With Microsoft remaining officially mum on the reasons behind the wave of Xbox 360-killing red rings of death, owners and experts have speculated on causes ranging from cheap heat sinks to bad soldering to power surges. Now, Gartner Research Vice President and Chief Analyst Bryan Lewis thinks he's honed in on the real reason behind the system failures: cheap, Microsoft-designed graphics processors.

Speaking at the Design Automation Conference, Lewis said Microsoft tried to save a few million dollars by designing the Xbox 360's GPU in-house, rather than farming the design out to an experienced, approved application-specific integrated circuit vendor. Lewis chalked the high failure rate to Microsoft's inexperience designing such chips. "How many ASICs per year does Microsoft design? Not many.," Lewis said. "The ASIC vendor could have been able to design a graphics processor that dissipates much less power."

The irony is that Microsoft is widely believed to have gone to experienced ASIC-designer ATI for a redesigned Xbox 360 graphics chip in the middle of 2007. So, in addition to spending over a billion dollars on a warranty extension, Microsoft probably still ended up having to spend the few million dollars they were trying to avoid in the first place. Smooth move, ex-lax.

[Thanks copa.]

Y'know, just the other day we were saying to ourselves that it seemed like forever since we'd heard a new report of a Microsoft gaming power supply causing a fire. Well, we can't say that anymore, because KTHV is reporting that Little Rock Fire Department Captain Jason Weaver fingered an Xbox 360 power supply as the source of a house fire Monday.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the fire, which did $10,000 worth of damage to the house, but we're a little concerned that it was an Xbox 360 that allegedly caused the fire. Isn't the original Xbox supposed to be the one with the spark-generating, recall-spawning power supply? We thought the Xbox 360's heat problems were usually limited to inside the system (sorry, we had to go there).

This week on Ask Joystiq, we look at downloading foreign content to a foreign system, streaming content to an Xbox 360, and identifying one --or possibly two? -- obscure Argentinian NES games.

If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).

Q: I might be going to Japan towards the end of the summer and might pick up some games or a system. If I get a system, how would that work when I bring it back to the states and log on-line for a Wii, PS3 or 360?? Would a Japanese Wii let me log in to only US servers or would I be able to download Japanese games from the marketplace. Same question applied to the other systems...
-- iwantmymtv

A: For the Wii, the region of the console corresponds to the region of the Wii Shop Channel -- Japanese systems will access the Japanese store, no matter where you plug them into the intertubes. You have to buy Wii Points that correspond to the system's region too, which means using a Japanese credit card or getting some Japanese Wii Points cards imported. [source]

Any PS3 will play downloads from any region, but each PSN account is locked to a specific region when you create it. Luckily, it's relatively easy to set up "dummy accounts" for each region you want to buy content, as long as you have a credit card from that country. Be warned, though: there is a significant language barrier for navigating the Japanese store.

Xbox Live users can also create dummy accounts to get around regional restrictions, but there are reports that Microsoft has been blocking downloads from accounts where this practice is detected. As always, let the international buyer beware.
-Kyle Orland

Over the weekend the Xbox 360 saw an impressive 40% sales spike in the UK following a European price cut. The spike comes just as Sony prepares for another PS3 retail offering with the GT5: Prologue Bundle. According to Chart-Track, despite the Xbox 360 hardware boost, the software sales did not see an increase, but the company dismissed that because of the strong showing the previous week by Army of Two and Bully.

Chart-Track also reports that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games returned to the top spot in the software sales. Seriously, people, tell grandma to stop buying this game and end the madness.

Attention, people who collect obsolete technology -- here's the perfect chance to, um, add some obsolete technology to your collection! While Microsoft recently announced they're no longer producing HD DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360, they are unloading their remaining supply at a bargain-basement price of $50, as a Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Sure enough, online retailers from Circuit City to Best Buy to Buy.com are listing the defunct accessory for 25 percent of it's original price. At that price, the remaining stock could go fast. Then again, with the prospect of more HD-DVD discs looking less than good, maybe $50 is still too expensive to unload.

Even the most diehard PC gamer has to admit that their console gaming brethren get the better end of the deal as far as costs are concerned. But exactly how much does a console gamer save over the system'ss lifespan? A poster over at TechConsumer crunched the numbers and found that, when everything is added up, the savings aren't necessarily that great.

When all is said and done, the full Xbox 360 gaming setup (including TV, accessories and Xbox Live subscription) costs $3,152 over six years, about $350 less than a basic gaming PC for the same period. Of course that cost includes a 42" 1080p TV, while the comparable PC uses a relatively paltry 22 inch display. When a comparable screen is used on the PC, the savings on the console side balloon to near $1,200.

The real killer for the PC, of course, is the upgrades (estimated in this study at $250 every other year) and recommended full-on replacements (every three years) that come much more frequently than the console equivalents (one replacement every six years). So, PC gamers, is it worth the extra money?

Update: The official press release has more details on the program and a few of the first available games. It also mentions that community-created games "will quickly double the size of the Xbox 360 game library."

At Microsoft's GDC 2008 keynote address, the company announced a "community arcade" allowing user-created games to be distributed to Xbox 360 owners worldwide. "Now, 10 million people on Xbox Live get to play your game," said Microsoft Game Developer Group General Manager Chris Satchell. Free trials of these community created games should be available on Xbox Live "immediately" according to Satchell.

"For the first time, community games will be distributed through Xbox Live," Satchell said. "'Xbox Live Community Games will give creators a huge audience to share their creativity with. Game distribution will be democratized, allowing the community to control the content. Create, Submit, Peer Review, Play are the four key steps ... We want creativity to flow through this pipeline.


Users will be able to upload games using a Gamertag-like "creator identity" which will keep track of your game creation history. Creators can use descriptive sliders to describe a game's content, and peer reviewers can also evaluate the content for appropriateness.

At the keynote, Satchell showed off a short demo of user-created game Jellycar (pictured below), featuring an adorable bouncy, 2D car that drives along on a sketchpad, bouncing up and down on a cartoon road.


More as it becomes available.

Update 8:15 PM EST: Toys R Us Canada has apparently lowered their prices already.

Thanks to an anonymous tipster, we have early word on what might be an upcoming price drop for the Canadian Xbox 360. The above phonecam photo comes from a FutureShop Canada employee, who says he was "quite surprised" to find a $50 price drop for the Xbox 360 Pro Console advertised right on the front page of next week's advertising fliers. Our source also tells us that the inside of the flier trumpets a $50 price drop for the XBox 360 Elite (to $449), an offer which allegedly includes a free copy of Turok.

Both price drops should be effective Friday, if this rumor proves true, and while we have no way of confirming this information as of yet, we have no explicit reason to doubt it either. Regardless, if you're a Canadian looking to buy an Xbox 360, it couldn't hurt to wait a couple of days to see if you can save a bit of green, er, funny multicolored money.

Microsoft has finally released its 'Family Timer' for the Xbox 360, a long rumored update which was only recently confirmed by MS exec Robbie Bach last month. Once applied, the timer can be used to adjust and set the amount of available console playtime "on a daily or weekly basis...and the feature will automatically turn off the console when the predetermined time limit has been exceeded." Thankfully Microsoft has included reminders which it says will appear to notify players when their time is growing short, so hopefully they can make a mad dash for the nearest save point instead of being cut off without warning.

Interestingly, Microsoft notes that this feature came about as a result of two independent surveys conducted by the company throughout Europe and the United States, which included 800 parents in the US and some 4,000 parents in the U.K., France, Germany and Italy. According to the company, the surveys found that the majority of respondents (75% in Europe, 62% in the US) welcomed the idea of having such parental controls built into their game consoles, though it remains to be seen how many of said parents will actually take the time to implement and use the controls now that they are available.

Despite dropping back to third place in overall hardware sales for October, Microsoft isn't crying too much over the latest NPD sales report. Why not? Well, a press release issued by the company lists plenty of reasons, including:

• Higher overall sales ($354 million in hardware and software combined) than the competition ($246 million for Wii, $116 million for PS3)
  
• New-gen software revenue ($162 million) that beat the Wii and PS3 combined ($90 million for Wii, $48 million for PS3)
• Halo 3 is still the best-selling game in the country, with 434,000 units sold in October
  
• The Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III proved the most popular, with 383,000 units in sales

The press release also includes the somewhat misleading claim that "PS3 and Wii combined had one third party title in the top ten console title list for the month, while Xbox 360 weighed in with two." While technically true, if you include the PS2, Sony's system wins with three games* in the top ten, and if you include first-party games, the Wii wins with four top-tenners. It's like saying your baseball team has the best left-handed pitchers born on Thursdays in February -- interesting, but kind of meaningless when you really look at it.

* Including both bundled and standalone versions of Guitar Hero III

Jasper is both the name of the of the next Xbox 360 chipset, and an old prospector heading to the rocky hills of Utah, planning to strike it rich on "The durned richest haul you've jest about evar seen! Yeehaw!" Which one comes to mind first when you hear that name?

Basically the hurricane-like string of Xbox 360 chipset names continues. First we had Zephyr, then Falcon, and now sometime next August, Jasper. What does Jasper bring? We're glad you asked. According to Dean Takahashi at the Mercury News, it brings exciting things like ... a 65nm graphics chip from ATI, and smaller memory chips.

This isn't all that exciting, since the current Falcon chipset uses a 65nm processor already, but it means that Microsoft is still working on bringing production costs down. Which could also translate to even cheaper Xbox 360s next holiday season ... meaning 2008, three years after the introduction of the system. We're all for cheaper prices, but we like added value too. Zephyr brought us HDMI, why can't Jasper bring us something. At least milk and cookies.

Though you'd probably expect the – ahem –ring in the side of this console to have been caused by an overheating Xbox, in a surprising turn of events, it was actually caused by, well ... idiocy. In his own words, "Well the ethernet cord we had to connect the 360s was too short, so we moved a 360 from standing up next to the TV to laying on its side on the stove." Yeah, on the stove that you cook with, so it's hard to be surprised when someone smelled melting plastic and then "whammo", melted gaming deluxe, without cheese.

You'd expect this to turn into a sob story about how this band of gamers was plum outta luck with one console down, but ... the thing still works. We're not sure how considering this is the same console that melts down without the assistance of open flames, though we're guessing that hole in the side just gives it plenty of extra air.

Anyhow, Engadget has more deets and pix, check it out and remember to keep your consoles out of the kitchen, even if you're playing Cooking Mama.

[Thanks, Ty]

HMV admits that a pre-order listing for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on Xbox 360 found on the site over the weekend was an administration error. The listing caused quite a stir over the weekend as the MGS4 rumor that the game will make its way to Xbox 360 just won't die, recently spurred on further by Konami executive statements. What lent the listing a strange twinge of respectability was that the date set for the Xbox 360 version was five months after the expected spring release of the PS3 version, giving Sony that extra time to still use that word "exclusive" which keeps being attached to the game.

HMV says that the error occurred because someone got overexcited and that the company originally wanted to simply "ask customers if they wished to receive an alert in the event of this title one day coming out on this platform." They say they didn't intend to start taking pre-orders. HMV says, "We're sorry to have caused such a stir." So watch out for those HMV listings, when they get excited, games magically appear.

Bloomberg is quoting Microsoft Game Studios President Shane Kim as saying that his company needs to lower the price of the Xbox 360 to attract more consumers. "We need to compete effectively for that customer and part of that is getting to the mass market price point for the console. We definitely are working on that area.," Kim told the financial news site.

The article gives no indication of when or how much the reduction will be, so this is pretty much just confirmation that the price cut we all know will happen eventually will ... happen eventually. Still, it's nice to know that some Microsoft higher-ups are paying attention to the issue.

Variety magazine, a mainstay daily trade for folks in the entertainment business, has an article out about the scaled-down E3 and what it'll mean to the gaming industry this year. Basically it's a summary of everything you probably already knew about this year's E3, but it shows how all eyes will be turning towards the show this week, just as if it was E3 as usual. They cover the now-confirmed PS3 price cut rumor and speculate that Microsoft will most likely follow suit, or will possibly improve what's in the box, like maybe bundling that HD-DVD player finally?

They also mention the biggies that will hopefully be shown off for the majors, including Killzone 2 for the PS3, Mass Effect for the 360, and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii. We're certainly hoping there will be more than three games at E3 this year, and if you could see our E3 appointment calendar for this week, you'd think we might be wishing there were only three. There's going to be a boatload of information later this week, so be sure to stay tuned.

We love how they say Nintendo basically doesn't have to do anything at E3, other than mention some game dates. Even Nintendo's George Harrison says "Nintendo goes as its own pace. It always does things its own way." As Fleetwood Mac would say, you can go your own way ... but you'd better be giving us some Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. dates when you do.