Wireless LAN Signals & Xbox 360 Signals Clashing

Microsoft's popular Xbox 360 game console can create a strong and strange signal on wireless LANs, according to IT staff at Morrisville State College.

It's not clear whether the signal disrupts the college's WLAN access points or students' wireless notebooks. There is some anecdotal evidence, however, that it at least affects other radios in the same 2.4GHz band.

Morrisville IT staff typically use Bluetooth headsets, which run in the 2.4GHz band, with their mobile phones when they troubleshoot problems on the spacious campus. "We had problems syncing our headsets to our phone where this signal was strong," says Matt Barber, the college's network administrator. A phone user had to physically touch the headset to the cell phone to make the initial connection, he says.

There may be effects on the WLAN that the equipment itself, from Meru Networks, is circumventing, according to Barber. Part of Meru's WLAN architecture employs software that gives the access points more control over wireless-client transmission behavior than does the software of some of Meru's rivals. An access point near a radiating Xbox may be compensating for interference by in effect guiding a wireless laptop to send and receive when open spectrum is available, essentially dodging around the Xbox signal.

Working with Meru, the small IT staff is planning to test soon the effect of multiple Xbox consoles in a dorm with a large number of active notebook clients.

Network World has asked Microsoft to comment on the Xbox signal phenomenon, but the company was not able to reply before this story was posted. We'll update this report as soon Microsoft provides information.

The latest version of the Xbox, the Xbox 360 Elite, went on sale earlier this year with a 120G-byte hard disk and a high-definition video interface.

Morrisville is a small college in rural New York state, taking its name from a nearby town. In summer 2007, the college deployed a campuswide 802.11a/b/g WLAN based on equipment from Meru.. The plan was to replace those access points with Meru's new, two-radio devices that added support for Draft 2 of 802.11n, the IEEE standard that boosts throughput from 22M to 25Mbps to at least 150M to180Mbps. That replacement was just completed, creating the first large-scale deployment.

During the fall, Morrisville IT staff, working with Meru engineers and IBM, the network integrator, detected an unusual signal in the 2.4GHz band. "We wanted to look at the [radio frequency] environment in our dorms," Barber says. "We always thought we'd run into some strange stuff [there] in the 2.4 range."

The signal was discovered using Cognio Spectrum Expert, from Cognio (recently bought by Cisco). Spectrum Expert is RF-analysis software packaged with a WLAN adapter card that slots into any laptop PC. Among other capabilities, Spectrum Expert identifies sources of radio energy in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WLAN bands, and identifies the cause, such as a brand of access point or a microwave oven.

"The signal really stood out," Barber says. "In some places it was so strong we thought it might be affecting the air [that is, the radio environment] around it."

The Cognio software, however, was baffled by this new signal: "Unknown emitter" was the classification. The signal shows up in the Cognio display as a kind of green-blizzard effect, covering a large swath of the 2.4 band, Barber says. That means the signal "is jumping all over the spectrum band," he says. In contrast, a nearby Meru access point shows up in the same scan as a strong, stable yellow-red glow, almost like a sun. The green blizzard is shot through with red dashes, which show, Barber says, that the signal at moments nearly rivals the access point in strength.

The mystery signal baffled the IT staff and Meru until Barber had a brainstorm: He brought in his own Xbox 360 and plugged it in, and turned on the Cognio spectrum analyzer. Presto: The same signal appeared.

Barber says the signal seems be created by the console's embedded 2.4GHz radio, which is used to communicate with the handheld wireless controller -- the gizmo with the buttons that manipulate a game running on the console. The Xbox also takes an optional Wi-Fi adapter, in the form of an USB dongle, to connect to a WLAN access point.

Barber says his "best guess" at this point is that the embedded radio, not the USB adapter, causes the signal. The signal is created even if the Xbox console is shut off: Just plugging its AC adapter into an electrical outlet seems to trigger the radio to look for -- and keep looking for -- a companion wireless controller. "It's even worse when you have multiple Xboxes in an area," Barber says.

At one point, IT staff wrapped the console in a static discharge bag, the material used, for example, to wrap and protect consumer electronics gear from static damage during shipment. The same properties make it act like radio "blanket" to muffle a transmission. Sure enough, the Cognio software showed a significant drop in the Xbox signal's strength.

The next step is more systematic testing. "We want to get several consoles together with a bunch of WLAN clients, to create a busy [RF] environment, and do some measurements," Barber says. "Are we seeing frames being dropped in the air, or people getting disconnected?"

Answering that question may be a bit more urgent, with Christmas looming, and the likelihood of still more brand-new Xboxs and other wireless entertainment products turning up in January when students return.

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Solo Games Getting Multiplayer Features

Scott Hillis

Video game developers, eager to please all consumers, are increasingly including features that let gamers play with or against their friends.

With Microsoft trying to convince people to plunk down their subscription fees for its Xbox Live service, and Sony eyeing the sale of movies and music over its fledgling network, developers are under more pressure than ever to include some sort of online component.

The best-known example may be Microsoft's "Halo 3", but last week also saw the release of "The Orange Box" - a collection of "Half-Life 2" content from Electronic Arts that includes a long-awaited multiplayer-only title called "Team Fortress 2". The week before that had the launch of "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" from Activision.

Yet for all the balanced play and refinement of a "Halo 3" or "Warhawk", sometimes you just want to dig in and work on a game by yourself.

Several recent and upcoming titles illustrate that solo gaming is still going strong.

Later this month, owners of Sony's PlayStation 3 can get their hands on "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction", the latest addition to one of Sony's most popular franchises.

Although some past titles starring the furry protagonist and his robotic sidekick let gamers play against each other, usage data showed something unexpected: only three per cent of players bothered to try out that part of the game.

"It's something that can appeal to anybody and a lot of people just don't enjoy multiplayer," Brian Allgeier, lead designer on the series, said of the decision to focus on the single-player story.

"People think too much in terms of bullet points on the box - the game's gotta have this or this," Allgeier said.

The new "Ratchet" game should take some 14 hours to finish on normal difficulty, and includes about 45 minutes of lush, movie-quality scenes that spell out the storyline.

"It's very tempting for game developers to want to add to complexity, but we wanted to focus on fun," Allgeier said. "We feel the series has really matured and we are doing what we always wanted to do."

In the case of "Ratchet" multiplayer was scrapped because gamers just don't want it. In other cases, developers don't have the funds or time to do it properly.

A great example of a game that could easily have featured multiplayer but didn't was "BioShock", the highly acclaimed shooter from Take-Two.

What was unusual was that critics barely mentioned the absence of multiplayer, a testament to how well the focused investment in the story paid off.

Contrast that with "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay", an Xbox game from 2004. Reviewers gushed over the solo mode but dinged it for not offering multiplayer.

"We realised early on that it's really hard to do a great single-player game and a great multiplayer game in the same box," said "BioShock" creator Ken Levine. "Being able to focus on single player, we didn't have to make any compromises."

Other games that might appeal to your anti-social side include "Folklore", a strangely dark game published by Sony for the PS3 in which you explore various fantasy realms while trying to solve a mystery.

And last month saw the debut of "Heavenly Sword", an action game in which you play a young woman fighting back hordes of enemies with a holy blade.

There is no death match in sight for either game.

"The irony is that 'BioShock' is the first game we did that didn't do multiplayer and it's by far by far the best-selling," Levine said.

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The Upcoming Shooter Title Soldier Of Fortune "Pay Back" Censored.

Asher Moses

Australia's draconian classification regime for video games has taken yet another scalp, with local retailers banned from selling the upcoming shooter title Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back.

The highly anticipated game, which was to be released on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, was refused classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification for being too violent.

Aside from Singapore, which is reviewing its classification system, Australia is understood to be the only country in the western world that does not have an R18+ rating for games.

As a result, games that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale.

This is despite recent figures from the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) showing the average Australian gamer is 28, and over 50 per cent of gamers are over the age of 18.

Blitz: The League, BMX XXX, Manhunt, Reservoir Dogs and 50 Cent: Bullet Proof are just a few recent titles the OFLC has prohibited.

The latest to be banned was Blitz in January because, according to former chief censor Des Clark, it "contains drug use related to incentives or rewards".

In its board report on Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back, dated October 16, the OFLC said frequent high impact violence made the game unsuitable for those aged under 18 years.

"Successfully shooting an opponent results in the depiction of blood spray," the board said.

"When the enemy is shot from close range, the blood spray is substantial, especially when a high-caliber weapon is used, and blood splatters onto the ground and walls in the environment.

"The player may target various limbs of the opponents and this can result in the limb being dismembered.

"Large amounts of blood spray forth from the stump with the opponent sometimes remaining alive before eventually dying from the wounds."

The OFLC made its decision despite acknowledging the game included a violence setting, which when set to "off" reduced blood and dismemberment depictions.

The IEAA has long campaigned against what it says is a draconian and illogical game censorship regime. There has long been an R18+ classification for movies and the IEAA says both movies and games should have a common rating system.

But when asked to comment on the Soldier of Fortune decision, IEAA CEO Chris Hanlon refused to comment, saying he had not yet seen the OFLC board's report. The game's publisher, Activision, also declined to comment.

In Australia, significant changes to classification policy must be agreed on unanimously by the Australian, State and Territory censorship ministers, who are usually the attorneys-general.

Over the last few years, the IEAA has attended censorship ministers meetings to put forward its case and demonstrate parental locking technology. The technology is a feature of the latest games consoles and PC operating systems, allowing parents to control the level of content consumed by their kids.

But despite the IEAA's pleadings the attorneys-general have given no indication they intend to continue discussing the games classification system this year.

The Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, was being sought for comment.

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A Product Review Of Halo 3

Adding to Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the epic saga continues with Halo 3, the amazingly anticipated sequel to the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. In this third chapter of the Halo trilogy, Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.

Game developer Bungie announced that Halo 3 will be released for Microsoft's Xbox 360 sometime in 2007. The game was revealed to the world at the Microsoft press conference held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA in May 2006. To gamer's delight, the announcement was a complete surprise. The rumors have been abound for the past year, as everyone wondered when the next installment would be ready. Bungie and Microsoft did a stellar job keeping their lips sealed, and fans benefited from their first glimpse of the hallowed third and final installment.

The short presentation was delivered in real-time on the Xbox 360 using the current version of the Halo 3 game engine. That's right, no studio production video, Bungie and Microsoft delivered the real deal: what they showed at the announcement is what gamers will see when they play Halo 3 in 2007. The HDR lighting, self-shadowing, GPU-run particle system and many other effects are rumored to show up in full effect in the final game. Needless to say, the gaming community is salivating.

CJ Cowan, Bungie's director of cinematics discussed one of the most startling moments of the presentation: the return of Cortana. "Given the variety of character and story arcs at the end of Halo 2, we wanted to boil down our announcement to a few key threads. Cortana and the Chief being a galaxy apart is a situation we haven't seen before, and is something that is a powerful component to Halo 3. We are using her transmissions in the demo to give the viewer a few subtle clues to her situation and state of mind, without revealing any specifics we want to save for the game itself."

Graphically, the game closely follows in the tradition of Halo 2, although it has been upgraded to take advantage of the Xbox 360's more prodigious visual abilities. As art direct Marcus Lehto explained, "[The presentation] was intended to be an understated announcement of Halo 3 -- the tone is that of mystery and suspense -- the calm before the storm. I wanted to make sure that we reintroduced the Chief, showed that Earth was thoroughly conquered, with Covenant everywhere, and that there is a glorious, ancient artifact buried under the Earth's crust which will provide Halo 3 with the epic journey which we all want."

Taking full advantage of the power of Xbox 360, Halo 3 expands on everything that has made the franchise great, adding a wealth of technical and gameplay advancements. The game design has evolved with next-generation, high-definition visuals, enhanced A.I., an advanced real-time lighting engine, and, of course, new weapons, characters, and challenges. Halo 3 promises an unparalleled first-person shooter experience and, in the end, the most compelling and engrossing story in the franchise's history. Last, but certainly not least, Halo 3 builds upon the unique social multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving online gameplay of Halo 2. Rest assured, you'll still be able to run with your clan and battle with (or against) your buddies from coast to coast.

Product Description
Halo 3 is the third game in the Halo Trilogy and the thrilling conclusion to the events begun in Halo: Combat Evolved. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax. The Covenant occupation of Earth has uncovered a massive and ancient object beneath the African sands - an object whose secrets have yet to be revealed. Earth's forces are battered and beaten. The Master Chief's AI companion Cortana is still trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind - a horrifying Flood intelligence, and a civil war is raging in the heart of the Covenant. It's all been building to this -- a desperate, final war that leads to a soul-shattering climax of epic proportions. Take control of Master Chief to defeat the Covenant and destroy the Flood to prevent the annihilation of the human race.

Lead Free Toys

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US Halo 3 Sales Hits $170 Million

P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

Video game enthusiasts in the United States plunked down about $170 million on copies of "Halo 3" in the 24 hours after the Xbox 360 game went on sale, Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday.

The company claimed the first-day total makes it "the biggest entertainment launch in history," topping first-day sales of the final "Harry Potter" book and the box-office opening of "Spider-Man 3." It also surpassed the $125 million in first-day sales for "Halo 2."

"Halo 3" fans preordered more than 1.7 million copies of the game, and more than 10,000 stores opened at midnight Monday to start selling, according to Microsoft.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final installment in the series written by J.K. Rowling, sold about 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours. The New York Times estimated those sales at nearly $170 million, because some retailers discounted the book heavily. "Spider-Man 3" took in a record $59 million in its first day.

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Microsoft Replace XBox 360 If 50 Customers Complain

Microsoft will send out replacement parts for its Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel after 50 reports that the video game controllers overheated and released smoke when plugged in, the software maker said Thursday.

The steering wheel-shaped controllers mimic the physical sensations of race car driving for games such as Forza Motorsport 2. About 230,000 have been sold to consumers, according to the company.

The Redmond, Washington-based company said owners of the controller should stop plugging it in, but said it is safe to use with battery power.

This is the second Xbox 360 problem this summer. In July, the company said it expects to spend more than $1 billion ($A1.22 billion) to repair hardware problems in the video game console.

Microsoft Corp didn't offer any estimate of the cost of fixing the controller problems.

Gamers can register online to receive a "retrofit," which Microsoft would send with instructions "if necessary." The company would not say what replacement parts it plans to send to customers.

Microsoft said it has not received reports of fire, injury or property damage as a result of the defect, and it is working with regulatory agencies such as the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The consumer product safety commission said the smoking controllers were only reported in Japan, but that it is monitoring the situation.

"Any time that a company is taking individual action to offer their consumers something to be proactive...we're big fans of proactive," said Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the commission. "If the company is making recommendations to its consumers, by all means consumers should respond to it."

In July, Microsoft extended the warranty to cover shipping and repairs for the Xbox 360 console to three years, from two. The company said it fixed production problems that caused consoles to lock up and display three flashing red lights, which gamers have referred to as "the red ring of death."

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Xbox 360 Now Officially $50 Cheaper

After more than 18 months of presence on the market, Microsoft’s next-gen gaming rig is getting a $50 price cut, confirming rumors that the Redmond giant is not only losing a lot of money with the console, but is also in danger of losing its supremacy in favor of Nintendo.
Although the price cut will affect only the US territory and is only half the size of the one operated by Sony for its PS3, it is still significant and shows that tough competition from Nintendo (which managed to climb to the third place in a top of Japan’s most important companies) is seriously endangering the profitability prospects established for the Xbox division at Redmond.
The price cut will be effective starting Wednesday, August 8 at US retailers nationwide, in anticipation of EA’s craved sequel for the NFL franchise, Madden NFL 08. The game will debut on August 14 and is expected to boost sales for the Xbox 360! , not only because the console is now cheaper, but because of the immense popularity that Madden NFL enjoys in the US (it was the top-selling game of 2006 and is still one of the top-selling franchises over the past 10 years). Madden NFL 08 has also been chosen as the best sports game at this year’s E3, receiving the Game Critics Award.
"The fact that we have been able to keep our launch price longer than any other console while retaining our leadership position demonstrates that consumers believe in the value of Xbox 360," said Mitch Koch, corporate vice president, Global Retail Sales and Marketing Group, Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.. "On the eve of the best holiday games lineup ever and the launch of 'Madden NFL 08,' there has never been a better time to jump into Xbox 360."
The 20GB Xbox 360 pack will now cost $349.99, offering a wireless controller and a headset, while the Core Pack will retail for $279.99. The Black Elite Xbox 360 will have an estimated retail price (ERP) of $449.99, while the highly anticipated Halo 3-themed console, which will hit stores’ shelves in September, will be available for $399.99. The latter will also include, besides the Spartan green-and-gold finish, a matching wireless controller, a headset and an Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit.
Microsoft also announced the games line-up that should make the acquisition of a (now) cheaper Xbox 360 even more enticing. Among the titles readied for the end of this summer, for this fall and for the critical holyday season are: "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" (RedOctane/Activision), "Halo 3" (Bungie), "Madden NFL 08" (EA) and "Rock Band" (MTV Games), "Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation" (NAMCO BANDAI Games), "BioShock" (2K Games), "Lost Odyssey" (Mistwalker and feelplus Inc.), "Blue Dragon" (Mistwalker and feelplus Inc.), "Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action," (Screenlife), "Naruto: Rise of a Ninja" (Ubisoft), "Project Gotham Racing 4" (Bizarre Creations Ltd.) and "Mass Effect" (BioWare Corp.).
The software behemoth also boasts with the latest estimates provided by NPD Group, which give the Xbox 360 a strong lead in front of its next-gen rivals (namely Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii), with a record-setting attach rate of 6.1 games per console sold. At the beginning of July, Microsoft also extended the warranty period for its console to three years, due to the high failure rate (or the “red ring of death” problems)- a move which will cost the company around $1.15 billion. Later that month, during a meeting with financial analysts and investors, Robbie Bach president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Redmond allegedly admitted that every console sold out there is suffering from design flaws that could eventually lead to the red ring of death.
Despite these facts, Bach is confident that Microsoft will overcome the difficulties and that the 2008 profitability target is still reachable:
"If you think about consumer spending on the platform, compare since the launch of the Wii and the PlayStation 3 to date, so a little over, what, seven or eight months, people have spent $2.6 billion in the U.S. on Xbox 360 all up during that period.”
"That's almost double what they spent on either the Wii or PlayStation 3. There's a lot of traction with consumers around this product. We've launched in 11 more countries. We're now in 37 countries worldwide. We're in a very good position on the fundamentals of that business."
However, according to VGChartz.com, Xbox 360 is in danger of losing the top spot in favor of Wii, when it comes to the install base. The Wii is vertiginously closing in to the Xbox 360, with 9.94 million units sold for Nintendo’s console, in a bit more than 8 months, compared to 10.29 million units for Microsoft’s console, which was launched in November 2005.

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