If you've stuck through our previous coverage on how you can play Blizzard's World of Warcraft on the Xbox 360 console, then we've got more insider information on how the SwitchBlade software package works. In an interview with the VP of Business Development for Blue Orb, Inc., the company behind SwitchBlade, Aaron Levin talks about how the software works and the company's plans for the future.

Check out more details of the SwitchBlade software after the jump!

Less gamers are clocking in hours to spend time playing PC games online, according to Xfire's latest report. Numbers began to drop since August. Xfire senior director of marketing Frederic Descamps believes there's a very apparent reason behind this - many tried to finish the fight, while others continue to play Bungie Studios' Halo 3 on the Microsoft Xbox 360 instead of their PC gaming rigs.

More details at the full article!

From Blue Orb, Inc. comes Switchblade, a software package that brings a fully-configured Xbox 360 controller interface to any PC game. The first game supported by Switchblade is Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

The application comes with preconfigured key bindings that map the Xbox 360 controller's buttons to the most commonly used controls in World of Warcraft. Users can also reconfigure the button mappings to cater to their own personal playing styles. Switchblade works with both wired and wireless Xbox 360 controllers.

The best thing about Blue Orb's Switchblade is that it's downloadable for free at Xfire.com. Support for Blizzard's insanely popular MMORPG is also just the tip of the iceberg. Future versions of the application will include support for a wide range of PC games as well as support for additional controller types.

Watch the video below for a look at installing and configuring Switchblade for use in World of Warcraft.

As the fifth in the series of  the Xfire Debate Club: The Two-Handed Sword discussion of gaming community issues, Xfire will be tackling the ongoing battle between Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft over the console arena. And prepping up for a serious and formal discussion, Xfire has invited a series of guests for the heated debate on who will eventually win the next-generation console wars.

 

Appointed as moderator is Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly, while the PlayStation 3-likely advocate Paul "Lefein" Shields, Xbox 360 critic and Xboxic editor Niels Keurentjes, and Nintendo gamer and Cubed3 editor James Temperton will take the three sides of the debate triangle.

Other guests to tie their two-cents in is Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield, Engadget's Peter Rojas, and Joystiq's Chris Grant. The debate started today, June 7, 2007, at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) and also includes interested third party participators from the more than seven million PC gamer community base. All discussions will be policed for facts and basis, and will tackle the following facets of the console battle:

• Which console is the best value?
• Which has the best online play?
• Which will you still be playing a year from now?
• Who has the best exclusive games?
  

More on the debate results as they come in after the debate. PC gamers and Xfire members can tag along now.

An interview by 1UP with Community Manager Aaron Kaufman had revealed that Electronic Arts and the Command & Conquer online community were still waging a constant battle revolving around the three things: the 1 vs. 1 ladder system, the disconnect issues, and gameplay balances.

 

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is currently the most played RTS over the PC platform. Xfire's Xstatics placed C&C3 on top of the RTS gaming list, even while contested by more the strategic and unfortunately overlooked Supreme Commander from Gas Powered Games and THQ.

In fact, the game has become so popular that the World Cyber Games has listed this game as one of their flagship titles for the RTS competitive leg, along with Blizzard's Warcraft III: Frozen Throne and original Starcraft. This is where all the troubles began.

Because of the World Cyber Games U.S. Open invitational announcement and the apparent influence it has had on the American Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars online community, there has been a flurry of "did toos" and "did nots" over at the official forums that certain gamers listed on top of the 1 vs. 1 Ladder list are actually cheating.

Gamers who disconnect from a game in order to avert tagging a loss to their stats are now considered as cheaters. Kaufman, better known around the forums as Apoc, explained fixes going to be introduced with patch 1.05 will not only change the current lineup of top performers, but will also establish serious consequences for disconnectors.

But more often than not, gamers have complained that they wouldn't need to disconnect early from a game if the balance issues were addressed in the first place. Instead, they reasoned out that their disconnects are often morale-based, because of one-sided tank rushing power that instantly lop-sides any competition.

Apparently, balance changes will be introduced in the coming 1.05 patch, where Apoc believes that should completely stir up the top 100 players in the ladder rankings. Although it gives aspiring competitors little time to straighten out the rankings and weed out the real top RTS players in the list, Apoc believes the best ones can easily adapt to balance changes and still win in competitive matches.

The worldwide, seven-million gamer community of Xfire and their Debate Club will be hosting a live debate session in their fourth Xfire Debate Club: The Two-Handed Sword on April 26. This time around, the heated discussion will be bringing a varied panel of guests ranging politicians to game industry journalists and critics to contest the matter of "Censorship in Video Games."

The session, to be moderated by Stanford University's Henry Lowood, will bring together Matteo Bittanti, a researcher at Stanford University; Hal Halpin, CEO of Entertainment Consumers Association; Dennis McCauley, CEO of GamePolitics.org; Russ Pitts, Editor of The Escapist; to discuss matters regarding:

• Governments' involvement and their regulation of video games
• Game exposure to children and their consequential influence on them
• The power of "the creative license"

Frederic Descamps, senior director of marketing at Xfire, commented, "As video games become a more mainstream form of entertainment, questions regarding censorship and legislation continue to gain significance." The debate will take place at April 26, 4 p.m. EDT or 1 p.m. PDT at Xfire's debate section. You can head there through the "Read" link below. And don't forget to bookmark it!

 

Andronix of PlayThree.net, ponders if PlayStation owners should feel green - an Xbox 360 shade of green to be specific - that the Xbox 360 is set to integrate further with Windows via the Xbox LIVE MSN Messenger feature. Andronix notes that Sony might want to look towards Yahoo Messenger, which already has inter-connectivity with MSN Messenger and Xfire.

Anyhow, since July 12, 2006, both Microsoft and Yahoo have allowed limited inter-connectivity between their messaging services. For now it's pure speculation on Andronix's part, but he sees a possible connection between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 via Yahoo. That is, IF Microsoft chooses not to block it and Sony does attempt to use Yahoo, or at least allow Yahoo to work with the PS3.

Xfire by the way, has already been assessed by Sony for use with the PS3. Will they allow Yahoo Messenger too? Hmmm...

Speculation aside, Sony is already working on their own messaging system, that's set to promote their much touted Game 3.0 philosophy.

In an interview over at Gamasutra, CEO and co-founder of Xfire, Mike Cassidy, voiced his opinions on the Windows Live service. Apart from that, he also talked about the growth of the PC-based instant messaging service and gaming server tracker that some PlayStation 3 games use, Xfire.

Cassidy notes that at this point they don't fully understand the features/pricing and usage scenarios of Microsoft's Live service for Windows. He notes that they believe that gamers will not want to pay for multiplayer functionality, especially since the said feature has been traditionally free on the PC.

When asked if he sees if the Games for Windows branding as a threat, especially since the games on the brand will inevitably be linked to the Live service, he notes that while they're careful to watch what the competition is doing, they're very much confident in the strength and loyalty of their user-base.

Cassidy notes that integration of the Xfire service with the Xbox 360 has been more difficult than with other console partners. When asked about previous comments that he made that implied that they were in talks with other console makers - Gamasutra speculates an Xfire service for the Nintendo Wii - Cassidy can only tease, saying: "stay tuned..."

While they did experience some problems with integrating Xfire for Vista, he notes that everything is pretty much working well at the moment. Difficulties encountered included the new desktop rendering system of Vista, and the User Access Controls.

Oh, and before we end this, here's a little something for all the Mac gamers out there who feel a little left out. Mike Cassidy says:

The Mac user-base is very passionate. Although only a few top games are released simultaneously for the Mac and PC, Mac gamers have regularly asked us to create a version of Xfire for them. We are committed to supporting as many gaming platforms as we can as long as they have a large enough user-base. However, prioritization of projects is an ongoing battle.

As interesting as Mike Cassidy's words are, our utopian dream is still a true cross-platform "PSWii60PC" messaging service. One, can dream right? For the complete interview, feel free to head to Gamasutra's post via our "read" link below.

This week we advise music lovers and gamers alike to get ready as MTV recently announced Gamer's Week 2.0. Ranging across MTV, games.MTV.com, MTV2, mtvU, Xfire, and GameTrailers, this event is set to showcase the latest, the coolest, the hottest, and in some cases, the lamest that gaming culture has to offer.

"We are excited to showcase the revolutionary hardware and games that will shape the future of gaming during Gamer’s Week 2.0 and present the content through exciting and creative short and long form programming across all of our platforms," said Brian Graden, MTV's President of Entertainment, Networks Music Group and President of Logo.

"Video games are front and center in the minds of the MTV viewers, especially with the launches of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, the continued success of Xbox 360, and the onslaught of amazing new titles this upcoming holiday season, and we intend to bring it all directly to our audience."

As part of this major gaming event, MTV's GAMES.MTV.COM gaming will be the focal point for Gamer's Week 2.0, and anybody visiting the site can expect the following topics to look through:

• Video: All video topics related to Gamer's Week 2.0 can be found here as they air within the week. Videos are supported by the likes of MTV, MTV News, MTV2, mtvU, Xfire and GameTrailers.
• Tune In: A guide for all the game-related programs to be featured on Gamers Week 2.0.
• Online Specials: MTV online special features can be found here, such as "PS3: Dissected," and "Wii: Dissected", gamer's gift guides. It'll also be featuring special episodes of GAME.MTV.COM regular shows "Peep Show," "The Dime," "Obsessed" and "Game Character Playlist" for the Gamers Week 2.0 event.
• Games: Videos and information on the upcoming Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 games to be coming out this December up to 2007.
• News: This link leads to all the MTV Games top news stories, both text and video format.
  

The full program listing for Gamer's Week 2.0 is right after the jump!

Earlier we did an article focusing on Microsoft employee Andre Vrignaud (Ozymandias) and his opinions on Sony's online PlayStation Network Service. This post will focus on John Smedley's counterpoint. Just in case you don't know who John Smedley is, the search tab is there for your convenient use. Moving on. John Smedley's response is such:

One of the cool things about integrating both the PlayStation Network and Xfire into our PS3 title Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is that my friends on Xfire running on the PC can send me messages while I’m playing the game on the PlayStation 3. I can also respond to them if I want.

I can do the same thing (also from within the game) with my friends that are playing other PlayStation 3 games using my PlayStation Network friends list. We’ve integrated both into the game because we realize how important it is to be able to tie into different groups of online friends. I personally think that’s one of the best things about the PS3’s open approach. I am a member of multiple online communities. The fact that the PlayStation 3 will allow publishers the option of hooking my favorite games into these communities is a big plus to me.

I do want to point out that you aren’t just able to see if your friends are online at the cross media bar interface level.. it can happen within games too.

So what is the good Mr. Smedley trying to say? Basically in his point of view it's good that the PS3 is open and is allowing the publishers to dictate who they will be implementing their online community. He also thinks that it's good that, depending on what service a particular publisher is using, people on the PC can send messages to people playing on their PS3's.

Given that it is possible to be able to access the cross media bar at any point, he does have a point that it's convenient to see which one of your “global” PS3 friends are online, and that you can use the game to check which one of your game-specific friends are online.

We'll have to see where this pseudo online debate will go, before we say anymore regarding this topic. Now we say pseudo debate because if you click on our VIA link below and you look at Smedley's previous posts, you'll see that he's been actively responding to Ozymandias' blog posts. We could try to give you guys several metaphors describing what each service looks like so far, but we won't. That would be flame-bait.

Regardless of the direction this argument will go, it's comforting to see that Sony is actively trying to take their PlayStation Network in a direction different than Microsoft's XBL.