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Xbox Live

Dashboard Themes

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If you’ve got an Xbox 360 and you’d like to pick a new “Dashboard Theme” for your Xbox Live Dashboard but you’re not sure how it would look, check out Dashboard Themes, a new site from Matt Brett and Andrew McTeer. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the Xbox Live Dashboard is the “hub” of the 360’s online service. It’s where you access your friends list, your gamer profile, Xbox Live Arcade games and pretty much everything else you do on the Xbox Live service. It’s also customizable. You can purchase “Themes” for your dashboard to personalize them. Unfortunately, there’s no way of actually previewing themes to see how they look, before you buy them. You’re making a purchase before you ever see what it would look like. Not exactly the best set up.

With Dashboard Themes, you can preview all the current themes available for purchase. You can browse and rate them with an easy interface. It’s very cool to see some 360 fans make something this useful. Make sure you check it out!

Microsoft’s X06 conference

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I am insanely jealous of those that are in Spain to cover the X06 conference in Barcelona. Spain in my favoritest place in the world ever and I would love to return and soak in its gloriousness.

Enough of that, let’s get to the meat of the conference. Dealing with Microsoft’s future plans, there is a lot to digest. You can read the full press release here.

What I’m excited about:

An RTS, based on the Halo Universe, built by Ensemble Studios? Yes, please! Halo will transition perfectly into an RTS — the units are balanced but different, Heroes (Master Chief, The Arbiter) are built in, an entire back story, everything. I’m nervous about an RTS on the 360, but I’m still excited.

Forza 2 cannot get here soon enough. I’m still playing Forza on my 360 any chance I get.

Peter Jackson (and Fran Walsh) working with Bungie Studios is an interesting pairing. I’ll reserve my judgement on that for now.

I’m not sure how I feel about DOOM on XBox Live Arcade. I love Doom. My first online (modem to modem, actually) gaming experience was with Doom. Some of my favorite gaming memories are playing Doom with a friend at night, hearing his chainsaw roaring in the background, stalking me. But that was twelve years ago. I’m not sure how it will translate on Live. Split-screen co-op and deathmatch could be fantastic, however.

Microsoft is definitely delivering on some quality items right now. Good for them.

Xbox 360 First Impressions

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So it’s been a little over a week now since a new Xbox 360 has taken up residence in the spot formerly occupied by the original Xbox. So far — it’s been McDonald’s. I’m lovin’ it. A few initial impressions with the system:

The Hardware – I went with the premium package, so I have the harddrive and wireless controller. The hardware design is actually quite nice. I remember scoffing at the new ‘look’ when they first revealed it, but it has definitely grown on me. It’s a slick looking machine. The controller, which as you probably already know, is very similar to the S-controller of the original Xbox, with the black and white buttons being replaced with shoulder buttons. I’m not a huge fan of them, but they beat the old design. I hated the black and white buttons. I have the wireless version of the controller, and it is comparable to Nintendo’s Wavebird (the peak of controller design). I do like the option of having a rumble feature on the controller. Being able to turn the console on and off from the controller is also killer. So far my only gripe has been the heat. It gets really hot in my entertainment center and I have to make sure and leave one of the doors open for increased air circulation.

Graphics and Sound – I have a decent TV, a 27″ Sony WEGA but it’s not HD. It’s a standard definition TV (SDTV) with 4×3 aspect ratio. I currently have the Xbox 360 hooked up to the composite video connection (the Yellow RCA hook-up). I have component video inputs, but I have my DVD player hooked up to those. After testing the Xbox 360 component video to see if there’s a difference, I switched back to the composite hook-up as I didn’t see a huge improvement. I also have an older Pioneer receiver (with Dolby Pro-Logic, it’s old school) and it sounds fine.

Since I’m almost exclusively playing Dead Rising, I can attest to the complaints of the game text on a SDTV — they suck. Outside of the text, though, the game looks great. This is next generation, of course, and Dead Rising has done a good job of ushering me into it. It’s got the little details that matter. More on Dead Rising later.

Backwards Compatibility – I’m not sure where I stand with Backwards Compatibility. It’s definitely a nice feature to have, but I wonder how much I’ll actually use it. If I can get my Halo 2 fix, I should be fine. Halo 2 was the first game I tried to test the backwards compatibility, and it worked without a hitch. After updating the 360 to handle it, I jumped into the single player game and everything looked and felt fine. I jumped on Live and that’s where the problems started. I tried to download all the map packs and it crapped out trying to download the last one. I’m hoping it was just network congestion (or something) but I’ll give it another try later.

I also played Forza Motorsport, which also looks and plays just like it did on the Xbox. Backwards compatibility looks solid.

Xbox Live and Live Arcade – This is definitely where the Xbox 360 shines. The interface (which is soon to be updated) is clean and easily navigated. There are a ton of options — downloading demos, movie trailers, themes, everything. The friends system is still great, being able to chat, text message, and invite friends to games is excellent and simple. The Xbox Live Arcade is another great system. Being able to demo just about anything has become mandatory and the options for what you can get are constantly expanding. Right now I only have Hexic (which I think comes bundled with the system) and the demo version of Smash TV. The interface is slick, the downloads are fast and I can see myself spending a lot of time (and probably money) in the XBLA. I love the scoreboards as well.

Gamercard/Gamerscore – Here is where Microsoft has hit it out of the park. They know gamers are a competitive bunch and almost all of us love statistics. With that in mind, the Gamercard and Gamerscore are right up our alley in this department. Say hello to the worldwide “High Score” screen. Each game has a set number of “Achievements” worth a certain number of points. Each time an achievement is earned, your Gamerscore increases. As you can see from my Gamercard, I’m at 185 points, mostly from Dead Rising achievements:

It’s a perfect way, really, to sell games. I know there are a handful of “Achievement Whores” on the Evil Avatar forums, who will rent games for the sole purpose of getting easy Gamerpoints. I know that I’ll fall into the category at some point, where I’m playing a game I hate because it has some easy achievements

Couple this with the interface of Xbox Live on the web, and you can easily compare your achievements to your friends, brag about how you are a serious Zombie Slayer and let the trash-talking begin.

There are actually quite a few little websites and apps that are springing up around the Xbox 360 and specifically the Gamercard. I’m using My Gamercard.Net and the Xbox Live generated card here on the site. There are others, like Glop, LiveCard.net, you can get a Dashboard Widget for your Mac or Konfabulator for the PC, and of course there’s the handy WordPress Widget for your Gamercard. Customization is the way to go. We’ll be seeing tons of new looking Gamercards all the time.



i aint yer pa's Gamercard

Get your own Gamercard Sig.

There’s another site which will graph your Gamescore:

And of course, as agentgray mentioned in the comments, your Xbox 360 can have a blog. 360 Voice takes data from your Live account and tells the world how bad you are at video games. Here’s mine.

Of course there’s a downside to all this data and interactivity — people can keep tabs on you in a whole different way. I remember listening to a podcast where the guy was supposed to be reviewing a particular game, but was actually playing another all the time. His boss (or maybe the PR guy from the review title’s company) noticed that his recent activity hadn’t included the game he was supposed to be reviewing. Busted! So maybe all this cool Live data is just gonna get us all in trouble. Especially when Halo 3 launches. “No honey, I was at work. Honest!”

Conclusion: The honeymoon period is still in full effect. I have very little to complain about here. Microsoft has really put together a slick console that is firing on all cylinders. The online components, the improved look and sound, the excellent wireless controller, and of course, great games. I am extremely pleased with my new purchase and I look forward to some serious gaming in the near future.

Xbox Live Gamercard and Gamertag

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Since migrating my Xbox Live account from my original Xbox to a 360 “Gold” Account was a cinch, I was able to keep my old Gamertag (which I’m quite fond of) and I’m up and running on Live without a hitch.

Here’s another link to my Profile: http://live.xbox.com/member/I aint yer Pa

So as you can see, my gamertag is “I aint yer Pa”. If you’re on Live and your a Buttonmashing.com reader, feel free to drop me a friend request. I still need to convince my current Xbox buddies to get on the 360 bandwagon and talk those who have a 360 to get connected as well!

Halo 2, New and Improved

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By now, just about everybody knows that Halo 2 has been updated with new maps, playlists, and cheat fixes. I haven’t tried them out yet (but will after the greatest TV show ever is over). I did talk to a clanmate this afternoon about it and he gave it the thumbs up. But he likes movies starring Kirsten Dunst, so he may not be the best authority. We’ll have to wait and see for ourselves. Update forthcoming.

Update (3 hours later…): The clan had a chance to try out pretty much everything except the new maps (because I haven’t bought them and now I won’t because I don’t want to give my clanmate (you know who you are) the satisfaction of saying “I knew you’d cave in and buy them.”) Highlights included big team battle (CTF) in Containment and a Slayer in Warlock. Containment felt like a smooshed Sidewinder but it was enjoyable. The Slayer match in Warlock was crazy frenetic and I never had a chance to get my bearings. We also ended the night on a Sniper Battle which was enjoyable. Overall, I give the new changes a thumbs up. Or, in keeping with the theme of the blog, a big thumb mashing on a button. Because that’s just what I do.

It could be nice to be aLIVE

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Just a couple thoughts about playing games on Live.

First, there was the recent update/tweak to Halo 2’s gameplay. In a previous life, I was a Halo boxer. It was how I played – I’d rush with the Assault Rifle business end to take down the shields and then I’d use the other business end for a little smackdown action. It was pretty effective and served me well. Halo 2 1.0 nerfed my modus operandi. It took a while to divorce myself from it and I lived without it. Halo 2 1.1 has all changed that. It’s like an old friend has moved back into the neighborhood. I still take a beating going with the shoot-shoot-punch but now it’s much more effective. Instead winning three out of ten times, I’m putting the beatdown on the bad guys eight out of ten times. This simple tweak has increased my enjoyment tenfold. Just last night me and my clanmates went 8-2 in our matches. I am very eagerly anticipating the new playlists and playing on the new maps next week.

The other game I’ve given a try on Live is Burnout 3. Burnout 3 is such a great single player game (I unlock unlockables like a machine!) but most multiplayer racing games suck because it has to be split-screen. Well I gave B3 a ride (pun!) on Live and it is a great diversion. I immediately noticed the guys playing were actually cool to play with! No Halo 2 kiddies tell me what he did to my mom (or my dead corpse) and no kids screaming obscenities and farm animal noises. The guys were cool, we chatted about the next-gen Madden game, the next Burnout game, and just chilled. It was relaxing — just like a game should be. That said, I won’t be playing B3 anytime soon – I haven’t unlocked enough of the good cars. I was running around in the “Tuned Compact” when everyone else had the Dominator. I got smoked each and everytime. Once I unlock some of the better cars I’ll be jumping back on Live.

Statistics, statistics everywhere

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… and not a drop to drink.

I am a confessed stat junkie. I noticed a few weeks ago that bapenguin (an editor at Evil Avatar) was linking to something called a “TPS report”. I followed the link and wanted my own Halo 2 TPS report, immediately. So I downloaded Query Spree, downloaded all my games and created my own TPS report. It’s important to note that Bungie purges their data at a regular pace, so I had to purge the database that Query Spree creates of incomplete games, so I’ve played more games than show up in my TPS Report, but all my recent games are all there. I’m not a spectacular player, but I hold my own.

I also took the liberty of downloading the stats of my clanmates. I also started a simple page for my humble Halo 2 Clan. Enjoy!

Bungie.net : Top Story

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Bungie has dropped their latest update regarding Halo 2 and Xbox Live and it is a doosie. If you haven’t read it already, you can read it here: Bungie.net : Top Story

I’ve got mixed feelings about this “patch” business. Up until now, console games have been “what you see is what you get,” and if some glitch happened to make it through QA then thousands of purchasers were stuck with it. Now, with the Xbox Live connected console, games can be patched to fix, among other things, “weapon balance issues.” To me, the troubling quote is

Grenade attacks will be one of the most significant changes for the 1.1 version of Halo 2. In many ways, the new grenade balance is a reflection of the way we really wanted them to be.

If that’s the way they really wanted them then why aren’t they that way? Even though all the gameplay tweaks ands changes seem like steps in the right direction, I’m still troubled by this trend.

Next generation of consoles will surely all be connected to the net and this trend will continue. The question is whether or not gamers will embrace it or reject. The blurring of the line between PC games and console games continues.

That being said, I’m excited about the changes. The enhanced melee attack and improved grenades are welcome additions to my style of play. And the mid-jump melee attack? That’s my specialty, just ask my clan mate, Ted. I caught him with a mid-air, rocket launcher melee attack and BEAT HIM DOWN. Making this common place is okay with me. It is interesting to see the nerf-bat, normally reserved for MMOGs, has been found in Bungie’s offices. Once people start learning how to exploit this round of changes, Halo 2 ver. 1.2 won’t be far behind. This is what troubles me most about these updates. The vicious circle of “re-balancing”.

Cheaters are dumb.

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Like me rephrase that — the guys who figure out the cheats, not so dumb. I would imagine it’s no small task figuring out how to beat the system. That takes guts and brains. But the ones who use it after everyone knows what’s going on — dumb.

Last week, three of us from the Halo 2 clan were playing on Live, trying to stay alive in some clan matches. We meet up with three of Halo 2 best and brightest and have a go at a Multi Flag CTF in Colossus (one of my favorite maps, which makes for some good CTF). You can view the game stats here.

Anyway, once the game starts, things seem normal. I was sniping like a mad man in previous games, so I make a bee-line for the Covenant Sniper. I hustle over, get it before Red does and I get in position for some head shots. Then things start acting screwy. The alert pops up that the Red Team has grabbed our flag. I pull up the scope, zoom in to our base and see something peculiar – Red Teammate #1 one is running into a corner. What’s he doing? Is he going to take a quick leak on our base before he bolts? No one pisses on my flag. I line up his pretty little head and whamo! I pull the trigger. Strange, nothing happens. Whamo! Another shot, deadnuts. Nope, still jogging in place, in the corner. Then everything rushes around and I’m the one running into a wall as he scores. Uh oh. Immediately we know what’s going on. Smarty-pants Team Red is using the “Lag Cheat” to score one for the bad guys.

Over team chat we contemplate quitting and not give them the satisfaction of cheating us, but we’re upstanding Live citizens who never quit, so we decide to wait it out. As you can see, six minutes later they had scored on us thrice and the game ended. Now remember, cheaters are dumb.

On the score screen after the game, I fully expected them to bolt, nary a word. But they don’t. In some sort of retarded reverse psychology, Red Team starts complaining about lag. “You guys must have been lag cheating us!” they accuse. What? The purpose of cheating is to win by any means necessary. So if, as you accuse, we have cheated, we should have won. Makes sense to me. “No, no lag cheating going on here,” we reply. “Whatever, it was lagging like hell, you guys are cheaters,” is their retort. “Again, we didn’t cheat. In fact, it’s blatantly obvious that you guys were cheating and you’ll be promptly left feedback accordingly.” The logic simply baffles the mind. Here’s were it/they get dumber.

“No, you guys were cheating and we’re reporting you!” they lash back. “You know what?” they consider, “if you guys don’t report us, we won’t report you. Deal?” Right. They promptly exit the game and the three of us just start laughing. Feedback is left and we go on our way, satisfied knowing an update is coming and all the frauds out there will be exposed for what they are:

Dumb cheaters. Dumb, I tell ya.