Microsoft has announced today that they will discontinue the Xbox Live service for original Xbox consoles and games. Here’s what the Major had to say:
While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.
I don’t understand how ending this service on the old system will allow them “unprecedented flexibility” for the future. If you can remember a little while back, Microsoft also started pulling the plug on XBLA titles that weren’t selling well.
If you are still playing Halo, I suppose your best bet would be to run through Xbox Connect. Ahh, the good old days…
“As youth, we had all the time in the world to play games but no money. Now that we’re all grown up and have money, there is no time.”
I don’t remember where I read this, but I’m pretty sure it holds true for everyone of us twenty-something gamers (with jobs). Maybe I’m just not good at managing my time these days but who knows.
The fine people at Redmond’s video game console division think it’s a great idea to “reach” the country’s youth by marketing Rock The Vote via Xbox. While I do feel that getting America’s youth to vote is a great idea, the simple act of voting does not hold merit if the voters are ignorant on the topic.
“Xbox is a natural partner to help us reach out to youth voters,” Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, said in a statement Thursday. “To realize our goal of registering 2 million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are, and there’s no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.”
According to some Uber Mole deep within the confines of Microsoft, there are going to be price cuts on all three Xbox models this September. The Arcade, Pro (60 GB) and Elite will be marked down to $199, $299 and $399 respectively.
The New Xbox Experience can’t be the only reason for the added memory could it? This isn’t Sony people! I mean honestly, who’s planning on ripping games to their HDD eight gigs at a time? (Especially for those of us still sporting 20GB HDD’s).
Apparently Superman has two weaknesses…Kryptonite and magic. Wtf?
I’d hate to see what would happen to The Man of Steel if they were to throw Harry Potter in the mix.
Despite Superman’s illogical weakness, an idiosyncratic T for teen rating and a painfully stiff “revamped” fighting system, MK vs DC is beginning to look like it might turn out alright. Wait, allow me to rephrase that…MK vs DC just might pass everyone’s low expectations.
Despite the fact that this video portrays fanboy-ism at its finest, I can’t help but somewhat empathize with this disgruntled uber geek. Sony needs to hold on to some of its exclusives. For real.
Microsoft is stepping up their game (no pun intended) yet again with the New Xbox Experience which will add some features their competition is already offering (or has promised to offer over a year ago). So where is Home anyways?
The way I see the FPS market is that there are only three franchises worth that $60 kick in the nuts: Halo, COD and Gears. What sets these titles apart from the rest (ehmmm R6V), is that the controls are totally crisp. If you don’t have this, your game is bound to suck regardless of its genre (i.e. every Marvel and Disney title ever produced). I am however glad to see that Epic is adding a variety of new features that will keep Gears fans rocking this game all throughout the holidays. Although I’m still a tad bit skeptic about the chainsaw battles, the proximity mine-esque grenades, body coverage and wide assortment of new weapons are surely to make Gears 2 a keeper.
Emergence holes that can take out a whole city? I wonder what types of grenades you’ll need to close them up. What I am “digging” Senior Cliffy, are these new single shot weapons that seem to be more accurate than the chainsaw; I could never aim with that piece of crap.
Now the only thing left to wonder is how Epic is going to gel the chainsaw battles into the multiplayer. It seems as though the winner is determined by how fast one can tap the B button. Cool, but any n3wb sporting a third party controller with an auto function will pwn every time. Here’s hoping that they won’t make it into another humdrum Halo-esque sword battle.
The verdict: Star Wars just makes everything that much sweeter. I’m in quite a dilemma having both 360 and the PS3. The problem starts when I’m forced to decide between the notorious gamerscore perk versus an enticing tandem of playing as Darth Vader, all the while being able to control my character with a fully responsive D-Pad. Decisions, decisions…
