Earlier today, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer introduced the world to the latest iteration of Windows Phones, dubbed Windows Phone 7. From the onset of the description of this new phone series, it is very clear that Microsoft went back to the drawing board and tried to come up with a user interface that is somewhat brand new. What it looks like they ended up with is a significant improvement over the Zune HD user interface.

In addition to the fully revamped OS, Microsoft is also touting several different levels of integration with popular social networking sites, as well as full integration with it's LIVE gaming network and Zune marketplace.  As always, you will still be able to fully use Microsoft's Office line of applications to stay fully connected to email and business documents as needed when on the go.

To elaborate more on the LIVE integration, a few bullet points were supplied to highlight the "tops of the trees" functionality that will be available to users:

• Collect Achievements and build your Gamerscore
• View Xbox LIVE leaderboards
• See your Xbox LIVE Avatar
• Access Spotlight feeds, including the latest tips and tricks, game news, updates and more
• Add Xbox LIVE friends to your friends list while out on the go
• Turn-based (asynchronous) multiplayer gaming

Thanks goes to site Contributor, Dan, for the heads up about the announcement.  Consumers will be able to get their hands on Windows Phone 7 enabled hardware by the holiday 2010 season.   If you would like to view the full video of the press event, follow the break.

According to a report by Wired, Microsoft refused to sell Xbox 360 consoles to the U.S. Army for training purposes. The reasoning behind this move from the traditional PC structure that the Army has used is simple: Consoles are more familiar to the younger demographic in terms of being a gaming platform, the cost is much lower than a gaming PC and consoles offer a wide arrange of game peripherals that can be used for training purposes (think Wii Balance Board).

So you see why the Army would like to order some 360’s, so why did Microsoft say no? According to Roger Smith, chief technology officer for PEO STRI, Microsoft Executives denied their request for three reasons, which are shown after the break.

In a few days Microsoft will be pushing out a new update for “Windows Activation Technologies (WAT)”. The update to WAT will be able to detect more than 70 known activation cracks for Windows 7 and, if detected on your computer, will flag your copy of Windows 7 as an illegal copy. Your desktop will return to a plain desktop and Windows will issue periodic notifications informing you of your illegal copy.

However what comes as a shock to many is that this update is not only voluntary (you can choose not to in stall it) it also does not reduce any functionality within Windows, meaning you won’t be locked out of your account and no services will be disabled.

Windows Activation Technologies Update [Windows Blog]

In the eternal ping-pong match between Microsoft and Sony executives discussing their current generation consoles, Sony VP of Marketing and PlayStation Network, Peter Dille, has just thrown down some great fodder for the fanboys. In a recent interview conducted by IGN UK, Peter Dille was asked several questions about the competition, and some of his responses did not disappoint.

When asked if he thinks the PS3 will overtake the 360 in sales at some point, here was his response:

Yeah, we do. I'm confident we'll be around in 10 years and I can say that because we've done it twice. PS3 will be around in 10 years and probably much longer than that. I have my own opinion, but I'll ask you the question. Do you think the 360 will be around in 10 years?

We can be passionate fans, but I don't think they'll be around in 10 years so I'm very confident we'll pass them within that time frame. I mean, we've got 31 million [units sold] worldwide right now -- they've got 39 million [units sold]. I don't even need to go out 10 years. I'm not going to make any predictions for your interview today other than we'll pass them, but you look at where we are today and where they are today, and they had an opportunity to sprint as far ahead of us as possible when they had the head start. Well, we're breathing down their necks and they can see us in the rearview mirror and it's not going to take too long to pass them.

Well he went there, and only time will tell if the predictions will pan out. Competition is a good thing in this industry and I really never hope it goes away. As a lifelong gaming fan, I don't want any of these companies to start sitting on their laurels, which I feel is what Sony did prior to the launch of the PS3, and still do to a certain extent today.

Peter Dille Interview [IGN UK]

Despite rumors, Bungie confirmed earlier today that Halo Reach, another entry to their popular and groundbreaking Halo franchise, will not be making use of Project Natal's motion capture technology. The rumor first originated back in June of last year when the Bungie president himself, Harold Ryan, said that Reach could be 'enabled' for use with Natal. That obviously didn't pan out, which honestly comes as no surprise for a game such as Reach. Still, despite Microsoft's claims that over 70% of publishers are developing Natal titles, the only major game confirmed for a 2010 release that utilizes Natal is Fable 3, made by Lionhead Studios. Personally, I have to wonder what the majority of Natal games will be like if there's so few major titles utilizing it.

Halo Reach Won't Use Natal Controls [IGN]

Microsoft's Game Room certainly is shaping up to be quite a contender in the retro market, and this announcement is sure to step things up for their project. As most people are aware, the biggest hurdle for publishers to get their game onto... say a service like Nintendo's Virtual Console is the ERSB ratings. ERSB ratings are notoriously expensive, ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 for a single rating. This turns off publishers who don't expect an amazingly large profit on the games they wanted to release, causing them to often remove the game from their potential library.  However, Microsoft has done something to circumvent this particular little hurdle; have the Game Room itself rated. This means that any game that Microsoft allows on the game room will be hit with an E10+ rating, which is what the Game Room was rated at, and it will not have to go through the ERSB rating process.

The only drawback to this plan is that any games already rated over E10+, such as at a T rating, will not be allowed onto the Game Room. It's a small price to pay for access to pretty much all games released before 1990 however. With the rating system bypassed, Microsoft truly can allow publishers to open the floodgates, which is good for all of us.

360 Game Room Rating [GamerBytes]

Microsoft has announced that their Kodu game creator has become available for download as a Technical Preview (TP) on the PC. The “game” was previously only available to members of the XNA Creator’s Club, those involved in the academic program and those who were willing to shelve out 400 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360. Kodu will allow the end-user to create games without having any prior programming knowledge with premade sprites, actions and terrain.

While it is still limited in the actions and objects you can have in the game it still offers a valuable look at how and where user-generated content is evolving. The interface is very simple and easily picked up by anyone without needing to read any long manual or go through a tutorial so I highly recommend our users to try it out. For those looking for a tutorial or various games to try out, head over to Planet Kodu. You can download the TP version below:

Download: [Kodu Technical Preview]

PC gaming peripheral manufacturer Razer has recently received preliminary approval from Microsoft to continue development of it's Onza gaming controller designed specifically for Xbox 360 gamers. In addition to the gaming pad, Razer is also hoping to be granted the same preliminary approval for a 5.1 surround sound headset dubbed Chimaera.

The new Onza controller will feature analog sticks with a customizable tension setting to suit your FPS needs, an additional shoulder button that can be mapped out to anything you feel necessary, buttons made with Razer Hyperesponse™, (which apparently will lead to faster click times and a more tactile feel) and the actual seam of the controller will be illuminated throughout use.

The new headset they are hoping to continue development on will be sporting a 5.1 Channel Virtual Surround Sound system and a base unit that can be daisy-chained for those who go to LAN parties or competitive gaming tournaments.

The Razer Onza and Razer Chimaera have an MSRP of US $49.99/Europe € 44.99 and US $129.99/Europe €109.99 respectively. See below for a gallery of close up shots.

[View with PicLens]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Entertainment Division President Robbie Bach revealed a tantalizing statistic at its CES presser today, highlighting the key fact that 39 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. Out of the entire install base, 20 million have connected to Xbox Live. While a complete breakdown of tiers was not given, that figure factors in all subscribers, whether Gold or Silver.

You have to admit, the number of total Live users seems a tad on the low side when considering the Xbox 360's online component is arguably one of its fundamental strengths. Still, it's nothing to scoff at considering this is essentially the first generation of consoles that shipped with online experiences right out of the box.

Microsoft: 39 Million Xbox 360 Consoles Sold, 20 Million Live Users [eXophase.com]

In the past month, an incredible amount of work has been put into the Xbox 360 JTAG exploit. This homebrew enabling hack requires soldering and a vulnerable kernel. I have put together a FAQs section that goes into detail about the modification process.

Performing this hack enables you to run XeLL (a Linux/Homebrew loader) or an unsigned dashboard with patches to run full games off an external hard drives, along with homebrew compiled from the official Xbox Development Kit.

This has been a controversial issue among the scene, which some claim that homebrew should be legal and easy to distribute, which is the case in XeLL as it's compiled legally through libxenon. Although in XBReboot, homebrew is compiled and distributed illegally though the official XDK. A legal alternative might be available in the future if history repeats itself, like the original Xbox.

Since these files are illegal to distribute, as they contain copyrighted Microsoft code, you need to download auto-xbins; a program to automatically connect a file distribution server. Check out this video of me demonstrating the uses of XBReboot. If you have any questions regarding Xbox 360 hacking, don't hesitate to post in the comments.

More information: The NEW Xbox360 Homebrew Scene and YOU