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EA To Charge For Cheat Codes
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Electronic Arts, Sports, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Next Generation is reporting that EA has expanded its plan to suck every last dime from gamers. Electronic Arts already made the unusual move to charge for game tutorials for Madden 2007 on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but the latest word is that the company will now charge for cheat codes for Tiger Woods 07. According to Next Generation, the cheat codes will range from $2.50 and $3.75; gamers should still be able to unlock everything in the game by playing through normally. However, if EA continues to monetize every extra in the game then gamers may find that unlocking items may become harder and harder in order to justify the cost of the cheat code.
Read More 
| Next Generation
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Xbox 360 Phantasy Star Universe Beta Available Now
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, MMORPG, SEGA, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
According to a post on Major Nelson’s blog, Sega’s Phantasy Star Universe beta is now available. Gamers with an Xbox Live Gold account can now download the 900+ megabyte package from the Xbox Live Marketplace. The beta period officially ends on October 18th, but since a feat of exceptionally good planning has the Xbox Live service down for maintenance for 24 hours starting on October 17th, gamers will get even less time to experience the preview. Hopefully Sega doesn’t see its servers crash like they did at the launch of Phantasy Star Universe in Japan, which could make the testing even less effective.
Read More | Major Nelson
Gallery: Xbox 360 Phantasy Star Universe Beta Available Now
Phantasy Star Universe Open Beta For Xbox 360
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, MMORPG, PC, PlayStation 2, SEGA, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Xbox 360 users with an Xbox Live Gold account will be able to participate in Sega’s upcoming open beta test for Phantasy Star Universe on October 11. Sega’s official Phantasy Star Universe site has the details of the open beta. The test itself will run from October 11th through October 18th, and will let users experience some of the online multiplayer functionality of the game. According to the site, the beta will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime between October 11th and October 12th.
The Xbox 360 version of Phantasy Star Universe should hit stores on the same date as the PC and Playstation 2 versions, October 24th. Xbox 360 users will have their own servers; while PC and Playstation 2 users will be able to interact with each other online, Xbox 360 users will only be able to see other players with the Xbox 360 version of the game. For the final version of Phantasy Star Universe, Xbox 360 owners with either a Silver or Gold account will be able to play online. Phantasy Star Universe will cost $9.99 per month to play. Hopefully the online beta will help Sega avoid the server meltdowns that plagued the Japanese launch of the Playstation 2 and PC versions.
Read More | Phantasy Star Universe
Gallery: Phantasy Star Universe Open Beta For Xbox 360
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
Gallery: Europe To Get Free Week Of Xbox Live
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
Gallery: Xbox Live Marketplace Serves 50 Million Downloads
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
Gallery: Hidden Charges In Lumines Live?
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
Gallery: Chromehounds Highlights Problems With Downloadable Content
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
Gallery: 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
Gallery: Xbox Live Marketplace By The Numbers
The Perils Of DRM: Xbox Live Arcade
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
By this time next year, all the major console manufacturers will have some kind of online marketplace for downloadable content. Both the Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii will have something similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Marketplace so that gamers can download (and pay for) additional content and games. Microsoft, of course, led the way with the Xbox Live Arcade, where gamers can purchase inexpensive downloadable games for the Xbox 360. Like most digital download services, content comes with some kind of digital rights management (DRM) attached.
The goal of DRM is to allow legitimate users access to their content, but prevent “unauthorized” use, like copying or hacking. However, one gamer recently got bit by this when he had to send his Xbox 360 in for repair, as reported on the Paraesthesia blog. Travis Illig used the Xbox Live Arcade service like many users might. There were two profiles on his machine, one for him and one for a friend. Both would buy different Xbox Live Arcade games, and both could play each other’s downloaded content.
Eventually, he had to get his Xbox 360 repaired, and when the new machine came back, Travis could play his downloaded games, but not those purchased with the other profile, unless the other profile was signed in first (we talked about this month’s ago on The Bleeding Edge.) Xbox Live Arcade games apparently are tied to both the console and the profile in use when the game was authorized; this wouldn’t be that much of a problem in normal use. Since the “repaired” Xbox 360 was effectively a new machine, this changed things. Microsoft also locks people from re-purchasing games through a profile if it detects that the user has played the game before, so a simple repurchase wouldn’t fix things. One would guess that this would be in place to prevent duplicating authorized game content, but the net effect is that to re-authorize the content for all users on the machine, a user has to create a new profile and then re-buy the content.
Microsoft was at least willing to give Travis a credit to repurchase the games, but issues like these highlight some of the problems users will encounter as publishers push the consumer to pure downloaded content.
Update: Microsoft’s Ben Salem from the Xbox Dev Team discusses the issue here.
Read More | Paraesthesia via Boing Boing
Gallery: The Perils Of DRM: Xbox Live Arcade
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