Posts Tagged ‘Xbox Live’

The Xbox Live Halo hub for everything Halo is getting released on November 5.  Mark your calenders reads the official tweet from Microsoft. 

Halo Waypoint is “THE” Halo destination featuring audio, video, and your Halo career by tracking your games and achievements.  You’ll also be able to check out new free episodes of Halo Legends amine.  All should be accessible from the 360 dashboard.

Will this be the jump off point for Microsoft and Bungie for a future Halo MMO?  Very speculative, but very possible.

Head over to Xbox Live to download the new Section 8 demo.   I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m on my way over to my Xbox 360 to download the game.  Preliminary reports coming in say the game demo is fun to play and looks sweet.   Be sure to check out the video below for a behind the scenes with Time Game Studios.

Strange pictures of the Xbox 360 Elite with a new price has been circulating the net as of late.  Wow, a $100 price drop!  Maybe!  The console could be available for only $299 August 30.  Why not?  It sure makes sense!  This coincides with the new Xbox dashboard update this week which includes the capability to download full 360 games as well as the classic Xbox library of games.

Microsoft now offers the $199 Arcade Xbox 360 with no hard drive, the $299 60GB Pro, and the $399 120GB Elite model.  According to Kotaku, Microsoft is planning to replace the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro with the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite with a $299 price point by August 30.  This is a huge move for Microsoft totally eliminating the 60GB sku opting for the 120GB version for the same price.  The 120GB hard drive alone is currently offered for $120 dollars, but Microsoft has big plans for its upgraded Xbox Live service.  A growing library of downloadable Xbox and Xbox 360 games direct to the hard drive, microtransactions which support Xbox Live Arcade and game add-ons, as well as Netflix movie content.  Not to mention trying to keep Sony Corp. at bay with their popular Playstation Network and Home for the PS3 growing at rapid pace.  There are rumors that Sony is dropping the price of their console as well by at least $100, and will soon introduce the PS3 Slim.  Which I myself would like to purchase.  Let the DLC revolution begin!

This games looks like a $60 title, but it’s only around $15!

As mentioned in my last podcast.  The new Halo 3 Mythic Maps are finally here for those of us who didn’t purchase Halo Wars CE.  Head on over to Xbox Live to download Orbital, Assembly, and Sandbox for around 800 microsoft points or $10.00.  The Orbital map is basically a star ship delivery docking station, Assembly is set as a giant Scarab factory, and Sandbox is a desert scene at dusk/dawn however you like and made for high customization.  Each map suposibly comes with an achievement and a hidden skull in Forge mode.  You can begin download of the new maps from your download content screen from the game on your Xbox 360 or head on over to Bungie.com and begin the download process.  The map pack comes with Bungie pro for a limited time free.

These may very well be the last stand alone maps for Halo 3 before ODST arrives in the Fall.  Will there be more maps included with Halo 3 ODST that we haven’t seen?  I would have to say yes.  Bungie is keeping that game under tight raps.  We will see if Bungie includes anymore gaming goodness in the near future.

-dude

Forget the expensive hardware prices and trips to Gamestop to buy a disk.  Just order your new device through the mail or pick it up at any retail store.  Wait a minute, this thing has a low price and comes with no games.  Where’s the disc drive?  Hard drive?  No worries!  Plug it into the internet and let it rip.  Choose your games old or new and pay your monthly fee as well as a few “micro-payments” here and there and your set for life.  Right?  Well, this seems to be the way gaming is headed with Microsoft pushing their highly successful Xbox Live online service and as the price of gaming console iterations like the PS3 climbing every cycle.

A new online gaming service called “OnLive” was announced this past Tuesday at this years GDC.  Hmm, “OnLive”…sounds familiar.  The new gaming service eliminates the need for an expensive PC, console,  or discs.  This new device will let subscribers play on-demand games old and new from mostly the Mac and PC titles right on their television.  How does the OnLive service work without the need for a powerful home console or PC?  A giant network of servers send compressed data back and forth from the player at high speed in cyberspace eliminating the need for a fast processor and lots of RAM at home.  The first true “virtual game console”, as quoted from the USA Today Game Hunters article about the all digital device.  Mike Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities is quoted in the USA Today as saying, “OnLive shows the potential for a gaming world without consoles.”  “I think that they will appeal to a lot of gamers, and depending upon breadth of product offering, they will succeed.”

Right now you can checkout OnLive’s service and test it out online at onlive.com.  They have a few hit games right now such as Mirror’s Edge and Lego Batman.  The USA Today report on March 25 says that publishers are supporting the system such as Atari, Eidos, Epic, and Take-Two.  Why the support for the system?  Don’t people love bragging about their hard drives?  Middlemen, I say!  That’s right, cut out the middlemen!  What?  A game publisher can make a lot more money on their games if they only have to retail the product to one place and eliminate shippers, packagers, brick and mortar stores, etc.  Stores like Gamestop won’t be able to resell the games either while the developer and publisher doesn’t see a lick of that extra money they say they’ve been losing from used games.  So you see, everything is a digital product except for the micro-console you plug your controller into as well as the internet.

The potential as a game console and PC competitor is definitely there if the system will be reliable.  Ask yourself.  Would you be willing the buy a system that enables you to play a high end PC game like Crysis without the cost or need for a high end PC?  Yes, I would do it!  I’m sure many of you would be excited to also.  Hmmm, Crysis blazing over your HDTV in full 1080P resolution being processed with all those great graphical effects in cyberspace and beamed into your living room.  Yummy! 

 If the tech works and OnLive can pull it off correctly I for one will be in line at my local WalMart to pick one up.  Yes, really.

-dude