Symphony of the Night on XBLA March 21 (Finally!)
Sunday, March 18. 2007
Just a quick heads up that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is coming to Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday March 21, 2007! Major Nelson confirms the news here, and the official press release is here. Be sure to give this one a download! In case you missed it, check out my take on SOTN and its release on the Xbox 360.
Ars of War Tournament Ready to Rock XBL
Thursday, February 1. 2007
Yours truly is proud to be participating in the Ars Technica Gears of War Tournament this Friday, February 2nd, 2007. Teams have been selected and announced. Ars Technica is the leading source for technology news on the internet. Ars has an especially tech savvy community that contributes thousands of messages daily via the Open Forum. A specific sub-section of the forums dubbed the GESC is where all matters Gaming are discussed. Here you will find the details of the 1st Annual "Ars of War" Tournament.
I am part of Team GeoPapa. Henceforth we shall be known as Team....Cole Train!
Good luck to all participants, may the chainsawing begin! Team lineups and details after the break, if you are interested.
Continue reading "Ars of War Tournament Ready to Rock XBL"
360voice.com Continues to Style and Profile
Thursday, February 1. 2007
If you are a Xbox 360 owner then you already know what next-gen gaming is all about. If you are a member of Xbox Live, then you are really cooking with gas. But there is one service that, in my opinion, is an absolute MUST to get the most out of your 360. I urge you to head over to the good folks at 360voice.com and setup your own blog today. Best of all? It requires no work at all! You sign up, and 360voice takes care of the rest. The clever folks at 360v have found a way to scrape the data that Microsoft collects on your gaming habits from Xbox Live. Everyday, this data is translated into humorous blog entries for the world to see. If you don't play for a day, your Xbox is sad. If you skip a week of gaming, you might have a very testy 360 blogging about your (lack of) gaming habits. Conversely if you spend everyday gaming your 360 will be very happy with you, and your blog will reflect this. In addition you can earn "badges" that reward you for certain milestones like completing a certain number of games or gaming for 30 days in a row. I even got my wife in on it. She loves checking her blog everyday. When she doesn't fire up the 360 for a day, she always tells me that her 360 "will not be happy with her".
On a personal note I want to say thank you to the excellent staff at 360 Voice. I recently switched my Gamertag on Xbox Live and I had a few questions to ask of them over email. They got back to me super quick, and were very patient as I asked a few more questions. The migration went smoothly and my blog is still perfectly in tact. Just last weekend these guys released four huge upgrades that make the site load lightning quick.
Overall, 360 Voice is a great service run by some truly nice people. If you have a 360 and a Xbox Live subscription, there is no excuse, go setup your 360 blog today!
But Enough Talk...Have at You!
Saturday, January 13. 2007
2007 marks the 10th anniversary of, in my opinion, one of the greatest games ever made. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Wikipedia, Gamespot Review). Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that SOTN is coming out for the Xbox Live Arcade service next month. I could sit here and write up my thoughts on this game, but what can I say that already hasn't been said? This game is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. You have not earned your gamer credentials if you haven't played this game. Yes, it's that good. The music. The graphics that still hold up even today. The music. The sounds. Did I mention the awesome music? Very few games can keep you coming back for more after 10 years. SOTN stands the test of time. Someone at Microsoft knows this and smartly greenlit the port to Xbox Live Arcade.SOTN for the Xbox 360 has made some significant news recently. Konami showed it off at last week's CES show in Las Vegas. On top of that, Microsoft has allowed Konami to break the 50MB size limit that applies to all current Xbox Live Arcade releases. Smart move Microsoft! I certainly wouldn't want to be known as "the guy who stopped SOTN" from coming to the 360!
I still have my original (greatest hits) copy of SOTN for the Playstation. For the "older" gamer generation like myself, SOTN's release for XBLA is a chance to play through this classic again, except this time with all the Xbox 360 trimmings like achievements (can you say 200.6%?) and leaderboards (SOTN Achievement List). Those younger gamers who may not have played SOTN on the PS1, well, needless to say this is a perfect opportunity to play a true classic.
To wet your appetite, below the break I have a YouTube video of the awesome SOTN opening dialog sequence between Richter Belmont and Dracula. Admit it. The voice acting is so bad it's good! But Enough Talk...Have at You!
Continue reading "But Enough Talk...Have at You!"
Awesome Gears of War Widescreen Wallpapers
Saturday, January 13. 2007
I found two superb wallpapers while browsing Deviant Art today. User Safaex brings us two simple but elegant Gears of War designs. Best of all, they are widescreen. Be sure to check them out by following the link to his profile here.Here's what it looks like on my desktop. Enjoy!
Dude, Where's my (offline) Content?
Sunday, January 7. 2007
Let me preface this entry by saying I have been the proud owner of two Xbox 360 consoles since July 2006. One is my wife's, the other mine. There are functioning perfectly (knock on wood). I am writing this article however to bring this important issue to light. This issue effects users who have had their consoles repaired or replaced. These unsuspecting users quickly find out that all the Xbox Live Marketplace content they purchased, including Arcade games, can no longer be used offline. To fully understand the issue, let us first understand the DRM implementation for Xbox Live Marketplace content. Here it is, straight from the mouth of Microsoft.
Usage Restrictions
When you download content from Xbox Live Marketplace, that content is licensed to the console you downloaded it to and the profile you downloaded it with. The console license allows anyone to use that content on that console, online or off. The profile license allows you to use the content on any console, as long as you're signed in to Xbox Live (the reason you have to be signed in to Xbox Live is that your profile has to be validated with the service).
For example, if you try to play your new Xbox Live Arcade game offline on a different console, you may find that it only plays in demo mode. This is because the console is not the console to which the game is licensed, and your profile can't be validated until you sign in. To play the full version on this other console, you have to sign in to Xbox Live.
As you can see, there are two elements to the license. The console license, and the profile license. Quite simply, your content is tied to your console first and foremost. Remember this, it becomes important later. Let's assume you download Pac-Man from the XBLA. You have four profiles on your Xbox 360. Since that is the console you initially downloaded the content to ("Xbox A"), every single profile can play the full version of Pac-Man on Xbox A, regardless of which profile purchased it. This is called "offline" access to content. This means the profile that originally purchased the content does not need to be signed in to Xbox Live in order to access the content.
Your first Xbox 360 is always Xbox A, meaning you and your family can access the content offline. There are many reasons people need to access content offline. For example you may not always have an internet connection handy, or you might not want to be bothered by game invites from people on your friends list. Perhaps you bring your 360 on vacation with you and there is no internet connection there. For any number of reasons, people want access to the content they paid for. You bought Pac-Man and your entire family can enjoy it on Xbox A.
The profile license effectively allows you to "roam". You can take your profile to another Xbox 360 ("Xbox B"), and access your content. On Xbox B however, you may only access your content while signed in to Xbox Live. If you port your profile over to a friend's 360 (with a Memory Unit), sign in and download Pac-Man, only you can play the full version of Pac-Man. Once you sign out, your friend will only have access to the trial version. This is because Xbox B is not the original console the content was purchased on and downloaded to. (This assumes of course your friend did not already purchase Pac-Man on his console.)
What happens when Xbox A fails and needs to be replaced? Here's where the problems begin. If your console fails, Xbox A is gone forever, along with all the privileges that go along with Xbox A. Your new replacement console becomes Xbox B, meaning you can only access your content while signed in to Xbox Live with the profile that originally purchased the content. Was your wife playing Zuma that you purchased on Xbox A? Your son or daughter playing your Pac-Man on Xbox A? Not anymore they won't! No one in your family has access to that content anymore. Not even you, as the profile who purchased that content, can access the content without being signed into Live. So much for taking your new replacement console on vacation with you. For Xbox B, No Live connection = No content access.
Microsoft has every right to protect their content, but to punish those who have had their consoles replaced due to failure is unacceptable. I see threads appear daily on all the popular forums about this issue. Typically it takes three to four weeks to get consoles replaced by Microsoft. Little do these users know their consoles are "downgraded" to behave like an Xbox B and will suffer all the content restrictions that follow.
In fact, there is a whopping 32-page thread (as the day of posting) in the Xbox.com forums entitled "Can't play full versions of Arcade Games" regarding this issue. Microsoft representatives have responded in the thread, but to date there is no clear solution. There is only a "workaround". In short, the workaround is to first prove to Microsoft that Xbox A has been replaced, then create a dummy profile. Microsoft will refund the points to this dummy profile on Xbox B so you can re-download your content. According to the xbox.com thread, users have waited as long as a few months for the call back from Microsoft to refund these points.
I don't intend to provide a solution to the problem here. I only want to bring attention to the issue. I am sure an iTunes like approach could be implemented where users can "authorize" and "deauthorize" the console tied to their content. I am just surprised that a software company like Microsoft cannot find a better solution than creating dummy accounts and asking users to call 1-800-4-MYXBOX time and time again in the hopes of getting their points refunded just so they can access their content offline.
I hope I have summarized the issue as best as possible. Perhaps Major Nelson can help raise this issue within Microsoft?
If you are so inclined, please digg this entry.
MadCatz Xbox Live Arcade Joysick Mini-Review
Saturday, January 6. 2007
Those of us who have the Xbox 360 are well aware the D-Pad on the 360 controller, to put it mildly, sucks. The D-pad is the only downside to an otherwise excellent controller design. The popular Xbox Live Arcade service has many older "Coin-Op Classic" games that used a joystick design many of us remember when growing up. Trying to play games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Gauntlet and Frogger with the D-pad can be an exercise in frustration. Enter the Mad Catz Xbox Live Arcade Retro Stick. At $59.99 it's certainly not cheap, but the allure of having a real joystick to control these classic games was too much for me to pass up. I am going to cut to the chase. I am very happy with the performance of this product. You don't often hear the words "performance" and "MadCatz" in the same sentence. The joystick is very responsive. In Pac-Man I no longer found myself moving in the wrong direction. With the D-pad I would want to go right, but many times I'd end up moving up or down.
One of the nice touches is the button sitting on top of the stick itself. This button functions as the "A" button. This is especially useful in games where you need to constantly shoot while moving like Galaga, Gauntlet and Time Pilot. You can certainly use the A button on the base of the unit as well. There is a "Turbo" button here, reminiscent of the one on the old NES Advantage, though not as good as the old NES controller. The unit comes with a 9 foot cable, more than long enough to reach your couch.
One other interesting note is the inclusion of a "spinner" surrounding the right analog stick. Think of a smaller version of the old Atari "paddle" controller and you'll know what the spinner does. There are no games on the XBLA that would really take advantage of the spinner now. However with Centipede and Millipede rumored to hit the Arcade this year, the spinner could yet prove its value.
I should also mention the extras included here. You get Xbox Live redemption codes for the Arcade titles Frogger, Time Pilot, Astropop, and a 48-hour Xbox Live Gold Subscription. Of course if you've already purchased these games and are a XBL Gold Subscriber then you don't realize this value. I already owned Frogger, but not the other two games so I'm happy.
Downsides: The controller could be wireless, but it doesn't kill me to connect this to play the Coin-Ops. The unit is also not real useful controlling other titles like puzzle games or traditional 360 games. You should now what you are getting here. You are paying $60 to play the Coin-Ops the way they were meant to be played. Dropping that much green for a controller is not for everyone. Those that do take the plunge will enjoy much improved control for games that were intended to be played with a real joystick.
I'll link to my pics below. You may also continue reading after the break for all the pics in full view.
Pics:
Front Box Shot | Back Box Shot
Extras | PerfectCr Jr. holds the Joystick
Sexy closeup | PerfectCr. Jr plays Pac-Man
Continue reading "MadCatz Xbox Live Arcade Joysick Mini-Review"
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Tech/Game Links:
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Major Nelson
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Ain't it Cool News
24 HQ
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