The economy looks bad and as many as 2 million Americans will have lost their jobs by years end but things are looking up for at least one young job hunter if he or she has 3 years experience in user interface design with Visual Basic. The right person with those qualifications and others can be working for the Zune team on a number of things including the Zune Device User Interface and Zune Xbox.
So as tough as the economy is Microsoft is still building upon their commitment to Zune with an obvious long term plan on improving Zune Xbox integration.
The Zune Design team seeks a visual designer who is passionate about software design, software innovation and consumer entertainment experiences. We are looking for a strong, collaborative designer to work closely with the creative directors to propose innovative designs and content solutions for the Zune Device UI, Zune Xbox and Zune PC Application. You will be part of a small, but experienced, design team working with multiple feature teams to help ship exciting and emotionally engaging products for Zune. Additional responsibilities include creating interaction design solutions and creatively merging the interaction and the visual directions.
Did you ever learn to play backgammon? I was never much for board games to be honest and I never did learn how to play backgammon or very many board games besides chess and checkers. Board games are still fun for millions of people in America but not as many people play board games as they do online games.
They don’t make any board games for Zune players as of yet but maybe they will one day. Lucky for me you can learn how to play backgammon online with easy to use instructional websites that teach backgammon strategies to just about anyone with an internet connection.
Playing backgammon online can lead to more adventures with gambling and cash incentives a big part of the online game play market. You can play backgammon online for free and when you feel up to it you can deposit real world money into your account and wager bets on your backgammon play.
That’s probably a bit more backgammon than I’m interested in but then again if I could gamble on Halo 3 I probably would. Maybe I’ll get hooked on backgammon online and make a million bucks in cyber cash. If i do I’ll throw a Craigslist party and blow $50,000.
I finally beat Halo 3. I have officially finished the trilogy. I am a Master Chief. It was pretty cool. I was totaly unaware the game was over until I saw the credits role. I finised the game and was left with the idea Master Chief was dead. It was a bit weird as I was even slightly emotional. The music and the game hype makes you fell like you are the Chief and I’ve been playing since the first console came out.
I was kinda jacked up when I saw that Arbiter came out the hero in all of this and Chief gets to relax in space until they find him and Cortana again. I have always felt a bond to the Marine Corps troops and the idea that a former enemy comes out the hero was pretty much crap but whatever. I guess they had to do something unexpected and different. You have to watch the entire ending in order to understand. It helps if you finish in Lengedary mode as if anyone can. I finshed in Normal Mode and then redid the last section in Legendary Mode so i could see the enhanced ending. It’s worth the trip.
I updated my Xbox 360 with the new Xbox Experience about 4 days ago and in those few days I have had to endure two full days of power outages and no internet. It’s been rather horrible and I am most upset that I have not been able to play with my new Xbox (it feels like a completely new system). I have had the chance to set it up and configure my avatar as well as preview some of the videos and NetFlix options but I have not had much time to do a full run through. I have some video I shot of the interface but I have not been able to upload anything more than the Xbox Intro video from two days back.
I’ll post more pics and videos and more reviews of the various features of the New Xbox Experience over the next few days.
All in all, Microsoft’s NXE adds a useful set of new features wrapped in a sleek new interface. So rich are these options that the free update would have been worth the $50 or so that a new game costs. In fact, the NXE turns the Xbox into one of the most compelling set-top boxes available for gamers and non-gamers alike.
A professional videogamer, who plays Xbox under the name Tsquared, has hit the big time with a sponsorship from Dr. Pepper that will see the 21 year slacker and Halo fans face on millions of soda bottles. This is not the first gamer to be sponsored but has got to be the biggest sponsorship deal in professional gaming.
Obviously this is just the beginning of what should be bigger and better sponsorship deals as video gaming creeps into every facet of pop culture.
Does this make him the Michael Jordan of Pro Gaming?
Following Wheaties’ tradition of promoting sports figures on its boxes, Dr. Pepper announced Wednesday that it will be featuring a 21-year-old professional videogamer on its bottles.
The face of Jupiter native Tom Taylor, or Tsquared when he’s playing Halo 3 competitively, will be printed on 175 million bottles starting in January.
Microsoft has had a hard time in Japan and the 360 is finally making some inroads in the difficult to crack Japanese gaming industry. Sony and Nintendo are the powerhouse companies from Japan and obvious choice for most Japanese gamers.
That Microsoft is making progress shows that no matter how strong a company brand is the game player and games are what matters. Xbox is selling units because japanese kids like to play the games and console and thats the bottom line.
I remember playing halo online with some kids in Japan when I had the first Xbox and I am certain they are playing on the 360 now.
Once again, it is an exclusive game title that is the decisive factor in console sales. In this case, it is worth a special note, as the Xbox 360 sold almost three times more units as the PS3 over the course of one week. Nationally and internationally, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 seem to be involved in a dead heat with sales advantages shifting almost every month. Who will make the winning move?
Microsoft usually has a tough time grabbing positive video game headlines against Nintendo and Sony, but we are sure that Microsoft is celebrating at least this week. According to a Reuters article and an Ascii Media Works report, the Xbox 360 dramatically outsold the PS3 in Japan, a market that has been extremely difficult for Microsoft.
In the week ended August 10, Microsoft sold 28,116 Xbox 360 units of the Xbox 360 compared Sony, which sold 10,705 PS3 units. Microsoft’s success is believed to have been driven by Namco Bandai’s role-playing game “Tales of Vesperia”, an exclusive title for the Xbox 360. The sales result is impressive, but still far behind Nintendo’s Wii, which sold 41,044 in the same time frame.
Sony has pulled the latest firmware update for the PlayStation 3 following complaints from users that it rendered the system useless.
Version 2.40 was released on 2 July, but was removed from Sony’s servers later in the day following reports of problems.
Sony claimed that only a small number of consumers experienced issues with installing the patch, but the firm has temporarily suspended the download while it attempts to identify the problem.
It is not known whether affected PS3 owners will be able to repair the console themselves or have to return it to Sony to be fixed.
Sony’s System Software Update 2.40, released Wednesday, adds to the PlayStation 3 several features originally popularized by the Xbox 360, including long-awaited “trophies,” which function much like Microsoft’s achievements, and in-game access to PlayStation 3’s XrossMediaBar (XMB) via the PS button, which can be roughly equated to the functionality made available when Xbox 360 players press the Xbox Guide button.
PlayStation 3 trophies are awarded as players accomplish various feats in certain games. They’re added to a user’s profile, which can be viewed and evaluated by other players. Ten first-party PlayStation games will support the new trophies functionality this year, including the upcoming MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, as well as some currently available PlayStation Network games, such as Pixeljunk Monsters: Eden. In a press release, Sony stated that many third-party game developers plan to include trophy support as well, which is only to be expected, given that cross-platform games are already designed with Xbox 360 achievements in mind.
Meanwhile, in-game access to the PlayStation’s XMB lets players scroll through and open any item on the bar, including music, videos, and games, as well as view their friends lists and check out other player’s profiles, all without exiting from their current game.
After downloading and installing the new firmware, I booted up the PlayStation Network game Pain—one of the existing games Sony noted would support trophies—to see how things worked.
Following a quick software update that added trophy functionality, I pressed the PS button to call up the XMB. I was able to check out my trophy collection and view my friends’ profiles, though I was disappointed that I still couldn’t see what games they were playing or request to join them, as Xbox 360 players can when they bring up the Xbox Guide.
However, I was able to select and open videos, view photo slideshows, and start other games stored on the PlayStation 3 hard drive without first going back to the desktop, which is something Xbox 360 owners can’t do.
I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I didn’t have to begin playing through Pain again from scratch in order to earn trophies awarded for such basic achievements as finishing the tutorial. If I had accomplished a trophy-worthy feat before installing the new firmware, it was already registered.
So here is a cool career choice for some of our video game fans here in Zune land. Anyone looking for game tester jobs? I know I’d love to be paid for the massive hours of gaming I have logged and so would many of you I’m sure. Game Tester Guide offers tips and advice on how to become a video game tester with a focus on training us how to get a job as a game tester. A game tester you say? Yes, people actually get paid to play video games and game testing is an important part of proper video game development. The video game industry has become a muilti billion dollar market with almost unlimited growth potential.
It’s a new world and people are making a living doing some strange things but a game tester sounds like a good idea. Not only is a great idea for a website but it’s a great idea for some of the younger crowd who are looking at career choices in todays media driven market. Professional gaming is a legitimate choice for a select few but it is becoming a more accepted career choice for certain. With the rise in second generation console gaming and the popularity of massive player games online the industry seems poised for explosive growth and jobs in game development and testing seem a solid choice for those of us with the right skill set. I’m not a professional gamer or a game tester but the advice I picked up in their game tester guide seems solid and worthy of review by those of you interested in a career in gaming. I suggest you gamers get over to their site and check out what they are offering.
Our sole purpose is to help you find a video game tester job. We have organized the best information on video game
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