Win an Invitation to the Brisbane Insider Tour Stop

27 10 2009

The Brisbane stop of our Xbox Insider Tour is coming up on November 2! Want to win tickets? Here’s how:

Both of these giveaways commence 12pm AET on October 27 and end at 5PM AET on October 28. Entries submitted outside this time frame will not be eligible.

Twitter

Post a Twitter entry answering the question, “What is your favourite new Xbox 360 feature or game, and why?” Use the hashtag #InsiderBrisbane in order for the entry to be counted. One entry per person only. If an entrant posts multiple entries, only the first one will be counted, so make the first one your best! The winning entrants will be contacted via direct message on Twitter. You must follow @XboxAustralia in order to be eligible (if you don’t follow, we can’t contact you).

Read the full Terms & Conditions for the Twitter giveaway

Facebook

Respond to the Entry post created by Xbox Australia and New Zealand on the Xbox Australia and New Zealand Facebook page (denoted by **ENTRY THREAD** being the first text in the post). In 25 words or less, tell us, “What is your favourite new Xbox 360 feature or game, and why?” One entry per person only. If an entrant posts multiple entries, only the first one will be counted, so make the first one your best! The winning entrants will be contacted via private message on Facebook.

Read the full Terms & Conditions for the Facebook giveaway

Good luck!

- jinx





Xbox Insider Tour

27 10 2009

Xbox Insider Tour

To celebrate the upcoming launch of our new Xbox LIVE features: Facebook, Twitter, and Movies on Demand, we’re holding a party! No, wait! It’s so cool we’re going to take our party on tour, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland.

  • Brisbane – November 2
  • Melbourne – November 9
  • Sydney – November 11
  • Auckland – November 12

We’ll be showing off the new Xbox LIVE features, plus new and upcoming games for Xbox 360. There will be a fashion parade choreographed by Nacho Pop showing off the latest looks from Ed Hardy, Puma, Quicksilver, Roxy, and Oakley. Oh, and there will be celebratory drinks.

This is an invite-only event, and you can’t buy tickets.

But I wouldn’t share all this with you if there was no way you could come. I’ve secured a bunch of invitations and I’m holding giveaways on Twitter and Facebook. For each Australian tour stop I will hold separate giveaways and post them here on this blog, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. The lucky winners will each receive an invitation to this exclusive event.

Keep an eye out!

Update: The giveaway(s) for the Brisbane event have started. Details here.

- jinx





Top Played Arcade Games

27 10 2009

Arcade games are some of my favourites. I always like to see what people are playing so I can see which games I should look at getting.

ANZ Top Played Arcade Games

  1. Trials HD
  2. Battlefield 1943
  3. Tower Bloxx Deluxe
  4. South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
  5. Panzer General Allied Assault
  6. UNO
  7. Zombie Apocalypse
  8. Castle Crashers
  9. Hexic HD
  10. Magic: The Gathering

- jinx





Preview Program: Movies on Demand

26 10 2009

Hey party people. For those of you lucky enough to have joined me in the preview program, I’ve been looking into some details on the Movies on Demand service (Zune Marketplace in case you’re confused) to clear a few things up.

Currently we’re still in a pre-release phase, so the service is pulling your movie content from a server in the US. That’s a long distance to travel to get to your house. When you select a movie to stream and are prompted for a speed test, you need to be getting a solid (not just peak) connection to that content in the US.

If you, like myself, have a solid connection and have failed the test, try testing again. I tested a couple times on Watchmen before it gave me the thumbs up for HD, but it was oh so sweet once I got it. Just be patient and give the test a couple goes.

We’d like to have a server locally with all our content on it, but we don’t have one yet. Even without it, a bit of patience and you should still be able to get HD streaming with the current setup. It will smooth out as we get closer to launch.

- jinx





Top Played Retail Games

26 10 2009

What did you guys play last week? Wait, why am I asking when I already know?!

ANZ Top Played Retail Games

  1. Halo 3
  2. Call of Duty 4
  3. Call of Duty: World at War
  4. Halo 3: ODST
  5. Forza Motorsport 3
  6. Grand Theft Auto IV
  7. FIFA 10
  8. Gears of War 2
  9. Borderlands
  10. Fallout 3

A big welcome for both Forza Motorsport 3, which I expect will be even higher next time I post this list, and Borderlands. Good to have you with us.

- jinx





Xbox Preview Program Wave 2

24 10 2009

The second wave of invitations for the Xbox Preview Program are going out today. If you’re accepted you should receive an email and be prompted to update when you connect to Xbox LIVE. If you got an email but haven’t been prompted yet, DON’T PANIC! Updates are going out over the next couple hours so it may take a little time.

- jinx





Weekend Gaming

23 10 2009

What are you playing this weekend (besides Forza 3, that is)? Need some ideas? Here’s what a few of our mates on Twitter are getting up to.

wazza12 @XboxAustralia NBA2K10, FIFA10, Batman, rock Band 2

upandatthem @XboxAustralia zero interest in Forza here – I’ll be hopefully cranking out some new Beatles tunes :D

casbitton @XboxAustralia Playing Forza 3 this weekend, and testing the new features of the preview program :D

PalZer0 @XboxAustralia Gonna play some Burnout Paradise this weekend (gamertag is the same as my Twitter name).

SeanPincombe @XboxAustralia Playing this cool festival game called “Spring Break”, and then on Sunday this new one called “Install Windows 7″ =P

MasterAbbott @XboxAustralia BOADERLANDS FOR ME

jaejae316 @xboxaustralia SmackDown vs. Raw 2010

Nilcraban @XboxAustralia No Forza for me still hasn’t arrived yet :o ( think I’ll try and finish up Overlord 2 and maybe some GH Metallica

vSanjo @XboxAustralia Don’t have it, so ha! I’ll be playing.. Burnout Paradise, probably? And that new tower game. ;3

Sneddo13 @XboxAustralia Going to play Guitar Hero 5 & Might pay to watch Friday 13 on Zune on my Xbox 360

mattlmorris @XboxAustralia Borderlands.

Icinda @XboxAustralia Borderlands for me!

princereynart @XboxAustralia I’m NOT playing Forza 3 (no, really!).  I’ll stick to Shadowrun, Lucidity, Star Ocean and maybe some Mass Effect.

error74 @XboxAustralia Forza 3 will have to wait! Borderlands will be the one to take up most of my time. ;-)

ThisIsJamieWatt @XboxAustralia I won’t be playing it as I don’t own it..

Sounds like Forza 3 and Borderlands are the stars for this weekend.

As for me? Brutal Legend, baby!

- jinx





Xbox Preview Program Wave 1

23 10 2009

If you signed up for the Xbox Preview Program (hope you did because sign-ups are now closed!) check your Xbox today. We’ve just sent out the first wave of updates to lucky applicants who are getting an early look at Facebook, Twitter, and Movies on Demand. Halo Waypoint will also be added to the preview a bit later on.  If you’re in, you’ll automatically be prompted to update when you connect to Xbox LIVE. Emails will be going out shortly so if you’re not near your Xbox keep an eye on your email.

If you applied but haven’t received the update, don’t worry. This is only the first wave and we’ll be adding more applicants over the next few days and weeks.

If you get the update shout out and let me know what you think of it!

- jinx





Top Purchased Avatar Gear

22 10 2009

How are you guys kitting out your avatars this week?

  1. Skeleton Costume
  2. Werewolf Costume
  3. Guitar
  4. Garrus Eye Piece
  5. Lightsaber
  6. Vampire Costume
  7. Cauldron Prop
  8. Mummy Costume
  9. Metal Aviators
  10. Wizard Hat

Geez, you’d think Halloween was coming up or something… oh, right. It is. I got the fairy costume.

- jinx





Top Purchased Arcade Games

21 10 2009

So you’ve seen what you played. But what did you buy?

  1. South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play!
  2. Trials HD
  3. Zombie Apocalypse
  4. Battlefield 1943
  5. Shadow Complex
  6. Axel & Pixel
  7. Castle Crashers
  8. Bankshot Billiards 2
  9. Magic: The Gathering
  10. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space

- jinx