Microsoft is beating the drums over hitting the 10 million units sold mark Xbox has had an extra year over Wii and thats not a good sign. Nintendo is going to hit the same mark much faster and Microsoft has certainly laid out a lout more in order to get the as well. It’s costing them big bucks to get to these benchmarks so I guiess they need to toot them up as often as possible.

I love Xbox Live but it’s going to be awhile if ever before Microsoft can claim dominance by any real measure. The Playstation and Wii will both be around for quite some time to come. I think Microsoft should start looking at how to broaden their fan base with more add ons and games for other demographics not including the hardcore gamers. The success of the Wii is certainly not just because every top gamer went out and bought one. The Wii is becoming the family unit and thats whats most dangerous to Microsoft. the true success in the Xbox package is Halo and that may be their biggest problem. Microsoft needs to offer more for the other household members if they want their console to truly dominate.

Xbox 360 sales surpass Wii, PS3 | Reuters

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday its Xbox 360 game machine beat Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) Wii and Sony Corp’s (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 to reach 10 million units in U.S. sales.

“History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle,” Don Mattrick, a Microsoft senior vice president who heads the company’s Xbox business, said in a statement.

The Xbox 360 was the first of this latest generation of game machines to launch in the United States when it was released in November 2005. The PS3 and Wii were launched in the United States a year later.

The Wii is closing in on the Xbox 360, with 8.8 million units sold as of the end of March, while Sony has totaled 4.1 million PS3 units sold, according to market research firm NPD.

Microsoft also said global membership of its Xbox Live online service reached 12 million members.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Zune has sold over 2 million units and grabbed a whopping 4% market share in it’s 2nd year of production. Zune hit the 1 million mark back in 07/07. That was one million in just under the first year and this 2nd million comes in at about 1 1/2 years after the release date of the first player. They made the jump from 1 to 2 faster so it looks like Zune may be gaining steam. It was expected that Zune would be a late bloomer and Microsoft stated in the very beginning the had a 3 to 5 year plan for this.

I would think they are mildly pleased with hitting 4% market share in that time. Many folks had Zune doomed from the start and most thought it would never make it this far. I knew Microsoft was planning for a long battle and it looks like their efforts may be paying off. They have not had the best of luck with Zune and they have even been their own worst enemy at times but Microsoft has the hammer approach to marketing and they’ll just keep pounding away until the get it right. We’re gonna love zune and they’ll keep shoving stuff at it until we do!

I’m really digging the new games on Zune and I have beeen letting the kids use it more since we put them on it as well. I think Microsoft should work on porting as many free games for Zune as they can find and start adding some fan favorites into the Zune MarketPlace alongside Podcasts and Videos for a full service media market place. If I could find more Zune games to download I’d have more fun I think.

Zune Eats Creative’s Meager Lunch, Grabbing 4 Percent of MP3 Player Market | Listening Post from Wired.com

Microsoft’s Zune picked up a percentage point in the MP3 player market, bringing its share to a whopping four percent, with two million units sold. Microsoft has said from the start that it will stick with the Zune for as long as it takes for the player to gain traction, and it looks like that’s starting to happen.

Apple’s share of the MP3 player market share dropped a single point to 71 percent, according to the NPD Group’s study, but its lead is still monstrous. The bigger loser between Q1 2007 and Q1 2008 was Creative, which saw its share halved to two percent.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The Bittercups

MP3: The Bittercups — One Side

In a hypothetical, fantasy football league of South Florida bands, the Bittercups would be a star pick: two parts Billy Boloby and two parts Heatseekers.

Singer-keyboardist Boloby, guitarist Herman von Uberstein, bassist Terra Marie and drummer Chuck Loose are scene veterans, and bring their experience and attitude to their latest incarnation.

The Bittercups juggle careers, freelance writing, startup businesses and other bands to play punk-inspired tunes with pop keyboards.

Influenced by the Buzzcocks, the Vapors and the Clash, the band shows off their high-energy rock whenever they get a chance, picking and choosing the shows they want to play.

Careers and obligations make it difficult for the band to pick up and hit the road whenever they please, which attracts the interest of record labels. But they have recorded an eight-song album and are hoping to get it released soon.

Find them at myspace.com/thebittercups.

–Liza Hearon

Popularity: 7% [?]

Here is a first look at Games for Zune on video. The Zune makes a great game playuer and moving around even on my old school Zune 30 is pretty smooth. I understand games are much better on the squircle for the Zune 80 and with that much space you can really stuff some musioc and new games on Zune.

Video: XNA Game Running on a Zune

Popularity: 22% [?]

I’m considering the XNA pacakge so I can install games on my Xbox. I looked into how hard it is and then I realized it’s a pay only feature. It’s $100 for homebrew games on my Xbox and thats a bit much this week. I gotta find out how many games there are and how easy it is to install them. Wheres the best Xbox XNA games place?

Connecting to Your Xbox 360 Console with XNA Game Studio 2.0

This guide assumes you have already installed a supported version of Visual Studio tools and XNA Game Studio. These products must be installed before connecting to an Xbox 360 console. For information about installing these products, see Setup and System Requirements.

* Step 1: Sign In to Xbox LIVE
* Step 2: Download XNA Game Studio Connect
* Step 3: Connect Your Xbox 360 Console and Windows-Based Computer
* Step 4: Create and Deploy an Xbox 360 Project
* What’s Next?

Step 1: Sign In to Xbox LIVE

Turn on your Xbox 360 console and sign in to Xbox LIVE. You will need at least a Silver Xbox LIVE membership, an XNA Creators Club membership, and a hard drive for your Xbox 360 console to be able to develop games for Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio. While you are in XNA Game Studio Connect or playing an XNA Game Studio game, you must remain connected to Xbox LIVE.
Step 2: Download XNA Game Studio Connect

XNA Game Studio Connect must be downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and installed on the Xbox 360 console. XNA Game Studio Connect is listed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace next to the XNA Creators Club Subscription, which may be found by selecting Game Store, More…, Genres, and then Other.
Step 3: Connect Your Xbox 360 Console and Windows-Based Computer

When you develop games for Xbox 360, you develop them on your Windows-based computer, then transfer them over your local network to your Xbox 360 console. This requires that your Windows-based computer and Xbox 360 console share the same subnet. Most home networking layouts support this configuration. If your console and computer share a router or hub, it is likely that they share the same subnet.

With your computer and console on the same subnet, follow these steps to set up a connection between your computer and your console.

Technorati Tags: zune, xna, zune xna, zune games

Popularity: 26% [?]

Microsoft is in denial. They deny that Zune will become a “copyright cop” but Zune has the toughest DRM of any player and Microsoft is only stating that they have no agreements in place. This does not mean that at some time in the future they cannot change their mind and implement some kind of filter to at the minimum disable play of the offending track but may go as far as to disable a Zune player “infected” with unlicensed content.

That would suck cause I have a nice personalized collection of music I just found here and there. People leave music in the strangest places and over the last ten years I have found it all over the place. Kinda like you might find a cassette tape laying out on the sidewalk I keep running into mp3 files of my favorite tunes that someone just dropped on the internets. I keep saving them cause I may find the guy that owns them and if he can identify them as his I’ll give them back. If not its finders keepers right? I hate to think my Zune won’t play cause I found some free music online.

Microsoft has already signaled a willingness to secure content on the desktop and now Zune and I’m sure this all means they’ll have plans but at some other time when they see fit.

Microsoft denies putting ‘copyright cop’ in Zune | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com

The New York Times suggested Wednesday that future versions of the Zune might come with a tiny cop capable of catching digital lawbreakers.

And no, I’m not talking about some sort of bundled action flick.

In a blog, the Times’ Saul Hansell said that, as part of Microsoft’s deal to get NBC TV shows, it had agreed to look into the possibility of adding technology into the MP3 player that would scan a user’s collection for unauthorized content.

The blog cites Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn as saying that the software maker is exploring antipiracy measures with NBC. Microsoft issued a statement on Wednesday denying that there was any agreement to filter content.

“Microsoft has no plans or commitments to implement content filtering features in the Zune family of devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC,” the software maker said in a statement.

Sohn echoed the sentiment. “We’ve agreed to work with these guys on a number of issues, but we have no plans or commitment to put filtering technology as part of this arrangement with NBC,” he told CNET News.com.

Microsoft launched its Zune video store this week with about 800 TV show episodes, including content from NBC, which earlier pulled its content from iTunes in a dispute over pricing and other issues. Despite the apparent coup with NBC, Microsoft is still lagging Apple badly on the sales front.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Rumor: Zune Mobile in the works

Given Apple’s immense success with the iPhone, many have looked in Microsoft’s direction to see if it would answer with its own device, as it answered the iPod with the Zune. Speculation was mounting for months, but no one managed to come up with any tangible evidence that Microsoft was up to something.

This past January, Bill Gates himself denied that an iPhone competitor was in the works. The decision makes sense of course; Microsoft has many Windows Mobile phones on the market already, the Zune has barely matured, and Microsoft needs to get one mobile hardware device right before it even goes to the drawing board on the next one.

Blogger Chris Lanier is now reporting that we will soon be hearing details of a “Zune integrated with a phone later this year. Some might call it a ZunePhone, but whatever you call it know that it is for real and has a dedicated team at Microsoft now creating the v1 product.” Although I’m not ruling it out (Microsoft has denied product launches and then has done them anyway before), I really doubt that this is the ZunePhone device that so many have suggested is on its way.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Microsoft denies putting ‘copyright cop’ in Zune | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com

The New York Times suggested Wednesday that future versions of the Zune might come with a tiny cop capable of catching digital lawbreakers.

And no, I’m not talking about some sort of bundled action flick.

In a blog, the Times’ Saul Hansell said that, as part of Microsoft’s deal to get NBC TV shows, it had agreed to look into the possibility of adding technology into the MP3 player that would scan a user’s collection for unauthorized content.

The blog cites Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn as saying that the software maker is exploring antipiracy measures with NBC. Microsoft issued a statement on Wednesday denying that there was any agreement to filter content.

“Microsoft has no plans or commitments to implement content filtering features in the Zune family of devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC,” the software maker said in a statement.

Sohn echoed the sentiment. “We’ve agreed to work with these guys on a number of issues, but we have no plans or commitment to put filtering technology as part of this arrangement with NBC,” he told CNET News.com.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Small victory for Microsoft’s Zune over iPod - International Herald Tribune

Microsoft will sell television shows on the Zune Marketplace, bringing its selection of content for the digital media player a step closer to what the iTunes site from Apple offers for the iPod.

Microsoft also said Tuesday that it planned to provide software updates that add new features to Zune devices and to the PC software used to buy and manage digital content.

Microsoft ventured into downloadable video sales for the Zune in October when it released its second-generation players and software, but the content was limited to music videos.

As of Tuesday, Microsoft was selling episodes of TV shows, including Comedy Central’s “South Park” and Sci-Fi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica,” for $1.99 each.

In a small victory over Apple, Microsoft said the Zune Marketplace would carry shows from the NBC network like “The Office” and “Heroes.”

Popularity: 19% [?]

Zune struggles to find the right pitch | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com

After a decent freshman year, the Zune appears to be having a bit of a sophomore slump.

In its first year on the market, Microsoft shipped 1.2 million Zunes, reaching about 3 percent of the U.S. market for MP3 players by the first quarter of 2007. A year later, the company’s market share stands at about 4 percent, but that slight gain comes as Microsoft has expanded from one hard-drive model into a family of products that includes both flash-based and hard drive-based units.

As part of its announcement of a Zune video store this week, Microsoft noted that it has now sold more than 2 million Zunes. That would appear to show that business is not growing much despite the expansion of the product line. (And, to get a sense of where the competition is, Apple sold more than 10 million iPods in just the non-holiday January to March quarter).

For their part, Microsoft Zune officials say they’re pleased with where things stand, reiterating that they see their effort to form a serious rival to the iPod as a years-long project.

Popularity: 11% [?]