Category: Xbox 360 (Page 12 of 31)

XBL’s Marc Whitten denies 1 million ban rumor

Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten.Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten had an interview with Venture Beat this week in which he talked a lot about policing the network’s 20 million subscribers. Whitten calls the banning process “a cat and mouse game,” and denied a recent rumor that Microsoft had banned a million users for playing on consoles that had been modified to play pirated software.

I cannot explain to you why people would think it was a million people. It wasn’t a million people. Check the veracity of that claim. It was one news source. I think we do a really good job understanding what people are doing on the system. That applies to intellectual property (piracy) and how we treat the community in terms of harassment. We are committed to making it better and better.

You hear that, pirates? Whitten is watching you. The rest of the interview is some boring talk about Facebook and Twitter integration. As for playing Facebook games on your Xbox, that’s probably not coming any time soon. Whitten said things will continue to mesh more and more closely, so it’s possible we’ll see full integration in the future. For the time being, Microsoft seems more than content just giving us access to social media over the console.

Source: Venture Beat

Halo: Reach to debut at the VGAs December 12th

Halo: Reach cropped logo.Fans of the Halo series now have another date to look forward to. Spike TV’s Geoff Keighley tweeted today that the premiere of Halo: Reach will be at the Video Game Awards on Spike this December the 12th. It will be the first look anyone gets at the game, probably with an exclusive trailer.

I’m pretty excited about the game. I was always a bit more interested in the story behind Halo than I was the storyline proper. I think it’s the Flood. Just not an interesting enough villain for me, but hey, zombie plagues are in, right?

I have to say, though, announcing games on television is just so five years ago. C’mon Microsoft, we live in the age of the internet. More people will doubtless watch the trailer there than on Spike. Why not do something cool like offer double experience for all Halo games and stream the trailer over live as it’s broadcast?

Microsoft denies impulse buy rumors for Natal

Project Natal announcement.Launch rumors for Project Natal are a dime a dozen, and according to Xbox UK boss Neil Thompson, the latest batch are bunk, too. This last round of rumors said the periph was due out November of 2010, would release with 14 compatible titles, at a price that could be as low as $50. Right.

As Chris Lewis, Xbox’s head of Europe puts things, “Now you know better than to listen to that stuff! We will announce in good time.” Message received, Mr. Lewis. I can’t imagine how Microsoft could possibly get Natal down to the $50 range, or why they would. The install base for the 360 is big enough that people would pay much more for this kind of experience. Think about the Rock Band sets that regularly go for $200. With a bundled game or two, you can bet Natal will at least break a hundred.

As long as he had the world’s ear, Lewis was glad to keep the hype train rollin’. “I’m not going to be specific about what they might be,” he said. “I will say however we’re committed to ensure those experiences are unique, compelling and very exciting right from the outset. That has to happen and that will happen.” Don’t worry you little heads over a release date – just know that when we get one, you’ll be rushing to mark your calendars.

Source: Eurogamer

Bioware’s Ray Muzyka talks multiplayer and DA:O

Bioware CEO Ray Muzyka.Bioware co-founder and CEO Ray Muzyka talked with Videogamer.com about Dragon Age: Origins today and made some interesting statements regarding multiplayer in RPGs. Two of Bioware’s most recent releases have been single player RPGs, something I found a little distressing. As I get older I’m finding I want games to be more social, and Bioware is one of my favorite developers, so naturally I’m most excited for the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. But I don’t want to miss titles like Mass Effect or DA:O because I really love the storyline, which is something that dissolves the deeper you get into an MMO. Lucky for me, Muzyka wants to help.

He sees the same sort of paradox in multiplayer/RPG gaming. It’s hard to keep control of a good story when you open the world to millions of player interactions, but those single player experiences leave something to be desired. As Muzyka puts it, “It’s hard to weave a great single-player storyline into a multiplayer experience. It’s not impossible. We’ve done it, and we’re doing it again now in Star Wars: The Old Republic. But it is challenging.”

As for the other way around, he’s not totally thrilled with the idea of a co-op mode for something like Mass Effect 2. “They could make a great gameplay experience,” he said. “Whether we’ll do them or not remains to be decided.” I think “could” is key because I’ve yet to see a co-op experience that I would choose over the single player, at least in an RPG.

For more on DA:O you can read the full interview at Videogamer.com.

Modern Warfare’s Ghost might get a spin-off

Modern Warfare 2's Ghost.I’ve only played through a few levels of the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, but it’s easily some of the best FPS campaigning I’ve enjoyed. Flashy guns, complicated situations, and characters with a whole bunch of issues always makes for an interesting story. Interesting enough, in fact, that Infinity Ward is thinking about giving one of those guys a solo gig. Yes, rumor has it that Ghost, the creeper with the skull mask, just might get his own game.

According to Craig Fairbrass, the voice-actor who played Ghost in MW2, things are looking like this: “I’m now voicing a guy called Ghost, who now just got a spin-off comic of his own and they’re talking about another little game to go with it.” Fans of the series probably got that little six-part comic, but does he mean the same thing by “little game?” Could Infinity Ward be looking at an iPhone game? It doesn’t seem likely that they would make a full-blown spinoff for a series that’s not typically character driven. Who does Ghost think he is, anyway, Master Chief? Puh-lease.

Source: That Video Game Blog

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