1P Start

Rumors of a possible XB360 price cut that were floating around the internet for the last few weeks have finally been confirmed by The Wall Street Journal of all places. The cut will bring down the price of the XBox 360 Pro model from $349 down to $299 a pop. That’s a fifty dollar savings, folks. The Pro model comes with a 20 gig hard drive. While it’s not as cool as the Elite model which has a huge 120 gig hard drive, HDMI output, and a fancy black case, the Pro model will get the job done and it certainly beats the hell out of the Arcade model. So if you haven’t gotten a 360 yet, then get off the fence will ya? The price cuts are supposed to take effect this weekend.

Electronic Arts desperately wants to acquire Take-Two Interactive. It already wanted it before Grand Theft Auto IV was released but now that the game has made $500 million in its first week on sale, and proved once again the value of the franchise, EA are even keener.

Take-Two, who publish the Grand Theft Auto games, have already rejected a bid from EA back in February. So now EA are going hostile, and have offered the shareholders a $2.1 billion all cash offer. The shareholders have until May 16th to consider the bid and decide if it’s enough to warrant a mass sell out or not.

The problem is, EA doesn’t actually have $2.1 billion in the bank, and has had to take out a $1 billion loan to cover the costs of the investment if and when it happens. The huge financing will come from Morgan Stanley, the bank of Nova Scotia, and several other financial organisations.

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Ever since HD DVD as a format died a bitter death back in early February, there has been speculation over what Microsoft would do now that their decision to support the format has gone horribly wrong. Now it seems that they are at least talking to Sony about the possibility of a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360, to replace the now virtually worthless HD DVD one.

Microsoft has already cut the price of the HD DVD drive to bargain basement levels, and now it seems they are keen to move on from the dead format altogether.

There are reports that not only could an Xbox Blu-ray drive be on its way, it might actually be fully integrated in to the console, rather than merely available as an expensive add-on.

According to the Financial Times, Sony Electronics US president, Stan Glasgow, claims his company is in talks with Microsoft about the possibility.

if this does happen, what’s interesting is that it would mean Sony making money on every Xbox 360 sold, as well as every Playstation 3, which regardless of sales figures would make it the big winner in this format war.

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Random deal of the moment. Amazon is offering up Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Gold Edition at 40% off, so it is $29.99 and shipping is free. On Metacritic has this game with a score of 94, that is huge. So if you PC gamers do not already have this great strategy game, get on it.

I love this quote about the game from GameSpy: “This is what PC strategy is all about: hour after hour of interesting decisions and nail-biting conflicts. The single-player game alone is remarkable, but the addition of multiplayer (and yes, it actually works this time) puts it over the top.”

[Source CAG, forums sadly down at the moment]

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Deals, Sid Meier, Civilization IV, Gold Edition, Amazon, Deal of the Day

Ladies and Gents it pains me to say my farewells to 1PStart. I’ve been here only a short time, though I’ve been at Xbox 360 Rally (another 451 site) for just under a year. I will miss you guys, though you’re probably throwing a party, chanting “he’s leaving! Huzzah! Huzzah!”. If you do miss me, though, you can find me at my new home BingeGamer.net.

It’s been fun, and I hope to see y’all around.

P.S.: Qbix — E-mail me, dude. I’m still gonna get your GTA IV to ya.

Lots of random little great deals have popped up post Christmas for you to spend any left over (or newly received) monies.

For those that don’t have it still, Halo 3 is only $29.90 at GoGamer.

GameFly is having a Year End Sale up until January 4th: Some example deals are The Darkness only $12.34, Forza 2 $14.24, and Shadowrun for $12.34. I would really check this link and look into their full list, they have a ton of deals on all systems.

For the PC users, Steam is having a sale, 10-50% Everything! Great deals include, The Orange Box - $37.45, Bioshock $37.45, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - $22.45, and Psychonauts - 9.95!! (If you haven’t played this title yet, you have no excuse not to now. You can even use a 360 controller.)

World of Warcrack - $9.99!! (Now you have no reason not to get addicted!)

Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged - $7.99 @ Amazon
Comes with full versions of
* Geometry Wars
* Bejeweled 2 Deluxe
* Wik - Fable of Souls
* Hardwood Backgammon
* Outpost Kaloki X.
Possibly the best deal of them all.

A staple in any gaming site, is a end of the year type list and/or holiday wish list. JW and yours truly have each picked the top three games for the main three consoles and some other categories for PSP, DS, Xbox Live Arcade, Virtual Console, and even finish our picks with the best console of 2007. To help with the ‘holiday list’ portion of this, I checked CheapAssGamer and Google for any good deals that will make sure you can save some cash in getting the… Top Ten Best Games Awards Holiday Picks of 2007! So lets get this going:

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I guess the Halo 3 Legendary Edition wasn’t meant to be the big sold out collectible that I once thought it was going to be. Well WalMart is selling it for only $59.82. That is half off what it was originally going for. I am even tempted to pick it up just because my brother has it and I know how nice of a set it is (the helmet was way bigger than I thought it would be). However I find it odd that I remember Amazon having deals on it about a month ago, $99.

The one side of this all, cool, a nice deal from Wally’s World. The other side is it is, why is it so available? I have seen tons of the Halo 3 Xbox 360’s, I figure those would sell a little more as well. Seeing a pile of those at Best Buy reminds me of seeing all those pictures of PS3 boxes people used to post up at their launch that were going unsold.

Perhaps it would have been better to release the game right before Christmas, around Mario time. That way people who are now addicted to Call of Duty 4 or Team Fortress would still want to play Halo 3 because they don’t know it isn’t as good as the hype built it up to be.

P.S. Can’t wait for those newly released maps to be free! I am glad Bungie at least let us know that ahead of time just so they don’t leave people hanging thinking they can’t play if they don’t buy the maps, they can instead and be patient.
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Halo 3 Halo 3 Halo 3, Halo 3 Legendary Edition, WalMart, Sale, DLC, Amazon

Amazon seems to have an offer up called the “10 Days, 10 Deals.” Starting today, each day a different deal will be going on. Right now is a pretty nice PS3 bundle, where you can buy a PS3 40GB, and get a blu-ray remote and Stranglehold Collector’s Edition for free (about $100 is being saved).

Click this link to pick up the PS3, or just bookmark the page to see the other deals coming up each day, if a really big one comes up you bet Ill post it.

In another offer not part of the “10 Days, 10 Deals”, Lair for the PS3 is $25 off, so you can pick it up on your brand new PS3 for only $34.99. If you were on the fence with the PS3 before, Sony has been giving plenty of incentives the past month or so and it just seems to continue.
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Amazon.com, Deal of the Day, Playstation 3, PS3, Lair, BluRay

In addition to the earlier announcement of Best Buy offering the 40GB PS2 with NBA ‘08 and Open Season on Blu-Ray, it’s now been learned that the electronic outlet will be offering Xbox 360 Premium consoles with Guitar Hero II (that’s 2, not 3) and the guitar controller for $349.99.

The deal will only be available on Friday, November 23rd and will be on a first come, first serve basis. In short, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

[Punch Jump]

Xbox 360, Microsoft, Activision, Guitar Hero, Best Buy

Best Buy is going to have the PS3 deal of the century on Black Friday, which is the annual day of terror after Thanksgiving where shoptastic women drag their hung over husbands/boyfriends to every store under the sun in an attempt to get Chris-er, I mean “seasonal gift” shopping done at the lowest prices. It’s being reported that the new 40GB PS3 will be sold with a copy of NBA ‘08 and Open Season on Blu-Ray. Previously the 40GB PS3 had been packaged with Spider-Man 3 on Blu-Ray.

Sony is hoping this holiday season will bring success for their struggling black beheamoth. In October Sony revealed that they may lose close to $1 Billion on the PlayStation 3, and last month alone recorded a loss of 97 Billion yen.

[Punch Jump]

Sony, PlayStation 3, Spider-Man 3, Open Season, NBA ‘08, Blu-Ray, Best Buy

I have been a huge fan of racing games since I was but a youngling, playing the original Need for Speed on that newfangled PlayStation. At the time I thought it was freaking awesome to see a 3D car slam head-on into a tree. As time went by, and I grew older, I demanded more and more realism in my racing experience. I wanted better track times, better control of my car, and an overall more realistic feel for the game.

Unfortunately, I was also raised in a poor household, so my family could never afford those fancy force feedback racing wheels that I hear all of you racing aficionados talking about. Well, gaming accessories company Kontrolfreek is hoping to change that with their new device, the ‘speedfreek’ for the Xbox 360. But what is the speedfreek, and how does it work? Well, read after the break for my full rundown on the device.

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You lucky Euro bastards (I say that with love). Microsoft has announced ‘Xtival 07′, an online festival that will include special events, competitions, and exclusive downloadables for all Xbox LIVE users. Oh, and Xbox LIVE Gold will be free for all during the festival.

The event itself will run from November 23-26 and, as sad as this makes me, is only in Europe. In actuality I can’t give you any grief simply due to the fact that those of us stateside get a ton of cool exclusive stuff from Microsoft, so I guess its your turn to get in on the action.

Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, Xtival ‘07

Are you on the fence about getting a PlayStation 3, but really don’t want to get it in the default chromed black? Do you have a pile of money that you’ve been thinking about setting on fire? Well, thanks to a company called XSS Corporation, you could get your hands on one of several multi-colored PlayStation 3s.

There are five colors currently available for bidding on eBay: Yellow, Red, Sky Blue, Pink, and Green. The starting bids for each are $999.99.

Look, I am not going to sit here and tell you how to spend your money. You earned it, and you can spend it however you wish. But if you wind up buying one of these, I fear your family will be ashamed for twelve generations.

Dumb shit.

Sony, PlayStation 3, XSS Corporation

You don’t own a PS3 yet? …no, probably not. BUT, have you been waiting for the right price? Well, in that case now is the time for you — GameStop is selling 20GB PS3s (you remember the ol’ 20GB, right?) for $379 on their website.

If you think that is good enough, hold your horses — if you buy ANY PS3 between now and the end of next January, you can receive 5 free Blu-Ray movies via a mail-in rebate.

Considering the graphical power, future line-up which includes Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 4, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, as well as Motorstorm and Resistance sequels, and Blu-Ray, the PS3 is a good buy. You may not think so now, but it is.

[GameStop]

Sony, PlayStation 3, GameStop