Xbox LIVE has not been LULz’d

Even I’ve seen some posts about people claiming that LIVE has been hacked.   and even though I asked for proof, nothing was provided.   So.  I can only believe that it’s Sony marketing people saying LIVE has been hacked in order to shift blame.  
anyway.. according to Major Nelson from Xbox.  He tweeted on 6/17: 

   I am seeing concern that Xbox LIVE is compromised. So far All we’ve seen is a random list of emails. Nothing indicating a breach.

 

So where has Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and many others have been hacked.  We’d not seen LIVE go down..      Yet.     Me thinks it’s only a matter of time.

The Next Xbox Experience early?

Word on the net is saying that Major Nelson has stated that the New Xbox Experience will be released today for anyone that signed up to be in the ‘beta’ but hasn’t gotten in yet.  So as long as you filled in your request for access with the correct ID and Serial Number for your console, you should be getting the update with in the next few hours.   For everyone else, it’s still Wednesday the 19th.

Microsoft to clean up Xbox LIVE arcade.

According to [EuroGamer], and Xbox LIVE general manger Marc Whitten, Microsoft will be removing under performing (read: Crap) titles from Xbox LIVE.   I wonder why they let the crap on in the first place.  I stated a long time ago that I didn’t pay like $400 for a 360 just to play Pac-Man.

 

Anyway, Marc stats:

“We will be delisting older underperforming titles in order to keep the service focused on a section of high quality games,” Whitten told [Next-gen.biz].

“The way it will work is that the title will need to be at least 6 months old and have a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6 percent on the service.”

“We will also give a three-month notice before delisting any title.”

the ‘conversion rate’ mentioned above is the ratio between the people that have downloaded the game VS those that bought it.  But hey, at least you’ve got 3 months before the game get’s wasted and you don’t ‘lose’ it, as long as you’ve got the game downloaded and you don’t need to replace the HD, because you won’t be able to download it again. 

Xbox 360 Spring update rumor list…

QJ.NET has a [nice post] about the possible updates to the Xbox 360 and LIVE for the spring update.

The rumor list includes (Remember this is only a RUMOR list)

 

Xbox LIVE

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

Games

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

Media

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

Dashboard/Miscellaneous

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

Shadowrun dev: ‘Xbox Live abuse is ruining sales’

Friday 4-Apr-2008 3:23 PM “Non-gamers simply don’t love games enough to put up with the crap they get online”

Shadowrun designer Bill Fulton has staged an attack against Xbox Live idiots, claiming that the abusive behaviour of online games is “dramatically reducing” sales of his game. Funny, we though it was the bad reviews.

At Microsoft Game Studios, Fulton was responsible for the online matchmaking system, UI and the social aspects of play on the multiplayer shooter, which seemingly got lost in the carnage of Forza 2 and the Halo 3 multiplayer beta.

Speaking his mind on website Gamasutra, Fulton says: “The online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales, and continues to stunt the growth of our industry.”

Speaking more broadly about online gaming, Fulton says that of all the ways he spends his time, “playing games online is the only one I would describe as “frequently barbaric”. Insults of all kinds, including racist and homophobic slurs, are commonplace,” he says.

“Non-gamers simply don’t love games enough to put up with the crap they get online. The reason they would consider playing online is to have fun with other people – and right now, playing games online with strangers rarely delivers that for anyone outside the hardcore demographic.”

Isn’t Xbox Live aimed at hardcore gamers anyway? Nintendo Wi-Fi, with no voice, text chat or name-swapping is far more appropriate for the casual gamers who want a safe time online.

[Via Computer and VideoGames.com]

——————————————–

Hmmm.. It’s got to be the Xbox idiots, it couldn’t be the shoddy game itself?  Has Mr. Fulton ever read any reviews for the game that has stated that pretty much its a cop-out created to try to push the whole LIVE thing between windows and the Xbox and it doesn’t even do that well?  Not to mention the game is boring?

And MMO’s blow the living crap out of XBox live with amount of people playing and you don’t tend to worry about the language and stuff.  You only worry about it from the 10 year olds that only need a really good spanking.

and no.. Xbox live isn’t aimed at ‘hardcore gamers’ 

Tempest – Demo Thoughts.

The Adult in me wants to say:
   I was completely not impressed with Tempest for Xbox LIVE released a few days ago.  The control scheme used made me wonder who had the lobotomy and seeing many good remakes of Tempest from the RETRO scene made me wonder why the graphics where sub-par.   It felt like another ‘remake’ of a game created in 2 days while the emulator was created for the ROM images.   I wouldn’t waste my money, or yours.   I wouldn’t even play it if you paid me.

 

The Kids in me says:
   Jesus what a hunk of crap!  Did anyone even PLAY TEST this game?   With all the remakes of Tempest and the excellent Tempest 2000 from the Atari Jaguar, why in God’s name would
   anyone release a horribly controlled piece of crap like this?   Slap an Emulator on an ROM and push it LIVE?  

   Dudes, it’s called QUALITY & PRIDE asshats!