"It should also be noted that I am BY NO MEANS a real 3D artist. Real 3D artists would find my methods laughable and never touch to programs I use."

"So, here we are. The people who play the games, read about the games, study the corporations creating the games, and obsess over every detail of our hobby. We are providing the analysis now. You want to know what to really expect from this industry? Don’t ask a suit or a pocketbook. Ask an intelligent, informed, articulate gamer."

"Ask an intelligent, informed, articulate gamer."

'Microsoft is in trouble, and this ain't no joke. Vista is a disappointment. Search is weak. Xbox is under siege from the Wii. Paul Graham recently posted that "Microsoft is Dead."'

"Bottom line: strong companies confident in their strategy and performance don't do these things. They don't have to. What kind of a message does this type of behavior send to the investor community and, more importantly, your customers? Weakness. Fear. Short-term thinking. Nothing that represents a positive signal for a better, brighter tomorrow."

1. Falling into legacy models in a "modern" market -- Nearly fifteen years ago, when I was managing a pet shop, we were trained in the tactics and dangers of channel stuffing so we could protect ourselves and our Customers. What, the biggest software company in the world doesn't know the same stuff and more?
   
2. Cronyism -- Maybe not directly, per se, but there's some unneeded stroking of other financial / analyst blogs and articles in this post. Fawning is for deer. Or something.
   
3. Not the whole story -- Sure, it's a post about Microsoft. And the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii are mentioned briefly. However, this post doesn't mention Sony is as more guilty on the channel stuffing front, and the slew of other miss-steps (including the business side, loss margin per console, etc. It doesn't mention the possibility of artificial shortage of the Wii (according to GameStop; not so much according to Nintendo). And so on.

But other people are writing some of those latter articles, and Kotaku and Joystiq continue to be decent industry watchdogs, and maybe even Information Arbitrage will chime in on some of these other issues. An equivalent write-up (pro or critical) of Sony and Nintendo would be interesting companion pieces.

• Information Arbitrage: "Microsoft, Channel Stuffing and Desperation: Old Tricks for a New Era"

"Not six months after the PlayStation 3 launched in $500 and $600 models, the
lower-priced unit has officially been discontinued in North America. The only
PlayStation 3 model available from here on out will be the $600 one ..."

• There's an artist rendering of a "Big Ass Mortar Gun", and it looks like that's what 3D Artist Tom Doyle is building during the video, but we didn't see it in play. What gives?
• There's reference to AI Turrets -- are these robotic turrets, or are bots coming to the Halo unviverse? On the footage of one of the snow levels, there seems to be several inactive turrets that don't look like they're meant to be manned. Interesting.
• How does the "Escort" game type play out? An adult game type for Halo 3?
• What's the "Warthog Inc." map showing up in the background of one of the custom game setups? Could it be as obvious as a Warthog manufacturing plant?
• "Porta potties", Mr. Justin Hayward? WTF?
• I want one of those table top whiteboards in my next job. As a development manager, I like the idea of the collaboration and intimacy, rather than using an on-wall whiteboard as a device to distance people and say, "Look how smart I am!"
• What names did Interface Designer David Candland get called in gradeschool? Ditto for Sandbox Design Lead Jaime Griesemer.
• Does Multiplayer Designer Tyson Green really fish, or does he just like the hat?

Valid questions and comments, all. Really.

"There are a number of new features you'll get to test out – including a new grenade type, a completely different class of weapon and some of the enhanced online functionality we plan to bring to the game – but it should be noted, a lot of secret features are hidden in this Beta. We’re keeping a lot of our powder dry for Fall. In May, when your firing the Spiker, sniping vehicles with the Spartan Laser and sticking fools with the Brute Spike grenade, remember that it’s just a peek-a-boo fraction of what's to come.

And do me a special personal favor – walk down to the beach, the river or the lake in High Ground and Valhalla, and take a look at the water.

There will also be new guns, vehicles and gameplay features to try – including the mysterious "X-Button" functionality.'

• "provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features"
• "use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music, or watching movies"
• chat support for USB keyboards
• "richer Achievement notification pop-up"
• "Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications"
• "new Xbox Live Marketplace blade"
• updates to Xbox Live Arcade (XLA) so you can see which Xbox Live Arcade games friends are playing and more easily join
• "Tell a Friend" capabilities
• Auto Downloads provides faster access to free, trial-version XLA games
• play, fast-forward, rewind, pause, and resume partially videos before they're fully downloaded
• set the Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads complete
• name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard (Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game)
• when tray icon highlighted, displays list of achievements, game icon and gamerscore for that game
• playback progress bar indicates download completion
• improved skip forward, skip back functionality during video playback (fully or partially downloaded)
• switchable aspect ratio during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native)
• player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information
• support for streaming WM-DRM protected content from a PC
• folder view for video content on connected devices
• H.264 video support
• MPEG-4 Part 2 video support
• folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices
• bookmarks stored for each video, remembering the user's last location in the file and aspect ratio user choose for that file
• skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter (videos divided into 10 “chapters”)
• information bar turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows exactly where you are in the playback of the video file and download progress
• system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD (includes improved prioritization for deletion process
• console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any Microsoft points associated with the content item
• screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source

• Support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams
• Audio / lip sync technology
• Greater transfer speed (I think this is only for stuff over 1080p, which is the current maximum)
• Support for Deep Color (probably no impact in current TVs)

I don't know that these are deal breakers, but the audio stream is probably the "biggest" today impact -- but I suspect a lot of audio- / videophile folks (PS3 and Xbox) are attaching their consoles optically to their surround sound system.

But this is arguably a hefty conceptual shortcoming -- Microsoft is coming out with a product that is downspec from the market.

I don't know enough about HDMI to know if this is update able via download over Xbox Live (the PS3 has been receiving a steady stream of updates since launch).

Anyone know?

• Hulk
• Hawkeye
• Cyclops
• Nightcrawler
• Dr. Doom
• Magneto
• Sabretooth
• Venom

All characters will have their own costumes, movesets, and powers, and there will be new teams and combo points that take the additional characters into consideration.

Given how the shipping version of the game didn't really acknowledge your characters (like Hank Pym talking to Captain America about Captain America, in the third person), I'm sure the inclusion of Dr. Doom (the main baddy and "Big Boss" of the game) is going to play a bit wonky. But we fanboys can pretend one or the other is an advanced Doombot. Or something.

The packs'll cost you 500 Microsoft points ($6.25) each for the Hero pack and Villain pack, or you can get them together for 800 Microsoft points ($10). But they also added 12 new Achievements and 250 additional Gamerscore points

Check out Marvel.com for screenshots, and they're promising new info on costumes and powers between now and April 10.

UPDATED: Delayed and MIA, with no ETA, but I want the content ASAP. (More useful info at Gamespot.com)

• Act TODAY for Texas film and interactive media ...