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Europe To Get Free Week Of Xbox Live
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
European Gamers will get a free week of Xbox Live Gold action from September 20th through the 29th. Similar to the promotion that US gamers got earlier this summer, Xbox 360 owners in Europe with a broadband connection will be able to experience Gold membership status, thanks to a sponsorship from Windows Live Spaces. Like the previous US free week, Microsoft plans on hosting several special events for gamers signed into Live during the nine days of the offering, including contests, newcomer nights, and the opportunity to face off against special guests.
Read More 
| Xbox.com
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Get Your Feedback Heard On Xbox 360 UI
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Microsoft User Experience Lead “Wildchicken” has a post going over at his blog where users can submit feedback on the Xbox 360 UI. There’s no guarantee that any of the suggestions will actually make it into the next version of the Xbox 360 dashboard, but one can always hope. Certainly having a better UI for file management would help a lot. Another good suggestion made was having the Dashboard show what game disc is in the drive, as well. More interactive and more detailed friend management would be nice, expanding the download blade to show more information about file downloads would also be a welcome feature. Hopefully, some of these suggestions will make it into a future release of the Dashboard, so the UI can become much more usable.
Read More | Wildchicken via Ozymandias
Xbox Live Marketplace Serves 50 Million Downloads
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft today reported that their Xbox Live Marketplace service has served over 50 million downloads to consumers since Marketplace launched. In three months since Microsoft last reported download statistics, the number of total files downloaded has doubled. In addition, according to reports on Gamasutra, Xbox Live users have logged 2 billion hours online since the original Xbox Live service launched on the Xbox. Microsoft’s recent Texas Hold ‘Em offering also averaged 100 downloads per minute during the first 24 hours of its initial free period. 65% of Xbox 360 users have downloaded Xbox Live Arcade titles, and over 2 billion Marketplace points have been purchased; this translates to roughly $25 million US spent on the service. Microsoft did not clarify how many of these downloads were re-purchases of content when a gamer’s Xbox 360 died and had to be replaced.
Read More | Gamasutra
Xbox August Backwards Compatibility Update - Still No Psychonauts
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Release Dates, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Over at Major Nelson’s blog, you can see all the latest Xbox titles that are now officially compatible with the Xbox 360. There’s some good news here, including backwards compatibility for Burnout 3: Takedown, Dead to Rights, Sid Meier’s Pirates, Serious Sam. Above all, the real biggie on the list here is back-compat for Counter Strike, which is sure to see a boost in the Xbox Live numbers now.
Fans are juust going to have to keep waiting for some big names on the list - notably missing from the list are Psychonauts and Jet Set Radio Future. You also won’t see Panzer Dragoon, Conker, Rally Sport Challenge 2, Shenmue II, Unreal Championship 2, MechAssault, or Midtown Madness 3, titles that seem to be in fairly high demand in the comments.
The complete list of titles now officially backwards compatible can be found after the jump!
Click to continue reading Xbox August Backwards Compatibility Update - Still No Psychonauts
Read More | Major Nelson's Blog
Backwards Compatibility Update Hits Xbox Live
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Daryl Welsh from the Xbox development team today released a list of the updated and new games in the latest backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360. The update should be available on Xbox Live now, and updates 39 games. According to Welsh, this is the largest update to the backwards compatibility list to date. Those gamers desperate to play Aquaman: Battle of Atlantis on their Xbox 360 can finally make that dream come true. It’s also nice to see Kabuki Warrior get an update. Other game titles that people might actually want to play that are new to the list include: Dead to Rights, Fatal Frame 2, Burnout 3: Takedown, and Links 2004.
The full list continues after the jump.
Click to continue reading Backwards Compatibility Update Hits Xbox Live
Read More | Xbox Team Blog
Hidden Charges In Lumines Live?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Puzzle, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
It looks like the saga of downloadable content on Xbox Live will continue with the release of Lumines Live on the system. Gaming Bits reports on a couple of irksome tidbits mentioned in a review of the game in OXM, the Official Xbox Magazine. According to the review, gamers that advance far enough in either Mission Mode or VS CPU mode will see messaging telling the gamer to buy additional content to continue. The review states that the new “Puzzle/Mission Pack” will cost gamers an additional 400 Marketplace points, and the “VS CPU Pack” will run 300 points. This cost comes in addition to the 1200 Marketplace points that consumers will already have paid out for what they thought was the “full” game. Now, additional levels and paid content for games has been a staple of the Xbox Live Marketplace for a long time now, but this is the first instance where gameplay in the unlocked game is interrupted to shill for additional content. Normally, add-ons wouldn’t be a problem, but this implementation seems horribly poor and would be a slap in the face to the gamer that just dropped $15 for the game download.
Read More | Gaming Bits
Microsoft’s Leipzig Announcements
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
At the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft had a number of announcements for both the Xbox 360 and their PC gaming platforms, but still left gamers wanting more. While Microsoft was demonstrating their HD-DVD add-on drive for audiences at the show, neither price nor availability was mentioned. Still, there were some interesting items mentioned. First, that Microsoft would hold a twelve month exclusivity lock on the next generation soccer games, Fifa 07 and Pro Evolution Soccer 6. Given that the Playstation 3 is just launching this winter, this probably isn’t as big of a deal as Microsoft would have gamers believe.
For the hard core board game contingent, Microsoft announced that three new “German-style” board games would be coming to Xbox Live, including Settlers of Catan, Alhambra and Carcassonne.
Microsoft officially demonstrated some of its new Xbox 360 peripherals, including the Xbox Live Vision camera (which has already leaked into some gamers hands), their Wireless Racing Wheel and new Wireless headset.
On the PC side of gaming, Microsoft announced a few hardware pieces. First, they are partnering with Razer to bring the Habu gaming mouse to Windows. A piece of Razer hardware with the Microsoft stamp of approval might mean better support under Windows. Those gamers dedicated to the “old school” Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 should be happy, as Microsoft also announced that they are bringing this peripheral back. Finally, Microsoft also showed off the Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, a USB dongle that will allow Windows gamers to use Xbox 360 wireless controllers on their PC.
So, while consumers may not have gotten all the information that they wanted from Microsoft’s announcements, overall the company presented the Xbox 360 and Windows gaming as a unified assault on the market.
Microsoft’s Leipzig Press Release continues below.
Click to continue reading Microsoft’s Leipzig Announcements
Chromehounds Highlights Problems With Downloadable Content
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
On Friday, the latest downloadable content for From Software’s Chromehounds hit the Xbox Live Marketplace. For 100 points each, twelve new items were made available, including weapons. All of the new content is usable in online play and highlights some of the issues with downloadable content. The content has pretty much been criticized from all sides, and Luke Smith from 1up sums up the issues in a recent blog post. Other paid content releases have received scrutiny in the past, mainly because of the value proposition that they hold. The original offender, of course, was the almost useless horse armor for Oblivion. Some of the downloadable Ghost Recon content has also been criticized. The new content for Chromehounds will run US gamers about $12.50, which runs about 21% of the cost of the original game.
If things were just a matter of cost, however, there wouldn’t be as much of an issue. The big issue is that potentially game balance altering content is being made available for online play. So far, indications from the online forums indicate that statistically the new content isn’t more effective than existing weaponry. However, this merely highlights the bind that content providers can get into by making these kinds of add-ons available. Either the new accessories are weak and a poor value for the money, or they are stronger and will change the game balance to favor those that can afford the content.
Read More | 1Up
Xbox Live Texas Hold ‘Em Free For 48 Hours
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Party Games, Release Dates, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft has announced that the upcoming release of their Texas Hold ‘em game will be available free of charge for 48 hours. Starting Wednesday, August 23, at 1:00 AM Pacific Time, through Friday, August 25, Xbox Live Gold and Silver members will be able to download the Live game at no cost; after this time, the price goes up to 800 Marketplace points. Microsoft is touting a special “persistent bankroll” for the game; players won’t be able to magically reset their chip count, so this should hopefully add more of an incentive for players to play “correctly.” Additional features include 8 player online play and three different gameplay modes.
Microsoft also took the opportunity to pimp their future releases, including a Cloning Clyde picture pack for 100 points, and two new classic arcade releases from Konami, Time Pilot and Scramble for 400 points each.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Xbox Live Texas Hold ‘Em Free For 48 Hours
Xbox Live Marketplace By The Numbers
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
As a part of Gamefest 2006, Microsoft has released some of the statistics driving Xbox Live Marketplace and their lessons learned over the past year. 1up reports on the details. Touting the availability of demos as drivers of game sales, Microsoft reported that 40% of the downloaders of the demo version of EA’s Fight Night Round 3 eventually purchased the game. It is hard to really judge the success of the demo as a sales driver, though. 60% of the people that downloaded the demo still did not purchase the game; of the remaining 40% one can not really say how many downloaders would have bought the game anyway.
Microsoft also outlined the top download categories on the Marketplace service. Demos lead, with trailers second and Arcade titles third. Not surprisingly, free content seems to be the biggest draw. 80% of Xbox 360 owners have downloaded a file from the Xbox Live Marketplace, but only 25% have used Marketplace Points. This seems to be a shockingly low number. The Points packaging price points may have something to do with this, there may be a lack of interest in the paid content available, or security might be a concern. Certainly, some of the paid content providers like Activision have seen benefits to their bottom line, but bottom line adoption rates need to rise. Microsoft also stressed that the timing of releases will have a lot to do with their success. Overall, for the first year in implementation, Microsoft’s Marketplace seems to be gaining adopters. It will be interesting to see if Sony and Nintendo can learn from Microsoft’s implementation for their download services.
Read More | 1up
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