Microsoft has come out and validated some earlier rumors about Xbox 360 Avatar’s and their 3D dashboard design. Apparently, this is to build more of a community and bring a bit of the Mii-like influence from the Nintendo Wii to the 360 hardware.
It seems Microsoft is taking some of the concepts from the Nintendo Wii which were poorly implemented due to the lack of any real network community and bring them to live with a more integrated useful system. This proves Nintendo was on the right track but shows off their lack of integration and fear of bringing people together.
“Create, share, and have fun with all of your friends… but avatars are just the beginning. The new Xbox is tailored for the living room. Here we are at the community channel — instead of a list of friends, you actually see them.” (joystiq)
Nintendo’s cute little idea of Mii’s and sharing them with friends was fantastic, a great bullet list feature, but rather useless. Typing in friends codes gets old way too fast and there really isn’t anyway to vocally chat with people on your friends list anyway, so who cares?
Microsoft has proven to know a bit about the community space, has parental controls and a fairly reliable LIVE system for making it all happen. Although Nintendo should look at this with a bit of pride, given duplication is the best form of flattery, they could learn a few things about how to work a community into your console too!
@GameStop developing console and PC game streaming
This is quite funny, since I remember Derrick and Jennifer talking about GameStop as the iconic brick-and-mortar type of shop, not willing to buckle up on the pressure put by digital distribution channels.
The big problem I see is the fact that now there are quite a lot of digital distribution channels: Steam, Origin, Desura, not to mention the console based ones. It got crowded, and getting a slice of the pie is (now) very difficult.
Now, in terms of streaming, the only competition is OnLive. They will need to do something differently, however, if they want to become top dog. I’m curious as to what will that be.
@Is the Xbox 720 chip set
Well, the technology is already there. Call it Sandy bridge or ‘fusion’, CPU+GPU+memory controller are here to stay.
The hardware technology was already tested (well, Intel had some issues with Sandy bridge …) and deemed suitable for marketing.
SoC means ‘System on a Chip’, meaning everything (CPU, RAM, ports etc) is on the same chip.
Jordan, I see the 720 as just a hardware upgrade of the 360. It will be (just like 360) still based on PC-like hardware, so I say the 360 games will be perfectly compatible with the 720. This means the 720 already has a good library.
The way I see it, Microsoft decided to steamroll the competition.
@industry is failing female gamers
I say put your money where your mouth is. Instead of complaining about the fact that the market represented by female gamers is not being properly exploited, I say take the opportunity and make a game that will bring you the moneyz 😛
My sister also loved UT. She also played Quake 3 and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, but her arena of choice remained UT. Another game she liked a lot was the first Unreal game.
Back to the UT/Quake3/MOHAA, she also played them in multi player.
@QOTW
I take pretty much the same approach as Jordan. I don’t look at bullet points.
But, be it FPS or RTS, I want a nice, plausible story.