The Geekly Update will be offline for the next couple of weeks subject to WiFi availability.

I shall endeavor to supply you lovely bunch with content on an ad-hoc basis, although I’m sure, given the recent infrequency of content you’re rather used to this by now.

In the meantime, if any of ye faithful fancy submitting an article yourself and earning your keep (Eurogamer Ticket), please, don’t hold back.

Frags and kisses

When Jurassic Park first hit screens it was marvelled at for being a piece of cinematic excellence conducive of realism. Now, Spielberg has real-life competition.

Michael Jordan hasn’t appeared in a video game for a long, long time so when 2K Sports announced that it had secured the greatest player of all time to appear on the cover of NBA 2K11, it was a big deal. This week, that cover art was released.

The art style is markedly different from those of the past to reflect the significance of having Jordan on the cover. The image itself is iconic, a characteristic depiction MJ with tongue hanging out and all.

It might seem like an over exaggeration but there’s little doubt that this truly is the most highly anticipated sports video game cover of all time. Not simply because MJ is one of the greatest athletes to have ever competed, but because so very few game have even feature him as a player that having him appear on the cover is quite a monumental departure from the norm.

Jason Argent, marketing VP for 2K Sports said “I think fans will be pleasantly surprised at how Jordan is actually used in game, as NBA 2K11 will pay homage to ‘His Airness’ in many ways…”

As a marked contrast to yesterday’s post, Apple has shown the world how style and elegance is achieved through calculated effortlessness. This week the company opened a new store in Paris which is, I think, one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. Even if it were devoid of the engineering delights contained therein, this architectural delight would satisfy the soul equally. Exquisite elegance and pictorial perfection past the break.

It would be difficult to deny that Apple has been at the pinnacle of elegant and quality design in popular consumer electronics for quite some time now. Departing from its usually glass and chrome formula, Apple has chosen instead to portray its class and intelligentsia through traditional Parisian architecture.

What was once a bank now plays home to part Apple’s growing financial empire.

Cast thine eyes on sublimity and await the weepy regalement.

What were they thinking? Who knows. Maybe Microsoft are trying to emulate the success of Apple’s iPad in continuing with the sanitary theme.

Not only is the purple used on this packaging washed out, altogether uninspiring and boring, I’m not sure Microsoft could have picked a colour less suited to match its current branding of the Xbox 360. Together, this packaging looks far more akin to that commonly seem on household cleaning products and monthly lady-things. Not a good look.

I am becoming increasingly concerned with Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar advertising fail machine. First there were some truly awful TV adverts, then there were some more, then some more. Even the 360 is a relatively ugly beige monstrosity (that’s not to say other offerings are much better).

The new Xbox 360 is nice, in a hardcore, I’m going to devour you children kind of way. Even the Kinect unit is unoffending albeit rather boring, but how much better can you make a camera peripheral look? Apparently not much.

Solution found, let the iPosting commence.

After twenty days of inactivity the Geekly Update is ready to resume normal service.

I apologise to each and every dedicated reader who has visited the site only to be disappointed at the simply disheartening lack of content over the last few weeks. The iPad has made my life so much easier and more enjoyable in so very many ways, relegating my MacBook to but two uses since the 10″ touchable’s arrival. Great, except creating GU content remains a difficulty. Writing Is simple, formatting is simple, even inserting images is relatively easy. Scaling an image to appropriately fit the page however, remains an unsurmountable issue without a better picture editing app. If anybody knows of an iPad app that allows rescaling by number of pixels, please, please do let me know.

May I take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly and assure you that I shall endeavour to ensure that the GU you have come to know and grow increasingly fond of, will not suffer such neglect again. This post was written en-touch, so there really is no excuse.

In the meantime, tell your friends to tune back in. The GU is back on air.

This is the brand new, redesigned Xbox 360. Announced earlier today at Microsoft’s first press conference of this year’s E3 Expo the overhauled Xbox 360 is already being shipped to stores and will be made available for sale starting this week (In the US anyway, no word yet on a worldwide release). See the full spec list after the break.

The all new unit has shrunken in size and comes in a glossy black finish, perfect for those who like to collect fingerprints. Those of you eagle-eyed enough to have already looked at the photo will notice that there is no longer an external hard drive. The unit now comes, instead, with a 250GB hard drive nestled in a compartment in the base of the unit. It can be removed much like that of the PS3 although I wouldn’t hold your breach for this being hot-swappable with any old hard drive. As with most Xbox products, these babies are likely to be proprietary Microsoft hard drives only.

In addition, the new unit sports in-built 802.11n WiFi and an all touch-sensitive button configuration making it even harder to distinguish when you may or may not have actually pressed the button which turns your console on. By all accounts a correct press gives an acknowledged bleep though. Call me old fashioned but if all a button is doing is on/off open/close, I think I’d be far happier with some sort of haptic feedback. I digress.

The power brick has also been given the ‘honey I shrunk the kids’ treatment and the rear of this things sports more connections than Tiger Wood’s Blackberry Messenger contact list. Now with five USB ports (why?), HMDI, AV, Kinect connector, Ethernet, digital audio and a redesigned power connector the new box seems almost bloated with connectivity options.

The new Xbox is ‘Kinect Ready’ meaning that unlike any of the old Xbox models which will require a separate power supply and USB connection for Kinect to operate, this new model requires only the dedicated Kinect connector.

There’s no denying that this new Xbox looks decidedly more bad-ass than the previous iteration and almost laughs at the Elite’s mimicry. If you’re in the market for a new Xbox then this is the model you should be holding out for. At $299, the same price as the current 120GB model, this is a bargain.

Via Engadget

If you thought today’s Apple WWDC was going to be all about the iPhone, think again. Much information has been swirly around the internet over the past few weeks about what other products Apple might unveil at 6pm GMT today. There has been talk of Apple TV getting a huge redesign, the launch of Safari 5, the next update for Snow Leopard but not necessarily this. The Apple Magic Slate/Trackpad, both names are guesses. Pictures and info after the break.

This would appear to be a brand net input device from Apple following on from the success of its multitouch trackpads on its Macbook Pro line and the Apple Magic Mouse. This device will connect to desktops using bluetooth much like the Apple keyboard and allows you to control your screen in gesture based fashion and support handwriting recognition also. Anyone who has used one of the latest Macbooks will attest to how much simpler this can make navigating and organising a screen. It seems Apple’s affinity for touchy-feely input  will be making its way to more and more products.

Is it real? It’s quite likely that it is given that Apple filed for a Trademark on the name Magic Trackpad earlier this year. Only time will tell. Until 6pm!

via Engadget

In what was, without doubt, the biggest blunder in the Geekly Update’s history, the birthday of highly valued and most dedicated reader CharlesN52 was overlooked. Regular readers of the site will know that a select body of oh so special readers, who have contributed to and remained loyal to the site since its genesis, receive a special personal thank you on their birthdays. For a reader who last year, expressed his sadness to me personally at having narrowly missed the first instance of this feature, left instead in the realms of the unappreciated for an entire year, the omission was inexcusable. There are no justifiable reasons for this lapse in professionalism, or any words that can aptly portray the shame and disappointment felt within the walls of Geekly Update HQ today.

Happy Birthday FACE, I can only hope that your loyalty remains unfettered and my love reciprocated.