215w ago - Online retailer Amazon now has its own Xbox Live store.

The retailer recently entered the arena of used games, and already has a downloadable PC game store - and will now add Microsoft Points, XBLA games, and other subscriptions to its offering.

To quote: The new Amazon Xbox Live Store is currently in beta, and becomes the only other outlet besides Xbox Live Marketplace itself through which consumers can buy games and points digitally.

Customers who make purchases via Amazon's store will receive a download code they can use on Xbox Live Marketplace. The store beta launches with about 100 titles available, including Braid and Castle Crashers.

This online retail method also lets users comment, recommend and rate listings the way they do other Amazon products, and customers can send digital game purchases as gifts to other people, something not previously possible.

"PC gamers have enjoyed the convenience of digital downloads on Amazon.com for some time. Now Amazon.com and Microsoft are bringing that same level of convenience to platform gamers by expanding the reach of the Xbox Live digital platform to millions of Amazon customers," says Amazon video games and software VP Greg Hart.

"We're happy to be extending our...

218w ago - Here is a 5-round match between PSN and XBL. For each round, the contenders can get up to five points. The five rounds will be features, online play, ease of use, content, and bang for the buck.

Round 1. It's All About the Features

I think we all know which will get the higher score in this round. The PlayStation Network has improved rapidly since its debut. At first, compared to XBL, psn was like a little kid against a big adult.

Since then, psn grew to match a lot of the features that XBL had. I know many of you disagree with us when we say this, but Home is a nice thing to have on PSN.

The reason is that it is constantly evolving, and will soon catch up to what Sony promised from Home and more. Just like PSN... PSN was not what was promised during release, but caught up to those promises. Back then, I would have given psn a 2, but now PSN deserves a lot better. XBL hands down has more features, but PSN has just enough to live with. XBL - 5 PSN - 4.5 (.5 because of Home)

Round 2. Online Play

Both PSM and XBL offer amazing online play. There really is no difference in the online play of these consoles. One of the major benefit of PSN is that the games that use its dedicated servers are huge.

When was the last time you heard...

219w ago - Last month we reported news that hackers were targeting XBox Live players and selling 'booting off' services.

Today, XBox Live users have another issue to worry about: phished XBox Live accounts have been reported in circulation.

To quote: Today we came across a collection of approximately 270 sets of login details that have apparently been Phished via a fake XBox Live login page.

The list, some 27 pages long in Word format, would allow people to access stolen XBox Live accounts, some of which may have credit card details stored against them (along with other forms of personal information, of course).

The list itself is actually around 300 or so entries, but it seems some of it is duplicate and / or obviously fake data, entered by people annoyed at the Phishers the list has come from (as a side note, I should add it's never a good idea to enter fake info on Phishing pages - it not only makes it harder for people who wade through this info looking for victims to contact, it also opens you up to potential retaliation attacks from the Phishers).

An additional "bonus" of grabbing Live ID data is that you can use it to check out EMail accounts associated with it -...

221w ago - Microsoft announced today a deal with NBC Universal International Television Distribution, making films from Universal Pictures the latest content from a major Hollywood studio to join the Xbox Live roster in the U.K. as follows:

Press Release: PLAY, WATCH AND CONNECT FOR EVEN LONGER WITH XBOX

Console giant announces major expansion of its ongoing entertainment portfolio: new content, great social experiences, TV gameplay - and a major new Hollywood movie provider!

LONDON - 26th FEBRUARY 2009: Xbox® today unveiled major plans to extend its offering even further by giving entertainment fans even more to enjoy whether they're into movies, music or games.

Speaking at the official launch event in central London today, UK Head of Xbox Neil Thompson announced a vision for the console giant that will give customers a 360 degree entertainment experience that never ends, thanks to an ongoing commitment to providing cutting edge new downloadable content to Xbox LIVE®.

It will give entertainment fans an even broader choice of fun - enabling them to play extra elements of their favourite games, watch major Hollywood blockbuster films[1] or chat and connect with friends anywhere in the world all from the comfort of their living room.

Film fans will...

222w ago - Microsoft's Xbox Live is being targeted by malicious hackers selling services that kick players off the network. To quote:

The booting services are proving popular with players who want a way to get revenge on those who beat them in an Xbox Live game.

The attackers are employing data flooding tools that have been used against websites for many years.

Microsoft is "investigating" the use of the tools and said those caught using them would be banned from Xbox Live.

"There's been a definite increase in the amount of people talking about and distributing these things over the last three to four weeks," said Chris Boyd, director of malware research at Facetime Communications.

The smart thing about these Xbox tools is that they do not attack the Xbox Live network itself," he said.

He said the tools work by exploiting the way that the Xbox Live network is set up. Game consoles connecting to the Xbox network send data via the net, and for that it needs an IP address.

Even better, said Mr Boyd, games played via Xbox Live are not hosted on private servers.

Instead," he said, "a lot of games on Xbox Live are hosted by players."

If hackers can discover the IP address of whoever is hosting a game they can employ many...