GreenPeace, our favourite hands-on environmental safety organisation have recently been checking up on our 3 major console creators. A recent report known as ‘Playing Dirty’ was issued after the autopsy of the Nintendo Wii Remote, PS3 Sixaxis Controller and Xbox 360 controller found many hazardous chemicals used in the circuit boards. Including aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium and bromine indicative of brominated flame retardants (BFRs.) all 3 controllers tested very high indeed for levels of Bromine. GreenPeace Says:

“Brominated flame retardants do not break down easily and build up in the environment. Long-term exposure can lead to impaired learning and memory functions. They can also interfere with thyroid and oestrogen hormone systems and exposure in the womb has been linked to behavioural problems.”

Phthalate, DHEP, which is probably the most concerning chemical involved when it comes to the male side of things, is known to interfere and damage the sexual development in mammals - especially males. High levels of this substance are found in the Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers. To be fair, if guys are spending long enough on their consoles to be effected, the chances are - they won’t be doing much reproduction anyway.

Download the ‘Playing Dirty’ report.

On the 14th of May, 2008, it was announced that the war appears to be over between our 7th generation gaming consoles. Although a bloody battle with many people left wondering what will happen next, we finally hit a marker which declares a winner.

Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, announces:

“This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad. History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”

Quite a shock, everybody seemed to have it in there head that the 360 would lose miserably when put up against the PS3 and Nintendo Wii, but be honest. It’s been a long, drawn out battle between the 3 competitors, but with Xbox 360 bringing out such games as Call of Duty 4 and GTA IV, it’s no wonder sales of the console rose to new levels. Sure, these games are available on the PS3, but the PS3 costs so much more than the 360.

“Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership,” said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC. “Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base - 12 million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations.”

Xbox 360 is also the leader when it comes to best-selling games. With the launch of “Grand Theft Auto IV” in April, Xbox is now the home of an amazing 16 platinum titles, which have sold through over 1 million units. Titles such as:
Halo 3
Madden NFL 07
Madden NFL 08
Gears of War
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Call of Duty® 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Gave the 360 two times more platinum-selling titles than the Nintendo Wii, and a massive 8:1 lead over the PlayStation 3.

It’s not just the buyers who are announcing the 360 the winner, it’s also to critics. Professional critics ‘Metacritics’ have given an outstanding 91 titles a review score of 80 or above. This is a major piece of information when you realise that only 22 Wii titles have received a score of 80 or above, and 50 PS3 titles too.

According to The Mercury News blogs, ‘Jasper’ is the codename of the soon-to-be brand new Xbox 360 chipset. Jasper is said to be smaller, and more reliable than the previous, known as ‘Falcon.’ The reason for this upgrade is because in complete honesty, the Xbox 360 has had problems. Whether it be hardware faults or simply over looked characteristics, Microsoft are accepting the responsibility and are sorting it out. The benefits the Jasper chipset will bring will apparently be that the console above all, will be more reliable for the user. Also, the new chip will cut costs on the creation of the console, meaning we can see a nice drop in shop prices too when it’s released.

Don’t go expecting a huge drop in price, and definitely don’t expect one soon. Microsoft have said they expect these models in stock until the middle of 2009. Engineers also believe that they have sorted out the ‘Red Ring Of Death’ problem caused by the cooling systems, meaning we can expect to purchase a good, healthy console, at a good price, without the worry of having to ship it for for repair only a few months later.

The original XBox controller was OK, pretty much like the console itself. Not absolutely amazing. The controller had comfort to it, the triggers were the first of their kind and introduced them to the 7th generation consoles we enjoy using today. The only problem with the Original controller is that it was too big, and it threw people off.

Even in just a picture, you can see it’s big, but the shape is great, it was comfortable, as long as you could get used to the size. Luckily, i could, and i enjoyed playing the XBox very much. The triggers were a great idea, especially considering the launch title ‘Halo: Combat Evolved’ (a first person Shoot-em-up set in the future.) But i’m sure you can tell, many people were thrown off by the size, after all, it doesn’t look sleek, or agile - it’s a monster!

Fortunately, Microsoft took this in mind and redesigned it ready for the XBox 360, the idea is the same, things were just down sized, the black and white buttons were replaced and above all it just got better.

 The XBox 360 controller follows pretty much the same structure as the original controller, but is easier to get used to, and looks far better now. Instead of the black and white buttons, the xbox 360 controller has 2 extra shoulder buttons, which is a far better idea because they are easier to reach. The XBox symbol has been down sized - a lot! meaning the controller can be made much much smaller. The analogue sticks are much easier to use in sync with each other because of the new positions and the A, B, X and Y buttons are easy to press because of the right analogue sticks new placement.

The XBox logo in the center is also a button now, holding complete control over the consoles power switch, as well as being able to turn itself on and off. I think it’s safe to say this controller is far more appealing as well, this one is sleak, it is agile, it looks fantastic!

The main improvement of the controller is the fact of it being wireless… XBox controllers had a fault to them when it came to wires, wrapping them around the controller for storage would start to pull the wire out, and eventually, you would have an ugly looking wire hanging out of the back. The new controller does not have that problem. Although wireless is the standard controller for the 360, wired controllers are also available, meaning you can save money when it comes to playing multiplayer games.