In an exclusive interview with Next Generation, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten announced the rather disappointing news that they will not be releasing a Spring update this year. This of course means that the rumored Spring update feature set that was leaked last week was complete bologna. Whitten says that instead of putting their resources into a Spring update, they decided to focus their energy into “building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service” (ahem, more reliability). But all is not lost in the land of updates, as Whitten confirmed Microsoft will be rolling out a change to their DRM policy in June that’ll allow content owners to re-license XBLA and XBLM content to a single console. This move will make said content available when disconnected from Xbox Live.
Finally, we learn that the Xbox Live Arcade will get a metaphorical Spring cleaning as Microsoft plans to remove under-performing Arcade titles. Games that have been on the market for over six months, have a Metacritic average lower than 65% and a conversion rate below 6% will be targeted for de-listing. A move that Microsoft hopes will streamline the service and open it up to bigger and better things.
After being announced at GDC 08 the only questioned that lingered about Microsoft’s new Community Games initiative was when the program would officially begin. Today Microsoft inched the program closer to launch by announcing the Beta test for Community Games is available to premium XNA membership owners and the new XNA Creators Club Online community site.
The beta allows creators to submit games for review to the newly formed creators site and once reviewed and approved the game is made available on Xbox Live.
According to Microsoft during GDC, Community Games will land on all Xbox Live connected consoles this holiday season and hopefully the early beta means we can have a healthy catalog of titles to choose from.
Make sure to check out the XNA Community Games tutorial video below.
Since gaming out sold music last year (2007) and even before that, gaming was a multi-billion dollar industry and the popularity is growing immensely. And, I guess Guinness has a special interest in the gaming industry because they have their own online book and site dedicated to gaming world records. To view the article from Popsci.com, please click Full Story. But, if you want to get right into the action and view the website with all of the record, please click HERE.
No, this is not an early April Fools’ Day joke. On Tuesday, April 1st, Microsoft will be performing server maintenance. Straight from the horse’s mouth: Xbox LIVE will be unavailable for approximately 3 hours on April 1st 2008 to upgrade the service starting at 2:00 PDT, 9:00 GMT, and 18:00 GMT+9. This means Xbox Live and also Xbox.com will be shut down during those hours.
Before you start making your “Spring Dash Update is Nigh!” signs, we’re being told this is a routine process that will go on in the early hours of the morning. So, while this won’t even take any of your Xbox Live time off your hands since it’s in the morning, we’ve posted it as news anyways, because that’s what we do.
Our good friend shiZy over at The360Forum.com has sent us 2 gameplay videos from the newly released Devil May Cry 4 demo. The first video is embedded above while the second video’s link is below. If you want to try out this demo for yourself, please download it now at the XBLM. Please enjoy, I know I did.
From the producer of the original Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 4 comes the next instalment in the hugely successful stylized action series that has so far achieved global sales of nearly seven million units. Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with a familiar hero. As the new leading man, Nero, players will unleash incredible attacks and non-stop combos using a unique new gameplay mechanic, his powerful “Devil Bringer” arm.
Developed by Project Gotham Racing creators, Bizarre Creations, The Club is an intense shooter that is designed to challenge players in a variety of ways beyond the more traditional-style games of the genre. Earlier this afternoon, the demo for The Club was made available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. After snagging the 1.36GB file, we spent the better half of the afternoon checking out what The Club demo has to offer while making note of the game’s ongoing progress before its scheduled release in February.
The Club will feature eight misfit renegades who must fight their way through a series of challenges that are part of an underground blood-sport run by a secret group of elitist and sadistic millionaires. Each character has his own reason for taking part in the twisted gladiator-style tournament known as The Club, but the demo only allows us to get a look at the cop named Renwick. A tough, no-nonsense NYPD detective, Renwick has made a name for himself as one of the most decorated officers to have served the force in his more than 30 years on duty. Renwick is a well-balanced character with enough speed to keep up with the enemies and his strength and stamina are evident of his many years of service.
This Article is %100 orignal and written by Steam of 360wtf.com
As everyone knows xbox live has had some serious issues over the past week or so, and players are getting upset. It isn’t just for the fact that we can’t get on and play for the time we have paid for but the announce and inconvenience it has caused. I mean what could be worse than getting a new xbox game you have been dieing to get for Christmas running to get on and play it and……well you can’t!
Gamers all around the world have started speculations about compensation and now all around the net people are demanding compensation. When you demand things your requests are more or so ignored seeing as how no-one likes to be told what to do when they are trying to resolve things the way they feel is right. All we have heard is they are working to fix the problems.
This blog post is more of an open post in which the users and viewers should leave comments and there feelings on if the request of compensation seems fair. Microsoft has been reasonable fair with all the xbox’s getting the read rings so could this be something they could consider. Possibly a free week or maybe some gamer points or even a month in the spirit of the holidays! For now I do not know any further information but I would like to hear some outside opinions on this matter.
Should Xbox live compensate gamers?
The situation at hand as well as the most recent update from Teamxbox.com.
If you are an avid online player, you already know that Xbox Live experienced some issues over the long Christmas weekend. Although Microsoft claimed the issues were resolved, Xbox Live is still experiencing technical difficulties a week later.
Xbox Live’s director of programming Larry Hryb has posted several messages on his official Xbox blog, promising that “the issues are being worked on” and that “just because it is the holidays does NOT mean the Operations Team is working hard….”
As I write these lines, Xbox Live is up and running, but suffering “intermittent issues” such as the ones described in the image below, which was taken from Xbox.com support page:
Arkadian Warriors on Xbox Live Arcade is a fanciful action RPG that takes the player to the Land of Arkadia, where they choose to fight as one of three powerful Warriors—the Soldier, Sorceress and Archer. Each Warrior is equipped with unique weapons and special abilities for their quest to defeat the heinous snake-haired Gorgon. The game features over 200 different items, including armor, weapons and potions.
The saga of the Arkadian Warriors began many years ago, when the goddess Artemis rewarded three of her animal subjects for their loyal service. The Lion, the Phoenix and the Dragon are given the useful ability to change into human form while retaining their animal powers.
For generations, the transformed animals and their descendants live peacefully as humans, but now the bad-tempered Gorgon has risen up against Artemis, turning her to stone and causing a lot of trouble in the Land of Arkadia. Called to action, the heirs of the Lion, Phoenix and Dragon must take up arms. They become the Soldier, the Sorceress and the Archer—the Arkadian Warriors.
Using specialized weapons and tapping into the power of their respective“Alter Ego” animal sides—harnessing creature-based weapons of mass destruction—they must rescue Artemis and kick the snarly, serpent-headed Gorgon and her hideous minions out of Arkadia.
This is a pretty cool move by Activision and Microsoft. Neversoft, Bungie, Activision/RedOctane, and Microsoft have teamed up to offer the main Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix) as a free playable song for Guitar Hero III for the X360. The is now available as a free downloadable track in Guitar Hero 3. To download it log into Guitar Hero 3 and access downloadable content via Xbox Live.
“It’s a real pleasure to hear one of the best loved and most iconic themes from Bungie’s Halo Universe in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,” said Marty O’Donnell, Composer and Audio Director for Bungie Studios. “As longtime fans of the Guitar Hero franchise, it was great to collaborate with Neversoft and Activision/RedOctane to offer this exciting free download to our fans.”I was half expecting to read this would cost you some money, but it’s apparently free. Yeah, I know, the spirit of the holidays are spreading!
Microsoft sent today a press release with some figures and stats to describe the current status of the Xbox platform:
Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE Momentum Facts ‘n Stats
Leadership: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are leading the charge into the future of gaming and entertainment, bringing the best games, an active community and a growing catalogue of high definition entertainment to all members of the household.
More than 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold across the 37 countries where it is currently available. Xbox LIVE is currently available in 25 countries across the globe.
According to U.S. NPD data, gamers have bought more software for the Xbox 360 (24.3 million units), than software for PS3 and Wii combined (19.8 million units).
Faster than expected, Xbox LIVE has eclipsed the 7 million member milestone and is on track to reach 10 million members by the end of June 2008. In fact, in the last year we’ve added a new Xbox LIVE member every 8 seconds.
Gaming: With the greatest lineup in the history of video games, Xbox 360 is hands down the best gaming console on the market.
There are more than 250 games available today on Xbox 360, including 86 Xbox LIVE Arcade games.
Xbox 360 is the next-gen console with the largest games attach rate at an astounding 6.3 games sold per Xbox 360 owner.
Xbox LIVE members have spent more than 3.2 billion hours playing games on Xbox LIVE with their friends around the world. That is equal to 137 million days or more than 376,000 years of gaming.
To date, Xbox 360 owners have unlocked more than 600 million Achievements. All of those unlocked Achievements have created a total combined Gamerscore of more than 14 billion.
There have been 2.5 billion game sessions hosted since the launch of Xbox 360, with more than 5.6 million hosted each day so far in 2007.
Xbox LIVE Arcade has been a huge hit on Xbox 360, with nearly 70% of all connected consoles downloading and playing Xbox LIVE Arcade titles.
Xbox LIVE Marketplace currently offers nearly 200 free trials and demos, giving owners more free playable content than any other console.
Entertainment: Xbox 360 is the center of digital entertainment in the living room, offering the best in high definition games, movies and television along with access to all your friends, digital music and pictures.
Xbox 360 continues to lead with the largest library of on-demand high-definition movies and television in the U.S. on-demand market. Twenty-nine movie studios and TV networks continue to provide a growing catalogue of premium high- and standard-definition entertainment content that to date totals 2,800 hours.
Xbox LIVE Marketplace is now the leading provider of on-demand high-definition content in the U.S., providing more than twice the number of hours as leading cable operators.
Xbox LIVE Marketplace is home to a growing catalogue of more than 9,000 pieces of individual gaming and entertainment content, downloadable at the click of a button.
There have been 290 million downloads of gaming and entertainment content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace
Social Networking: Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE offer the largest, most active online community of friends, family and rivals worldwide.
Xbox LIVE is the largest social network in the living room with 2.6 million IM, text and voice messages sent over the service every day.
Since Xbox LIVE launched, 3.1 billion games sessions have been hosted on the service.
The average Xbox LIVE Gold subscriber has 23 friends on their Xbox LIVE friends list.
More than 1.2 billion cross-game invites have been sent since the launch of Xbox 360.
Xbox LIVE Top 10: Check out the list of the top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE, as well as the top 10 worldwide downloads for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos since Xbox 360 launched in November, 2006.
The top 10 games played over Xbox LIVE worldwide:
Halo 2
Gears of War
Hexic HD
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty 2
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Crackdown
PGR3
The top 10 Xbox LIVE Arcade downloads worldwide:
Aegis Wing
Uno
Texas Hold ‘em
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved
Bankshot Billiards 2
Street Fighter ‘II Hyper Fighting
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade
Worms
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Contra
The top 10 Xbox LIVE Marketplace Demos downloads worldwide:
No, this is not an early April Fools’ Day joke. On Tuesday, April 1st, Microsoft will be performing server maintenance. Straight from the horse’s mouth: Xbox LIVE will be unavailable for approximately 3 hours on April 1st 2008 to upgrade the service starting at 2:00 PDT, 9:00 GMT, and 18:00 GMT+9. This means Xbox Live and also Xbox.com will be shut down during those hours.
Developed by Project Gotham Racing creators, Bizarre Creations, The Club is an intense shooter that is designed to challenge players in a variety of ways beyond the more traditional-style games of the genre. Earlier this afternoon, the demo for The Club was made available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. After snagging the 1.36GB file, we spent the better half of the afternoon checking out what The Club demo has to offer while making note of the game’s ongoing progress before its scheduled release in February.
