(Editor's Note: QuickJump QuickPeek just turned 16. Ah, sweet sixteen. Sixteen is definitely a lovely number. For those inclined to all things mathematical, four is the square root of 16. And that's just what we're going to try to get to the bottom of right here. The root of all things gaming. For this week at least. Here again is QuickJump's weekly article dedicated to the un-updated. A week's worth of great news, in bite-sized form!)

So here we are in QuickPeek 16. Last week's edition was pretty jam-packed with hot news items, confirmations, and releases, and there's also been a couple of heated debates between icons in the industry. This week will have you guys feeling good about the little big tiny giants that you have sitting in your living rooms - or handhelds snuggling comfortably in their respective pouches or carrying cases.

This isn't about one platform besting another. It's about shaking hands and welcoming people with open arms. As beauty pageant contestants always put it: World Peace! Because if Mario, Solid Snake, and Sonic can do it, then so can we. Err, that is barring the fact that Mario, Snake, and Sonic are in a Brawling game, but the essential thing remains: they're together.

Click the Full Article link below to check out this week's full issue!

QuickJump QuickPeek 16 originally posted October 13, 2007 at 02:00 PM.

Team modfreakz made waves yesterday after it showed evidence on how an Xbox 360 can run on a consumer SATA DVD drive with the original BenQ firmware. Now this discovery was first claimed a month ago, which was preceded by another mod using a Hitachi drive, but it was the second video released yesterday that presented proof that Microsoft's Xbox 360 console would run backup games and not compromise Xbox Live access.

Team modfreakz used a Philips DVD drive, a product available for PC users, and utilized the actual firmware from a retail Xbox 360 DVD drive - the BenQ VAD6038. So it's basically a Philips drive running on retail Xbox 360 firmware. Take note that this feat requires no actual modification to the game console, allowing the machine to log in to Xbox Live. Need to see to believe? Watch the video below. 

Screen Play, the gaming and tech blog of Australian news site, The Age, managed to get their hands on the new 120GB drive for Microsoft's Xbox 360, and they inform that included in the drive are the following 16GB worth of stuff:

• Around a dozen trial Xbox Live Arcade games.
• A full version of Hexic HD.
• demos of Call of Duty 3, Lego Star Wars II and Tony Hawk's Project 8.
• A Halo 3 video documentary
• And several high-definition trailers of Bioshock, Halo Wars, Fable 2, Forza Motorsport 2 and Mass Effect.

The drive should cost Aussies around AU$ 229 or US$ 187.51 . Is the drive worth the price? Well, here's two things to think about:

First, The Age claims that there's still no word on when the Elite - which already comes with a 120GB drive AND and HDMI port - is going to be released. Second, Microsoft still doesn't like you modding your own Xbox 360, since some of you are probably thinking about just getting a Western Digital 2.5" SATA drive and install it in your current 360 HDD enclosure.

If you're an A/V geek and you really want space for those HD video downloads, we suggest waiting for the Elite (we've got reports saying that its "confirmed" for Winter 2007). If you really need the space, well, unless you're willing to put a SATA drive into your 360 enclosure, the official Microsoft HDD should keep you on Microsoft's good side.

Is the Microsoft-branded 120 GB HDD worth only a hundred bucks? That seems to be the assertion over at the Shindakun blog, which points to some interesting facts about Microsoft's Elite add-on and asks readers whether or not the sum of the parts is equal to its current value.

When the Xbox 360 Elite was recently dissected, the Elite 120GB HDD was revealed to be a Fujitsu MHW2120BH drive with a special Microsoft-issued casing. Shindakun notes that the actual drive-in question costs around US$ 100. As you can see, there's a big 80 dollar difference between the Fujitsu drive and HDD, so what justifies the increase in price?

Well, one of the original draws of this new device was how it was comparable to a self-powered external drive. Shindakun asserts that the Elite drive isn't actually self-powered, since you have to turn off the 360 before you can plug it in. As noted in the blog entry,

What Microsoft has created is simply a proprietary SATA to 360 connector, which is housed in a plastic shell with the hard drive. They then tried to convinced everyone that it’s the equivalent of an actual external hard drive. Which it’s not.

So, we leave it up to you to make a decision: Does the sum of the parts equal the price of this new-fangled gadgetry? We suppose the public will choose for themselves once the Elite goes live in stores everywhere. Still, for the hardcore gamers out there who really want to know more about what they're getting into, this does make one pause and think.

It's just been announced on the Team Xecuter forums that a new tutorial for the Blaster360 has finally been uploaded. This tutorial focuses on the Hitachi 078fk firmware update. Team Xecuter also announced that the tutorial is still usable by other Xecuter item users, specifically those who don't have a Blaster 360 and are simply using the Xecuter Connectivity kit.

Team Xecuter's Blaster360 allows Xbox 360 owners to flash their drives with minimal physical tinkering with the Xbox 360 console. The Blaster360 uses a Digital SATA Exchange Circuit, letting users update the Xbox 360's DVD ROM with the latest available firmware. It can also be used to make backups of games to the PC.

To check out the tutorial, click on the via link below. You can also check it out under the Tutorials section of the official Blaster360 website.

The people at Team Xecuter are at it again as the self-proclaimed number one Xbox 360 hacking team announces that its site is up for its new Blaster360 hardware.

   

The Blaster360 is the world's first external DVD connectivity solution. With it, you'll never have to open up the 360 more than once to back up your games. You simply have to open it up once to install Blaster 360 and with the Digital Sata Exchange Circuit, it will be easier than ever to update your DVD rom with firmware to enable your machine to do backups effortlessly.

Team Xecutor also fired back at competitors who have been criticizing it for using parts made in China. The hack team denied this and said "we have always found the quality to be poor hence the cheap nature of many of the goods we have seen from there. All our products are - and have always been - made in Taiwan."

We won't even go into the matter of Taiwan's being a renegade Chinese province or a nation in its own. To check out the site, just go to our Read link below.

The latest product in the lineup of Xbox 360 mods, the XENO Top Gear mod, has been released. It's easy-install for easy-flash, easy-file transfer, easy-to-use with SATA drives. Easy, easy, easy. Here are the features off their official website for the product:

• Can transfer all data from the Xbox360 HD to your PC.
• After the easy one time only installation, flash your Xbox360 without the need to open it ever again.
• Works with all Xbox360 drives that can be firmware-upgraded.
• High Quality digital Sata exchange switching.
• No soldering required at all = no chance to brick your drive from bad soldering.
• Installation is done in just a few minutes.
• Built in eject button, 360/PC switch, HDD/PC switch.
• High quality Sata Ports.
• Superior quality design.of casemodding accessories.
• LED version will be available for crystal, smoke colors of Xeno Top Gear.
• comes with 360 opening tool for opening the console.
• no need for external power supply, Xeno Top Gear is fully powered by the console.

Seems that Top Gear carries the features of the Connectivity Kit for backup purposes, and packs in more features such as flash-without-open, too.

 

The Specialist has released a tool that allows Xbox 360 owners to use HDDs that are not certified by Microsoft. That means you'll be able to use your SATA HDDs with your Xbox 360s (insert "yay!"s and riotous joy).

There are still a few limits, though. For now, the tool only works with the Western Digital BEVS series and you can only use a 20GB drive. Still, this'll save you quite a bit of cash if you go this route instead of buying a standard 20GB hard drive for your Xbox 360. The Specialist also says that once bigger Microsoft-certified HDDs come out, you'll also be able to use bigger HDDs with his tool.

For the technically-inclined, here's a look at how it works, straight from the Specialist:

x360 HDDs contain information on sector 16 about the HDD: the HDD serial number, the model, the firmware version and the size in sectors is stored here. The x360 asks the HDD to identify itself, by sending an 'IDENTIFY DEVICE' ATA to the HDD. It will compare the returned information to the info that is stored on sector 16.

This information on sector 16 is signed and thus can not be changed. This tool will mod the FW from the WD HDD to comply with the information on sector 16, so that the 'identify' information will match the information on sector 16 and your x360 will accept the HDD as valid.

Click on the download link below to get the app. Remember, read the readme file included in the download before you use this. It contains usage instructions as well as a short FAQ.

Download: [HDDHacker v0.5B]

It's been quite a while since we heard anything new on the Maximus Release of the 360 Toolbox. But not to worry, 'cos you can now update your version 2.0 with the new version 3.0.

For those of you uninitiated, the 360 Firmware Toolbox is basically a grapichal tool to handle several common DVD-drive firmware tasks. What  makes version 3.0 primarily interesting is that it comes with support to flash Hitachi-LG drives, including the new v78 and more.

Now, you need to take good note of the fact that you'll need to use Slax V2 to get the drive into Modeb (Drive letter in Windows). Also, this has already been tested with VIA 6421 and Xecuter X360USB. There are a couple of bugs present in the program, but not to worry, as there are quick fixes for it.

If the context menu does not pop up when you right-click over a file, simply open the application and do Options-Disable Windows Menu, and then Options-Enable Windows Context Menu. That should do the trick. If RAWDUMP won't work with SIL SATA chipsets, you better tread on with caution. Better use the validate checksum feature to avoid bad dumps and bricks.

Of course, here's the changelog for version 3.0:

• Added: Direct Dumping of GDR3120L drives attached to PC. Also features a new RAW menudump which is not fooled by the stealth method on currently hacked drives. Even can dump the nasty 78 drives all by software.
• Added: Direct Flashing of Keys, Spoof data and also Direct flash of hacked firmwares over all hitachi drive models attached to the PC. Even flash the 0078FK drives and newer (I hope). So forgot epoxy removal for now. See video tutorial here
• Added: Option to do a Smart hack on those "Rolling Code" Firmwares like 78 and surely newer ones
• Added: Option to create multibank fw
• Added: Option to split multibank fw
• Added: Option to Spoof a firmware, you can spoof a Hitachi XX version to a Hitachi YY version, you can even spoof a hitachi Fw to report as a samsung drive.
• Added: Option validate checksum, this will allow detect proper and bad dumps before flashing

Be sure to check out the Read Me from the zip file, which you can download right here.

Download: [360 Firmware Toolbox 3.0]

Team Xecuter's really gotten everyone intrigued. As the end of the year draws ever closer, mod fans are probably wondering what the status of that nifty new device called the Blaster 360 is. The building process seems to be finished already, so all it needs is an official release date.

Now, while the fellows of Team Xecuter haven't given a final release date, they have opted to answer many of the questions people have about it. You might be surprised at some of the little details in this latest installment of their FAQ.

For those who still don't know what this is or are new to modding, the Blaster 360 is a switching tool, allowing you to flash update your 360's firmware without the need to tinker with the case after installation. It doesn't actually do the flashing for you (You'll still need the requisite SATA or X360 USB for that) but it does make the process a lot cleaner.

For specific concerns, they've also added some clarifications. For one thing, the Blaster 360 has an MS28 on/off switch for flashing the Samsung MS278 drives. Better still are some incoming developments for Hitachi 078 models. While they do mention that their new device can't flash update Hitachi 078 types, they already have a prototype modchip in development that you could buy separately once it's good to go.

Here's the best part: you can dump game data to your PCs with this thing! If that isn't a sweet deal, then we don't know what is.

Keep checking QJ for more updates, as the team will also post detailed instructions for the Blaster 360 very soon.

Buy: [Blaster 360]