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Xbox Live gold members get crowned on Xbox.com
Today, Major Nelson Twittered word that a new graphical enhancement has been added to Xbox.com and should give Live gold subscribers a serious case of the warm fuzzies. The new addition: a tiny gold crown icon (), which is now located on Xbox.com's mini Gamercard.It may be small, it may be useless and it may have no application to the "real world," but we're still proud of our new crown. It'll probably be the only royal jewels we'll ever own and, for the yearly $50 subscription fee, we think it's the least Microsoft could offer us.
Online 'Free Your Avatar' application goes global
Once exclusive to the UK's Xbox.com web space, Microsoft's online, photo tinkering Free Your Avatar tool just released to most all global Xbox.com sites. The website relaunch also comes with the new ability to upload your own background and comes packed with "new props and goodies!" Joy!The Free Your Avatar website gives you the ability to import your Avatar likenesses, plop them into a scene, add a few props and save the image to a computer or social networking site of choice. There are also Valentine's Day themed props, so you can create a V-Day card for your significant other. (Good luck with that.) The application is free (would you really pay for it?), so go piddle around for a while and see what twisted charming scenes you can create.
Linking to XBLM content on the web just got easier
Everybody loves the semi-recently launched Xbox.com Marketplace. It's such an easy (and convenient) way to browse the latest and greatest Marketplace content from the comfort of your internet browser. But being bloggers, we've always had an issue with the inability to find a specific URL to link to certain content. Well, friends, those URL-less days are over, because the web Marketplace has just been updated with a new "Send a Link" feature. Below every piece of Marketplace content, you'll find a convenient URL to share with others and post to your favorite social networking site..Thanks to this new feature, sharing content with your friends is just a click away, our blogging job has become more efficient and spending your Microsoft points has become even easier. It's a win-win-win!
Left 4 Dead Bloody Valentine winning weekend
To help promote the upcoming horror flick My Bloody Valentine 3D (in theaters Stateside January 16th), Xbox.com is hosting a Left 4 Dead Bloody Valentine Play & Win weekend where prizes can be won and zombie killing is guaranteed. From January 9th through the 11th, those who registered and play Left 4 Dead online have a chance at winning one of the seventy-four 4000 Microsoft point prize packs and maybe even a Valve autographed Left 4 Dead poster.Delicious prizes, delicious gaming and delicious brains!
Xbox Live to be down for 'quick' maintenance [update]
Update: Maintenance is finished. Xbox Live is alive. Nothing to see here.An important Xbox Live message for all the early morning gamers in North America and the midday gamers in Europe. Today, Friday, December 5th at 5:00AM eastern (2:00AM pacific) Xbox Live and Xbox.com will be down for scheduled maintenance. But don't get worked up into a no gaming tizzy, because the maintenance is only expected to last less than 15 minutes. During the downtime, Xbox Live will not function, all "My Xbox" functionality will be offline, and the Xbox.com forums will be "read only".We think you're strong enough to handle the 15 minutes of downtime and strongly suggest using that time constructively. We recommend learning the basics of the fine art of needlepoint.
The Xbox Live Marketplace on Xbox.com is alive!
It had a rough start, but today it looks like the Xbox.com Xbox Live Marketplace is open for business and ready to take your Microsoft points. You can hit up the Marketplace by visiting this link where you'll notice that everything is separated into two categories, "Games" and "Videos". From there, you can check out DLC, game demos, movies and even see what's new and what's hot. Oh, and don't forget you can add content to your download queue so that the next time you turn on your 360 your downloads will ... uh, download!
The new Xbox.com Marketplace is sorta alive
After spotting Avatars' invasion of the Xbox.com profile pages, we're now seeing more changes happen to Xbox.com, especially the online accessible Xbox Live Marketplace. Currently, the Xbox.com browseable Marketplace is offline, but its skeleton structure is browsable and you can see the general XBLM browsing UI. There are categories on the left, new content will be listed at the bottom, the oh so important download queue and all kinds of account management options including credit card changes. Give the not yet officially launched Xbox.com XBLM a browse and patiently awaits its BIG launch on Wednesday.
Win big and get makeup advice with Xbox.com's Monster Makeover
The Gamerscore Blog's own Nelson Rodriguez and Natalie Sousa from Talking About Games have just launched a new video series on Xbox.com, where regular folks are transformed into bloody characters from violent video games by Hollywood makeup artists. Did we mention you can win prizes? The Monster Makeover series is an eight episode horror adventure that's a little bit video games, a little bit competition and a lotta bit makeup effects. During each episode (new episodes every Monday and Thursday) the Cinema Make-up School students are challenged to create a gruesome makeup masterpiece based on popular 360 video games including Left 4 Dead, Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, and Dead Space. Currently, episode one is available for viewing where our makeup artist friends must create Left 4 Dead inspired zombie models like the one you see above.If you don't find much entertainment value in watching Hollywood makeup artists work their magic, then know that there are also prizes to be won. You can enter the Monster Makeover giveaway for a chance to win a 360, a nice mix of horror games and Zune music player. So, watch, enter the giveaway and please - friend to friend - try to use less eye shadow. [Via Gamerscore Blog]
Xbox.com's E3 site is fueled and ready to go
E3 2008 is less than a week away when Monday morning, Microsoft will hold their conference and usher in the start of the expo. And just like years previous, Xbox.com and their team of investigative reporters headed up by non other than Major Nelson will be reporting live, dishing out the E3 news mash and asking if anyone wants a second helping. Currently, Xbox.com's E3 page has a preview of the content to come including an official E3 blog, news, videos, trailers and photos sections. It'll probably be a website you'll want to add to your bookmark list prior to next week, on top of your X3F bookmarking, of course. And if you didn't already take our "what do you want from our E3 coverage?" survey, maybe you should voice your opinion and cast a ballot.
Xbox.com adds U.S. XBVM media details
Wow, this came out of nowhere. U.S. Xbox.com users will notice a newly revamped Video Marketplace section and no, it isn't just a new coat of paint. It's a complete re-construction of Xbox.com's XBVM section that actually makes it useful. W00t!We advise jumping right in, so point your browser to Xbox.com's XBVM area and prepare to be amazed. You can now browse the entire list of movie rentals that are available, search by title, download rank, rating or just for movies that are available in HD. Once you find a movie, you'll now be able to read its synopsis, run time, file size, pricing and more. But that's not it. All that functionality is available for television content as well with the added bonus of browsing each show and each season. They even added a coming attractions section to preview upcoming XBVM content. The amount of information available is amazing! It's also a nice compliment to our Video Marketplace Weekly feature. A big high five goes out to Microsoft for getting this up and running.[Via Major Nelson]
Xbox Live gets downtime on April 1
According to a post on Gamescore Blog and the message we got when we logged onto Live, Xbox Live and Xbox.com will be down for maintenance on April 1 from 2-5am PDT. Before you start making your "Spring Dash Update is Nigh!" signs, we're being told this is a routine process that will go on in the early hours of the morning. In the meantime you should play the Battlefield: Bad Company beta or Halo 3 online or Call of Duty 4 multiplayer. Wait. Oh no! What will we do?![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Take a tour of Xbox.com's redesigns
The Xbox.com page had a little bit of plastic surgery done this morning for easier use and for better stalking keeping track of your friends and activities. Sister site Xbox 360 Fanboy have created a tour to guide you through the new look. Check it out.
Find those Xs, XMTS has begun
And you thought we didn't notice your 80+ comments on the previous announcement post for Microsoft's X Marks the Spot giveaway. Well, we noticed and we're just as crazy (look to the right for proof) about solving the ten daily puzzles, so feel free to use this post to discuss, help eachother and win.But, for those who aren't familiar with the green X game, listen up. If you head on over to the X Marks the Spot giveaway page you'll be able to register (unless you have Firefox*) and start your search. Each day, for 36 days, they'll post ten daily clues that lead to various gaming or sponsor related websites. Then, on each website, you'll have to spot a word that has a green X in its spelling. That friends is the keyword that'll answer the question and give you an entry. Each entry you unlock (ten total per day) will enter you into daily, weekly and grand prize drawings, so the more you answer the more chances you'll have at winning goods. But know that every day's questions are different and can only be answered the day they are live, so there's no going back. Good luck and help eachother out, because we want a fanboy winning a new car or Dew mini fridge!*Good eyes, but the Firefox "clue" is total bologna. We just felt like messing with your head, but nice clue spotting nonetheless.
Share your 360 Laws
Over on TriXie's blog she chatted with community member DeaconBlade 360 about Xbox member conduct and rules for which Xbox owners should obey called "360 Laws". These "laws" are pretty much social rules when it comes to gaming on the 360 and are a perfect study guide for new gamers. Anyway, DeaconBlade came up with the original seven laws including such favorites as "never share your hard drive with a friend's console for more than a day" and "carrying an Xbox 360 backpack is not cool". These original seven rules then spawned a few community inspired 360 Laws like "the Xbox Live Vision camera is not a dating tool", "never play on a friend's profile unless invited" and "never abuse the Guide button mid-game". These are all laws we can agree with, which got us thinking ...What are a few 360 Laws that you play by, laws that you enforce or laws that you think should be followed? Let's add to the community inspired law fun by sharing our favorites with eachother. So, go ahead and share with your fellow fanboys your 360 Laws, we'll start: X3F 360 Law: "Clean that controller! Nobody likes using a controller that is caked with Cheeto cheese, sticky substances and dried hand grease."
E3 panoramas are 360 degrees of rotating fun
If you haven't stopped by Xbox.com for a while we sincerely recommend that you check out the E3 panoramas they've created and posted for you to enjoy. These 360 degree rotations allow you to view all kinds of fun E3 locations like Microsoft's E3 conference stage, behind the scenes action, the always interesting E3 crowd and the oh-so-large Santa Monica ferris wheel. Everyone knows that playing with virtual panoramas is amusing, so quit depriving yourself and rotate the day away!
Vampire Rain wants to Play and Win too
Another day and another Xbox.com sponsored Play and Win giveaway, but we aren't complaining. Next weekend from July 13th through the 15th you'll be able to participate in the Vampire Rain Play and Win contest to win an Xbox 360 Elite, HD DVD player, racing wheel and more. To enter, simply register your gamertag here and play Vampire Rain next weekend for entry into the giveaway. It's that simple. Now we're off to figure out what exactly makes Vampire Rain different than the standard rain we get in the Midwest.
Canada Day brings free presents for Canadians
Canadian fanboys will be be happy to know that Microsoft hasn't forgotten about your country's birthday. In celebration of Canada Day, on July 1st our Canadian friends will be treated to free downloads including a theme and a few gamer pictures featuring characters from the comic 360 Prophecy. Again, the downloads are free and will only be available for a short time to help celebrate Canada's birthday. Also, Jade posted an article over on Xbox.com counting down her favorite Canadian gamers and our very own David Dreger (aka Knuckles Dawson) made the list! We knew his achievement addiction would pay off. Congrats to you David, Canada, every Canadian, and free Marketplace downloads this July 1st. Now let's prepare to celebrate![Via 360 Prophecy]
Xbox.com dates are acting a little funny
Yesterday, Xbox.com received a much needed facelift making it a little more gray and overall easier to navigate. But the cosmetic update didn't go perfectly, because it kind of messed up the friends list "last seen" dates. Users (including our fellow fanboys) quickly noticed that the dates display for friends who haven't logged in for more than a day are showing up incorrectly. Well, that is if the dates are still being based on the calendar that everyone on the planet uses. But don't worry guys, because Major Nelson sent us an update stating that the dev team is working on the bug and it should be fixed in a few days. Until then, we advise being creative and coming up with names for the new 40+ months that Xbox.com displays. We're calling month 36 Fanboyember.
Xbox.com gets a facelift and some Botox
Earlier this morning Xbox.com received a cosmetic update designed to make navigation around the site easier. Yes, it's much more gray colored and curvy, but what you'll also notice is that all the "My Xbox" activities are placed in a handy drop-down menu as well as all the other expandable options on the site. Transparent drop-down boxes are delicious! They also integrated Live search into the site for (hopefully) smarter searching. Point your browser over to Xbox.com to see all the pretty new visual enhancements and see if you can find compatibility issues with your browser of choice. Now that sounds like real entertainment.
