Tag: Microsoft

Celebrating the Failed Tech of 2008

HD-DVD Xbox 360 Add-On

I’ve decided that I will end the last few hours of 2008 watching HD-DVD movies on my Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on in order to symbolically close out the year celebrating the failed technology of 2008.

While I’m doing that, I’ll have my 30GB Zune that locked up today along with everyone else’s due to that clock device bug sitting on top of the stack of HD-DVD movies I got as part of one of the last ditch offers to get the format jump started by the studios.

God speed, you failed tech of 2008! 2009 failed tech, here we come!

Fall Xbox 360 Update: Full Games for Download

The UK website CVG is reporting that the scheduled December 2nd release of this fall’s Dashboard update for Microsoft’s XBox 360 will include the ability to download and play full games for the original Xbox.

The service, dubbed Xbox Originals, will be available to Xbox Live members for 1200 Microsoft points, which translates to about $15.

Zune Software and Firmware Updates Available

Zune Software

If you’re an owner of the first generation of Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player, you’ll probably want to head to the download page for today’s big launch of the updated software. After a year of using the original software, the latest version is faster and easier to use. It also includes support for podcasts, a missing feature critics have often pointed to.

The software also includes a nice bonus for owners of the original 30GB hardware in the form of a firmware update that will put the same software running on the newly released second generation Zunes, providing much of the same features on the existing equipment.

If you’re looking into purchasing a new Zune, CNet has video reviews of both the new 80GB and flash-based 4GB models, which they seem to like.