Latest Gear Live Videos
Guitar Hero 360 to Suck Your Wallet Dry
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Activision, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
We all know that microtransactions, small payments for incremental additions to games, are the way of the future. But you don’t have to brag about how much of our money you’re going to take! In a recent interview with IGN, Ted Lange, Associate Producer on Guitar Hero II, bragged that the game for the 360 will have “more online content than anyone has ever seen”.
While I’m excited about getting tons of new songs for the game, I often wonder how many of these songs could simply be squeezed onto the original disc if they tried. My guess is that the advent of microtransactions has made some programmers sloppy - there’s probably a fair amount of blank or wasted space on the GHII disc, but why bother putting more on the disc when you can just charge for it later!
Read More 
| IGN.com
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A Brief PartnerNet Tour
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
A couple of recent Xbox Live Arcade leaks have increased attention on Microsoft’s PartnerNet, the development network for debug Xbox Live content for developers and press. First, Eurogamer leaked the existence of Ikaruga on Xbox Live Arcade, and then Computers & Video Games had an article about the release of Rare’s Jetpak on PartnerNet that was quickly pulled. Now, CheapyD at CheapAssGamer.com has a brief tour of the PartnerNet on video, courtesy of an anonymous informer. The video shows entries for a few titles like Centipede and Millipede and a couple of other new games and gives an idea of what developers on the network can see.
Read More | Cheap Ass Gamer
Ikaruga Info Leaks Onto Xbox Live Partnernet
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Eurogamer did some poking around on Partnernet, the Xbox 360 internal debug network for Xbox Live Arcade and found some clues that indicate that Treasure’s shooter, Ikaruga may be coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the future. Their investigation on the network turned up a couple of files; when those files were downloaded, Ikaruga shows up. Unfortunately, the game itself doesn’t run, but Eurogamer was able to get a glimpse at a list of achievements for the game. Ikaruga has had somewhat of a difficult past, first as a 2002 release for the Dreamcast after console production had ceased, and then in releases for the Gamecube in Japan and the US. Hopefully the game will see an international release on Xbox Live Arcade, expanding the shooter’s audience.
Major Nelson Wants Your Marketplace Ten Commandments
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson has a post on his blog asking gamers for their “Ten Commandments” of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unsurprisingly, a number of the complaints range around some common issues users have with the Marketplace, such as:
- Charging to unlock content already on the disc (the fantastic 108kb downloads)
- Charging for content that other platforms get for free
- Releasing broken content
- No price reductions for content, ever
- More consistent Marketplace releases
If gamers have any requests for changes, improvements, or rules that the Xbox Live Marketplace should abide by, submit them to Major Nelson now; Microsoft has listened in the past, they will listen now.
Read More | Major Nelson
Aquazone: Worse Microtransaction Offender Than EA
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
While Electronic Arts has been busy monetizing nearly every facet of its Xbox 360 releases, from tutorials to unlockable items and cheats, a Japanese developer has stepped up to try and take the crown away from EA. 1up reports that Frontier Groove, publishers of AquaZone recently released 18 new fish for their aquarium simulator to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Should a user wish to purchase all 18, the cost will run over 5000 points, more than $60. 1up also discovered that the size of each download is the minimum size allowed by the Xbox 360, 108K, which strongly suggests that gamers are paying for content that is already on the retail disc. Interestingly, AquaZone has been one of the weakest supporters of the Gamerscore program, and is probably one of the reasons that Microsoft is enforcing new standards for that as well.
Read More | 1up
10 Classics to Hit Xbox Live Arcade in February
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Corporate News, Puzzle, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft today announced a slew of classic titles that will shortly be making their way to the Xbox Live Arcade. The titles announced include:
- 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures
- Alien Hominid HD
- Band of Bugs
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Catan (Settlers of Catan)
- Eets: Chowdown
- LUXOR 2
- Paperboy
- Root Beer Tapper
- Worms
Specific release dates or prices aren’t available yet for these games, but assuming the prices are fairly reasonable, I expect we’ll see a lot of sales on XBLA next month. Castlevania is the obvious contender for most popular retro title, but Worms, Settlers of Catan and Alien Hominid are also titles that you should definitely check out for your retro library.
Read More | Gamespot.com
Call Of Duty 3 Map Pack Broken
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Activision, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Gaming blog 2old2play is reporting that the Valor Map Pack, the 800 point content add-on for Call of Duty 3 shipped in a non-functional state. Referring to multiple complaints on the Xbox forums, it appears that a small percentage of people have gotten the content working by deleting previously downloaded content, but a majority can not get the maps to work. A post by a Treyarch employee indicates that they are working on the problem, but this appears to be an ongoing quality assurance issue for Xbox Live content. Xbox Live Arcade games and downloadable add-on content for other games have shipped in partially functioning states, and retail games have also seen issues. It appears that Microsoft’s certification testing team can find some issues; anticipated releases like the Crackdown demo have been delayed because of problems found during certification. Balancing the release process against the risks of not finding issues can be difficult, but it seems like major issues are going unnoticed.
Read More | 2old2play
Live Arcade Download Limit Grows To 250MB
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
1up is reporting that Microsoft is lifting the 50 MB size cap for Xbox Live Arcade downloads. Citing anonymous sources, 1up states that the new maximum size for Arcade games can now be as high as 250 MB. With special dispensation from Microsoft, content can become as large as 650 MB. Officially, Microsoft is denying the changes to their program. However, it is known that Konami has already received an exception for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Microsoft’s reasoning for the 50 MB limit was initially to provide Core system users access to Xbox Live Arcade content, but with a 256 MB Memory Card coming, this limit may no longer be necessary. The changes to the file limitations may in part be related to the competition; Sony has no such limits for their downloadable content, and Microsoft may feel that additional resources for Xbox Live Arcade titles may be necessary to keep up.
Read More | 1up
Xbox Live Video Marketplace to Make About $100 Million
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
If estimates from Emerging Media Dynamics are correct, Microsoft could end up with a nice chunk of change in its pocket thanks to the recently unveiled Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The firm estimates that by 2011, Microsoft could make as much as $726 million via downloadable movie and video content, with about $92 million of that being made this year.
With all those videos being downloaded, Microsoft had better come out with a larger add-on harddrive soon. Something tells me that all that media isn’t going to fit on the piddly 20 GB drives that current 360 owners are using.
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Castlevania To Break Live Arcade 50 MB Limit
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
When Microsoft announced that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night would be heading to the Xbox Live Marketplace, gamers were concerned that the production values of the game, most notably the lush soundtrack, would have to be compromised for the release in order to fit the game within the Live service’s strict 50 MB limit for Arcade downloads. Gamespot was able to confirm with Konami that they were able to get an exception to the rule to bring the console game to Live Arcade intact. Gamespot also confirmed with Greg Canessa, Live Arcade group manager, that while the company would issue exceptions from time to time to the 50 MB limit, the majority of Live Arcade games will still have to fit within the size restrictions. Microsoft’s size limitations exist to open Live Arcade titles to the widest audience and for portability on memory cards, and Konami’s exception to the rule should not change that.
Read More | Gamespot
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