You can't act offended if you already laughed.

My Master Chief Snowman [Hawty Mc Bloggy]

It was a little stunning to learn last week that at least one disgruntled Xbox 360 owner had decided to skip the regular channels when dealing with a burnt out 360 and instead went straight to Bill Gates. Even more stunning, Gates apparently knocked some heads and got the guy sorted out in record time (24 hours).

While Consumerist reader, and Xbox 360 owner, Jon was delighted with the outcome, it seems Microsoft was not so much. Today they've dropped us a friendly note to remind everyone that Bill really isn't your go-to guy for Red Rings of Death:

Thanks, Mick!

GamePro tested all the latest wireless controllers to discover which had the best battery life, the Xbox 360 pad, the Wiimote or the SIXAXIS. After playing a variety of titles, they found that the Xbox 360 controller's battery life of 56 hours and 56 minutes bested the 36 hours and 43 minutes of the Wiimote and the 18 hours and 41 minutes of the SIXAXIS.

If the numbers appear tough to swallow, that's only because they are. Not to insult GamePro's testing methods, but our readers should know that one attempt at a control skewed these results in a major way.

Halo Wars" is being developed from the bottom up for the Xbox 360 and its control scheme to ensure that we deliver a groundbreaking console RTS experience. Given that, we have no plans to develop "Halo Wars" for Windows Vista at this time.

We very much are positioning ourselves to be the choice console of this generation, much like the PS2 was in the last generation.

What sucks worse than getting the Red Ring of Death? Getting the console fixed. Sure, there are some success stories regarding Xbox customer support. But there are some real headaches as well. Over at The Consumerist, tipster Jon took matters into his own hands. When his launch Xbox 360 crapped out, he emailed Bill Gates and customer service VP Kathleen Hogan. Within 24 hours, he got a reply from the escalation department saying that a new console was on its way. Jon tells The Consumerist:

UPDATE - EB Games Australia's Steve Wilson has said the claims are "99 percent bullshit, really".

EB Games Australia and Microsoft haven't always been on the best of terms. Last year's mass recall of 360 consoles by the retail giant, for example, probably didn't go down too well in the boardroom. But have things gotten even worse? They may have, as an alleged source from within EB Games has told Kotaku Australia's Logan the two companies are locked in a standoff over faulty 360 consoles. Seems that between last year's recall and overall RROD failures, EB Games have around AUD$10 million (USD$8,867,000) worth of 360s gathering dust in their warehouses. They accepted the returns themselves, rather than forcing thousands of customers to go through Microsoft's support network, and want MS to reimburse them. Microsoft are, supposedly, having none of it.

When Electronic Arts shuttered its Chicago-based development studio, the one responsible for titles like Fight Night and Def Jam Icon, EA prez Frank Gibeau chalked it up to an inability to meet standards for "responsibility for product quality, ship dates and profitability." Tough words, especially when some of that blame was most likely shouldered by former general manager of the studio, Kudo Tsunoda. Fortunately for Tsunoda, he has a new home, with GameTap reporting today that he's landed at Microsoft.

Tsunoda, best known for his fighting games, including a licensed Marvel Comics brawler that may have been scrapped, has been supposedly put to work on a popular franchise. A new Gears of War title is said to be his first project. An interesting fit. And by interesting, I mean, you better not screw this up, Kudo, or you're in big trouble. Oh, and congratulations.

Kudo Tsunoda Jumps EA Ship, Lands at Microsoft [GameTap]

Back when I was an NES junkie, I owned only a handful of games. And that seemed liked a LOT. Now, I have my wife trying to throw away the Xbox/360, DS, PS2/3, and Wii cases that fill every nook and cranny of my living room (the vintage stuff is in my office). Apparently I'm not the only one to sacrifice my paycheck to purchase games, as Microsoft is now claiming a 7-game attachment rate per 360 sold—what they call a "record" for "consoles in relative history." Considering that most games for the 360 hit shelves at $60 a pop, not only are gamers buying more titles, but they're probably spending more money on said titles than ever before. (Translation: the Xbox 720 will offer titles at $70, suckers).

Microsoft CFO Liddell Talks [CNBC via Maxconsole]

With the word "recession" silently pursed on everyone's lips, it's surprising to groups like Nintendo and Microsoft, dancing around in a full hoot and holler, banging pots with spoons in celebration of their profits. So BloggingStocks points out that, hey, maybe the modern video game market is recession-proof. During a time when people might not buy a $20,000 car, consoles appear to fall in a pricepoint sweetspot while offering many hours of entertainment for the investment (and to a heavy gamer, that can be far more hours a week than even a car to a heavy commuter).

But does this mean games are really recession-proof? While it's tough to imagine Nintendo doing much better, one has to wonder if the crazy numbers we're seeing in the video game industry could be even bigger in different circumstances, fueled in part by an American economy running a higher level of octane.

Can Nintendo withstand a recession? [BloggingStocks via Maxconsole][gettyimages]

Microsoft revealed its own financial results for the previous quarter today, showing that the company's Xbox division—better known as the Entertainment & Devices Division, which also includes the Zune and more—was profitable. Again! That makes two quarters in a row that the division succeeded in not losing money, something that should please Master Gates, J Allard and investors. The group pulled in $357 million in operating income for the final quarter of calendar year 2007, much better than the loss of $302 million in 2006.

That puts Microsoft's Eⅅ team up over a half-billion for fiscal year 2008, which, if they continue to perform positively, will go a long to proving Robbie Bach right about profitability. Hey, they might not be Nintendo numbers, but it's a step in the right direction. After losing billions upon billions since the creation of the Xbox business, two quarters of profit is good news for Microsoft.

Do I hear some of you chanting three-peat(TM)?

Microsoft Reports Record Second Quarter Results [Microsoft]

We're sure that we have more than a few sword collectors in the audience—you know who you are because on your wall you have a few ninja stars, some Conan memorabilia and a duplicate of the Highlander sword. Why do you collect these things? Where do you find the money?

On a side note, said audience will probably find this Halo energy sword knockoff (spoiler: we know it's fake because it's made of metal) interesting. At 36" long and 14" wide, its stainless steel mirror finish is perfect for seeing the reflection of your gleeful (somewhat freaky) tears. Current bidding has the piece at $124.95. Yes, that may sound high, but after all, just what are your children's college accounts for anyway?

Halo Energy Sword [via hawtymcblog]

This is just a friendly reminder to Xbox LIVE subscribers that Undertow is free until Sunday. Microsoft is apologizing for the issues with their online service via this free XBLA download. And if you miss it, well, it's the equivalent to completely forgetting to water those roses that Crecente got his wife after that time she came home early and found him walking around in her high heels. In other words, if you want a proper apology, you've got to get when the getting's good. And for those who already own Undertow, we'd recommend you cash in on those 800 free points this week as well.

Microsoft's Surface technology sure is nifty, but it's going to cost a pretty penny. Oh, and it's real world applications are a bit questionable, too. But this Wii-mote hack, done in the Johnny Lee style does its best to recreate the Surface tech, without leaving greasy fingerprints. Maestro, as its creators at Cynergy have named it, requires a Wii remote and a pair of LED gloves—soon to be obsolete when we'll have the diodes embedded in our fingertips in the not too distant future—in order to work. More details are available by pressing play or visiting the YouTube page on the matter.

Cynergy Labs: Project Maestro [YouTube via Gizmodo]

Most of you have probably heard of StripClubDJ, even if you don't remember why. His real name is Gary Dudley, and he's Xbox LIVE's top ranked player with 245,825 gamer points...who also happens to also be banned from the service. And, according to one of our tipsters, he's trying to sell the account, soliciting the sale in two separate messages:

We've yet to actually see this PSP/Xbox 360 hybrid turned on, but from the looks of it, one modder has fused an Xbox 360 controller with a PSP system. The result reminds us of those monkey head swapping experiments dating back to the 1920s (note, that link is a bit graphic)—the concept might sort of work, but the accompanying scientific risks may be too high to make the gains worthwhile. And the end product is pretty freaking grotesque, too.

[via pocketgamer]

It is best to consider Alan Wake to be a Vista exclusive game.

One batch of numbers we didn't touch on from yesterday's NPD sales data figures were the 2007 year-to-date and lifetime-to-date console sales in the US. The figures reveal some enlightening, and for some, distressing, details about the current winners and losers in the US console war. For example, the Nintendo DS, which walked away with the #1 spot in '07, sold a total of 8.5 million units in the US last year, over twice that of the PSP and essentially doubling it's lifetime install base.

The rest of the annual sales are below (now with fresh Game Boy Advance numbers!).

2007 Total Hardware Sales

• Nintendo DS - 8,500,000
• Wii - 6,290,000
• Xbox 360 - 4,620,000
• PlayStation 2 - 3,970,000
• PSP - 3,820,000
• PlayStation 3 - 2,560,000
• Game Boy Advance - 1,120,000

But who's currently reigning supreme in totals?

With solid sales of 1.26 million Xbox 360s this past December and impressive software sales from Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 on the console, Microsoft seems noticeably up on news from the NPD Group that it was responsible for a couple extra billion in revenue. In its response to recently released sales figures, the company points out it did $4.8 billion in sales on its platform, more than Wii, more than PlayStation 3.

Microsoft also mentions that the gap between Xbox 360 and PS3 sales is widening, reminding everyone that multi-platform games like Assassin's Creed and Guitar Hero III are outselling their PS3 counterparts some more than two-to-one. The full MS strut, which includes another reference to Resident Evil 5 hitting this year, is after the jump.

The video game industry saw dollar sales in the U.S. of $17.94 billion last year, an impressive increase of 43% over the previous year, when it sold $12.53 billion worth of video games, consoles, portables and accessories. Sales were up across the board, with the biggest boosts coming from console hardware sales ($5.12 billion in business, up 73%) and accessories ($2.26 billion in business, up 59%). December alone saw $4.82 billion worth of video game goods sold, with over $2 billion worth of video games sold bolstering those figures.

More expensive hardware on the market for the full year certainly contributed to those impressive console hardware sales, but the 8.5 million Nintendo DS portables sold in 2007 had a lot to do with that, too. Look, everyone just made tons of cash, okay?

For a full breakdown of annual spending, plus comments from NPD analyst Anita Frazier, continue.

We won't trot out itprintsmoney.gif this time, because that animated image simply doesn't do justice to newly released hardware sales data from the NPD Group and the staggering figures coming out of Nintendo. The Nintendo DS sold an amazing 2.47 million Nintendo DS units to shoppers in December 2007, nabbing the number one spot and nearly doubling sales of its closest competitor, the Wii. Nintendo DS sales represent about a third of billion dollars in hardware sales alone.

The Wii also had a very good month, beating out console competition the Xbox 360 by a solid 90,000 and trouncing the PlayStation 3, who brought up the rear with a respectable six-figure showing. The December casualty report from the US Console War of 2007 is below.

• Nintendo DS - 2,470,000
• Wii - 1,350,000
• Xbox 360 - 1,260,000
• PlayStation 2 - 1,100,000
• PSP - 1,060,000
• PlayStation 3 - 797,600

Today's NPD sales numbers reveal that Bungie's Halo 3 was the best selling game in the United States in 2007, with a whopping 4.82 million copies sold. Nipping at Master Chief's heels was Nintendo's own Wii Play. It sold through a staggering 4.12 million units to the masses.

Despite generally negative review scores, it would seem that Wii owners were consumed by the prospect of more mini-games (and a second Wii remote) nearly on par with the thirst that Xbox 360 owners had for more Halo. An impressive feat for Nintendo, but more impressive for Microsoft, considering Wii Play had a seven month head start on the first-person shooter.

The top ten best selling games in the USA for last year are after the jump.

We're looking for a few 2D and 3D games created using XNA Game Studio for an upcoming opportunity to showcase the great work our community has been doing since we released the tools over a year ago. This could be the chance you and your game have been waiting for to enjoy the spotlight and anything that may come as a result.