XBox Gaming Blog

Gamerscore Blogcast - 042 - NPD Numbers and You

This one’s mostly about the NPD Numbers.  We brought in an expert who deals with them all day to help us answer the questions you wanted to ask.

I think it worked well, and maybe we’ll do more interviews in the future!

MP3 File: 11.4 MB, 34 minutes

AUDIO podcasts - available via the RSS feed, or the iTunes feed
VIDEO podcasts - available via the RSS feed (haven’t submitted to iTunes yet)

This week John, Tony, Nelson, Chris and special guest Mike Sabine talk about:

• Intro/Outro Music - Phylum Sinter
• Question of the Week - What do you like best about Rock Band? 
• Upcoming Games
• NPD Numbers - Everything you wanted to know, and more
• Shout out to all the folks who asked questions in our blog post - DevsterC, CooperHawkes, Backscatter, Dan Clarke, Pseudotsuga, Zentex, Rothbart
• Dashboard Update
• Email us Questions/Comments

More on the Xbox 360 Console Update

The Xbox 360 console team has a bunch of details on what’s coming in the Update next week, details on the video support we’re adding, and there’s also a complete list of features on Xbox.com. 

I’m also told that while the European and Canadian Video Stores announced at E3 didn’t launch with the Fall Update, everyone remains committed to launching the service this year, and more information will be released soon. 

Fall Dashboard Update Details

Go ahead and say I’m biased, but Xbox LIVE is the best online service for a console, period. They say the proof is in the pudding, so enjoy a giant bowl of delicious Xbox LIVE pudding as we talk about some of the new features in the Fall Update.

While we have already talked about the new Parental Timer, Games on Demand, and the Friends of Friends features, the lovely and talented Nelson has put together a video featuring the lovely and talented Tony and Chris to talk about some of the new features.  The video shows the beta version, so expect some visual changes for the actual launch.

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For those of you that prefer “reading”, here are some of the details:

Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits - There will be permanent discounts on some of the best-selling Arcade titles. The first games to become Arcade Hits will be “Bankshot Billiards 2” and “Lumines LIVE,” which will be available for 800 Microsoft Points each, and “Marble Blast Ultra,” “Small Arms” and “Zuma Deluxe,” which will be available for 400 Microsoft Points each.

Inside Xbox – A new direct feed brings current news straight from Xbox.com into the Xbox LIVE Dashboard providing members an easy, predictable entry point where they can discover what’s new in: game releases, events, and Xbox LIVE Marketplace offers.

Enhanced online profile – Members interested in sharing a few more details about themselves will have the option to go beyond their motto and further personalize their profile with an expanded bio.  The extended bios will be visible to “Friends Only” or the entire Xbox LIVE community. 

New video features – The convenience of full-screen movie previews and enhanced video codec support further expand the options when it comes to the Xbox 360 entertainment experience.

Easy-to-use navigation features – With several noteworthy changes in the Xbox LIVE Dashboard, from the new Game Store button to the Video Store button to enhanced visuals and descriptions in the video library, Xbox LIVE members can find what they want, when they want it. 

And that’s not all. For a complete list of all of the new features and improvements to LIVE, check www.xbox.com/live on December 4th for all of the details.

Major Nelson has details on Child Account Graduation and Changing Live ID Association if you’re interested in how either of those are going to work.

You can read the full text of the media alert here.

Community Gamer Pics + VGO = Win Free Stuff

The Video Game Outsiders are hosting a contest over the next two weeks.  If you download and use their recently released gamerpic, you will be eligible to win either a free copy of Project Gotham Racing 4 or Call of Duty 4.  Two winners will be selected (allegedly at random).  Head over to Videogameoutsiders.com to get in on the action and official rules.

If you wish your favorite site had a gamer pic, you can resort to spam (which probably won’t work) or you can get in on this VGO contest.  The more widespread love the existing picture packs receive, the better case you make for the fact that these picture packs are a good thing.  Thanks to him, him and her at VGO for running the contest.

NPD Numbers and YOU

Numbers can be adorable, like the dancing numbers in Sesame Street.  Numbers can also be informastive and useful, like the average wingspeed of an African swallow or the maximum weight limit on an elevator.  When the number is your anniversary, Pi, or the NPD sales data for a video game console, it can be downright confusing.

We’ve decided to record a podcast about NPD numbers.  If it is nothing like our Carcassonne video, we hope it’ll succeed in clearing up some of the fog around the monthly gaming sales figure announcements you see all over the web.  We can’t guarantee you’ll be 237% smarter after listening to it, but we will try.

First, though, we need your help.  Do you have any questions related to NPD numbers that we might be able to address on the show?  We’ll have some smart-type Microsoft guests on, who will be able to speak directly to how they are generated and what they mean.  We won’t get to every question, but if you act now, you might just get included in on our recording later this week.

Gears of War for Windows Title Update

Gamers who signed in to Gears of War for Windows after 12:30 PST today likely noticed that a new title update is available for the game. The update addresses the Games for Windows – LIVE update issue (which I posted about some time ago) as well as fixes some various performance issues. So if you were curious – there you go. Have fun!

Co-opetition - 11.28.07

>It isn’t what I do for a living but for fun, sometimes, I save people.  I don’t want to get awkward about it, but I save people a lot.  I am a big fan of cooperative gaming, whether on my sofa, or across the world over Xbox Live.  I’ve enjoyed, to name a few, Gears of War, GRAW 1 and 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Guitar Hero II, Lego Star Wars II, and Halo 3 – all entirely in cooperative mode.  I’d rather you didn’t, but you might say I own at coop.  This past week, Chris Paladino and I set out to play as many new coop games as possible, to see who could be the better wingman (in a totally non-competitive way…)

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>Chris likes to play Rock Band on expert.  Even when he is singing and doesn’t know the words to the song.  Two days ago, I was on drums, he on mic, during a particularly hard song when he suddenly failed out.

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>In Rock Band, if you don’t hit enough of your notes right, the game puts you in the virtual corner for a timeout until one of your bandmates comes to your rescue by performing a bold move.  A heroic guitarist would tilt up the guitar to trigger “star power”.  As a drummer, I had to improvise a sweet drum fill, and end it on just the right note to save Chris.  Without getting into specifics, I think I saved Chris more than twice and less than four times in that one song.  Like Starsky and Hutch, or Ponch and John, or Starbuck and Apollo, there’s always one maverick who goes off guns blazing, and one coolheaded hero who saves the day.  I don’t want to say which I was. (hint: not the first kind)

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>Next up in the coop carnival, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga where we will, no doubt, play as Ben Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

The Office launches exclusively on MSN Games

Just in case you thought that nothing would ever make you want to work at Dunder Mifflin, along comes the November exclusive PC download at MSN Games: The Office.  This game has everything… or, at least, everything you’d want from a day in the Scranton branch office: filing, printing, pranking, one-upping your fellow employees, mini-games, great lines from the series, the occasional pinata, aaaaaannd bobblehead dolls of all your favorite characters.  No, really; the characters are all bobbleheads.  Not sure why that works, but somehow, it does.  Anyway, the game is a mere $19.95, with the usual one-hour free trial because we want to make sure you like it.  Download today for an eff-comp you won’t forget!

And while I’m on the subject of MSN Games exclusives, we’ve got a couple of great ones lined up for the coming months as well.  Look for a free web version of Cake Mania 2 in December, followed by the launch of Jobo’s Gems in January!

Backwards Compatibility Update

A new round of backwards compatible titles has just come out, and the list is pretty impressive. After adding the current group of 84 titles, the total list is now at well over 400 total Xbox games that will now work on your Xbox 360. Time to dig through those old boxes in your garage or start hitting the used bins.

Here’s a partial list of the games that are now playable on your 360, and the regions they work in:

For a complete list of backwards compatible games including the latest additions, visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm or to learn more about backwards compatibility go to http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardscompatibility.htm.

Fall Update - Friends List

I just got a press release that outlines a cool new feature in the upcoming Fall dashboard update that is due out on December 4th. The new feature allows you to see who is on someone’s friends list. This is particularly useful for looking up old friends, or for doing clan management. And even though the service isn’t live yet, you can manage your privacy settings before the update at www.xbox.com/fof.

For all of the details, check out the full media alert.