Fra teamxbox.com
Xbox Live Update - Tsunami Is
Here!
The first of a new wave of features on Xbox Live will greet subscribers
when they log into the world's largest online gaming service after an update this
Wednesday. Starting on Wednesday, April 21st at 6 a.m., Xbox Live servers will be offline
for as long as 24 hours while new features are added. Once back online, gamers will be able
to send Voice Messages with their friend and game invites to other gamers, further
personalizing their online gaming experience. Voice Messages are just one of several new
upcoming features on gamers' wish lists worldwide and further validates Xbox Live as the
innovation leader in the online gaming category.
Additionally, game developers are
currently being provided with new Live features that, when incorporated into their games,
will afford gamers the following benefits:
Teams: Gamers will be able to easily form
teams and notify them of matches, strategies and even upcoming competitions.
Competitions: Empowers gamers to easily create their own tournaments while in-game; as
easy as creating, inviting and playing for all their favorite games across any game genre.
Online Content Swapping: Title managed online storage allows gamers to create and share
mottos, emblems, and custom content and create and update maps, rosters, and other
environment data.
Level Playing Field Technology: New arbitration and reliability
technologies reduce players' ability to cheat online, while increasing reliability
ratings for all players and penalizing actions like disconnects during games.
Many of
these new features are expected to debut later this year with new Xbox Live titles. By this
time next month, there will be more than 100 Xbox Live-enabled titles available to
consumers, the most available online titles on any video games platform.
New
Suscription Options
In addition to the new Xbox Live features, Microsoft Corp. also
announced the availability of a new three-month subscription Xbox Live Starter Kit,
introducing an already rapidly growing online community with a more broad and diverse pool
of gamers. The new Starter Kit offers consumers a new, more accessible, three-month
subscription to Xbox Live, an Xbox Live Communicator and game demos of
"MechAssault" (Microsoft Game Studios) and "Moto GP" (THQ.) The new
three-month Xbox Live Starter Kit will be available for $39.99.
Next week, the
12-month Xbox Live Starter Kit will be updated and packaged with a 12-month subscription to
Xbox Live, an Xbox Live Communicator and a full version of the award-winning "Crimson
Skies: High Road to Revenge," from Microsoft Game Studios. "Crimson Skies: High
Road to Revenge" launched in the fall of 2003 to glowing reviews highlighting the
software's stunning graphics and superior Xbox Live gameplay. The standard Xbox Live
Starter Kit is available at $69.99.
While the Xbox Live community is growing in
depth, it is also expanding in breadth as well, with launches in Hong Kong, Singapore,
Taiwan, Mexico and New Zealand scheduled for next week. The Xbox Live community has 750,000
subscribers and will be in 24 countries by the end of April.