23 replies to this topic

[moycon]

Lots of great new features here. From IGN:

Xbox LIVE updates

• Option to delay sign-in to Xbox LIVE upon booting console (to allow user to set Online Status).
• Option to promote Child Account from Family Settings.
• Disallow Child Accounts (over 18) to override Family Settings by launching Privacy Settings through a title.
• Option in Family Settings for Child Accounts to enable child-oriented/non-mature advertisements.
• Introduce a group chat (4) for Private Chat and conferences through Video Chat.
• Support to indicate media being watched to gamercard status (video content from Marketplace only).
• Extend height for Bio field in Personal Profile, easier navigation through text.
• More fields present in Personal Profile - recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section.
• Compact Personal Profile for new fields (navigating to field will open it up).
• Mandatory option to delete duplicate titles from gamercard (excludes Games for Windows - LIVE). User disconnected from Xbox LIVE when booting any title until action complete.
• Option to remove payment information from gamertag.
• New payment methods for international users.
• Download History on Account Management better organized - games, genre, type, download date, miscellaneous.
• Long descriptions of items on Marketplace can be scrolled using right stick.
• Better organization of free content on Marketplace.
• Option to 'ping' when testing connection.
• Allow re-connection to Xbox LIVE if Ethernet cable is re-inserted whilst powered on.
• New strip colors available to developers, staff gamercards.
• New corner icon available to ambassadors.
• Re-introduce Messages button for Inside Xbox updates only.
• Option to store up to 10 messages permanently on server (excludes invites, status messages).
• Increase character limit for text messages between friends only.
• Option to disable invites from non-friends or all players.
• Option to disable invites from titles not on gamercard (excludes demos).
• Option to have smaller items moved up in Active Downloads.
• Automatically re-connect to Xbox LIVE if disconnected unexpectedly (set intervals).
• Option to download gamer picture (if available) from a gamercard being viewed.
• Display random tips to replace static text on Xbox LIVE and Games blades.
• New button on Marketplace for optional dashboard features - uses Storage Device memory.
• Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.
• Option to purchase Membership for charities (includes benefits).
• Integrate file-sharing for selected titles on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows - LIVE.
• Disable notifications to friends of user repeatedly signing into service (set period).
• Option to see 'snippet' of text message in notification.
• Windows Live Mail integration - includes support for Xbox LIVE Vision.
• Web feeds integration - text, images, audio. Includes support for specific item codes on Marketplace.
• Option to display gamer picture or standard picture as display picture in Windows Live Messenger.
• Support for headset, Xbox LIVE Vision in Windows Live Messenger.
• Support for limited 'winks' that display on dashboard interface. Option to disable 'winks' and 'nudges' added.
• Notifications separate from Windows Live Messenger to Xbox 360 notifications.
• Disable multiple languages from being used in any Xbox LIVE editable fields.

Games

• Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).
• Organize My Games at the Games Library section better (includes disc-based titles) - sort by genre, platform (Games for Windows - LIVE), percentage completion.
• Support to display friends leaderboards for disc-based titles.
• Show dates of an achievement unlocked when comparing.
• Preload Games Library upon dashboard bootup for faster access.
• Game updates now shown as items in Memory, increased amount of updates on Storage Device.
• Option to delete game updates, removed 'cheat code' as no longer needed.
• Support for more titles to display banner when accessing guide in-game.
• Option to re-introduce awarded gamer pictures from titles that do not have their own re-introduce feature (requires saved game).
• Disable gamer pictures from being awarded from trials.
• Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading.
• Synchronization to achievements offline/online that were deleted and then re-added from developers.

Media

• Option to hold LT and RT for rewinding/fast-forwarding video content.
• Option to delete individual music tracks from storage device.
• Option to rip music CD at different quality.
• Copy non-protected files (pictures, music, videos) from USB storage devices, CDs and computers to proprietary storage devices.
• Support for menu, top-menu features on video content downloaded from Marketplace.
• Section added for audio delivered through feeds (podcasts). Option to stream, download to Storage Device.
• Support added for video titles/description to gamercard status.

Dashboard/Miscellaneous

• Option to navigate quickly out of several menus back to respective blade home (applies to Games, Media, System).
• New blade trim styles added.
• Introduce expanded Inside Xbox as a portal to news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.
• New sounds for various functions (notifications, blades, navigation).
• Calibration options for display/sound.
• Calibration options for motion sensor devices.
• New effects for Xbox LIVE Vision and dashboard background.
• Disable changing of Theme when on Memory to prevent 'hanging'.
• Preload recent, limited items upon dashboard bootup on Memory.
• Faster loading of Themes section on guide.
• Option to see what items will not work offline due to DRM license changing from Memory.
• Option to automatically associate new DRM to items downloaded for free.
• Indicate 'charging' status on guide when Play & Charge kit is connected.
• Option to change text colors on guide to better contrast some backgrounds.
• Language improvements.
• Word censor updated for fields.
• Privacy Settings/Family Settings updated for new features.
• Voice, picture messages can be read at Xbox.com (Gold accounts).

I pretty disappointed a web browser wasn't included. They released the chat pad. I thought for sure a browser would soon follow.
One of the updates is a calibration for motion sensor devices? sounds like there may be a 360 Sports on the way.

[HammR25]

So we can finally remove payment info from our gamer tags. That's all I really care about.

[rockman_x_2002]

That's quite an impressive list of updates, actually. And I'm excited to see some features that I've been hoping for added in, like the ability to remove zero-score Gamertags and improved copying between the console and attached storage devices via USB. Very nice there. Nice to see that at least Microsoft's Xbox Team listens to suggestions and requests from their fans and consumers, even if Microsoft proper doesn't. So they win a few points with me here.

And I agree, it's interesting to see this "motion-sensing device" business. While that's a vague enough term to mean anything from games that make use of the webcam to work a la EyeToy or a more interactive form of communication like the Wii uses. It's still interesting to note that Microsoft seems to be taking a page out of Nintendo's book here. I think it's a good strategic move on their part, and will serve to narrow the gap between the 360 and the Wii, if not perhaps surpass the Wii.

Personally, I'm rooting for both the 360 and Wii to succeed. Would include the PS3, but that machine is just too pricey for the games that are on it right now (at least for me). Plus, Sony's "Evil Empire" attitude over the last two or three years needs to be met with a healthy "Don't screw over your customers" warning. That is to say, I don't want Sony to go away. I just want them to see that if you bite the hand that feeds you, you're going to go hungry for a while. The old Sony (PS1 and PS2 heydays) I had no problems with, actually.

Edited by rockman_x_2002, Wed May 14, 2008 9:49 PM.

[moycon]

rockman_x_2002, on Wed May 14, 2008 11:28 PM, said:

And I agree, it's interesting to see this "motion-sensing device" business. While that's a vague enough term to mean anything from games that make use of the webcam to work a la EyeToy

Hmmmm You may be right about the camera. The new Viva Pinata game will be using cards similar to the Eye Toys game Eye of Judgment. Basically you can buy packs of cards and scan them using the camera. You might be right. The "motion-sensing device" may be in regards to that.

[Gabriel]

moycon, on Wed May 14, 2008 8:28 PM, said:

• Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).

Looks like I can finally delete all those Live Arcade trials from my gamercard. But I'm still stuck with that damn Over G Fighters listing.

Any idea what the second part means?

[Atari5200]

that is quite an impressive list of nothing interesting. oh well. I don't do much of anything on my 360 anyhow other than play games and download shows.

[Lord Helmet]

Its a nice list of new features, but nothing huge IMHO. I guess I was spoiled with the last update where they allowed for different video codecs etc. I wish the RSS feed thing allowed for video podcasts instead of just audio.

[moycon]

Gabriel, on Thu May 15, 2008 7:21 AM, said:

Any idea what the second part means?

If I had to guess, It refers to an expansion that needs the original game disk to play.

[Zeptari1]

Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).


YES!!!

I put this request in my xbox live bio..

Is this out yet?

Dumb question.... I'm gonna go turn it on now and find out.

-rick

[Breakpack]

http://www.joystiq.c...date-this-year/



Yikes,and underperforming XBLA titles DELISTED???!!!At least put the games that are taken off on a compilation disc with achievements intact so they arent lost forever!

[moycon]

Well that's disappointing if it's true.
I was glad to read this though....

http://www.joystiq.c...sco-next-month/

[Atariboy]

Good news on the DRM stuff. I just hope the XBLA titles which are removed for sale will be kept up in a special section for download by existing owners. I don't like the idea if my hard drive goes of not being able to redownload stuff I paid for that I wanted to be able to play, regardless of the game's metacritic score and all that junk.

Edited by Atariboy, Fri May 23, 2008 5:33 PM.

[Gabriel]

To make the discussion a bit less hypothetical, here are some titles with metacritic scores of 65 and less:

Xevious
Mr. Driller Online
Battlezone
Super Contra
Word Puzzle
Rush n' Attack
Mad Tracks
Ms. Pac-Man
Gauntlet
Cyberball 2072
Root Beer Tapper
Double Dragon
Tempest
Yaris
Gyruss
Tron
Discs of Tron
Missile Command
Asteroids
Centipede
Defender
Aegis Wing
Fatal Fury Special
Triggerheart Excelica
Dig Dug
Spongebob Squarepants
Novadrome
Yie Ar Kung Fu
New Rally X
Pac-Man
Wing Commander Arena
Rocketmen Axis of Evil
Boogie Bunnies
Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe
TiQal
Brain Challenge
Bliss Island
Rocky & Bullwinkle


A few other titles are precipitously close, like TMNT arcade, Pinball FX, Band of Bugs, Golden Axe, Galaga. and Joust. Space Giraffe is also in this category of close, but still with it's head above water.

What's odd is seeing so many great games scored so low, yet the abysmal Small Arms with a score of 73. All in all, it really highlights the gaming press's bias against classic arcade conversions being on Live Arcade. Seriously, no human being should be able to say with a straight face that Small Arms is a better game than even the Live Arcade installment of Ms. Pac-Man. No one sane, anyway.

Just the fact that scores given by the gaming press are a checkpoint in this process is extremely troubling. I'd personally be much more comfortable with "conversion rate" being the sole metric.

I imagine some of the games above would be saved by the 6% conversion rate critieria. So, even if TMNT dipped down into the zone, it would still be relatively safe due to it's bestseller status. Total crap like Yaris would also stay because of this.

It's troubling all around, and definitely a movement toward what I fear the downloadable game services will become.

[Atari5200]

Yaris wouldn't be that bad if you could invert the controls.

I also have Super C and TMNT.

I don't know, these 2 games, especially TMNT are classics, how many quarters were spent in TMNT machines, I can tell you A LOT for me, it was a great arcade game. I guess kids these days just don't know what's good.

Edited by Atari5200, Fri May 23, 2008 1:13 PM.

[moycon]

Atariboy, on Fri May 23, 2008 5:25 AM, said:

Good news on the DRM stuff. I just hope the XBLA titles are removed for sale, but kept up in a special section for download by existing owners.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Breakpack]

moycon, on Fri May 23, 2008 3:16 PM, said:

Atariboy, on Fri May 23, 2008 5:25 AM, said:

Good news on the DRM stuff. I just hope the XBLA titles are removed for sale, but kept up in a special section for download by existing owners.

I was thinking the same thing.

Another idea could be that if you see your friend playing a delisted Arcade title,you should have the option of purchasing it as well,from the 'Friends Playing Now' section.Let this be the only way to buy a delisted title if they must be removed from the marketplace.......

[Atariboy]

Yaris is already planned for removal anyways, was just a 1 year deal they said at the time. When a year comes after it's release, it was planned to be removed.

So I imagine its safe until that date comes. Too bad too, its the most deserving game of being killed ASAP, despite being free.

I can't help but feel this is simply a way to spur on sales of titles that have declined to the point where they're not earning much of anything anymore, in order to encourage people that have been on the fence of buying something and haven't yet, but who will probably buy it when they know it's going to disappear in the near future.

I know that applies to me with several titles like Contra and Super C. Not quite sure I want them enough to pay the money, but if they're going to disappear, I'd purchase them when/if they're announced for removal because I won't have the opportunity to later and don't want to miss out on them and regret it later.

If they really want to remove a joke, they shouldn't even be thinking about killing off classics like Tapper, but they should make that stupid horse armor for Oblivion free. I'm still amazed they thought they could sell that for 200 points, and I know I'm not the only one that felt that way about it and haven't forgotten about it yet. I bought all the add-ons for Oblivion except for that, and the spell books. Just wasn't enough there for the money.

If this does anything positive, maybe it will give classic compilations another chance now that they feel like the online distribution environment for this stuff isn't as welcoming as it once was. I'd rather be buying Midway Arcade Treasures 4 and such than individual games for $5 a pop that have to be the most popular titles to be given a chance (That we've all seen many times before, such as Pac-Man), to even be considered for development and release on XBLA.

Now that they might not be able to get $5 bucks out of us for one game, maybe they'll go back to the formula that was successful the past two generations and develop retail collections.

Edited by Atariboy, Fri May 23, 2008 5:32 PM.

[Lord Helmet]

Gabriel, on Fri May 23, 2008 10:03 AM, said:

To make the discussion a bit less hypothetical, here are some titles with metacritic scores of 65 and less:

Xevious
Mr. Driller Online
Battlezone
Super Contra
Word Puzzle
Rush n' Attack
Mad Tracks
Ms. Pac-Man
Gauntlet
Cyberball 2072
Root Beer Tapper
Double Dragon
Tempest
Yaris
Gyruss
Tron
Discs of Tron
Missile Command
Asteroids
Centipede
Defender
Aegis Wing
Fatal Fury Special
Triggerheart Excelica
Dig Dug
Spongebob Squarepants
Novadrome
Yie Ar Kung Fu
New Rally X
Pac-Man
Wing Commander Arena
Rocketmen Axis of Evil
Boogie Bunnies
Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe
TiQal
Brain Challenge
Bliss Island
Rocky & Bullwinkle

I own several of those...I'm gonna be pissed if I ever need to re-download one of them and they aren't available...

[Shannon]

I must have poor taste. Alot of titles on that list I like and some I actually have.

[Atariboy]

Same here, it's because reviewers don't appreciate classic arcade ports on XBLA.

I wonder if we download a demo of a game that's going to be removed, if we can still unlock it by paying after the game gets dropped? After all, you already have downloaded the game.

[HammR25]

What is a conversion rate of under 6%? What do they mean by conversion rate?

[Atari5200]

HammR25, on Tue May 27, 2008 10:12 AM, said:

What is a conversion rate of under 6%? What do they mean by conversion rate?

conversion from demo to full game. 6% of the people that downloaded the demo bought the game after playing the demo.

That number seems low though, I think it's immediate conversion. I know it took me about 2 weeks after downloading the demo of Geometry Wars before I bought it.


EDIT: Wait a sec, after reading that Joystiq article above, there is NO spring update now???

Edited by Atari5200, Tue May 27, 2008 10:31 AM.

[Zeptari1]

Atari5200, on Tue May 27, 2008 11:24 AM, said:

HammR25, on Tue May 27, 2008 10:12 AM, said:

What is a conversion rate of under 6%? What do they mean by conversion rate?

conversion from demo to full game. 6% of the people that downloaded the demo bought the game after playing the demo.

That number seems low though, I think it's immediate conversion. I know it took me about 2 weeks after downloading the demo of Geometry Wars before I bought it.


EDIT: Wait a sec, after reading that Joystiq article above, there is NO spring update now???

Maybe it's being moved to a summer release?

The first day of summer is coming up really fast. only a few day's away? I think.

-rick

[Lord Helmet]

Just listened to Major Nelson's podcast...

No spring update.

They are fixing some of the DRM issues with XBLA games and multiple consoles.

They are de-listing a bunch of the games listed above. You will still be able to download them again (if you've already bought them) by using your download history (found in the marketplace blade).

If you want one of the games that is de-listed and you've never bought it before, you have to have someone refer the game to you withing XBL...which sends you the DL button.


Sucks that there are no new features this spring, but I'm glad to see the DRM issue getting fixed...and I' glad I'll still have download access to all of my games