In a few weeks time, the Sasquatch! Music Festival (the same festival that will NOT have a GoW2 beta) will kick off and hundreds of thousands of music fans will decend upon the festival grounds. But even if you won't be attending the musical fun, you can still play games with a few of the bands thanks to the Xbox.com sponsored Game With Fame.
Scheduled for Game With Fame fun on May 24th will be Wil-Dog Abers and Asdru Sierra from fusion band Ozomatli who'll be playing Halo 3 and indie rock group The National's own Bryan Devendorf will be online playing MLB 2K8. If you're interested in playing with either band, click the links below for GWF playtimes, band Gamertags and other important details. Game on!
Read - Ozomatli GWF from Sasquatch!
Read - The National GWF from Sasquatch!
Either its happened to you in the past or claimed the time of someone on your friends list but recovering Gamertags has proven to be a chore. Fed up with the (way too long) 20 minute recovery process the team at THEBBPS decided to seek out another solution. In their search for answers around the Xbox 360 DRM issue the only notable solution was to access a Gamertag profile from a memory unit.
We wonder why gamers are forced to spend around $20 for a basic 64Mb unit to rid themselves of the trouble of wanting to play at another person's house with their profile. Well, mathematically it makes sense, $1 a minute for the 20 minutes it takes to recover sounds about right.
Released the day after April Fools, Mr Driller Online was criticized immediately for its lack of polish. The non-HD, up-scaled sprites and the online lag were by far the biggest complaints, and while the former is a lost cause, the latter should hopefully be fixed before month's end. Talking with IGN, Namco promised that the patch would fix the online technical glitches, but whether or not the game can be saved in both mind and market share, remains to be seen.
Well that didn't take long. Major Nelson has posted the most recent Xbox Live activity top ten. As predicted, Grand Theft Auto IV has (appropriately) stolen the top spot from Call of Duty 4. It would be interesting to find out the percentage of players playing multiplayer versus those that are sticking to the single-player campaign. Regardless, given the amount of content there is to discover in GTAIV, it's likely that it will remain at number one for quite some time. The question now is what game has the power to knock it down. The only thing that comes to mind is (Game of the Year 2008) Ninja Gaiden II. As much as we know Ryu could probably take Niko one-on-one, we're not sure his game has the strength to topple GTAIV.
A statement released by Microsoft on Tuesday reminds everyone living under a rock that Grand Theft Auto IV is now available and features online play and future DLC. One line in the statement may reveal the size of the content stating, "starting this autumn, Xbox 360 owners will also have access to exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV episodes that will provide hours of additional game play."
Recently Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser discussed the scope of the forthcoming episodic content with Next-Gen's Edge. "... You'll get a lot of content for your money, which I think is really important. You know, there are too many stories at the moment of people having the feeling that they're not getting enough for their money in terms of downloadable content, and it's easy for publishers to get away with," he said.
Houser also joked that the team at Rockstar North plans to "fry those Xbox Live servers" when the content is finally released. Currently, no pricing details or gameplay specifics for the downloadable content have been announced by Rockstar Games or Microsoft.
Update: According to some of our readers not all copies of Grand Theft Auto IV include the one-month free trial card. This does not seem to be based on which version you purchase (regular or special edition) or which region you live in. We're awaiting a comment from Microsoft.
Aside from securing exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV and being the primary promoter of the game in ongoing advertisements is there anything else Microsoft can do to make GTA IV standout? How about give away a month of Xbox Live service to everyone who purchases the game? According to THEBBPS, and verified when we all cracked open our retail copies, GTA IV includes a one-month free trail for Xbox Live Gold service which allows players to take their experience online.
Ordinarily Microsoft packages 48-hour trial cards with select titles to entice gamers to go online but with the popularity of GTA IV and the potential increase of membership activations this looks like a smart strategic move on their part. Maybe this is what they meant by future growth of the service the last time they did system maintenance?
If you haven't done so already, we advise signing up for GTAIV's Social Club right this very moment (well, after you finish reading all the goodness X3F has to offer) because it's open for business and ready to enhance your GTAIV experience.
Just like any new fangled website that features video game integration, GTAIV's Social Club allows you to register an account, link your Xbox Live gamertag and let you seamlessly experience website to Xbox Live connectivity bliss. Once your gamertag is attached to your Social Club account and you've played GTAIV over Xbox Live, you'll then be able to keep tabs on multiplayer stats, earn a spot in the Hall of Fame, view the LCPD Police Blotter, be a part of the Story Gang, compete in the Liberty City Marathon and potentially earn your way into the uber l33t 100% Club. So go already, sign up for the Social Club and get your GTAIV game on. No true GTAIV enthusiast would be without a membership.
Xbox Live gets us mad. We don't mean because of the dips in service that happen from time to time, we don't mean some of the exorbitantly priced content; we mean the people. We love people, but on Xbox Live social normality is thrown out the window as some gamers just need to turn on that hate. We always thought it was because some people (not all, but you've met these people too) are just straight up jerkfaces (see also, Asshats) but apparently some gamers were just introduced to Live via this orientation video.
X-Play created a (sometimes) funny video that's meant to shine light on the personalities of Xbox Live and how the hate came to be. Video's embedded after the jump due to some NSFW language and crude humor, but remember the whole thing is a gag and is meant to have you shake your head in both understanding and disgust because it's pretty accurate. Unfortunately.
It's almost time for Bonnaroo, (Tennessee's music and arts festival that takes up some 700 acres of farmland) which is set to go down in June and Xbox.com wants to send one lucky Play & Win gamer to the festivities.
To enter for the chance at an all expense paid trip to Bonnaroo, all you have to do is play Rock Band online between May 9th and the 11th and KAZAAM! You're entered. Of course, you'll have to register here first or download the exclusive Bonnaroo Play & Win gamer picture off the XBLM, but you already knew that. If you win and are flown to Tennessee, be sure to tell Kanye, Metallica and Willie Nelson that X3F says hiya! Good luck fanboys!
Update: According to the Xbox.com support page, Xbox Live is up and running but some users may encounter issues with matchmaking and voice communication. Apparently technicians are working on the issue as we speak ... uh ... I mean type.
Reports are coming in from readers that Xbox Live is currently encountering intermittent connection issues, by that we mean playing online, voice communication and even connecting to the service seems to be touch-n-go. The support page for Xbox.com has verified the service has hit a snag, while Major Nelson updated the situation at 11PM EST letting Xbox Live users know that "[the] team is updating [the support page] as conditions change."
While we understand the frustration our readers are feeling we'd like to echo a comment made when Live was down on Monday, better it be now than on or after April 29. No excuse we know, but we're trying to find that silver lining.
Update: Major Nelson updated his initial post letting XBL users know that the tech team is aware of some issues with the rolling restarts. They are looking into the situation. Again, we ask that you be patient and just think about all the dudes you'll be shooting on April 29.
According to Major Nelson, the scheduled maintenance for Xbox Live that left the service offline since early this morning is complete. Before you fashion your trendiest riot clothes and pitchforks we'd like to remind you that while the service maintenance is complete users may experience rolling restarts around the globe. As an example, the service has restarted for our own Dustin Burg but has left this Canadian out in the cold (see what I did there?) with connection issues.
If you are experiencing connection issues we ask that you be patient before flooding our inbox with "ZOMG, they broked Live" news tips. Looking for something to do? May we suggest checking out X3F TV! While our Nielsen ratings aren't anything to write home about, we can at least assure you our gaming related videos are more entertaining than watching anything that Spike TV does with this industry in mind.
Hey kids, just a reminder that Xbox Live will be down today until 10:00am Pacific time (1:00pm Eastern). It shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience for most gamers, as they will have to contend with the likes of school or work (or perhaps both ... *shudder*). Still, some of us (ahem ... bloggers) are deeply upset by the matter. Just what are gamers with different schedules supposed to do? We suppose we could finally start that Halo needlepoint project we keep stalling ....
It seems Criterion isn't any kind of slouch with their downloadable content, it's free, it's coming more often and they've been keeping us informed about it. Now they're doing us one better and releasing their "Bogart" update early. So early that it's online now in fact. The Bogart update contains a whole host of little things, and shouldn't be confused with the Cagney update that includes the new game modes (what's with the old-school actor names anyway?). Bogart huh? We'll take it: "Here's looking at you, kid" now g'won, get downloading.
If you fired up your 360 earlier this morning you may have been prompted to download a new console update. And seeing that it is Springtime you may also have instantaneously concluded that the console update you downloaded was the Spring dashboard update. But that's where your logical sense steered you wrong.
According to Major Nelson, this morning the Xbox Live team rolled out a new console update that simply adds code to "prepare for future growth of the service" and is NOT the Spring dashboard update. You will not see any new features or any new dashboard excitement, it's simply one of those behind the scenes updates that's a ball of mystery. And what about the Spring dash update? We still have no information as Microsoft is still keeping hush-hush about its release and feature set.
In a move reminiscent of what happened on April 1 (twice in one month MS, for shame!), Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live will be down for maintenance. Only this time instead of going down for only three hours, the service is scheduled to be going down for eight hours. According to Major Nelson, everything will be down from 2am to 10am Pacific Time on April 21. That is a Monday, so traffic would likely have been a bit light, but this does mean that those with downloaded content from a previous console will not be able to access their games. Just so long as it's maintenance of the type that prevents any kind of the hitches the service has seen in its recent history, then it should be worth it. Well, at least we're forewarned.
Released the day after April Fools, Mr Driller Online was criticized immediately for its lack of polish. The non-HD, up-scaled sprites and the online lag were by far the biggest complaints, and while the former is a lost cause, the latter should hopefully be fixed before month's end. Talking with IGN, Namco promised that the patch would fix the online technical glitches, but whether or not the game can be saved in both mind and market share, remains to be seen.
A statement released by Microsoft on Tuesday reminds everyone living under a rock that Grand Theft Auto IV is now available and features online play and future DLC. One line in the statement may reveal the size of the content stating, "starting this autumn, Xbox 360 owners will also have access to exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV episodes that will provide hours of additional game play."
Update: Major Nelson updated his initial post letting XBL users know that the tech team is aware of some issues with the rolling restarts. They are looking into the situation. Again, we ask that you be patient and just think about all the dudes you'll be shooting on April 29.
If you fired up your 360 earlier this morning you may have been prompted to download a new console update. And seeing that it is Springtime you may also have instantaneously concluded that the console update you downloaded was the Spring dashboard update. But that's where your logical sense steered you wrong.
