X-Box 360 and the lack of top tier games

[ZargonX]

That's what my fiance and I are playing lately!

[Kuciwalker]

Courtesy of bash: There are two PhDs playing Lego Star Wars II in my living room, and neither of them can figure out how to get past the first level

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Grandpa Troll
I got the 360 today along with a few games

Great choice!

And get Gears of War already!

[Asher]

Looks like that video was legit after all. As was the QWERTY keyboard.

Microsoft tonight unveiled the details of this spring's Xbox 360 update, set to hit on May 7.

While the update has a plethora of new features, the biggest by far is that Microsoft is bringing instant messaging and a new snap-on controller keyboard to the console.

The new feature will allow Xbox 360 and PC users to text chat with on another using Windows Live Messenger.

"The big news we are integrating instant messaging to live," said John Rodman, Senior Product Manager for Xbox LIVE and Xbox 360. "You can instant messenger to the Xbox from anywhere in the messenger family."

Rodman said the new feature, free to Silver and Gold users, will allow users to have six instant message conversations going at once, each with multiple contacts. The message boxes will pop-up in an opaque box much like standard game messaging is already treated on the console.

Your current contacts from Live Messenger will also be added to your 360, which will let you know if your friends are on a PC or the console.

While the instant messaging will support the virtual keyboard and USB keyboards, Microsoft plans to release a cool-looking new keyboard attachment for the 360 in the future.

The QWERTY keyboard, expected to be officially announced this summer with a price and date, will fit neatly between the "horns" of the controller and allow you to play and type without having to switch devices.

When asked if this was a step toward the Live Anywhere feature first announced last year, Rodman said he couldn't talk directly about how that was coming.

"I can't speak to the progress of the overall program, but I can say this is one of the building blocks come to life," he said.

While instant messaging is certainly the biggest change coming with this next update, it's not the only one.

Other new features include:

• A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.
• Enhanced family settings features for Xbox Live communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.
• A new Xbox Live Marketplace blade lets Xbox Live members access the content they seek--whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States)--from one place on Xbox Live.
• Updates to Xbox Live Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox Live Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox Live members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded "Tell a Friend" capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.
• A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox Live Arcade games.
• New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.


The update will also tweak the look of the console with some minor changes in the way the dashboard looks, including:
• The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.
• When the tray icon is highlighted, a list of achievements, game icon and gamerscore for that game is displayed.
• Video trick modes are enabled for content that is being progressively downloaded from Video Marketplace.
• Playback progress bar indicates download completion.
• Improved skip forward, skip back functionality during video playback.
• Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).
• Background downloads can occur after the console has been turned off--the console will automatically power down when background downloads complete (not enabled by default).
• Earned Achievement notifications now show Achievement and Gamerscore details over the game without having to bring up the guide or leave the game.
• Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.
• Marketplace has now been raised to its own Dashboard blade to improve navigation.
• Added Windows Live ID management functionality to Account Management.


Rodman said that Microsoft has decided to stick to major updates twice a year to because it "gives us a chance to collect our breath, listen to customers and concentrate on the things that people are asking for."

"We've been hearing feeback about how cool IM integration would," he said

[Asher]

[ZargonX]

Heh, intersting little solution to the keyboard problem.

[Asher]

Yeah, it fits into all controllers via the headset jack on the bottom.

[DrSpike]

Looks cool. I expect it will be pricey for what it is though - especially in Europe. The prices of peripherals like the wireless adaptor are just criminal.

[Nikolai]

Consoles trying to become computers. If I wanted the console to do something else than playing games on, I'd buy a freaking computer!

[Asher]

Originally posted by Nikolai
Consoles trying to become computers. If I wanted the console to do something else than playing games on, I'd buy a freaking computer!

ABSOLUTELY!

DOWN WITH TEH INTARWEB CONNECTIVITY ON CONSOLES!!!! BURRURURNINATE THE HEATHENS!!

No one's forcing you to do anything, ace. Chillax!

[Nikolai]

It's still pretty dumb. I heard a while ago that some guy in Sony hinted at plans for PS3 being upgradeable, to get the flexibility of the PC combined with the console. If that's the future for consoles, what's the point in having one? The main selling point for consoles is that you don't have to think of whether or not the game will play, right?

[Asher]

I agree that's pretty dumb, but not as dumb as connecting that kind of logic to an optional keyboard addon to replace clumsy onscreen keyboards...

[DrSpike]

Moving on........

.......the article seems to hint the future is a MP environment accessible by both consoles and PCs, and I've heard this elsewhere. I don't think FPS games will work very well as the mouse users on PCs will wipe the floor with controller users on the Xbox.

[Nikolai]

I wasn't connecting it to the keyboard per se, I was connecting the idea of adding computer tasks like Messenger to a console to it.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Nikolai
I wasn't connecting it to the keyboard per se, I was connecting the idea of adding computer tasks like Messenger to a console to it.

I am not convinced that communication is the sole domain of the computer?