Xbox 360: Gamertag Thread

Microsoft has made a habit of taking things away from Silver members, rather than giving things to Gold members, and it seems that the company is now taking the one thing they had left -- their name. The dignified XBL Silver membership is soon to become XBL Free, a title that reflects poverty and disenfranchisement, which is definitely why Microsoft did it.

Xbox Live's European community manager (less glamorous Major Nelson) Graeme "Aceybongos" Boyd Tweeted the news earlier. He then ate a turkey leg in one bite and threw the bone at a beggar.

Joking aside, I can see why Microsoft did this. With Kinect coming soon, MS is anticipating a slew of "casual" gamers on Xbox Live, and everybody knows that "casual" gamers need to be treated like utter retards. "Free" is far more straightforward than "Silver", so all those soccer moms who are afraid of real controllers can understand what's going on.

are you really thinking of buying a 360?

What happened to you alex? You used to be a cool Slovak. now you're turning into an Slovakian-American

anyone hear of any black friday deals the new xbox will be having?

Microsoft has issued a warning to anyone who obtains an early copy of any Kinect game ahead of the launch next week.

Inserting one of the several Kinect launch games will disable Xbox Live due to a system update being required that's currently not available. IGN reader Ken sent us this tip who managed to get an early copy of Kinectimals sent to him from EB Games.

Just a word of warning that if you receive an Xbox Kinect game early and perform the title update, it will also update your console to the new dashboard.

Unfortunately, the update isn't the newest version, and every time you try to sign into Live it will try to update to a version that does not exist on the server. Since you can't connect to Live without the newest version, the system will be locked out until the update goes on the servers.
Microsoft issued a response saying this is only a temporary problem.

"Due to a retailer error a very small number of customers were shipped copies of a Kinect game ahead of launch," a spokesperson said. "Since Kinect does not launch until November 4th in the United States, customers who insert the game into their console before then will be temporarily unable to access Xbox LIVE.

"The retailer is contacting affected individuals directly to warn them of this situation."

what launch games does kinect have? Move has MAG, Heavy Rain, KZ3, Socom 4 all coming >_<

Microsoft's Xbox Live Fall update will become available for download on Monday, November 1.

Announced via e-mail, the update, which has been in beta testing for many weeks, includes a new look for the system dashboard, Kinect support, and additional features, such as ESPN programming and added access to the Zune Marketplace, including Zune Pass music streaming functionality.

Microsoft also issued a list of additional upgrades and changes earlier this month, such as improved voice chat quality and improvement to the Xbox Live Marketplace interface.

Members who decline to download the update will be unable to connect to Xbox Live. Microsoft says the update should take somewhere between 5 to 10 minutes to download.

This is the third iteration to the Xbox 360's interface since the console's launch in 2005.

Xbox Live Fall Update Hits Monday

gtfo

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-100 units of Xbox 360 Kinect Sensors at 8AM Pacific and 11AM Eastern
-Newbie $119 & 8,000 pts; Veteran $112 & 6,000 pts; Expert $99 & 4,000 pts

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-Newbie $270 & 10,000 pts; Veteran $265 & 8,000 pts; Expert $260 & 6,000 pts

-100 units of Kinect 250BG Bundles at 12PM Pacific and 3PM Eastern
-Newbie $345 & 12,000 pts; Veteran $335 & 10,000 pts; Expert $325 & 8,000 pts

Make sure you get employee verified today and join us on November 4th!

What's the point of watching ESPN on your xbox? I feel like most people who could afford an xbox also have cable, so why go through the xbox and the internet to watch a channel you can just watch on tv?