I guess Apple is serious about gaming now. It just announced, as one of its many iPhone “pillars,” the development of GameCenter, which our man on the scene, Greg Kumparak, described as “Xbox Live for the iPhone.” Match-making, leaderboards, achievement points, the works. → Read More
Old news, but worth mentioning for a hot minute. You know that Major Nelson’s Xbox Live account was hacked at the weekend. Look, people are panicking in the streets! → Read More
Xbox LIVE was previously known to censor or even ban gamers who indicate or even hint they were of an untraditional sexually orientation. This could either be from listing it in user profile or using a slang term in a tag. Of course every time this happened to an avid Internet user, it made headlines across the web, smearing Microsoft’s good name.
Microsoft previously stated that the policy was there to protect users from discrimination or harassment, while it actually did quite the opposite. Users were not allowed to be themselves. But Microsoft has finally fixed its error and the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct has been update to be a bit more friendly. → Read More
Microsoft will kill Xbox Live support for orignial Xbox games. Rumor has is that this is being done to increase the numbers of friends you can have on Xbox (360) Live. Right now it’s at 100 people—a limit imposed by old Xbox architecture—, but clearly you need more. → Read More
A new movie came out on DVD this week called The Invention Of Lying. It’s co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Golden Globe host Ricky Gervais and looks mildly entertaining enough that I want to rent it. So I load up Netflix to add it to my queue — but wait, according to Netflix, it’s not available until February 16. Why? Because it’s a Warner movie and as such is subject to Netflix’s idiotic new 28-day rule (they can’t rent Warner new releases on Netflix until after they’ve been available for purchase in retail store for 28 days). Well that’s just great. So all hope is lost, right? Nope. iTunes has it available for rent today.
Because Apple did not agree to enter into a deal with Hollywood that restricts them from renting movies during this 28-day window, it was available not only to buy but also to rent this past Tuesday on iTunes, the same day it was released on DVD. While iTunes has its own series of somewhat convoluted rules with regard to rentals (for example, some movies are restricted from being rented when airing on premium cable channels like HBO), in this instance, they hands down beat Netflix at their own game: rentals. And thanks to this new 28-day window, which the other major studios will undoubtedly have interest in getting from Netflix as well, this is something we could see a lot more of: iTunes, Amazon, Xbox Live, and yes, even Blockbuster Online being the go-to sources to rent new releases. → Read More
The Xbox Live Arcade port of Perfect Dark still carries that frustratingly (well…) vague “winter 2010″ release date, but we’re beginning to see more and more screenshots trickle out from wherever these things trickle out from. Who knows. Anyhow, there’s a series of new screenshots on some dude’s Photobucket that may interest you. → Read More
Call of Duty Classic, the hip and groovy new name for the ol’ standby that is (was? Tense: who needs it?) Call of Duty 1, is now available on Xbox Live for 1,200 Microsoft Points/SpaceBucks. I don’t know if there’s any improvement over the original version of the game. → Read More
At least 2 million Xbox Live users have logged into Facebook this past week, which I guess means the feature is a bit of a success. (You’ll recall that Microsoft launched Facebook and Twitter to so much enthusiasm last week.) Mysteriously, Microsoft didn’t reveal the number of people who logged into Twitter. Is this the end of Twitter? → Read More
It’s safe to say that we hear at CrunchGear think you should be able to do whatever you want with hardware that you buy. Let’s take console modding. You wanna flash the drive on your 360 for whatever reason? Fine, go ahead. But don’t think that you can log onto Xbox Live with said modded console, and play your misbegotten wares (or is that warez?), on Microsoft’s network. It’s against the TOS, it makes a mockery of the entertainment medium that you purport to support, and, well, is unfair to the other players. → Read More
Fair warning to those of you who play your modded Xbox 360 on Xbox Live: Microsoft is breaking out the ban hammer. Again. → Read More
Good news, everyone. (I hope people understand that reference.) Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City comes out tomorrow, and to help grease the wheels a little bit, this weekend will be a free-play weekend on Xbox Live for GTA IV. That is, if you have GTA IV but don’t subscribe to Xbox Live Gold, you’ll be able to play online multiplayer this weekend. → Read More
After a slow start, Microsoft finally pushed out the Fall Xbox Live Update preview last night for press and other folk. Don’t be too jealous because the Xbox team is offering the update to you, reader, starting this Monday. All the details on this update can be found here. Hop on over to Major Nelson’s blog and sign up for a chance to be apart of the preview. Good luck! → Read More
All of this drops on August 11. Games On Demand titles confirmed for 8/11 are as follows: Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Mass Effect and Sonic the Hedgehog. We’ll have to wait for the next update to get Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, Zune Video and 1080p Instant On. That is all. → Read More
Hey there, amigo. Have you logged onto Xbox Live today? Don’t! Well, not unless you’re looking forward to dealing with a few post-maintenance glitches. → Read More
Microsoft officially outed the Zune HD a week ago, but the Amazon product listing under the Technical Details section is talking about Xbox Live integration that wasn’t mentioned in the Microsof presser.
Integration with the Xbox LIVE network gives you access to millions of videos, TV shows, and games from Xbox LIVE720p HD video output to your HDTV with optional docking station
There is more too. → Read More
Is it to early to proclaim—loudly, as you do—the practice of buying video games at retail dead? Yes, it probably is too early; yet we continue. Microsoft’s announcement today that it will make available, sometime this year, full retail games available for download via Xbox Live, may well be more important than Project Natal, or “Project Christmas” as I like to call it. (All those months spent learning Portuguese have finally paid off!) And while, yes, it make be too early to make any sort of rushed pronouncements, I’d say it’s say to start thinking about the future. → Read More
Forget Twitter, Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Project Natal, this is huge. Xbox Live is getting full, downloadable games this Fall. The games can be purchased with just a credit card meaning you don’t have to mess around with Xbox points. Nice. More as we get it. → Read More
Microsoft is taking bold, new actions against cheating on Xbox Live. (You can cheat on XBL? Why would you even bother?) So explains one Stephen Toulouse, from Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement, in a recent Major Nelson podcast. It comes down to this: if you’re caught cheating on XBL, Microsoft will reset your Gamerscore and put a permanent marker on your Gamertag that says, “This person is a cheater. Be aware!” → Read More
