Zune MAX is an original Zune blog and forums for Zune HD owners to share mp3 music, movies, and XNA games for Zune. We have grown into an all around entertainment blog with mobile technology news and reviews, tips and strategy for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Facebook Games.
Microsoft is set to release a new audio codec for the Xbox 360 console which should offer some improvements for Xbox Live users who so enjoy smack talking on the popular online gaming platform. I say some because no matter how clear the voice is there will alway be some idiot yapping about something completely ridiculous and aggravating my game play. I have come to realie that the average Xbox user is sub intelligent to at best and downright dumb in most cases and the conversations had are some of the most p[ainful experiences i have ever witnessed. when I see just how dumb some of these kids can be it saddens me for the future and what will happen when these trolls and smucks take over.
From grade school punks with unaware parents to drunken adults, lip flapping rap wannabe’s and eminem fans from around the the world it’s a no holds barred shoutout of the dumbest people on earth as you try to navigate popular games like Modern Warfare 2 and Halo where the boosters and youtubers are ruining the game spirit with hacks, cheats and glitches that jack things up for legit users.
Microsoft is planning to improve the quality of voice over Xbox 360 headsets with their next major update, which is coming this fall alongside Kinect.
The update will upgrade the audio codec used to communicate between systems, according to Xbox LIVE Studios’ Jerry Johnson, who spoke with Eurogamer at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. He explained that the codec used when the console launched was a a low bit rate and that Microsoft “stuck” with it for a while.
The GAEMS’ Console-In-A-Case Makes your Xbox 360 a mobile console sorta. I say sorta because it does not carry your power brick, cables or controllers so you’ll need additional storage for that. it does however have a sweet 15 inch display so you can play your Xbox in locations like a camp ground or even on vacation in your hotel room without the need for a television.
I actually thought of a similar design about 2 years back but ended up with a nice rolling suitcase for the whole Xbox and my 24 inch dual use monitor which was a little less mobile but a truly all in one solution. I ended up leaving the whole setup in Jamaica with a family over there on my last trip to the island because it was so easy and convenient for me to do so.
Should the case and equipment make it so long I’ll have on in country on my next visit and all I need will be some up to date games for the kids.
The new Xbox might be smaller and more portable but that doesn’t mean those of us with last generation consoles can’t take ours with us wherever we go. And while we’re at it, should the fact that our cabin in the woods doesn’t have a TV stop us? No, it should not. That’s where the GAEMS Portable Console Gaming
and Entertainment System comes in. It’s a travel suitcase with built-in 15-inch, 720p display. There’s also some speakers and a nice, dense polyurethane bed to protect your console against minor bumps and dings.
The Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Map Pack, dubbed the “Stimulus Package” by the game maker Activision, sold over 1 million downloads in the first 24 hours and will soon top 3 million units has taken the lead as the fastest selling downloadable game content pack in Xbox history.
Modern Warfare 2 is one of the top selling games in the franchise history so there was no surprise the new map pack would be a success but the idea people would shell out $20 so quickly solidifies the fact this is one of the most epic game releases ever. MW2 has smashed a number of records and this one seems like it will be hard to break by any other game release.
The online game play for the MW2 game is by far the most exciting and exhilarating combat game played online and the realism is such that I jump out of my seat at least once per match. The new MW2 map pack download offers a total of 5 maps for seemingly small fee of $4 each but two of these new maps are actually rehash maps from the first edition of Modern Warfare.
The modern military shooter that’s sold an astonishing 14 million copies worldwide since November 2009 can check off another record-snapper: Fastest selling downloadable content pack. Released just nine days ago, the $15 Modern Warfare 2 map pack, dubbed “Stimulus Package” by Activision and time-exclusive to the Xbox 360, has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, 1 million of those in its first 24 hours of availability.
Zune may not be the huge success that Microsoft hoped for but if anything can be said it is that they can be dedicated to a project and they will pour huge amounts of money into making it into some form of success. I think the best thing they ever made is the Xbox and the Xbox Live ecosystem which is by far the best gaming platform and light years beyond anything else out there. It is not as perfect system and it could benefit greatly from some improvements but it does allow for some powerful gaming experiences and can be downright addicting for certain. I’m currently hooked posting Modern Warfare 2 tips but I have had a problem with the Halo series in the past as well.
I do not think I would have ever called the Xbox revolutionary and although the Live experience is wicked cool it is not the first online game with cutting edge technology. I remember the kid next door introducing me to Quake way back in 1998 when DSL was in its infancy and broadband coverage was spotty at best. It was an awesome game and very similar to in it’s time to what you get from Xbox now. Things may soon change and the next generation gaming experience may just be a revolution in video gaming. Microsoft has leaked details of Project Natal for a long time but details are more clear on what exactly we can expect from the motion sensitive camera which is the heart of the new game controller based on your body dimensions and motions captured by the camera and interpreted by the software as actions in the GUI and games for the closet thing to virtual reality gaming to hit the consumer marketplace ever.
If the gloss on the Microsoft promotional material is not to thick and the experience is anything like what it should be this could be the biggest thing to games since Pong. Project Natal for Xbox 360, lets hope they have a better name for the actual product, allows you to control your character, your games and your entertainment experiences through movements with your body and looks to take interactive gaming to level well beyond what Nintendo and Wii have been able to capture in families. We bought a Wii for the family this holiday season and it has been the coolest thing in the house since my first PC back in 1999. We play it just about every day since we opened the box and the entire family has taken to it quite easily. Project Natal is based on the 3D camera which captures your motion so in a sense you become the controller for a truly hands free experience.
Much remains to be seen and very little is know about Natal other than what you can catch in these YouTube videos but if it’s half as cool as the videos it will be bad ass for sure.
Ok, I finally made the move to Prestige Mode after hanging out as Level 70 Commander in Modern Warfare 2 for a few weeks. I realized I was losing out on a lot of points so I decided to abandon my dreams of 100% completion for all assault weapons and made the move over recently. It was funny because I was Level 70 for weeks and then when I finally did Prestige I was back at Level 35 in less than 2 days.
I have noticed the game play got easier so it shows me that they match players by their current level and they dont seem to place much importance on the Prestige Mode. I assume they understand we all have roughly the same weapons and Perks so they match you with the same play level and let the better players PWN the unworthy.
In this video I make the move to Prestige Mode and complete the first mission for my The Prestige Badge and Emblem. It is not my best match but It’s what you get at like 3 am after a long day playing Xbox.
Here was my stats on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2. I was Level 70 Commander for a long time because I enjoyed having all the guns and perks but I decided it was time to Prestige so i took this look at the account before I did it. You can see my achievements, perks and what not along with the total play time on the baddest f-ing game ever made.
I got to this Level 70 using the ACR and SCAR Assault Rifles most of the time but i did get a lot of killstreaks with the P90 and SPAS shotgun. I’m no camper and I have less than 20 kills on sniper rifles. I can’t handle the small view window in a game with so much going on. I guess the Thermal scopes serve some purpose on certain maps but in general I can’t move around with them well enough to bother with them. I’ll have a new video with my first Prestige coming up later.
job listings seem to point to better integration between Windows Mobile devices and Xbox Live as a future goal for Microsoft. Funny thing to me is that it seems that maybe they should already have had someoen working on this. I hope this job position is actually a replacement for the guy who has been dragging his feet with mobile gaming at Microsoft.
Microsoft has committed itself to developing Windows Mobile as a more substantial gaming platform, according to a pair of freshly discovered job listings. A post for a Principal Program Manager is the most significant and would task the recruit with bringing “Xbox Live enabled games” to Windows Mobile phones. The move wouldn’t result in Xbox-quality games but instead linking them to the social aspects of the service, including avatars, social elements and “multi-screen experiences.”
Simultaneously, a Software Test Engineer position is less specific about Xbox Live integration but does seek help creating the mobile gaming experience at Microsoft and puts a focus on a phone’s “always connected Internet” as a cornerstone of the platform.
The moves would not just address a common complaint of Microsoft’s various platforms being isolated from each other but a significant deficit in gaming for Windows Mobile. Despite having full 3D support and even getting help from companies like NVIDIA in receiving gaming-friendly hardware, the mobile OS has trailed platforms like iPhone and Android not just in the number of games available but also relative quality, as most commercial-level games aren’t developed for Windows Mobile. Microsoft’s strongest commitment to mobile gaming has been the launch of Zune HD games that themselves are only carefully hand-picked titles.
It’s oh-so enticing: you find a copy of a brand new game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a pirate site and the temptation to download it is too strong.
Well, that temptation may have cost up to 1 million users of Microsoft’s Xbox Live the ability to use that service. According to a report in InformationWeek, Microsoft has banned as many as a million players from Xbox Live for altering their consoles in order to play pirated versions of games.
This week, Activision’s new Call of Duty was released, and InformationWeek speculated that because pirated versions of the game appeared on various sharing sites in advance of the release, the game’s developer may have exhorted Microsoft to enact the bans.
“Xbox 360 consoles are equipped with digital rights management technologies designed to detect pirated software,” InformationWeek wrote, “but some players have successfully ‘modded,’ or modified, their machines to circumvent DRM protections.”
Even if someone has been banned, their Xbox will still play offline games, InformationWeek said. But it’s not at all clear if the bans are permanent or if Microsoft will allow those who have been booted from Xbox Live to return at some point down the line.
Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 is the biggest release of 2009 for Xbox fans and we are excited about the new first person shooter from Activision games.
We’re just getting into game play but this has to be the best Call of Duty game for Xbox yet. The singleplayer and multiplayer game play are amazing.
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