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Some are sad to see Xbox Live die on the original big black box, but there’s a nice trade-off, asMicrosoft product director Aaron Greenberg says there will be more on the Xbox 360 version to make up for it. Kind of. He says that cutting off the service will bring a“new flexibility will allow us to bring more features to the Xbox Live Community on Xbox 360.” He tells Xbox World 360 magazine:“We’re at that point now where that community has largely transitioned off and onto the Xbox 360, and now, by discontinuing that support, we’re able to add more features without necessarily having to support things like that firends list integration where you could see your friends on Xbox1 or Xbox 360....

Another month, another episode ofOnce Upon a Pixel. According to Mr. Burch, this is the “purest” episode so far — that is to say, it is the one that is the cutest and sweetest. It is also the mostMega Man-ish episode to date, and the most educational. If all these things together sound good to you, then you’ll love OUP’s treatment of theMega Manuniverse! Hereis the link to the video. You can discuss it in the comments below or in thelovely forum threadthat’s been started....

Videogame analyst and skilled huntsman Michael Pachter has been shining his crystal balls once again and peering into the future, predicting that the recentNetflix/PS3 partnershiphas paved the way for the streaming service’s appearance on Nintendo’s Wii. “We anticipate that a similar arrangement will be announced for the Wii in the next 12 months,”declares the soothsayer. “We believe that the exclusive arrangement limits Netflix’s ability to appear on the ‘dashboard’ for the PS3 or the Wii, but because both devices have open architecture Internet browsers built-in, the solution proposed for the PS3 would likely not violate the terms of Microsoft’s exclusivity....

[Editor’s note: LukienAkeela shares with us howplaying with himselfhelped him deal with some bad times. — CTZ] The summer of 2005 was hot. There were record breaking temperatures and droughts set in Central Missouri. I was there as a part of AmeriCorps *NCCC, part of a nine person team working for a non-profit after school center known as The Intersection. For six weeks we toiled in the boiling sunlight on beautification projects for their property during the day....

Sony is kickstarting a rather cool fall sale on PlayStation Network, including a number of discounted PSP games that may well be worth checking out. Chief among the deals areMetal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerandDante’s Infernofor $19.99. Pretty decent! In fact, why am I telling you this? Here’s the word from Sony: PS3 PixelJunk™ Racers 2nd Lap– $3.49 sale price; $6.99 regular priceTop Gun– $7.49 sale price; $14.99 regular priceGundemonium Collection– $7....

Valve has revealed that smash-hit sequelPortal 2performed better on the PC than it did on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Score another one for the glorious Golden Gods that youpetty mortalsknow as PC gamers! “Portal 2did better on the PC than it did on the consoles;Left 4 Deaddid better on the consoles than it did on the PC. So you know we don’t attempt to guess, because we’re not sure what value there is to guessing,” said Valve boss Gabe Newell....

Resident EvilfansiteREhorror.nethas done some online sleuthing like a collection of Internet matlocks to discover what looks to be a potential new addition to theResiuniverse hidden in the official site of the upcomingUmbrella Chroniclesgame. The above shot is from a desktop wallpaper which was lying dormant in the official site’s root archive, waiting to be unearthed like some rare kind of fossil, a fossil with a mysterious power to whip up a nerdy frenzy as theREfancore descend into speculative nonsense....

User reports, including my own, are indicating thatthe nasty clock bugthat turned fat PS3s into glossy paperweights has been addressed. Or, at least, the bug has fixed itself. Like other Destructoid readers, I have been able to play my games, including downloadable ones likeFlowerandTrine, without receiving an error message. So, yeah, turn on your PS3. Celebrate by pouring orange juice inHeavy Rainor something. Hopefully, within the next few hours, we’ll get the official skinny on what exactly caused this crap to happen....

I haven’t seen theQuantum of Solacemovie yet, but I have played thevideogame. I can’t say much about it yet. I can say that the game looks great, and has a real movie feel to it. Daniel Craig looks exactly like Daniel Craig! Look for more details from our hands-on session coming later next week. For now, we have this behind-the-scenes look atQuantum of Solace‘s environments. You’ll see that all the scenes were taken right from the movies, with great care taken by QoS’s developers to re-create them within the game....

Red Faction: Armageddonis getting some pre-order perks and vary depending on where you get the game from. Pre-ordering from Best Buy will get you the Recon Pack which gets you the Recon uniform, Arc Welder and the XNG-5000. Pre-ordering from GameStop will get you the Commando uniform, Plasma Thrower and the Laser Pitstols. All the extra weapons and armor are detailed in both the videos here plus the gallery below. Planning on pre-orderingRed Faction: Armageddon?...

Destructoid just keeps on giving! Today we have five copies ofChampions Onlinefor the PC to give away to five lucky winners. These copies are the exclusive Wal-Mart Limited Edition packages so along with the game, you’ll be getting a collectible lenticular cover, exclusive zone map, iron-on decal and ten in-game micro-transaction dollars. What do you have to do to win? Simple. Just take a picture of yourself doing something semi-heroic. Here’s an example of what I’m looking for: Is that pickle jar giving your mom a bad time?...

What did videogame blogs talk about before LinkedIn? The most recent juicy tidbit seems to out that work on the sequel toAlan Wakemay well be underway. TheLinkedIn profile of an artistshows that work may have been done on the in-game cinematic for the title as recently as April of this year. While not officially announced,Alan Wakedeveloper Remedy — which shipped the first game just last year to quite a bit of buzz and generallyfavorable reviews— has always seemed keen on a follow up....

Nintendo of Japan has confirmed that it will be releasing theSuper Mario Collection Special Packfor the Wii in Japan this year on October 21. The Special Pack is said to be basically be theSuper Mario All-Starscollection released on the Super Nintendo back in the early-90s. The collection contained visually updated versions of classicSuper Mario Bros.titles, includingSuper Mario Bros.,Super Mario Bros. 2,Super Mario Bros. 3, andSuper Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels....