Are you relaxed?  Good.  Plug in your mp3 players and tune in to Episode #25!  It’s a fourth of the way to #100 so it’s special I think.

Format:
44:33, 20.3MB, mp3

Show files:
mp3 - Get the show in mp3!
iTunes - Subscribe to Unscripted 360 in iTunes

Unspeak:
Unscripted 360 Official Message Boards
XBLAddict’s Arcade Giveaway

The year is already bringing new changes with Unscripted 360.  So many of you have urged me to incorporate a message board and well I’ve decided to go ahead with it.  You guys are really incredible with all of your support!  I hope you find it useful to discuss the show and other things.

Along with commenting directly on the articles that I blog about, you can now engage in some rapid discussion here on the Official Unscripted 360 Message Boards.  I’ll also place a link in the Links section.  Well, you asked for it…I look forward to seeing everyone there to help it grow.  Currently there isn’t much but hey…I’m an impulse guy so I just did it.  I’ll work out the drama later.  Until then, enjoy ladies and gents!

It’s the first Midweek Marketplace of 2007.  Aren’t you excited?  Probably not but I know you’re itching to see what’s been happening in the Xbox Live Marketplace.  As with all Midweek Marketplace entries, I try to get everyone up to speed on things they may have missed because quite frankly, we all can’t get to every single thing availabe in the Xbox Live Marketplace.  So, enter the Midweek Marketplace in which I take a week or so worth of what’s available so you can easily browse through it.

The Video Marketplace is a beast of its own and will probably never have the latest entries but I will try to point out any significant entries I run across.  If you notice anything I’ve missed in the VM or other areas of the Marketplace, don’t hesitate to fill me in.

Demos
Blitz: The League
Battlestations: Midway Multiplayer

Xbox Live Arcade
Ms. Pacman - 400 Microsoft Points
Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank - 800 Microsoft Points

Trailers/Videos
Battlestations: Midway
Star Trek: Legacy
NCAA March Madness 2007
Heavy Machinima - The King
Viva Piñata
F.E.A.R.

Picture Packs
FIFA Soccer 07 (various) - 200 Microsoft Points
Rainbow Six Vegas - 60 Microsoft Points
24 (TV Show) - Free

Themes
24 (TV Show) - Free
Battlestations: Midway - 150 Microsoft Points
Gears of War - Free
College Hoops 2K7 - 150 Microsoft Points

In-game content
Viva Piñata - 60 Microsoft Points
Call of Duty 3 Maps - Free - 800 Microsoft Points (Valor Map Pack)
Gears of War Maps - Free

Video Marketplace
Feature Films - The Wicker Man (SD & HD), A Scanner Darkly (SD & HD), Superman Returns (SD & HD), Beerfest (SD w/HD coming soon)
Star Trek: Enterprise

The figures are in for last year’s top selling games according to the NDP Group. These sales are total combined sales of a particular game across every platform that it may be available on. There are some interesting titles making their way to this list. Keep in mind that these are U.S. retail sales only. (i’ll share more on this below) I also highlighted the lone Xbox 360 exclusive in the list. Where’s Viva Piñata? You guys better get out and try that game. Shame on you calling yourselves Piñatatans! These are the 2006 Combined Top 10 Video Game Titles, Sorted by Units.

1    Madden NFL 07*    360,Wii,PS3,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Electronic Arts

2    Cars    360,Wii,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    THQ

3    Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy    360,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    LucasArts

4    NCAA Football 07     360,PSP,XBX,PS2    Electronic Arts

5    New Super Mario Brothers     NDS    Nintendo

6    Need for Speed: Most Wanted     360,PSP,NDS, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Electronic Arts

7    Gears of War**    360    Microsoft

8    Call Of Duty 3    360,Wii, PS3, XBX,PS2,GCN,GBA    Activision

9    Lego Star Wars    XBX, PS2,GCN,GBA    LucasArts

10    Fight Night Round 3    360,PS3,PSP,XBX,PS2    Electronic Arts

*Includes Hall of Fame Edition **Includes Collector’s Edition

I also wanted to share a quote from the NPD Group’s Senior Marketing Manager, David Riley. He shared this with me and I thought I’d pass it along as I saw something in the community today from a member asking about units sold versus shipped. Hopefully this helps a few of you get a better understanding of what the NPD Group does.

“Our data service for our clients helps them understand the U.S. market from the perspective of what is selling to consumers, and gives them an insight into consumer demographics and competitive benchmarking. The hardware manufacturers talk largely to what they have shipped, and often speak to those numbers on a multi-territory basis. The difference between what is shipped to multiple territories from what is sold through to consumers in the U.S. can be one or more of several things. Inventory in transit, inventory in the channel, inventory deployed outside the U.S. - all three of these can contribute to the difference. One thing that doesn’t contribute to the difference is a lack of coverage of any particular retail channel. While we collect actual sales data from a number of significant retail partners, that data is projected to cover the entire U.S. market at 100%, including the “mom & pop” stores. “

For those of you upset about the Crackdown demo being delayed, you can head out and enjoy some multiplayer action with Eidos’ Battlestations: Midway on the Xbox Live Marketplace.  It’s ready for download!

Yes it’s free as are all game demos.  Someone will have to tell me how it is before I head home today to download it.  It sucks it’s just a multiplayer demo but I won’t complain much about something free.

How amazing is software these days? I’m using Microsoft Word 2007 right now to post this to Unscripted 360. It has nothing to do with Xbox 360 of course but everything to do with me being a geek I suppose. I just received Office Professional 2007 and let me tell you that it is an amazing upgrade from previous Office products. Microsoft Word 2007 is just CRAZY! The new interface is simply amazing. I remember seeing a bit of it during CES with the Vista presentation but I wasn’t quite prepared for the hands on. It’s amazing that I can link Unscripted 360 via Word 07 and update the site with new posts. Did I mention the interface? It’s in a league of its own…well beyond that of previous Word editions.

For those of you who are fellow geeks, I suppose you’ll understand how fascinated I am with this lol. I’ve always used Word a lot but I can tell you right now that I’ll be using it 100 times as much with the 2007 edition. Okay. Enough of my geek rant. Kudos to Microsoft for the upgrade to its Office Suite! I just felt I’d share with the U360 crowd out there who just might be geeks like me.

Welcome back jack!  It’s the first episode of the new year.  I’ve finally finished my AT&T battles, vacation and other things so I’m geared up to tackle 2007 now.  Let’s get this party officially started!

Format:
35:07, 16.1MB, mp3

Show files:
mp3 - Get the show in mp3!
iTunes - Subscribe to Unscripted 360 in iTunes

Unspeak:
Community Member of the Year
Gears of War Idol & Lost Planet Extreme Giveaway Announcements
Untouchable Awards
Uncle Gamer Radio
TriXie reaches out to the Community

It’s Wednesday and outside of the new snow in Dallas today, the Xbox Live Arcade has a new title!  Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank has battled its way to the Xbox Live Arcade.

How much: 800 Microsoft Points
When: Available Now!

I’m a big fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship shows.  I ran across this bit of information on IGN about THQ and the UFC license for videogames.  It looks like UFC is going next gen baby!  I hope the fighting engine fits the UFC style better than the Xbox versions of UFC did.  There is no release date yet or any other specifics about which consoles this title will appear on.

“Ultimate Fighting Championship and THQ represent the perfect marriage of rich content and proven development capabilities,” said Kelly Flock, executive vice president of worldwide publishing, THQ. “The UFC brand has seen tremendous growth in recent years with wild popularity among the core gaming demographic. This relationship serves as an extraordinary addition to THQ’s world-class license portfolio as we continue to expand our competitive sports offering.”

First I’d like to just apologize for the lack of U360 goodness but my Internet is STILL down.  You don’t know the horror of it all being unable to check on Unscripted 360 or give you all any news/shows.  I’m supposed to be back up today though so I’m crossing my fingers that AT&T gets off their butt and hooks me up. 

I wasn’t able to announce any winners in the Lost Planet Giveaway but I will tonight if my Internet is back up.  I may try to head over to the local community college while I’m at work to get up to speed on things but it’s pretty cold outside so I don’t know if I’ll do that. 

Well at least I’ll be able to do some things while I’m at work now.  I hope everyone had a much better weekend than I did.  I had a gaming marathon over the weekend so whenever you see my Gamercard update, you’ll know that I’m back up and running.  Oh and I’m glad the Eagles and Seahawks lost!