Microsoft is due to update Xbox Live in their yearly Fall update, where they usually add a bunch of new featured. This year, the list looks like this:

• Improved voice quality — the audio codec is being updated to improve Xbox LIVE Party chat audio quality. So grab your friends and jump into a multiplayer game, catch a big sports event, watch a movie or do all three.
• Improved experience for changing your Gamertag — choosing a new Gamertag? If the Gamertag you’re looking for is already taken, your Avatar will spin a wheel and we will provide five other Gamertag suggestions at a time for you to choose from.
• Streamlined in-dashboard virtual keyboard — we’ve taken the existing QWERTY keyboard in-dash and made it easier to use for scenarios that involve repeated text entry, for example when signing up for LIVE within the dashboard.
• Improved Xbox LIVE Marketplace UI and browse experience — the Games Marketplace has been re-organized to provide streamlined access to the games and content you want, reducing the number of steps it takes to get to a download.
• Avatar changes — we’ve made your Avatars slightly more proportional so you can better play Kinect games
• Easier to get on a wireless network — trying to connect to a wireless network? With the next update, you’ll see a list of all the wireless networks within range when you go into network settings. From there, you’ll be able to select a new network or further configure the network you’re connected to.
• Ability to sign-out other controllers in the sign-in UI — we’re adding the ability to sign-out profiles on other controllers in the sign-in UI within the Guide. This is especially useful when playing games like Rock Band.
• New browse experience for 100% completed games — you spent a lot of time and effort earning those Achievements, so instead of only being able to view your first dozen completed games, we’re giving you a new and better way to browse all of them.

Nintendo has announced that Europe will be getting a brand new Wii bundle, which will include a red Wii (for the first time), and includes New Super Mario Bros Wii. The new bundle is to celebrate 25 years of Mario, and was recently announced for Japan. We expect Nintendo to bring it stateside as well very soon.

Blizzard executive Greg Canessa told in an interview with GDC Online that the next StarCraft game, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, “is 18 months away”, which pins it to a 2012 release date. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will focus on the Zerg campaign.

Games are getting 3D support left and right. Yesterday, we learned that the upcoming Medal of Honor Black Ops will support 3D, and now Sony’s tactical shooter SOCOM 4 is confirmed to sport 3D as well. In fact, developer Zipper Interactive has confirmed that the delay of the game to 2011 is solely because they need to add the 3D feature. Not only that, the game will support PlayStation Move as well.

According to a new report, Microsoft plans to shut down their in-game advertising firm Massive, which it acquired back in 2006 for an estimated $250 million. Recently EA abandoned a deal with Massive in order to sell ads in its games on its own, thereby keeping all the money. Another reason for shutting massive is that Microsoft is moving towards advertising in Xbox Live instead, as advertising in games will have to be shared with publishers (like EA).

Believe it or not, Michael Jordan has never been on the cover of an NBA game. Until now, with NBA 2K11. So if the greatest basketball player is on the cover of a game, does that mean, or hint, that’s it’s the greatest basketball game of all time? In short, yes. NBA 2K11 is the most extensive and polished b-ball game to date.

The highlight this year is of course Michael Jordan, who isn’t just playable for the first time in NBA 2K, but is also features in a whole new mode dedicated to him, called Jordan Challenges, where you’re in control of Jordan throughout memorable games of his career, like his NBA Final performance against the Jazz, and 9 other challenges waiting for you. But if you complete all challenges, you get to play as a rookie Michael Jordan who’s inserted into the league.

NBA 2K11 features accurately rendered players, as you might expect, and complete with their signature moves, shot styles and so on. While they’re rendered to great details, their jerseys often stand out as way too large and it almost looks like they’re wearing body armor instead of shirts. But that’s nitpicking, really, because the game carries an astounding level of polish and details. For instance, the crowd will start to fill up during the first quarter, then the stadium will be filled during the game, and if it looks like the be a blowout win (or loss), you’ll see them walk out during fourth quarter. It’s little things like that which add up and make for a memorable experience playing NBA 2K11.

The gameplay is key of course, and NBA 2K11 takes the good parts from last year and improves it, but again, it’s in the little things, the AI improvements — for instance, when you drive the lane, it’ll get clogged up like in real life, and players will hustle after the ball and so on. That’s not to say there aren’t any glitches, for instance, running fast breaks is at times nearly impossible, as one defender will be able to snatch up the ball in longer passes, even if it seems unrealistic that he would. One thing we didn’t like was creating and playing with your own players. After you create your player, you’re forced to go through hours of boring practice before you can use him in the NBA, and his skills will be rather tame. Which means you need to spend even more hours in the gym, running drills and what not if you want a decent player, when all you want is to actually play with him in the NBA.

The Good:
Great gameplay
Lots of details and polish
Many modes and lots of replay value
Great visuals

The Bad:
MyPlayer mode is tedious
A few bugs and glitches

Overall score: 9/10

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft has hit another major milestone: they’ve reached 12 million subscribers. The growth has been rather slow over the past few years, back in late 2008, the game reached 11.5 million subscribers, and it took almost 2 years for the last 500k. This probably means that WoW’s rise is slowing down. But fear not, the next expansion is coming later this year.

Epic Games have announced that Gears of War 3 will be getting a multiplayer beta, and that’s a public beta. This will make it the first time Gears of War has gotten a beta, which shows how much Epic expects from Gears of War 3, and that they want the multiplayer part really polished. The beta is expected to launch next summer.

ZeniMax, the parent company of developer Bethesda and id Software, has announced that they’ve gotten a $150 million investment from Providence Equity Partners, who previously invested $300 million into ZeniMax, some of that money was used to acquire id Software last year. This time, they’re looking to make another big acquisition.

EA is hurrying up to add more features to NBA Jam, since it’ll now be released as a standalone game, instead of being bundled with NBA Elite 11, which has been delayed indefinitely. Now we can report that EA is adding a slew of players to the roster, including politicians such as US President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former VP Al Gore. And also: The Beastie Boys.