New Xbox Live features and subscription options

The first of a new wave of features on Xbox Live will greet subscribers when they log into the world's largest online gaming service after an update this Wednesday. Starting today at 6 a.m., Xbox Live servers will be offline for as long as 24 hours while new features are added.

Once back online, gamers will be able to send Voice Messages with their friend and game invites to other gamers, further personalizing their online gaming experience. Voice Messages are just one of several new upcoming features on gamers' wish lists worldwide and further validates Xbox Live as the innovation leader in the online gaming category.

Additionally, game developers are currently being provided with new Live features that, when incorporated into their games, will afford gamers the following benefits:

<b>Teams:</b> Gamers will be able to easily form teams and notify them of matches, strategies and even upcoming competitions.

<b>Competitions:</b> Empowers gamers to easily create their own tournaments while in-game; as easy as creating, inviting and playing for all their favorite games across any game genre.

<b>Online Content Swapping:</b> Title managed online storage allows gamers to create and share mottos, emblems, and custom content and create and update maps, rosters, and other environment data.

<b>Level Playing Field Technology:</b> New arbitration and reliability technologies reduce players' ability to cheat online, while increasing reliability ratings for all players and penalizing actions like disconnects during games.
Many of these new features are expected to debut later this year with new Xbox Live titles. By this time next month, there will be more than 100 Xbox Live-enabled titles available to consumers, the most available online titles on any video games platform.

In addition to the new Xbox Live features, Microsoft has announced a new three-month Xbox Live Starter Kit (MSRP $39.99). The package will include one Xbox Live Communicator and demos of Mech Assault and Moto GP.

Finally, starting next week, the 12-month Xbox Live Starter Kit will be updated and packaged with a 12-month subscription to Xbox Live, an Xbox Live Communicator and a full version of the award-winning "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge," from Microsoft Game Studios. "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge" launched in the fall of 2003 to glowing reviews highlighting the software's stunning graphics and superior Xbox Live gameplay. The standard Xbox Live Starter Kit is available at $69.99.

Nice to see MS finally adding all those features I kept asking for 2 years ago in all those beta tester surveys. :p

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Originally Posted by bahn

Online Content Swapping: Title managed online storage allows gamers to create and share mottos, emblems, and custom content and create and update maps, rosters, and other environment data.

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Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

LOL. yeah. I want the Matt's collection of cars from PGR2.

and now I can finally tell Moogle to stop sending me invites when I am trying to blow up people in Crimson Skies.

so is it actually possible to send voice messages to people in games that haven't been specifically coded for live 3.0? that would rock.

I am assuming that it's just a matter of updating the software...guess we'll find out in a few hours when it's back online. I'll be trying it with crimson skies. :)

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Microsoft has announced a new three-month Xbox Live Starter Kit (MSRP $39.99).

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3 months? Wasn't the kit $59.99 for 12?

Ah, Live... you just keep getting better and better.

I love you.

well, the update is done. i don't have any friends online so i can't check any of the new features.

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Originally Posted by voltz

3 months? Wasn't the kit $59.99 for 12?

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The $60 kit that is being sold now is just the subscription card. No software or headset. They're selling the headset for $25 *cough*ripoff*cough, and a month of Live is $7. So if you bought it piecemeal, you'd have $25+$21, plus say, $4 for the demo disc. So $50 vs $40. Not great, but not quite a rip-off.

Voice messaging, if it properly employed, will be a HUGE plus. There have been many occasions where a quick message (aside from "you goddamn team killer!") would have avoided a lot of hassle. I'll have to check this out tonight...

i don't think you can just voice message someone at any time. you can do it with friend requests, and maybe with game invites. when i downloaded the update, it said to look at xbox.com to see what the new features are, but nothing's listed.

Come on guys, try it out. You can see other TNLers' tags right in their posts. I'm at work over here.

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Originally Posted by Wolffen

The $60 kit that is being sold now is just the subscription card. No software or headset. They're selling the headset for $25 *cough*ripoff*cough, and a month of Live is $7. So if you bought it piecemeal, you'd have $25+$21, plus say, $4 for the demo disc. So $50 vs $40. Not great, but not quite a rip-off.

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What kit have you been seeing in stores? The current one we have in stores still gives Mech Assault with the 12 month sub-card and a headset.

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Originally Posted by epmode

i don't think you can just voice message someone at any time. you can do it with friend requests, and maybe with game invites. when i downloaded the update, it said to look at xbox.com to see what the new features are, but nothing's listed.

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A shame if it's that limited. Still, a little explanatory message with an invite (or better yet, with a reply to an invite) could be useful.

I don't get the point of specifically tying a voice message to a friend request. What the hell are you supposed to say? "Hey...Deathknell32...I...I kind of liked your voice and...you know...wondered if you'd be my friend."

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Originally Posted by Prince Planet

"Hey...Deathknell32...I...I kind of liked your voice and...you know...wondered if you'd be my friend."

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LOL!!

That reminds me of an idea that Sl1p and I had after playing Ultramix... all these sorry people send you friend requests, so we were going to start a chat and invite them to join one by one, and grill them with questions. Or just tell them that we hate them, or that we're not accepting friend requests at this time.

i just tested rainbow six. didn't notice anything different. maybe the game has to be updated before the voice invites will work. or maybe the game has to have been programmed with the live 3.0 sdk..

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Originally Posted by Prince Planet

"Hey...Deathknell32...I...I kind of liked your voice and...you know...wondered if you'd be my friend."

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seriously. i still don't understand how i have 79 friends when i only know who 20 of them are. i think i need to start with those interviews.

I broke my second headset the other day. the plastic clip thingy that attaches to the headband is fucking weak as shit. Stupid replacement headsets are usually $30. Can't they package one that doesn't snap like a baby's neck?

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Originally Posted by epmode

i still don't understand how i have 79 friends when i only know who 20 of them are. i think i need to start with those interviews.

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Do you hate NIS countries?

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Originally Posted by soundwave

I broke my second headset the other day. the plastic clip thingy that attaches to the headband is fucking weak as shit. Stupid replacement headsets are usually $30. Can't they package one that doesn't snap like a baby's neck?



Do you hate NIS countries?

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Yeah, MS should redesign the headset so that part especially won't break off. It's somewhat fragile.

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Originally Posted by soundwave

I broke my second headset the other day. the plastic clip thingy that attaches to the headband is fucking weak as shit. Stupid replacement headsets are usually $30. Can't they package one that doesn't snap like a baby's neck?



Do you hate NIS countries?

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Headset replacements are free. Send your broken one to MS and they send you a new one for free. Call them and see. They are free.

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Originally Posted by bahn

What kit have you been seeing in stores? The current one we have in stores still gives Mech Assault with the 12 month sub-card and a headset.

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I meant $50 dollars, not $60 in my previous post. I've seen 2 XBL packages: a 12 Month Sub card (just the card, nothing else) for $49.99, and a 12 Month pack w/Mech Assault and the headset for $70.

good news for anyone using a vga adapter:

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Originally Posted by Anim8rJB (txb forum)

"A lot of people have wanted the Dashboard to support Progressive Scan (for those TV's that ONLY have a progressive input). The updated Dash (released this morning) does support this. For it to work, you have to do the following:

Plug in HDTV (Advanced) AV pack
Navigate to the Video Settings area and enable 480p
Press BOTH triggers, and BOTH thumbstick buttons simultaneously.

At that time, the Dashboard should switch in to progressive scan mode. It WILL remember this setting between restarts. To turn this off, you can repeat the key combination, turn off 480p, remove the AV pack, etc. Please not that this does NOT enable progressive scan DVD playback."

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i think i'll make a thread about it..

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Originally Posted by Wolffen

I meant $50 dollars, not $60 in my previous post. I've seen 2 XBL packages: a 12 Month Sub card (just the card, nothing else) for $49.99, and a 12 Month pack w/Mech Assault and the headset for $70.

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Ooooh, yeah. Now I remember the one you're talking about. Hard to say why they just rolled out that card...maybe it's for ppl that just don't want to renew with a credit card.

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Originally Posted by Master

Headset replacements are free. Send your broken one to MS and they send you a new one for free. Call them and see. They are free.

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No they're not. I called and asked them about this and they will replace it only if it's under warranty. They told me you even had to have the original store receipt. As I bought mine when Live was released, I'm ineligible for a free replacement.

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Originally Posted by Melf

No they're not. I called and asked them about this and they will replace it only if it's under warranty. They told me you even had to have the original store receipt. As I bought mine when Live was released, I'm ineligible for a free replacement.

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People must of started abusing it, because I broke my first one by accident. They simply told me to resend the old one and they'd give me a replacement. Thing is, I never got around to sending it, and I still ended up getting one for free.

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Originally Posted by bahn

People must of started abusing it, because I broke my first one by accident. They simply told me to resend the old one and they'd give me a replacement. Thing is, I never got around to sending it, and I still ended up getting one for free.

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Ditto. Bummer that people abused it...

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Originally Posted by Master

Ditto. Bummer that people abused it...

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bummer its not made well to begin with

I don't know what the hell you cats are doing to break it, I've had mine since a month after Live launch and it's been fine. Not even any stress marks or anything.

I don't have a cat.

I do, and it only has three legs and a sunny disposition.

aww kawaiiiiiiiiiii!!! ^.^