"Well of course they did," you're probably saying to yourself after reading the above headline. "Practically every game on the Xbox 360 has 3D graphics. When is this news from, 1987? HA! HA! *snort*." Don't be such a smartass, hypothetical reader! We're talking about stereoscopic 3D displays, such as those being used by Ubisoft's upcoming Avatar game or Texas Instruments' upcoming DualView TV.

In an excerpt from an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, XNA General Manager Chris Satchell revealed that Microsoft actually looked into using this stereoscopic technology for gaming, but determined the need for special glasses made the idea impractical. "I think it is hard to be mainstream with asking people to wear headgear to play games," he said, thus explaining the failure of Hat Hat Revolution. That said, Satchell hinted at "some very interesting technology being developed that can overcome this obstacle, and it will be interesting to see where this leads." Oh, we all know where this leads, all right.

All you Nerds worried about wasting Mounds of time waiting for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise should stop being such Airheads. The anticipated sequel will be Star-bursting onto the scene on Sept. 2 in North and Latin America and Sept. 5 in Europe and the UK. That leaves plenty of Paydays for you Smarties to save up the $59.99 you need to buy it. That's not a Whopper of a price ... much less than the 100 Grands it would take to travel to ... Whatchamacallit ... Mars.

You see, piñatas are filled with candy ...

[Via X3F]

No sooner does Sony (briefly) improve the PS3 user interface with the much-talked-about version 2.4 firmware update, than some at the company feel cocky enough to start badmouthing the competition's interface. Speaking to Next-Gen, PlayStation Network Director of Operations Eric Lempel took the bait, comparing Sony's redesigned PlayStation Store to Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. "I think if I look over at the competitors' UI they may have some issues just displaying content," Lempel said, "and scrolling up and down lists isn't the easiest way to find things." Tell that to McSweeny's, why don'tcha?

Lempel also pointed out that the PlayStation Store interface has "a lot of room with virtual shelf space to put a lot of things," a not-so-subtle jab at Microsoft's recently announced plan to de-list some Xbox Live Arcade games. "Depending on what type of UI you have you can accommodate a lot of titles," Lempel continued, "and specifically with our new store redesign which launched back in April we have a great ability to merchandise a wide variety of titles." That's all well and good, assuming your PS3 is currently working.

[Via X3F]

Last week's rumor that Microsoft is planning to license the 360 hardware out for use in other electronics has yet to be officially confirmed or debunked, but a key industry analyst reckons such a plan just doesn't make sense. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Patcher says that it would ultimately prove "too expensive" to licensees to make for good business.

Patcher does feel that a move like this might benefit Microsoft "as a way to penetrate more difficult markets like Japan," but that he doesn't see it being beneficial in other territories. The licensing of 360 tech would cause electronics makers to incur additional cost per device, which "would place the hybrid device at a disadvantage" in terms of retail pricing, he explains.

As Sony continues to evolve the PS3's user interface, is Microsoft resting on its laurels? After it nixed the expected spring Dashboard update, we began to suspect something was up. The gang at The Fanboys postulate that a refresh of the Dashboard could well be in the cards, and have produced a very compelling deconstruction / reconstruction of their own.

They reckon that only about 12% of the Dashboard's current screen real estate is devoted to actual user-specific content. Their speculative "dream" design addresses that, along with the still not-quite-there content location features. It's a really great read ... and hopefully something MS takes a look at.

Canada. It's cold up there. But that hasn't stopped one in five Canadian men tapped by a recent survey from coming clean, admitting that they have played games in the buff. The poll, commissioned by none other than Microsoft, asked about a thousand gamers up North about where and how they get their game on, with 17 percent of those men asked responding that they play games naked. A smaller number of women, 9 percent, indicated that they, too, shed their clothes when it's time to game.

How does this happen, exactly? Do they start off wearing clothes, and then slowly disrobe over an especially heated round of Call of Duty, or are they sans pants from the minute they lay the controller in their lap. You know what, we don't wanna know. And what does such a survey tell us, pray tell? Among other things, when you go over to someone's house to play games, bring your own controller. And disinfectant.

[Via Digital Home Canada]

With two separate retail circulars (Kmart and Radio Shack) claiming a "new low price" of $299.99 for the Xbox 360, and a major press conference scheduled for two weeks from today, there's an awful lot of smoke billowing around this rumor. Now you can add an anonymous retail report from The Hollywood Reporter to that list. The venerable trade mag said "the price move will come before ... E3." Huh, would you look at that: Microsoft's E3 press conference is scheduled on Monday just a day before E3 officially kicks off. Just saying ...

Folks, it's the end of an era. As of last Friday, June 27, Microsoft founder Bill Gates had officially left the company, although he's staying on as non-executive chairman. Engadget spent all day celebrating the man whose company was responsible Windows, Xbox and Flight Simulator. If you're interested, be sure to check out his top ten hits (and misses); Xbox and Xbox 360 make the list (in the hits category), while Games for Windows - Live earns a cameo in the other list.

Joystiq has been in contact with the person who uploaded images (to HighDefDigest.com) showing a "new low price" of $299 advertised for the Xbox 360 in a Kmart flyer, beginning the week of July 6. He snapped the images quite quickly and they've slowly begun spreading across the internet.

We're currently attempting to confirm this information with some of our other retail contact, while our source is attempting to get a full page scan of the Kmart flyer. There is still no word on how this $50 price reduction on the Premium model will affect the Arcade or Elite Xbox 360 consoles, currently priced $280 and $450, respectively. More images can be found after the break. We'll update as soon as we learn more.

Update: Full-page ad pictured here.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; with special thanks to that "Anonymous" someone!]

EGM's Quartermann has been in the business of rumor mongering for 20-odd years, but his latest tip-off has to be one of the more interesting we've seen yet. According to the Q-Man's most recent EGM column, Microsoft is set to announce that it will be licensing the core Xbox 360 tech to other companies. Meaning that they can then build their own 360 consoles, or other home electronics (TVs, Blu-ray Disc players) with "360 inside."

In setting up their E3 appointment with MS, New Zealand gaming blog Geekpulp reports that the company listed time on the itinerary to discuss two "surprise games" and one "surprise thing." That last one could be anything – 360 avatars, motion-tracking controllers, a scent-emitting peripheral – but the Geekpulp gang reckons it could be the hardware licensing deal.

If true, this wouldn't be the first time console makers have allowed other companies access to their technology. We've seen Aiwa's Mega Drive (Genesis) / Mega CD / boom box combo, a Pioneer Laserdisc player that ran TurboGrafx-16 games, and arcade machines that accepted Neo-Geo cartridges. Oh wait ... that was something totally different.

[Via X3F]

To accent the release of 1Up's Gears of War 2 multiplayer video, Microsoft has released a bundle of new screens and images of concept art from the game. Peruse the GoW 2 galleries below at your leisure, but fanboys, please try not to spill any Emulsion on the keyboard.

Microsoft has announced that Michael Delman will become the company's new vice president of global marketing for the Interactive Entertainment Business (for the three of you not intimately familiar with Microsoft's corporate structure, that's where Xbox lives). Delman replaces the beloved – yes, we said beloved – Jeff Bell, who recently announced his departure from the company to "pursue a passion outside entertainment."

Delman, who is currently VP of the global marketing communications group at MS, will officially take the new position in August. Hopefully, we'll be introduced to Mr. Delman at next month's E3 and be able to ask him, in honor of Jeff Bell, one simple question: "And your contribution to society is ... what?"

Last week we reported that Forza 3's sheer glut of content may mean the game will span two discs -- a feat not performed in console racing titles since Gran Turismo 2 back in 1999.

Fears of frequent disc swapping have been tentatively belayed, however. The Angry Pixel reports that only one disc will hold the "core game" content, presumably with the second disc holding additional, non-integral features. This possible scenario comes from a source at Dhruva Interactive, an India-based game developer contracted to deliver 3D assets for Forza 3.

The source also states that more news on the anticipated racing title is coming "fairly soon," so we'll hopefully get to the bottom of this "2 discs 1 game" rumor in the near future.

The house Bill Gates built received its share of quizzical looks when it launched Xbox 360 a year earlier than Sony was tipped to ship PS3. Fast forward to today. If you ask MS, it's a move it'll never regret ... and intends to repeat.

Microsoft, along with numerous other heavyweights including Sony, Capcom, and Sega, balked at last year's E for All, leaving Nintendo and a handful of others to show off their wares to those who could trouble themselves long enough to attend. Now, after turning its back on IDG's 'not-quite-E3' public gathering in 2007, Microsoft has had a change of heart, throwing its considerable weight behind this year's edition as the event's first confirmed exhibitor.

IDG CEO Mary Dolaher noted in a statement that the organizer is "thrilled" to have Microsoft on board, and that it looks for the company's presence at the show to help improve upon the previous year's "great success." Even so, one exhibitor does not a great convention make, and while Dolaher notes that more participants will be revealed in the weeks ahead, it remains to be seen what other companies will join Microsoft around the E for All campfire this October 3-5.