Stuff you could really care less to read about
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Some 2 million users have signed into Facbook from Xbox Live since the two services were mingled together, according to a report from CNET. The current figures for Twitter users has not been released, but according to the rep, “tweets from nearly every market where we have Xbox Live.”
With 2 million users signing into Facebook from Xbox Live, and a total of 20 million users on Xbox Live, that shows a 1/10 penetration rate among the first few weeks this service has been enabled.
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After the current Xbox Live banning that occurred a few weeks ago, a Texas Based Law Firm is in the process of organizing a class action lawsuit. On their website, Abington IP has a form for those who were banned to submit their information and story.
From reading the information on the site, it’s not due to being banned from Xbox Live itself, but also what Microsoft did personally to your console.
Additional *reported* problems resulting from the bans include, but are not necessarily limited to:
* Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with Xbox Live or piracy (HDD functionality for example);
* Disabling/altering Xbox functionality *NOT* associated with piracy (Netflix, game add-ons, music, and arcade games for example);
* Obtaining information from Xbox consoles without permission of the owner;
* Other problems/consequences associated with these bans have been reported here and elsewhere. [Read More]
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If you’re a Facebook or Twitter junkie, you should be happy to know that tomorrow’s update for the Xbox 360 dashboard, will bring Facebook and Twitter. Also with this update, will be FM to Xbox Live.
Xbox Live general manager, Marc Whitten, has gone on the record saying that these aren’t merely PC ports of the popular social networking sites, but entirely new entertainment experiences:
“We look at things like Facebook and Twitter as amazing social experiences, but also entertainment. We didn’t want to copy and paste from the PC.”
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The bans from Xbox Live for modified consoles to play pirated backups are still occurring. As of now, no one has determined how Microsoft is detecting the modified consoles.
If you have a modified Xbox 360 that you use to play copied games, best to stay away from Live.
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As if Halloween isn’t enough for today, Microsoft has confirmed that it has started the mass banning of modified drives in the Xbox 360. These drives are known to be flashed with iXtreme Firmware. This flashing allows members of the Xbox community to play Pirated games in their console, or what we like to refer to it as, “Backup Games.”
In response to inquiries from IGN, a Microsoft spokesperson said:
“We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles that have been modified to play pirated game discs. In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox LIVE.”
To keep from being banned, users who have their drive flashed, should always remember to verify their backups with ABGX. ABGX will verify that the backup you’re going to play, is “Stealth Verified”, which will stop Microsoft from determining that you have a flashed drive.
You should also make sure you’re running the latest version of iXtreme Firmware, and verifying your backups with abgx.
For more information on iXtreme Firmware and ABGX, head over to iXtreme.net
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Grand Theft Auto IV’s Xbox 360-exclusive DLC, The Lost & Damned, “would have outsold Killzone 2″ in the shops if it was a traditional retail product, Microsoft has boasted.
Xbox 360 product management director Aaron Greenberg claimed that the Xbox Live-only GTA episode is now “the most successful game add-on content we’ve ever launched.”
He added, “If that content was sold at retail, it would be one of the best sellers across all platforms. It would have outsold Killzone 2.”
Analysts have put sales figures for the DLC at above one million. Killzone sold 323,000 units in February – but that’s limited to North American sales.
“It’s another example of a great way to leverage Live to provide content that’s very timely. You could never really deliver that kind of experience at retail,” Greenberg added.
“When people get [their games] in the Spotlight channel, it’s in the millions of people who are clicking and looking and downloading. With our community being over 17 million, the scale when we get into some of those featured items is pretty big.”
In the same interview with Gamasutra, Greenberg claims that the PlayStation business is “haemorrhaging” at retail, partly because PS2 owners are migrating to Xbox 360 instead of PlayStation 3, he claims. Not that he’d say it’s doing brilliantly, anyway.
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For all you Grand Theft Auto junkies out there, including myself, GTA IV has been released on Xbox Live today. You can download it from Xbox Live for $19.99 or 1600 Microsoft Points. From the trailers this looks like a pretty awesome story line, looking forward to downloading it tonight from Xbox Live when I get home. The download size of this add on for GTA IV is around 1.78GB, so start the download now.
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