Upcoming Xbox Live Updates

[Rock Raiyu]

With the upcoming shutdown of Xbox LIVE for a day for maintenance and to prepare for some of the recently announced features that will be available later this summer you may wonder what some of the new features are and when they are coming.

Games on Demand feature will be available sometime in August, and will allow members to digitally download retail games instead of buying a hard copy. There will be around 30 games available in the system at launch and new content added each week. Users will be able to use credit cards directly to make their purchases instead of buying and using points, bypassing the point system altogether, but users will still have the option to use points if they choose. The licensing model for the Games on Demand purchases will also mirror those of Arcade Games. The license information will be kept on the LIVE servers, so the user who purchased it can roam to another console and play the game there. This also allows gamers to delete the entire game to free up hard drive space, and then redownload whenever

QUOTEAnother feature that will be coming to Xbox Live is one that we have been expecting for quite a while now. User ratings will allow players to rate games and content on a 5-star basis to show how much they enjoyed the game or content. If you love, rate it. If you think a piece of content sucks, give it a single star. This will make searching for items much easier, particularly in the area of Xbox Live Arcade games.

There will also be a brand new Avatar marketplace, which will allow users to purchase more types of clothing, including game-based items. Not to mention, you will now be able to deck your Avatars out with new items such as a remote control Warthog. It will cost you 320 Microsoft points, or $4.

News Source: Gaming Front

 

[JDandy]

Ugh. Paying for a toy for my digital avatar? That's almost as bad as paying monthly money for a Gold membership.

I AM excited about the creditcard payment thing, it's about time those lame microsoft points went out the window. Not that it matters to people who mod their xbox, but still.

 

[PettingZoo]

Looks pretty cool, though I read game-based items as in-game items and thought WHAT?!.

 

[Blue-K]

I think now Microsoft is going down

. Come on...Toys for your Ava? Download 7GB big games from the crappy server with my crappy connection? This is a big fail for me, not more...I have to rethink if I'm going to buy one, if they continue like that...

The best thing will be that now someone could maybe get the Info how to play games from HD...not more...

 

[Joe88]

$4 for a little digital toy that people will see and think your kewl

(halo fanboys will be all over it though most likely... >_> )

 

[Rock Raiyu]

You know, I just realized. The Lego came on the screen says its only 5.7GB but aren't all games 7GB? Where did the other 1.3GB go? or maybe it was just this game?

 

[Zidapi]

You know, I just realized. The Lego came on the screen says its only 5.7GB but aren't all games 7GB? Where did the other 1.3GB go? or maybe it was just this game?

What? Where did you get that idea? Have you seen the list of games and their harddrive requirements?

I'm not even sure where you would get such an idea...

 

[kobykaan]

You know, I just realized. The Lego came on the screen says its only 5.7GB but aren't all games 7GB? Where did the other 1.3GB go? or maybe it was just this game?

LOL its called PADDING when its on a disk they fill it with ZERO BYTES or blank data to fill the disk! A digital download does not need PADDING!

They do it with DS ROMS (trimming removes the excess), they do it with Wii games Scrubbing removes the excess, they do it with PS2 games by adding DUMMY files! removing these is also like trimming/scrubbing!

Its been done for years on almost all formats!

 

[ganons]

kobykan is right

also is this update bringing the SKY tv feature?

 

[War]

I think it's a great idea. Saves you money/time from going to the store and buying it. Also, you don't have to go around different stores to find the game. If you're a messy person and you lose stuff easily, you don't have to worry anymore 'cause you'll always have the game with you. Sounds great to me.

 

[Defiance]

Looks like a pretty good idea, but.. What if one of my friends wants a game that I already downloaded? Can't I just go to their Xbox, sign in, and download it? How will Microsoft profit from this?

 

[Rock Raiyu]

You know, I just realized. The Lego came on the screen says its only 5.7GB but aren't all games 7GB? Where did the other 1.3GB go? or maybe it was just this game?


LOL its called PADDING when its on a disk they fill it with ZERO BYTES or blank data to fill the disk! A digital download does not need PADDING!

They do it with DS ROMS (trimming removes the excess), they do it with Wii games Scrubbing removes the excess, they do it with PS2 games by adding DUMMY files! removing these is also like trimming/scrubbing!

Its been done for years on almost all formats!

Oh yeah. Totally forgot about the padding. Haha my fault sorry.

QUOTE(ganons @ Jun 11 2009, 07:47 AM)

kobykan is right

also is this update bringing the SKY tv feature?

I believe this feature is for the UK only. But its not in this update.

 

[Defiance]

Looks like a pretty good idea, but.. What if one of my friends wants a game that I already downloaded? Can't I just go to their Xbox, sign in, and download it? How will Microsoft profit from this?

Guys.. I would really like this answered.

 

[Porkdish]

Most likely its a digital signature check tied to your live account. Like in existing such download-ware (ie: bioware/steam) in order to play the game it will fire off a check to the live account prior to loading. Your friend would have to be logged in as you every time in order to even just play it single player. As I understand it, your live account already has a signature/handshake with your actual console.

I wouldn't put it past MS to make it one console at a time, activate the game on one console will null the authentication on the previous. Should you want to play again you'll have to go through re-authorisation and null your mates copy. Very sensible really. This type of digital download with online authentication targets software companies biggest threat, second hand games.

 

[updowners]

.

 

[DrCaptainHarlock]

Oh boy, I bet Square's gonna release a radio controlled Chocobo toy or something when FFXIII comes out. I'd pay $4 for that. I'd also buy a Master Chef helmet and tell people to never ever swear.

 

[Da Foxx]

I'm disappointed in the avatar marketplace already. Although, its a smart move by Microsoft because they are sheep out there that will be willing to pay four dollars for something like that.

Also, does this mean no more new clothing for our avatars? I'm kinda disappointed in our selection of clothing for the avatars.