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Rumor has it that the bi-annual Xbox 360 firmware update set to hit this fall will bring with it a number of interesting updates, chief among them a new Parental Timer.

Sources tell me that the update will allow people to set a password protected usage timer on their Xbox 360s. In other words, parents or loved ones will be able to limit the amount of time someone can game on the system during a given time period.

Personally, I think this is a brilliant idea and I can't figure why no console has done this before (that I know of). I'm fairly on top of things when it comes to my 6-year-old and his gaming habits. In fact I set up his 360 on the television in my loft office, so typically I'm right next to him when he plays. But, it's easy for me to lose track of time and even easier for him to. We use a system that requires him to do math, reading or writing homework to earn television time and video game time. Now I can just add this little timer to the formula and allow it to track just how much time he has left.

Source: Rumor: Xbox 360 Fall Update to Bring Parental Timer - Kotaku

Microsoft XNA Game Studio, the user-creation tool that allows you to make Xbox Live Arcade-quality games for the Xbox 360, has just been upgraded to 2.0. The most interesting improvements in the new version are the multiplayer networking APIs, which means you can actually create games like Jason Chen's Big Boob Robots that take advantage of Xbox Live's network support. Other than this, it's mostly improvements for developers that aren't that exciting for people who just want to play homebrew games

Source: Gaming: Microsoft Xbox 360 XNA Game Studio 2.0 Available, Adds Multiplayer Support - Gizmodo

While highly intelligent computers have been pwning humans in backgammon, checkers, and chess for years, machines haven't had nearly as much luck against poker sharks. According to a number of researchers, however, that will surely change over the next decade or so as the programming is honed to better anticipate the human's moves. Nevertheless, poker champion Phil Laak and fellow professional Ali Eslami will soon sit down for a two-day contest at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Up for grabs is a $50,000 prize, but moreover, University of Alberta's games research group will be interested in figuring out how to better prepare computers to understand and deal with the complex scenarios that only apply to poker. 'Course, with one-petaflop supercomputers now available for civilian use, we're sure it won't be too long before silicon and PCB rule supreme over our feeble brains in yet another facet.

Source: Texas Hold 'em champs face off with pokerfaced computer - Engadget

Apparently, being really good at gaming on your Xbox 360 might prepare you for more than a lonely life in your basement yelling at 13-year-olds while wearing a headset. According to this photo, soldiers in Iraq are using Xbox controllers to control SUGVs (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles) that go out on patrol and keep soldiers out of harms way.

Sure, it's a little different than playing Crackdown, but it makes sense that soldiers would use controllers they're familiar with rather than having to relearn a new system. So there you have it, next time your mom tells you you're wasting your life with video games just tell her you're training to go to Iraq. That'd be totally worth it, right?

Source: Fraggin': Xbox Controller Makes Iraq Like a Video Game with No Respawns - Gizmodo

Just a quick check-in on that supposedly Earth-shattering Xbox news that was due today: turns out that Bandai and Pac-Man designer Toru Iwatani debuted Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox Live Marketplace in New York, with new game types and an undisclosed number of new mazes -- the first in 26 years. (Humorous: the event was presented by... wait for it... Quiznos.) We're not gonna harsh on Pac-Man or anything, we love the little bugger and know damn well that for some this will actually "go down in video game history" as claimed. But our minds remain thoroughly unblown, and so we point you to Joystiq for the complete story.

Source: World-crushing Xbox news turns out to be new Pac-Man mazes -- game on - Engadget

Update: a new tipster has come with corroborative information—see below
Nearly 100 comments, and only one guy came close. According to an assortment of unrelated sources, the best guess is that tonight at midnight, Microsoft will finally launching its PlayTable concept as a full-blown entertainment product. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says PlayTable, aka Project Milan is a "multi-touch, gestural- and object-recognition interface technology" that Microsoft has demoed to a lot of people lately, but mainly as technology rather than a product in development. CrunchGear suggests that, based on a demo he saw, it might be a touch-friendly game console that competes with the Wii on intuitive user interface front.

We have another source that confirms the table-ness of the announcement, but says that it will be a kiosk-type of device, meant to provide gaming entertainment and a retail interface for Zune, but that, at a cost of $10,000 a pop, it won't be something that people actually buy for their homes.

Source: You Can Touch This: Microsoft's Mystery Product Is... A Touch-Sensitive Table? - Gizmodo