The explosive open-world action game Crackdown 2 is slated to hit store shelves on July 6 for the Xbox 360, Microsoft has revealed.

The sequel to 2007's Crackdown features the law enforcement group the Agency as they attempt to thwart criminal activities in Pacific City.


The game will feature four-player cooperative action as well as a 16-person competitive online multiplayer mode.

The first Crackdown, best known for packing a beta code to Halo 3's multiplayer, became one of the surprise hits of 2007, receiving a pretty strong critical response.

For more details, check out a trailer of Crackdown 2 released last December. Readers, looking forward to more Crackdown?

360-Hq Games Database: Crackdown 2 for Xbox 360
News-Source: usatoday.com"

DICE have just announced the second VIP map package for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.. The new DLC maps are coming March 30th, 2010..

While the core of the dev team here at DICE as well as all the back-end teams at EA are 110% focused on stabilizing the game experience we do have some other, great news to reveal. Today we’re happy to announce the release date of the second VIP map package for Battlefield: Bad Company 2! It will be made available on the 30th of March on all platforms at no extra cost to all of you who’ve got your VIP codes entered in the game. VIP Map Pack 2 contains the following:


Arica Harbor Conquest mode - US Command launches a break through action directly at the Russian base. Collateral damage is of no consequence. Capture and secure tactical positions in Conquest Mode across the vast Arica Harbor map.

Laguna Presa Rush mode - The valley and surrounding mountains possess a strategic value in the battle for South America, and an infantry assault supported by light armor vehicles is likely by both armies as US forces defend the nearby Dam.

VIP Map Pack 2 will expand the multiplayer experience on Arica Harbor and Laguna Presa.

VIP members will be able to expand on the deep and ever changing sandbox experience, which in itself provides near endless hours of entertainment, by having new content to keep things fresh. It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you’ve invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing. Of course, it also helps avoid segmenting the community, making sure everyone can play together having the same maps available. There will be future paid downloadable content as well but these packs will focus on expanding other parts of the game experience rather than the selection of maps available for the basic game modes. We’re dedicated to taking care of this product for a long time – helping you avoid “mapathy” without getting nickel-and-dimed.

Senior Producer Patrick Bach and Executive Producer KM Troedsson are VIP (at yesterday’s BFBC2 launch party) – are you?

Finally, a big shout-out to all the fans that are playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at the moment. We can see from the logs that you’re spending some crazy hours on the Battlefield – in only the last 24 hours you all logged more than 2.5 million game hours. Impressive!

360-Hq Games Database: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for Xbox 360"

Team-Xecuter have just launched the XFRAG 360. The Xecuter XFRAG 360 is the ultimate accessory for the hardcore gamer who craves the accuracy and freedom of using their beloved keyboard and mouse on an Xbox 360.

We have looked at other products on the market and taken it to the next level by looking at gamers wish lists and then fine tuning every aspect of quality and performance and giving it to you at a price that doesn't break the bank.

This device is not meant for the average gamer who likes to take pot shots at tin cans, this is for the gamer who loves to frag the living hell out of anything that moves - whether it be Call Of Duty, Gears of War, Rainbow Six or Halo - you will simply OWN anything that crosses your path. For the discerning Playstation addict - you can even connect a PS2 DualShcok2 controller to your Xbox 360 (though why anybody would prefer the PS2 controller over the soul-soothing goodness that is a 360 controller is beyond us) - we've added it anyway !
We have struck a deal that will see this distributed in several global high street retail chains so you can be sure to be able to get your hands on one of these for only $69.95 ! (Similar products sell for upto $100)


Features:
* Connect a PS/2 or USB keyboard & Mouse to the Xbox 360
* Connect a Playstation DualShock2 controller to the Xbox 360
* All Xbox 360 buttons including analogue can be mapped to any keys on the keyboard
* Rapid Fire and Auto Fire Function (8 Customizable Buttons)
* Adjustable X&Y Mouse Sensitivity
* Compatible with most PS/2 or USB Keyboard & Mouse combination's
* Compatible with all Xbox 360 Games
* Compatible with all Xbox 360 Console Versions
* Compatible with both CL & the new Matrix Xbox 360 Wired Controllers
* Connect any PS2 peripheral including Guitars, Dance mats, Light Guns, Racing Wheels etc
* Trusted Xecuter Design & Quality

News-Source: www.team-xecuter.com
360-Hq Hardware Database: Xecuter XFRAG 360"

Team Xecuter have just released more detailed information about the Xecuter CK3-CP. Check out the info below..

Xecuter CK3-CP Update
The Xecuter CK3-CP is the crown jewel in the range of CK3 products. We have combined all the functionality of the CK3 Pro plus into a fully featured PC driven LCD Display & Control Panel, not to mention a slew of new automated features. Please note that the following image is a prototype. We expect to begin shipping sometime in April 2010.
Xecuter CK3-CP


Features:
* Fits into any 5.25″ PC bay
* 2×16 Custom Design LCD Display
* 4 x Button Directional Keypad (e.g Jungle Flasher No-Mouse Operation)
* 1 x SATA Port
* 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
* CK3 Power Connector for any XBOX 360 DVD Drive
* Xbox 360 DVD Eject Button
* IVM (Intelligent Vendor Mode) - Software can control DVD Power and Eject (inc half tray) for fully automated DVD fw access (vendor mode etc)
* 2 x Programmable LED's (Many uses with apps like Jungle Flasher)
* When not being used for CK3, the LCD can be used to display ANY information (Huge Possibilities)
* LCD Smartie open source software is fully compatible with the LCD. Includes custom driver.
* The LCD display is fully customizable from the PC, including the directional pad and the notification LED's.
* LCD backlight and contrast are software controllable.
* The simplified and robust protocol allows anyone from hobbyists to professionals to interface the CK3 CP.
* Great for displaying system statistics like temperature, cpu usage, and ram.
* Compatible with all versions of Windows. Most linux distributions and even PowerPC and Intel Macintosh systems.

CK3 Related (Sources and info available for 3rd party software developers)
* IVM (Intelligent Vendor Mode) - DVD Power and Eject (inc half tray) full software controlled
* The LCD display can guide you step by step when flashing a 360 drive (or other app functions)
* Any input inquiry can be done right on the directional pad - and also an OK/ENTER button.
* No need to keep looking to the monitor or fiddling with the mouse to control the PC for the next step.
* Metal frame means the unit is sturdy and reliable.
* CK3-CP works with all current 360 drives.
* Industry standard, PL2303 transceiver for communication. This means you get great stability and compatibility.

News-Source: team-xecuter.com
360-Hq Hardware Database: hardware.360-hq.com"

Yoshihiro has just released a new emulator for Xbox 360 Homebrew. PCEngine360 Alpha v0.1 is a Nec PCENGINE emulator for the Xbox 360.

This is an alpha release, the first one written and coded for the xbox 360 so this emulator has been only coded in big Endian. It can emulate every Nec PCENGINE games and only the hardware mouse is missing.

This emulator is not a port but a full written emulator for the xbox360 based on every docs and patterns about PCE hardware and i used hugo for the arcade Card support.
supergraphx doc , pce sound generator , CDROM io , pads ,VDC , VCE ect.. .

How to use this emulator:
put every games pce , sgx , Arcade CD , cdrom images inside the pceroms folder dont forget to put the bios rom inside the bios folder renammed as syscard.pce
This emulator needs the SuperCD Card 3.0 bios to play CDROM games .
supported formats for Hucard zip , gz , pce , sgx .
supported formats for CD game images : .iso and .bin.

PC Engine History / The Beginning
On the 10th October 1987 the Japanese electronics giant NEC launched a powerful video games system which they named the PC Engine HE System. It was the centre (or engine) of a much larger entertainment system incorporating keyboard, disc drive and a printer. However, in the 1st few months the system did not appear to be very popular. NEC shelved the idea of making the machine the centre of a home entertainment system and concentrated their time and resources in marketing the machine as a games only system.

Still, it took time for the new machine to be widely accepted in Japan. The Nintendo Entertainment System was still the market leader with 3 in 5 Japanese homes owning one.

It was not until game companies such as Hudson Soft and Irem started to produce quality software that the Japanese public started to take notice. Games such as Chan & Chan and Dragon Spirit were now being produced. In particular it was a game called R-Type which started the now tremendous popularity of the system. From the beginning of 1988 the PC Engine became the second most popular games system in Japan.

A year later NEC released the CD Rom drive. From this point the popularity of the system was assured with many other software companies such as Namco and Taito producing games on both card and CD format.

360-Hq Homebrew Database: PCEngine360 Emulator for Xbox 360"

Looks like farmboynick has figured out how to boot Xbox Media Center (XBMC - Xbox 1) on homebrew Xbox 360 by patching Avalaunch with a halo title id.

I have just launched XBMC [for Xbox1] on my Xbox360, it was so simple ... I patched Avalaunch to boot from disk [with a halo title id] and put a XBMC folder on the disk. After Avalaunch booted I went to file manager and copied the XBMC folder to the E-drive, then simply clicked the XBMC XBE file and it worked.


So far I have been able to launch all XBMC versions that I have tried and can also launch surreal64 and some xbox1 games in file form from HDD. All from selecting the XBE in the Avalaunch file manager

Some versions of XBMC can run picture files, some can run music files, so far I can't get AVI movies to play or gain network access."

As you probably noticed, Battlefield Bad Company 2 players have experienced an outage across EA servers this week, this was caused by a routing issue outside of EA's control but it has been solved and things are back up and running again.


EA maintenance has now finished, you can now get back in game and get your morning fix of Battlefield Bad Company 2. All new hardware is in place and ready to server your BFBC2 needs.

Looking for Bad Company 2 clan to join?? Why not check out our 360-HQ Clans area and join up with the rest of the HQ guys and girls online!

360-Hq Game Database: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for Xbox 360
360-Hq Clans: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Clans for Xbox 360"

Here is a sneak peak at the new foliage system for Gears of War 3. It was demonstrated at the GDC a few days ago..

Epic showed their latest upgrades to their Unreal game engine. This is sneak peak at Gears 3. Incredible scenes :) Check out the video below..


Stay tuned to the 360-HQ homepage for all the latest xbox 360 info no matter what it may be and don't forget to check out the FREE 360-HQ Toolbar for Internet Explorer & Firefox. The 360-HQ Toolbar has over 150 FREE online hi-score flash games built in, with local weather, radio stations, Xbox LIVE friends, achievements, 360-HQ Site menu, news, achievements, trailers and much much more. Check it out!

360-Hq Games Database: Gears of War 3 for Xbox 360
360-Hq Toolbar: toolbar.360-hq.com"

Perfect Dark is coming back, to the Xbox 360, that is. After a disappointing launch sequel, Rare is bringing the original game back to the Xbox Live Arcade next week, all shined up and ready for massive online consumption. The comparison video above does a great job in showing what fans can expect from the process, which seems to primarily include smoother frame-rates and cleaner polygons, while retaining the same dumb-as-dirt enemy AI.


And while it may seem ludicrous to compare a ten-year old Nintendo64 game to its Xbox 360 counterpart, it does bring up one nagging detail that can't be avoided. After years of desperately trying to replicate the success of their Nintendo/Rare partnership, it's interesting that the most anticipated projects coming out of the developer these days are updated ports of their original - and Nintendo-subsidized - games.

Perfect Dark makes its Xbox Live Arcade debut on March 17th. It's still not Goldeneye, but is probably the closest thing you'll be getting anytime soon.

360-Hq Games Database: Perfect Dark XBLA
News-Source: blogs.popzara.com"

For the first time in over two years, Xbox is at the number one spot for the most consoles sold! Xbox 360 sold over 422,000 units according to analyst group NPD for the month of February. Wii managed to get to the number two spot and sold over 397,900 units. PlayStation 3 sold 360,100 units and suprised many. Most people thought that PlayStation 3 was going to lead console sales in the U.S. market but Xbox 360 managed to lead sales in the short 28 days of February.

Last month January 2010 Nintendo Wii was the best selling console with total units sold 465,000. Although the overall numbers were down this month, Xbox really surprised us all with taking over to the number one spot.

BioShock 2 was recently released for the Xbox 360 and sold over 562,900 units. The game was released on February 10th. Xbox is back in business and this was the break they needed in the gaming industry in 2010. While BioShock 2 helped boost overall sales, I don’t think that was the main reason for the spike in sales for the console.

While this numbers only represent the US Market, in other parts of the world Xbox 360 was not in the number one spot.

News-Source: www.toptechreviews.net"