Thoughts On The Next Xbox

With this current generation of hardware getting close to end-of-life, within 2-4 years I'd say, I thought it would be a good time to look ahead and do some wishing. The original Xbox was clearing a stepping stone to the Xbox 360, and while I don't believe a third console to be such a dramatic change there is lots of improvements I would love to see come forth.

I would like to see:

Hardware Upgrades

- Graphics
- RAM
- Processing power
- Manditory, user replaceable HDD
- A 'Legacy' DVD drive (more on the in a bit)
- Clickable buttons (power, open tray). I hate the touch sensitive ones on the new slim 360's
- I love the 360 controller. But how about adding a slide-out keyboard or 2-3" touch screen.

Software

- Online Status: So I can let people know I'm busy, or I'm looking to play Halo, or that my kids are watching Netflix not me.
- Friend List Organization: Let me filter my friends list into groups: SSG, IRL, GGN, family, work, etc... Also included is a higher cap, say 200. 500?
- Notification Filtering: With that many friends I don't need to see notifications from all of them. Let me choose by group (or individual) if/when I receive notifications from them.
- Notification Flexibility: Let me choose notification sounds, position, color, for each person/group. Also how about smartphone apps? Let someone ping my smartphone to let me know they want to play a game with me if I'm away from my console.
- Chat: Upgrade cha audio quality. Also add universal filtering (team/party) so I never have to hear timmies again, no matter what game I'm playing.
- Party Up: Show me, via my friends list, whom is partied together. So if I have 10 friends playing CoD show me that they are partied up 6 and 4, or 8 and 8 even showing the full party including people not on my friends list. A la Halo Reach.
- Games: No more discs. Screw DVD. Screw Blu-Ray. I want day-and-date on-demand online delivery. Imagine this: You can buy games directly from your console via your broadband, or if you'd rather head into Best Buy/GameStop and buy games there via a kiosk that transfers to your own USB device, which is then transferred to your console at home. (Credit: CodeMonkey) Make a 'legacy' Blu-Ray/DVD drive that is an external excessory to the console for old 360 games and movies. New games can also come out on discs for physical media lovers/collectors but digital and physical copies launch at the same time.
- Kill The Cable Box: Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, HBO. Give me these services and more, so I don't need my cable. Also these should all be "free" or included with the third tier XBL (see below)
- XBL Tiers: Keep Silver and Gold, add Platinum.
- Silver Tier: ($0/year) Gets you matchmaking, but more advanced features are restricted and premium services are a la cart.
- Gold Tier: ($50/year) Gets You matchmaking and all the advanced features but premium services are a la cart.
- Platinum Tier: ($150/year) Gets you matchmaking, advanced features, and all premium services.
- Day Pass: Let users pay for a day/week pass to Gold or Platinum.
- Premium Services: Netflix, Hulu, HBO, CoD: Elite, ESPN, EA Sports Season Pass, Pandora, etc.
- Social Media: Better, full, integration with social media. Facebook, twitter, G+ and any new hotness that comes out. Let me customize which services I used and customize which and how I receive notifications from these services.
- Web Browser: Let me get on the web. I should be able to "click" on URL's within messages and bio's.
- User Ratings: Give me a rating system that works. Currently everyone on XBL has 5 stars, the system is broken and never worked. Make feedback relevant. Let douchebags play with douchebags.

Bungie's Mythic Video.

Always the jokester....

Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack Is Released.

The long wait is finally over. For 800 MS points ($10) you too can play on the sweet new Mythic Maps for Halo 3. If you're a Halo fan this is a must buy, it's got: a Team slayer map, an objective map, and the best Forging map around.

Click here to buy Mythic and have it waiting for you the next time you turn on you 360.

Bungie Continues To Inovate With "Mythic".

Ok so we all know that the second-to-last map pack for Halo 3 is coming out 3-3-09 right? With the maps, Sandbox, Orbital, and Assembly right? But now Bungie has shown us how they continue to innovate and raise the bar higher and higher for other developers. Orbital and Assembly are going to be your standard run-of-mill Halo 3 levels, but not Sandbox, oh no.

Sandbox is going to be very unique and extend the life of Halo 3 even more. How you ask? First off, Sandbox has three different "planes" to it. The middle plane (pictured above) is more or less your typical level, a box canyon with two bases and objects for cover. The cool thing about this plane is that everything can be removed leaving you a blank canvas to work with, create whatever you want, a la the level Foundry.

Now for the good stuff. Sandbox has a second plane that is in the air high above the first plane I talked about.

You can basically make a floating level high in the stratosphere of Sandbox, the blue grid serves as a marker and also a "net" to set your level on.

The sky is truly the limit here, the possibility are endless for people to make a Halo 3 level as they see fit. These photos and levels are courtesy of my friends over at Tied The Leader, who got a sneak peak at playing on Sandbox.

Now the third plane, as you may have guessed, is underground in a Crypt. In the center of the map is this tiny hole in the ground and it is the only way in or out of the Crypt, and I assure you it's quiet a drop.

Once inside the Crypt is basically just a big empty room, perfect for you Forging needs or say a match of Grifball!

So, as you can see, Sandbox is shaping up to be quiet the Halo 3 experience. To top it off I'll end this with a new Forge item to play with: Killballs. Killballs (as seen above) are big orange balls of electricity that kill anything that enters them... Spartans, Warthogs, Tanks, etc... So be on the look out for Killballs, make sure to steer clear if you see them.

Be sure to check out more on Mythic Maps and Sandbox here:

Tied The Leader

Bungie.net

Sneak Peek At The New Xbox Dashboard.

NXE Preview from Justin Winchester on Vimeo.

I'm a lucky bastard and I have a copy of the New Xbox Experience. So for those of you that read the blog I prepared a little video walk-through for you, let me know if you have any questions and I'll be sure to answer them.

Halo 3's Newest Map: Assembly.

Bungie unveiled a new map today for Halo 3, code named "Purple Reign", officially called Assembly. No info is being released as to when the map will be released, so stay tuned. More screen shots below:

Assembly's 'purpleness' and symmetry reminds me a bit of the Halo 2 map Midship. Bungie has been under a lot of pressure from the "hardcore" Halo community (MLG if you will) to remake Midship or a similar style map AKA: one with symmetry.

Tiger Woods Can Walk On Water.

There is a apparently a glitch in Tiger Woods '08 that let's a player take a shot from the water instead of making it an out of bounds shot. So EA did something genius with their marketing and instead of fixing the "glitch" EA makes a video of Tiger actually taking a shot from the water!

The "New Xbox Experience".

This fall Microsoft is bring a huge change to the Xbox 360 they call it the "New Xbox Experience" I think that's lame and I'm calling it Dashboard 2.0. There will be tons of changes and I'll try to cover the basic:

• First off (as you can see) it has a whole new look to it, MS has gotten rid of the "Blades" and made this new "Channels" interface. If you love the Blade interface don't worry, now when you press the Guide Button it will bring up a Mini Blade interface with a lot more functionality than before when you pushed the Guide Button.

So don't worry if you still want the "blade" interface all you have to do is push the guide button.

• One of the biggest coups at E3 was Microsoft's announcement that they now have a partnership with Netflix. Starting this fall Xbox Live member's and Netflix subscribers will be able to stream 10,00 movies instantly from Netflix right to their Xbox 360, all for "free". All you do is put the movies you want to watch in your Netflix Instant Queue, and they instantly appear on your Xbox 360.

• Not too much info is known about all of the channels but Microsoft did announce that users will now be able to copy full retail games to the hard drive. So this is beneficial for two reasons: first is that games will load much, much faster. The second is that even though you will still have the disc in the drive to play (you know to make sure you still own the game) the drive will not be spinning which will cut down tremendously on the noise the 360 puts out.

• One of the key things that MS is trying to do with Dashboard 2.0 is make content easier to find. As this screen shot shows each game will have it's own unique section in marketplace, giving you descriptions, pictures, and video previews.

• Community is also getting a big push in Dash 2.0. Microsoft is added Avatar's to the Xbox 360, much like a Nintendo Mii, your avatar will be customizable and be playable in certain games. This new c0mmunity page is now your Friends List, as your friends sign on there avatar will pop up on the screen.

• Another big change is the "Party System", you will now be able to get into a group of 8 people and travel around from game to game playing with your friends. From Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, GTA 4, or even to a movie. That's right, if everyone has a Netflix account the host can select a movie to watch and everyone can watch the movie "together" all while chatting away.

Another new channel is Xbox Live Primetime, this is going to be full of game-show style games. The kicker is that the games are on a schedule, so you can only play the game in it's time slot. So 1 vs. 100 might be only on at 7pm but there might be 10 different games going.

Look for the new Dashboard 2.0 to be dropping this Fall.

This video should make it easier to understand all of the changes.

Cold Storage: Vidoc

Bungie has just released a new Vidoc "And on the Seve7h Day..." that is all about the new map Cold Storage. So if you've been looking to see Cold Storage in video form now's your chance. Make sure to watch the HD version over at B.net.

(Via: Bungie)

Bungie Day 07.07.08 Brings Gifts.

As any loyal Halo fan knows Bungie is obsessed with the number 7. in all of Bungie's mythologies, and all the games the number 7 always plays a big part. Being as such, July 7th has been declared Bungie Day. Be the great guys that Bungie is they are giving us a free map on Bungie Day, Cold Storage.

If Cold Storage looks familiar, that's because it should. It's a remake of Halo 1's level 'Chill Out' (Dude, you really need to.). So after you're long holiday weekend (here in the USA) be sure to pick up Cold Storage for free in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Here's two Chill Out screen shots for those with a foggy memory.

(Via: Bungie)

Reinventing The Xbox 360 Dashboard.

 I've never been to the website www.thefanboys.com before but after reading their article about redesigning the Dashboard, I will definitely be back.

The article is very well written and very well thought out so I suggest giving it a read.  Even though I don't really have a problem with the way the Dashboard is I do agree with a lot of the points made in the article, like ads for one.

Here's some cool new proposals:

• A Search Function — Both to search what’s on your console and on the Marketplace. I know it’s a pain to type with the controller, but I’d still wager I can fumble around the d-pad to spell “Precipice” before I can navigate to Penny Arcade Adventures using the blades.

 

• Hot Keys — Navigating the dashboard uses primarily the A, B, LT, and RT buttons. It would be nice to be able to assign X, Y, LB, and RB to specific functions in the dashboard or Marketplace, like bookmarks in a web browser. For example, if I like to check what’s new in the Marketplace every week, I could map that to the X button and jump right to it. Or if I want to go straight to my XBLA games, I could map that to the Y button and forget about moving through a number of screens to find them. As shown in this example, I’ve just mapped them to the other blades on the main dashboard.

 

• Disc Tray Detail —  The PS3 lets you see a nifty little video icon to show what’s in the system. I’d settle for some box art or one screen, along with some details on my progress in the game.

 

• Reversal Of Ad And User Space — In this example, the dashboard would be dominated by my content with a larger, clearly visible wallpaper or theme, and a bigger gamerpic. I’ll relent and say that there could be some advertising on the dashboard, but I’d limit it to a standard web-size banner ad and the Inside Xbox feature with rolling updated headlines, because I’d hate to miss out on Major Nelson awkwardly staring into the camera.

Link (thefanboys)

Making The All Digital Jump.

Update:  You will also need to install VLC on your Mac that works with HandBrake, to rip the DVD's.  Download VLC here.

With the help of the software HandBrake, I've decided to convert all of my DVD's into a digital format. The process is much like taking a CD and converting the songs into MP3's, just much, much longer. Video is much trickier than a simple song and the process takes about 2 and 1/2 hours for most DVD's. Since I've been home this week with my new puppy, Dexter, I've had a lot of time to kill and I've been doing about 3 movies a day. But one could go at a much more casual pace and just set a DVD to rip when you head off to bed.




HandBrake is very simple (and free!) to use and the quality is great, I don't even notice a difference going from my DVD's to the rip, and I'm an HD snob. HandBrake has all sorts of advanced setting but most of them are straight forward. They have encoding options for what ever you could want to play your movie on: Apple TV, iPod/iPhone, PSP, Xbox 360 whatever you could want. For me the "normal" option works just fine, just make sure and tick the check box for a "2 pass encoding" to make double sure that the audio and video are sync'd. The process is so easy in fact you could do it in 6 steps:

1. Insert DVD
2. Open HandBrake
3. Click the "source" button in the upper left
4. Select your DVD
5. Select your setting. iPod, Xbox 36o, etc...
6. Click Encode

And you can do these as soon as you install HandBrake, no crazy setup process. Each of my movies are right around 1 GB and I'm keeping them all on an external hard drive that I will eventually keep conected to my Xbox 360.


You see the Xbox 360 can play pretty much any audio/video file you throw at it. But if you give it a video file and a picture file with the same name you then have a DVD cover! For example, on my hard drive here I have one file called "Old School.m4v" (video file) and another "Old School.jpg" (image file) and the Xbox does the rest and gives you what you see above.
Now now one like big huge lists so if/when your digital movie collection gets to be too big all you have to do is separate the movies into different folder on the hard drive. So you could make folder into genre's: horror, Sifi, comedy, porn, you know whatever...
So get your Digital Revolution started by heading over to HandBrake's website. Feel free to email with any questions.

Microsoft Wireless Network Adapter Now "Only" $50.

Walking through Best Buy tonight I saw the good-old-over-priced-should-have-been-built-into-the-360 Wireless Adapter, and what do you know? It’s looks like it got a price drop to the more reasonable $50 dollar range.

What's Wrong With GTA IV? Lets Start With These 10.

I love GTA as much as well, everyone, but there are a few flaws. Here's a great list of 10 of GTA's inperfections:

1. Money Has No Value

This is my biggest beef with GTA IV: money has little value. You go on a hundred missions to earn cash...for what? More ammo? A new pair of shoes? I have $750,000 in my bank account and I live in a shit-hole. All the clothes I can buy were purchased in the early stages of the game. So what am I supposed to do with all this money? This is the American Dream? Where did the option to purchase real-estate go? The whole game is based on making money but the designers forgot one key element: you need something to spend money on, else your money is worthless. $5 hamburgers and an optional freeway toll just don't amount to very much.

2. Multiplayer

Multiplayer in a GTA game is nothing new if you've played previous PC versions and downloaded certain mods, but this is the first time it's been officially included by Rockstar, so you'd think they'd do it right. Instead, multiplayer feels like an afterthought, sporting a level-up system that takes forever to advance in ranks, all so you can unlock a few items of clothing.

The Lobby system can take ages for a game to start, usually because all the stoners in the room forget to click Ready, or worse, bitch and moan about a specific game setting that usually leads to mutiny.

There's no shortage of multiplayer game modes, which is great in theory, but I'd gladly take two well-balanced game modes over a multitude of half-assed, poorly designed ideas that find the majority of players running around maps searching for a freaking car. It's called Grand Theft Auto, not Grand Theft Pedestrian.

A lot of the problems could easily be addressed by a Host who doesn't have his head up his ass, but most toggle settings that are detrimental to fun, usually forcing the majority of players to abandon a round in mid-stride out of sheer boredom. What GTA IV really needs are maps created specifically for multiplayer, something we'll undoubtedly be paying for in future DLC.

3. Ponderous Story

A lot of reviewers keep harping on the stellar, amazing, and unparalleled story, which makes me wonder if any of these guys actually watch movies or read books. The tale of Niko is nothing original, evidenced by hundreds of movies from the era of film noir, but what sets this apart from its cinematic cousins is the sheer ponderousness of the story. This is a plot that barely moves and keeps repeating itself over and over. As a character, Niko doesn't evolve and his actions have little impact on the game world, save for the ending, which is as empty as everything that preceded it.

The writers of GTA IV make a rookie mistake: they tell me, they don't show me. Telling me Niko is searching for his moral compass is of no use, especially when none of the elements manifest in terms of gameplay, save for a few rudimentary decisions that are no more than, "Kill Mr. X or Kill Mr. Y."

4. No Upwards Mobility

The majority of critics claim that GTA IV is about the American Dream, an ethereal concept that means something different for everyone. In the universe of GTA, the American Dream apparently entails moving from one pigsty apartment to another pigsty apartment, albeit in a slightly better part of town. There is zero sense of social advancement or self-sufficiency, and all the way till the end of the game you find yourself working as nothing more than slave-labor for those who are enjoying the American Dream.

5. A Step Back From Previous Versions

While the graphics engine is an amazing achievement and deserving of the highest praise, every other aspect of GTA IV has devolved. It's as if the designers put 95% of their effort into creating a believable environment and used the last 5% for gameplay. Instead of mini-games involving taxi fares, ice-cream trucks, pizza delivery, ambulance driving, fire-fighting, territorial control, managing a gang...you get a boring round of pool, bowling and darts.

6. Wonky Cover System

It's great that GTA IV now has a cover system. It's not so great that it makes me want to punch my Xbox in the face. God forbid you attempt the cover system near several objects as you never know where you'll get attached. I've lost track of how many times I've been in cover mode, only to have the game refuse to fire my weapon for some inexplicable reason, forcing me to uncover and recover. It's annoying, frustrating and lacks polish.

7. Dopey Mini-Games

Billiards, bowling and darts, eh? Three boring mini-games that have little to no impact on anything. You can't even bet an opponent for some cash, which I guess doesn't matter because money has no value anyway. The designers could have exercised a little creativity by developing a little pick-up basketball game at the park, or skeet shooting, or dirt-bike racing. Hell, I'll take a little Frisbee tossing or miniature golf. Something original, for Pete's sake.

8. Relationships Are Idiotic

One new aspect to GTA is the concept of relationships. Unfortunately, it's rudimentary at best, bordering on sublimely retarded. All you have to do is call someone on your phone, pick them up, and head wherever you need to go. Once there, you do nothing that has any impact. As long as you don't total your car or inadvertently shoot your date in the face, they all seem to love you. In the end, relationships in GTA stand as a concept that was never developed. The designers should have taken some notes from The Sims and offered the player tangible options based on the environment the characters find themselves in.

9. Clothing Interface

I made a terrible mistake in the early part of the game: I purchased every bit of clothing I could find. I didn't realize that the clothing interface, which hasn't changed from previous versions, would continue to be a monumental example of crappy design. There is no organization to the clothes, no quick way to select a suit or casual attire, forcing the player to view every single item one-by-one, an act that redefines tedium and borders on torture.

10. Phantom Traffic

I don't know what else to call this, so I'm sticking with Phantom Traffic. Phantom Traffic has been around ever since GTA went 3D and it continues to bug the hell out of me. What is it? It's when you look down a stretch of road and don't see any cars. You turn around, look down another stretch, and still don't see any cars. So you turn back to your original viewpoint and suddenly there's a freaking traffic-jam, cars everywhere. I was hoping the next-gen version of GTA would expand the distance cars appear, but such is not the case. Ultimately, this means it's pointless to look around and see if any cops are around before stealing a car, as the second you turn your attention to the window, you have no idea what has suddenly materialized behind you.

First Gears of War 2 Footage.

Looks like more of the same to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Let's just hope they really have 'jump in, jump out' co-op this time and not just 'jump in, and if one person leaves the games ends for everybody' co-op like they had in the first one.

A Trio Of Legit GTA Video's.

***And for some great HD video's check out Gametrailers.com**

This one shows you how to run a toll booth, and evade the cops.

This is a 10 minute preview of GTA IV by someone who keeps running into walls.

This is a helicopter ride through most of the city, it's amazing how Rockstar made it so big and with so much detail.

For tons more videos go check out G4's website: The Feed.

GTA IV Multiplayer: Just Like Single-Player But With Your Friends!

I just read a few articles over at IGN on their multiplayer take of GTA IV, and damn I can't wait. In every game mode you have all of Liberty City to run free in, no invisible walls, no doors that won't open, just free reign.

There is even a mode called "Free Mode" that alows for you and up to 15 of your closest friends to do whatever the hell you wanna do. Think of this mode as single-player minus the story, so you still have all the fun stuff, cops, pedestrians, guns, cars, helicopters, motorcycles, etc...
So what can you do in Free Mode, kill each other? Sure you could, but think about it as co-op in a way.

My favorite thing to do in a GTA game is all the ancillary stuff, jacking cars, driving around, shooting random people, running people over, getting a wanted level and running from the cops. Now wouldn't that be so much more fun if I could do that with a buddy? How about 4 buddies or 15?

If you are interesting in GTA's multiplayer at all I would highly recommend going over to IGN and giving part 1 and 2 of their multiplayer coverage a read.

IGN GTA Multiplayer Part 1

IGN GTA Multiplayer Part 2