[image:6997 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]After a short detour caused by a fake update, the real one went up in the TeamXbox forum. Some of the more interesting bits:

• Mat "Shunji" Noguchi has been working on getting scattered debris sound to work in proper Dolby 5.1
• Chris Butcher has been working on ambient life. (Nothing seemingly as big as the dinos in the E3 2000 video, though.)
• Lorraine "Mehve" McLees liked the final prototypes of the new Master Chief, Grunt and Warthog toys from Joyride.

Head on over to TeamXbox to read the full update!

Computer and Video Games is reporting that the Xbox 2, code-named Xenon but referred to some as Xbox Next, may lose the small black and white buttons from its controller. Apparently some studies they've done show these buttons are hard to find and little used.

Quick reality check: no kidding. How anybody could not know those buttons were going to be hard to find and little used, given their size and placement is beyond me. They were there in case games needed more controls than could be provided by the two sticks, two triggers, and standard diamond of buttons. So taking them out, just because some games don't need them and they're outside the normal set of controls just seems silly.

Unless, of coures, this is another cost-saving measure. You know, plastic is getting expensive these days. The article also mentions that the console is expected to be first shown at GDC next month. Microsoft UK would not comment on this "rumor", according to the CVG article.

News.com's David Becker is reporting that M-Systems, a maker of flash memory, is announcing that they've signed a contract with Microsoft to provide memory systems for future Xbox products.

M-Systems currently makes a line of flash-based drives called DiskOnKey. Their CFO, Ronit Maor, says in the article that what they will be doing for the Xbox is "significantly higher capacity" than the 8Mb memory modules used now to plug into Xbox controllers.

This, along with the addition of online storage as part of future Xbox Live plans, is being touted as a way to decrease Xbox production costs and reduce the liabilities caused by having a standard hard drive in the box (i.e. hacking and Linux). However, if the flash drive offers the same capabilities, I don't see how it won't get hacked, too, and if it doesn't, I don't see how this won't cripple the box.

Cost reductions are speculated to be driven by a desire to reduce the home and entertainment unit's losses, which were $394 million last year, down from $412 million the year before, according to News.com.

Thanks Blackstar for pointing this out.

Gaming Nexus has a piece on using the Xbox 'S' controller as a chick magnet:

Dont try to get your woman into HALO by throwing that massive Xbox standard controller at her, but at the same time dont patronize her. You have to take her feelings into account in this situation. Sure, you may have become accustomed to your one and only Xbox S controller but relinquishing control of your gamepad does a number of things. First it shows your care for her as youre willing to sacrifice your favorite piece of equipment, probably a sacrifice youre not willing to make for your other buddies. It also makes gaming much easier for her to begin with. People often assess whether or not theyll enjoy something by referring back to their first memory. So lets say youre a dumbass and you do give her the big Xbox controller. In short time her arms may tire, she may not be able to function the triggers properly or the face buttons might stick on her. Youve already ruined the experience for her and she might not want to go back. Try your best to accommodate her and youll have her killing those bastards in no time.

I don't know... personally, I have one 'S' controller and I don't even use it myself; I've just gotten too used to the standard one. And as for my girlfriend? Well, she plays Halo too, but she also likes the big one. I guess it's just personal preference.Thanks to Nick who pointed this out in the HBO forum.

PfhorSlayer let us know that work on version two of Aquaduct, the Mac OS X Xbox tunneller, is still ongoing:

Things are progressing very well, and we are gearing up for some internal testing and hopefully release in the not-too-far future.

Aquaduct can now tunnel games between Xbox users who have a Mac running Aquaduct and Windows users who have Xbox Connect; word is it will "probably" be out before Halo 2. Let's hope so.

Blackstar of Blackstar Productions, that yesterday released a video of the Offensive Tetraboxing LANfest held by HBO's Louis Wu, mentioned in the HBO forum that a second part of the video will also be available soon.

[image:6820 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Over at Blackstar Productions, Blackstar's highlight film for the Offensive Tetraboxing LANfest held on January 31 and February 1 by HBO's Louis Wu is now ready. It's called HALO: Offensive Tetraboxing and it's clocks in at a little over 9 minutes and 93 megabytes. It's encoded in MP4 and requires QuickTime to view; if you watch the QuickTime versions of Red vs Blue then you should be all set.

The word is that this is going to be the most sophisticated yet of Blackstar's fan films, with extensive use of rendered effects, including "original renders of the entire ringworld not seen in any Bungie version" according to the author.

1Up Xbox is running a story that Microsoft has announced a new suite of development tools for Xbox Live; they're calling it Tsunami, and it will allow developers to create XBL clans, tournaments, user-created content, and integrate with MSN Messenger.

There's no specific information on when players will get to use these new features; we can only hope it is in time for Halo 2.

th3gh05t has posted at Halo-Source.com that Beta 4.0 of XBconnect is now available. XbConnect allows Xbox users to connect to each other over the Internet and play games that don't support Xbox Live.

Citing retail sources and market analysts, the New York Post had an article on the 18th that referred to Microsoft's "flagging Xbox video game console" and suggested that a price cut to $150 may come as soon as April. Thanks TheElderGamer at Xboxsolution.

UPDATE: Several sites are claiming that MS is denying this rumor; however, I've yet to see any citation or anything directly from Microsoft. Could be just the Post dredging up... well, what the New York Post usually dredges up.

Louis Wu at HBO has pointed out a writeup of the Offensive Tetraboxing LANfest he held recently. This one's by CYBRFRK, and it's called Cold plasma still sticks... Friendship, loyalty and gaming - the ideology of bungie.org. The writeup is great, and so are the photos.