Hasta La Gadget!

The last time that Xbox 360 gamers were treated with a free weekend of Xbox Live Gold was back in November. It’s certainly been a few months, but Microsoft has announced that the promotion is back this weekend, giving those who don’t have a Gold membership the opportunity to take part in the $60/year subscription service.

The free weekend starts at 10 am ET, which is about a half-hour from now at the time of this writing, and it will end on Monday at 1 pm ET. However, only Xbox Live users in the US, Latin America, Japan, and Canada, so it seems those located in Europe and the UK are out of luck this time around.

Furthermore, some games will be offering double XP this weekend during the promotion, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Far Cry 3, and Assassin’s Creed III. Netflix is also premiering its newest original series on the video-streaming service tonight, called Hemlock Grove. EA Sports will also be hosting free tournaments on a variety of their games, including FIFA 13, NBA 2K13, Madden NFL 13, and NHL 13.

While Europe is jipped of a free Xbox Live weekend this weekend, they actually had a free weekend last month with other regions of the world excluded, so Microsoft says that it’s the other way around this time. The free weekend back in November also excluded Europe, but hopefully we’ll see the company release a free weekend where all regions are involved in the future.

Microsoft offering free Xbox Live Gold this weekend is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The recent drama over the next Xbox potentially including an always-on mode that would require its users to be connected to the Internet escalated recently when Microsoft’s creative director Adam Orth commented on the debate through Twitter, which resulted in the company apologizing for his comments and possibly sparking his early dismissal. But all of that drama may have been for nothing according to a new rumor which puts the always-on rumor to rest.

According to an anonymous source, it seems an always-on Xbox was never being planned. “You are not required to be connected to the internet in order to play Durango games and [Microsoft] were NEVER considering doing such a thing,” the source claims. “Now please, just read that last sentence over and over again until it sinks in. Done? Good.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Quartet Of Launch Titles Leaked For Next Gen Xbox (Rumor), Xbox 720 Always-On Tweets From Microsoft Creative Director Leads To Resignation [Rumor],

Microsoft announced late last year it would be rolling out over 40 new applications onto its Xbox 360 up until the end of spring 2013. One of those applications that was promised to be released was Flixster, which not only helps make your movie choosing a little more social, but the service also integrates with Rotten Tomatoes scores. It looks like Microsoft kept to their promise as Flixster is announcing its application has just officially launched onto the Xbox 360.

The Flixster app is a completely free download and will allow you to make your way through its service through Kinect or voice-based navigation. And for the first time, Flixster is making it possible for users to play back UltraViolet-linked video files in HD. We know there are probably more video-streaming services on the Xbox 360 than you know what to do with, but we’re sure you can somehow fit Flixster into your life if you’d like to learn how well recently released movies are doing, know what your friends want to see, or just watch an UltraViolet video.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Silverlight Coming To Xbox 360 To Enable More 3rd Party Apps?, LoveFilm Now Available On The PS3 In UK,

We think it’s safe to say Minecraft has been a complete success on the Xbox 360 as the last time we heard of its sales, it reached 5 million copies sold. Hearing a retail version of the game was being planned was no complete surprise to us considering how well the game has done in its digital format. The retail version of Minecraft is still coming, just not at the end of April as it was originally announced.

The retail version of Minecraft for the Xbox 360 has been hit with a delay in the U.S. and is expected to be released on June 4. The news comes directly from Microsoft’s Larry Hyrb, who is better known as Major Nelson, in a recently published tweet saying the reason for the delay is “in order to include the very latest content.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Power Glove Oven Mitt Keeps You Cooking ‘So Bad’, Skyrim Will Not Receive Additional DLC As Team Will Be ‘Moving On’,

Action-RPG Dark Souls has sold an estimated 2,367,000 copies worldwide, according to the executive director of “From Software” (Dark Soul’s publisher in Japan), Eiichi Nakajima. The sales have amazed From Software so much that it decided to launch an Xbox 360 version of the game in Japan. While the game was released for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 overseas, it was only limited to the PS3 in Japan.

According to From Software’s data, over 375,000 copies of Dark Souls was purchased for the PlayStation in Japan. Overseas, over 1.3 million copies of Dark Souls was purchased for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 combined. From Software had a separate chart for copies of Dark Souls with the “Artorias of the Abyss” expansion. The expansion was included in the PC edition of Dark Souls, and was released as a DLC for PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 users. 137,000 copies with the expansion sold in Japan for both the PC and the PlayStation 3, while 555,000 of the copies sold overseas for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

These figures come shortly after gameplay footage of the game’s sequel, Dark Souls II, was released. Dark Souls II will feature the same gameplay mechanics as Dark Souls, but will feature a world that is twice as big. The game will still keep its challenging gameplay renown in the series since Demon Souls. Yui Tanimura, co-director of Dark Souls, states,

“We do not plan on having an Easy Mode since we are creating this game with a thought that challenge and difficulty are core elements of the game.”

Dark Souls II will again be released by From Software in Japan, and like Dark Souls, will be released by Namco Bandai in North America. It will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC for both countries, and will continue on the same momentum as its predecessors. While Dark Souls took place in the kingdom of Lordran, Dark Souls II will take place in a completely new setting. The game will once again revolve around a character seeking out a cure for a curse he has been afflicted with. Check out the 12-minute Dark Souls II gameplay video above.

[via NeoGaf]

Dark Souls sells over 2.3 million copies worldwide is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.