Xbox 360

The collaborative game organization Play For Japan is overseeing several auctions on eBay, the proceeds of which will go to help the victims of this month’s earthquake/tsunami combo in Japan. Among those is this custom Captain Smiley console that was, according to the eBay listing, “destined to be part of the IEB Permanent Collection of customized game hardware at Microsoft.” The console is now up for auction, is signed by members of Twisted Pixel Games and features over 150 Xbox Live Arcade games, all of which were published by Microsoft Game Studios.

The auction doesn’t list the console’s region, but given this is on eBay.com and that Microsoft is based in Washington in the United States it’s probably US NTSC. According to Twisted Pixel’s Micheal Wilford the console and games are valued at US $2900, and given the circumstances we hope they get at least that for it. See a partial list of included titles after the break and check out Play For Japan for other unique auctions to help Japanese victims.

Source: eBay via a tip from @wolvie75

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Section 8 was a flawed gem. A diamond in the rough relegated mostly to bargain bins, the original Section 8 pushed new ideas into the first person shooter genre. It overcame minor bugs, mixed reviews and the stigma of being a full priced multiplayer only game, developing a small cult following along the way. Section 8 is back and ready to do an orbital drop again, but this time TimeGate Studios is rewriting the rules.

With the freedom that self publishing gives them, TimeGate Studios is pushing the boundaries of what has been traditionally accepted as normal. Section 8 Prejudice is a fully fledged sequel to Section 8; however, it will be released on Xbox Live Arcade in early 2011 for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), nearly a fraction of the cost of the original. The transition from a $60 retail product to an Xbox Live Arcade sequel is a new one in this industry. We had some trepidation that the production values would suffer or that the game might feel too much like a rehash of the first, but that was all alleviated when we went hands on with Prejudice this past week.

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Videogame industry analyst Michael Pachter has looked into his crystal ball to see a $50 price cut for Xbox 360 consoles in 2011. He may have his share of enemies and skeptics, but when he tells us what we want to hear, there seem to be plenty of willing listeners.

In this case, Pachter’s estimates are based on what he sees as sound business practice: “We estimate that a $50 console price cut across the board will impact software sales by a positive 5%, and we expect Microsoft to lead with a cut some time in Spring 2011,” he told Industry Gamers last week.

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Rumors are circulating around the internet as to what secret games were shown at Capcom’s Captivate 10 event in Hawaii. However, Planet Xbox 360 has reported that …
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