In a move that should make extroverted Xbox Live members happy, Microsoft will add Facebook and Twitter functionality to the next Dashboard update, currently being tested in public previews. But underage teens will get a cold dose of reality when they find they can't log onto the social networks from their favorite console.

Microsoft has blocked kids under 18 from accessing the popular social networking apps, though Facebook lets kids as young as 13 open accounts, and Twitter currently has no age restriction rule. Why? "Parents aren't able to use Family Settings to customize which applications their children can access," wrote Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb on his blog. "To offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn these applications off for [Xbox Live] Gold members under the age of 18."

Hryb promises a solution is on the way: a future Dashboard update with proper parental controls. When that rolls out, teens will be able to Facebook and Twitter as much as they want, just so long as their parents approve. But for now, they'll have to log in the old-fashioned way: on their computer. [From: CNET and Major Nelson]

Federal and state governments have placed significant restrictions on convicted sex offenders in recent years, enabling law enforcement to track and monitor the activities of certain deviants. A new bill proposed in Texas seeks to limit the Internet activity for sex offenders, and monitor their Web personas as well.

The bill, HB 22, which has yet to go before the Texas House of Representatives, could prohibit convicted level 2 and 3 offenders from accessing pornographic material or social networking sites, or having online dialogue with children under the age of 18. The bill could also force certain offenders to register their social network identifiers, gamertags, or handles, which affects online gaming realms like PlayStation Network (PSN) and Xbox Live.

If you think that sounds excessive, consider that earlier this month, a 24-year-old Texas man was arrested and charged with soliciting nude pictures of an underage girl while playing a game on PSN. In 2006, a man was arrested after allegedly attacking an underage boy he met while playing Xbox Live, so these things do happen. The bill must first pass the House before it can be considered by the Senate, so we'll be watching closely for further developments. If the bill becomes law, hopefully Texas will let this guy punish the predators with a lethal fist to the face, or an emasculating round-house kick to the groin. [From: Joystiq]

Amazon.com might still make most of its money by shipping physical items to your door, but it's clear that the online retail giant knows the future of media is digital -- not only is it pushing the Kindle and services like Amazon Video On Demand, it's expanding its downloadable video game catalog to include Xbox Live Arcade games today. The process seems a little clunky at the moment -- you buy a code from Amazon that you have enter into your Xbox -- and it's not exactly easy to compare prices, since Amazon charges you real money instead of Xbox Live points, but we're not going to complain too much about anything that increases gamer choice. (Using real money actually seems like a benefit to us -- we've never really loved the idea of points.) The service is live now, anyone going to do a little shopping?

[Via Joystiq]

A former Xbox Live user has been banned by Microsoft because her profile stated that she was a lesbian, according to a report in The Consumerist.

Identifying herself only as Teresa, the woman told her story in an e-mail to the site, reading, "[My] account was suspended because I had said in my profile that I was a lesbian." This should not come as a total surprise to anybody who recalls the story of the (admittedly) unfortunately named Richard Gaywood, who was banned from the service last year due to his user name -- 'RichardGaywood.' But this story goes one step further, as Teresa claims she was being harassed online by other gamers. In her e-mail, she wrote, "They followed me into the games and told all the other players to turn me in because they didn't want to see that crap or their kids to see that crap."

Following The Consumerist's lead, reporters from Ars Technica went to Microsoft for comment. Read the company's surprising official response after the break:

In the world of online games there is nobody so feared as the griefer. A griefer is someone who seems to enjoy playing online just for the joy of bringing others misery -- not by beating them at whatever game they're playing, but by being as annoying as possible, spewing profanity through voice chat or shooting teammates' characters. Now griefers with a bit of hacking know-how have a new tool at their disposal: a denial of service attack to knock their opponents completely offline.

By monitoring Internet traffic, gamers can determine the IP addresses of their opponents. If there's someone they don't like, they can launch a denial of service attack against him, flooding his connection and effectively forcing him offline. Some hackers are offering services (for a fee) that will enable gamers to quickly and easily identify their opponents, and are leasing access to collections of computers that can be used to launch those attacks.

This doesn't seem to be a flaw in Xbox Live itself, as the same exploit could likely be used against gamers on Sony's PSN network and possibly in the Wii's online play as well. What can you do to defend yourself? Using some sort of Internet router to hide your network behind a protective barrier would likely help, but ultimately there's not a lot you can do -- other than know who you're playing against online. [From: BBC News]

On January 15, according to Cleveland's NBC affiliate, Hawks allegedly traveled to the boy's residence in Michigan, staying there with him for some time. Having been arrested Monday and charged with rape and sexual imposition, Hawks is currently being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail.

While these allegations are still very much just that -- allegations -- this story is only the latest knot in a recent string of developments concerning teenagers, video games and violence. Despite a recent study concluding that violent games do not lead to violent behavior, the recent stories of the 'Halo 3' killer and the Xbox taco-slapper may suggest otherwise. [From: NewsNet5 via Alley Insider]

Related Links:

• Kid Kills Parent Over 'Halo 3'
• Violent Games Don't Cause Violence, New Study Says
• Video Games Linked Poor Relationsips, Drug Use

It's okay, Microsoft fanboys. Relax, take a shot from your asthma inhaler, everything is going to be okay. We can see clearly Redmond is trying to drive you outside where you might be forced to interact with people face-to-face as opposed to via a Wi-Fi enabled music player or a 'Halo' branded headset, but don't panic.

Microsoft is scaring its fans and driving the rumor mills crazy this morning by taking down both its Xbox Live service and its Zune services at the same time for "scheduled maintenance." Both services went down yesterday, with Xbox Live expected to comeback online later today and Zune to return tomorrow.

Though little is known about the Zune update, Major Nelson, a member of the Xbox launch team, is making it perfectly clear that users shouldn't expect any new features when Xbox Live service returns. "Let me reiterate: When the service returns, you will not have any new features and you will not have the new Xbox experience update. That will happen later this Fall," he posted on the Xbox Live forums.

Your favorite Microsoft services will be back on soon enough, in the meantime why don't you take a walk in the park, or give your parents a call? Your mother would have never bought you that Xbox if she knew you were going to replace her with it. [From: Engadget]

Online worlds are already plenty dangerous enough for impressionable kids. Now, according to USA Today, online gaming is being pegged as the next possible source of harm for young kids, with sexual predators using voice and text chat in online gaming services like Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network as venues to meet kids.

Several predators have been arrested after taking advantage of kids through these services. They tend to get to know the kids as they play games together, and as they become more familiar, exchange contact information.

For its part, Microsoft is helping law enforcement agencies figure out how to track the histories of such predators online and extract their messages and activity from Xbox consoles. However, as usual, the best prevention is for parents to keep an eye on what their children are up to. Yeah, we know you folks out there probably don't need another thing to worry about when it comes to your kids being online, but worrying is better than being ignorant, right? [Source: USA Today]

Over the last few weeks, Microsoft's Xbox Live service was suffering from a number of problems that prevented gamers from signing on or joining in games with their buddies. Those problems were rectified earlier this week (and then the service went down again).

Microsoft is coming out and not only explaining what caused the prolonged outage, but is taking the extra step of offering a free game as an apology.

Microsoft's Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten indicated that during those weeks, Xbox Live experienced the biggest period of growth in its five year history. The service, flush with new subscribers trying out their new holiday Xbox 360s, got a little bogged down and couldn't quite handle the traffic.

Marc didn't specify that only Gold subscribers would be receiving the free Xbox Live Arcade game, so it looks like it'll be made available to even Silver members who don't pay the monthly fee. The only questions now are which game and when, answers we should have in the next few weeks.

From Engadget

Related Links:

• Microsoft's Xbox Live Holiday Issues Resolved
• Player-Created Xbox Live Games Look Like Ads
• Atari Classics Now on Xbox Live Arcade

Microsoft's Xbox Live service offers the best and most consistent online gaming experience of any of the current consoles, easily beating the hodge-podge -- but free -- services offered by Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.

But at $5 a month, gamers aren't always getting what they paid for, especially when Xbox Live goes down. Gamers definitely weren't getting their money's worth over the holidays, with Xbox Live having problems ranging from timeouts during matchmaking (joining games) to failures during login.

This is doubly frustrating given the time of year, considering the fact that gamers are most likely on vacation with plenty of new games to play.

Microsoft's Xbox PR face Major Nelson confirmed the issues and has indicated that the problems have been largely fixed at this point. A recent test confirms Live appears to be operating normally, but it won't be much consolation to those who had hoped to spend a few hours (or days) online over the holidays and are now back at work!

From CrunchGear and Major Nelson

Related Links:

• Player-Created Xbox Live Games Look Like Ads
• Atari Classics Now on Xbox Live Arcade
• Microsoft Celebrates Five Years of Xbox Live With a Free Game

With Microsoft's Xbox Live service turning 5 years-old this week, the folks in Washington are celebrating with original Xbox games like 'Halo', 'Fable', 'Crimson Skies' and the underrated 'Psychonauts'.

Taking a cue from Nintendo, Microsoft is making these old gems downloadable. Xbox classics will run you 1,200 Microsoft points ($15) and will be available beginning December 4^th. Microsoft has stated that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that we can expect many more "Xbox Originals", as they are calling them, very soon.

Not only will offer those golden oldies but they are giving away the popular Xbox Live Arcade game, Carcassone, free for 48 hours beginning at midnight Wednesday (last night) until 11:59pm on 11/16.

From Ars Technica

Related Links

• Super Mario Galaxy is Heavenly, According to Reviews
• Player-Created Xbox Live Games Look Like Ads
• ESPN Games and Shows Now Available on Xbox Live

It was a big deal when, back in 2004, Electronic Arts decided to bring their massive platform of sports games to Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Before then, EA had its own online service and didn't want to have anything to do with Microsoft's, meaning Xbox Live sports gamers were out in the cold when it came to multiplayer. Today, it's not quite so major an announcement that ESPN has also signed up for Xbox Live, but this agreement has nothing to do with video games. ESPN will instead be using the Live Marketplace to hawk reruns of its shows and sporting events to the poor souls who didn't catch them live in the first place and forgot to set their DVRs.

For between $2.00 and $2.40, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download episodes of ESPN original shows like 'World Series of Poker' and 'Madden Nation' in either standard definition or high definition. For $3 to $4.50 gamers can download days- or even months-old sporting events. Last Saturday's USC vs. Oregon NCAA football game is the most recent thing available at the moment, while other coverage events include last week's basketball games and last summer's X Games. These offerings are similar to what ESPN offers through Apple's iTunes service, both in terms of price and availability, though if you want high-def content you'll need to use Live.

There's nothing close to a live sporting event on Live just yet (despite the name), but rest assured that if you missed last weekend's NCAA games you can now pay a couple bucks apiece and download 'em to your Xbox. Or you could save some dough and set your Tivo next time.

From Reuters

Related Links:

• New 'Simpsons' Game Is Actually Good
• Player-Created Xbox LIve Games Look Like Ads
• IPTV Coming to Xbox 360 With Fall Update?

Not long ago, getting any game on a video game console like Microsoft's Xbox or Sony's PlayStation required some sort of publisher to front thousands of dollars in capital for the production of discs and boxes and manuals. Thanks to Xbox Live Arcade, getting games on the Xbox 360 is a lot easier than it used to be, since publishers are essentially no longer required because games are sold and downloaded directly onto the console.

Xbox Live Arcade has been a boon to independent game makers, who were recently encouraged to submit concepts for original games in the in the Doritos "Unlock the Xbox" contest.

Submissions were narrowed down to five finalists, and those five ideas have been turned into relatively simple, Web-based games you can access at the Unlock Xbox site, where you can vote for your favorite. The winning title, to be announced on November 19th, will be the first user-created game to be developed into a full-fledged Xbox Live Arcade title for the Xbox 360.

We gave the games a test drive and think that picking the best one is a bit of a challenge -- and not because they're all so good.

Some, like 'Monkeys form Mt. Doritos,' are just existing games with a thick layer of corporate branding applied. In this case, a monkey chasing 'the wonderful flavor of Doritos(R)!' instead of Pac-Man chasing power pellets. Another, 'Rhythum Racing' seems highly derivative of an earlier PlayStation game, 'N2O: Nitrous Oxide', which itself was a bit of a knockoff of classic shooter 'Tempest 2000.' Then there's 'UDC: Ultimate Dodgeball Champions,' which seems to be the most playable, but may find itself a bit overshadowed before it gets out of the gate, given there's already a dodgeball-themed game coming to the Arcade, .

So, go try out the games and see which one you like, knowing that whichever wins at least won't cost any money.

And if you have any thoughts on any of the games, tell us what you think!

From BetaNews

Related Links:

• 'Guitar Hero III' Is Ready to Rock, Say Reviews
• After 'Sopranos,' Little Steven Tries Video Games
• IPTV Coming to Xbox 360 With Fall Update?

With Microsoft's promise of the Xbox 360 becoming your one-stop media hub becoming more and more evident with each passing day, the rumor of an IPTV update for the concave box should be a somewhat exciting non-surprise.

Recently, an Xbox 360 owner by the name of Aaron turned on his unit to see an interesting new icon had materialized on his dashboard that had four blank boxes and some text indicating that he could record live TV, see on-demand movies and chat while watching TV.

The option does not function at the moment, but does offer the website www.microsoft.com/tv , which takes you to the companies Mediaroom site, where some of the basics of Microsoft's IPTV features are explained.

His unit had just been returned from the repair center, which may explain how this weird preview ended up on his Xbox, but since he seems to be running the same dashboard version as everyone else (2.0.5787.0) it doesn't really explain why or how the currently non-working update came into being.

Either way, the photos he posted seem to lend credence to the rumor that this huge addition is impending in the Xbox 360's annual Fall Update.

Stay tuned!

From Xbox360FanBoy

Related Links:

Xbox 360 Gets Better, Darker
HD-DVD Players Drop to Sub-$200 Price Tag

If you were looking for a spy, where would you start. The baccarat table? A dark alley? A Washington D.C. parking garage? Xbox Live?

That last place probably wouldn't be high on your list, but that's exactly where the British government is starting a recruitment campaign to find potential spies interested in employment. The ads will be embedded into the popular online game 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent,' with the hopes of attracting the eye of gamers with an interest in that sort of thing.

By the sounds of it, recruits won't be given new names and shipped abroad, or have their existences denied should they be caught. Rather, British Intelligence is looking to hire people who are "computer-savvy, technologically-able, quick-thinking."

Notice there's no mention of physical ability, overpowering charm, or ability to stomach hard liquor. In other words, they're looking for your typical gamer, so those who accept will be far more likely to find themselves in a computer server room than a villain's secret lair.

Much safer, that.

From AOL Money & Finance (AP)

Related Links:

• Scientist Using Eight PlayStation 3s to Study Gravity
• Off-Track Horse Betting Comes to Cell Phones
• 'CSI' and 'The Office' Coming to 'Second Life'