Microsoft has a new Xbox 360 bundle that costs $99, but consumers that buy it will have to commit to a two-year contract for an Xbox Live Gold membership. And that two year membership will cost you about $15 a month. While the idea might be to subsidize or finance the console as a trade-off for the low price point, the move also smacks of false advertising because the console will ultimately cost consumers $99, then 24 months of paying $15, for a grand total (not including sales tax) of $459 (24 months x $15 = $360, plus the price of the console at $99).

Motorola Mobility has won an injunction against Microsoft in Germany prohibiting the sale of products in the country including Windows 7 and the Xbox 360. The injunction is the latest punch thrown in a bitter patent lawsuit between Motorola and Microsoft

Xbox Live is a great place to meet new friends and - apparently - the perfect venue for scoring a pot deal. But today we offer you a cautionary tale on making such deals: don't use the postal service to deliver that package. Nineteen-year-old Garrett Bryant is learning that lesson first-hand. Lawrenceburg, Kentucky police and the postal inspector allege that Bryant had a pound of marijuana mailed to him under a fake name.

According to this C&VG report, the reason that owners of Mass Effect 3 on the PlayStation 3 do not have access to the multiplayer challenges that other platforms enjoy is because "Sony won't approve them."

Registered sex offenders of all designations residing in the state of New York will no longer be able to interact with children in some online console and PC games. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office has convinced several platform holders and game companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. and Disney Interactive Media Group to shut down the communication privileges of registered sex offenders.

The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Navy have launched a new research initiative that will find new ways to let the government gain access to information stored on home console systems like the Xbox 360 and PS3.

According to data gathered by Bungie, players have spent 235,182 years playing various Halo titles - Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach since 2004. They also say that over 20 billion Halo matches have been played on Xbox Live. Broken down by game titles, Halo 2 accounted for 5.4 billion games, Halo 3 / Halo 3: ODST were played 11.5 billion times (including ODST online co-op), and Halo: Reach matches were played 3.9 billion. Around 108,548,288,596 total kills were recorded across Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach.

Another, day another rumor about the next Xbox console from Microsoft - and this one is a whopper. According to a new rumor at VG247, the next Xbox console system will use "always on DRM" and its disc format will be Blu-Ray disc based. 

Comcast has dropped the term "Private Network" from the Xfinity On Demand on Xbox Live FAQ. The company did this after several sites - including VentureBeat (the source of this story) - called the company out on it. Comcast claimed that it used Xbox Live (which it described as "private network") to deliver its video content, but critics pointed out that the public internet and private networks are delivered over the same broadband infrastructure.

There's no denying that sending your child online to play a game alone is like sending a puppy into a lion's cage at the zoo. If you want someone to experience the crassness of society, you can get a quick lesson playing Call of Duty, Battlefield, or even UNO as teenagers call you every name in the book (and some you didn't even know existed). Anyone that plays games online knows this, but it's always interesting to see how local news channels handle such topics. Usually they handle it badly, but one station does a good job of delivering a balanced report..

With the launch of its Xfinity entertainment services on Xbox Live this week, Comcast finds itself having to defend the way it is handling its data capping policy. Comcast's new video services require users have an Xbox Live Gold subscription as well as subscriptions to Xfinity TV and Xfinity broadband services. Using these services won't count against customers' 250GB usage cap. Some groups see this as a violation of network neutrality -because it gives preferential treatment to traffic and to an in-house Internet video service.

Microsoft announced that its entertainment offerings on Xbox Live are being used more by members than actual games. This must be delightful for Microsoft, who had always wanted to get in the set-top box market; it turns out that the Xbox 360 was the foot in that door. Microsoft did not offer any numbers to go along with this newest boast beyond this: Xbox Live Gold members spend an average of 84 hours a month on the service, and that entertainment app usage has doubled year-over-year. When it says "entertainment," this includes TV, music and movie services.

According to VOX Games, Comcast's Xfinity On Demand service for Xbox 360 won't count against subscribers' bandwidth caps. That's good news for Comcast customers who were concerned about running afoul of the data cap because they decided to view some video content "over the internet." Of course, it would probably better news if Comcast was announcing that it had decided to eliminate data caps altogether, but we'll take what we can get.

In a recent interview with GigaOM Zynga CEO Mark Pincus hinted that some Zynga properties might be playable on the Xbox 360. Pincus said that his company is working on developing cloud support for several platforms including the Xbox 360. Earlier in the week it was also revealed that, for the first time, Zynga would have a major presence at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

According to this C&VG report, Capcom is aware of hacks being used to play unreleased Street Fighter x Tekken DLC content on Xbox Live, and will do something about it.

Jason Helton pens an F-U letter to the guy who hijacked his Xbox Live account (and credit card) and decided to buy a bunch of crap on Xbox Live. The lover letter can be found over at Joystick Division, and might be funny until you consider what this poor guy had to do stop this interloper. For one, he probably had to cancel his credit card and try to dispute any purchases the guy made, and then he decided to simply wipe his Xbox Live account to avoid any further agitation.

This morning Eurogamer ran a report on a number of users complaining that their Xbox 360 Achievements and Gamerscores were mysteriously being wiped. As you can imagine users were emailing them and other outlets franticly detailing their losses and how they had contacted Xbox Live support.

One of the reasons I dumped HBO was because my cable provider (who ironically, owns HBO) refused to offer HBO Go in my area. Now HBO is apparently in style locally and can be enjoyed on various platforms including iOS and Android devices. Today we learn that the on-demand HBO service will finally make its way to Xbox Live, according to this VOX Games report.

The most recent Xbox Live dashboard update had something in it that wasn't heavily advertised, but was much welcomed when it was finally revealed. The update, which went live last week, returned the Xbox Live Indie Games section back to prominence within the games section, putting the category back on par with Xbox Live Arcade Games and Games on Demand. 

In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Double Fine co-founder Tim Schafer said that the indie developer exodus from Xbox Live and PlayStation Network should be a wakeup call for Microsoft and Sony. Indie developers who once flocked to consoles have been steadily leaving for platforms that offer more exposure to their games and listen to them when they have issues.

Xbox Live general manager Alex Garden has issued a statement about ongoing concerns about Xbox Live account security. In the letter he says that many of the security issues have very little to do with the Xbox Live service, which has not had its security breached. The letter is in response to numerous user complaints about their accounts being hijacked or stolen, and their points being used. He acknowledges that there is little comfort in knowing that Xbox Live is secure when a user's account has been compromised.

CD Projekt RED, makers of The Witcher 2, say that there are real issues that could arise from Microsoft attempting to block the use of used games in its next generation console. Rumors have surfaced that Microsoft plans to block the use of used games on its new platform - a rumor many game developers heralded as a "good idea." Used games have become a punching bag for publishers and developers in the last several years who spend a lot of money developing games only to see marginal returns.

Stephen Toulouse (better known by his nickname "StepTo"), Xbox Live's director of policy and enforcement, has resigned from his position at Microsoft after 18 years with the company. He announced his departure from the company on his personal blog. His last day at Microsoft will be February 15. Although he says that his reasons for leaving are personal he also emphasizes that the exit from Microsoft is amicable.

Microsoft has added some new streaming video services on Xbox Live that fans have been asking for for awhile. The company announced that the popular Crackle and CinemaNow services are now available to Xbox Live Gold members. 

Crackle, Sony's popular free movie and TV streaming service, is available in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States regions. It offers a healthy selection of old movies and TV shows. CinemaNow, Best Buy's movie and TV rental and purchase service, is only available to US Xbox owners for now.

According to several outlets - most notably Inside Mobile Apps, Microsoft is rumored to be considering dumping its Microsoft Points currency that it uses on Xbox Live Marketplace for real world dollars. Transaction will allegedly be shifted over to real world dollars instead. Naturally transactions would use the currency of the region a given account is in.

VentureBeat has a great profile on Homeless, an Xbox Live indie game that puts you into the well-worn shoes of a homeless person. The basic premise of the game is that you are a homeless guy who must beg for quarters from passers by, trying to get enough money together to get through another day.

According to a Digital Factory investigation, the new dashboard update that was supposed to turn the Xbox 360 into a savvy media-friendly device suffers from one serious problem: reduced video playback quality. What's more, Microsoft reportedly knew about it and covered it up, says this C&VG report. Apparently the update forces video content to run at "limited range RGB levels," which results in washed out colors.

While Microsoft might not appreciate it too much, Reddit users have found a way to block the ads (which many find to be obnoxious) being served up post-Xbox Live dashboard update. People tired of seeing that Chuck Norris World of Warcraft ad (for the record I love that ad!) in the Xbox Live dashboard got together on Reddit and created two work-arounds. One involves blocking the ad server in your router - assuming that it supports it. Another method is to reroute your traffic with the free OpenDNS service.

Microsoft has released its My Xbox Live App on Apple's App Store. The free app lets Xbox Live users access their profiles on the go much like the Xbox Live hub on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. The app features the Metro UI style that Microsoft has deployed across all its current products, including the recent Xbox Live dashboard update and Windows Phone 7. The app also links to a browser-based demo of the Windows Phone 7 OS.

Microsoft is rolling out the new Xbox 360 Dashboard, but not without some problems, according to a report at IGN.

Apparently, users are getting video and connection issues, while others are reporting problems as serious as a dead console.