It's been a while since we last heard from Commodore4eva's Xtreme Firmware for the TSH-H943. But now he has broken his silence and gave Toshiba-Samsung drives owners something to cheer about, with the release of Xtreme Firmware 3.0 for TS-H943 Xbox 360. I mean who wouldn't be thrilled, when the release comes with a tagline like this: "World first Media Stealth One Firmware Only Xbox 360 backup and extraction firmware modification!"

Before we go into the details, he would like to send his warmest thanks to to everyone who helped him with this project, either thru physical aid, or constructive comments thru various forums.

Features:

Stealth Media implemented into firmware. Backups now appear exactly as original disk regardless of which disk check command used by Xbox 360
Enable0800 mode supports extraction of raw PFI (Physical Format Information) and raw DMI (Disk Manufacturing Information)
Support for loading of extracted PFI and DMI from disk
Non-Stealth Backups automatically enhanced with embedded PFI for Xbox 360 and Xbox 1
Included new Video.iso for Xbox 360 and Xbox 1 backups, now the same as originals

Extraction part of firmware enabled with Enable0800 DVD. ISO included. Burn to DVD+R dual layer disk.
In Enable0800 mode, allows drive to function natively under Windows without any hardware conversion/adaptors
Boots all Xtreme Xbox 360 backups
Boots all Xtreme Xbox 1 backups
Boots all Xbox 360 originals
Boots all Xbox 1 originals on Xbox 360
Use on Xbox Live at own risk

The full article awaits after the jump!

It looks like China's piracy market has recently gotten another pillar to grow on. With the development of the flash hacks applicable to the Xbox 360's disc drive, illegally copied 360 games have spread in China like wildfire. Vendors sell games like Hitman: Blood Money for around $3.50. Even newer games, Ninety-Nine Nights for example, are almost instantly available.

Certain stores in Shanghai apparently even offer to flash Xbox 360s for free. However, due to the price of the Xbox 360 and the relative low wages in China, not many people can afford the console, so this limits the popularity of Xbox 360 piracy somewhat. Pirated Xbox 1 and Playstation 2 discs are still keeping the pole-position.

Microsoft will eventually try to strike back, be it with downloadable system updates via Xbox Live, which will make the exploit useless, or other methods. Back in May, Microsoft's reaction to the newly-discovered hacks was, "The core security system has not been broken. However, on some Xbox 360 consoles the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked via a complex software and hardware modification which could allow people to play illegally copied and modified games. We continue to invest in the security of the platform and will respond appropriately as unauthorized activity is identified".

Given the nature of the exploits, which are rather easy to do even for inexperienced people, their response needs to come sooner rather than later.

When Patto, in his letter, mentioned that we "haven't kept up-to-date with the Xtreme firmware 2.0 for TS-H943" I couldn't help but nod my head in agreement. The Toshiba-Samsung drive for the XBox also deserve some spotlight.

The latest one to release a firmware for the TS drive goes way back 6 July 2006 by Lupin, dubbed the Legal Toshiba-Samsung firmware patch for Commodore4eva's Xtreme Firmware. And as far as I remember, Commodore4eva dabbled in the Toshiba-Samsung drive back in the day before he concentrated his efforts on the LG-Hitachi drive.

Thank goodness, Commodore4eva hasn't forgotten this other XBox 360 drive. He confirmed this by releasing Xtreme firmware 2.0 for TS-H943 Xbox 360, is the pioneer in the One Firmware Only XBox 360  backup and extraction firmware modification genre. Using his creation there is no more need to switch from firmware to firmware to reflash your drive. A monogamous firmware? Just a thought.

He has included all you need to know about this release like how to flash your drive, extract security sectors, create a game backup and turning off the 0800 mode of firmware.

Check out all the info about this app after the jump!

Lionhead’s Sam Vantilburgh gave a small update on the progress of Fable 2. What he says is, the story for Fable 2 has been completed and is now being worked into the game.

Fable 2 is set some 500 years after your first visit to the world of Albion, and since then, there have been major changes to the scenery and inhabitants. The story will be longer than the original, and will also take on a more mature feel. Sam feels that many players will be "shocked" when they experience the twists that Lionhead has in store for Fable 2.

From the E3 trailer of Fable 2 (which you can watch below), we can already see that one major difference in the game story is the existence of guns. Sam also added that Lionhead Studios will give another update on Fable 2 some time next month. Fable is an action-RPG which debuted on the original Xbox console, and soon became one of the system's most popular games. Fable lets players direct their character's actions, morality, and even his love life, in a semi-nonlinear fashion through single player gameplay.

Fable 2 is set for release on the Xbox 360 in 2007.

Developers, Developers, Developers. No doubt if you saw the classic video of Microsoft's very own Steve Balmer gasping for breath after applading 3rd party developers you wont be forgetting it anytime soon. Seems Microsoft wants to make it clear that they love developers who want to take their tools into their own hands and run with it.

While there has been quite a number of great developments recently in the gaming scene, not many deal with the Xbox 360. Custom case accessories are nice, and playing legal backups to preserve your original is a cool feature. However these are "normal" compatability functions of the Xbox 360 and leave little area for exploration. Leading me to my next question... Where is the homebrew? The ability to play backup games on the Xbox 360 is facilitated by using a DVD firmware hack. So in essence, you can still only play Microsoft Official games. Not quite a full breakthrough when compared to the original Xbox.

So while Microsoft is apparently having problems with backwards compatability, hackers are not.

With a modified Xbox you are able to load up homebrew games, emulators for classic consoles as well as custom dashbords (replacement operating system) which you can customize to your hearts desire. But wait! Whats that there in the background? Is it a new menu for XBL Arcade, or something more?

 

Upon closer inspection you will see what appears to be the first homebrew running on the Xbox 360 console. The applications running in the background are original xbox emulators and homebrew applications. So while Microsoft is apparently having problems with backwards compatability, hackers are not. From left to right we have; Surreal 64 (a Nintendo 64 Emulator which provides 3 different engine modes for emulation), Avalaunch (a multi function dashboard, IRC client, file manager, news reader, etc.), and the Xbox 360 Storage Devices Menu displaying what appears to be a 500 GB Hard Drive. Whats your take? These look real to us but then again the internet and crafty photoshop'ers do go hand and hand.

The 360GameSaves team has released the latest version of their popular Xbox 360 file management software known as Xplorer360, bringing it up to Beta 5. This version comes with Datel driver support, improved Xbox 1 memory unit support and more. The Xplorer360 Beta 5 Change Log is as follows:

• Datel Driver support! Xbox 1 and Xbox 360 memory cards that use Datel's xbreader.sys / usbio.sys drivers should now work fine.
• Full / Improved Xbox 1 memory unit support - multi-media block transfers used, great speed and compatibility boost.
• Drag and Drop support with windows shell.
• Improved Backup / Recover functionality.
• Bug that sometimes prevented backups from being recovered to their original drive fixed.
• Xbox 360 drive recovery now skips config sectors. The Xbox 360 hard disk drive has a unique signature in its starting sectors that would prevent standard SATA hard drives from being used in the Xbox 360 console, based on the sector count and serial number, among other things. This also prevents the use of different images on drives with different serial numbers. Xplorer360 now skips these sectors, so that data can be exchanged between drives without disabling 360 compatibility.
• Improved file / folder rename functionality.
• Improved Xbox 360 hard disk drive detection.

Download: [Xplorer360 Beta 5]

blackbolt/4315" id="tag" title="">Team Blackbolt is back with an improved MC360. Although a few days late away from the T3CH release, the team promises this latest version to be better than the first one. Before going into the changelog for MC360, let me explain what this application is for, in case other people are still in the dark. MC360 is a UI skin that can be applied with a modded Xbox so Xbox 1 users can use the Xbox Media Center (XBMC).

Although still a beta version, v0.98565 promises to be a must-try with the following changes:

• Personal Settings.
• Card Setups, choose from 1 of 3 types on each blade.
• Download Themes directly from the skin.
• Various Effects in the Skins Animation.
• More navigation and memory optimisation, the skin will respond faster due to animation work.
• Fixed Graphical Error with lighting on Blades.
• FileStacking.xml was not able to view stacked movies unless - GUI option treat as one was enabled.
• Disable Background Animations & Background Visualisations.
• Added Large Thumb under Buttons on the left when in list View, can be turned off in Personal settings.

...and BlackBolt says these are just the big changes; more has been added so don't be surprised if you stumble upon something wonderful not listed in here.

If you decide to try out this cool build, make sure you have the latest XBMC CVS or T3CH release. If you have that covered, just copy the MC360 folder to the XBMC/skin/directory, boot up XBMC and go to the Appearance Options. When you're already there, select the MC360 skin then XBMC will reload with the new skin. Using the Theme chooser, you are now free to choose from the Custom Themes.

What are you waiting for? Click the download link below and enjoy Team BlackBolt's latest MC360 version.

Download: [MV350 Beta v0.98565]

With the Da Vinci Code Fever finally cooling down are you wondering where your next Conspiracy Theory Fix will come from? Don't look now but it's from another book. However, this one doesn't involve a Mary, a descendant of Jesus, a self-flaggelating albino and Tom Hanks with a hairdo inspired by an oil slick-coated furry animal that died while clinging to a rock the size of, well, Hank's head.

The book is called The Xbox 360 Uncloaked written by Dean Takahashi. The title alone suggests the next-gen console's history is darker than the image it projects today. We feature a page from that book that could have made the NY Times list of bestseller (we didn't take the effort to check) showing a memo from the Xbox 360's past.

The memo could be the damning evidence that Xbox 360 code breakers have been looking for all this time. We can't tell you what it says but we printed it here verbatim for your eyes only:

MessageFrom: X And The City

Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 7:28 PM

To: X And The City

Subject: X and the City - 10/29/2002

October 29, 2002 – Volume 4, Issue 19

"Who's coming as their Gamertag on Halloween?"

Xenon: We Could Tell You but Then...

Many people have been asking numerous questions about the next generation of Xbox. As we all know, there is a core development team actively working on the Xenon project. As you have also probably noticed, communication about Xenon has been scarce (for example, even the name "Xenon" is confidential and should not be used outside the group). Here is a brief summary of what is and is not happening on Xenon.

First, product-specific information about Xenon is not being shared widely. We have already experienced a significant information leak to one of our key partners, which is unacceptable. As you may know from Xbox 1.0, leaks of this sort can have a major impact on our business profitability. For this reason, if you know information about Xenon, keep it quiet. (BTW, if you leak information about Xenon, you should expect to be fired and prosecuted. 'Nuff said.) If you need information about Xenon, feel free to see Greg Gibson. As contracts get signed and we transition from partner selection to project execution, information will begin to flow more freely. Please be patient.

That said, the Xenon team is not working in a vacuum on the product development. Over the next two months, the product spec and initial architecture options are being reviewed at several levels. First, we are conducting developer feedback sessions to understand the impact of our hardware architecture on specific game engines. Second, we have initiated a Microsoft technical review board with several leads from Windows, Ehome, and Research to ensure that Xenon fits well into the corporate entertainment initiatives. Third, internal Xbox technical reviews will be held to leverage the vast experience (and scars) within our organization. Finally, several end-user reviews (such as focus groups and surveys) are being held to better understand how the product options are perceived by our consumers.

In short, Xenon is moving forward, information is intentionally scarce, and key customer feedback is being incorporated into the project plans. Feel free to contact Greg Gibson with questions and concerns.

Wanting to use your Xbox 1 gamesaves on your Xbox 360 but don't know how? Well, with 360GameSaves' game saves manager Xplorer360 and Datel's HDD adaptor XSATA, you can now easily achieve this wish. Maxconsole's FNG shares this tutorial on how to use the Xplorer360 and XSATA so everyone can finally have their Xbox 1 game saves on a 360.

The video has a detailed step by step process ensuring that you wont get lost in the whole project. Using the game GTA: San Andreas as an example, the five-minute clip shows us how to succesfully use Xbox 1 gamesaves on the 360. Click on the video above and try it out for yourself.

The backwards compatibility update that we announced yesterday has gone live today according to Major Nelson. The June 2006 update includes 21 games and 6 additional Japanese only titles. A few of the now compatible Xbox 1 titles are Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Star Wars: Battlefront. Hopefully Microsoft will keep working on Backwards Compatibility until they at least get  my personal favorite Psychonauts to work. The full list is as follows:

4x4 EVO 2, Amped 2, Bad Boys 2, Big Mutha Truckers, DOOM 3, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Fatal Frame, FlatOut, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Intellivision Lives, LEGO Star Wars, Minority Report, MLB SlugFest 20-04, The Punisher, RalliSport Challenge, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Spawn Armageddon, Spider-Man, Star Wars Battlefront, State of Emergency and Zapper.

The Japanese Only Titles are:
 Bistro Cupid 1, Flight Academy , Othello Seminar, Igo Seminar, Shogi Seminar, Mahjong Seminar.