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As we mentioned on Monday, Microsoft released their Spring update for the Xbox 360 yesterday. Microsoft has apparently been “saving up” for this release, as it encompasses over 125 changes to the console. A fair number of the items are bug fixes, but there are plenty of functionality changes and upgrades as well.
There are plenty of things to like in the update, but my personal favorites are the re-tooled Download Manager, the “Boot to Dashboard” feature, the upconversion of standard definition DVDs to 720p (provided you use the VGA connection), and the ability to disable sounds when browsing the Dashboard. Not to be left out is something called Total USB Keyboard Support which hopefully provides the long awaited keyboard support in games.
Xbox 360 Spring Update Complete Features List
* Download Manager: Marketplace items now download in the background, you can queue up to six pieces of content.
* DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing.
* Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive.
* Boot to Dashboard setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on.
* You can begin slideshows from any photo.
* The music player saves “shuffle” setting.
* The music player saves “repeat” setting.
* The music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist.
* The music volume level persists between game / reboots.
* Eight new locales added (Chile, Brazil, India, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia).
* Separate settings are now offered for Game and User volume controls.
* Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard.
* User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard.
* “All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area.
* Personal gamer pictures are now allowed, displayed only to those on your friends list.
* Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard.
* Instantaneous “Change Theme” option has been added upon downloading new Dashboard Themes.
* You can preserve the folder structure of source when viewing photos.
* A / B labels now provided to identify memory units in Dashboard.
* Online status is set to “Away” when screensaver becomes active.
System Improvements
DVD Player
* Improved the audio/video sync after extended pauses.
* Improved the visual quality.
* The DVD player outputs at native resolution over VGA connection.
* Improved the playback smoothness.
* Improved the fast-forward and rewind smoothness.
* DVD play continues to attempt to read a disc after “disc read” error.
* DVD play àPauseàPlay jitter / out of synch issues improved.
* DVD play àSlow Play àPlay jitter / out of synch issues improved.
* Repaired issues with missing menu selection icon from DVD disc menu for certain films.
* Improved Xbox 360 Guide efficiency during certain films.
* Repaired playback stutter during certain films.
Music Player
* Player now populates music data (Title, Artist, etc.) when no track information is available.
* User music now pauses, instead of stopping, when games override user-selected background music.
* Selecting an artist’s
albums for all artists.
* Improved the performance when retrieving playlists from a Windows Media connection.
* Music tracks listed in order when viewing albums by specific artist.
* Unified music controls available for music player in Dashboard and pop-up Guide.
* Improved the playback for Mono AAC-encoded files.
* Improved the connection timing between console and CD database over Internet.
* The player no longer allows hard-drive selection when no hard-drive is connected.
* Removed handling of MTP/USB devices when playing music from them more robust.
* Improved error codes / messaging associated with unplayable content.
More update items after the jump.
Click to continue reading Xbox 360 Spring Update Offers Over 125 Changes
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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Xbox Live Update Coming Soon
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Ubisoft today announced that the first set of downloadable content updates for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter on the Xbox 360 will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace at the end of the month. Included in the new content will be Chapter 2 of the co-op campaign, featuring four new missions, according to Ubisoft:
- Coffee Plantation (Day) – This takes place on a coffee plantation embedded deep in Nicaragua. The map is littered with good cover options that appear in the form of a centrally located plantation house, coffee processing equipment, growing coffee plants, and stacked bags of coffee beans ready for transport. The Ghosts’ overall goal of this mission is to eliminate the arms dealer and shut down his operations.
- Shipping Port (Evening) – The next mission takes place at a shipping port and the Ghosts’ objective is to stop the enemy from smuggling weapons into the country. The player will interact with rebel troops through warehouses, decks of ships, and on massive shipping cranes. This night mission provides an eerie backdrop for Ghosts to move in take out the weapon shipments and ensure that the illegal smuggling of arms will stop.
- River Depot (Dawn) – This map puts the Ghosts in a jungle area that the Rebel forces have infiltrated and are using for storing and shipping out illegal weapons. The goal of the Ghosts is to secure the warehouse facility that holds crucial information concerning the placement and shipment of weapons. As the player weaves through the jungle and eliminates the patrols of enemies, they must also destroy all the weapon shipments and keep the Rebels from extracting from the area. Massive trees, loads of weapon shipments, and enemy transports are unique characteristics of this mission.
- Jungle Mine (Day) – The last mission in this co-op campaign chapter takes place in a mine that is vital to the Rebel force’s regime and the Ghosts are tasked with securing the area, destroying the weapons, and eliminating the Rebel leader. The central location on this map is the mine itself and it provides a place for multi-tiered gameplay surrounded by good cover. This mission provides a new gameplay experience for Ghost Recon fans and it will surely be one of the more memorable missions in GR history.
In addition, eight of the existing multi-player levels will be “remixed” with new lighting options, and there will be two new multi-player game types included. Gamers will be able to customize their online presence further with two new camo options, and four new face types. Five new weapons will also be included in the game, further enhancing the multiplayer experience. No word was given on possible bug fixes included in the content pack. Pricing wasn’t set, but expect it to be greater than the 500 points for the Perfect Dark Map Pack.
Read More 
| Ghostrecon.com
New Perfect Dark Zero Multiplayer Maps Released
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft Game Studios and Rare today announced that they will be expanding the already extensive and exciting multiplayer experience of “Perfect Dark Zero” by adding four new battleground maps available now for download on Xbox Live Marketplace.
The four new maps, Plaza, Rooftops, Trench, and GasPlant will provide gamers with the ability to further their mission of becoming the Perfect Agent. All maps will be fully functional with all existing scenarios. Gamers can purchase these exciting new maps for 500 Microsoft Points from Xbox Live Marketplace beginning today.
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Halo 3 E3 Trailer Documentary Now Available
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, E3, First Person Shooters, Trailers, Xbox 360,
Last week Bungie confirmed that a documentary about the making of the Halo 3 E3 trailer was forthcoming. Today they released the video which is available on Bungie.net in QuickTime and Windows Media formats including HD versions. Surprisingly the documentary is not currently available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Included in the documentary are new angles and scenes, a feature on making the music for the trailer, along with “hints of things to come”. The video also features Bungie employee reactions to the end of Halo 2 and humorous comments about the development process.
The most notable quote comes from Martin O’Donnell, aka Marty, “We want this to be the return of the king. We want this to be the final chapter in an epic trilogy.”
Read More | Bungie.net
Gamers playing games like Perfect Dark Zero and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter may have noticed that there are occasions when the screen appears to tear while playing. Team.com talked to Chris Satchell of the Games Development Group at Microsoft to try and pin down why this is happening. Many gamers have speculated that the issue is related to the fact that in order to get better frame rate performance from games, some developers disable the vertical sync on the console, or v-sync. Satchell responds: “Users are correct; ‘Page tearing’ is an artifact of changing the displayed frame of the game while the display device is partially through displaying the previous frame.”
PC Gaming enthusiasts have seen this in their games for a while, but the difference on the PC is that the user is usually given control over the v-sync setting, and can either disable it for performance, or enable it for picture fidelity. Gamers on the Xbox 360 haven’t been given that choice; for games like PDZ and GRAW, v-sync is always off.
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t really offer a good solution for Xbox 360 owners. Satchell’s brilliant suggestion: “There isn’t anything I would recommend for consumers that can help alleviate the problem. I think when gamers get their hands on this years 2nd generation Xbox 360 titles they will be blown away with the visual excellence. So my only advice would be; make sure you have an Xbox 360 this holiday.” Microsoft appears to be using the distraction defense for this issue, where in an ideal world, gamers would be given the option to enable and disable v-sync on their own, so those gamers who value picture fidelity can get the imagery that they deserve from a next generation platform like the Xbox 360.
Read More | TeamXbox.com
Oblivion PC Patch Released, Xbox 360 Patch Tomorrow
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, PC, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Bethesda has made the final version of the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion patch available for download. The download updates the PC version to 1.1.511, and the Xbox 360 (English) version will be available tomorrow on Xbox Live. There are numerous fixes to issues gamers have been seeing, including hardware fixes and optimizations for users with SLI and Crossfire configurations, numerous bug fixes to areas within the game, and a ton of fixes to quests that were broken or otherwise had errors in the original. There is the introduction of a new “Very Low Quality” rendering mode for users with low-end video cards. In addition, the patch notes list a number of ways users can optimize their game performance, modifications to get a wired Xbox 360 gamepad working with the PC version of Oblivion.
Read More | Patch Download
Read More | Patch Notes
More Price Drops for Xbox 360 Games
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Driving, Hot Deals, Xbox 360,
1up.com and the Frugal Gamer are reporting on some more price drops for Xbox 360 games, including The Outfit and Burnout Revenge now priced at $39.99. Just to review, here are the Xbox 360 games now available at the $40 pricepoint:
- Burnout: Revenge
- Condemned: Criminal Origins
- Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires
- FIFA 06
- Full Auto
- Madden NFL 06
- NBA 2K6
- NBA Live 06
- The Outfit
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Peter Jackson’s King Kong
- Ridge Racer 6
- Rockstar Games Table Tennis
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
- Top Spin 2
Microsoft has stated that they’re feeling comfortable with their pricepoints through the launch of the PS3, and it’s not surprising - right now you could pick up an Xbox 360 and 5 decent games for the price of a PS3 un-handicapped system. Still, while Microsoft might not be lowering the price of their console anytime soon, they appear to be acting quite agressively in the area of games. Are these games for the 360 not selling as well as expected, leading to the price drops? Or is Microsoft positioning itself to be the console with the cheaper system AND cheaper games when the PS3 launches? We’ll just have to wait and see what further price drops take place in the months leading up to the PS3 release.
Read More | The Frugal Gamer via 1Up
In celebration of England’s first game in this summer’s World Cup tournament there will be a big party in London. The event, sponsored by Microsoft to promote the Xbox’s role as official console of the 2006 World Cup, centers on a huge projector screen that will broadcast the England/Paraguay match live. Visitors to the event can jam to a state-of-the-art sound system, or yell along with cheerleader performances. Microsoft plans similar events for each England (and Australia) game, and expects over 1500 fans to attend the first event this Saturday.
Read More | Virgin.net
Microsoft’s Live Anywhere Gains Support
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, Portable/Mobile, Wireless, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
QUALCOMM announced June 1st that it will be supporting the Live Anywhere movement through use of it’s BREW software. If you are using a Verizon Wireless cell phone and playing games, you are using BREW. The announcement was made at the annual BREW developer’s conference in San Diego, and is good news for Microsoft. Previous to this announcement Live Anywhere was a great theory but lacked visible backers in the wireless industry. These showings of support by QUALCOMM and by proxy Verizon Wireless has lent credibility to the idea that I can purchase a game on the Xbox Live Arcade and gain the ability to play the game on your phone or interact on the go with your friends on Live. Yet to be laid out is what consumers will have to pay Verizon for this access since Verizon is unlikely to just hand out access to their distribution service and lose revenue from games purchased on Live. On the upside, combined with the free XBL gold weekends that Verizon has given out, the company may be showing a commitment to the gaming community and thus attracting more gamers to it’s multitude of services.
Read More | IGN
Halo 3 Documentary Coming Soon to Bungie.net
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, Internet, Trailers, Xbox 360,
Coming soon, you’ll be able to see a documentary of the making of the Halo 3 trailer on Bungie.net. From the company’s weblog:
“Some of our sharp-eyed fans may have noticed Marty hinted at an upcoming documentary on Bungie.net. It was supposed to be a surprise, but since the man himself gave it away, we can in fact reveal that we have a documentary short that shows the process and people involved in making the E3 trailer, complete with some never before seen scenes (think angles, really) from the trailer. This was the goodie I had hinted at in a previous update.”
No specifics were given yet as to when we can expect to see this documentary appear, but it should be interesting to see the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting the trailer ready for E3.
Read More | 1Up
Read More | Bungie
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