Hang onto your hats…and your wallets…Microsoft is raising the price of an Xbox LIVE subscription by $10/year in North America beginning November 1. 2010. Other regions will see a price increase as well.

As posted by Major Nelson, the price hike will affect Xbox LIVE members in Canada, Mexico, the UK and the US, with various yearly, monthly, and 3 month subscriptions seeing an increase. In the U.S. the one month Gold subscription will increase from $7.99 to $9.99 while the three month will raise from $19.99 to $24.99. After the change takes place, the 12 month will set you back $59.99 as opposed to the current $49.99.

It’s worth noting that renewing your 12 month subscription via a special promotion being offered right here, right now, will allow U.S. customers to save $20 off the new price and renew for $39.99.

As for the regions outside the U.S., Canadian gamers can expect to pay $1 more for the monthly subscription, Mexico’s 12 month plan increases from 499 Pesos to 599 Pesos, and those of you in the United Kingdom will be charged 5.99 GBP for the monthly subscription instead of 4.99 GBP.

“Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.”

So, do you think Microsoft has added enough new features and content to XBL to justify a price increase? Do you think the new rates are fair or unfair? Let us know your thoughts below.

After countless amounts of rumors and speculation, Microsoft has today confirmed that the Kinect motion-sensing camera will retail for $149.99 when it ships to retailers this fall. A copy of Kinect Adventures, the casual mini-game collection which was demoed during MSoft’s E3 Press Conference, will be included with the hardware.

In addition, Microsoft also announced a new Xbox 360 “S” Model that includes 4GB or internal storage, but is capable of using up to 32GB of USB storage. You’ll be able to pick up this Xbox 360-Arcade-like unit for $200 by itself when it goes on sale in North America on August 3, 2010 or for $300 bundled with Kinect when it launches November 4th.

Lastly, according to Aaron Greenberg of Microsoft (via Joystiq), pricing on first-party Kinect software will be $50 while retailers are listing third-party games a bit higher at $60.

Oh, and if you pre-order Kinect in any form “today”, Microsoft has stated that you’ll earn a token good for three exclusive levels of the included Kinect Adventures.

Have an opinion on the pricing? What about the new “S” model? Plan on picking this thing up?!?!? Connect with your fellow gamers and share your thoughts below!

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The Original Gangster is set to be an original character in Gears of War 3, voicing the role of Griffin, who leads “a rag-tag group of human survivors, known as the Stranded, who Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad will encounter as they battle the infected Lambent,” Xbox 360 Press said.

Speculation of Ice-T’s role began to appear after he mentioned it on a Ustream meet-up with his fans, followed by Gears creative director Cliff Bleszinski tweeting, “Yo Ice hit me up, we should talk about what happened this weekend…” Well now it is official, he’s in.

Grammy Award-nominated rapper Drake is also voicing Gears 3 character Jake Stratton, who was portrayed by Nolan North for his brief stint in Gears 2.

On top of his acting role in Law and Order: SVU, Ice-T (born Tracy Marrow) has performed voiceovers for a number of video games, most notably playing Madd Dogg in 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Gears of War 3 drops April 2011 exclusively for Xbox 360.

Welcome to EpicBattleAxe.com’s DemoUP!, the feature that invites the EBA Community to gather around gaming’s hottest demos to play together and share your reaction. Pretty simple premise really, so hit the jump to participate as we DemoUP! for the highly-anticipated Crackdown 2.
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It’s alive! Microsoft is banking on Kinect to not only revolutionize our gameplay, but to also elongate the lifespan of the Xbox 360 itself. Paired with the new Xbox 360 model, Microsoft’s European executive Chris Lewis expects Kinect to keep the console’s heart monitor beeping for another five years.

“What you’ve seen is with this new sleek design and Kinect for Xbox 360 we’ve got at least another five years of this generation where we continue to offer great experiences for people,” Lewis told GamesIndustry.biz. “We continue to attach more games than competitive platforms and we have the healthiest ecosystem with 25 million people connected through Xbox Live. So we are uniquely placed to continue to do really, really well in this business and enjoy ongoing momentum.”

Elapsed time between the release of the Xbox and the Xbox 360 was roughly four years, so the current generation is already outliving its ancestor. But with Sony’s prediction of a 10-year lifespan for the PS3 (which was released in 2006), the 360 would still be dying prematurely if it wasn’t plugged into the correct hardware this year.

So Microsoft has created the technological fountain of youth – How do five more years of our current consoles sound to you? Are you ADHD Generation X-ers itching for something more than Kinect and Move, or are these hardware add-ons enough? Microsoft says it has “the healthiest ecosystem” and “more games than competitive platforms,” but after its E3 showing, it might be time to pull the plug after all. What do you think? Shout out below!

When I first saw Mortal Kombat, it was at my first job. The grocery store where I worked cycled 1 new arcade game every 3 months. Since it was how I spent all my break time, I always hoped we would get something cool and fun to play.

When I walked into work on the day of ‘delivery’ I was skeptical – It appeared to be a fighting game similar to Street Fighter, but with a more ‘realistic’ look to it and a block button?!. A couple of quarters later, I was wondering why the hell the other character dizzied around and the game kept yelling ‘FINISH HIM!’ after the matches. WTF? One of my co-workers walked up and asked if he could play. “Yea, I played this before,” he said, “lemme show you something.” So, he challenged me – and whipped my ass with Sub-Zero. Then, something strange happened. He walked up to me, performed a button combination, and then ripped my characters head off (I was playing with Scorpion) with his spine attached. Nothing like some over the top violence and innovative combat to hook a new generation of gamers.

Over the past several years, the Mortal Kombat name has taken a beating (with the exception of the critical success of MK vs. DC). Midway went under, and subsequently was acquired by Warner Brothers. Fortunately, Ed Boon side stepped the Nerd Rage and quit; and NetherRealm Studios was born. On the heals of the 3D side scrolling monster that is Street Fighter IV, Mortal Kombat looks to draw on next generation power and an improved style to draw in a new era of fans (without all the quarters).
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It’s been a long time coming, but we will soon have a worthy follow up to the Contra franchise – even though it’s not an ‘official’ sequel. Hard Corps: Uprising is a classic style side scrolling shooter loosely following up the original Contra: Hard Corp title released on the Sega Genesis.

After playing the demo on the floor I have to say, the visuals are amazing. In full HD, the hand drawn artwork will satisfy the fans of Arc System Works’(http://www.aksysgames.com/) style (developer and publisher of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue).

Even though the ‘Contra’ title has been stripped, the gameplay is classic Contra. I was playing the XBLA version of the game in 2 player mode. After blasting my way through most of the level, I received a weapon upgrade that was reminiscent of the Spread gun (damnit, I used to get so pissed after losing this weapon in the original!), and later an enhanced ‘laser’ upgrade. We quickly blew through the first mission which ended with a very familiar mini-boss – a blockade which you had to blast your way through to continue the level (nearly identical to the mid level boss in the original Contra).

So visuals and play mechanic similarities aside from the Contra series, there are a couple very noticeable differences, which I feel are definitely bad ass. First off, you have a health bar!!! You will, however, lose your weapon if you are hit. The other difference is a type of player advancement system. You will gain experience and level attributes to your character, and there will also be a shop with which you can pay for upgrades. Although I didn’t see this feature hands on, it will make it’s way into the final release.

It may not have the Contra name on it, but this is the definitive next generation Contra title. I only left wishing I could play it once I left the E3 floor, but I’ll have to wait for the Winter release date.

Check out some of the gameplay footage HERE, courtesy of Gametrailers.com

Now it’s your time to sound off, fellow axeheads! Is it not Contra without Bill and Lance??! Will the title be the definitive reboot of a classic franchise?

We’ve all been there. That hollow, sunken feeling you get when the bright green lights around your Xbox 360 power button suddenly shift to red in a grisly parody of a fresh cigar burn, the rush of blood under the lips of a leech, the ring around the rosie turning us all to ashes as we fall, the Red Ring of Death.

Apparently emotionally scarring your customers with such a horrifying symbol isn’t good for business, as Microsoft Game Studios Corporate VP Phil Spencer announced the new Xbox 360 models will not use the dreaded Red Ring of Death as a warning system when something in the consoles goes awry.

Not that the new Boxes will never break.

“Now obviously, the box has a way to communicate to you if something has happened…but yes, three red lights are not part of our sequence of telling somebody something is wrong,” Spencer said in an E3 interview with IGN.

Spencer didn’t specify exactly how the new 360s will communicate this message, but I assume it has something to do with vuvuzelas and spontaneous combustion.

NetherRealm’s gruesome revitalization of the classic Mortal Kombat franchise, set for release in 2011 for PS3 and Xbox 360, will include downloadable characters and possibly much more.

Mortal Kombat is getting a makeover for the new game–imagine Scorpion wearing bright red lipstick–with smooth 3D graphics in a classic 2D fighting mechanic, new fatalities, new battle modes and our favorite cast of iconic killers. As PlayStation Lifestyle discovered in a closed-door run-through of the game at E3, the character selection screen features a button labeled “DLC.” This means new fighters and perhaps much more as one of NetherRealm’s main concerns is delivering Mortal Kombat to the modern generation of gaming.

New game modes include a four-player “tag-team” and a two-player co-op arcade mode that takes the fight online.

Check out the teaser trailer here and let us know how the modernization of Mortal Kombat looks to you!

Without any official confirmation from Microsoft, the Kinect system for Xbox 360 has been priced at $149.99 for pre-orders at many major retailers online.

GameStop, Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart all have the Kinect for pre-order at $149.99, which was the rumored price before Microsoft so helpfully didn’t clear up the issue at its E3 press conference.

GameStop warns potential pre-orderers that the price is an estimate only and is subject to change, but with four of the largest retailers promoting the same price, it might be safe to start saving up now.

For the 40 million Xbox 360 models in our parents’ basements around the world, Kinect will also require an additional power source to run, so make sure to budget that in your piggy bank too, as none of the retailers seem to be including it in their pre-order packages. The new Xbox 360 250 GB consoles have a direct plug-in for the Kinect and require no additional power source.

Is $150 too pricey for the Kinect, or is the technology innovative enough to warrant it? Will you be getting one? Let’s hear it below!