XBOX360 USB Pro
Archive for the ‘XBOX Live Service’ Category
September 8th, 2010 | 
Author: From seattlepi.com:
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Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service’s code of conduct by publicly declaring he’s from Fort Gay – a name the company considered offensive.
The town’s name is real. But when Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn’t take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code.
Instead, they suspended his gaming privileges for a few days until Moore could convince them the location in his profile, “fort gay WV,” wasn’t a joke or a slur: It’s an actual community of about 800 in Wayne County, along West Virginia’s western border with Kentucky.
Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live said that was a miscommunication.
“Someone took the phrase ‘fort gay WV’ and believed that the individual who had that was trying to offend, or trying to use it in a pejorative manner,” Toulouse said. “Unfortunately, one of my people agreed with that. … When it was brought to my attention, we did revoke the suspension.”
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Full Story: seattlepi.com
Posted in 
From joystiq.com:
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During the Xbox Live Enforcement panel at PAX this past weekend, director of policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, Stephen Toulouse (a.k.a. Stepto), recited “Stepto’s Law” for the audience. The complex formula is used to determine the validity of a complaint issued by a banned Xbox Live user. The law goes like this:
“The more convoluted, overwrought and lengthy the protest of innocence, the probability of it being bullshit approaches one.”
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Full Story: joystiq.com
From eurogamer.net:
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Credits earned by gamers before Halo: Reach’s official launch will be removed, Bungie has warned.
Bungie will reset Credits earned and any gear bought ahead of the Xbox 360 exclusive’s 14th September launch.
“Some of you are playing Halo: Reach a little bit early,” communications man Eric Osborne wrote in Bungie’s forum.
“It happens. With millions of copies out of manufacturing quickly making their way into the massive global retail chain, it’s not terribly uncommon for a few discs to ‘accidentally’ slip into a few lucky customers’ hands. Que sera.”
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Full Story: eurogamer.net
From industrygamers.com:
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This week Microsoft officially announced a $10 increase to the annual Xbox Live Gold subscription. In a special Pachter’s Podium last year, Wedbush Morgan Securities’ Michael Pachter correctly predicted the $10 increase.
As for Xbox Live’s future, the great thing about the $10 increase is that it will enable Microsoft to reinvest in the service to then offer even more enhancements. “The extra $10 translates to around $100 – 150 million per year in additional revenue for Microsoft. I think that they will reinvest at least this much in developing other new applications, and will roll out a premium service with $100 – 200 million worth of enhancements,” Pachter told IndustryGamers. “If they can get 2 million users to switch from the $60 plan to the $100 plan, they’ll make an extra $80 million a year, and can keep investing to try to grow that business.”
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Full Story: industrygamers.com
Microsoft announced the price of the Xbox LIVE Gold subscription will increase for users in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States starting November 1st 2010:
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Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.
However, we do want to thank our loyal members and give you the opportunity to lock in your current price with an additional discount, so now would be a good time to renew your subscription.
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The prices change as follow (unlisted packages do not change in price):
* USA
1M Gold: $7.99 (now) – $9.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)
3M Gold: $19.99 (now) – $24.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)
12M Gold: $49.99 (now) – $59.99 (starting Nov 1, 2010)
* UK
1M Gold: 4.99 GBP (now) – 5.99 GBP (starting Nov 1, 2010)
* Canada
1M Gold: $8.99 CAD (now) – $9.99 CAD (starting Nov 1, 2010)
* Mexico
12M Gold: 499 Pesos (now) – 599 Pesos (starting Nov 1, 2010)
News-Source: majornelson.com
From joystiq.com:
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That email purportedly sent out by Microsoft a couple weeks back inviting its recipients into a Kinect beta program? Yeah — it was legit. Joystiq has received corroborating evidence confirming the program, including pictures of the promised Kinect-enabled Dashboard update running on a participant’s retail console. In them, you can clearly see the flatter presentation, new mini-guide and revamped Avatar editor — complete with a re-proportioned Avatar.
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Full Story (with lots of pics): joystiq.com
From eurogamer.net:
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The quality of sound that comes through Xbox 360 headsets will be significantly improved when Microsoft updates the Xbox 360 this Fall.
The refresh, designed to coincide with the launch of Kinect, will upgrade the codec and audio infrastructure that underpins the quality of voice communication from Xbox 360 to Xbox 360, and should make for clear chat between gamers when they play online, Xbox Live Studios boss Jerry Johnson said at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this afternoon.
“The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that,” Johnson explained.
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Full Story: eurogamer.net
From 1up.com:
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We know Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 will have access to Xbox Live, but it looks like their connectivity ambitions between the Xbox 360 and Phone 7 are even loftier than that, including not just turn-based gameplay but eventually real-time multiplayer between Phone 7 games and Xbox 360 games as well.
“So initially we’re turn by turn-based,” said a Microsoft representative to rgbFilter during the recent X10 event in Toronto (via Joystiq). “We are working on real-time phone-to-console, likely initially through Wi-Fi — again, operator networks are sensitive to that. That’s not on day one; day one will be turn-by-turn as well as companion-type gaming where you play a level on the phone and it may unlock a level or a weapon or some special achievement on the console game.
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Full Story: 1up.com
Stephen Toulouse, Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox LIVE, posted some tweets about the early online Halo Reach leaks:
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I’ve been asked about unauthorized pre-release play on Halo: Reach. Let me address that.
As with all unauthorized play on Xbox LIVE, anyone playing any unauthorized title runs the risk of account permaban and console.
Remember, legit store bought copy runs no risk of ban. Key word: UNAUTHORIZED. We have ways of knowing. :>
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As we know the leak originates from people being able to download the game from Xbox LIVE. It was placed there for reviewers and protected with a code, but people managed to bypass it.
“We have ways of knowing. :>” … is the review build placed on Xbox LIVE different (crc-check?) from the Retail build, in which case they can BAN everyone with a review-build if you’re not the allowed-list, or does MS have something new up their sleeves?
Halo: Reach is due out on 14th September.
News-Source: http://twitter.com/Stepto
From gamasutra.com:
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According to a notice on the Amazon.com website, Xbox Live Arcade game codes for specific Xbox 360 downloads will no longer be sold through the online retailer.
The notice further informs users that Xbox Live points can still be purchased on Amazon.com, and that these can be used with your Xbox 360 console to purchase any of the games that were previously available.
The Amazon store offered consumers the advantage of buying games using exact money — and sometimes at Amazon-specific discounts — rather than purchasing them using a Point system as in the Live Arcade interface.
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Full Story: gamasutra.com
