Microsoft has officially jumped aboard the mobile gaming platform bandwagon via their latest Zune HD handheld, which features gaming functionality. The announcement was made through a press release sent out today, introducing their new Zune HD touch-screen media player. This answers the "matter of when" question posited by Shane Kim previously.

Howdy folks, It's that time. Time to announce the winner of the Neruos OSD contest we started up a few days ago. Did you win? Have you got a chance? Of course you have... providing you left a comment for the contest and have deemed it fit to sacrifice and devour a rather large, orange bird to the gods of luck this fine day.

Read on to find out whether you're a winner!

The TVersity dev team has announced that their media server application is now running at version 1.0 RC2. Among other updates, this new build carries support for album art and support for individual Youtube videos. The rest of the changelog is available in the full article.

Download: TVersity 1.0 RC2

Only a few more days before the the fall update for the Xbox 360 Dashboard. One of the highlights that the update offers is support for Mpeg-4 formats, but wasn't really discussed in detail. But now more info has been released about the new video playback capabilities of the Xbox 360; find out more in the full article.

The Zune is one of the premier handhelds in the market today. While the product has received some criticism regarding the IP protection scheme that's in the system, it's still being actively promoted by Microsoft, and newer versions of it are coming out. Here's one of the hottest versions that will be coming out: the Halo 3 version of the Zune.

From all indications, it's a stock Zune with a body makeover and pre-installed with some new Halo 3 content (but that's just speculation so far until we actually get our hands on one). No specifications on the product were given, but we can tell you that it looks really sweet. The entire unit screams Halo 3 when you look at it - even the wallpaper has the Master Chief in his classic stoic "I'm going to finish the fight" pose. The back of the media player has "Halo 3 glyphs" completing the ensemble.

The only problem we see about getting one of these Zunes is not knowing whether to just keep it on display or use it. The pictures we have here were taken by Carlos in the NYC preview of Halo 3 and were originally posted on Gizmodo. Be sure to check them out.

   

 

Thanks to some new partnerships announced by Microsoft Australia during yesterday's Vista launch, a lot of new stuff are in store for Xbox 360 owners down under.

According to The Age, new deals with Telstra and Sanity will give Xbox 360 owners access to over a million  tracks and thousands of movies and TV programs downloadable through the Media Center, which comes with most Vista versions. Users can now access and control the BigPond Movies service via a 360 connected to Vista Media Centre.

Telstra estimates that users with a typical BigPond cable internet subscriber can download a film like The Da Vinci Code in 80 minutes. While BigPond's download offerings are still limited and can only be watched once, Telstra says that the media library is growing rapidly and that negotiations are going on to let users own the films rather than renting them for single use. Prices range from AU$ 1.95 to AU$ 5.95 for new releases, with BigPond customers receiving a discount.

Music junkies also get a little something with the upcoming Sanity service, which will offer over a million tracks for a monthly subscription fee when launched in April. Initially, Xbox 360 users will have to download new music using Windows Media Player on their PCs before streaming the tracks to their consoles. A Microsoft spokesperson, however, suggested at the launch that users will soon be able to download music directly from the Media Center interface on 360.

A dedicated Xbox 360 movie and television download service will still be launched this year in Australia via the Live Marketplace, but with the Microsoft console's limited storage capacity, the Vista option might prove to be more appealing at the moment.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show somewhat served as the battle arena for the on-going war between disc formats Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It would be remembered that it was in that show where chip manufacturer Broadcom revealed decoder chip capable of decoding both Blu-ray and HD DVD video. As next year's show in Last Vegas draws near, rumors about a hybrid player resurface.

Interestingly, the said war has been an exciting thing to behold. According to industry players, the winner will be decided in two years when two formats finally gain ground. Taiwan doesn't approve of creating hybrid players but there have been hushed talks about companies Toshiba and Samsung combining technology to create one. All this while, small company VidaBox quietly introduced the LUX and MAX Systems.

Now, where is this war heading? Will there be an eventual victor or are we going to see a fusion of technology. If we are going to take the road that leads to merging of technology, there can actually be two scenarios:

• One media player with a single drive, capable of playing both formats
• One media player with both a Blu-ray and HD DVD drive installed

Regardless, these forms will definitely cost consumers more money as compared to just a dedicated player. When you really think about it, this has always been the case anyway. It's the next logical step in technology. And until the day any or both Blu Ray and HD DVD become the standard format, these things will always mean a fortune.

360 Insider reports that the HD-DVD drive works fine with Vista. They hooked it up to a PC running Vista RTM, and what do you know, it recognized the drive and it installed without encountering any problem. No messing around with unsupported drivers like the recent XP workaround. Here's how it went for them. Click on the thumbs below to get a better look. Go through them from left to right, it'll make sense that way.

The annoying part is that there is no HD-DVD playback support built into Vista/Media Player. To add insult to the annoyance, when you double click the drive, it launches WMP. But you can't play anything. 360 insider also reported that they haven’t been able to locate any HD-DVD playback software and they assume that it'll take proper drivers to get things running smoothly.

We'll update you guys when more info on this matter surfaces in the coming days.

As we've reported before, a portable Xbox has been rumored about for almost as long as the regular Xbox has been around.

But lately, the rumor mill is working overtime, and various pictures of the alleged portable have sprouted up all over, even though Microsoft has denied its existence.

The latest word is that the device on the left is called "Project Argo", and is Microsoft's Xbox-branded wireless portable media player, otherwise known as Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod.

This picture was sent to Engadget allegedly from an insider working on the Argo project. But is it the real deal, or just a protoype of a hypothetical Microsoft portable?

The screen appears to have a 4:3 aspect ratio display, and might be 3 to 3.5 inches wide. Would such a device be able to play Xbox games? Would it be connected to Xbox Live or Live Aware? The suspense continues to mount.

Check back - we'll have more news as it becomes available.

Although Capcom's Lost Planet is yet to hit American market shelves, it has already become one of the strongest titles for the Xbox 360. Allowing players to take control of pilot Wayne while he searches a hostile planet for his memory, Lost Planet features alien battles on a snow-covered landscape.

Capcom has released trailers and screenshots to maintain the game's popularity and to ease the fans' longing for the game. It seems like Capcom has more treats for the Lost Planet lovers.

If you're one of those people excited about the game, you might want to take your Lost Planet fanfare to a new level: by letting your Windows Media Player look like a prop straight out of the game. In trying to promote the game, Capcom has released a Lost Planet-themed WMP skin (image right). If you love how it looks, feel free to download it below.

Lost Planet enters the U.S. during the first quarter of 2007.

Download: [Windows Media Player: Lost Planet Skin]