Splitfish FragFX Shark to surface for Xbox 360, make friends with wired controller

Splitfish is finally bringing its flagship PC and PS3 mouse controller to the Xbox, albeit packing an odd wireless caveat. Although the FragFx Shark 360 is billed as an identical twin to its PS3 counterpart, this half-gamepad and rodent combo, much like a XIM adapter, needs a wired Xbox 360 gamepad to act as an intermediary between itself and the console. That wired controller plugs into the Shark's wireless USB dongle; the macro-equipped "fragchuck" and mouse themselves are completely untethered. It sounds a little janky, but if your faith in mouse superiority is strong, you may be forgiving it for its faults come late August.

Splitfish

Microsoft's E3 briefing will air on Spike, Facebook and in HD VOD on Xbox Live

A few years ago we were happy just to get a few trailers in high definition from the E3 videogames conference on our Xbox 360s, but this year Microsoft and Spike TV have teamed up to bring the company's entire briefing in HD (via video on-demand) to the console. It will air live on Spike TV June 6th at 12:30 p.m. ET, with streams also available on GameTrailers.com (in high definition), Facebook, MTV.com, Spike.com and Xbox.com as well as being broadcast in Times Square. You can bet we'll be back to liveblog the proceedings yet again but if you want to get your own eyeful of Xbox 360: The Future Revealed (hint: Gears of War 3, Forza Motorsport 4 and Kinect) there will be plenty of ways to do it.

Joystiq

Spike

Microsoft offers free Xbox 360 with back-to-school PC, professors shake their gray, uncool heads

With only the best interests of its younger customers at heart, Microsoft has a new back-to-school promotion: starting May 22, college students buying a new Windows 7 PC can also get a free Xbox 360 4GB console. That's right, free -- as long as your new computer cost at least $699 and came from Redmond or one of its partners, including HP and Dell. Online ordering will require a .edu email address, which even attendees of the School of Life know how to procure; if you'd rather shop at Best Buy or a Microsoft Store, you'll need an actual student ID. This isn't about convincing students they need more than a tablet computer, of course. It's about about giving them the opportunity to be popular. "Get ready to be the coolest kid on your dorm floor with a killer new Windows 7 PC and an Xbox 360 -- all you really need for college," the company says. Yes, being the coolest kid on your dorm floor: pretty much the definition of Higher Education.

The Windows Experience Blog Microsoft

Some Xbox 360s won't read discs; Microsoft to comp owners with a new system, year of XBL

There may have been a good reason for that wide beta test Microsoft ran to test out its new disc format for the Xbox 360. While it will allow for an extra 1GB of storage space for new games and (it hopes) stop piracy, apparently some consoles contain drives that cannot read the new XGD3 discs. The details can be seen in the email pictured above posted by Reddit user Avery Penn and were verified as real by the Xbox Support Twitter account, but now it's responding to inquiries by saying that the replacements are in response to a previous update, and not the upcoming one that has been in beta. Confusingly, Microsoft Europe confirmed the initial report and points affected users towards the support page. One way or another, affected owners can expect to be mollified by getting their Xbox 360s replaced with new 250GB Xbox 360S models plus a free year of XBL for the trouble. We haven't gotten an official response about the plan yet but are still checking, so your plan to hoard old consoles and get free replacements en masse is probably equal parts premature and Seinfeldian genius.

Joystiq, Eurogamer, Kotaku

Reddit

Rockstar Games L.A. Noire coming 17th May 2011

Los Angeles, 1947. Cole Phelps is an ex U.S. marine who now works for the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department). He’ll have to solve the mystery of some horrible murders, fighting both with the criminality
in Los Angeles and the corruption of the Police itself. And, meanwhile, some ghosts of his past as a marine in the World War II will come back.
L.A. Noire had several problems, but now the Rockstar Games has announced that it will be distributed on May 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360 platform.
According to “Game Informer”, the game will have a realistic graphic created from the real Los Angeles as it was in 1947. There will be much action, but Phelps is also a detective, and in many occasions he’ll have to investigate and collect information. Even looking at the face of the people you are interrogating can help you understand if they lie or not. There will also be secondary investigations and
mission based on real facts happened in 1947.
I think that this open-world thriller will create a new kind of action games. I only have to wait until the 17th May 2011.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Xbox 360

Since they're really few, I'll start with the critics: the characters are all similar one to each other and their stories are not complex as I wished. Done.
Now, let's start from the gameplay. The game brings many innovations, adding to the precedent amount of weapons and techniques new features. Every battle is a great lovely dance of destruction: the moves are fluid, and the animation is excellent. The player disposes of many weapons, and has the possibility to switch them in every occasion and easily. Their variety allows you to choose how to kill your enemy, depending on your taste. The gameplay is in a typical splatter way, that makes the atmosphere more dark.
And now we come to the style: the first Dishwasher had a dark, sinister, macabre and gore look, that has improved in "Vampire Smile". The player finds himself in a psychotic world of horror and madness. Though the story is simple, it's well managed. And the entering of a female character adds something new to the series.
The graphic level is very high, the ambientation is perfect and the game in general is entertaining,
In short: a great success! There's more on Gamespot.com