The original Xbox had many gamers eager to mod it. I've seen more PC-to-Xbox-to-TV chaotic cable arrangements in college dorm rooms then I can remember. If you're one of the people who decided to mod your Xbox 360 as well, then you might be in trouble if you enjoy playing on Xbox Live. After participating in the Halo 3 beta gameplay online, many are reporting that they're seeing the message above, followed by "Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D" which is George Lucas speak for "your console has been banned from Xbox Live." So be warned, their zero tolerance policy for modded consoles connecting online is more than just scare tactics. I can imagine some gamers are furious, having to wait an extra day to get access to the Halo 3 beta, only to find it was a trap and now they're kicked off for good. Sux 2BU!

Every few weeks there's a new report online titled "Why the Zune is a failure" which pisses people off to no end, and according to a new rumor, Microsoft might have more elaborate plans for the Xbox 360 now that the Spring update is out of the way:

"In Microsoft's attempts to make the Xbox 360 even more of a digital hub, and hopes of boosting sales of the Zune digital music player, Microsoft will soon be launching a kind of Zune Marketplace on the Xbox 360. In order to use it, you will first be required to subscribe to the service--roughly $15 for one month, and $45 for three months. While the prices seem steep, keep in mind that you are getting unlimited access to the entire collection of music offered to Zune users."

More money? Microsoft, your 360 is doing fine, you don't need the extra cash, and this will only give Sony some easy jabs at your services. I'm going to pretend this is a complete rumor that will never play out, but I wouldn't put it past them. The only thing iZunes was good for was helping me find the band Bitter:Sweet.

If you're the eager, online pre-ordering type of gamer, you probably noticed that the Xbox 360 Elite pre-orders on Amazon weren't open for long earlier this week. iBloggedThis brings news that it's back up and available now, with shipments going out on April 30th, one day after they should come out in stores. This is a good way to bypass the bundle crap that GameStop and EBGames forces on customers, but I've heard quite a few horror stories from people buying consoles on Amazon before, I'd suggest just being patient.

Bill Gates is all grown up and now his electronics babies are suffering the geeky digital face flare that he once wore proudly. Developed by Microsoft's research engineering director Gavin Jancke, these High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB). Gavin says that the goal is not to replace the current UPC barcode system, but instead offer the consumers more content via webcam or mobile phone camera scanning:

"Information such as a website address or e-mail address could be stored inside the barcode and once scanned by a mobile phone, the consumer could be taken to a promotional page, a website offering downloads or extra content."

I hate these setups, I've probably thrown away a million dollars already in decrypted pop bottle caps. What happened to the days when a company would just tell you when you've won something and give it to you. I'm not James Bond double oh seven twenty four seven, just email me the damn links so I can download stuff on my own. And no, I won't watch Deal Or No Deal, just give me the fucking suitcase and tell me if I won or not, what's wrong with entertainment these days?

Microsoft's moving quickly though, and plans on making these barcodes a DVD disc standard by the end of the year, with Xbox 360 games being no exception. And of course, the butt buddy barcode blemishes will also be embeded with a DatatraceDNA nanoparticle as an attempt to counter future acts of piracy. Other companies are also developing their own rival STD barcode breakout systems, so you might want to get those Hepatitis tests a little early this year. Oh yah, and if you're the dude who won the WarioWare: Smooth Moves TLB giveaway, you might also have syphilis. Hey, it happens.

There's plenty of convincing pictures to suggest it's no scam, it looks like Target has broken the street date of the Xbox 360 Elite that's scheduled for an April 29th release in stores. With the PS3 and 360 having been out for months already I don't see the bids going crazy, although I never thought an ugly red PS3 would sell for $12,100 either. The $479.99 console is currently at $600 on eBay, but if you're over anxious for the Elite 360 you might as well check out your local Target first to see if they're also pissing off Microsoft.

BBC is reporting on a World of Warcraft hack that's slowly rising in numbers online. Hackers were able to exploit a flaw in the cursor code, and accounts getting stolen started to become a popular complaint in late March. To make things worse, hackers started to infect certain sites with the exploit, causing World of Warcraft players browsing the net on Internet Explorer 6 and 7 to occasionally put themselves at risk when they least expected it. Upon further investigation, it seems like the vulnerability was actually in Microsoft's code, and that it was only a problem with people using animated cursors (morons and housewives).

Nevertheless, to help solve the problem, Microsoft released a patch for it on April 3rd, earlier than its usual round of annoying downloads. If you need the Microsoft update, you can download it here from Microsoft. Good luck trying to explain your absence in Azeroth to your guild, I suggest making up an excuse.

Well that didn't take long, there's already an annoying Xbox 360 Elite advertisement doing the rounds on this site. Announcing this the day after bringing attention to the blue vagina monster advertisement might seem like a money making ploy, but I honestly couldn't care less if you click on the ads. This one might actually help out a few readers though.

Here, bypass the TheLastBoss penny donation and check out the list here. They've organized the basic Elite Xbox 360 information, and even have an organized list of all the stores with open pre-order slots for its April 29th debut. If you're one of the gamers waiting for this release as your first taste of the 360, you might want to bookmark it to keep up to date on its availability at each location. Let's see how long it takes for a 'red rings of doom' black 360 to show up.

The complaints of broken Xbox 360 haven't slowed down at all, so Microsoft extended their 90 day warranty to a full year, but that's still not enough to keep disgruntled gamers happy. Here's their updated warranty rules:

New Post-Service Warranty: If we repair your Xbox 360 within the original warranty period, you will receive either the balance of your original warranty, or 90 days, whichever is longer.  In addition, we will now pay for the shipping both ways.If we repair your Xbox 360 after the warranty period has expired, while you will be responsible for the repair costs, your repaired console will be returned to you with a new, one year repair warranty. 

The first line of PS2 units had its problems too, but this has been going on for far too long. I guess the "360" name really does derive from its customer service going in circles. My experience with their help on the phone has been nothing but great, but it's getting to the point where I'm expecting to give them another call in three months, very few of my friends have had a 360 from the start without having any problems yet. Meanwhile the PS3 fights cancer while 360 can't even play games, sales is one thing, but product quality is definitely another.

Using a $30 dollar camera and this piece of Podtech software that's still in development, you can play with computers just like Tom Cruise did in Minority Report, by grabbing files by the nipples and dragging them around the screen. Using topological depth technology, it figures out what's the static background, and differentiates it between the changing foreground. By pinching areas within the camera's view you section off ovals which you can use to rotate and move around the display, and the researcher said more gestures are being worked on. What you're looking at is basically an advanced, but limited, version of Eye Toy in disguise, but think about how many games you could use this technology with. Waving to other people on PlayStation Home, pointing soldiers around the battlefield, clicking on enemies in W.O.W., literally grabbing Pikmin on screen and throwing them around, giving a last boss the finger before delivering the final blow, and of course, grabbing boobs.

Expect Microsoft to use this technology to jump into the motion sensitivity scene late (even though they had it first with a failed controller years ago). Instead of a knock-off Wiimote they'll just let you do it with your hands by inserting a chip in your wrist. I always knew Bill Gates would beat everyone else to the 'mark of the beast' technology and prove that he's the devil. 

The Blu-ray edition of Casino Royale has shipped over 100,000 copies, making it the first high definition film to reach that level of success. How's the HD-DVD and Blu-ray battle going so far? According to PC World the leader is pretty clear, with Blu-ray grabbing up "approximately 70 percent of the high-definition market since the first week in January." Sony Pictures Home Entertainment even claims that the format war is being won entirely thanks to the PS3, and with Blu-ray sales increasing this rapidly after the PS3's launch, there's not much denying that they're right. Microsoft, are you even trying to compete?