It’s official, Verizon is teaming up with Microsoft to provide live TV on the Xbox, a first for the console. The rumors were accurate. It appears that the service will work like this: Verizon FIOS TV and Internet subscribers who have Xbox Live will be able to download a Verizon app designed specifically for the Xbox. Yes, it has Kinect functionality. The app will provide users with as-yet-ill-defined “collection” of content in HD right through their Xboxes.

This is a first for the Xbox — and consoles as a whole — and represents a step in a new direction for consoles that are trying harder and harder to market themselves as out-and-out media devices and not just expensive, shiny boxes for man-children with disposable incomes who like to get yelled at by unbelievably foul-mouthed 10-year-olds while playing Modern Warfare. Not that that depiction is right, but it does exist to some extent. Having TV content will make the Xbox more like a DVR (or VCR for you neanderthals) and hopefully open up its market. Of course, this all leads to one big, looming question. Why?

Probably hurting for shelf space like the rest of us multiplatform gamers, reddit user timofend took it upon himself to fix the issue and put an old 80 gig model PlayStation 3 and a slim Xbox 360 into a PC tower. Not exactly the unified console every gamer hopes and dreams of, the PC tower mod does save a significant amount of space, and though one may suspect it to be, isn’t even liquid cooled, as timofend notes that when each machine is running simultaneously inside the tower, they only run at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit — something my launch model PS3 does on its own. Head on past the break to see a few pictures of the mod.

The wait is over. Everything you ever wanted to know about Call of Duty‘s new social-networking, stat-tracking, DLC-content-delivering service, Elite, is now known to the public. Where do we start? For the sake of background, let’s cover some of the features. Elite will allow users to track all kind of in-depth stats like weapon analysis, personal leaderboards, perk and screenshot sharing, advanced clan support and even video coaching in the form of tips and tricks. It also comes part and parcel with forthcoming MW3 DLC, all for the low, low price of $50.

Is that such a low, low price? When Elite was announced, we were all assured that it would cost less than the “fees for comparable online-entertainment services,” and to a certain extent that seems to be true. That’s cheaper than a year of Xbox Live, PSN Plus, or Netflix, but the thing is that Elite gives you MW3 and nothing else. When you take the variety of content into account (or lack thereof) the comparability to other online services kind of dies down. Still, if you take your Modern Warfare extremely seriously, this pack will have things you’ll want, and if you were going to get the DLC anyway, you might as well pick up the rest of the perks by purchasing Elite. Just beware, once they start getting you to subscribe to things, they’re going to keep trying to do it over and over again.

If that wasn’t enough, Modern Warfare 3 is getting its own specially designed Xbox 360 model too. Check out a picture after the jump.

The yearly gaming convention that steals away many a gamer’s sleep has begun. Wake the fanboys, stoke the fires: E3 is upon us, and nary a gaming soul will be spared. E3 kicked off with Microsoft’s keynote this year. They announced a few doozies; Halo 4 and Gears of War 3 made an appearance. They announced a few things that will most likely be duds with the core Xbox gaming audience; A Disneyland Kinect game (they didn’t even get the better Disney) and a Sesame Street game developed by none other than gaming legend Tim Schafer, which still feels like a waste of Tim Schafer’s talents (he could be using them on Psychonauts 2!). A bunch of Kinect integration was discussed — some good, some forgettable — as well as the addition of YouTube, Bing, and an Xbox Live television streaming service. They also announced one big surprise: Minecraft on the Xbox 360.

Travel past the break for the full recap. That is, if you’re prepared to begin this year’s descent into E3 madness.

Feel like studying isn’t really essential to the college process? Well, neither does Microsoft! Through the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, Dell.com, and HP.com, students can now obtain a free Xbox 360 4GB console when they purchase a PC over $699 at one of the aforementioned participating retailers, gaining two gaming platforms for the price of one, successfully disrupting their college career.

If purchasing the PC through an online retailer, the student simply supplies their .edu email address. If said student does not have a .edu email address or prefers to purchase the PC from a walk-in store, said student simply needs to show their student ID.

The offer is available in the United States starting May 22 and end dates vary by retailer, so Microsoft suggests if one were to take advantage of the deal, to do it sooner rather than later. Those details you’re wondering about? Like how one proceeds to actually get the Xbox 360 after purchasing the computer? Microsoft suggests you see the individual retailer where the computer was purchased for details.

(via The Windows Blog)

Reportedly, hackers figured out a fairly easy method to obtain free Microsoft Points, which supposedly cost Microsoft up to $1.2 million. Generally, as any soul without a dime to his or her name but really wants some DLC is aware, there are various sites that offer free MS Points after one fills out various surveys (their legitimacy usually in question), but this method discovered by hackers actually worked: They found an algorithm to add to used MS Points codes which would generate fresh codes that users could exchange for MS Points. Supposedly, not every single generated code would work, but a majority of them did, which resulted in people continually generating and amassing new, 160MSP codes.

Along with the site that offered the generated codes, a program was released–via the general piracy community–that would generate and obtain the codes for users, which offered the choice between 160MSP codes, or a code for a Halo: Reach Banshee avatar prop or a 48 hour Xbox Live trial.

Microsoft quickly discovered and subsequently squashed the exploit, though one user of the exploit claimed he managed to steal about $150 in MS Points in 20 minutes of attempts. For more details on the exploit, head on over to The Tech Game forums, which is where the exploit originated.

A Microsoft representative responded to the situation, claiming that the exploit resulted in much less stolen money than the reported $1.2 million figure, and gave a pretty uninteresting response regarding how they will handle punishing the guilty parties:

“Our Policy and Enforcement team is evaluating whether or not certain individuals have violated the Terms of Use for Xbox LIVE and will take the appropriate enforcement on an individual basis. Codes obtained legitimately by users will not be impacted.”

At least Microsoft claims they will accurately evaluate and punish the appropriate parties, rather than the way certain other ridiculously popular teams handle money hacks.

(Save And Quit via GamesIndustry.biz)

Angry Birds, somewhat of a phenomenon of mobile gaming where you fling birds at structures that house hiding pigs, is headed out of the mobile market and toward the console market. Developer Rovio is planning on releasing Angry Birds for the PlayStation Network, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

According to Kotaku reader Ken, he got his hands on the upcoming Kinectimals before its launch, and when he loaded it into his Xbox 360, the poor console became locked out of Xbox Live through a series of silly and unfortunate events. Read past the jump for the details.

Ubisoft’s Beyond Good & Evil, one of the finest achievements in gaming history that no one bought, is getting another chance to reach the gaming masses by hopping on the recent HD remake bandwagon and getting a release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime next year.

Beyond Good & Evil, brainchild of Michael Ancel of Rayman fame, follows reporter Jade as she unravels an alien and semi-government conspiracy. The game, often referred to as “Zelda for adults,” essentially took everything that was good about the common gameplay amongst The Legend of Zelda francise, dispensed with everything gamers didn’t like about Zelda, painted it with a cartoony-yet-gloomy art style, and added an intricate plot with superb writing, stellar music and a hefty dose of brilliant comedy.

Despite being one of the finest achievements in gaming history, Beyond Good & Evil, like various other unfortunate critically-acclaimed games, didn’t sell well, being slashed in price by 80% shortly after it was released in 2003.

Adding fuel to the coming fire between Sony’s PlayStation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect, Sony launched an amusing satirical website, Yaybuttons.com, in support of buttons, something Kinect doesn’t have.

The site is actually quite funny, complete with an appearance by Kevin Butler, a fictional character Sony has been using as the PlayStation brand’s mascot for a while now, most notably in the “It Only Does Everything” ad campaign.