Geoff Keighly wanted to smash any rumors going around that the Halo: Reach piece shown at the VGA’s this year will not be Computer Generated. He did so by tweeting to his many followers. The tweet read,
Let me put the rumors to rest: The HALO: REACH piece at the VGAs will not be CG.
Whether or not it will be live action or in game footage is still unknown. The one thing we can all count on is it NOT being computer generated. It looks like we have to wait until December 12th to find out exactly what it is.
[Via Geoff Keighley's Twitter]
Posted on November 21st, 2009 at 4:23pm by Kreyg
Filed Under: Geoff keighly, Main, News, Spike's VGAs, Xbox 360, halo-reach, twitter
The latest big news in videogames now is putting Facebook and Twitter on consoles, and now you can visit Facebook from your PS3, and find out what your friends are up to, if you’re too lazy to look away from the TV screen and look to your phone or laptop or out the Window for smoke signals.
As if to remind us that they got there first, Microsoft has sent us this press release:
Now Play and Enjoy Social Networking with Xbox 360
* Xbox 360 Continues to deliver the Leading Games and Entertainment Experiences
* Connect to Facebook and Twitter with your Xbox 360
* Great value addition for 20 million users on Xbox Live
* Tweet and Update your status while playing your favourite game
* Compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends’ lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE
For people who are addicted to Social networking and can’t seem to get enough of it, here is breaking news! Microsoft now gives its ardent Xbox 360 fans an opportunity to go Live and enjoy social networking along with games right on the gaming console! This next wave of Social Networking will be available on Xbox LIVE from the 17th November, 2009, and transform the Xbox LIVE into the most entertaining connected experience ever!
Jaspreet Bindra, Regional Director, Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. shared the excitement around the launch by saying “Since the time of the launch of Xbox 360 and XBOX Live, we have always heard our customers and continuously worked to enhance their interactive entertainment experience. The addition of Facebook and Twitter brings an altogether different level of excitement and action for 20 million Xbox LIVE users across the globe. Only on Xbox 360 can you find the best in movies, music, games and now social networking tailor-made to suit your needs and demands.”
Keeping up with its promise of providing the best in entertainment, Xbox 360 will now become your complete source of social entertainment experience by enabling you to enjoy a lot more! So, here’s what you can do:
Facebook- Update your status to share what movie, game or entertainment you’re enjoying, connect with friends and view their Facebook stream, status updates and photos on the big screen – all seamlessly integrated and custom-built for Xbox 360. You can even compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends’ lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE.
Twitter– Stay in the know by discovering, posting and replying to Tweets right on you’re Xbox 360. You can even view friend profiles, trends and conversations, or search to see who’s tweeting about your favorite game.
With these updates, Xbox 360 is bound to become the one-stop shop for everything. You can now connect with your friend’s online, show them your cool new victory in that favourite game that you play and proudly upload those pictures on your Facebook profile. All this and much more while you are still busy fighting the devils in the game. Sounds exciting? It sure is the best.
So, what are you waiting for? Make sure that you are right in front of your Xbox 360 on the 17th of November. Go LIVE and experience Social Networking like never before. Upload the picture of the cool new car you buy while playing Forza Motorsport 3 on your Facebook profile and make sure that your most recent tweet does talk about your victory on Halo 3: ODST.
There’s tons more to experience with Gold subscription as well. Play the latest game titles like “Halo 3: ODST” and “Forza Motorsport 3″ online multiplayer, participate in “1 vs. 100,” host an Xbox LIVE Party or even video chat with friends. All of these Gold-only features will be available all weekend long for anyone to try.
Personally, I don’t care. Integration of both those services with cellphones is already fantastic. And a videogame controller is not conducive to typing out messages, even just a couple of sentences at a time. Just about the only use for this entire mess is the integration of in-game achievements with publishing a status on Facebook, and other similar automated updates, to help you annoy people even more thoroughly, because clearly, Farmville and Mafia Wars weren’t enough. Sony’s Trophies are already confirmed to work like this, so I’m officially prepping the hide button on Facebook.
Posted on November 19th, 2009 at 1:21am by Split-Screen
Filed Under: 360, Gaming News and Reportage, PS3, console, facebook, gaming, india, twitter
Before this generation of consoles, most people saw their gaming console, cable box, and computer as completely separate things, but I never knew why they had to be. I always yearned for some kind of “Awesome box” that does it all, and this console cycle is bringing us closer to my dream. The Awesome Box will be the first product designed for use in the living room that effectively handles television, video games, and some light computing functions. With features like Netflix, and the video marketplace, Microsoft seems to have the same idea. Today they take another step closer with the launch of Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and the Zune Marketplace for the Xbox 360.
Facebook
Much like the movie Cloverfield, Facebook on the 360 sounds cooler than it is. Microsoft hasn’t realized yet that those boxes they’ve become so fond of since the launch of the NXE just don’t work for everything. Navigating through your friends’ updates feels clunky, and while you can reply to someone’s status update, and like it, you can’t visit links. I have to admit that viewing my friends’ pictures on the TV was nice, but it just wasn’t enough to convince me I should be using Facebook on the 360 over the PC. The one feature I really enjoyed was the ability to see which of my Facebook friends have gamertags, and which of my XBL friends have Facebook accounts. Unfortunately this does require that your friends have linked their Facebook and XBL accounts.
Last.fm
Last.fm is a great way to find new music. You pick an artist, genre, or song you enjoy, and Last.fm uses an advanced algorithm and magical pixie dust to create a station you’re sure to enjoy. For the most part, it does a pretty good job.As a punk rock fan, I created a NOFX station which Last.fm populated with punk staples like Pennywise and Rancid, as well as some obscure bands I never heard of before. The 360 app also came preloaded with a few video game oriented stations, including one that plays nothing but songs from video games, and one based around The Minibosses – if you don’t know who they are, then you should stop reading this, and go listen to some of their music right now. Seriously, this article will still be here when you come back , and you’ll be a better person for the experience. I would have liked to see visualizations included in the app. Musicians aren’t always attractive people, and the looping slide show of pictures of the band currently playing can get old pretty quick. It’s also kind of a bummer that you can’t use Last.fm in game. It’s a separate app, and as such, if you want to do anything else with your 360, you’ll have to leave the music behind. Despite it’s shortcomings, the Last.fm app is a great way to discover some new tunes you might like, and a welcome addition to the Xbox 360.
Twitter
The one and only tweet made from my Xbox 360 was “Tweeting from the 360…. not worth the effort”. While browsing your friends’ updates, and picking one to reply to is fairly smooth, the actual act of tweeting, even with the chatpad, is extremely cumbersome. The beauty of Twitter is that it’s a quick and simple way to communicate with other people. Twitter on the Xbox 360 makes a quick and simple process long and tedious. One hundred and forty characters never seemed so long before.
Zune Marketplace
The Zune Marketplace takes video on the Xbox 360 two steps forward, and one step back. The ability to stream 1080p movies and TV shows is a most welcome addition to the 360. The video starts playing the instant you click on “stream”, and after a few seconds of artifact-heavy playback, the video quality jumps up to full 1080p. I have to admit, I didn’t expect such quality out of a streaming video feed, and fast forwarding and rewinding exceeded my expectations as well. Once you hit the spot in the video you were looking for, the video starts playing instantly. As with the start of each video, there are a few seconds of low quality video after a fast forward or rewind, but most of the time, it doesn’t last long enough to get in the way of your enjoyment of the video. Unfortunately, game videos, episodes of The Guild, and other shorter videos weren’t given the streaming treatment. In fact, the only difference is now you have to load the Zune app before you can download them. If you watch a lot of movies on your 360, the Zune Marketplace is going to make your life just a little better, otherwise, it’s only going to get in your way.
So does this latest update make the 360 The Awesome Box? No. Each of the new features have quirks that keep them from hitting their true potential. Perhaps some of the issues present in these apps will be addressed in a future update, but as things are, the Xbox 360 doesn’t earn the title of The Awesome Box. For now, it will just have to settle for the less prestigious title of The Kinda Neat Box.
Posted on November 17th, 2009 at 6:36pm by [email protected] (The Games Are Evil Family)
Filed Under: News, Xbox 360, facebook, featured, opinion, social-media, twitter
Xbox Live
Today is Xbox Live’s birthday! That’s right, the service on the Xbox 360 is now 7 years old. The service has gone through many changes, every time re-inventing itself. Next week Xbox Live gets another update where Gold users get access to Facebook, Twitter, and Last.FM. Inside Xbox is getting a makeover and 1 vs 100 is back again!
It’s great to see the Xbox Live team always pushing itself to improve. Being the most used online service they definitely could turn their focus on other things. But they constantly challenge themselves to make the service even better.
Thank you to everyone that has worked on Xbox Live for creating a service that really brings community on the 360 together. In honor of the birthday, comment below with what you love about Xbox Live!
Here are some pics of the various versions of Xbox Live:
Posted on November 15th, 2009 at 2:27pm by GamingAngel
Filed Under: News, Xbox 360, facebook, last.fm, microsoft, twitter, xbox, xbox-live
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=7fb1641d-f908-4555-9a09-5582eeebe00e)
