Xbox 360 chatpad: Win or bin

The Xbox 360 chatpad was launched on September 4, 2007 and sold in "Messenger kits"(as it was launched to coincide with the release of windows live messenger on Xbox 360) which came with the chatpad and special headset because the chatpad fits into the position of the normal headset and the port on the chatpad to compensate only accepts that special specific type.


It was ideologically intelligent to release the chatpad at the same time of the release of Windows Live messenger or critics would have been flooding Microsoft with criticism about difficulty to use the controller to write on windows live messenger. 


The chatpad was also a life saver for those perfectionist gamers and gamers who enjoyed Windows Live Messenger so they could type in gamer names for game profiles and different things and also use it for Windows Live Messenger. At £27 as the official price, it's virtually the price of a controller. So is it worth it, and to what different types of people.


It's description on the official Xbox website is:

• A dedicated Windows Live Messenger button for instant access to in-game text messaging and Windows Live Messenger instant messaging on Xbox 360
• An audio jack for use with any headset that has a standard 2.5-mm connector
• Backlit keys
• Tactile confirmation of each button press

But while using it in-game, for some games it just puts it into the pause screen while you chat and for most you can't control the game until you close the special "in-game window". Of course they didn't quite false advertise as their is a mini-screen(what I referred to as special screen before) that opens near the south of the screen which is only available while using the chatpad's special buttons to open it. Of course you can always connect a normal USB keyboard BUT only certain gamers play with the Xbox near them where the monitor/screen is as close as where you'd use a computer. So it's a good alternative.

Basically in my view if you find Windows Live Messenger a necessity and spend more or less time on the Xbox

then on Windows Live Messenger on the computer OR people usually talk to you on Windows Live Messenger while your on your Xbox and you find it annoying because you can't respond quickly enough and with extreme difficulty then I'd recommend getting it. If your just an extreme gamer who likes getting gaming stuff get it. Also if you just want it and it's been on your mind OR if you don't mind getting it used I'd recommend getting it used from Amazon as Amazon's safe, trusty, and cheap (Used). Overall I think the chatpad is a win as it is extremely useful for the majority of Xbox 360 gamers. A 8/10 product, so fantastic.

Kinect- good name or just plain lame

The official name given to project Natal (Kinect) was an extremely good name that seemed to come out of no where. It's short and snappy, easily remembered, easily pronounceable, and at the same time very catchy. When it got it's name almost no-one was expecting it, I mean we were expecting it to be one of the most obvious things- something that probably had the word move or energy or exercise. Wait wait wait wait. energy add movement? Remember when the science teacher explained different types of energies and the one which described movement was "kinetic" energy. Now were getting somewhere right? But Xbox kinetic? Anyone smell cheese in here, because I do, and it is REEKING. so it obviously was an intelligent idea not going with that. I mean imagine just thinking of the word Xbox, cheesy enough, think about before the Xbox was released, before it existed, how stupid that would sound. Last thing Microsoft needed were more Sony fan's laughing at them (at least Wii fans had nothing to laugh about.) So they changed it into a name. Kinect. Just take off I and swap c and t's position and BAM, new name.

Despite the simplicity of the way it was made, it must have took AGES. I mean imagine if you had to name a gaming device that was going to change the world forever, increase your sales by almost %100 if successful, make your device an example of human civilisation for DECADES to come, and if you failed at the naming, Microsoft would hire the most professional assassins known, to give you the most torturous, gruesome, longest death ever known. No pressure. 

Maaan i feel sorry for whoever had to make the name for project Natal, but Microsoft have done it again, hired some of the best people to name the device, and it's paid off. I have to praise whoever made the name because it must have taken as long as Kinect it's self took to make. Microsoft, you've done it again.

Xbox errors, Who's to blame?

The Xbox 360 is well known for it's failure rates. It has so many errors it could drive you nuts, and the worst thing is the errors are very common.

On July 5, 2007, the Vice-president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division published an open letter recognizing the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty extension for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure"

What's up with Reach?

.Halo reach dies out before it has even begun, Black ops dominating the world already? I'm sorry Bungie but somebodies fulfilling your dreams.

Recently since the release of black ops, the release of Halo reach

portable Xbox or a big hoax?

The idea of Microsoft releasing a portable Xbox console has been silently crawling in every Xbox 360 fan's head and if you own an Xbox 360 don't lie it hasn't been seeping through your head too. Youtube is absolutely full to the brim of people who have made their own Xbox "laptops". The closest thing to an actually handheld Xbox console is a controller with a screen which shows the Xbox 360 on the small screen. But come on, the controller has. to stay in range of the Xbox 36

Win or bin: Kinect

Recently Kinect has been released. It has pro's but with every good thing there has to be a bad thing. I will give my description of how Kinect wins and why it should be binned.

Kinect is very useful. It can be used by all the family an

Win or bin: The xbox 360 s

Recently the new Xbox 360 s has been released.Although many believe it was successful there is controversy.

First of all it only has a few more features than the Xbox 360 such as built in Wi-Fi, it's slimmer, it's "kinect ready" and so on. This would barely appeal to anyone who already owns an Xbox 360 as they probably have all of these features already and the new Xbox would not be necessary (E.G wireless adapter/Ethernet cable)

Second, if this was Microsoft's attempt to catch up with Sony's PlayStation 3,

Call of duty: Black ops

call of duty black ops is rapidly becoming one of the most must have video games ever known. Whether it be on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or PC. It incorporates many ideas from it's forerunners but also has many unique features of it's own.

Within it's first day 5.6 Million units were sold which summed up to 20,000 grand!


Without any spoilers, black ops incorporates some of the story from modern warfare and the idea of zombies from World at war.

Click here to read IGN's full review.

Kinect hacked days after release!

The attempt to hack the control system for the Kinect gadget was kick-started by electronics kit maker Adafruit. On 4 November it announced it would pay $1,000 (£624) to the first person to produce control software, known as drivers, for the Kinect.

Microsoft reported they were unhappy with the attempt to make unofficial modifications to the gadget. Adafruit upped the bounty to $3,000 (£1,871) after Microsoft announced they did not condone the reverse engineering of Kinect.

The person who got Adafruit's payment was hacker Hector Ma