Buried in the news about Microsoft's global launch of the Xbox 360 console starting this November was the revelation that unlike the controversial two-tiered pricing system in the US, where the unit without the hard drive is $300, and the unit with the hard drive and some extras is $400, the Japanese market will get a single configuration-- fully loaded, with the hard drive, for less than $350.
Microsoft's "simultaneous" worldwide release has morphed into a more logistically manageable sequence of three staggered launches: November 22 in North America, December 2 in Europe, and December 10 in Japan. The New York Times has the story. (Use the username/password rampancy/rampant if you don't have an account--Ed.)
As noted by Major Nelson and many, many others, the five maps in Bungie's second, or "maptacular" pack of new maps for Halo 2, comprising Gemini, Relic, Elongation, Terminal, and Backwash, are now available for free to all Xbox Live subscribers.
The Xbox 360 will indeed come in two bundles. $299 for the Core System gets you the Xbox, one wireless controller, Xbox Live Silver, a faceplate and a standard AV cable. The $399 bundle swaps out the standard AV cable for a component (HD) cable, and adds a portable 20Gb hard drive and a headset. Complete information is at XboxSolution.
Xbox Live users in #hbo have begun reporting that the second set of Halo 2 downloadable maps, Terminal, Backwash, Elongation, Relic, and Gemini, are now available for download for $11.99. Thanks Tex.
Aspyr Media, publishers of Wideload Games' upcoming Stubbs the Zombie title, has signed with JIN Worldwide Licensing Management to handle apparel, action figures, and other merchandise. Read the full press release.
Xbox365 has posted a rumor that the "deluxe" edition of Microsoft's next console-- the one with the HDD and the extra content-- will cost $360. So, Xbox 360 for $360, says Xbox365? Here's to the end of all this speculation very soon.
According to Major Nelson, the new Halo 2 maps are now available for download, as his schedule lists 7 AM EST and it is now shortly after that. I've had no chance to download them yet myself, but I'll post as soon as I do. As mentioned many times before, Warlock and Containment are free, while Sanctuary and Turf together are $5.99 and are not available separately from each other.