I've been taking care of the Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior the past month, and really, it amazes me how Microsoft keeps on making head-turning, jaw-dropping, headlining statements. Oh but to be rich and famous; controversy sure is second nature, no? In this week's Warrior, sure to get the medal for Biggest News is Microsoft's daring (yet-again) statement on their incredulity at Sony hitting the 20 million mark for PSN users. In second place would be the big MS sued to pony up lotsa cash for patent infringement. Uh-oh.

Two months ago, Sony reported that they had a total of 17 million users on the PlayStation Network. A few days ago, they reported that the number has jumped to 20 million. Possible? Sure. Probable? Microsoft finds it highly questionable.

Details after the link.

Got questions about Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace video store service and the movies being offered? Never fear, as Stephen McGill, Microsoft head of gaming and service, and Robert Burrowes, Xbox Live marketing manager, both took the time to answer some of questions about the Xbox Live Marketplace service in a recent interview.

Find out what McGill and Burrowes said after the jump!

Nintendo may be struggling with its Wii shortage problem, but Microsoft seems to be keeping up with demand, at least in the UK. Microsoft UK's head of gaming and entertainment, Stephen McGill, tells about how they managed to make sure every retailer has Xbox 360s in stock. Read all about it in the full article!

Who says the Christmas spirit doesn't include some healthy competition? Microsoft has announced that it's dishing out GBP 4 million (US$ 8 million smackeroos), matching Sony's own marketing budget in the UK. More in the full article.

To further entice consumers to ride on the HD-DVD bandwagon, Microsoft announced today a major partnership with leading movie studios paving the way to five free movies movies to anyone who will purchase the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player. The price for the add-on is currently at 114.99 GBP (US$ 235.49).

The said deal is only applicable in UK and the film studios involved include Warner Brothers, Universal, Dreamworks, and Paramount. Microsoft UK Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill had this to say:

The HD-DVD player for Xbox 360 gives customers a high quality and affordable way to enjoy state-of-the-art HD-DVD movies. We're delighted to enable everyone to enjoy the technology to the full and offer some fantastic movie releases, completely free.

To get the free movies, all you have to do is send in a form containing the barcode of your purchase, the freebies will then be delivered after 28 working days. In case you are interested, we listed down the movies being offered in the deal. Also, you can get the mentioned form via the Read link below.

• Serenity
• The Chronicles of Riddick
• Hulk
• Children of Men
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
• Troy
• Full Metal Jacket
• Corpse Bride
• The Prestige
• Swordfish
• Black Rain
• Dreamgirls
• Word Trade Center

According to Microsoft UK Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill, they were originally planning to conduct a midnight launch event for Halo 3 but the Westminster council advised that they should not go with it due to security reasons. We guess we don't have to remind you how big of a fan gamers in UK are.

Anyway, to compensate for this McGill said that around 1,000 retail stores will be opened by midnight so eager fans can get their retail copies as early as possible. To make things easier to understand - Halo 3 will be available on the eve of September 26 but no street events will be taking place.

"We are pleased to confirm that over 1,000 retailers around London and the rest of the UK will be opening up at midnight to ensure fans can get their copy of Halo 3 it as soon as humanly possible - including many Game, Gamestation, HMV and Virgin Megastores stores", said the official.

Aside from that, gamers will also have the chance to party with Halo 3 fanatics at UK's biggest cinema screen BFI IMAX (in Waterloo) on Tuesday, September 25, as many celebrities will be going head-to-head against lucky fans on the big screen.

Tickets and other giveaways are also available in The Daily Telegraph this Saturday and on Kiss FM next Tuesday. Those stores which won't be able to serve customers on the eve of launch will open very early the next day.

 

Microsoft may have said weeks ago that there were no plans to grant UK an Xbox 360 price cut, but now they finally announced that UK is going to get some loving, too. Starting on August 24 (that's a Friday), the Xbox 360 Premium's price will be reduced to GBP 249.99 (US$ 496.69).

Likewise, the Core pack will get a new trimmed price of GBP 179.99 (or US$ 357.61). That's a savings of 30 and 20 GBP, respectively. It's great that UK will also get the price cut that U.S. gamers are already enjoying.

That's not all, however. Microsoft also announced that the Elite will fetch a price of GBP 299.99 (US$ 595.92), including a 120GB hard drive as well as an HDMI port. Xbox UK Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill had this to say:

We're pleased to be able to offer Xbox 360 at a new, lower estimated retail price. We pioneered the successful concept of multiple products for multiple categories of consumer... The Xbox 360 opens up whole new avenues of entertainment for those who seek the ultimate gaming and entertainment experience

With the Elite launching on August 24 alongside the Xbox 360 price cuts, this coming Friday will be a happy day indeed for UK Xbox 360 fans.

Gaming lads from Britain who are also aspiring musicians now have a chance to take the spotlight: Microsoft is currently looking for artists to compose music for their Xbox 360 trailers. To join, you have to visit Xbox's site and download trailers you'll put music to. The lucky winner will be doing some recording in a state-of-the-art studio with support from professionals, before walking home with a demo tape in hand.

The guys who started the trend come from the band Enter Shikari, inspired by the Japanese culture during one of their tours to make a track for a Blue Dragon trailer. Promotion will be handled by different artists, including the band Scissor Sisters who remixed one of their songs exclusively for the Halo Wars trailer.

Microsoft Head of Gaming and Entertainment Stephen McGill has positive insights regarding the program, saying that artists being inspired to make music is a major turning point for the video game industry.  He also expressed Microsoft's delight in having a band like Enter Shikari, hoping that it will inspire other people to get creative too.

Those Europe folks folks are cutthroat. Just look at that "we hearts Xbox 360" barge that floated right in front of the French Sony PlayStation 3 launch, and that beer plus Xbox 360 package that they sent. Anyhow, now that the PS3 is now officially in the ring in Europe, what else does Microsoft have to say? In an interview with CVG Microsoft head of gaming and Entertainment and Devises Division UK, Stephen McGill, said a few pointed things.

Basically McGill says that Microsoft welcomes the competition, that they'll keep an eye on what they're doing but they'll stick to what they're doing, and they're proud that they've got a larger game portfolio than the PlayStation 3. For example, when CVG asked how they're keeping an eye on the PS3. McGill said:

Through us we're putting gaming in the centre and so games are part of everything we do, but we do do a lot of different things; you can play music, you can watch movies and look at your photos and stuff, which actually seems to be something that Sony is really focusing on - they don't seem to be focusing too much on the games.

So if you look at the early reports of people queuing outside of Virgin Megastore - there's another report in the paper today - they're already saying they've got 27 games that are already out but where are the killer games that will drive console sales?

Read the rest of this post after the Jump.