Back when XOD launched, we had a nifty Releases page where you could find release dates for all the upcoming Xbox 360 games. Since it was a lot of work to keep the page updated, we dropped it. I’ve determined that finding a simple list of accurate release dates isn’t too easy, so I wanted to do my best to bring that to the world.

Well, the XOD Releases page has now returned and it’s about as simple as can be. I’m updating it myself so it should stay pretty current. I’m only adding games that have semi-firm release dates. Games that are slated for release within a quarter don’t count.

You can even add the calendar to your Google Calendar using the button at the bottom of the list. Anyway, enjoy the list and I hope you find it helpful.

Update: I’ve also added a slick widget to the sidebar that contains the same release list.

Link: Releases

So I wish now that I had blogged about this sooner, but I’ll just post it in retrospect. Fortunately, Gmail logs my chats, so I kind of have proof that I totally called this.

Exactly one week ago I was chatting with Tha R1gga about DRM, mostly with relation to the Xbox 360. He, for the most part, is against DRM, but I was able to get him to admit that without it, nobody would be buying XBLA games or DLC. They’d simply find a way to copy it and make it available on the internets. Anyway, here is an excerpt from that chat session:

me: i just think there has to be a happy medium
i think MS is getting there
i think eventually they’ll let you update your own license on xbox.com
you just plug in your serial number and take care if it yourself

Now, here is a quote from an interview with Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live that was posted five days ago:

Yes, this new tool will officially launch next month on Xbox.com and will allow you to be able to consolidate these licenses onto one box so you can access things like Xbox LIVE Arcade games and TV show you have downloaded even if you are not online. Because this involved allowing users to re-download licenses for content that belongs to our partners it has taken some time to work out the agreements with them to allow this, but we have heard the concerns from folks about DRM and are happy to announce that everything is nearly in place to roll this out in June.

I could be the next Michael Pachter.

Any way, I think with this upcoming tool, Microsoft is being pretty fair with their DRM. You can use your Premium DLC on any 360 as long as you’re signed into Xbox Live with the Gamertag you purchased the content with. And now you will be able to move your licenses to another 360. What are your thoughts on this issue? Sound off in the comments.

After a little (lot) of time off, I’ve decided to give Xbox Overdose another shot. I don’t think we’ll be doing any news posts, as that seemed impossible to stay on top of and there are better outlets for that information. (See Xbox 360 Fanboy, Joystiq and Kotaku.) I’m still not 100% sure what content we’ll be adding in the future, but for now, I figure we can handle some Deals and Reviews and maybe even some Giveaways. Hopefully, we can get some regular posts happening again.

Also, I’m wondering if any of you in internet-land are interested in being one of our reviewers. If you’re interested, use the Contact Us form and send us a review of any game you want to review. New or old, it doesn’t matter, however I’d prefer it be an Xbox 360 game. I’ll be looking for writing skills, spelling, grammar, etc, so be sure to proof read your post before sending it.

Anyway, if any of our regular readers are still with us, thanks for sticking around. Hopefully XOD won’t disappear again.

As you may have noticed, news posts have been a little slim (read: nonexistent) the past few days. I’ve come to the realization that it’s near impossible for one person to keep up with the flood of news that’s out there. Perhaps if I didn’t have a regular job and a family, I could pull it off, but otherwise I just can’t do it.

That being said, I’ve decided to stop posting news on the site. Besides the fact that I can’t do it alone, I’m not sure that the inerwebs needs another Xbox 360 Fanboy, TeamXbox or Xboxic. As of right now, we aren’t much different from them or the many other enthusiast websites out there. I am not giving up on this website, however. We will still provide deals, reviews and giveaways. But we need something more. I’m currently working on ways to make Xbox Overdose special. I want to give people a reason to come here and stay here, in addition to websites like X3F.

I’m hoping that our (few) loyal readers might have some input to help make XOD better. What do you want to see our website offer? What do you want that’s not being done yet by other sites? What would make your Xbox 360 owning friends want to be part of XOD?

I currently have one idea in mind that I’ll present to you for consideration. I’m considering allowing user-created posts. Any registered user on the site would be able to submit news, reviews, etc. There would obviously be moderating on XOD’s part. Posts would need to be approved and possibly edited before appearing on the site. I think having community created content would be more interesting than another Xbox 360 blog, of which there are many.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.