http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10620&Itemid=2

"Whitten also told us that there would be no spring dashboard update for Xbox 360 owners this year, saying that resources were instead focused on “building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service."

To bad but at the same time with the new DRM lift and the recent upgrade to 350megs from 150 for developers for future games, I personally am not complaining. Continuing to enjoy my experience on Live with all my friends.

Personally I think that is a VERY smart move. However with that said, they might want to re-think "advertising" that considering the history of the LIVE service.

I hope they get it all worked out and plan appropriately for growth.

I think we're getting something better, which was in the next sentence of the article:

"There will however be a change to DRM policy and a tool released next month that will allow 360 owners to re-license content to a single console—finally fixing the issue that forced gamers playing XBLA games to be connected to Xbox LIVE if their 360 broke down and was replaced."

We'll actually be able to transfer our licenses ourselves. Hopefully this is not a one time thing or some arcane process, but rather something akin to the recover gamertag feature. Anyone know what is meant by "change to the DRM policy"?

Hopefully this means people will finally stop posting a new thread every couple of days whining about the DRM. :)

The list of things they can do to improve the dashboard is growing increasingly niche anyhow.....multi-person chat would be nice, and being able to stream MPEG4 with surround sound would also be a welcome plus..and no file size limitations....but otherwise...I'd say its working pretty good.

They got Barbie Horse Adventures on BC, what else does a person really need....

I would love to see some updates to what the xbox remote controller could do, such as having the volume button do something.
And some features for slideshow such the ability to zoom in on a picture.

Bah. Lots of media updates needed - most ridiculous being the fact that the 360 can't play non-transcoded WMA lossless - absurd!

Bah. Lots of media updates needed - most ridiculous being the fact that the 360 can't play non-transcoded WMA lossless - absurd!

It can't? Are you sure about that?

Aren't WMA and "Lossless" mutually exclusive?

Aren't WMA and "Lossless" mutually exclusive?

No. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio_9_Lossless)

Link no work, but I found it anyhow..Oooh had no idea. So its like FLAC and that kinda stuff.

Link no work, but I found it anyhow..Oooh had no idea. So its like FLAC and that kinda stuff.

Link worked for me; takes you to Wikipedia.
And yes WMA Lossless is kinda like FLAC except it is natively supported by WMP, ZUNE, and a lot of WMA-compatible (but not all) hardware and software with no extra effort.
To play with it, just check the ripping settings on WMP or Zune.
Realistically, you can get near-lossless quality with high bit-rate WMA (say, 192-320Kbps) but if you are totally paranoid about any loss whatsoever, WMA lossless will do the trick. ;)

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10620&Itemid=2

"Whitten also told us that there would be no spring dashboard update for Xbox 360 owners this year, saying that resources were instead focused on “building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service."

For what it's worth...there was the below comment posted on the article page at next-gen;




"Two points I need to make here.

1. To Ross, you can simply redownload the title using the Account History/Download History feature on the console that has been there since day one. One should not criticize a move if one does not understand it.

2. To Joe Keiser, I must admit you've created quite a stir by posting innuendo as fact. Marc never once stated during the interview that there would not be a Spring Update, and if he did you didn't post that quote.

To illuminate the issue for readers Marc actually said the following: 'We have taken a different approach this spring and spent a lot of our time and resources of building the proper infrastructure and scale for the service not just today but also into the future. So while most users will not notice any significant changes to the dashboard this spring, I can tell you that the team will be releasing a new digital rights management (DRM) tool next month that will allow you to better consolidate your licenses for downloaded content to a single Xbox and allow you the freedom to be able to play your content both online and offline.'

Ok note the bolded area. Right there Marc said that most users won't notice changes to the dashboard. He didn't say that there wouldn't be an update. He merely said that most people won't notice significant changes.

So thank you Joe for shoddy journalism (either due to wanting your name in lights or due to improper editing), kudos to you."

Bah. Lots of media updates needed - most ridiculous being the fact that the 360 can't play non-transcoded WMA lossless - absurd!


Very true, but I dont think they care to support the extender side of it. What a shame.

Very true, but I dont think they care to support the extender side of it. What a shame.

But the extender is supported, as MCE (or Vista with MC) transcodes these fine, and sends them on.

What's silly is that the xbox can't do this itself, even with a hard-connected zune.

Bah. Lots of media updates needed - most ridiculous being the fact that the 360 can't play non-transcoded WMA lossless - absurd!

needed? wanted, sure. frankly I'm shocked we even got xvid on the thing. It's not really in their best interest to really open the box up to media streaming when they are trying to make the video store profitable.

The list of things they can do to improve the dashboard is growing increasingly niche anyhow.....multi-person chat would be nice, and being able to stream MPEG4 with surround sound would also be a welcome plus..and no file size limitations....but otherwise...I'd say its working pretty good.

They got Barbie Horse Adventures on BC, what else does a person really need....

I can think of a lot more they could do. 16:10 resolution support over VGA for folks that are using monitors connected to their 360s being a good one I can't figure out why it hasn't been implemented yet.

But the extender is supported, as MCE (or Vista with MC) transcodes these fine, and sends them on.

What's silly is that the xbox can't do this itself, even with a hard-connected zune.


MS allows some video files to be used in the regular dash and totally different ones used through the media center dash.
Why? I couldn't tell you.

how long does it take to make a major update? months? so they decided to NOT to do it months ago and are just deciding to tell us now?

how long does it take to make a major update? months? so they decided to NOT to do it months ago and are just deciding to tell us now?

What is the surprise? That is usually how it works. See 80gig PS3 for example on how they did that. Oh hell just see every other announcement that comes out from updates to new sku's to new technology.

how long does it take to make a major update? months? so they decided to NOT to do it months ago and are just deciding to tell us now?

What's the difference?

no difference to me, i don't care. it just seems odd imagining a meeting at MS where they decide not to do an update then say 'hey let's wait until it's supposed to come out, to announce we won't be doing it' :)

Update about Delisted Live games.

decision by Microsoft to delist some of the less popular or successful games from the Xbox Live Arcade has been criticised by many who feel there is no need for this, that the Xbox marketplace is working fine without the need for this interference.

The changes to the service were announced last week by Marc Whitten in an interview with Next Gen, where it was revealed that under performing games on Xbox Live would be removed if they failed to qualify to stay under a 3-part criteria.

The original article received a boatload of comments, most of which were negative, so Xbox Live employees have now set the record straight on the Gamerscore Blog. It was previously thought that once a game had been delisted that it would then be unavailable for download but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Instead, even after a game has been delisted, it will still be available for download by people who have already purchased the game, meaning that if your Xbox 360 or HDD fails (which given Microsoft’s track record is entirely possible, you can still get all of your old downloaded games back again.

So what is the criteria, and what games does this potentially endanger? For a game to be delisted it will have to meet all three of the following criteria:

Been on the service for at least 6 months
Have less than a 65 Metacritic rating
Have a conversion rate of less than 6%

The reason for these new measures? According to Microsoft “We have a LOT of XBLA titles on the service. By filtering out the lower performing games, it will actually make it easier to find the games you really want.” Fair enough, but has anyone actually complained about not being able to find games in the past? And even if they have, surely that’s more a problem with the menu than anything else.

Gaming Bits has taken the time and trouble to work out which games could be threatened, and provides a full list here. Although no games have been confirmed yet, the recommendation seems to be that if you don’t want to see one of your favourites be delisted, then get your friends to up it’s conversion rate, or up the score on Metacritic. Otherwise, they’ll be out of here.

http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/05/25/delisted-xbox-live-arcade-games-to-remain-downloadable/


If they do offer more updates sometime in the future put a keyword search option.

Personally the DRM tool is good enough of an "update" for me.

MS allows some video files to be used in the regular dash and totally different ones used through the media center dash.
Why? I couldn't tell you.

You and me both. I just want to become a full-fledged fanboi and play my WMA music from my Zune on my 360 :)