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Impossibly high Gamerscore: 4,916,919
In my review for King Kong on the Xbox 360, I mentioned that it had earned a reputation for being "especially loose with its gamerscore points." I would like to amend that statement in light of recent developments. The bar has been so significantly shifted, that unless the game dishes out gamerscore points in multiples of 5000, it's chaste relative to one gamer's licentious copy of Condemned: Criminal Origins! Here's how you too can earn gamerscore points well into the millions: instead of playing several thousand games through, earning all 1000 gamerscore points contained therein, just bend the laws of mathematics to your singular, corrupted will, by earning a total 2550 of 50 achievements, and a total of 4915477 of 970 gamerscore points!Dondums' Penny Arcade avatar mocks us, his sterling 5 star reputation shames us, and his motto, "I like hugs," makes us feel empty inside. We don't need a hug, we need a strong drink.[Thanks, Tuan & everyone else that sent this in]Read on for some other pictures from Dondums' page on Xbox.com, captured here for posterity before the powers that be at Microsoft mend the error, or the world collapses onto itself.
Sony declares "full-on assault" on Xbox Live
According to a scan posted on the PlayStation forums, the March issue of PlayStation Magazine (PSM) reveals Sony's plans to deliver an online gaming experience that not only targets Microsoft's much lauded Live service, but surpasses it. The article reads:"Cast aside any doubts and start gazing skyward, because that's where Sony is aiming with plans that go far beyond simple leader boards and matchmaking -- or even the PS3, for that matter.""'It's very real,' one source tells us. 'They (Sony) are dead serious about it. They've declared, and I quote, a 'full-on assault' on the latest version of Xbox Live.'""They are committed to matching Xbox Live [on the 360] feature for feature and then some."This story, together with the recent survey Sony conducted, should remove any doubts about Sony's online ambitions. Is it possible that Sony could create a network the size and scale of Xbox Live in such a short time? It has cost Microsoft, the world's largest software company, billions and taken years just to lay the framework for the current Live service. Sony is known for their hyperbolic marketing: the PS2's Emotion Engine, the PSP as iPod-killer; it seems unlikely they could take the crown from Microsoft on their first try, but any attempt is a huge relief. It was beginning to look like Sony didn't think the Live service was a valuable addition to console gaming, or a serious competitor to their hegemony. Read on for some (barely) readable closeups from the image on the right. [Thanks, apoc06 & Draco][Update: corrected some grammatical errors.]
4 million pieces of HD content downloaded from Xbox Live
Ok, they may not have all been HD, there were probably some gamer tiles and a song here and there, but just going by the informal responses on Joystiq, those lucky enough to get hold of an Xbox 360 think digital distribution is a good, good thing. I've downloaded every trailer and demo posted so far, even the streaming instructions. Still, some remain unimpressed by the games and concerned about ongoing launch shortages that have caused Microsoft to adjust their projections, I guess the questions remains: Is the Xbox 360 ( & Xbox Live) next gen enough?
Learn how to stream HD to your 360 on Xbox Live Marketplace
Sure we could just tell you that streaming HDTV content wirelessly to your Xbox 360 is best achieved with an 802.11a connection, but some people need video evidence. (Oh wait, we've got that too!). For the unlucky few who have an Xbox 360 and have not yet found their way to HD Beat (thats HD Beatdown for all those who want to face me in DOA4), Microsoft posted a new video on the Xbox Live marketplace letting people learn about high def streaming.....in high definition. It's like a mobius strip we don't even want to get out of.The video is pretty well put together and should provide a good base for people who may have heard about the 360's multimedia capabilities but don't know where to start. Surprisingly it doesn't say anything about how to stream DivX to your Xbox 360, but perhaps the boys from Redmond decided some news is only for the privileged.
Expired Gold subscriptions causing problems
According to various posters on the official Xbox forums, people taking advantage of the free one-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold will run into some irritating problems when the service expires. Despite buying a 12-month gamecard and upgrading the account, when the trial period was over one poster found his account reverted to Silver status; others have found all the gamertags on their 360 changed to Silver when just one expired.Some were advised to try deleting their gamertags and then re-recovering them (losing all saved data in the process) to no avail, so we're waiting for word from Xbox on this issue. The best way to handle upgrading from a one-month trial to a full account seems to be to wait for the trial to expire, and then apply the 3 or 12 month subscription.[Thanks, Stephen]
Xbox Live connection problems? Here's a tip
If you've been having problems connecting to your friends on Xbox Live for games or chat, here's a tip that'll help you determine the source of the problem--and hopefully fix it. Go to the System blade, select Network Settings and then Test Xbox Live Connection. You'll be able to see what sort of NAT your system is behind, and if it's set to Moderate or Strict then you will only be able to connect to certain other users. To fix this, set your NAT to Open by opening the following ports on your router: 88 (UDP), 3074 (UDP), and 3074 (TCP). [Thanks, silvernome]
Can I have my email address back? (Xbox 360 annoyance #010)
At some point following our gala 48-hour Xbox 360 gamathon, we got the idea to check some funny gamertags to see if they were available. For the sake of this example, let's say we picked "xXDr.UweBollXx" just to have some kicks and play with the free 30-day Xbox Live Gold membership. During the signup process the system requires a Microsoft .NET Passport account to link to the gamertag. The request (though having a slightly Big Brother feel) was understandable, so I entered in my 8-year old Hotmail account (which I've had since it was called HoTMaiL). Recently I undertook the task of transferring my original Xbox gamertag, "persnfrmporlok", to the 360. Here's where it gets ugly.During the transfer process I was again required to link my gamertag to a .NET Passport account, so I naturally punched in my trusty Hotmail address. I was informed that the account already had a gamertag linked to it and only one was allowed. No red flags yet; surely this could be solved simply. I would only need to switch the .NET Passport for "Uwe Boll" to a newly created address (let's call it uweiswonderful@hotmail.com) thus freeing my original Hotmail account to be linked to "persnfrmporlok." Now if only I could figure out how to do it...Right about now you should see where this story is going: I could not change the email address and needed to open a new .NET Passport account for my "persnfrmporlok" gamertag. After several calls to 1-800-4MY-XBOX I was told by a very helpful representative that the linking was "permanent." You see, Microsoft was "cracking down" on people switching email addresses, a practice that was previously allowed on the original Xbox. Cracking down? What does that mean? How could this be abused? The functionality is for our convenience, not for billing; they already have my credit card number, address, and real name! I can assure them that's a much better way of commucating with subscribers than a easily forgotten free webmail account. The sad truth is, despite my long history with that Hotmail account, the increasingly irrelevant Hotmail service is still the slowest, ugliest, and most spammed webmail account I have. For a console that trumpets loud and wide, "It's all about choice" the decision to remove this choice is inscrutable.Xbox 360 annoyances: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009Other Xbox 360 delights: 001, 002, 003, 004
Temporary Live leaderboard reset
Eagle-eyed high-scorers may have noticed some jiggery-pokery going on with the Xbox Live leaderboards for various games over the last couple of days. Apparently, this is nothing to do with recent hacking successes, but it's certainly interesting to see how quickly the poor beleaguered Xbox Live team jumped on the issue, working through New Year's Day to get it sorted. We missed our chance to top the leaderboards temporarily; did you achieve any unexpected high ranks?
Beware Microsoft's domain squatting faux pas
If you're an Xbox Live subscriber interested in getting your hands on a Diamond Card, beware. It seems that a typo on the website, www.xboxlivediamond.com, encourages users to email a non-Microsoft address if they believe their gamertag has been signed up to the site by someone else. From Joystiq, which has the scoop: Step 3: Notice the error message that says: "We're Sorry!!! That GamerTag has already been registered" Notice the following instructions: "If you believe that someone else has registered with your GamerTag, please send an email to support@xboxdiamond.com." Step 4: Notice that xboxdiamond.com is registered with domain squatters. Oops! Hope nobody sent their Xbox Live account information (password, credit card information) to that email address! We further hope that whoever's receiving the deluge of emails isn't impersonating Microsoft and soliciting this information from Xbox Live customers. Since the domain was recently listed on eBay, who knows what the squatters are going to do with the deluge of mis-registered gamertag emails. We hope Microsoft fix this blunder quickly--it doesn't exactly instil faith in the Diamond Card service.
Xbox Live: Microsoft's bet
Today's Wall Street Journal has delved into the ins and outs of Microsoft's gamble to expand online gaming to every gamer with the Xbox 360. Aiming to entice at least 50% of customers online--a figure previously unheard of with Xbox Live, although Nintendo's wifi venture has approached it--Microsoft have spent an estimated $1 billion on the Live service. That's a lot of money to spend in order to get customers signed up and spending their own money in return--the question is whether the gamble will pay off. The WSJ have also put together a flashy comparison of the three next-gen offerings from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, for anyone who's been living under a rock for the last year. One of the key online differences is the lack of a planned centralised online service in Sony and Nintendo's lineup, but that's offset by the lack of service fees, so may see more absolute signups. It's going to be a tough battle, and online gaming will be the only clear winner.
A new demographic for Xbox Live Arcade
As you may have noticed, we at Xbox 360 Fanboy are fans of Xbox's own Major Nelson, and so we were naturally quite sad to hear he was ill over the Christmas period. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and Major's brief convalescence has brought with it an interesting lesson in demographics.Major blogs that "I pretty much spent a majority of my conscious time with the Xbox Live Arcade Games, since they were easy to jump in and out of as I nodded off under my prescriptive based consciousness." -- it seems that the quick-fix nature of the Live Arcade games is perfect for those feeling under the weather. Also, although most Live Arcade games do require some brainpower, they don't require full-on all-cylinders-firing citrus-sharp cognition, and are a lot easier to get to grips with if you're in a medication-induced stupor.So, next time your significant other, child or pet is ill, why not try distracting them with Live Arcade titles rather than daytime television?
