14 posts tagged “xbox live”

The fourth annual ____ Of the Year Awards are upon us! A celebration of the past year in gaming, the awards pay tribute to the games that truly excelled at their craft, as well as those that probably should have never of been released. The awards managed to get Slashdotted last year, so maybe this year someone will just come and throw a rock through my window. Who knows. Let the ceremony begin!

Game of the Year: Viva Pinata (360)
Runner-Up: Elite Beat Agents (DS)

The most underrated and important title this year, Viva Pinata exuded raw brilliance that few games can match. It single handedly redeemed Rare as a competent developer and provided the XBOX 360 with something beyond shooting space marines in the face.

The media loves to pick apart Viva Pinata for missing its primary demographic, amongst other superfluous complaints, but the bullying is never for anything related to the actual design of the game. With incredibly addictive gameplay and depth to spare, Viva Pinata stood head and shoulders above all other titles. I've said it before and I'll say it again. . If you don't like Viva Pinata, you simply have not played it.

Portable Game of the Year: Elite Beat Agents (DS)
Runner-Ups: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS), Daxter (PSP)

A game that a nation of a million Japanophiles couldn't hold back, Elite Beat Agents not only scored with camp value, but it also managed to best it's Japanese counter-part, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan in every conceivable way. That last bit of hype may be hard to swallow for some, but you're also probably white and, news flash, you'll never be Japanese.

Online Game of the Year Uno (360)
Runner-Up: Myst Online: Uru Live

This is the part of the awards where you start to say to yourselves, "You know? 2006 wasn't that great of a year." With games like Gears of War lacking in functionality and half of the free worlds population still playing World of Warcraft, it was up to freakin' Uno to pick up the slack. No offense to Uno, because it's great. . but seriously, Uno?

Action Game of the Year: Dead Rising (360)

No runner-up here. Raw action games were tough to find amongst the hybrids of shooters and adventures and whatnot, but Dead Rising picked up the slack. It's the ultimate homage to the zombie films of yesterday and despite a few flaws (running and shooting anyone?), wading through a crowd of zombies with an umbrella is nothing but sheer joy.

Shooter of the Year: Gears of War (360)

Not to take away from the brilliantly crafted Gears of War, but this was an ugly year for shooters. The Tom Clancy titles, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six couldn't create an identity of their own. Half-Life 2: Episode 1 would have been great if Episode 2 were right around the corner. . but now it's simply Half-Life 3 in chunks. Prey. . anyone remember Prey? Red Steel? Hah. I'm just messing with you. This was definitely not a good year for shooters.

Adventure Game of the Year: Okami (PS2)
Runners-Up: Bully (PS2), Tomb Raider Legend (360)

Seeing as how Zelda was too busy being the exact same game you've played ten times over (now with waggle-tech!), Okami filled in quite nicely. It also just so happened to be Studio Clover's first great game! Pow! Suddenly, throngs of manchildren have lifted from their seats, wiped the nacho residue from the fingers and declared war.

But seriously, Okami is great! Really!

Role-Playing Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360)
Runner-Up: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

Last year, Dragon Quest VIII took this honor as the first Japanese RPG since the SNES days that I actually liked. This is, obviously, the return of Western muscle as the flagship of the cause floored just about everyone. Horse armor aside, Oblivion has also been used as the trial and error monkey of microtransactions, but even those have turned out fine.

Racing Game of the Year: Pocketbike Racer (XBOX)

Again, 2006 was seriously not that great of a year for games. With the exception of Namco-Bandai's The Fast and the Furious, I was not compelled to play a racing title for more than 15 minutes this year. And I love racing games. So why did the best one have to come with a double Whopper? It's just not right!

Sports Game of the Year: Fight Night Round 3 (360)
Runner-Up: SmackDown! vs Raw 2006

Typically known as the "NCAA Football Award", this is the first year that it has not won this award. Fight Night, aside from being the proving ground for "Next-Gen Gaming", Fight Night rebounded from a disappointing Round 2 to deliver a truly spectacular experience.

Fighting Game of the Year: Melty Blood: Act Cadenza (PS2)
Unfortunately: We're still playing more 3rd Strike than anything.

The fighting genre is effectively dead. You could count all the fighting games released this year on one hand, including this import gem, Melty Blood. Sure, less people play this in America than Virtua Fighter, but we'll worry about that one next year.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Special Awards! Who will take home the coveted P.N.0.3 Award for Worst Game Ever? What was the quote of the year? Which comment will have fanboys and manchildren alike booing and hissing from their mothers basement? Find out tomorrow!

In my initial entry here on Vox, I spoke out against Digital Eclipse and Konami for their lackluster work on the arcade classic, Frogger for XBOX Live Arcade. It upsets me more that in this day and age of high powered super consoles, we can not get proper emulation of archaic titles such as Frogger or in this case, Contra. The dynamic duo of XBLA screw-ups struck again this week as Chris and I attempted to wage war against aliens in the heart of Africa.

An experience which has been logged here, over at the Wired Games blog.

I want my 400 Microsoft Points back.

"Did we say 10AM?" asks the Microsoft representative.

I woke up at seven in the morning for this appointment -- sprang right out of bed even with the greatest of ease, despite being fueled by a mere two hours of sleep. To avoid the nightmare that is our BART station parking, I took a bus to the train so that I could be there on time. No, better than on time. By the time I got into the Ziff Davis office I had already slugged my way through a line twenty thick of business men and other various sorts of yuppies at the Peet's Coffee downstairs. I even beat the master of ceremonies, Matt Leone to the office.

Viva Pinata was coming.

By the time 10:30AM rolled around, folks were getting agitated. John Davison strolled on in, ready to check out the latest in candy filled cutesy goodness. Being a parent, he very well may be the primary demographic for Viva Pinata -- more so than giddy little tards like me who melt at the sight of colorful, paper mache bunnies prancing through the lush environments. He arrived on the scene just as Matt got Microsoft on the phone.

"We're coming at 2:30PM. Is that alright?" they ask.

And so I hopped on the next train back to Livermore. Followed by the bus to reach my car. Along the way I would not only have a particularly random encounter with an acquaintance that I haven't seen in at least a year, but I would also call just about every game retailer in the area in search for Phantasy Star Universe. Not only had Sega managed to not ship the game on time, but should you buy the PC version, you may not find the game you wanted inside the box. This day -- This day could not get any more awesome.

Cold pizza and a bit of Lego Star Wars later and I'm ready to call it a day. While this is leading to "and if you need me, you can find me dead in the bathtub", this is where the story takes a turn. Like a break in the clouds, Matt pops into my IM window, informing me that not only was the rescheduled Viva Pinata demo a long, tiring ordeal, but they left me a build to take home and play to my hearts content.

So as I type, Viva Pinata spins inside a 360 just over my shoulder.

The remainder of this week will present many challenges. Firstly, I have to do my best to not burn myself out before the game actually ships and I can play it along with everyone else on XBOX Live, as opposed to the cold, cold existence that is PartnerNet. Beyond that, I have to find the time to stop playing it and do a write up. Seeing as how much I absolutely adore this title, I'm plotting more than one.

It took two trips to San Francisco and over 100 miles in a single day, but luring that Mousemallow to my garden (Tippy Tup Garden to you) was so, so worth it.

Despite Japanese XBOX owners being able to use a camera for years, we're just now getting this piece of tech for the XBOX 360. From video chat, to in-game video and realistic face mapping, the XBOX 360 Vision Camera is set to become both a unique addition to the 360 gameplay experience, and a hellish monstrosity in the hands of your average XBOX Live member. Having acquired the camera early, I feel that it is about time to finally talk about this thing.

The actual size of the camera is very comparable to the second release of the Sony Eyetoy which puts 1.3 mega-pixels within the palm of your hand. Now 1.3 mega-pixels in this day and age doesn't sound like much at all, but it still makes for a very clear image when viewing on either an SD or HD set, though obviously it won't be displaying a true HD image in the latter case. The motion rate caps off at 30 frames per second which considering the amount of bandwith required for streaming video, is about where you want to be anyways.

So what can you actually do with the Vision Camera as of right now? The most basic function is that of a simple one on one video chat that can be done between two camera users or a single user utilizing the camera. Aside from applying different types of visual filters to your images (Hey, look! I'm from A Scanner Darkly!) there are also certain, undocumented features of the video chat experience. By pulling on the shoulder buttons of the 360 controller, you can actually cause the controller on the other side of the video chat rumble. This can be done seperately for different shakes or both together for the full-on rumbling experience. There is only one, logical explanation as to why this was implemented.

Other, more personal and non-masturbatory features include the ability to create a personal gamertag picture that only your friends can see. This is done by simply taking a picture of yourself or whatever else you think can fit in that little box. Pictures can also be taken and sent to those on your friends lists, accompanied by voice or text. These are both minor features, but are nonethless interesting.

Currently there are five games which support the camera: Hardwood Spades, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Backgammon and of course, the XBOX Live darling UNO. All five of these games use the camera in the exact same manner, which is to replace your gamerpic with a video stream. This is, of course, where all the drama is going to enter the equation, but luckily you can set privacy controls so that you don't see video from those not on your friends lists and vice versa.

To be honest, the camera is just another gimmick in the hat of XBOX Live, but it's also too interesting of a concept to pass up. Once you see the custom gamerpics from your friends or see them using the camera in games, you'll want one even if you don't think you have a use for it. I know I don't. It'll be interesting to see what developers do with it outside of Uno, including being able to put your face on in-game characters on XBOX Live. What remains to be seen is just how the landscape will change this Tuesday when the general public recieves it and decides to grace us with a heaping helping of pre-pubescent penis.

I am a horrible monster. Like a shark under the spell of fresh blood in the water, I can not deny my most carnal of urges. Though unlike the great white predator of the sea, taking in such wounded prey is met with a particular amount of discomfort after the deed has been done. Call it indigestion -- like feeding a new born terrier a pound of chocolate. The blood thins out, the heart muscles stop functioning and bile is all thats left to erode the innards.

I returned to Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting tonight. I have now lost half a star of reputation. Don't eat the chocolate, it's delicious.

After the fiasco that was my last bout of Street Fighter II on XBOX Live, I swore never to return. I had done well on that promise but unfortunately, there was a patch. Chris called me out on his blog concerning the reason as to why I quit in the first place. The reason why I quit was because I grew tired of having my reptuation -- governed by an eBay-like system -- on XBOX Live be tarnished. What this update did was "fix" the problem concerning how the game deals with those who disconnect in the middle of a match.

What it did was make things worse.

Now, instead of no one going punished for such a cowardly act, both parties involved in the matter take a loss to their records. Once again, this is a case of the lowest scum on the Earth running the show on XBOX Live as now it is in best interest of all jerks to simply drop with every impending loss.

If I die, you're going with me.

Moreso than any other type of game, the fighting game always brings out the absolute worst in gamers. As someone who has had a knife pulled on him over a game of Street Fighter II CE, I can attest to this. Granted, everybody hates to lose, but what is it about fighting games that bring out such pure anger? Could it have something to do with a rough gaming childhood, consisting of nothing but merciless beatdowns from older siblings? Or could it just be the personal nature of the genre being pushed to a frightening extreme by the user? Regardless, thanks to these baffoons, I have taken a hit. I have done not a single thing wrong.

I know that I haven't done a single thing wrong because for the past week I have not only been in the Family gamerzone (Uhg), but I have also altered my privacy options on XBOX Live. Now, unless you are on my friends list, I can't hear nor recieve any sort of communication. It has made my experience much more enjoyable (A complete lack of human contact. Imagine that), but you don't exactly pay $50 dollars a year to be a virtual hermit.

While I won't be returning to the Street Fighter landscape anytime soon, my never ending love-hate relationship with XBOX Live will endure. Nights like these only serve to increase my anticipation of the Nintendo Wii, as Nintendo's online service will more than likely be a dearth of communication, much like the online world of the Nintendo DS.

Is nothing sacred? This is the question that a large portion of XBOX Live gamers have undoubtedly asked themselves at one point or another. It's usually the question proposed after one has experienced an event so baffling that you begin to seriously doubt the capacity for comradery of gamers as a whole. Last night, while playing a few rounds of Marble Last Ultra with a couple of friends, a few folks poured into our match. One of which was your average fourteen year old, foul mouthed, prepubescent misanthrope whom within moments was well into his act.

This is a game in which you control a marble -- a marble of all things, and roll around collecting gems. The reasons as to why any one needs to be called a "nigger loving faggot" over a game where you roll around as a marble is so far beyond my comprehension that if I were to think about it for more than two minutes at a time, blood will shoot out of my nose.

This is, of course, two weeks to the day I initially set forth a challenge to the very foundations of Live 3.0. I switched my Gamerzone over from Recreation to Family in an attempt to distance myself from those labeled at the more extreme end of the spectrum. I can now conclusively say that there has been absolutely no difference in my experience.

If I were to present my experiences to say, the director of XBOX Live programming, Larry Hryb, his first question would more than likely be, "What exactly did you expect?" Complete segregation of the zones is of course a ridiculous place to begin and simply wouldn't work in practice. What I did expect, however, is to at the very least be put away from those who declare themselves as Underground. While I'm sure that the matchmaking process is put forth by the developer of the title, this is the one area where Microsoft should put more of their weight in. To be in the zone that is dedicated to exclusively G-rated gameplay, being matched up with those who specialize in R-rated behavior is completely unacceptable. I'm well aware that beggars can't be choosers in such games as Marble Blast, but with immensely popular titles such as Uno or Texas Hold-Em, there really is no excuse.

With the experiment now well and done, I've decided to remain in the Family zone in an attempt to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt. I'll be sure to get to the bottom of this entire debacle sometime soon as this is a problem I've had with the service since day one and I don't see an end to it.

Seeing as how I'm not secretly fathering some illegitimate child, there really is no reason for me to be up at 3:30 in the morning, reading through the Family Settings page on XBOX.Com. This is something that every parent with a young child should do, if not only for their own sake, but for the sake of an entire community that has no choice but to put up with the unsupervised, godless bag of flesh that you call your child. Of course, if you've ever played anything on Microsoft's online service, you would already realize this is something that the vast majority -- the vast majority of parents never do. Utilizing the parental controls of the XBOX 360, parents can limit just about everything their kids do on XBOX Live from approving friend invites to making it so the little brat can only communicate with those on his friends list.

Which brings us to why I'm here at this ghastly time of the night, exploring the parental controls of the XBOX 360. I don't want to communicate with anyone. More accurately, I don't want anyone to communicate with me. Not because I'm afraid that in a wild fit of ambition I'm going to meet JuicyMudButt at a local Starbucks, only to have him touch me inappropriately without my consent, but because I'm sick of the bullshit that comes along with giving folks like him a voice. Folks like him being, a vast majority of the misanthrope inhabiting the service.

This is not a new problem nor are my feelings unique compared to any other decent human being who wishes to play games online with their 360. However, I'm quite confident that I'm the first person to actually consider turning parental controls on myself, and I'm 22 years old. Unfortunately, this can not be done after the initial creation of the account. Foiled again.

Microsoft, though I don't doubt that they sift through an endless stack of harassment complaints every day, has always felt that it's best the community police itself. I wish I could still agree with them, but it has become very clear that this is a community that should, unfortunately, be living in a police state rather than police itself.

I finally lost my five star reputation on XBOX Live this weekend. I lost it by simply playing as Zangief on Street Fighter II. In doing this, I have been called just about every name in the book, and if you need to know what those names are, the statistics aren't far off from the truth. This isn't so much the catalyst as it is the straw that broke the camels back. After almost a year of not having a solid, online game to enjoy on my 360 (The last being, believe it or not, Perfect Dark Zero), to finally find something and have it only be a reminder of what I avoid the service is upsetting to say the least.

It's a depressing state of affairs when you have to stop playing Uno of all things for the exact same reasons.

How can Microsoft fix this? They could have done what they should have been doing since the dawn of XBOX Live 3.0. Enforce the Gamer Zones.

The entire point of the Gamer Zone is to match players up with like minded folks. Meaning, if I'm looking to play an online game casually (See: Recreation), I won't be matched up with someone who is in the Pro Gamer Zone. Having used the service since the launch of the 360, I can sum up this feature in one word: bullshit. To prove this once and for all, I'll be setting my Gamer Zone to Family which, should everything according to the good people at Microsoft, at least spare me from some of the scumbags.

It has also never helped that Microsoft actually encourages this kind of disrespectful behavior (See: The Underground), thus making them a part of the problem. Never once have I heard anyone actually say, "I'm going to go play some Halo 2. I hope someone calls me a faggot today."

It's sad. We have all this technology at our fingertips, yet the human race always finds a way to turn it into an unrelenting, horrible monster. Only when we eat up this planet will God give us another. We'll be remembered more for what we destroy than what we create. XBOX Live is already known as little more than a cesspool of the most horrible aspects of gaming culture. At this rate, it will also be its legacy.

When I was eight years old, a group of wannabe Filipino gangsters dragged me out of a bowling alley arcade and pulled a knife on me over a game of Street Fighter. Not to say that I was some sort of gaming savant growing up, but I knew how to play one mean Guile in the times of the M.Bison bicycle loop. I also didn't know how not to play in a shady area of San Jose. These punks in their late teens thought that I was joking around when I accepted their hussle. After the match, I questioned his manhood and the size of his balls for not paying up when he lost. I never did get another match with the misanthrope, but I also didn't get stabbed over a few good traps. Fair trade.

This is what I think of every time some poor smuck decides to open his mouth over a game like Street Fighter. I had to play in that god awful bowling alley because it was the only competition I could find where people would actually play me like a human being. Meaning, they didn't cry like little girls when I threw and they didn't call anything cheap.

Cheap. That fucking word.

I shouldn't be surprised by the actions of those playing Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting over XBOX Live. If you recall my last entry on the subject, I'm really not happy with the conversion, and it's even worse online. Still, I can not resist the smell of fresh achivement points. I shouldn't be surprised because the current crop of online players are the exact demographic Microsoft is gunning for. The type of people who will look at the game and go, "Street Fighter. I remember that!" and immediately jump online, completely unaware that the scene has evolved.

I believe I have filed more harassment complaints today than all my time on XBOX Live put together. It is, in a word, pathetic as to the actions some people take over such simple matters. Some will scream at a simple throw (Which just results in nothing but tick-throws from me). They will disconnect at the sight of a perfect round. Some will just pick one of the three mashers (Honda, Chun, Blanka) the next time they see you and pray that the gods of latency are on their side.

It's pathetic, really. Unfortunately, I expect nothing less from the XBOX Live community.

That is the world of ranked matches. Last night, Chris and I took on a variety of challengers in a quarters match lobby and it was actually a lot of fun. We got a few serious competitors but it was still all for laughs. For once, it actually felt nice to play with a random group of people who actually enjoy the spirit of the game and not for reasons of serious business. It was the perfect example of how I wish the community as a whole would handle themselves.

Civilized human beings.

It's incredible as to the beating a mass of people can take in the name of blind devotion. Severe blunt trauma comes in the form of solid and factual information. Deforming laceration by means of past experiences. You can lead a horse to water but sometimes you can't beat it to the point where the blood forces it to stop fucking drinking it.

After a completely obscene amount of delay, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting made its way onto the XBOX Live Arcade tonight. It is awful. This should come to no surprise to anyone, but some people just had to take the dive.

Much like Frogger before it, I am completely stunned as to the complete lack of quality found in Hyper Fighting. This is a sixteen year old arcade game. We have in our possession technology that is so far beyond what was available sixteen years ago that they might as well have powered that arcade cabinet with a hamster wheel. There is absolutely no excuse as to why we can not get a perfect recreation of this at home.

Let me repeat that. There is absolutely no excuse as to why we can not get a perfect recreation of this at home.

There are two parties to blame in this whole mess. Firstly, there is Microsoft. Having put into place the same style of rigid requirements for any and all games appearing on XBLA as they do with your standard XBOX 360 game, Hyper Fighting passing this certification process is baffling. With a constant stream of reports that online play is nowhere near playable (As well as riddled with bugs), it should simply have not have allowed to be available.

Then, of course, there is Capcom whom in all their infinite brilliance decided it would be a smart idea if they out sourced this project to a smaller developer (Sensory Sweep) and gave them the task of emulating the already shoddy Playstation version of Hyper Fighting. Clearly, Capcom didn't even get out of the gate proper with this job. Add on top of this the mulitude of bugs (The hilarity of getting my DOA4 arcade stick), even more broken gameplay (How did I just manage a 3-hit redizzy?) and of course, the ol' Capcom try at online play. This is your third strike at creating an acceptable online fighting experience (CVS2 and Anniversary for XBOX prior) and no one has forgotten the online failures that were Steel Battatlion, Resident Evil and Auto Modellista.

Enjoy your newly acquired mountain of XBLA money you lazy assholes.

It's now technically Wednesday here on the West Coast and to XBOX Live users, that means one thing -- a new XBOX Live Arcade title. With the mediocre Cloning Clyde behind us, Galaga is the title of the week to obsess about. I had a lot to say regarding the shoddy emulation of the last classic title to hit the arcade service, Frogger, and fortunately I don't have to go through that again. It is, in my professional opinion, a very good port.

Back when I worked for the Namco-Bandai Zaibatsu, one of the last titles I worked on was one that featured Galaga, the Namco Museum Battle Collection for the PSP. Needless to say, I am very well versed in the art of Galaga, as well as Bosconian and my personal favorite, Rolling Thunder. I respect Galaga not for it's influence on the shooter genre as a whole, but for it's sensibilities. Compared to it's precursor, Galaxian, it featured very tight, perfected gameplay that was fun and intuitive. And unlike other Namco shooters such as Xevious, it did not assault you with some of the worst sounding bleeps and bloops of all time.

But seriously, Galaga is still a great title even to this day and I can say that without a hint of nostalgia (I was still 3 years off from being born at its release). It's further proof that you don't need flashy graphics or even an interesting narrative to be entertaining. As long as you have good, solid mechanics, you're doing alright for yourself.