It’s About Time: Xbox 360 Spring Update Details Leaked

Someone supposedly leaked to Kotaku.com details of the Xbox 360 Spring Update. There’s about 80 items in the list.

Naturally, people are getting over-stimulated about “Calibration options for motion sensor devices” and “Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading.” And that’s fine, I suppose. Those are both features that have proven to be interesting on the other platforms.

However, there is really only one item on this list I care about.

12. Option to automatically associate new DRM to items downloaded for free.

Now, I see this being read a couple different ways. This could mean that you could associate new DRM to free, no-cost marketplace items like demos and free gamerpics. I’m of the opinion (which is borne of irrational optimism) that this means I can re-associate my marketplace downloads without re-purchasing them.

If I’m right, this is exactly what many Xbox 360 users have been clamoring for. Gee, it’s only taken 2.5 years to get it, but I’ll be thankful for it, nevertheless. Besides, when the new Blu-ray 360 is released, they’re going to need something like this to help convince people that re-buying a new 360 is as painless as it should’ve been all along.

Gears Of War II Gameplay Trailer

With our good friend CliffyB. It’s hard to deny the epic feeling to this trailer. Enjoy!

Source: Gamevideos

New Xbox 360 Chipset in August?

Falcon, meet Jasper. That’s the codename for the latest Xbox 360 chipset, the task has been assigned to IBM and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The new chips, which utilize the ATI Xenos graphics and memory controller hub, will use less noise, less electricity and less complex cooling systems. I’m down for all those new features because as I type this, I can’t help but hear my very noisy and faulty Xbox 360 in the background while GTA IV is on pause and Grid is downloading.

Could this refined machine also come equipped with the reported Blu-Ray? I think so. We will find out at the end of the Summer.

Don’t Bet On Celebrating New Year’s In Home

When Home was delayed until “Fall” I figured that was it for 2008, and statements today from Kaz Hirai are only further throwing cold water on the prospects for the launch of the 3D avatar-driven meet-up space this year. Hirai has gone on record today saying not to expect Home until the end of the year.

That picks up the wriggling software, carries it past the 1-year-late mark and throws its marketing effectiveness clear into 2009. That means no buzz to help spur PS3 sales in the holiday season. Once again the console will have to tread water with individual titles all doing their own thing for online play. This strategy didn’t work so well last year.

Our own Joe Haygood has mentioned before that there’s at least one big problem with Home: nobody asked for it. While important innovations can be a surprise, if Sony’s inability to execute on a design created to leapfrog the competition ends up in making them so late to market that nobody is listening anymore you have a serious problem. Being this late with home seriously blunts any perceived momentum the platform will have had this year.

All Sony had to do was sit down and take notes on the best feature sets from all online game lobby, matchmaking, and communications systems and create a common system for developers to build into their games. Bring in some highly paid UI talent and you’d still probably have come in below what Home has cost them so far not just in development dollars but lost mindshare and PR opportunities.

Even some Xbox 360 games haven’t done things perfectly based on comments our own George Walker has made on how poorly the matchmaking on Gears of War (or was it Halo 3?) in one of our earlier podcasts but just the core unified services developers can rely on are better than having next-to-nothing unified, you’d have to agree.

See also: You Can’t Go Home Until 2009.

Via: PSU.

CONFIRMED: Blu-ray Equipped Xbox 360

Just saw this on Slashdot.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer had admitted that Microsoft had been working on support for Blu-ray under Windows during this year’s Mix08 conference. Rumors began to swirl and many began to expect Microsoft to announce a Blu-ray peripheral for the Xbox 360. However, Microsoft came out and denied all rumors, stating that they were not exploring any kind of Blu-ray add-on or in talks with Sony about integrating Blu-ray into the Xbox experience. After months of rumors and denials, the Xbox 360 with a Blu-ray disc drive is due to be manufactured soon and shipped in Q3 of 2008. Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, is reported to have received the winning order from Microsoft for a Blu-ray equipped Xbox 360.

I think we all expected Blu-ray support for the 360, but I was expecting a Blu-ray add-on, not an actual Blu-ray equipped console. Very interesting, indeed. Now, if Sony were really smart, they’d pull a Microsoft and include some compatibility bugs to handicap Blu-ray support on the 360.

For example, they could make the 360 version not upgradeable, so that as new versions of the Blu-ray standard are released, the 360 will not be able to keep up with the updates, as the PS3 is now able to do.

I know for myself, though, I can’t imagine buying another 360 just for Blu-ray support, so a PS3 would still be the way to go.

Now, if there WERE a Blu-ray addon, I would probably be more inclined to pick up the cheaper alternative.

Some Thoughts on Dead Space

Not sure if anyone else has been following development of EA’s original IP title, Dead Space, but they’ve recently posted a new developer diary video.

What immediately stood out to me about this video (besides the nasty-looking alien meatbags) was that the developers are really trying to focus on story first. It is interesting that they mentioned that they’re building the story first, THEN the gameplay, and this hasn’t really been done before. Well, I can’t speak to whether it’s been done before since I’m not sure how most developers do things, but it is promising, nonetheless. 

As a huge fan of the System Shock series (especially System Shock 2), I’ve been moderately encouraged by what I’ve seen on Dead Space, so far. The environments look pretty darn good, even with several months left in the development cycle. I’m not sure if Dead Space will have the depth that Deus Ex or Bioshock had, but a great story is definitely the right place to start.

As one of the first major IP’s since EA’s shift from licensed IP’s to original IP’s, it’ll be interesting to see what the end result will be.

Ones to Watch: May 2008 Xbox 360 releases

So you’re probably wondering what titles you should be looking out for this month. Well, IMHO there is nothing. Nothing at all.

Oh sure, you might want to take a peak at Lost Planet: Extreme Colonies Edition or maybe even Enemy Territories: Quake Wars. I personally will be passing on both titles. But hey, they may not be completely horrible…

Otherwise, there are a few XBLA titles like Assault Heroes 2 that may be of interest. So, might as well buckle down and get your money’s worth out of GTA IV.

6 out of 4 Testers Agree: GTA IV Has Issues

While Rockstar flails around looking for redemption with PS3 owners by telling us to not play their game — what else do you call a recommendation that we erase cached data, game saves, reset the PS3 to factory defaults, and switch off rumble — I’ve continued to play the game despite one isolated freeze-up during the drunkenness mission. Online play is ridiculously fun with friends — not with the general public who have a penchant for yammering things like “WHAT UP YO I HOPE THIS GAME MODE IS GOOD!” into their microphones while the game loads — but the picture here should give you a second clue that Rockstar didn’t test online play much.

Oh what was the first clue? When Kotaku’s GTA IV FAQ said yes, Rockstar told them there would be voice chat, but the online servers weren’t up and running before launch the way the 360 version’s were. (See questions 9 and 35 in the FAQ.)

The profile here should have a “2″ in the star showing me having leveled up twice, and those level-ups let me choose extra character features in the appearance categories. I chose them for Legs and Hats here, and upon returning to single player mode or reloading the next day, going into the character profile menu via the mobile phone (an immersive menu system I really like by the way) shows that yes they’re still chosen and still appear in the character model on-screen, I can’t modify them or I lose the ability to switch back to them. Is this happening on the Xbox 360 as well? I haven’t seen any reports about it on either system, and in case you’re wondering I’m logged into the PSN all the time.

Glaring problems like this tell me a patch must be coming, and it makes me worry whether or not it’ll do something really aggravating like force me to erase all of my saved games. Maybe it’s time to turn my attention back to finishing up The Darkness or dive deeper into the delicious brutality of Bloody Palace on Devil May Cry 4 while I wait for Rockstar to fix their delayed game.

Prime Time for Halo 3 Achievements

For Legendary Map Pack owners, Bungie is hosting a “Legendary Brawl” Double XP weekend. Like all of their past Double XP weekends, playing on this ranked FFA BTB list will grant double the experience points.

Did you catch that?

Ranked. Free-for-all. Big Team Battle. So, if you’ve still got some Halo 3 achievements to finish off (like I do), then hop on and it’ll be some prime achievement whoring time!

Legendary Map Pack Review

It has been a long time since I have downloaded a map pack and felt like the money I spent was well worth it. When I downloaded the Call of Duty 4 map pack I was happy that at least one of the maps was worth it (Chinatown) while the others were riddled with balance issues and a lack of creativity. This however can not be said for the Halo 3 Legendary Map Pack. After a 5 hour sessions playing the new maps I have to say that I cannot remember a better map pack in recent history.

Each and every map is well balanced and extremely fun no matter what game type you play. I actually enjoyed territories, something I thought was impossible. Of the three maps only one is completely new and that is Ghost Town. This map looks great and is best for slayer and assault. Of all three maps it’s the weakest, but that is like calling Batman the weakest superhero. The remake of Lockout, renamed Blackout, is even better and more balanced then its predecessor. These two maps alone would be worth the price of admission, but you still receive another awesome map.

That final map is by far my favorite in the pack. Avalanche is based after the Halo 1 map Sidewinder. It’s not a direct translation as was Blackout, but the changes they made really make this feel like a brand new map. It is loaded with every weapon and vehicle in the game, and if you love objective games then you will never want to leave the snowy confines of this canyon. Avalanche is by far the best map large scale map in Halo 3, maybe even the entire Halo series.

The maps will cost you 800 points and after playing them I would have paid twice that…they are that good! If you love Halo then don’t bother waiting till they are free because you are missing out on some really good maps.