.99.

Keep in mind, Halo is a Platinum title that MSRPs (look, I made it a verb) for $19.99 (but you can routinely get it for $14.99). Halo 2 is regularly available for $34.99. And the maps are free over Xbox Live.

This must be for the offline crowd.

4. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 tech details

Technical info has come out for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The Xbox 360 info reveals the transistor count for each part of the two-die design, showing a 330+ million transistor design (versus a 205 million AMD Athlon 64 and PlayStation 3 Cell processor has ~234 million).

IBM, Sony Group, and Toshiba announced tech details on the jointly developed Cell Broadband Engine. The group has an arguably larger goal than Microsoft ("Our console rocks more/harder/faster/longer than your console"), but is trying to build community around adoption of and innovation with Cell (which is available for more than just the PS3).

5. New trends in special editions

So, the Perfect Dark Zero Limited Edition content has been announced. Besides some neat but arguable expected items (Bonus DVD with an art feature, music, the first chapter of the tie-in novel, comic booklet, glyph card), there are a couple of items that stand out as customizations related specifically to the Xbox 360: Perfect Dark Zero "Gamer Tiles" to customize your identity on Xbox Live, and Perfect Dark Zero Heads-Up display (HUD) UI Skin to customize your Xbox 360 experience.

What isn't included (and I find surprising, but wait for it) is a PDZ customer faceplate for the console. Though I expect their to soon be new SKUs for games that are at a level (and cost) above "special editions" that include these faceplates.

6. Gears of War updates

So, over at CliffyB's 1up.com blog, he gives some more details (and a useful paintball analogy) about the Gears of War gameplay that I found kind of nifty.

I recommend checking out the blog in your off hours, and not on a corporate network ...