Slashdot directs readers to a Firing Squad article that looks carefully at eleven mistakes that FS feels Microsoft made designing the Xbox 360. The complaints at Firing Squad aren't at all "omg, the games lock-up!" and instead look at issues like how Microsoft could've changed its own music distribution system to compete with the iTunes' model while using the Xbox Live infrastructure. It's an interesting read, to say the least.

Xbox 360: Back to the Drawing Board [Firing Squad]
11 Design Mistakes of the Xbox 360 [Slashdot]

As goofy as I feel typing its name, this TwonkyVision technology is pretty handy for Mac users. Because Microsoft's Xbox 360 was made by well, Microsoft - Mac users probably don't expect liquid smooth media interaction like 360 and PC users can get. The Twonky app kind of solves this, you'll be able to get photos and music running between your 360 and your G5.

Thanks Steve

Twonky Vision [Official Site]

Major Nelson, in his never ending effort to get a 360 into your living room, points out a blog with a somewhat foolproof (in theory) method to acquire an Xbox 360 via online retailers. Blogger Sean Alexander suggests bookmarking Ben's Bargains and then download URly configure it to warn you when three words change on a page (i.e., In Stock or Out of Stock) and have the whole shebang check for new information every minute or so.

Now that it's all set up, I'd suggest prayer of some kind, because I think if you don't have one by now - it's going to take a miracle to get a 360 by Christmas.

Tips for How to Score an Xbox 360 Online [Major Nelson]
How To: Score an Xbox 360 Online [Sean Alexander]
Ben's Bargains
URLy Warning Download

Keeping up with other games that released holiday map packs, Star Wars Battlefront II on the Xbox has released some new treats via Xbox Live. There's a premium download coming in January, but to tide fans over until then, LucasArts added an Assault mode Hero Free For All to Kashyyk — which lets the game's heroes (the stars of Star Wars) run around and own dudes. The update in January will bring some new Jedi into the fold as well as some full-featured maps from the original Battlefront, all with the required makeover for the sequel.

Battlefront II Xbox Content [Eurogamer]
New Multiplayer Pack for Quake IV

Need more Quake action for the PC? Happy Holidays from id Software, Raven and Activision - they've just released three free maps for download over at the official site. Complete descriptions of tne new maps, Railed, Tremors and Campground Redux are readable after the fold.

Quakemas Map Pack Available for Download [id Software]

Railed Set in an abandoned, rusting Strogg facility, the environment in Railed produces fast paced frenetic tournament action. This new map is all about close-quarters combat and hair-trigger reflexes as players hustle through the winding, multi-tiered corridors. Designed particularly for tournament play, Railed also supports Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch game modes, and is guaranteed to provide some thrilling fast-action gameplay.

Tremors Built within a twisting underground cavern and peppered throughout with pipes, bridges, and catwalks, Tremors demands tactical expertise. Enemies attack from above and below in the enormous, multi-tiered environment, making team-play invaluable. Tremors is perfect for huge Capture-The-Flag games, and also supports the Arena Capture-The-Flag gameplay mode.

Campgrounds Redux With QUAKE 4 s updated technology, Campgrounds Redux now has a fresh look and feel, revitalizing this QUAKE III classic. Excellent for any number of players, this updated version supports Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Tournament modes, where hard-core QUAKE fans can get crazy with this throw-back to one of their old favorites.

An online chat over at WoWWarcry with some of the WoW development crew is pretty informative. They mention plans to add some new armor sets from five man instances (likely in the expansion pack), admit the despawning design of the Nefarian encounter was "wonky" and plan to make Greater Heal a more useful spell for priests.

That all sounds really "inside baseball" - but anyone who is spending hideous amounts of time in Azeroth knows what I'm talking about, check the chat out for more.

Warcry Blizzard Developer Chat [Warcry]

By Brian D. Crecente

I have been hoist by my own high-definition petard.

For the past few months my wife and I have been in talks with a contractor about having our 1,000-square-foot basement finished. The plan is to have an office and bathroom added to one corner and to use the rest of the space for entertaining. While my wife has been preoccupied with the wet bar and built-in bookcases, my entire being has been obsessing over the entertainment center, a behemoth that will take up one wall. At its center will be what I consider the crown jewel of the entire room: an HDTV.

I've been putting off researching which TV to get like some kids put off eating that last bite of dessert. I couldn't wait to pour over specs, check out resolutions and compare prices. I wanted to savor the hunt.

What I didn't know is that what I was hunting is as elusive as the yeti and just as fictional.

If I were buying for just an Xbox 360, I would be set. The 360 supports 720p resolution and may — may — one day stream that through an HDMI connection. No problem.

The Playstation 3, which I hope to one day have sitting next to my 360, is an entirely different story.

If Sony is to be believed, the PS3 will fully support 1080p resolution with an HDMI connection. The problem is that there isn't a single television on the market that does as well.

Trust me, I checked. A lot.

The closest thing is Hewlett Packard’s 58-inch Pavilion MD5680n Microdisplay TV. And unless you do your research, you'll think you've found the yeti.

But breezing through a CNet review of the TV I noticed that the Pavilion in fact doesn't have a chip with 1,920 x 1,080 physical pixels on it. Instead it has 960 x 1,080 and uses a technique called wobulation to trick your eye. That's fine with me, but the technique apparently lowers the frame rate, and that's the last thing I want on a PS3 game.

So I find myself stuck. I could wait six months to fill the big hole in my entertainment center and buy a true 1080p television when they come out (probably in time with the PS3), or I can buy a TV that I know will be obsolete sometime next year.

Being weak-minded and inpatient, I decided to take the consumer road and buy a TV one step down from my ultimate goal.

With the help of my brother I did a bit of HDTV research and came up with a little chart of the pros and cons of the different types of HDTVs out there.

(See chart)

I settled on a DLP Rear-Projection television because it has fast refresh rates and I don't have to worry about burn-in. On the negative side they can suffer from something called the rainbow effect, but it doesn't sound like a major issue.

Since the Xbox 360 only supports 720p and 1080i (with a 16:9 widescreen ratio) I was able to avoid the whole 1080p issue.

I decided to shoot for a TV with 720p native resolution because it has a faster frame rate than the 1080i — twice as fact, to be specific. (The p in 720p stands for progressive, which means the lines that compose a TV image are painted on the screen one after another. The other standard, which is usually denoted with 720i, means the device paints the screen by skipping every other line in the first pass and painting the others in the second pass. Generally, a 720p display is considered better than a 720i.)

Next I had to decide on the size. Despite the urge to purchase the largest TV that would fit through the door, I know that there is a rule buying televisions. Get one too big, and it will hurt to look at and overwhelm the room.

I'm expecting to sit about 10 feet from the television, so I could easily get a 42-inch or 50-inch. I went with the fitty. (Mostly so I could say that.) Since I don't need to worry about how deep the TV is, I'm not forced into buying a thin LCD or Plasma. I also wanted to make sure the TV has HDMI input (so when Microsoft starts supporting it I'll be ready) and component inputs for what the 360 currently supports.

I ended up narrowing down my choices to two models: Magnavox's 50-inch DLP HDTV (50ML8105D) and Samsung's 50-inch DLP HDTV (HLR5067W).

I had worked myself into a near buying frenzy when two things dawned on me: First, our basement won't be finished until March. Second, CES is in one week and my money is on some true 1080p television announcements followed by lots o price drops.

I'll let you know when I finally drop the cash, but unless there's a real steal it probably won't be until late February. If you have any recommendations feel free to comment them.

(Quick Guide for HDTV and the 360)

According to the flier, the 360s will arrive sometime this week (we heard Dec. 22) and will be put on sale the day after it arrives. Store managers have been warned not to put out any signs and not to hold the inventory any longer than necessary to staff adequately for the sale.

On the day of the sale the manager on duty has to do door duty. He or she has to ask every customer as them come in "What brings you in today?" at which point if the customer replies "The Xbox 360" they get a ticket to the fabled land of high def gaming. What? No secret handshake?

Once you get the ticket an employee walks you to the "controlled sales area" where the employee will try to get you to buy everything in the store.

Best Buy corporate says there will be absolutely no rainchecks, no holds, no wait lists, no lines and absolutely no employee sales until after Jan. 1. (That's on and off-duty employees bucko)

It sounds like Best Buy is finally starting to get it's collective shit together. Now lets hope they have enough 360s on hand to avoid riots.

Insider [Put File, thanks Josh]

In case you aren't tethered enough to technology, Microsoft is planning a system that will let you send messages to your friends' cellphones from your Xbox 360. "Hey, Luke, hurry up and get home — we need you for this Dark Ops match at 11 p.m. - Crecente"

Great, just what I needed.

Xbox 360 to let you send SMS to mobile phones [Phoneyworld]

UbiSoft's King Kong game has already had its price cut Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The price was hacked back to $29.99 for those versions. The Nintendo DS version remains $39.99 and the 360 is still standing guard at $59.99.

There's a big ol' vintage gaming lot over on Ebay. Toploader NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast are all represented in a grand total of 82 items. Highlights include: Legend of Zelda (gold cartridge), Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shenmue. Auction ends on Christmas.

Bid Here [Ebay]Thanks John!

I ran down to my local Best Buy to check out the scene when it opened about 8 a.m. I was told by the last lucky line waiter that they had handed out tickets the night before. Good system. A surly employee, when asked about upcoming shipments, told me that he didn't know when they would be coming again and if he did he couldn't tell me.

"Someone leaked today's shipment and that's why it was crazy. Next time we're just going to put them on the shelves."

I hate to break the news to you Best Buy guy, but if my so-far reliable sources can be believed, I already know when your next shipment is coming.

According to the super-secret source, at least some Best Buys will be getting a "secret shipment" of Xbox 360s on Dec. 22. No word on how widespread this is, but at least you still may have one last chance to grab the ring.

Rather than looking at the 360 shortage through gamer-tinted eyes, Slate studies the shortage and other shortage phenomena in terms of economics. Recognizing the very nature of shortages with console electronics, author Tim Harford questions why Microsoft would start pricing at just $300 when the console is fetching $700 on eBay? He likens picking up a 360 in the store to getting a $400 voucher, because that 400 bucks is what you would've spent in addition to the unit's price to nab one on eBay.

Instead of focusing the actual scarcity of the 360, Harford is fascinating by the console's low price. I think here, Harford is speaking relatively, in terms of what people are willing to pay for the system - in terms of video game system launches the $300 core system is pretty much par for the course.

The Great Xbox Shortage of 2005 [Slate]

I ended up squeezing 23 games into the list this time around. I accomplished this by writing two sentence "reviews" of the games. I figure that most people who read the guide really just want a list of what I think is worth buying this season and I only have so much space.

I did write up one slightly longer review for Indigo Prophecy, which I called the Best Pick for the Holidays. That game is simply amazing.

I had a little bit of fun with the categories this time around also, here's what I submitted to my editors:

Best title
Must Have Games
Best Games Not to Give Your Kids
Games Most Likely to Result in a Cross-Title Lawsuit
Best Online Handheld Games
Games to Play When No One is Looking
Most Intense Games
Games Most Likely to End in an Intervention
Best Game About Gathering Coconuts

Best Buy Canada seems to be "stockpiling" (and I use that term extremely loosely) their 360s for a sale similar to the sort-of-second-launch this Sunday. The note on the Canadian Best Buy site reads: "This Friday, Dec. 16, strictly limited quantities of Xbox 360 will be avialable at all Best Buy stores throughout Canada."

There's still hope for the Canadian kids craving Perfect Dark Zero.

Thanks Brian, Canada loves you.

Best Buy Canada Sale [Best Buy]
Best Buy Hoarding 360s for Sale

As much as I enjoy the current and next-gen, my money is still on old school. As I mentioned earlier, if I had to do over again I would have used the Atari 2600 to first inspire and delight my child.

So hop to the jump and click on which system you think would be best used for video gaming 101 and feel free to post your reasons why. Go on, convince me.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Major Neslon's blog mentions the new Mission Impossible III trailer is available for exclusive download on the Xbox 360's Marketplace. Six new cars for SEGA's Ridge Racer just showed up on the Marketplace as well. They seem to be feeding content to the Marketplace, which is what Microsoft needs to do if they want to create the virtual mall they've talked about.

Today's Marketplace Newness [Major Nelson]

You know home made presents are the best sorts, so why not build your sweetie his or her own MAME arcade cabinet, instead of taking the low road and buying them something they really want. A site has a guide for putting one together in 24 hours for about $750.

If I did this it would probably also cost me a trip to the emergency room with three of my fingers in an ice-filled pickle jar.

MAME 24 [How to]

According to a reader in my very own Colorado, the Westminster Costco had a dozen still available as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

A reader in Southern California reports that Costcos in his region had 120 each last Saturday. He adds that two friends bought Xbox 360s at stores in Philly and San Francisco last Friday.

A Washington State reader reports that the Xbox 360 shipments are being staggered to Costcos across the country. He was told that only stores that didn t receive launch day stock are going to get Xbox 360s this time around.

I'll try to keep updating this with locations that have stock and when they had them after the jump.

Costco
Westminster, Colorado: A dozen as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Target
Gateway District, Oregon: Two to four as of Wednesday.
Fairview, Oregon: Two to four as of Wednesday.
East Vancouver, Washington State: Two to four as of Wednesday.
Hayden Island Store, Portland, Oregon: Two to four as of Tuesday.
Hazel Dell, Washington State: Two to four as of Tuesday.

Literally, this just in: A reader tells us that his local Costco has been refilled in a big way on Xbox 360s. Sean says: "I'm sure you guys are already getting a ton of e-mail about this, but I popped into my local Costco today in Westminster and lo and behold a whole bunch of 360 bundles sitting with big puppy dog eyes waiting to be taken home. The guy standing by said they arrived this morning and they had already gone through two pallets worth. There were about 50-60 left while I was there. These are the same costco bundle you see on their site."

Your mileage may vary on this one, but we're starting to get some reports of the long-awaited replenishment - and that's good news.

We've started a post with live sightings of the Xbox 360. Check it out here

The Costco Bundle [Costco]