<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Introduction</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
We now have a 360 releases section on gbatemp ( <a href="http://gbatemp.net/f195-xbox-360-scene-releases" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/f195-xbox-360-scene-releases</a> ) so I will now be posting games there from now on, if and when these posts happen again in the future it will be more for XBLA, DLC and homebrew (and indeed such things may be in there instead).
Quite a few releases happened since last post but the regulars of this section have kept current on the big releases since last post so thanks as always to all that helped out. More happened than I thought it would so this should hopefully allow you to play catchup.
For those just joining us when these threads were first started/brought back GBAtemp was a Nintendo based site so the main focus of the portal and staff was towards Nintendo systems. We do however have more than a few members who like other consoles and those other consoles can be hacked in various ways. These threads aimed to be quick summaries of the state of the 360, the old threads are at the bottom of each new thread if you want to catch up or just see how things played out.
Realistically we can cover anything to do with the 360 but usually the focus is on the modding side of things, this includes
360 disc iso releases- this is the mainstay of the posts and the thing that gets them moving in the first place (if nothing happens here the other stuff will either be kicked to an individual thread or left for the next post). Any nuke information (see the last few sections of the thread for more on that) will also be included in the posts and likewise any confirmed games added to the 360 game verification tool ABGX360.
As we are an English speaking site we cover big releases (a short writeup/mini review if possible, release name, region locking information and NFO) in the main section while the smaller releases (those without English in and region dupes that do not add anything from the perspective of an English speaker- new content or new region compatibility) are usually covered with a link to the NFO a line on it if necessary although we will cover a big Japanese release on the rare occasions one happens (the 360 is not big in Japan so early Japanese releases and Japanese exclusives do not happen all that often).
The xbox live arcade (XBLA) releases- a new thing that appeared with the homebrew hacks from last year is the ability to run xbox live arcade games without needing to go through MS to get them. Also included in this is the downloadable content (DLC), with many developers looking towards these to add sometimes many hours to the games they are well worth checking out.
Included alongside this and available to all with hard drive access is the game updates (title updates).
homebrew news- emulators, media players, hack updates, rebooter app updates and other things like it.
modding news- will usually sit with homebrew news and indeed to try and separate them is near impossible, this includes things like new repair kits, controller mods, mod chips, microsoft responses to such developments (banning consoles from live happens and the hacker response) and most importantly hacked DVD drive firmware updates.
Homebrew can come from anywhere but with the iso releases and especially the XBLA releases our focus is on the "scene"- anything that ultimately originates from a p2p network will be mentioned in passing if it is a hotly anticipated release (indeed several releases in years past were first seen on p2p networks) but as anyone who has followed the 360 scene will be able to tell you the p2p 360 side of things frequently do not have a clue.
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Nukes and related news as well as less notable releases.</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<u><b>Nukes</b></u>
Some nukes since last time (ABGX will lists 255).
<b>UFC.Undisputed.2010.RF.XBOX360-UFCKiLLA</b> got nuked for being a p2p repack. Proper scene release in <b>UFC.Undisputed.2010.XBOX360-SWAG</b>
<b>Alan.Wake.RF.MULTI.XBOX360-RanGer</b> got nuked for being a p2p dupe. Proper scene release in <b>Alan.Wake.XBOX360-GLoBAL</b>
<b>Madagascar.Kartz.PROPER.RF.XBOX360-dumpTruck</b> and <b>Madagascar.Kartz.PROPER.RF.NFOFIX.XBOX360-dumpTruck</b> appeared but the original in <b>Madagascar.Kartz-XBOX360</b> only got nuked for invalid rar size so no worries there.
Basically nobody got nuked for a bad release- just p2p repacks and scene rules.
<u><b>Less notable releases</b></u>
The usual selection of Japanese region dupes since last post and a handful of other things
<b>Tropico_3_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b> Japanese region dupe of Tropico 3, unknown region locking.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3267" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>2010_FIFA_World_Cup_South_Africa_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b> Japanese region dupe of the football game. Region locked Japan only.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3250" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Metro_2033_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b>- Japanese release of the FPS Metro 2033.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3249" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Senko_no_Ronde_Duo_JAP_XBOX360-KFC</b> makes the main post.
<u><b>XBLA games and DLC content</b></u>
XBLAplus and RB-DLC seen to have taken over FYK on the DLC and XBLA front although there has not been that much activity. Naturally you need a homebrew capable 360 to run all this.
From now on all music game DLC will be taken aside and listed by itself, any DLC for other games will be given proper writeup honours.
If NFOs are not linked up <a href="http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36</a> (better yet <a href="http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36&ord=1" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36&ord=1</a> ) has them all though if you fancy searching.
<b>XBLA</b>
Several releases here thanks to XBLAplus. A good crop this time around and with the possible exception of Things On Wheels all worth a look in.
<b>Metal_Slug_XX_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
You probably know what Metal Slug is by now, this is an enhanced port of Metal Slug 7.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3265" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Aqua_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
A dual stick shooter where you play as a boat, <a href="http://www.co-optimus.com/game/1558/xbox-live-arcade/aqua.html" target="_blank">http://www.co-optimus.com/game/1558/xbox-l...rcade/aqua.html</a> says local co-op too and it got some decent reviews as well.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3264" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Things_On_Wheels_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
An XBLA game featuring RC cars and looking around seems to evoke the same feelings as micro machines games- could be enjoyable if not for the quirks.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3246" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Rocket_Knight_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
The term enhance port gets used very often when describing XBLA games and this is no different, based on a megadrive/genesis game of the same name.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3245" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Zeno_Clash_Ultimate_Edition_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
A 360 port of steam game from last year. It is an FPS but it is mainly about your fists and close quarters and it is noted for being very weird in themes, enemies and styling (it is suggested in every review I scanned that somewhere along the way some the developers were fans of mind expansion of various forms).
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3235" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>RayStorm_HD_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
Another enhanced port of an old game. This time around it is the turn of Raystorm- a fairly well liked 2d shooter first seen on the PS1.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3234" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>DLC</b>
Once again the list is dominated by music game updates (in fact that is all that happened in DLC world).
<u><b>Homebrew</b></u>
Where to start with homebrew..... things have moved on quite a bit since last post so a summary type post is probably better. Thanks as always to HB-released for keeping track of all this.
A couple of applications of interest to those with DVD drive hacked systems appeared
A nice security sectors (SS.bin) patcher appeared that apparently should work on games/files that ABGX360 complains about.
<a href="http://mattryder.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/mousepatcher-360/" target="_blank">http://mattryder.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/mousepatcher-360/</a>
Jungleflasher got updated- it added some key verification routines (not of great use to most people but will speed things up a bit for those modding a lot of systems).
<a href="http://forums.jungleflasher.net/index.php?topic=385.0" target="_blank">http://forums.jungleflasher.net/index.php?topic=385.0</a>
Another hard drive/memory card filesystem application appeared, this one looks quite simple so it may be quite handy for those just wanting basic manipulation abilities.
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/216377-freefatx-xbox-memory-device-tool/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2163...ry-device-tool/</a>
Xbox 360 commander also got an update <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=710285" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=710285</a> (it is mainly for backup, transfer and formatting rather than manipulation of single files).
Consaver (originally known as batch con flag remover), a tool for fixing saves/profiles messed up because of bans, had several updates <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713004" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713004</a>
XBLA and DLC management tool XM360 got updated with some bugfixes and enhancements.
<a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=712471" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=712471</a>
PC side tool xbox 360 game identifier appeared:
<a href="http://jtagxbox360.info/app-releases/xbox-360-game-identifier-by-jjmpsp" target="_blank">http://jtagxbox360.info/app-releases/xbox-...ifier-by-jjmpsp</a>
Can match up the number system the 360 uses to the game names among other things.
Several tools aimed at making the first time hacking stuff when JTAGing a system appeared (Jtag Tool, EASY CB TEST v1.1 and a new version/fork of the nand dump tool <a href="http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EkZFFZZElpSfBlxClw.php" target="_blank">http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/Ek...ElpSfBlxClw.php</a> ) and several tools of varying usefulness aimed at building a NAND image you can use to make a freeboot image if you lack an original image- just remember if you use a donor SMC rather than your own (you can now decrypt a xellous dumped one) then you can be in for all sorts of issues (possibly bad temperature readings/calibration, different mac address and the like).
Tools include "Easy XBR3 To FreeBoot", "freeboot_allinone" aka freeboot all in one (probably the better of the two). Keyvault modder also got updated with a few fixes: <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713268" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713268</a>
XBOX 360 Dr.Emuler MOD Toolkit v4 appeared. This is a choice application for 360 modding (originally of profiles and saves but quite a bit more now):
<a href="http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=377&p=540#p540" target="_blank">http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic...&p=540#p540</a>
One of the other big modding tools (modio) got an update as well:
<a href="http://www.game-tuts.com/community/modio.php" target="_blank">http://www.game-tuts.com/community/modio.php</a>
A couple of the more low level tools for 360 work were bundled with a frontend/springboard GUI into "amazing mod loader":
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/210392-amazing-mod-loader/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2103...ing-mod-loader/</a>
The super mario war fan game is being ported to the 360 by LoveMHZ (you might have seen the dosbox and jazz jackrabbit ports as well as some screens of the N64 emulator being worked on):
<a href="http://lovemhz.teamxelove.com/2010/05/07/release-super-mario-war-port/" target="_blank">http://lovemhz.teamxelove.com/2010/05/07/r...mario-war-port/</a>
Alternative dash "xexdash" got a couple of updates
<a href="http://xexdash.betalog.com/xexdash/xexdashdevelopment/33-xexdash-v003b-2010511.html" target="_blank">http://xexdash.betalog.com/xexdash/xexdash...3b-2010511.html</a>
After this we have the usual slew of save game editors/game modding tools:
Grunt modder- more general tool but leaning towards the halo series:
<a href="http://www.modhalo.net/index.php?/topic/24887-grunt-modder/" target="_blank">http://www.modhalo.net/index.php?/topic/24887-grunt-modder/</a>
Another more general tool called eclipse got updated too (bugfixes and a red dead editor added):
<a href="http://www.eclipse-mod.com/" target="_blank">http://www.eclipse-mod.com/</a>
con manager (very general):
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3755-con-manager-1-3-a.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ager-1-3-a.html</a>
Red dead redemption was honoured with no fewer than three different editors in addition to the more general progams:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3757-red-dead-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ead-editor.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3856-release-deadxp-rdr-multiplayer-xp-modding-tool.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...dding-tool.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3853-test-release-red-dead-exp-modding-program.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ng-program.html</a>
Vandal hearts flames of judgement:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3609-vandal-hearts-flames-judgement-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
Kingdom under fire: circle of doom:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3782-kuf-circle-doom-save-game-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ame-editor.html</a>
super street fighter 4:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3775-super-street-fighter-iv-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3777-another-ssf4-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...sf4-editor.html</a>
Castlevania SOTN:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3599-castlevania-sotn-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
dragon ball raging blast:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3728-dragonball-raging-blast-editor-2-0-a.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...itor-2-0-a.html</a>
Lost planet 2:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3745-beta-lost-planet-2-credit-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...dit-editor.html</a>
mass effect 2:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3754-mass-effect-2-360-save-file-mod.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...e-file-mod.html</a>
Forza 3
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3655-forza-3-tool.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...rza-3-tool.html</a>
Deadly premonition:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3688-deadly-premonition-save-editor.html#post35341" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox....html#post35341</a>
megaman 10:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3719-mega-man-10-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
fallout 3:
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/204424-fallout3ve-visual-editor/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2044...-visual-editor/</a>
<u><b>Game updates</b></u>
With the live bans and ability to run DLC it seems a big need for game updates "offline" appeared and many sites/groups rose to the challenge. This means we have a new section in the 360 releases posts for them, note that the updates posted may not necessarily reflect the latest updates as they can be backfills to the database or simply just now outdated dumps from a rapidly updated title. Demos are not really going to be covered.
Sadly there is not mandatory changelog for live updates but sometimes developers/publishers release them and some can be inferred from their PS3 and PC counterparts (although that is a decidedly more unreliable strategy). Updates are inclusive/cumulative so no need to download #1 and then #2 and then #3- you can just download a single file.
Note however that system link users (available to banned and still crippled users too and indeed some work has been done on system link over VPN and similar) often need the same version and downloadable content tends to require the latest version (at the time of the DLC street date) as well.
If you are sorting the hardware for this you can use any 360 drive, a modified WD hard drive (check with a more complete guide for version numbers)- at present you can have 20, 60, 120 or 250 gigabytes or if you have homebrew the rebooter apps disable hard drive checks so any drive works.
The main tool of choice for drive related matters is xplorer360:
<a href="http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php" target="_blank">http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php</a>
Several things happened here including
Scene bundles of patches (not "up to date" but still useful:
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1984" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1984</a>
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1981" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1981</a>
Web based frontends (what this section will be covering):
<a href="http://xbuc.clanvids.net/" target="_blank">http://xbuc.clanvids.net/</a> and frontend application <a href="http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=369&p=515#p515" target="_blank">http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic...&p=515#p515</a>
<a href="http://xbuc.tk/" target="_blank">http://xbuc.tk/</a>
<a href="http://www.elitemodscene.com/" target="_blank">http://www.elitemodscene.com/</a>
I got a bunch of new domains for the the xbox update center site so we are back in business here and all the updates since last time we updated this section are going to be here, should have a few updates available to you if you search for them if the XBUC site is down again.
<a href="http://xbuc.clanvids.net" target="_blank">http://xbuc.clanvids.net</a> added (TU=title update, first number is the media ID):
2AAB34E2 | Red Dead Redemption TU 1 | Region Free
6EE5A52F | Mass Effect 2 TU 2 | Region Free
0A064D08 | Mass Effect 2 RU TU 2 | PAL
380D3355 | Borderlands TU 3 | Region Free
2AAB34E2 | Red Dead Redemption TU 1 | Region Free
1BB2F934 | Call of Duty 3 TU 3 | PAL
23278AC7 | King of Fighters XII TU 2 | Region Free
5C19C70F | Aliens vs Predator TU 2 | Region Free
659AEB11 | Rumble Roses XX TU 2 | PAL
679EDAC8 | WarTech TU 2 | Region Free
1F0D0E41 | Superstars V8 Next Challenge TU 1 | PAL NTSC/J
4454AE3B | Warriors OROCHI 2 TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
06759F9C | Grand Theft Auto IV TU 1 | Region Free
4D33612E | Phantasy Star Universe TU 9 | PAL NTSC/U
68E7BCF4 | COD2 TU 3 | PAL
267EBA56 | Turok Fre Ger TU 2 | PAL
21D6D331 | Skate TU 2 | PAL
4DBF4A8A | The Outfit TU 2 | PAL
2BF7C928 | Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II TU 2 | PAL
0F7290B6 | Battlefield2 TU 1 | PAL
031CEB32 | Cars TU 1 | PAL
2F6F4FE2 | Monster Madness TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
686320000 | BlackSite Area 51 TU 1 | Region Free
399618F9 | Transformers The Game TU 1 | PAL
78880276 | WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 TU 1 | PAL
3329B940 | Fatal Inertia TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
163E86EC | The Darkness TU 1 | PAL
0A4632A3 | Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights TU 1 | Region Free
245AF362 | Fairytale Fights TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
52F7F197 | Clone Wars 2009 TU 1 | Region Free
2BA1D2F6 | The Incredible Hulk TU 1 | PAL
795D12EB | Halo Wars GERMAN TU 4 | Region Free
37AE817A | TNA Impact Wrestling TU 1 | Region Free
4D34A633 | LEGO Indiana Jones 2 The Adventure Continues TU 1 | Region Free
0A3D6C7E | Rogue Warrior TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
4BDFF019 | Winter Sports 2010 TU 1 | PAL
27E68A32 | RTL Winter Sports 2009 TU 1 | PAL
01CA2112 | Stormrise Censored TU 1 | PAL
5C56778E | Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 TU 3 | PAL
1DD7FD63 | Section 8 TU 1 | PAL
3A1F039E | Mercenaries 2 World in Flames TU 4 | PAL
27C36C6C | Dantes Inferno TU 2 | PAL
67718C69 | FIFA 10 TU 3 | PAL
01EB8059 | Skate 2 TU 2 | PAL
46B1AEB5 | Lord of the Rings Conquest TU 2 | PAL
00F071F5 | Command amp Conquer 3 Kanes Wrath TU 1 | PAL
5E593EE0 | Medal of Honor Airborne TU 1 | PAL
5B2A79D5 | BIOHAZARD 5 Resident Evil 5 TU 5 | Region Free
1E9C5CBA | History Channel Battle for the Pacific TU 1 | PAL
5C9DA0CD | Transformers Revenge of the FallenDe TU 1 | PAL
39B3E2C9 | Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 TU 2 | Region Free
21551C6C | Quantum of Solace The Game TU 2 | PAL
4B7650E3 | BioShock 2 TU 1 | PAL
1B33EA2B | Cars RaceoRama TU 1 | Region Free
4A53F9F6 | Grand Theft Auto IV TU 7 | PAL NTSC/J
5504B469 | Fallout 3 ADE TU 1 | PAL
24EF448B | Burnout Paradise TU 4 | PAL
0E58CFC1 | Lost Planet TU 2 | Region Free
69DB3D3C | BioShock TU 2 | PAL
05FBECEA | Fable II 12 Russian TU 1 | Region Free
49028C6A | Dantes Inferno TU 2 | Region Free
11D15B16 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 ES TU 5 | PAL
577753F3 | Call of Juarez 2 TU 1 | Region Free
04BF96A1 | Fable 2 IT TU 4 | Region Free
21271645 | Need for Speed Shift TU 3 | PAL
Of interest to most people is red dead redemption which should fix issues with system link.
<b>Additions to ABGX360</b><u></u>
We suggest you use the link below and the abgx360 tool as the site does not use scene naming meaning it can be quite hard to tell entries apart, this is just for reference really (RF= region free)
ABGX360 ( <a href="http://abgx360.net/verified.php" target="_blank">Web frontend to verified database</a> ) added:
Attack of the Movies 3D | NTSC/U
Record of Agarest War | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Shrek Forever After | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Split/Second | RF
Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Game of the Year Edition | RF
Red Dead Redemption | RF
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands | RF
Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper | NTSC/U
Alan Wake Limited Collector's Edition Bonus Disc | RF
Alan Wake | RF
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | PAL
Halo 3: ODST | RF
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Mondiali FIFA Sudafrica 2010 (2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa) | PAL
Skate 3 | RF
Lost Planet 2 | RF
Dante's Inferno | PAL
Nier | PAL NTSC/U
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Releases</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Release dates can be found here: <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/" target="_blank">http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/</a> although the dates on gamefaqs seem to be slightly "off" and as usual are subject to change at the last moment.
As an aside if possible the NFOs are being sent as unicode/some encoding that will not lose the format if possible which means we may not lose the ASCII art any more (I am far too lazy to make up picture NFOs not to mention I like text), for old ones perhaps <a href="http://shailendra88.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-view-nfo-files-in-firefox.html" target="_blank">this link</a> is of some use.
For the new members the general layout of each game here is
Scene release name (in bold)
Region locking information (rebooter apps can dodge region protection but they are far from available to all so such things are staying)
A short writeup of the game (who made developed/published it, past history of the franchise, if I or one of mine has played it then a quick review). We invite others to comment on games and they frequently do so read their replies as there are many games/genres/franchises and so on I do not care for.
NFO in spoilers and codebox.
Due to post length releases in post below
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Useful things to know</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
This section aims to serve as quick intro to things that are often assumed elsewhere in these threads, it is never going to be a definitive guide so do not consider it as such.
First the current WIP GBAtemp 360 FAQ (not the same one that is stickied), it should cover most questions you might have on the 360 although it too is looking a bit out of date right now:
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=157263" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=157263</a>
For drive hacking related questions the jungleflasher tutorial is probably the most up to date guide:
<a href="http://jungleflasher.net/downloads.html" target="_blank">http://jungleflasher.net/downloads.html</a>
<b>XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340</b>
<a href="http://pix.gbatemp.net/32303/XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://pix.gbatemp.net/32303/XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340.png.tn.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
Click on the image and it will load up the full picture.
Some sections of the scene also use the general console release standards as well as the 360 ones. Realistically it is only the problems with the isos that you need to be worried about and even then some can be fixed (simple things like no/bad .dvd file) but we will leave it up to you to determine what you consider acceptable.
<b>Previous 360 release threads</b>
The follow links are to the older release threads, if there is some time between threads anything that happened between threads will be covered.
Last 3 threads
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/t224534-3rd-may-2010-xbox-360-releases" target="_blank">3rd May 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/t218603-2nd-april-2010-xbox-360-releases" target="_blank">2nd April 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=216727" target="_blank">24th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=215132" target="_blank">18th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=213327" target="_blank">13th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=210635" target="_blank">26th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=209302" target="_blank">17th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=207527" target="_blank">6th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=206823" target="_blank">1st February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=205964" target="_blank">27th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=203575" target="_blank">15th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=202023" target="_blank">9th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=197207" target="_blank">17th December 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=194224" target="_blank">2nd December 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=193562" target="_blank">28th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=193139" target="_blank">26th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=191910" target="_blank">19th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=191045" target="_blank">15th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=190439" target="_blank">12th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=190082" target="_blank">10th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188435" target="_blank">4th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188435" target="_blank">31st October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=187977" target="_blank">28th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=187667" target="_blank">26th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186802" target="_blank">21st October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186608" target="_blank">20th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186102" target="_blank">17th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185995" target="_blank">16th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185550" target="_blank">14th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185003" target="_blank">11th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=184603" target="_blank">9th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=184168" target="_blank">7th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183956" target="_blank">6th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183553" target="_blank">4th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183171" target="_blank">2nd October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=182346" target="_blank">28th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=181667" target="_blank">25th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=181320" target="_blank">23rd September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=180107" target="_blank">17th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179944" target="_blank">16th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179706" target="_blank">15th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179538" target="_blank">14th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179090" target="_blank">12th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179016" target="_blank">11th September 2009 and the summer releases</a>
We now have a 360 releases section on gbatemp ( <a href="http://gbatemp.net/f195-xbox-360-scene-releases" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/f195-xbox-360-scene-releases</a> ) so I will now be posting games there from now on, if and when these posts happen again in the future it will be more for XBLA, DLC and homebrew (and indeed such things may be in there instead).
Quite a few releases happened since last post but the regulars of this section have kept current on the big releases since last post so thanks as always to all that helped out. More happened than I thought it would so this should hopefully allow you to play catchup.
For those just joining us when these threads were first started/brought back GBAtemp was a Nintendo based site so the main focus of the portal and staff was towards Nintendo systems. We do however have more than a few members who like other consoles and those other consoles can be hacked in various ways. These threads aimed to be quick summaries of the state of the 360, the old threads are at the bottom of each new thread if you want to catch up or just see how things played out.
Realistically we can cover anything to do with the 360 but usually the focus is on the modding side of things, this includes
360 disc iso releases- this is the mainstay of the posts and the thing that gets them moving in the first place (if nothing happens here the other stuff will either be kicked to an individual thread or left for the next post). Any nuke information (see the last few sections of the thread for more on that) will also be included in the posts and likewise any confirmed games added to the 360 game verification tool ABGX360.
As we are an English speaking site we cover big releases (a short writeup/mini review if possible, release name, region locking information and NFO) in the main section while the smaller releases (those without English in and region dupes that do not add anything from the perspective of an English speaker- new content or new region compatibility) are usually covered with a link to the NFO a line on it if necessary although we will cover a big Japanese release on the rare occasions one happens (the 360 is not big in Japan so early Japanese releases and Japanese exclusives do not happen all that often).
The xbox live arcade (XBLA) releases- a new thing that appeared with the homebrew hacks from last year is the ability to run xbox live arcade games without needing to go through MS to get them. Also included in this is the downloadable content (DLC), with many developers looking towards these to add sometimes many hours to the games they are well worth checking out.
Included alongside this and available to all with hard drive access is the game updates (title updates).
homebrew news- emulators, media players, hack updates, rebooter app updates and other things like it.
modding news- will usually sit with homebrew news and indeed to try and separate them is near impossible, this includes things like new repair kits, controller mods, mod chips, microsoft responses to such developments (banning consoles from live happens and the hacker response) and most importantly hacked DVD drive firmware updates.
Homebrew can come from anywhere but with the iso releases and especially the XBLA releases our focus is on the "scene"- anything that ultimately originates from a p2p network will be mentioned in passing if it is a hotly anticipated release (indeed several releases in years past were first seen on p2p networks) but as anyone who has followed the 360 scene will be able to tell you the p2p 360 side of things frequently do not have a clue.
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Nukes and related news as well as less notable releases.</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<u><b>Nukes</b></u>
Some nukes since last time (ABGX will lists 255).
<b>UFC.Undisputed.2010.RF.XBOX360-UFCKiLLA</b> got nuked for being a p2p repack. Proper scene release in <b>UFC.Undisputed.2010.XBOX360-SWAG</b>
<b>Alan.Wake.RF.MULTI.XBOX360-RanGer</b> got nuked for being a p2p dupe. Proper scene release in <b>Alan.Wake.XBOX360-GLoBAL</b>
<b>Madagascar.Kartz.PROPER.RF.XBOX360-dumpTruck</b> and <b>Madagascar.Kartz.PROPER.RF.NFOFIX.XBOX360-dumpTruck</b> appeared but the original in <b>Madagascar.Kartz-XBOX360</b> only got nuked for invalid rar size so no worries there.
Basically nobody got nuked for a bad release- just p2p repacks and scene rules.
<u><b>Less notable releases</b></u>
The usual selection of Japanese region dupes since last post and a handful of other things
<b>Tropico_3_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b> Japanese region dupe of Tropico 3, unknown region locking.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3267" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>2010_FIFA_World_Cup_South_Africa_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b> Japanese region dupe of the football game. Region locked Japan only.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3250" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Metro_2033_JPN_XBOX360-Caravan</b>- Japanese release of the FPS Metro 2033.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3249" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Senko_no_Ronde_Duo_JAP_XBOX360-KFC</b> makes the main post.
<u><b>XBLA games and DLC content</b></u>
XBLAplus and RB-DLC seen to have taken over FYK on the DLC and XBLA front although there has not been that much activity. Naturally you need a homebrew capable 360 to run all this.
From now on all music game DLC will be taken aside and listed by itself, any DLC for other games will be given proper writeup honours.
If NFOs are not linked up <a href="http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36</a> (better yet <a href="http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36&ord=1" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/index.php?sys=x36&ord=1</a> ) has them all though if you fancy searching.
<b>XBLA</b>
Several releases here thanks to XBLAplus. A good crop this time around and with the possible exception of Things On Wheels all worth a look in.
<b>Metal_Slug_XX_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
You probably know what Metal Slug is by now, this is an enhanced port of Metal Slug 7.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3265" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Aqua_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
A dual stick shooter where you play as a boat, <a href="http://www.co-optimus.com/game/1558/xbox-live-arcade/aqua.html" target="_blank">http://www.co-optimus.com/game/1558/xbox-l...rcade/aqua.html</a> says local co-op too and it got some decent reviews as well.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3264" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Things_On_Wheels_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
An XBLA game featuring RC cars and looking around seems to evoke the same feelings as micro machines games- could be enjoyable if not for the quirks.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3246" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Rocket_Knight_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
The term enhance port gets used very often when describing XBLA games and this is no different, based on a megadrive/genesis game of the same name.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3245" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>Zeno_Clash_Ultimate_Edition_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
A 360 port of steam game from last year. It is an FPS but it is mainly about your fists and close quarters and it is noted for being very weird in themes, enemies and styling (it is suggested in every review I scanned that somewhere along the way some the developers were fans of mind expansion of various forms).
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3235" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
<b>RayStorm_HD_XBLA_XBOX360-XBLAplus</b>
Another enhanced port of an old game. This time around it is the turn of Raystorm- a fairly well liked 2d shooter first seen on the PS1.
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=3234" target="_blank">ludibria.com NFO link</a>
Once again the list is dominated by music game updates (in fact that is all that happened in DLC world).
[title
LC flood]
Lips-Nu_Shooz-I_Cant_Wait-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Keri_Hilson-Energy-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Mans_Zelmerlow-Cara_Mia-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Mans_Zelmerlow-Hope_and_Glory-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Third_Eye_Blind-Hows_It_Going_To_Be-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Flight_Of_The_Conchords-Ladies_Of_The_World-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-18_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-13_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-14_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Lips-Chaka_Khan-Aint_Nobody-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Kenny_Rogers-The_Gambler-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Nik_Kershaw-Wouldnt_It_Be_Good-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-LMFAO-La_La_La-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-10_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-11_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-05_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-06_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Lips-Miley_Cyrus_Bonus_Pack-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Barrett_Strong-Money_Thats_What_I_Want-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Dazz_Band-Let_It_Whip-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Jimmy_Ruffin-What_Becomes_Of_The_Brokenhearted-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-04_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
LC flood]Lips-Nu_Shooz-I_Cant_Wait-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Keri_Hilson-Energy-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Mans_Zelmerlow-Cara_Mia-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Mans_Zelmerlow-Hope_and_Glory-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Third_Eye_Blind-Hows_It_Going_To_Be-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Flight_Of_The_Conchords-Ladies_Of_The_World-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-18_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-13_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-14_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Lips-Chaka_Khan-Aint_Nobody-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Kenny_Rogers-The_Gambler-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Nik_Kershaw-Wouldnt_It_Be_Good-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-LMFAO-La_La_La-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-10_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-11_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-05_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Rock_Band_Network_DLC_for_2010-05-06_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
Lips-Miley_Cyrus_Bonus_Pack-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Barrett_Strong-Money_Thats_What_I_Want-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Dazz_Band-Let_It_Whip-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Lips-Jimmy_Ruffin-What_Becomes_Of_The_Brokenhearted-DLC_XBOX360-XBLAplus
Rock_Band_DLC_for_2010-05-04_READNFO-XBOX360-RB-DLC
<u><b>Homebrew</b></u>
Where to start with homebrew..... things have moved on quite a bit since last post so a summary type post is probably better. Thanks as always to HB-released for keeping track of all this.
A couple of applications of interest to those with DVD drive hacked systems appeared
A nice security sectors (SS.bin) patcher appeared that apparently should work on games/files that ABGX360 complains about.
<a href="http://mattryder.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/mousepatcher-360/" target="_blank">http://mattryder.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/mousepatcher-360/</a>
Jungleflasher got updated- it added some key verification routines (not of great use to most people but will speed things up a bit for those modding a lot of systems).
<a href="http://forums.jungleflasher.net/index.php?topic=385.0" target="_blank">http://forums.jungleflasher.net/index.php?topic=385.0</a>
Another hard drive/memory card filesystem application appeared, this one looks quite simple so it may be quite handy for those just wanting basic manipulation abilities.
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/216377-freefatx-xbox-memory-device-tool/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2163...ry-device-tool/</a>
Xbox 360 commander also got an update <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=710285" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=710285</a> (it is mainly for backup, transfer and formatting rather than manipulation of single files).
Consaver (originally known as batch con flag remover), a tool for fixing saves/profiles messed up because of bans, had several updates <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713004" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713004</a>
XBLA and DLC management tool XM360 got updated with some bugfixes and enhancements.
<a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=712471" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=712471</a>
PC side tool xbox 360 game identifier appeared:
<a href="http://jtagxbox360.info/app-releases/xbox-360-game-identifier-by-jjmpsp" target="_blank">http://jtagxbox360.info/app-releases/xbox-...ifier-by-jjmpsp</a>
Can match up the number system the 360 uses to the game names among other things.
Several tools aimed at making the first time hacking stuff when JTAGing a system appeared (Jtag Tool, EASY CB TEST v1.1 and a new version/fork of the nand dump tool <a href="http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EkZFFZZElpSfBlxClw.php" target="_blank">http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/Ek...ElpSfBlxClw.php</a> ) and several tools of varying usefulness aimed at building a NAND image you can use to make a freeboot image if you lack an original image- just remember if you use a donor SMC rather than your own (you can now decrypt a xellous dumped one) then you can be in for all sorts of issues (possibly bad temperature readings/calibration, different mac address and the like).
Tools include "Easy XBR3 To FreeBoot", "freeboot_allinone" aka freeboot all in one (probably the better of the two). Keyvault modder also got updated with a few fixes: <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713268" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=713268</a>
XBOX 360 Dr.Emuler MOD Toolkit v4 appeared. This is a choice application for 360 modding (originally of profiles and saves but quite a bit more now):
<a href="http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=377&p=540#p540" target="_blank">http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic...&p=540#p540</a>
One of the other big modding tools (modio) got an update as well:
<a href="http://www.game-tuts.com/community/modio.php" target="_blank">http://www.game-tuts.com/community/modio.php</a>
A couple of the more low level tools for 360 work were bundled with a frontend/springboard GUI into "amazing mod loader":
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/210392-amazing-mod-loader/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2103...ing-mod-loader/</a>
The super mario war fan game is being ported to the 360 by LoveMHZ (you might have seen the dosbox and jazz jackrabbit ports as well as some screens of the N64 emulator being worked on):
<a href="http://lovemhz.teamxelove.com/2010/05/07/release-super-mario-war-port/" target="_blank">http://lovemhz.teamxelove.com/2010/05/07/r...mario-war-port/</a>
Alternative dash "xexdash" got a couple of updates
<a href="http://xexdash.betalog.com/xexdash/xexdashdevelopment/33-xexdash-v003b-2010511.html" target="_blank">http://xexdash.betalog.com/xexdash/xexdash...3b-2010511.html</a>
After this we have the usual slew of save game editors/game modding tools:
Grunt modder- more general tool but leaning towards the halo series:
<a href="http://www.modhalo.net/index.php?/topic/24887-grunt-modder/" target="_blank">http://www.modhalo.net/index.php?/topic/24887-grunt-modder/</a>
Another more general tool called eclipse got updated too (bugfixes and a red dead editor added):
<a href="http://www.eclipse-mod.com/" target="_blank">http://www.eclipse-mod.com/</a>
con manager (very general):
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3755-con-manager-1-3-a.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ager-1-3-a.html</a>
Red dead redemption was honoured with no fewer than three different editors in addition to the more general progams:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3757-red-dead-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ead-editor.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3856-release-deadxp-rdr-multiplayer-xp-modding-tool.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...dding-tool.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3853-test-release-red-dead-exp-modding-program.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ng-program.html</a>
Vandal hearts flames of judgement:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3609-vandal-hearts-flames-judgement-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
Kingdom under fire: circle of doom:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3782-kuf-circle-doom-save-game-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ame-editor.html</a>
super street fighter 4:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3775-super-street-fighter-iv-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3777-another-ssf4-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...sf4-editor.html</a>
Castlevania SOTN:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3599-castlevania-sotn-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
dragon ball raging blast:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3728-dragonball-raging-blast-editor-2-0-a.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...itor-2-0-a.html</a>
Lost planet 2:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3745-beta-lost-planet-2-credit-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...dit-editor.html</a>
mass effect 2:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3754-mass-effect-2-360-save-file-mod.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...e-file-mod.html</a>
Forza 3
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3655-forza-3-tool.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...rza-3-tool.html</a>
Deadly premonition:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3688-deadly-premonition-save-editor.html#post35341" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox....html#post35341</a>
megaman 10:
<a href="http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox-360-modding-programs/3719-mega-man-10-save-editor.html" target="_blank">http://www.xbox360-content.com/forums/xbox...ave-editor.html</a>
fallout 3:
<a href="http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/204424-fallout3ve-visual-editor/" target="_blank">http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/2044...-visual-editor/</a>
<u><b>Game updates</b></u>
With the live bans and ability to run DLC it seems a big need for game updates "offline" appeared and many sites/groups rose to the challenge. This means we have a new section in the 360 releases posts for them, note that the updates posted may not necessarily reflect the latest updates as they can be backfills to the database or simply just now outdated dumps from a rapidly updated title. Demos are not really going to be covered.
Sadly there is not mandatory changelog for live updates but sometimes developers/publishers release them and some can be inferred from their PS3 and PC counterparts (although that is a decidedly more unreliable strategy). Updates are inclusive/cumulative so no need to download #1 and then #2 and then #3- you can just download a single file.
Note however that system link users (available to banned and still crippled users too and indeed some work has been done on system link over VPN and similar) often need the same version and downloadable content tends to require the latest version (at the time of the DLC street date) as well.
If you are sorting the hardware for this you can use any 360 drive, a modified WD hard drive (check with a more complete guide for version numbers)- at present you can have 20, 60, 120 or 250 gigabytes or if you have homebrew the rebooter apps disable hard drive checks so any drive works.
The main tool of choice for drive related matters is xplorer360:
<a href="http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php" target="_blank">http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php</a>
Several things happened here including
Scene bundles of patches (not "up to date" but still useful:
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1984" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1984</a>
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1981" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com/nfo.php?sys=x36&sysid=1981</a>
Web based frontends (what this section will be covering):
<a href="http://xbuc.clanvids.net/" target="_blank">http://xbuc.clanvids.net/</a> and frontend application <a href="http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=369&p=515#p515" target="_blank">http://www.hb-released.com/forum/viewtopic...&p=515#p515</a>
<a href="http://xbuc.tk/" target="_blank">http://xbuc.tk/</a>
<a href="http://www.elitemodscene.com/" target="_blank">http://www.elitemodscene.com/</a>
I got a bunch of new domains for the the xbox update center site so we are back in business here and all the updates since last time we updated this section are going to be here, should have a few updates available to you if you search for them if the XBUC site is down again.
<a href="http://xbuc.clanvids.net" target="_blank">http://xbuc.clanvids.net</a> added (TU=title update, first number is the media ID):
2AAB34E2 | Red Dead Redemption TU 1 | Region Free
6EE5A52F | Mass Effect 2 TU 2 | Region Free
0A064D08 | Mass Effect 2 RU TU 2 | PAL
380D3355 | Borderlands TU 3 | Region Free
2AAB34E2 | Red Dead Redemption TU 1 | Region Free
1BB2F934 | Call of Duty 3 TU 3 | PAL
23278AC7 | King of Fighters XII TU 2 | Region Free
5C19C70F | Aliens vs Predator TU 2 | Region Free
659AEB11 | Rumble Roses XX TU 2 | PAL
679EDAC8 | WarTech TU 2 | Region Free
1F0D0E41 | Superstars V8 Next Challenge TU 1 | PAL NTSC/J
4454AE3B | Warriors OROCHI 2 TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
06759F9C | Grand Theft Auto IV TU 1 | Region Free
4D33612E | Phantasy Star Universe TU 9 | PAL NTSC/U
68E7BCF4 | COD2 TU 3 | PAL
267EBA56 | Turok Fre Ger TU 2 | PAL
21D6D331 | Skate TU 2 | PAL
4DBF4A8A | The Outfit TU 2 | PAL
2BF7C928 | Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II TU 2 | PAL
0F7290B6 | Battlefield2 TU 1 | PAL
031CEB32 | Cars TU 1 | PAL
2F6F4FE2 | Monster Madness TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
686320000 | BlackSite Area 51 TU 1 | Region Free
399618F9 | Transformers The Game TU 1 | PAL
78880276 | WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 TU 1 | PAL
3329B940 | Fatal Inertia TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
163E86EC | The Darkness TU 1 | PAL
0A4632A3 | Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights TU 1 | Region Free
245AF362 | Fairytale Fights TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
52F7F197 | Clone Wars 2009 TU 1 | Region Free
2BA1D2F6 | The Incredible Hulk TU 1 | PAL
795D12EB | Halo Wars GERMAN TU 4 | Region Free
37AE817A | TNA Impact Wrestling TU 1 | Region Free
4D34A633 | LEGO Indiana Jones 2 The Adventure Continues TU 1 | Region Free
0A3D6C7E | Rogue Warrior TU 1 | PAL NTSC/U
4BDFF019 | Winter Sports 2010 TU 1 | PAL
27E68A32 | RTL Winter Sports 2009 TU 1 | PAL
01CA2112 | Stormrise Censored TU 1 | PAL
5C56778E | Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 TU 3 | PAL
1DD7FD63 | Section 8 TU 1 | PAL
3A1F039E | Mercenaries 2 World in Flames TU 4 | PAL
27C36C6C | Dantes Inferno TU 2 | PAL
67718C69 | FIFA 10 TU 3 | PAL
01EB8059 | Skate 2 TU 2 | PAL
46B1AEB5 | Lord of the Rings Conquest TU 2 | PAL
00F071F5 | Command amp Conquer 3 Kanes Wrath TU 1 | PAL
5E593EE0 | Medal of Honor Airborne TU 1 | PAL
5B2A79D5 | BIOHAZARD 5 Resident Evil 5 TU 5 | Region Free
1E9C5CBA | History Channel Battle for the Pacific TU 1 | PAL
5C9DA0CD | Transformers Revenge of the FallenDe TU 1 | PAL
39B3E2C9 | Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 TU 2 | Region Free
21551C6C | Quantum of Solace The Game TU 2 | PAL
4B7650E3 | BioShock 2 TU 1 | PAL
1B33EA2B | Cars RaceoRama TU 1 | Region Free
4A53F9F6 | Grand Theft Auto IV TU 7 | PAL NTSC/J
5504B469 | Fallout 3 ADE TU 1 | PAL
24EF448B | Burnout Paradise TU 4 | PAL
0E58CFC1 | Lost Planet TU 2 | Region Free
69DB3D3C | BioShock TU 2 | PAL
05FBECEA | Fable II 12 Russian TU 1 | Region Free
49028C6A | Dantes Inferno TU 2 | Region Free
11D15B16 | Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 ES TU 5 | PAL
577753F3 | Call of Juarez 2 TU 1 | Region Free
04BF96A1 | Fable 2 IT TU 4 | Region Free
21271645 | Need for Speed Shift TU 3 | PAL
Of interest to most people is red dead redemption which should fix issues with system link.
<b>Additions to ABGX360</b><u></u>
We suggest you use the link below and the abgx360 tool as the site does not use scene naming meaning it can be quite hard to tell entries apart, this is just for reference really (RF= region free)
ABGX360 ( <a href="http://abgx360.net/verified.php" target="_blank">Web frontend to verified database</a> ) added:
Attack of the Movies 3D | NTSC/U
Record of Agarest War | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Shrek Forever After | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Split/Second | RF
Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Game of the Year Edition | RF
Red Dead Redemption | RF
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands | RF
Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper | NTSC/U
Alan Wake Limited Collector's Edition Bonus Disc | RF
Alan Wake | RF
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | PAL
Halo 3: ODST | RF
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa | NTSC/J (Excludes China) NTSC/U
Mondiali FIFA Sudafrica 2010 (2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa) | PAL
Skate 3 | RF
Lost Planet 2 | RF
Dante's Inferno | PAL
Nier | PAL NTSC/U
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Releases</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Release dates can be found here: <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/" target="_blank">http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/</a> although the dates on gamefaqs seem to be slightly "off" and as usual are subject to change at the last moment.
As an aside if possible the NFOs are being sent as unicode/some encoding that will not lose the format if possible which means we may not lose the ASCII art any more (I am far too lazy to make up picture NFOs not to mention I like text), for old ones perhaps <a href="http://shailendra88.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-view-nfo-files-in-firefox.html" target="_blank">this link</a> is of some use.
For the new members the general layout of each game here is
Scene release name (in bold)
Region locking information (rebooter apps can dodge region protection but they are far from available to all so such things are staying)
A short writeup of the game (who made developed/published it, past history of the franchise, if I or one of mine has played it then a quick review). We invite others to comment on games and they frequently do so read their replies as there are many games/genres/franchises and so on I do not care for.
NFO in spoilers and codebox.
Due to post length releases in post below
<!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><b>Useful things to know</b><!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
This section aims to serve as quick intro to things that are often assumed elsewhere in these threads, it is never going to be a definitive guide so do not consider it as such.
First the current WIP GBAtemp 360 FAQ (not the same one that is stickied), it should cover most questions you might have on the 360 although it too is looking a bit out of date right now:
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=157263" target="_blank">http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=157263</a>
For drive hacking related questions the jungleflasher tutorial is probably the most up to date guide:
<a href="http://jungleflasher.net/downloads.html" target="_blank">http://jungleflasher.net/downloads.html</a>
<b>XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340</b>
<a href="http://pix.gbatemp.net/32303/XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://pix.gbatemp.net/32303/XBOX360.Release.Standards.2007.v1.340.png.tn.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></a>
Click on the image and it will load up the full picture.
Some sections of the scene also use the general console release standards as well as the 360 ones. Realistically it is only the problems with the isos that you need to be worried about and even then some can be fixed (simple things like no/bad .dvd file) but we will leave it up to you to determine what you consider acceptable.
[titlen bans, homebrew and general knowledge]
As many of you know modding your xbox can lead to a ban from xbox live (more or less the only recourse Microsoft have), after the dust had settled last banning wave it was generally decided that the firmware was at fault and as such the new lite touch (LT) firmware was made. Games not appearing as originals for various reasons is also always a problem but that is why ABGX360 exists.
While playing games prior to street dates has been considered and indeed as of mid October 2009 MS have been seen to be targeting those who have as yet "unreleased" games on their profiles it is still somewhat up in the air as to whether it causes permanent bans.
This time around the bans have taken some functionality from the console in addition to live. Similarly those using the homebrew rebooter apps have also been hit with bans but if you are using homebrew the following does not really apply.
Banning thread thread here:
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188345&st=0&start=0" target="_blank">banning thread</a>
Some people have taken to trying to see if they have been banned by starting a recall order, if it fails a ban is probably to come shortly after.
Several things can be done:
1) restore an old NAND backup from before the ban (but not so early as to be before efuses were blown). Requires you have a pre ban backup.
2) ground the write protect switch of the NAND (people usually stick a switch in too as writing is useful on occasion). Requires you do to it before you get banned.
3) Due to the way things work there are older secdata.bin files buried within the NAND. As they are already signed you can swap them around at will and some of these backups will be from when you could still use the hard drive installs and sign profiles for other machines. There have been reports of some 360s not having the required data but it is rare.
Knowledge of all three is useful but in the case of 1 and 3 you will need the ability to backup the NAND. You can do this as part of homebrew although it should be noted that the hardware side of the JTAG hack (the part with diodes) is not necessary or even advised you do if you are only playing with previously signed data and your NAND (indeed if you have been banned in this latest wave your homebrew options are non existent) .
More here:
<a href="http://www.free60.org/Reading_out_NAND" target="_blank">http://www.free60.org/Reading_out_NAND</a>
There is a USB version available but it is quite expensive to pull off, search xbox hacker forums for it.
The initial hack required you to manually search the dump but there are now automated tools that can pull the relevant data and pretty much do everything but flash it back for you.
<a href="http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=12759.msg87614#msg87614" target="_blank">xboxhacker thread</a> and Xnand Healer GUI is also an application you might like to look at.
On the other hand prerelease games (especially those from p2p groups) can sometimes be bad dumps, dumps from non retail sources, bad packing of dumps like any other dump but without a retail copy it is markedly difficult to verify a release beyond the basics. The tool AGBX360 is used to verify isos, directories and games burned to disc and can fix isos and directories if necessary but requires this data (a basic check using the data the game holds is still possible though).
Those who do not care about being banned from live or are willing to risk it then not much need to worry unless otherwise mentioned (as an example the first leaks of Halo 3 ODST were bad which meant while they would run a good chunk of gameplay was missing).
Little bits of 360 release history will be covered from time to time but if you want to delve into the substantial back catalogue of games for the 360 then
<a href="http://www.abgx.net/filename/?ch=6" target="_blank">http://www.abgx.net/filename/?ch=6</a> has release names and a great deal of info.
Another site that is also very useful is (they are frequently a source of the NFOs posted with these releases)
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com</a>
Other sites with useful tools and info are
<a href="http://abgx360.net/" target="_blank">http://abgx360.net/</a> (the homepage for a tool to verify and fix games, once a game is added to their database a more thorough check can be performed).
<a href="http://www.xbins.org/" target="_blank">http://www.xbins.org/</a> the web frontend to an FTP site dedicated to homebrew for the original xbox and 360, easyxbins is a nice tool to access the FTP site ( <a href="http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=Downloads&file=details&id=29" target="_blank">http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=Down...tails&id=29</a> )
We will leave info on how to flash xboxes for games and/or homebrew to other threads as it occasionally moves fast and is better left to them.
The 360 supports region locking leaving it to developers and publishers to choose what is done (other than German releases what will be done is very unpredictable).
Those without a homebrew enabled 360 (those with one can change the region or more commonly use a rebooter app to disable checking) will find region locking is not able to be bypassed on the 360.
There is no great worry unless you are sporting a Japanese 360 (English language games are often region locked out and Japanese xbox games can take months to appear) as game releases usually fall very close together region wise these days. Close together means usually within a week and this still usually means before street dates in respective countries.
It has not come up here but it has in other places (including some rather interesting nuke wars on the scene); region free is region free and it does not matter what territory the game that was ripped comes from so if there is a region free NTSC sourced release and you are in a PAL country do not wait on a PAL release unless you are waiting for a given language as it will not happen (and if it does scene rules tend to mean the release is nuked), similarly we are going to shift to just stating the regions a game is locked to rather than sources to try and eliminate some confusion unless it is unknown at the time of posting.
There are four regions as far as the 360 is concerned being Japan (NTSC-J), USA (NTSC-U), Europe (PAL) and China (NTSC-C), Australia counts as PAL and anyone anywhere else in the world will probably have an imported 360 so I will leave that to the owners to figure out. China and Japan usually overlap along with the rest of Asia but not always (there are not all that many Chinese releases anyhow).
It is incredibly rare but occasionally releases can vary by region, it is mainly a licensing (think music games) or data thing (big games may forgo a language) or even have multiple languages per "area" (Canadian area releases may have French and English while US releases may have Spanish and English).
As mentioned there is now a homebrew method that works on newer model consoles (previous ones would only work on consoles without HDMI) provided you have not done the August 11th 2009 update or any subsequent ones or your 360 was not made after mid June 2009 (we still do not have definitive cutoff dates so if it is a choice between May and June go with May). Many versions of Xell (the homebrew loader) have now been compiled so most 360 models are now hackable. If you have updated you are out of luck as a fuse internal to the CPU will have been blown.
There are two main options:
1) A "rebooter" app- The general idea is to (soft) reboot into a custom kernel/similar which handily ignores things like region checking.
In late November/early December 2009 some tools appeared and they were quite developed at that.
They are called xbreboot and freeboot, development is happening quickly so please consult <a href="http://www.xbins.org/" target="_blank">http://www.xbins.org/</a> xbox-scene or the forums here for more up to date news. At present they can be considered fully functional.
2) Flashing a different region code- unless you have a dual nand chip (one region on each) this is a fairly long winded process but it does work.
If you can ignore the text speak xbox scene has a guide (we suggest you use it as a rough guide to understand what is going on): <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=693753" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=693753</a>
Also <a href="http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2355" target="_blank">http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2355</a>
If you should manage to have your motherboard/cpu key and provided you do not downgrade then you should even be able to do it on a post august the 11th xbox, this is probably a very small subset of people but if you were hanging on with the intention of doing this sort of thing you might be in luck.
Chip development (NAND chips this is) and replacement via XD card is also progressing once again.
A handful of 360 homebrew sites and guides exist (our own forums are also filled with knowledgeable people too) so for the curious
<a href="http://www.free60.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Free60 (the base of the current homebrew work)</a>
<a href="http://www.eurasia.nu/wiki/index.php?pagename=Free60JtagHack" target="_blank">Euraisa writeup of the new hack and how it works</a>
<a href="http://www.xboxhacker.net" target="_blank">Xboxhacker.net (forums frequented by the Free60 crew and many others)</a>
Any discussion on those sites will be of a highly technical nature and a similar level of knowledge/ability is expected of you if you decide to join in.
A short note on wave 4 and beyond,
Wave 4 (and waves 5 and 6) which has workarounds available is upon us, see wave 4 thread for more: <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185528" target="_blank">wave 4 thread</a></a>
What wave a 360 release is presently does not matter as every known drive has a hacked firmware that supports all present waves and future development appears as though it will ignore such things. We still do not suggest you wave patch isos though.
n bans, homebrew and general knowledge]As many of you know modding your xbox can lead to a ban from xbox live (more or less the only recourse Microsoft have), after the dust had settled last banning wave it was generally decided that the firmware was at fault and as such the new lite touch (LT) firmware was made. Games not appearing as originals for various reasons is also always a problem but that is why ABGX360 exists.
While playing games prior to street dates has been considered and indeed as of mid October 2009 MS have been seen to be targeting those who have as yet "unreleased" games on their profiles it is still somewhat up in the air as to whether it causes permanent bans.
This time around the bans have taken some functionality from the console in addition to live. Similarly those using the homebrew rebooter apps have also been hit with bans but if you are using homebrew the following does not really apply.
Banning thread thread here:
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188345&st=0&start=0" target="_blank">banning thread</a>
Some people have taken to trying to see if they have been banned by starting a recall order, if it fails a ban is probably to come shortly after.
Several things can be done:
1) restore an old NAND backup from before the ban (but not so early as to be before efuses were blown). Requires you have a pre ban backup.
2) ground the write protect switch of the NAND (people usually stick a switch in too as writing is useful on occasion). Requires you do to it before you get banned.
3) Due to the way things work there are older secdata.bin files buried within the NAND. As they are already signed you can swap them around at will and some of these backups will be from when you could still use the hard drive installs and sign profiles for other machines. There have been reports of some 360s not having the required data but it is rare.
Knowledge of all three is useful but in the case of 1 and 3 you will need the ability to backup the NAND. You can do this as part of homebrew although it should be noted that the hardware side of the JTAG hack (the part with diodes) is not necessary or even advised you do if you are only playing with previously signed data and your NAND (indeed if you have been banned in this latest wave your homebrew options are non existent) .
More here:
<a href="http://www.free60.org/Reading_out_NAND" target="_blank">http://www.free60.org/Reading_out_NAND</a>
There is a USB version available but it is quite expensive to pull off, search xbox hacker forums for it.
The initial hack required you to manually search the dump but there are now automated tools that can pull the relevant data and pretty much do everything but flash it back for you.
<a href="http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=12759.msg87614#msg87614" target="_blank">xboxhacker thread</a> and Xnand Healer GUI is also an application you might like to look at.
On the other hand prerelease games (especially those from p2p groups) can sometimes be bad dumps, dumps from non retail sources, bad packing of dumps like any other dump but without a retail copy it is markedly difficult to verify a release beyond the basics. The tool AGBX360 is used to verify isos, directories and games burned to disc and can fix isos and directories if necessary but requires this data (a basic check using the data the game holds is still possible though).
Those who do not care about being banned from live or are willing to risk it then not much need to worry unless otherwise mentioned (as an example the first leaks of Halo 3 ODST were bad which meant while they would run a good chunk of gameplay was missing).
Little bits of 360 release history will be covered from time to time but if you want to delve into the substantial back catalogue of games for the 360 then
<a href="http://www.abgx.net/filename/?ch=6" target="_blank">http://www.abgx.net/filename/?ch=6</a> has release names and a great deal of info.
Another site that is also very useful is (they are frequently a source of the NFOs posted with these releases)
<a href="http://www.ludibria.com" target="_blank">http://www.ludibria.com</a>
Other sites with useful tools and info are
<a href="http://abgx360.net/" target="_blank">http://abgx360.net/</a> (the homepage for a tool to verify and fix games, once a game is added to their database a more thorough check can be performed).
<a href="http://www.xbins.org/" target="_blank">http://www.xbins.org/</a> the web frontend to an FTP site dedicated to homebrew for the original xbox and 360, easyxbins is a nice tool to access the FTP site ( <a href="http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=Downloads&file=details&id=29" target="_blank">http://www.360mods.net/index.php?name=Down...tails&id=29</a> )
We will leave info on how to flash xboxes for games and/or homebrew to other threads as it occasionally moves fast and is better left to them.
The 360 supports region locking leaving it to developers and publishers to choose what is done (other than German releases what will be done is very unpredictable).
Those without a homebrew enabled 360 (those with one can change the region or more commonly use a rebooter app to disable checking) will find region locking is not able to be bypassed on the 360.
There is no great worry unless you are sporting a Japanese 360 (English language games are often region locked out and Japanese xbox games can take months to appear) as game releases usually fall very close together region wise these days. Close together means usually within a week and this still usually means before street dates in respective countries.
It has not come up here but it has in other places (including some rather interesting nuke wars on the scene); region free is region free and it does not matter what territory the game that was ripped comes from so if there is a region free NTSC sourced release and you are in a PAL country do not wait on a PAL release unless you are waiting for a given language as it will not happen (and if it does scene rules tend to mean the release is nuked), similarly we are going to shift to just stating the regions a game is locked to rather than sources to try and eliminate some confusion unless it is unknown at the time of posting.
There are four regions as far as the 360 is concerned being Japan (NTSC-J), USA (NTSC-U), Europe (PAL) and China (NTSC-C), Australia counts as PAL and anyone anywhere else in the world will probably have an imported 360 so I will leave that to the owners to figure out. China and Japan usually overlap along with the rest of Asia but not always (there are not all that many Chinese releases anyhow).
It is incredibly rare but occasionally releases can vary by region, it is mainly a licensing (think music games) or data thing (big games may forgo a language) or even have multiple languages per "area" (Canadian area releases may have French and English while US releases may have Spanish and English).
As mentioned there is now a homebrew method that works on newer model consoles (previous ones would only work on consoles without HDMI) provided you have not done the August 11th 2009 update or any subsequent ones or your 360 was not made after mid June 2009 (we still do not have definitive cutoff dates so if it is a choice between May and June go with May). Many versions of Xell (the homebrew loader) have now been compiled so most 360 models are now hackable. If you have updated you are out of luck as a fuse internal to the CPU will have been blown.
There are two main options:
1) A "rebooter" app- The general idea is to (soft) reboot into a custom kernel/similar which handily ignores things like region checking.
In late November/early December 2009 some tools appeared and they were quite developed at that.
They are called xbreboot and freeboot, development is happening quickly so please consult <a href="http://www.xbins.org/" target="_blank">http://www.xbins.org/</a> xbox-scene or the forums here for more up to date news. At present they can be considered fully functional.
2) Flashing a different region code- unless you have a dual nand chip (one region on each) this is a fairly long winded process but it does work.
If you can ignore the text speak xbox scene has a guide (we suggest you use it as a rough guide to understand what is going on): <a href="http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=693753" target="_blank">http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=693753</a>
Also <a href="http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2355" target="_blank">http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2355</a>
If you should manage to have your motherboard/cpu key and provided you do not downgrade then you should even be able to do it on a post august the 11th xbox, this is probably a very small subset of people but if you were hanging on with the intention of doing this sort of thing you might be in luck.
Chip development (NAND chips this is) and replacement via XD card is also progressing once again.
A handful of 360 homebrew sites and guides exist (our own forums are also filled with knowledgeable people too) so for the curious
<a href="http://www.free60.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Free60 (the base of the current homebrew work)</a>
<a href="http://www.eurasia.nu/wiki/index.php?pagename=Free60JtagHack" target="_blank">Euraisa writeup of the new hack and how it works</a>
<a href="http://www.xboxhacker.net" target="_blank">Xboxhacker.net (forums frequented by the Free60 crew and many others)</a>
Any discussion on those sites will be of a highly technical nature and a similar level of knowledge/ability is expected of you if you decide to join in.
A short note on wave 4 and beyond,
Wave 4 (and waves 5 and 6) which has workarounds available is upon us, see wave 4 thread for more: <a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185528" target="_blank">wave 4 thread</a></a>
What wave a 360 release is presently does not matter as every known drive has a hacked firmware that supports all present waves and future development appears as though it will ignore such things. We still do not suggest you wave patch isos though.
<b>Previous 360 release threads</b>
The follow links are to the older release threads, if there is some time between threads anything that happened between threads will be covered.
Last 3 threads
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/t224534-3rd-may-2010-xbox-360-releases" target="_blank">3rd May 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/t218603-2nd-april-2010-xbox-360-releases" target="_blank">2nd April 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=216727" target="_blank">24th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=215132" target="_blank">18th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=213327" target="_blank">13th March 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=210635" target="_blank">26th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=209302" target="_blank">17th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=207527" target="_blank">6th February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=206823" target="_blank">1st February 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=205964" target="_blank">27th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=203575" target="_blank">15th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=202023" target="_blank">9th January 2010</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=197207" target="_blank">17th December 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=194224" target="_blank">2nd December 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=193562" target="_blank">28th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=193139" target="_blank">26th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=191910" target="_blank">19th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=191045" target="_blank">15th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=190439" target="_blank">12th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=190082" target="_blank">10th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188435" target="_blank">4th November 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=188435" target="_blank">31st October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=187977" target="_blank">28th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=187667" target="_blank">26th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186802" target="_blank">21st October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186608" target="_blank">20th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=186102" target="_blank">17th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185995" target="_blank">16th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185550" target="_blank">14th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=185003" target="_blank">11th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=184603" target="_blank">9th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=184168" target="_blank">7th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183956" target="_blank">6th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183553" target="_blank">4th October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=183171" target="_blank">2nd October 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=182346" target="_blank">28th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=181667" target="_blank">25th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=181320" target="_blank">23rd September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=180107" target="_blank">17th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179944" target="_blank">16th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179706" target="_blank">15th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179538" target="_blank">14th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179090" target="_blank">12th September 2009</a>
<a href="http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=179016" target="_blank">11th September 2009 and the summer releases</a>
